Good Morning Yesterday

Singapore, 1961 – Singapore Swimming Club (by tim Light)

2012-02-01T21:38:00.000+08:00

Shortly after arriving in Singapore, we joined the Singapore Swimming Club. My father had enrolled the family as members. The SSC was a most impressive place, to my young eyes. The building was built in the 1930s, I think, but it looked very modern to me. The style was Art Deco. A distinctive feature was the diving board, shaped like a pair of whale bones.

Driving to the club was enjoyable, as we had to cross the island from Woodlands. I seem to remember that we passed the Britannia Club (which I never visited), joined the Nicholl Highway and crossed the Merdeka Bridge. My father pointed out the old Singapore Airport building and runway at Kallang.
In 1961, the SSC was right next to the sea. The water in the pool was salt water, so I assume that it was sea water, hopefully filtered to remove fish, snakes and seaweed! Strange thought that we didn’t think twice about paddling and swimming in the sea, but we would have been horrified to think that any sea creatures could find their way into the pool.

Before we joined the SSC I couldn’t swim. I had taken swimming lessons back in England, but I was only capable of a special form of the breaststroke that involved hopping along with one foot touching the bottom. Within a couple of weeks at the SSC I was able to swim. No particular stroke, but I was able to flap around and stay afloat without a lot of effort. One of our friends said that the salt water improves your buoyancy.

My parents did a bit of swimming, but whereas my brother and I would stay in the water all afternoon, they would spend most of the time reading and chatting with friends.

The SSC was right below the Paya Lebar runway approach, and it was a great thrill to see the aeroplanes roaring overhead, not very high and extremely loud. In those days a Boeing 707 looked enormous when viewed from just below, and the jet engines were much louder than today’s planes.

My last memory of the SSC was the 1961 Children’s Christmas Party. This was an afternoon event, which for the most part is just a blur of images. There were lots of children in their party outfits, and I believe Santa Clause made an appearance. I remember being a bit uneasy because some of the games involved holding on to girls, and I found it all a bit embarrassing.
From the Google satellite view, it would appear that the SSC still exists on its original site, but the art deco buildings have been replaced. And of course, it’s nowhere near the sea.

At the end of 1961 we left the SSC and joined the Royal Island Club. My dad was interested in playing golf, and the RIC offered both golf and swimming. That’s something for another blog.

Singapore Swimming Club c 1909

Singapore Swimming Club 1930s

Singapore Swimming Club 1950s

Good Morning Yesterday the book

2012-01-28T12:15:00.002+08:00

Dear friends of Good Morning Yesterday. I am very happy to announce that my book is finally on sale at the bookshops. This book is a re-write (and more) of many of the essays in this blog; but organized into a coherent narrative. But it only covers up to 1970 since it is about growing up in Singapore. Even though much of the information was already on my blog, it was still a very very laborious (but joyous) task to rethink, rewrite and reorganize the contents.

I want to thank the many people who helped and encouraged me. First of all, I want to thank you, the faithful readers of this blog. Thank you for your positive feedback in your emails and blog comments, some of which I have reproduced in the back cover of my book – hope you don’t mind. They gave me the much-needed courage to embark on this project.

I also want to thank my friends, Dr Tan Wee Kiat and Kenneth Pinto for encouraging me to write this book. I remember the FOYers meeting at MacDonald’s (Bishan) a few years ago when they convinced me to ‘launch out into the deep’. Likewise, Walter (Cool Insights) Lim also encouraged me and pointed me to the NHB’s Hi2P scheme for assistance.

My special thanks to Derek Tait who inspired me with his books about the Singapore he knew when he was here as a kid. Besides generously sharing his photos, he gave me valuable advice on how write and publish a book.

Not all the contents and stories in my book were written by me. Many are from friends and guest bloggers who posted their stories on my blog. They include my brother Chun Chew, my friends Chuck Hio, Simon Chu Chun Sing and Charles Phua, my Braddell Rise School schoolmates, Lee Sock Geck and Kim Aii Choo; as well as guest bloggers Peter Chan, Brian Mitchell, Freddy Neo, and Edward Williams. Others, like Victor Koo, James Seah, Philip Chew, Dick Yip, Ong Yew Ghee and Yeo Hong Eng, host their own nostalgia blogs but gave me permission to use their stories.

Likewise not all the photographs in my book belong to me. I thank Derek Tait, Peter Chan, Victor Koo, Philip Chew, Yeo Hong Eng, Lau Eng Leong, Ong Yew Ghee, Victor Yue, November Tan, Geoffrey Pain, Steven Charters, John Hake, Andrew Paterson, and others for giving me permission to use their photos. The remaining came from the collection of the National Archives of Singapore.

A special word of thanks goes to Mr Gene Tan and Kevyn Lai. Gene, who is the programme director of the Singapore Memory Project, wrote the forward, and Kevyn, my friend, designed the book cover.

(** My sincere apologies to anyone whose name I have left out)

Above all, I thank the Almighty God who equipped me with the ability to write these stories and who providentially kept away my business during the past few years so that I could find the time to concentrate on my writing. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

******************************************************

OK. Now you can rush out to the following places and do the necessary. LOL. But in case they run out of stocks – not that I am such a popular author, but because they have never heard of Lam Chun See and (wisely) took only a small initial consignment - please bear with us.

1) Kinokuniya @ Ngee Ann City and Bugis Junction

2) Times @ Centrepoint, Plaza Singapura, Jelita Holland, Marina Square, Tampines One, Suntec City and Paragon.

Hopefully, more bookstores will come on board later.

Thank you and God bless.

PS - The number of page views for this blog is fast approaching the magic figure of 1 million. Thanks a million!!!

Then and Now - Selegie Arts Centre

2012-01-27T17:05:00.001+08:00

In my previous post I shared with you Tim Light’s 1960’s photo of Selegie Road. One of the old buildings in that photo has been preserved and is now called the Selegie Arts Centre. According to my brother-in-law who lived grew up in a house Prinsep Street facing this building, there was a corner coffee shop called the London Coffeeshop which used to sell the popular Indian rojak and fresh cow/goat milk. There was a taxi stand next to it and further down Prinsep Street was a government clinic and the ROV (Registrar of Vehicles). In the morning many people would have their breakfast at this ‘London’ coffeeshop.

