By day you’re elbowing your way through the crowds, but in the wee hours, there is hardly a soul or car in sight, making 5am a great time to run or bike down places like the CBD and Orchard Road. A loop around Marina Bay and across the Helix Bridge is eerie and pretty, with the skyscraper horizon and the lights of the city reflecting off the water, and totals just over three kilometers.
Our tip: It’s easier to get out of bed if there’s someone waiting for you. Join up for a 5am bike ride with cycling groups Joyriders and ANZA. There’s relative safety in numbers, the traffic is light and the weather is cool.
Nothing is further from the world of in-box managment and quarter-end reports than Singapore’s two major fishery ports. Jurong Fishery Port (35 Fishery Port Rd., 2-6am. Closed Mondays), a wholesale seafood market, is chaotic, cavernous, smelly and totally exhilarating. Senoko Fishery Port (31 Attap Valley Rd., 2-6am. Closed Mondays) is friendlier to retail buyers, but prices are 30% higher. The seafood is caught locally, though, and is even fresher than at Jurong.
Our tip: Go at 4–5am, when vendors have a bit more time for you. Bring ID and drive or take a cab. Oh, and wear rain boots—there’s a lot of icy, fishy water splashing about. Buy enough to fill your freezer in order to get a decent discount.
For all the treasures it contains, Mustafa Centre (145 Syed Alwi Rd., 6295 5855) is almost always overrun. But it’s open 24 hours, and if you get out of bed early enough, not only can you beat the crowds, you can be in and out in record time. The sight of dozens of female staff restocking the shelves is also interesting.
Our tip: Even at 5am, Mustafa is far from deserted, so you won’t feel creeped out. The people watching is great, and you can grab an idli breakfast just across the road at Ananda Bhavan (95 Syed Alwi Rd., 6398-0837), which is also open 24 hours.
Street Talk
And what do you do?
I do customer service. From 3:30am, we do some rearranging of the merchandise. There are very few customers, but even so, we still have some.
There seem to be a lot of women working here at night.
I think most women are able to manage working in the night time better. In the daytime, they might have some other problems, family obligations, children. Daytime jobs are good, but not flexible. At Mustafa, they can give flexible times. They understand the problems we’re facing.
What do you do when you get off work?
I take care of my kids, send them to school, sleep for a while, but not all at one shot. Some ladies have someone who can help, so they can sleep all at one shot. But some ladies don’t have anyone in Singapore.
How many hours do you sleep?
I sleep around six or 7 hours, but I break it up—two hours or three hours at a time. I wake up, do some house work and then sleep again.
Anything else you’d like to say?
I’d like to say that Singapore is a very beautiful country. It has given me a lot. And life here is safe for ladies, especially compared to Delhi. In India, you can’t be independent.
Street Talk
Ng Keng Meng
Marketing Manager, Jurong Fishery Port
What’s the night like at the fishery port?
From 11pm-1am, all the merchants do their prep. Once the boats arrive from Indonesia, we unload the boats. Cargo comes from Changi also. We open the cartons and reserve orders for our regular customers. After 1am, fish mongers from retail shops come. They go by 4am because they have to do prep in time to start selling at 6am. Supermarket clients like NTUC, Prime, Sheng Siong and others are done by 5am.
What happens when everyone is done buying?
We pack up, put stuff in the cold room, look at the sales, the balance—does it tally or not.
What do you do when you get off work?
I get done at around 6 o’clock, 7 o’clock in the morning. I go to the hawker center—Block 505 Jurong West, Taman Jurong, the Boon Lay Hawker Center—then I go home to have my rest. I go alone, and I don’t chit chat at the coffee shop. I don’t want to waste time outside.
Are merchants keen to sell to private customers? We’ve heard mixed things.
This is a big market, with around 85-90 stalls. If we have 3,000kg of fish, we’re selling to fish mongers at 20-30kg per order. If outside people come to visit and want to purchase one piece, two pieces, we’re not so happy to entertain that. They are more welcoming at Senoko Fishery Port.
The wee hours are a great time for photography fans, too. You can stake out a good spot in time for first light. But if you are properly equipped the skyline and headlights provide ample light for some cool shots. Local photographer Tan Bing Dun had devoted much of the past few months to waking up early and taking pictures of the skyline. Read our interview with him.
Our tip: Bring a tripod. Duh.
Street Talk
Tan Bing Dun
Photographer
How do you prepare for a shoot?
I check what the timing for sunrise is for the day. If it is 7am, I rise at about 5-5:30am to see if there is rain. I will be there about 45 minutes early. Once I am there, my mind is focused and I don’t feel affected by the sleep bug.
What do you do after you’re done?
Typically, the good light can come 30 minutes before the sun rises. Of course, there are times when I shoot till 10 am, travelling from place to place. Thereafter, I always go for a good meal. I enjoy the feeling after I’m done, that the whole of Singapore has just risen, and I’ve already done something meaningful.
What are some of your favorite places for pre-dawn shooting?
I like the quietness of the Central Business District and the area around Marina Bay during pre-sunrise timing. It is a relaxed mood which contrasts the CBD we know later in the day— random joggers, tourists who get up early and the occasional calmness of the waters.
Where are some other places you’ve shot the sunrise from?
Changi Beach, Clarke Quay, Marina Bay and CBD, Gardens by the Bay and various HDB estates like Clementi Casa, Teban Garden, Telok Blangah, et cetera.
Any crazy encounters?
I have been chased by dogs, random strangers have chatted to me. But nothing as exciting as the experience of watching the sun rise.
Early Eats
Fuel your pre-dawn rising at these restaurants.
Taxi drivers and club goers alike swear by this HDB Hainanese curry-rice gem, which opens at 3am—one of the first in the center to start service—and is run by a cute older couple. Open daily except Wednesdays, 6:30am-3pm. 40 Beo Crescent.
Hakim Restaurant
This decades-old shop is a short walk from the Pasir Panjang Food Centre and has a friendly staff. They do a full-on Indian Muslim menu with biryani and murtabak, but early in the morning, ask for no more than their eye-opening teh halia and egg prata. Open 24 hours daily. 93 Pasir Panjang, 6474-2145.
126 Dim Sum
This no-frills Hong Kong-style dim sum restaurant offers delish midnight munchies like pork belly buns and man tou with chilli crab sauce. Despite the Geylang-ness, glaring neon lights and plastic chairs, this place has good food. Open 24 hours daily. 126 Sims Ave., 6746-4757.
