Eshin Direct

Dempsey Hill

Rode up to Dempsey Hill to meet a friend last night. When I left work it had just rained, and me without my wet weather gear, chanced the fact that I either wouldn’t be going in the same direction or the storm had passed. In any case, when there is nothing you can do about the situation, I tend to become very fatalistically zen about it and a calmness does wash over me.

Which is probably why, when I rode up to Dempsey Hill, the beauty of the place took me unawares. Of course, I had been there before but the mix was right to evoke powerful emotions of paradise and imaginations of what it must have been like when first Singapore was settled. The smell from the trees, just watered with rain water, gave off their natural scented freshness. Dusk was settling in, giving the jungle both the day’s end familiarity and the thrill of evening’s dangers. Chased away by ponderous, esoteric clouds, the suns own brilliance subdued into a smoldering spectrum of reds, oranges and yellows.

Even the human activity added to the mix - the idyllic kindergartens emptied of their privileged students, jovial restaurant staff anticipating the evening’s patrons, cars slowing down to absorb the beauty of the place, cars speeding down clear country roads. Just a beautiful.

I wish I carried my SLR with me. Instead, I had to make do with my mobile, which was on limited battery. I don’t really think the photo does any justice to that time and place.

Here you’ll find a short history on Dempsey Hill. For the food, I hadn’t been to Samy’s for a while and my Indian friend surprisingly had never tried the place so we headed over there. Still my favourite Indian restaurant (in spite of them serving me a mutton vindaloo that even now wants me to remember it). For drinks, House and its bar Camp make one of the best settings for drinks so we ended the night over there. If I had to be honest, the food there had been going downhill lately but according to the friendly PR manager Jacq, the menu has been revamped.

I guess I will have to go back to Dempsey Hill again. Next time I’ll bring my SLR.