Photo number 1 – Dated around 1948, Selegie Road and Prinsep Street viewed from the top of Singapore’s tallest building then, the Cathay Building (link)

Photo Number 2 – Dated in the mid 1960’s, it shows the junction of Selegie Road and Prinsep Street. The pick-up truck is making a left turn into Prinsep Street.

Photo Number 3 – Present-day photo where the junction is removed and the tail-end of Prinsep Street is now joined to Selegie Road as one continuous road.

Photo Number 4 – This 1993 photo from the National Archives collection shows the row of shop houses along Selegie Rd being demolished. Only the corner, wedge-shape building is preserved and today it is called the Selegie Arts Centre; recognized by its bright yellow colour.

Photo Numbers 5 & 6 shows the same building in 1993 and 2007.

1981 map of this area

Old roads quiz (3)

2012-01-22T16:32:00.002+08:00

Here are two photos that I received from my UK friends, Russ Wickson and Geoffrey Pain. Photo number 1 should be easy because of the famous landmark in the background; but number 2; taken in the mid-1960s, is a bit tough. I think it is a street nearby. What do you think?

Can you make out the name of the building on the right in the above photo?

Update (23 Jan 2012)

Below are two more photos of this area contributed by Tim Light. That building at the end of the street in Photos 2, can now be seen from a different angle. It looks like my Old Roads Quiz has turned into an Old Buildings Quiz.

1960s Singapore – Amahs (by Tim Light)

2012-01-20T13:07:00.000+08:00

amah [ˈɑːmə ˈæmə]
n
(in the East, esp formerly) a nurse or maidservant, esp one of Chinese origin.
[from Portuguese ama nurse, wet nurse]

Throughout our time in Singapore we always had an Amah, as did most of the people we knew. Our Amah had her own room or quarters (depending on the house), and she did all our housework and cooking, six days a week. On the seventh she would go home to her family.

Our first Amah was also the longest-lasting and most memorable. We knew her as Kim. Her Chinese was something like Gan Chwee Gin (no idea how you would spell it). Kim was a young woman, probably no more than 20 years old when she came to us, in 1961. My mother took an immediate liking to Kim, and took her under her wing, helping her to improve her English, as well as teaching her some traditional English cooking.

My early recollections of Kim are that she was sweet and patient, as well as willing and hard-working. What I didn’t realise at the time was how good looking she was. But I was only 7, and she was off my radar!

Kim stayed with us for about 3 or 4 years, then something went wrong. She and my mother fell out. There was shouting from both parties. And tears. And when the weekend arrived my father paid her off. And that was the last we saw of her. It was a great shame. She had become like a family member to us.

My parents interviewed a series of girls, and eventually picked one. I don’t remember her name. She was an older woman, short and business-like. She got on with her work, without smiling or speaking. Her English was limited. She seemed to understand what we were saying, but answered in monosyllables. I don’t know whether my parents were happy with her, but she moved on while we were away at boarding school.

When we got back for our summer holiday, there was another amah in place. Again, I don’t remember her name, but she was a good natured woman with a couple of young children. Her English was not great, but at least she made an effort, and she seemed to be happy with her lot. I don’t think my mother was over the moon with the cooking, but they seemed to get on otherwise. There was none of the closeness that we had had with Kim, though.

Coming from an English working class community, it must have been a strange experience for my parents to employ a domestic servant. In olden days, we (the working classes) would have provided the serving girls for the well-off families in Bradford. By the 1960s, live-in servants were only employed by the very richest families.

Some people back home were shocked to hear that we employed a live-in housekeeper. They somehow see it as demeaning to have someone else do your housework for you, just because you are better off. I have an open mind about it. Personally, I think work and dignity go hand in hand, and every employer has a duty to treat his or her employees with dignity.

What did disturb me, even at a tender young age, was to hear my mother’s lady friends moaning about their Amahs. Some of them were quite bitchy and two-faced about them.

I would like to hear what the Amahs had to say about their employers!

Related Posts.

1)   Amah, grandmother, mother or servant by Peter Chan
2)   Mike Robbins’ fond memories of Singapore
3)   Lynne Copping remembers Pulau Brani

Over Bedok Corner 40 Years Ago – Scene 1 (by Peter Chan)

2012-01-16T14:54:00.001+08:00

With so much urbanization, the fascination with comparing the old and new Singapore streetscape and landmarks dies off. That is true unless you take to the sky for a different kind of experience - which is exactly what I did over a period of time.

I got this “kick” from my experience coming in to land at the former Hong Hong’s Kai Tak International Airport. How do I describe it when you target your camera at the roads, people and buildings from Mongkok to Kowloon Wall City - just 1,000 feet below you? Well someday I will like to share those aerial photographs which I took in the 1980s and 1990s. Meanwhile back to Singapore.

On an aircraft, you can explore more of what is below you. Back in the 1960s, one could take to the skies on a Cessna from the Singapore Flying Club at Paya Lebar Airport. Today that is impossible because we have to deal with security restrictions. The alternative is to turn to civilian flights that leave/arrive at Changi International Airport. Still you need to find a good window seat as well as a pair of steady hands to “fire off” the camera.

Despite careful planning, luck plays a part. Sometimes luck is not on one’s side when the aircraft takes-off on a different runway and heads in another direction away from the intended route. Climbing to a high altitude too quickly also present a challenge.

Take the case when you are about to land at Changi International Airport and finding you are seated at the wrong side of the aircraft. How about the weather which can also create havoc? Too cloudy or a heavy rain storm can ruin aerial photography. Facing morning sun? Afternoon sun? When airlines do not care much about maintenance you have dusty and scratched windows.

The eastern part of Singapore makes an interesting case study because it is near to Changi Airport. You discover the urban, transport and industrial layout of Singapore which you cannot see at street level. Some places look familiar but not altogether the same. High up there, you see different parts of island Singapore. Let me illustrate with this oblique photo to recap our memories of Bedok Corner and Upper East Coast Road; as it was and as it is now.

Photo 1: Upper East Coast Road from 2,000 feet– 1960s and 2010

The history of Bedok South Road is interesting. Somebody at the URA must have found that the easiest way to “make” Bedok South Road was to follow the original alignment of the bucket-conveyor system which transported fill-material from the hills of Bedok and Upper Changi Road to the sea.

