Monday, July 13, 2009
The Taiwanese answer to We Are The World
Did you know that not long after that the Taiwanese came up with a similar effort? Do you know the title of their song? The answer can be found in my other blog here.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Sawatdi Khap. Welcome to Bangkok (by Peter Chan)
Photo 1: From my hotel window watching the two trains meet on the BTS line. Times Square is on the left of the photo.
When I looked down from my hotel window at the two trains “passing each other” at the Asoke Station, it brought me back to the past. The school boy dream did indeed come true in August 1971. Twenty rugby players between ages 17 and 18, two male teachers from Raffles Institution made their way into Bangkok for this 12-day trip. The old boys association came up with S$5,000 to sponsor this trip. Each student took with him between S$50 and $150 of his parent’s money to spend.
We boarded the Malayan Railway morning train at Tanjung Pagar Station, arriving in the late afternoon in Kuala Lumpur with just enough time for the only proper bath (for the next 40 hours) before departing on the 9 pm train to Butterworth. Next morning at 10, we transferred to the State Railway of Thailand international train service to Bangkok. Initially the ride was pleasant with plenty of beautiful landscapes to see; e.g. rice fields, villages and mountains. This was also the Thai summer season for longans and rambutans. At each train stop, children with baskets on their heads sold Thai fried chicken and banana fritters. We were greedy or put it another way, there was absolutely nothing else to do besides pacing up and down the coaches, playing pranks, sleep and wake up, and singing “dirty songs”.
Photo 2: Left Photo; A Vajiravudh player holding the ball on his way to a touch down. No Raffles players in sight. Right Photo; I am the last man at the line out against Pre-Military Academy. Flat-top hairstyle had already become fashionable in Bangkok in the early 1970s.
Forty-eight hours later after we left Singapore, we entered the Bangkok area. We freshened-up and put on our school uniforms again with very little hygiene standard to show because we managed a face-wash, brushed our teeth, quick shave and “brylcream” the hair. How we wished we could shower but the train did not have shower facilities and water droplets came out of the faulty basin tap.
As the train pulled into the Hum Lampung Central Station on the dot at 8am, the Vajiravudh College welcome party was waiting and the brass band played our school anthem. There was the customary Thai greeting of clasped hands and “Sawadi Kap”. Before long we were packed into two bus coaches and escorted by out-riders from the Bangkok Metropolitan Police. During the bus ride, I noticed each of us was assigned a male student “GRO” and soon the conversation jokingly drifted to “How come got no girls in this school?”
As the triple-crown champions of Singapore for the Kiwi Cup, 15s and 7s, we took part in this inaugural game against Vajiravudh. It was hoped that this game could eventually develop into an annual series involving Raffles, Malaysia’s Malay College and Vajiravudh. Vajiravudh was considered the Eton of Thailand (
Photo 3: Left Photo; Raffles group photo session at Tanjung Pagar Station before boarding the morning train to Kuala Lumpur. Right Photo; The farewell function for Vajiravudh, King’s College, Thai Pre-Military Academy and Raffles players. Notice there are no girls in sight **gulp**Unlike athletes today, we were not boarded in a special games village or in a hotel. We stayed at one of the residential colleges within Vajiravudh’ school compound. After many decades, I took the opportunity on one of my business trips into Bangkok to revisit Vajiravudh just to check out how much has changed. I was greeted by Major Apirat, the sports convener who showed me around the place. I told Major Apirat about the wonderful Thai hospitality where we were fed on daily basis for lunch - Thai pineapple rice with huge portions of Thai Chicken Gai Yang, Kaeng Keiw Warn curry, Kai-lan and Thai Otak.
Photo 4: Left Photo; Group photo session with Vajiravudh. Vajiravudh students wear the blue bermuda and white shirt school uniform. Right Photo; The same building where the group photo session took place. It is now the Vajiravudh Assembly Hall.Our Thai host took us for sight-seeing of Bangkok. We visited the Grand Palace, the Benchama Temple, Bangkok Zoo (just across the school), river boat ride down the Chao Praya River, Crocodile Farm at Samut Prakan and Rose Garden. We went to a Thai Army-owned TV station to watch Thai Boxing and were interviewed over the sports channel – little did we realize that there was a confluence of military and private business interests in Thai society. At official dinners, we were entertained by Thailand’s top cultural troupes. I must add that all the places we went were strictly educational and cultural except probably for the only time when we were allowed to shop at Jim Thomson’s Silk Store. Fortunately or unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Bangkok’s pulsating night life; many thanks to Mr. Natahar Bava and Mr. Graham Pierce (teachers and guardians).
