Let’s Go On A Bus Ride #01
Bus 63: A Morning in Tiong Bahru
Sometimes, you don’t need a detailed itinerary to have a little adventure.
Just get on a bus, watch familiar streets pass by, and get off somewhere worth exploring.
For our first Let’s Go On A Bus Ride, we’re taking Bus 63 and stopping at one of Singapore’s oldest and most interesting neighbourhoods — Tiong Bahru.
There’s plenty here for an easy morning out: local food, a wet market, unusual old flats, small shops, cafés and little corners of history that we might normally walk straight past.
And the nice thing is, most of it is within a relatively small area.
🚌 Today’s Ride: Bus 63
Bus 63 is operated by SBS Transit and travels between Eunos Interchange and Jalan Rumah Tinggi, passing through neighbourhoods such as Ubi, Geylang, Bugis, the city, Chinatown, Outram and Tiong Bahru.
Our Stop
Coming from Eunos:
Get off at Blk 18, Tiong Bahru Road — Bus Stop 10141.
Bus 63 stops here before continuing towards Tiong Bahru MRT, Redhill and Jalan Rumah Tinggi.
From the bus stop, Tiong Bahru Market is only a very short walk away.
🌿 Before You Go
Suggested time: 2–3 hours
Best time: Morning, around 8.30am–11.30am
Walking: About 1–2 km depending on how much you explore
Pace: Easy and unhurried
Rest stops: Plenty — hawker centre, cafés and seating along the way
Cost: Mainly your bus fare + whatever you decide to eat or buy
Walking suitability: 🟢🟢🟡
Generally suitable for seniors who are comfortable with normal neighbourhood walking.
The area is relatively compact, but there are road crossings and some uneven older walkways. If you have difficulty walking for longer periods, simply do the short version — Market → Seng Poh Garden → coffee — and skip the longer heritage walk.
Retirement Singapore Tip:
This isn’t a race. Sit down for kopi, browse slowly, and continue only when you feel like it. That’s rather the point of these bus rides.
Stop 1 — EAT 🍜
Start at Tiong Bahru Market
Tiong Bahru Market
Our first stop is an easy one.
Head upstairs to the food centre and have breakfast.
Instead of telling you that there’s only one famous stall you must queue for, take a walk around first. Part of the fun is seeing what catches your eye.
You might come across old favourites such as Jian Bo Shui Kueh, Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice or Teck Seng Soya Bean Milk.
Or simply order whatever looks good that morning.
After eating, don’t leave immediately.
Take a look downstairs at the wet market too. Tiong Bahru Market isn’t merely somewhere to eat — the National Heritage Board actually begins its Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail here, describing the market as the heart of the neighbourhood where residents and visitors have gathered for decades.
Allow: 45–60 minutes
Stop 2 — SEE 👀
Look Up at the Buildings
When you leave the market, slow down.
This is where the outing becomes more interesting.
Walk around Seng Poh Road, Tiong Poh Road, Moh Guan Terrace and Guan Chuan Street and look at the buildings rather than just the shops.
Tiong Bahru’s pre-war flats are quite unlike today’s HDB blocks.
Many were designed in the Streamline Moderne style — a late form of Art Deco influenced by the sleek shapes of cars, trains, ships and aeroplanes. Look for curved corners, horizontal lines, flat roofs, balconies and even porthole-like details.
Twenty of these pre-war blocks were gazetted for conservation in 2003.
It’s a small reminder that an ordinary-looking Singapore neighbourhood can be an outdoor architecture museum if we know what to look for.
Allow: 20–30 minutes
Stop 3 — DISCOVER 🌳
Seng Poh Garden & the Dancing Girl
Continue towards Seng Poh Garden.
It isn’t a grand tourist attraction — and that’s exactly why it belongs in this series.
Look for the unusual Dancing Girl sculpture.
The sculpture was created by Lim Nang Seng, who was also responsible for Singapore’s original Merlion sculpture. The abstract figure was intended to depict a girl performing a joyful harvest dance, although some residents apparently thought it looked more like a swan taking flight.
That’s the sort of small Singapore story we can easily miss.
Allow: 10–15 minutes
Stop 4 — SEE A LITTLE MORE 🏘️
Find the Horse-Shoe Block
If your legs are still happy, continue towards Block 78 at Moh Guan Terrace and Guan Chuan Street.
This distinctive curved building was constructed around 1939–1940 and is the largest single block of flats in old Tiong Bahru.
There’s another surprise underneath it.
Part of the building incorporated a purpose-built air-raid shelter — the first such shelter included in a Singapore public housing project.
You don’t have to complete the entire heritage trail. Seeing just a few of these places is enough to make the neighbourhood feel very different from the Tiong Bahru we thought we knew.
Allow: 15–20 minutes
Stop 5 — SHOP 🛍️
Browse Without Needing to Buy
Now wander towards Yong Siak Street and the surrounding lanes.
One interesting stop is Cat Socrates, a small independent shop at Yong Siak Street selling gifts and interesting lifestyle finds.
Don’t feel that every stop needs to involve spending money.
Browsing counts.
The idea of this series is partly to give ourselves a reason to get out, look around and discover what’s changed in neighbourhoods we may have known for years.
Allow: 15–30 minutes
Stop 6 — REST ☕
Time for Coffee
By now, you’ve earned it.
There are plenty of choices.
For something synonymous with modern-day Tiong Bahru, there’s Tiong Bahru Bakery on Eng Hoon Street.
Or try Glass Roasters nearby.
Find somewhere comfortable, order a drink and simply sit for a while.
No need to rush to the next attraction.
Allow: As long as you like.
🚌 Ready to Head Home?
That’s another advantage of this particular outing.
You don’t have to retrace the entire walk back to where you started.
For the return journey towards Eunos, Bus 63 stops at Blk 1, Tiong Bahru Road — Bus Stop 10149, before continuing through Outram, Chinatown, the city, Bugis and eventually back towards Eunos.
So have your coffee, wander back towards Tiong Bahru Road and catch Bus 63 again.
✂️ The Shorter Version
Not everyone wants — or is able — to walk for two or three hours.
Try this instead:
Bus 63 → Blk 18 → Tiong Bahru Market → breakfast → Seng Poh Garden → coffee → bus home
Allow around 1½ hours at a relaxed pace.
You still get the spirit of the outing without doing the longer walk.
🟨 Key Takeaway
Sometimes we don’t need to travel far to discover somewhere new.
A familiar bus can take us to neighbourhoods we’ve passed countless times but never really explored.
Get off.
Have breakfast.
Walk one more street than usual.
Look up at the buildings.
Pop into a shop you’ve never entered.
And when you’ve had enough, get back on the bus and head home.
That’s our kind of little retirement adventure.
Bus 63 done. Where shall we go next?
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