It's so odd how I've grown so fond of Jalan Besar. Not even the whole area, just the little stretch I walk along every single day to office, the skinny roadside pavements to various lunch places (oh lord, food heaven), the colourful old shops with signboards design so old it possibly date back to the 60s, the sounds, the scorching feeling on my skin, my almost-daily $1.20 coffee that tastes so good it feels like a luxury, the KTVs' funky neon lights glowing at night. How roads bleed into Little India / Farrer Park and back again but you'll know it when you're back at Jalan Besar. I don't even mind the weird mysterious puddles / sticky stains everywhere anymore. It's best not to wonder what the soles of my Reeboks have touched but know I've walked by shops with such character and people of all kinds. I've walked by shops that closed and remained a sleeping space for months before little things start filtering in and turning into spaces with different outfits. It's a really charming place.
Today I went to buy my usual cup of coffee. By Sam Leong Rd, there's a mint green building at the corner with a little coffee shop. The drinks stall has incredibly kopi. Was always too scared to talk to the auntie making the coffee because she looks rather fierce. Always made sure I said my order loud and clear so she wouldn't give me one of her glares yknow? (Hawkers' glares have withered my soul a couple times.) Today she looked at me and she asked if I cut my hair. So I took that little small opening of a door and told her yes I did and that her coffee is really amazing. Made her smile, which in turn made me smile. She said my new office wasn't that far away and if I could, come back for kopi again.
I ate two bowls of laksa for lunch today too so you can imagine, I'm really gastronmically contented.
But I'm excited to get to know a new place the way I did with Jalan Besar.
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