The former hills have become Bedok South Estate. Temasek Junior College looks to have occupied the grounds of what was once a kampong Chinese school. In the photo, I see blogger Yeo Hong Eng’s kampong-farm but I can’t find it anymore in 2010. Why call it Guards Avenue? There was a time when an off-site university campus existed on the reclaimed land. If you think Lorong Buangkok has the only well in Singapore, you will be surprised that somewhere in Bedok Corner there is still a fresh water well which dates back to the 1920s.

What other scenes can you recognize?

Typewriter

2012-01-13T21:29:00.002+08:00

My wife and I were doing some spring cleaning and came across her old typewriter in the storeroom. This old thing had seen her through her varsity years 3 decades ago. Complete with carrying case, it still looked pretty new. But unfortunately, the keys were jammed. Still, I told her not to throw it away.

I have not heard of this brand called BBE; have you? Actually, it’s a brand for Olympus. Notice any difference in the layout of the keys compared to our computer keyboard?

I remember growing up in the kampong, my father used to have an Underwood typewriter. As one of the few English-educated men in our kampong, the neighbours often came to him for assistance in official correspondence. Hence the clacking of the Underwood was a familiar sound in our home.

One day, during my Secondary 3 year-end holidays, I was feeling bored and decided to teach myself how to type using my dad’s Pitman’s typewriting manual. I faithfully followed the instructions and practiced the lines; “asdfgf” “;lkjhj”. I even timed myself to make sure that I attained the required typing speed at each stage before progressing to the next.

After completing the 3 main rows of letters, I decided to stop, and skipped the last section which was for the top row; the row with the numerals. I figured that I would not have much need to use those numerals. I was already quite satisfied with my progress. Whenever I see my friends laboriously ‘typing’ with 2 fingers, and having to fix their eyes on the keyboard while they worked, I feel glad that I invested those hours in this project back in 1967.

It’s been decades since I last used a typewriter. I remember that when you wanted to type a single sheet, you had to use an additional sheet of paper so that the keys would not damage the drum. Of course, if you wanted a duplicate, you had to use a sheet of carbon paper, which was usually blue or black. And when you reached the end of a line, a small bell goes off and you literally had to use you left hand to push the ‘carriage return’ lever. Of course you could manually set the tabs as well as the line spacing and even Cap Lock.

Things have really changed since those typewriter days. I remember looking for a typist to type out our university final-year project report. My project partner was able to get the help of a relative to do the job for us at a discounted rate. Still it was expensive; especially since the university required our report to be typed with double-spacing, and we were charged on a per-page basis.

When I started work as a trainer at the National Productivity Board in 1984, I remember there were two engineers in my IE class who were from Smith Corona. I visited their plant at Bedok South which employed more than 1,000 workers. By that time they were already producing mostly electric typewriters.

There was another typewriter factory located in Ayer Rajah Industrial Estate. Do you know the name? Hint: Begins with the letter ‘O’. I remember bringing a Japanese JIT expert to visit the company sometime in the 1980s.

In the 80s, many companies had started to use the work processor. At our NPB office in Cuppage Centre, we had a huge typing pool (they don’t label us National Paper Board for nothing you know). I think they were using the Philips word processor. The other well-known brand was Wang. Whenever, we had a job, we would submit our draft in the In-tray and explain to the typing pool supervisor our requirements. And then we had to wait; sometimes up to a couple of days, for the document to come back. And then you make the corrections and the process is repeated. It paid to be nice to these ladies as we often needed to beg them to expedite our last-minute assignments.

We certainly have come a long way, haven’t we?

Do you know what this numbers 1, 0 and 2 signify?

I just found another photo of a typewriter among my collection. This one is an Olivetti. I cannot recall with 100% certainty, but I think I took this photo at the AVA Sembawang office in Lorong Chencharu a few years ago. I noticed that they had a typewriter in the corner. I asked them to remove the cover and let me take a photo. They said they used it occasionally to type out cash receipts or something like that.

1960s Singapore – The Railway (by Tim Light)

2012-01-09T14:42:00.027+08:00

In my smoky Yorkshire village of Saltaire there was a main line railway. It was part of the Midland Railway’s route to Scotland, and small boys like me would pass the hours watching trains. The intensity of traffic and variety of trains made it a very absorbing pastime. In the 1950s most trains were still steam hauled.

Arriving in Singapore in 1961, I hadn’t expected to discover any trains, but living in Woodlands, we soon discovered that Singapore did indeed have a railway, with some most impressive trains. I first saw the line when crossing the causeway to JB. My father pointed out the much narrower track gauge, compared with the UK. Coming back across the causeway we drove parallel to the most impressive train I had ever seen. The locomotive was a sleek, modern diesel loco, painted in shiny green and lettered Malayan Railways. It was pulling … well I didn’t count them … but it looked like about 20 sleek modern-looking carriages, all painted in brown and cream. It was a most impressive sight, and one that was repeated frequently during our stay.

Not all trains were as impressive. What we had seen was the main daytime express from Kula Lumpur. There were other, less glamorous trains, many of which were carrying freight. These were usually headed by a large black steam locomotive. The most immediately noticeable feature of the steam locos was the very large yellow number painted on the tender. Very handy for trainspotters. Back home you were lucky to be able to decipher the engine numbers because they were much smaller and covered with grime.

More about the engines later.

In 1961, Singapore had just one main railway line, linking Tanjong Pagar with the Johore Bahru, and a few sidings to industrial locations and the docks. From the causeway, the line paralleled Woodlands Road and Bukit Timah Road as far as Bukit Timah, where it headed south towards Holland Park and Buona Vista. It was on the Woodlands to Bukit Timah section that we saw most of our trains. By 1962 we were living at Hong Kong Park, off Dunearn Road, with a daily return trip to the Royal Naval School at Sembawang, so we were alongside the railway for much of the journey. I was constantly on the lookout for trains, and the biggest treat was always the KL Express. I noticed that, despite its sleekness, it didn’t go all that fast, and our school bus could keep pace with it between stops. I later learned that the Malayan Railway (KTM) had a top speed of 45 MPH, and that this limit still persists in many places today.