We missed pole dancing and cabaret shows although we did see from our coach the neon lights and attractions of the Soi Cowboys from Sukhumit Road and the ladyboys of Patpong. Even if we were allowed to go on our own in a “tuk tuk”, we had to have one of Vajiravudh College’s seniors; looking as if we could lose our direction in this city. We understood all 3 Thai schools were an all-boys school in every sense of the word - in and out of the school environment - but it was the Thai Pre-Military Academy boys who were more willing to educate us about “the other side of Bangkok”. Perhaps this might explain the difference between civil servants and the military in Thailand. Vajiravudh produced top men for the civil service and Thai Pre-Military Academy produced top generals for the “Brown Shirts” and “Green Shirts”.
Photo 5: Left Photo; The rugby field where we trained on alternate days when we didn’t have a game. Our training commenced at 4pm and ended at 6pm. Then it was time for dinner and curfew. Right Photo; The residential house was our home for the next 10 days. There is a road on the bottom left of the photo which leads to the back gate. This back gate was a “secret door” to leave the school for the bright lights of the city. I was told it is “still operational”.Now back to 2007. This time I was able to meet an old friend Suchai from King’s College for a social drink. We chat of the good old days and talked “who is where”, each minute serenaded by a live all-girl Filipino band at the Westin Grande Sukhumvit Hotel and serviced from attentive high-slit dressed waitresses. Too bad for you, I don’t have any female companions in my photo album to show you because it was 1971.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Shek Kin – Thank you for the memories

Last week the legendary Shek Kin passed away at the ripe old age of 96. Together with Kwan Tak Hing, Cho Tat Wah, Sai Kwa Pow (the buck tooth guy who acted as Ngar Chart So) and many others, they gave us kids many wonderful hours of leisure at a time when there were no televisions or PC’s. Memories of watching Wong Fei Hong movies in open air cinemas will always be an indelible part of our childhood memories.
Links:
3) To the movies
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Return of the Sun Birds
This time around they built their nest in a very awkward location which was only inches away from our 2nd floor study room window. The only way to photograph them, was to go right up to the window; but the short distance would frighten them away. Alternatively, I had to photograph them with a zoom lens from my garden.
Anyway, I managed to take some photos of the couple building their nest; and I would like to share them with you here.
1) These are shots of the nest taken from my garden. As you can see, the nest is very near the window, but at an awkward angle. Photo no. 1 shows the as yet incomplete nest.
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2) These shots were taken at close range. I managed to hide behind the curtain without their noticing. However the sound of the camera shutter did frighten them away initially.At first, I wasn’t sure if they were still in the process of building the nest or had already laid the eggs. With the opening of the nest facing outwards, there was no way to peek in and check. But from this series of photos you can see them bringing in the material to build the nest. Do you see the leaf in the bird’s beak?
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With these shots, I suspect I might have achieved something very few amateur photographers had done. I have photographed these lovely creatures from a distance of less than two feet away.And then tragedy struck
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Foreign Domestic Workers: What lies Ahead When They Come to Singapore to Work? (by Peter Chan)
Through these photographs, I hope we can better understand the work of the FDWs. I also do hope you can add suitable captions to each photo. Be fore-warned; some maids are employed for single-tasks while others do multi-tasking? I see the problem arises when a maid is employed for general household duties. This can be very difficult to legally and/or humanely define. Because they come from a different country, their social and cultural ethos may differ from us
Photo 1: Left: Window Cleaner in the morning, Middle: Car Washer at 6am, Right: Walking the dogs at 8am
Photo 2: Left: Removing a wild tree under the mid-day sun, Middle: Watering the plants at 5.50pm, Right: Balancing the plastic bags on a Saturday at the wet market
Photo 3: Left: Buying bread from 7-Eleven at 6.30am, Middle: Riding a bicycle to Cold Storage for the groceries, Right: Keeping an eye on child whilst looking out for “Mom” who is shopping nearby
Photo 4: Making sure doggy has its meal, Middle: Bringing the kid to school, Right: Wheeling “Ah Kung” to the out-patient clinic
Photo 5: Inside a “California Fitness” maid is also a feminine person. So what do you expect? Left: Shopping for that hair-clip, Middle: Must look trendy on her day-off at Snow City, Right: Secretly calling a friend at the public phoneNext round I shall feature the Ah Tiongs, the Prisaks and the Giris.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Of Mice and Men
No. I am not blogging about John Steinbeck’s classic Of Mice and Men. Too many years have passed since I read that book, and all I remember is that it had something to do with two men; one very big size and the other very small.It’s just that Victor’s latest post on the New Paper article about durian hunters in Singapore raised the question of why people would take the trouble to travel and camp out in the woods, contending with mosquitoes and fellow durian hunters for something they can easily buy at the nearby market.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Michael Jackson’s role in “We Are The World”
It’s such a coincidence. Last night, I was watching some video clips of We Are The World on YouTube, and this morning the first thing I saw on tv was news of the death of Michael Jackson.I noticed that all the news casters spoke about his achievements like Thriller, Moonwalk and that bizarre incident where he held his baby son outside a hotel window; but none of them mentioned his pivotal role in co-writing and singing the song, We Are The World in 1985. I am sure, his fame must have played a part in bringing together a group of the most famous pop artistes of America, who were told to ‘check their ego at the door’, and spend several grueling hours to produce the song for USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa).
