Come rain, come shine.

Sunny morning, 'till it rained cats and dogs. Nonetheless, the colourful traditional Peranakan shophouses still remained where there are, come rain or shine.

Out of the hustle and bustle of Katong, down Joo Chiat road and in a quiet narrow street opposite Haig Girls school, you can find yourself walking (for at least 5 minutes), into one of Singapore's persevered memory. Before everything in the 21st century pulls you back to the present.

These sort of Peranakan shophouses are a sight to see in Singapore, since one can hardly find these sort of old stylised buildings in the current modern techy Singapore, where now only concrete dragons are constantly rising into the sky.

The history of the building's facade is priceless and amazing. Each house has its own design. The windows, the placing of the window grilles, the designs of their doors, the tiles, designs and colours on the walls and floors, all of them different from one another.

One can hardly tell a difference from one HDB block from another unless you read the block number. However, for these shophouses, the colours are all you need to remember. In the heavy rain, it looks like a bad wash of colours mixed together with the gloom of grey, but once the rain stops, together the houses look like a rainbow under the sunshine.

I do wonder how my grandmother felt when she lived around here years ago in one of these houses. Oooh, the sensation. It would be something if I had the chance.

These traditional Peranakan shophouses are now preserved, but so many have been lost and one may never know what will happen in the near future. After all, they were once part of Singapore as she grew, rich in tradition and culture. So come rain or shine I hope it remains as so. (Unless something or someone decides to send a huge metal ball into it.)

Then again,

Cheers!

Leong Wei-Ming
093068T
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