My brother was even keener on trains than I was, and he persuaded my father to take us to the station at Tanjong Pagar. There was nothing there except a diesel shunting locomotive, pottering around. And a quick look at the timetable showed that there would be a long time before the next train, so we left having seen only an empty station. The station itself was impressive enough, but my brother and I wanted to see trains.

Trips up-country had the added flavour of a bit of train-spotting from the back of the car. We took an annual holiday in the Cameron Highlands or Penang, and large parts of the route were in sight of the KTM main line. Along with fleeting glimpses of moving trains, we would see bigger concentrations of rolling stock at some of the towns like Gemas, Segamat and Seremban. We stayed overnight at KL, which in the 1960s was a full day’s drive from Singapore. At KL we always stopped at the Majestic Hotel, which was just over the road from the very fine KL station. Only once did we convince my father to take us to the stations and … guess what … not a train in sight. And nothing due. This was in the days before KTM Komuter, and trains around KL were very infrequent. We had the immense frustration of driving past the main engine shed at KL, full of locomotives, and no sympathy from my father who had hundreds of miles to drive and didn’t want to stop.

As we grew older, we were allowed a little more freedom, and one day, just for fun, we took a ride from Tanjong Pagar to Bukit Timah. Before catching the train we “bunked” the engine shed. That’s an expression used by British trainspotters who would sneak around an engine shed without permission. Well we had a good look around, and nobody seemed to care. There were a handful of engines, some steam and some diesel. Back at the station things started to misfire. We went to the ticket office and asked for tickets to Bukit Timah. “Pay on the train.” We were told. So we jumped on board one of the old wooden carriages. This was not the sleek KL express. The train was an afternoon “mixed”, heading to Gemas. A “mixed” train carries both passengers and goods. This train probably stopped at every station between Singapore and Gemas, and shunted wagons “on demand”. There were three rickety old carriages with completely open windows … much better than air conditioning. At the back were a few goods wagons; maybe three or four. One of the steam locomotives had left the shed and backed on to the train. The guard blew his whistle and soon we were trundling past the goods yards and engine shed, past modern flats and kampongs, jungle and coconut groves. Just as we were enjoying the ride, the guard came in and demanded to see our tickets. We told him that we had been told to pay on the train, but he didn’t believe us. He was convinced that we were fare-dodging, and nothing was going to convince him otherwise. Before we knew it we had arrived at Bukit Timah, and he decided to let us off with a warning. Anyway … the “mixed” was being held in the station at Bukit Timah to allow a southbound train to cross. When it arrived it was the express from KL, behind the shiny modern diesel. The express went through at about 20 MPH, and the token was exchanged to allow it to proceed to Tanjung Pagar. The Woodlands-Bukit Timah token was then handed to the driver of the mixed, allowing him to proceed to Woodlands. We watched the “mixed” chug slowly over the girder bridge and away into the distance.

During my time in Singapore I knew very little about the railway and its engines. I just enjoyed watching them. Since then I have read whatever books and articles I could get my hands on. In terms of motive power, there was very little variety in the 1960s, especially south of the causeway. In the years after the war KTM had successfully standardised on a handful of modern types. There were essentially two types of diesel and one type of steam locomotive to be seen in Singapore. These were:

Class 20 Diesels. These were the sleek, modern express passenger engines that were used on the KL expresses. They were built in 1957 by the English Electric company, and were front-line power on KTM for about 15-20 years. As more modern diesels came along in the 1970s they were relegated to freight and other more humble duties. In the 1960s they were plain green with a highly varnished finish. In the 1970s the livery was changed to maroon with a yellow “go-faster” stripe, and in the 1980s they were defaced by some indescribable colour schemes. One example survives in a museum in KL.

Class 20 @ Bukit Timah, late 1950s

Class 20 @ Causeway c 1960

Class 15 Diesels. These were the standard yard shunters, also built by English Electric, in 1948. Singapore had a few for shunting the station, freight yards and sidings. They were painted bright orange, much the same colour that KTMB still use for their shunting engines. One class 15 survives as part of the KTMB museum collection.

Class 15 @ Singapore c 1962

Class 56 steam locos. This was a highly successful design, produced by the North British Locomotive Company in 1938 for the Federated Malay States Railway. The design had a number of very modern features, including poppet valve gear and roller bearings. It was so successful that three further batches were ordered after the war, allowing hundreds of older FMSR locos to be scrapped. These were the front line locos from 1938 until the diesels arrived in 1957. After that they soldiered on until the mid-1970s on secondary duties, but still able to substitute for a Class 20 if needed. By the 1960s these engines were fired by oil, rather than coal, and heavy black smoke was one of their trademarks. My impression of the 56’s was of an imposing engine that always looked dignified whatever it was doing.

Class 56 @ Singapore shed c 1963

Other types of engine visited Singapore occasionally, but I never saw them on the island.

In 2001, whilst staying with friends in KL, I made a return trip to Singapore, travelling down on the overnight train from KL Sentral. I could hardly believe that this train took ten and a half hours to reach its destination. No faster than 70 years earlier. I was unimpressed by the accommodation – a second class coach, air-conditioned. The main irritation was the TV set which was on all night. But I was also disappointed that I couldn’t open the window and feel the breeze, like I had done all those years ago. I was too excited to sleep, and I was kept entertained by an Indian medicine man, who was on his way to Singapore to sell his cure-all medicine. He could cure me of everything from cancer to impotence, snake bites and Malaria. He had some very interesting testimonials from celebrities who had had their impotence cured by his medicine. At Gemas I was thrilled to see one of the old steam locos parked on the platform, and another in a siding. The formalities at Woodlands were farcical. We had to detrain, go through customs and passport control as if it was an airport, whilst sniffer dogs patrolled the train. Then after a long delay we were allowed to get back on board for the last few miles to Tanjong Pagar. The whole process took 50 minutes. Back in 1961 there were no formalities whatsoever. I know that Singapore and Malaysia are different countries, but surely good neighbours can come to a better arrangement. Anyway, it’s all over now. Woodlands is the terminus, and passengers have to make other arrangements to get to their final destinations.

Progress?

