The ordinary gem

I've been heading to this little gem planted in the bustling town, privy to the select few. (I wish.)  Tucked away in a corner of a shopping centre of regal status in Singapore, it is unobtrusive yet there is always a constant stream of patrons.

I always relish my every first step into the bistro - never seem to be able to remember whether I should pull or push the door. I almost always make a grand entrance by creating a ruckus from a few moments of struggle with the heavy glass doors. I like the clean and bright interior. There is something about the yellow tiles and the unpretentious white light, yet there is nothing significant that you can pinpoint. Almost nondescript yet not nearly there.

It must be the ambivalence that appeals to me.

Most of the time, I order a hazelnut latte and a slice of cake or a lemon tart, then I will take out the 'Great Gatsby' with a vintage Penguin cover dressed in contemporary lime green. I would read a few lines and then flip to page 15 and then read the next few pages that I have been reading over and over again. Next to us, there is a Japanese couple. I cling onto every single Japanese syllable I could recognise. Further down, a mother in a carefully-designed casual outfit of a racer back top and yoga pants bond over tea and sweet treats with her teenage daughter. The father joins them a while later. He is more casually-dressed and has an air of bona fide. In the next half an hour, we are space-mates. We drink the coffee made from the water extracted from the same pipe and inhale the common air infused with the smell of fresh toast, scrambled eggs, cheese and salmon. We talk about everyday life that in our tinted views, seems very strange and abnormal. In the plain little bistro, we are extraordinary. 

Dress-down and up all at once

A quasi-self-portrait 

Nude and pearly
with my purple Cambridge Satchel peeking from the side

A pair of earrings on a notebook from Chiangmai