"The considerable profits from the enterprise went to the USA for Africa Foundation, which used them for the relief of famine and disease in Africa and specifically to the 1984-85 famine in Ethiopia .....
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Green fields
As you probably know, this documentary is about Global Warming. The most frightening scene that stayed in my mind was that of the parched river beds of the mighty Amazon.
There was also a “2nd Shot” sort of scene of a glacier at the source of the Ganges River. An old Indian man who had been taking photos of this glacier compared photos of it 50 years ago with present day photos of the same place. The glacier had totally disappeared. I was reminded of the lyrics of the Brothers Four song, Green Fields.
Once there were green fields kissed by the sun
Once there were valleys where rivers used to run
Once there were blue skies with white clouds high above
Once they were part of an everlasting love
We were the lovers who strolled through green fields
Green fields are gone now, parched by the sun
Gone from the valleys where rivers used to run
Gone with the cold wind that swept into my heart
Gone with the lovers who let their dreams depart
Where are the green fields that we used to roam?
Did the writers of this classic already know about global warming way back in 1956?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Where was the Baharuddin Vocational Institute?
1981: Baharuddin Vocational Institute
1993: Temasek Polytechnic (Stirling Road Campus)
1998: ITE Bukit Merah (Campus 2)
2001: Queenstown Vocational Training Centre
2007: MDIS University Campus
I think I‘d better leave it to our retired teacher, YG to blog about this bit of history and not confuse readers with my speculations.
As you know, our government is very fond of re-branding and changing names of places and institutions. That gives rise to a lot of confusion among the younger generation. For example, the other day, I was driving my youngest daughter to Hougang. I noticed that she pronounced the name How-Gung (as in ‘how are you?’ and gung-ho). I corrected her saying that she should use the hanyu-pin (Mandarin) pronunciation and explained that the place was originally called Ow Kang which was a Hokkien pronunciation.
Another example is Safti. Like me, my son is now going through OCS training in Safti; but the confusion is that his Safti and mine are two different places. Mine is just down the road and had its name stolen and now has to bear a less glamorous name called Pasir Laba Camp.
Anyway, I shouldn’t be criticizing the government because I myself am guilty of causing this type of confusion by giving my children both dialect and pinyin names. Hence at home we call them by their pinyin names whilst in school they are called by the dialect names (though mispronounced) and in church it’s a mixture; to the extent that a girl asked my daughter recently, “How come your brother’s name is so different from yours?
Anyway, as always, I have digressed. Let’s take a look at this 1981 map of the Queensway/Tanglin Halt area. Practically every major landmark there has changed.
Most of the schools around it have been either vacated or rebuilt. The mosque has been rebuilt I believe. I am not sure about the Queenstown Community Centre. (Strange – I thought they have all been renamed, or rather re-branded, community clubs)
But this church and Hindhu temple along Commowealth Drive haven’t changed much.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Seeking your views about Queenstown heritage project
“My group is taking on a project regarding the conservation of Queenstown's history. Through our project, we intend to educate more Singaporeans about the significance of Queenstown as a historical landmark.”
Among their questions are these two which I hope readers; especially those who know about the history of Queenstown, can help them out with some inputs. Thank you.
1. What are your views on the redevelopment of Queenstown?
2. We would like to propose a heritage gallery cum mini cafe to showcase Queenstown through the ages. Do you have any suggestions on how we could further improve on this idea?





