Beach Road Market
http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_45159/travel_site_15507/
Also popularly known as Army Market, is a 2 storey houses a hawker centre on the ground floor and a sundry market on the upper floor. It is known as the Army Market because most of the shops on the upper floor sells military gear and equipment. Anything and everything that you may need in your 2 years of National Service can be purchased here, even army issued stuff like SAF talcum powder – which incidentally, was said to be effective in killing bed bugs. The only thing you cannot buy here is perhaps a life sized blow up doll of your girlfriend to bring back to camp.
According to urban legend, you could even buy sensitive equipment like parts of the M-16 at some shops. With most SAF camps having their own e-mart, the business for these shop owners have shifted to cater to travellers going on a hardship holiday, eg. camping, backpacking, hiking, disaster rescue etc. It is our very own but much smaller version of Bangkok’s Chactuchak market except that it is open all days of the week.
I remember sourcing high and low for a scouring pad known as Brillo for the purpose of polishing my mess tin to a glorified shine for standby purposes (no thanks to a sadistic platoon sergeant by the name of Brian Low – I can still remember your name cos you were an arse-hole). Tried many supermarkets and shops but couldn’t find this elusive Brillo. But lo and behold, I found plenty here at the Beach Road market. And this Brillo does work wonders, turning a matt finished mess tin to an almost glossy shine.
And oh yes, the purpose of this post is to inform everybody that Beach Road market located at 505, Beach Road is open till late at night (information provided by a reliable source). Even if your visit to the army market is futile, there is always great food at the hawker centre below to compensate for your effort.
If the food at the hawker centre is not your cup of tea, why not cross the overhead bridge to Thien Kee Steamboat Restaurant at 6001 Beach Road, #B1-20 Golden Mile Tower for one of the most authentic tasting hainanese chicken rice in Singapore and paired with traditional charcoal steamboat?