Me on a train in Singapore 1968

For more information on Malayan Railways/KTM, and railways and trams of Singapore, I recommend Malcolm Wilton-Jones’ very good web site:
http://searail.mymalaya.com/KTM.htm

Hornbill

2012-01-06T22:42:00.001+08:00

Look what I shot (with camera of course) today. Isn’t this a hornbill? What an irony. In 2008, I spent 1 week in Sarawak, the Land of Hornbills, and did not spot a single hornbill. The same week I got back to Singapore, I went for my walking exercise at Bukit Timah Hill and I saw 2 huge and noisy hornbills. And now this fellow comes visiting. Right in front of my house. What a thrill! Made my day!

National Theatre

2012-01-02T21:09:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Geoffrey Pain for these 1960s photos of the National Theatre and the nearby Van Kleef Aquarium. I do not remember having attended any concert at National Theatre. Only recall attending the convocation of elder brother Chun Seong.

News-wise, I recall one year when the Bee Gees performed there and many people could not get tickets and so they went to the hill behind to watch free-of-charge. But they got upset because they could not hear the singing and made a lot of noise. That as far as I recall was what was reported in the newspapers. If you can recall details; do share.

Old kampongs quiz (1)

2011-12-26T13:51:00.000+08:00

Can you identify the kampongs in these photos? I certainly can’t. I know it’s tough, but GMY readers have always risen to the challenge in the past.

Photos number 1 and 2 were sent by Mike Robbins and Photos number 3, 4 and 5 by Robin Brewster. Of course if you could identify the people in the photos that would be even better; especially the kid in Photo number 1; LOL. I don’t know about you. But I always find it a joy to see the happy faces of kampongs kids; especially when the kampong is from Singapore.

By the way, if you have watched the documentary Lost Images featuring videos by Ivan Polunin, you will see similar scenes of kampong kids frolicking in the sea. Maybe it’s the same place.

Singapore, 1961 – St. Andrew’s School (by Tim Light)

2011-12-23T16:31:00.003+08:00

We arrived in Singapore at the start of May 1961. My brother and I were having such a good time that we scarcely noticed that we had missed an entire term of school. It wasn’t until September of that year that we restarted our education. At St. Andrews School, off Woodsville Circus.

I don’t know why St. Andrews was chosen, but I know that it had a good reputation, so I guess it must have been recommended to my parents. I vaguely remember an appointment that we attended, with our parents and a senior person from the school, possibly the headmaster. We were lectured in the ethos of hard work and discipline, and the meaning of the Tennis Racket symbol … Up and On.

The school was quite a long way from Woodlands, and we had the benefit of being transported in a Metal Box vehicle. Sometimes it was a Morris Traveller, but on a good day it would be one of the Bedford vans. I loved riding in these vans, with the doors wide open (no Air Con) and no seat belts. Feeling the wind from an open door was the perfect antidote to the incessant heat. We got to know the Metal Box drivers. Tan Wah Tin and Tan Jun Tek are the two that I remember (there were plenty of Tans in Singapore). There was also a Malay driver, whose name I have forgotten. One day he was asked to keep us occupied for a couple of hours, as my Mother was busy with something. He took us across the causeway to his home in Johore Bahru. It was wonderful; a wooden house on stilts, in a rural village with chickens running about. It was another world. His wife served us Frazer and Neave orange juice, and their children came in and gawked at us.

St. Andrews was an Anglo-Chinese school. In my class I was the only white boy. There were one or two Indians and Malays, but most of the boys were Chinese. I was an ethnic minority, before I had even heard the expression. I was occasionally picked on by an older boy, on account of my race, but the boys in my class were fine. We made friends the way children do at school. My theory is that children are children, the world over, and they are attracted to each other regardless of race.

My recollection of the school in 1961 is that it was a large building set in a semi-rural location. The playing fields were extensive, and the Kallang river formed one boundary. We were warned to stay away of the river, on account of the aggressive crocodiles, which had been known to attack humans. I never went near the river.

There was a canteen where we could buy food at break time for a very modest sum. I think a bowl of noodles was just a few cents. I had other plans for my money. I would make do with a bag of prawn crackers, and I spent everything on tiny plastic soldiers. By the end of term I had enough to recreate the Battle of the Somme in my bedroom. A drink was essential, and I learned to appreciate the delights of 7-Up and F&N out of the fridge. Back in England, refrigeration was still a luxury for the wealthy. And unnecessary most of the time.

We were on the morning shift. In the afternoon, a different set of boys attended. In England we were used to staying at school until mid-afternoon, but there was no school on Saturday. So I guess it balanced out.

The first few minutes of school were intense peer-bonding session. Stamp-collecting was very popular, so we would barter stamps, or other trinkets. We had a young Chinese lady teacher, who took us for all classes except Chinese. I don’t remember much about her. She was both strict and nice, if that is possible.

There was one major understanding, on account of my Yorkshire English being misinterpreted. During a stamp-trading session I got into an argument with a boy who I believed had stolen my 1953 Singapore $1 Coronation stamp. The teacher came to intervene and ask what the problem was. “He pinched me stamp.” I tried to say. But I only got as far as “He pinched me …”. The teacher pinched the other boy on his arm and said “That will teach you to pinch Timothy!”. If I hadn’t been so shocked I would have tried to explain that in Yorkshire “pinch” means steal, whereas “nip” means pinch. Oh well. He was in tears and I never got my stamp back.

The non-Chinese boys were excused Chinese lessons. I think we went to a different room where we were allowed to read.

The big bonus was learning Malay. I’ve forgotten it now, but it was fun. It was taught with picture books, and was not especially difficult. I would have liked to learn some Chinese, but I think that would have been a totally different proposition. Anyway, the Chinese boys had been speaking it all their lives.

As for the rest of the lessons, there was a big problem. We were doing things that I had learned two years earlier in England, and I was scoring 10/10 in every assignment. It seems that children in Singapore started school at a later age than in England. Whatever the explanation, my parents realised that there would have to be a change. There were two choices. Elevation to a higher age-group would have given us more a challenging and suitable level of studies, but we would have been with boys who were two years older. The other option was to put us in a British Services school. And that’s what happened. From January 1962 we attended the Royal Naval School, in the naval base at Sembawang.

