Toa Payoh is one of the oldest districts in Singapore and is located in the central area that’s just a few stops away by MRT (subway) to Orchard Road. You will notice that the people here are mostly the elderly as younger folk get flats in the newer districts that are much further away in the north, like Sengkang and Ponggol.
In the past few years, areas like Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio have been called the Heartlands. I am not sure who coined that phrase, but it sounds like something from a government body. To me it’s just a very old estate.
Here are some snapshots from Chinese New Year 2011 in Toa Payoh.
There was this little booth by Singapore mint selling gold plated rabbits.
Tidbits for Chinese New Year at NTUC. Boy was it crowded.
The traditional Rabbit brand candy from the 70’s. Even the small white paper that is wrapped around it is edible. That the was thing that amazed kids back then – that you could eat the paper.
These are call love letters. They are very thin wafer like biscuits that taste so good.
This was something else from childhood and we would only get this chocolate on special occasions like birthdays – Van Houten chocolate in a tin. They used to sell it in a small Ovalish tin, but I can’t find that anymore.
It’s so nice to see Lunar New Year being anticipation everywhere, or at least out in the open. I feel it has yet to gain such popularity outside of heavily populated Asian communities. It would be helpful to have the date on the calendar or even sales advertised. I think when I was in college and living away from home I never realized when lunar new year even passed for 3/4 years I was there.
It’s really big in Singapore.
Also, I’m glad you took pictures of the candies. What are the multi-colored ones that look like rocks or pebbles? is it even candy? I don’t think I’ve ever seen those.
That’s our local version of jelly beans. Hard and chewy in texture. Gummy a bit on the inside. Red tastes like strawberry, yellow like lemon and such. I love the red, orange and yellow ones best.
My favorite picture (other than the candies/food) is the gold bunny with the jade cabbage! It made me 🙂
That Jade bunny was pretty unique, especially because it was made of gold! I was nervous taking that photo because Singapore Mint is a sort of government body and I wasn’t sure if they would be happy about it.