A Software Developer's Vacation in... Singapore (Part 3/3)

Another day of my vacation was spent covering the locations I hung out at from the entire year of 2012 and onwards. In the next few years, I would shuttle from company to company, never staying more than a couple years at each one.

2012 to 2013

These were the first years I spent away from the Beach Road / North Bridge Road area.

Novena/Balestier area.

In 2012, I found a job in Goldhill Plaza, in the Novena area. Goldhill Plaza looked pretty much the same when I visited. It's still the color of salmon, shaped like a giant penis reaching up to the sky. I got a kick out of taking a walk around the base of the "shaft" to soak in the vibes of where I used to take my smoke breaks.

Goldhill Plaza

Velocity

In the vicinity, Velocity was as fancy as ever. I never bothered much with that place, or with United Square, though I had a soft spot for the Katong Laksa outlet there. It seems that post-pandemic, prices have risen alarmingly. It's now seven bucks for a small bowl. You know what, at my age I think I could stand to eat less laksa.

Laksa at
United Square

A short walk away, Balestier Road beckoned. The entire stretch, when I last hung out there in 2013, was a throwback to an age long gone. That was where I met my buddies for supper and drinks after a long day in the office. When I last left it, modernity had started to creep in, in places such as Zhongshan Park, which, to be fair, is really pretty.

Zhongshan Park

Balestier Plaza

However, a lot of the old stuff is still there. Balestier Plaza is one such example. When I visited, I had a rollicking good time wandering its cold empty halls and soaking in the retro vibes. Aside from that, the entire area has a lot of old architecture. It seems to be one of the areas that the Singapore Government has never been able to fully get its mitts into.

This was the final part of my tour for revisiting former offices in this area. This next part was set solidly in the east. Interestingly, it was all around the Tai Seng and MacPherson area up till the year 2017.

Paya Lebar Road

2013 to 2014

During this year, I ended up at this grand-looking building known as Starhub Green. It was pretty modern and upscale - glass walls, glossy foyer, hipster cafes. I remember ending up here and thinking, rather naively, "I've made it!"

Starhub Green

Honestly, I didn't hang out at this area any longer than I really needed to. This was merely another stop on my quest to ascend the pay scale.

2015 to 2016

The next company was at Tai Seng, at least until they folded. We were at this building, and visually it was a pretty big downgrade. LHK2 is a long oblong on the map, and pretty easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for.

LHK2

It sure was nice to see their smoking point again, though. What fond memories I have.

LHK2's
smoking point.

The surroundings were more ghetto than the last one, but I expect this was just a matter of what the company could afford. I didn't hang out here; this was the year I was studying for my Specialist Diploma in Mobile Apps Development and I just didn't have the time. At the time I was working there, most of the surroundings were under construction - that day in December when I visited, places like Tai Seng Point had sprung up.

The tragedy was that I had been planning on serving my time with this company until the time came to move on. It was one of those ruthless business decisions where I use a company as a springboard to bigger and better things. Unfortunately for me, they crashed and burned before I could pull the trigger. Kind of like your spouse dying and turning you into a widow/widower even though you already planned on a divorce.

2017

Next I was at Vertex. It looked just the same as ever in 2025, as it did back in 2017. It's a huge building that houses numerous showrooms at the ground level, and tons of smaller company offices squirreled away in its upper floors. And one of those companies was a startup I worked in.

Vertex

This was the company I actually had more of a soft spot for, as opposed to the last two. This one was at a tech startup where I was finally working alongside people who knew as much as me, or more. I was here less than a year, but this was where I stepped up the intensity back to 12-hour days, almost 7 days a week, because I enjoyed the work and I enjoyed my co-workers.

After 2017, I ended up back in Bugis area, where I hung out with my new colleagues at the new Funan and sometimes ate at Peninsula Plaza together. And thus I spent another three years until COVID-19 hit the world.

2020 to now

I've spent it mostly working from home and hanging out around my neighborhood, as stated at the beginning. Which was why I wanted to go get to know my island again.

I visited other places from my past during my vacation, of course. My old schools were I spent my formative years, my late grandfather's old estate, my late grandmother's neighborhood... all of these held delightful memories as new  developments were juxtaposed among the old (and some ancient) ones.

In conclusion!

This wasn't just a vacation in Singapore. This was a retreading of old stomping grounds, making contact with my past and taking the time to appreciate how I got here.

In these days, I relived the career struggles I experienced, and marvelled at the obstacles I had to overcome. Sometimes we all need that moment of introspection. To remind ourselves that if we've come this far, we can totally do this.

It's okay to vaykay!
T___T