I was sorry to leave my new friends at St. Andrews after such a short time, but the naval base was another adventure.

I only have a couple of photos from St. Andrews, showing a rope bridge that was made by the Boy Scouts on the occasion of a fund-raising day. From Google earth, it looks like the main school building still exists, although the field where we played football at break time is now underneath the Pan-Island Expressway. It would be fun to see some pictures of the old place, either from then or now.

This 1967 photo of the big field in St Andrew's is from the National Archives' Picas website.

Related post: Showdown at Woodsville.

Singapore, 1961 – 20/4 Marsiling Road (by Tim Light)

2011-12-19T16:55:00.002+08:00

My father worked for the Metal Box Company. He served his apprenticeship at the factory in Shipley, Yorkshire, where the can-making machinery was made. In 1961 he was posted to Singapore as factory engineer for the Metal Box factory at Woodlands.

Metal Box owned some bungalows on Marsiling Road. One of these was our home for the first few months of our stay. Marsiling Road in 1961 was a completely different road to Marsiling Road today. The old road has been lost to development. The old street map shows its position. The red cross shows the approximate location of the bungalows.

This area of Woodlands was still semi-rural. Apart from the Metal Box factory, there weren’t many other major buildings in the area. Just beyond the end of our drive was a rubber plantation. We had a clear view across the Straits to Johore Bahru. In hindsight, it was an immensely beautiful property and location, and it was a great privilege to live there, if only for a few months. At least, I thought it was. My mother was not so happy. It was quite isolated, and I think she felt rather vulnerable. In hindsight, she may have had a point.
I can’t remember how many bungalows there were. Two or three. I do remember our neighbours, Mr and Mrs Bloody Robinson. Mr Bloody Robinson (as I called him) was a colleague of my father, and I recall that he liberally peppered his conversation with the “B” word. These days, we hear much worse, but back in 1961 it wasn’t considered nice to use the “B” word in the presence of ladies and children.

The bungalow itself was a fine property, with a spacious living area, and separate quarters for Kim, the amah. There was also a tennis court, which we hardly ever used. But what fascinated me was the wildlife. Birds, bats and monkeys in the trees. Lizards, snakes, termites, ants, butterflies, caterpillars, centipedes and even the occasional giant rat. The whole garden was teeming with life. Yorkshire is not without its wildlife. From my window I can observe several species of birds, and the occasional squirrel. But there is nothing like the variety of species, the colours and the sounds that existed in that garden.

I conducted experiments. For example, placing red ants in a jar with black ants. They fought like gladiators.

Our first snake took us by surprise. There are no snakes in Yorkshire. My brother, Richard, spotted a curled up snake in the flower bed. He told my father that he had seen a dead snake. Dad wasn’t sure that it was dead, and sure enough, when he prodded it with a broom stick it sprung into action. Dad killed the snake and buried it. Better safe than sorry. I was sorry to see it killed, but we didn’t know if it was poisonous. We were novices in this wild place.

On another occasion I discovered a flying lizard. I saw it glide across the grass and land near the drive. I knew what it was straight away. I had read about flying lizards. I wanted to catch it, so I ran indoors and grabbed a jam jar. I placed the jam jar behind the lizard, then put the lid in front if it. The lizard turned round and launched itself into the jar. What a prize! I took it to school for the nature table. It didn’t stay there long. One of the other boys felt sorry for it and released it. I was annoyed. I didn’t care about the lizard’s welfare. I just wanted my brownie points.

One evening, returning home in a taxi, an enormous iguana crossed Marsiling Road. It must have been four feet long, maybe more. The taxi driver was very interested, and stopped the car to chase after it. I don’t know what he wanted, but my mother had to persuade him to drive us the rest of the way home.
I don’t know the whys and wherefores, but we left Marsiling Road after a few weeks of house-hunting. Presumably the company bungalow was a temporary facility for newly arrived employees.

All good things come to an end, and our stay at Marsiling Road lasted only seven months. But the impressions have lasted a lifetime.
It would be interesting to know how much of the wildlife has survived the urbanisation of Singapore, or whether all the interesting animals have retreated to the nature reserve.

Singapore, 1961 – First Impressions (by Tim Light)

2011-12-14T12:59:00.001+08:00

It is fifty years since the Light family landed on Planet Singapore. I was seven years old, almost eight. I call it Planet Singapore, because it was so different from where we came from, it could almost have been a different planet.

I was growing up in a grimy old mill town on the outskirts of Bradford, Yorkshire. We lived in an old stone terraced house with an outside toilet, coal fire and no bathroom. On bath night my brother and I would splash around in a tin tub in front of the living room fire. Happy days.

One day my father came home with a broad grin on his face, embraced my mother, and then announced that we would be going to Singapore. My imagination ran wild. I had no idea where Singapore was, but I was picturing grass huts, grass skirts, lions, tigers, snakes and crocodiles. My father was working for the Metal Box company, and I imagined the factory in Singapore to be a very large grass hut.

The first big adventure was the flight. I had never been near an aeroplane before, and the QANTAS 707 was enormous. We argued about who was going to have the window seat, and my brother and I had to take it in turns. I will never forget the route; Heathrow – Rome – Cairo – Karachi – Calcutta – Bangkok – Singapore. And the flight would continue to Darwin and Sydney. At each stop we would disembark for an hour, claim our free drink in the transit lounge, and go back on board for the next leg. So many exotic places in less than 24 hours. In those days it was common for Far-East flights to make multiple stops.

Tim and Richard Light – c1960

It was night time when we landed at Paya Lebar. My father was there to meet us (he had gone ahead, a month earlier), and with him were a couple of Chinese friends. One was Tan Chen Chok. I don’t remember the other. We became good friends of the Tans over the next few months, but I lost track of them. They lived on Keng Chin Road. I don’t remember Mrs Tan’s name, but they had two children – Ronnie and Alice, and maybe a baby too. It would be interesting to track them down.

I was only half awake as we drove to our temporary home – a bungalow on Marsiling Road. I woke in time to see the illuminated METAL BOX sign as we went past a very modern factory. And the company bungalow was anything but a grass hut.

