Since engineer Wouter Maes arrived here from Belgium five years ago, he has lived in Buona Vista, Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio.

Home is a three-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio. For the longest time, his favourite haunt was the market at Block 127 in Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, which has since been demolished and rebuilt.

'I was working at Philips Electronics and my office was next to the market. It was the first market I went to. I can still remember eating my first laksa with a fork and spoon and sweating it out. It was hot and messy but I loved it.'

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