Let me move away from bagua for once, to talk about one of the liminal areas of Singapore: Keong Saik Road. It’s definitely one of the jianghu areas of town – and there are quite a few more than many people would think 
I love this road: it’s just next to the park where I practice, and I’ll frequently go there afterwards for beer and noodles. At either end there’s a corner coffeeshop where I’m becoming something of a regular, and from where I can watch the comings and goings of all the area’s denizens.
Keong Saik is a combination of all kinds of traditional architectural styles, from shophouses to colonial-period Art Deco, all in various stages of repair. It used to be famous as a red-light area, and there are still brothels there, with prominent house numbers and red lanterns, the view inside from the street obscured by large fish tanks just in front of the door, although sometimes you can see a guy or two sitting in the lobby…
There are plenty of KTV lounges, with tables outside on the street where tough guys smoke and drink beer, with bar girls hovering around to tempt passersby inside. There’s nevertheless a process of gentrification going on, with chic boutique hotels rubbing shoulders with new-age bookstores and backpacker hostels, architecture partnerships, and small media companies; this hasn’t diluted the street’s vibrant energy though. There are also plenty of little places to eat, where the food is great and all the locals ignore the menus, because they’ll eat what the staff recommend…
Keong Saik is next to Kreta Ayer street, where traditional Cantonese Operas are still held regularly, and is very close to lots of the clan houses and traditional martial arts guans of Chinatown. Its borderline, subversive spirit is lives on in its proximity to all the gay bars in Neil Road. Sitting in the corner coffeeshop late in the evening, you’ll see a fascinating parade of humanity passing by: martial artists, happy clans talking rapidly in Cantonese, buffed-up pretty boys, miniskirted bar girls, or working girls, disoriented backpackers, taxi drivers, gold-chained thugs, orange-haired street guys…..
Last Friday, just next to where I was sitting, opposite the Indian temple, a big drunk guy, swerving across the road as his petite girlfriend tried to support him, banged on the hood of a taxi that was slowly crossing the other way. The cabbie, a short, skinny guy in his fifties, slammed on his brakes, and jumped out with a flurry of Hokkien curses…. It looked like a fight was coming… the big guy blustered and squared up…. the barefoot cabbie pulled a six-inch screwdriver from from his back pocket… both were screaming at each other….
Gradually, the girl pulled the big guy away, though he kept trying to turn around and come back… older passersby stopped to calm the cabbie down… eventually he got back in his car, and drove off, prompting another burst of invective as he passed the drunk… but for a moment or two I really thought I was going to see a stabbing.
Phew, who says Singapore is boring? These older areas keep alive Singapore’s old rough-and-ready spirit as a port city… I like Keong Saik Road! You can see various pictures of the street on Flickr.
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