The next thing I remember was waking up in the most intense heat I had ever experienced. Everything was different. It was about 8am and the insects were making a constant noise. There was a smell … not unpleasant … that I couldn’t identify. The same smell that was everywhere on the island. Singaporeans who grew up on the island wouldn’t notice it. Just as we didn’t pay attention to the stench of coal smoke back home.

I went outside to our extensive garden, and I almost recoiled from the heat of the sun. It didn’t stop me from exploring. And the garden was alive, with insects, birds, butterflies and lizards. Suddenly I was Tarzan in the jungle. As long as I lived in Singapore, I was always fascinated by the living creatures.

Straits of Johore – c1961

On that first day, my father took us down town to see the sights and to do a bit of shopping. My memories are vague, but I do remember Queen Elizabeth Walk, the Singapore River (with its hundreds of sampans and a powerful smell), Collyer Quay with its skyscrapers (presumably bank of China and Asia Insurance buildings). We walked through Change Alley … a wonderland for little boys like me. I had never seen anything like those tinplate motorised toys, and if I had had any money I would soon have spent it. The shopkeepers were animated and pushy … not in a bad way, but they needed to get your attention.

We emerged into Raffles Place. My final memory of the day was of a street hawker selling plastic tumblers. They were unbreakable, he said. He demonstrated this by bouncing one off the pavement and catching it. My mother thought this was a great idea, and she bought a set.

Singapore Anderson Bridge – c1961

Singapore River – c1961

Well, that was my first 24 hours in Singapore. I was hooked. I did notice, though, that whilst we were living in luxury (there is no other word for it, especially when compared with our conditions in England), most of the local population were living in far worse conditions. I was happy enough with this, and too naïve to imagine that there might be any injustice or resentment.

More observations to follow ….

1959 POSB savings account

2011-12-10T22:58:00.002+08:00

I attended the When Nations Remember 2 conference on 28 November 2011. In his speech, the guest-of-honour, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, recalled that as a kid, he used to have a savings account with the Post Office Savings Bank. He said;

“I remember when I was a kid, we were issued with the POSB ‘Save At School’ stamp card with empty boxes for pasting postage stamps, and we would use our savings to buy 5-cent or 10-cent stamps to paste onto the card. When we complete the card with 20 stamps, we will give it to the school which will send it in to the bank, and it adds to our savings account. Till today, I still have a POSB account.”

Unfortunately, the minister did not have his original POSB passbook with him, and so most of the audience still had no idea what such a passbook looked like. But no worries. You can always come to Good Morning Yesterday. Thanks to my friend Jong Keng from ACS, I am able to satisfy your curiosity.

This is the front cover of the bank book. Notice, first of all, that it is not blue in colour. Notice also that the instructions are in Singapore’s 4 official languages; with the Malay instructions written in Jawi script. Older Singaporeans would have seen such writing in many official documents when we were young. And over in Malaysia, you will still be able to see some shops using Jawi in their signboards.

You must be wondering what was the interest rate. Well, as you can see from the inside cover, it’s 2.5% p.a. And interestingly, it is signed, The Controller, Post Office Savings Bank, Kuala Lumpur.

And this is the inside of the passbook. I wonder how much my friend’s $8 is worth after half a century?

Old documents quiz (1)

2011-12-04T17:41:00.000+08:00

Do you know the meaning of these instructions found on the cover of an old document?

Hint: The front cover of this 1959 booklet contains this logo.

Old buildings quiz (17) - Answer

2011-11-30T16:26:00.001+08:00

I asked you to identify the old buildings in these photos. The first was taken by Geoffrey Pain’s father sometime in 1965-67 and the second is from the collection of the National Archives of Singapore, which carried this caption; “Housing Board flats for sale in Queenstown – 19/2/1964”.

The correct answer (I think ) should be Blocks 81, 82 & 83, Commonwealth Close. So I went down this afternoon (the place is only 5 km from my home) and took a few photos to confirm. But unfortunately due to the presence of many trees, it was impossible to get a ‘second shot’, which had an unobstructed view of these flats. The best I can manage are these.

And Keith was right. The view from the top of Block 81 was magnificent. The place was deserted. The few old folks that I saw, if they had been living there since 1965, must have witnessed the spectacular changes that had occurred in front of their very eyes over the past four-and-a-half decades.; and still occurring even at this very moment.

Old buildings quiz (17)

2011-11-26T23:23:00.032+08:00

I think both the photos below are of the same building. The first one (colour) is from Geoffrey Pain and was taken around 1967. The second one (black and white) is from the collection of the National Archives. Happened to stumble upon it and thought there is strong resemblance.

I think readers should have no difficulty in figuring out where this place is. After all, how many HDB estates were there in Singapore in 1967?

PS - I think Geoffrey had accidentally flipped his photo horizontally. After I flipped it again, it is obvious that the two photos are of the same building. In fact, it is interesting that two photographers should take a photo of the same building from almost the same angle; although there is likely to be a time gap of 2 to 3 years.

Spectacles: Heritage, collector items or things that ought to be discarded? (By Peter Chan)

2011-11-19T17:05:00.000+08:00

I always ask the question what would happen to Early Man should he be down with poor vision. Certainly a dead duck when he cannot see the enemy. An accident victim perhaps; hit by a fast-moving cart when crossing the “road”. I read in an ophthalmology publication that it was Marco Polo who first saw elderly Chinese folks using spectacles around 1270. And there were only a few privileged few like the monks and scholars in Western Europe, who held the lenses in front of their eyes or balanced them on their noses.

Photo 1: Personal Heritage Collection of Spectacles

Around the world, medical professionals will be familiar with the San Francisco-based American Academy of Ophthalmology. The Academy established the Museum of Vision and the Museum has a good collection and exhibits on everything you need to know about vision and eyewear. It even has an on-line exhibition site.

Now why am I on this subject about vision?

Photo 2: If not for the spectacles, I could have walked straight at this granite boulder. Residents who live bounded by Cashew Estate, Dairy Farm and Petir Road areas would not have known there were huge granite boulders as in this picture.

For many who have met me, they know I am bespectacled. I have been wearing them since the day I went to this optician called F.J. Isacs at The Arcade in Collyer Quay in 1966. I started with a bad vision of 600 degrees (still better than Victor Koo) but in my matured years, my vision has made spectacular progress. Soon it shall be a question of when rather whether I can throw away my spectacles.

