Longkang Besar

This little piggy went to the market…

I went snap crazy with Rayson’s DSLR (which by the way I L O V E) for the City Appreciation project due-d today. I think I did a pretty good job, so I’m happy. Yay! And I had a great time doing it.

One of the things that I simply love to do on a random weekday is to walk around the city. I’m a walker. I can walk from one end of district all the way to another district, just taking the city in. Sometimes I have my music on, other times I don’t. Monday, was different. I had a camera. And I realise how many doors it has opened for me.

Maybe there is an innate interest and curiousity in the mighty black contraption or the captured shot. Or maybe because I look like some professional or a journalist. But when you have a camera around your neck as you try to get the perfect shot with the perfect angle and the perfect lighting, you are an object of interest. And people just talk to you.

I hit four different kinds of markets that day but my golden find was the Sungei Market, also known as Singapore’s Thieves’ Market. It was the last spot I ventured and it was getting late. I was tired, but somehow I knew I wanted/needed to get myself there. I wasn’t disappointed. Some of my best shots were from Sungei Road.

I reached there about 8.30pm and many of the vendors had closed. There were a few that were straggling behind, selling their many knick-knacks, none of which had much value. In the warm golden wash of the street lamps, I felt in a completely different world. I took out the camera and began to snap a shot of this foldable chair when someone called out to me.

Meet Mr. Abdul Rashid. He was one of the vendors at the market and we began to chat, him in his impeccable Malay and I…well, I tried the best I could. Hehe. He was a very friendly man and he told me stories about the Sungei.

“It used to be really pretty. You could go fishing,” he told me, “But now they walled it up. It’s no longer a river. It’s a LONGKANG BESAR!” and he laughed heartily. ‘Longkang Besar’ meaning ‘Big Drain’ in Malay.

He told me that many of the wares that these vendors sold were “trash” that people threw out, and were picked up along the way to be sold here. I noticed that all it took was a single sheet of newspaper to start a “store” and you could sell almost anything under the sun.

After learning that I was studying architecture, he asked why the three-room flats did not have a balcony while the five-room flats did. After all, we are all the same, eating the same food and breathing the same air. A balcony he believed was essential. To take a smoke, to socialise, to breathe from your enclosed four-walls the government called a ‘home’. I immediately thought how Parisan the idea of a balcony was. I didn’t think it was significant but maybe he has a point. This was what the man wanted, and seriously how many architects thought about this? Space to breathe and to socialise.

Which was why he comes to Sungei Road anyhows.

“Cik suka datang sini. Bukan nak cari makan…tapi boleh jumpa kawan, boleh berbual. I get to meet old friends, and make new ones!” he says with a twinkle in his eyes, noticing he had a really great smile.

We chatted for a bit longer on various topics before I wandered off to take more shots of the market. The people were friendly, the stories were immunerable and the atmosphere was just…different.

It was actually fun talking with the people, joking with them and see their side of the world.

“Eh you take my picture ah? Wait…I must dress nicely first,” said this man who promptly puts on a cotton shirt over his white singlet. “You take my picture, I take your picture too can?”

“Today I miss you. Tomorrow I love you.”

“Don’t take my picture. I shy. Here you can take picture of this handsome man.”

“Girl! Take this picture! Got fight! They fighting!”

My favourite shot by far…

All it took was a camera, a friendly smile, and the want to know…

~ by nineflavours on October 9, 2008.