Coming home is the best part of the day here. The drive back from Jurong East or one-north is a short one, the last turn is off Jalan Jurong Kechil onto a quiet road, and the slopes of Bukit Batok and Bukit Timah are what you see as you step out of the car.
Everyday life runs through Beauty World, a few minutes away by car. The morning shop is at the market on Jalan Seh Chuan, a quick lunch is upstairs at Beauty World Centre, and the errands that are left get done at Beauty World Plaza on the other side of Upper Bukit Timah Road. On weekends the green takes over: the boardwalks of Bukit Batok Nature Park, the granite cliffs and quarry lake of Little Guilin a seven-minute drive away, and the summit trail and Hindhede Quarry at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, under two kilometres from the road. The Bukit Batok Hill trails climb from the same nature park for anyone who wants a little more of a workout before brunch. On a weekday evening the Rail Corridor, where the old railway once ran, is a short drive away and an easy place to walk off the working day before dinner. On the nights that run late, Cheong Chin Nam Road behind Beauty World is still the neighbourhood's supper row, a few minutes away and full of familiar places.
For the rest of the week, a bus stop is a short walk away, Beauty World and Hume stations on the Downtown Line are both nearby, and King Albert Park is a nine-minute drive. By car, the PIE is about five minutes away and Changi Airport around half an hour, so a school run, a day at the office and a flight out can all begin from the same quiet road.
Beauty World has been the neighbourhood's meeting point since its market opened in 1947, and the new hub, the Bukit V mall and the market's permanent home give it a next chapter around the same hills and shophouse streets.
Whatever first brings you to De Souza Avenue, whether it is a job in the west, the trails on the ridge or a market that has kept its regulars, the road keeps all of it within easy reach and still gives you somewhere quiet to come back to.