Photo 3: The optician told me it came from Porsche Carrera line (Above). Though I can’t afford a Porsche, I could still wear one. Then it hit me that I even had one from Volkswagen Motorsport (Below).

Recently I reached into my drawers and found I had some 8 dusty pairs of spectacles. The spectacles came in all type of designs but I noticed I had a preference for tortoise shell finish and in browns. Some were metal frames with glass and plastic lenses. I wondered how many spectacles I have worn from the day I went to work till now.

Assuming I wear a pair of spectacles for an average of 2.5 years and a good 30 years has have passed from then and now, that means there could have been 12 pairs of spectacles in total. It is rare that I still have some 67% in my possession. It is interesting to see the fashion trends of eye wear over time though my spectacles. I wish I knew the actual purchase year for each pair. Checking the spectacle cases, I found that I only went to see three opticians in the same period; CC Chui Optical Company, Siglap Optical and Pavilion Optics because they were closed to my place of work or my residence.

Photo 4: The slit lamp inside the examination room of a public hospital. Each examination room is called a “lane”.

One of the things I found when one visits an optician; eye-sight is tested in darkness with a manual refractor. The optician will make a judgement based on one’s reading of the Snell Chart. When I stepped out of the shop with the new spectacles, I found something was not right. Most of the time, the optician attributed that to needing time for sight adjustment.

Finally when things became critical, I visited one of our public hospitals to get a thorough eye check-up. Surprise! I was tested under bright lights by the optometrist using the auto refractor. The slit lamp was employed to magnify my eyeball and to see the eye structure in 3D. To my question, she replied that people see things in bright lights and to test under darkness condition presents errors for lens prescription. Besides checking for refraction, I also had my eyes scanned for other possibilities. Once done, I was given a prescription and off I went to the optician to order a new pair of frames. From that day, I never had dizziness or seeing slight curvatures.

Photo 5: Andy Lim in sun-glasses. Do you know which brand is used by “Yul Brynner”?

I like to think that spectacles can also be heritage items. Would you think the National Archives of Singapore be interested in my spectacles? While you think for an answer, I am already reading up on the subject of 6/6 vision by removing the worn-out lens in our retina. I say this because I am hoping that I can join Andy Lim of soon.

Old roads quiz (2) - Bus terminus

2011-11-14T14:56:00.006+08:00

I think some of the readers who have been making comments at this blog lately should have no difficulty identifying this place. Hope it triggers more memories for you.

Photo courtesy of Peter Chan

This is a photo of the former Princess Elizabeth Estate School taken in in 2007. Is this the same place as that in the black and white photo? Hope readers can provide more details.

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But how about this one? I think this one is not so easy.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Pain. Below is a close up on the ticketing hut - where bus conductors submit their collections and collect their tickets. The words say, in both English and Chinese; "Tay Koh Yat Bus Co. Ltd". The sign on the white bus says "12" and "Shenton Way".

The words on the side of the front bus says; "Paya Lebar Bus Service".

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Just received this photo from Russ Wickson (16 Nov 2011)

Then and Now – Queenstown Library

2011-11-10T21:37:00.003+08:00

The answer to the Old Building Quiz No. 16 is: Queenstown Library. The black and white photo is of the proposed site of the Queenstown Library at Margaret Drive. I saw this photo at the National Archives website a few years ago; but when I try to look for it now, I am not able to find it any more. So I am not able to tell you the date of the photo. I trust that I have not made a mistake. I hope some of the older readers who are familiar with the old Margaret Drive can confirm that this photo is indeed of Margaret Drive.

The second photo technically is not a ‘Now’ photo because I took it about 2 years ago in October 2009. Among all the public libraries, Queenstown Branch is my favourite. I have been going there for decades. I can remember clearly what the layout was like before the renovation. As you entered the library, there was a broad staircase on the left leading to the second storey, the Adults Section. Straight ahead were the service counters; and to the left would be the Children’s Section. My children spent many hours there when they were small.

Here’s another shot of the Queenstown Library taken from an angle that you are unlikely to be able to do now, or ever again. I took this photo from the multi-storey car park next to the NTUC Fairprice Supermarket. This car park was recently demolished together with everything else around it. In a few years’ time, you will see a completely new Margaret Drive.

I know many Singaporeans harbour fond memories of the old Queenstown, especially Margaret Drive. My earlier post about this area drew an incredible 80 comments! I hope this article has stirred up your memories of the old Queenstown Library. Do share them with our readers here. You can also share them with other Sinaporeans at the Singapore Memories Project website here.

Related Post: Gather moments while you may.

Old buildings quiz (16)

2011-11-06T23:06:00.000+08:00

The old building that I am referring to sits on the land in this photo (from the National Archives Collection). If I showed you the photo of the building, you would certainly recognize it.

So do you know the name of this building? Hint – there are lots of demolition and development going on near it now. But it is still stands.

Singapore, the crane city

2011-10-31T18:22:00.002+08:00

First time visitors to our country can be forgiven if they thought that they have entered the Crane City and not the famed Lion City.

Everywhere they go, they are likely to see cranes; and not lions. Not this type of crane.

Creative Commons photo of Sandhill Cranes by Flickr member, NDomer73

But this type.

Photo of Orchard Road, courtesy of Peter Chan

This photo taken from the top of a multi-storey car park at Dover Road.

Though we are thousands of miles apart

2011-10-25T16:42:00.003+08:00

Did you see this article titled, Time to Connect in today’s Today? It got me thinking.

“Used in moderation, digital tools can facilitate – even improve – family interaction, communication and understanding.” by Sheralyn Tay

Recently my old friend Simon Chu came back to Singapore and we had a gathering of old friends, some of whom I have not met since the 1970s. I prepared a slide show of our old photos from decades ago and we enjoyed an evening of blessed fellowship, reminiscing about “the good old days” we enjoyed swimming and snorkeling in places like Pulau Hantu, Pulau Tioman and Air Bapan.

Later, one of us posted a video of our gathering on Facebook and it generated much discussion and more nostalgia. Simon was in poetic mood and quoted the Sung dynastic poet Su Dong Po’s (蘇東坡) famous poem, 水調歌頭·丙辰中秋. This poem was turned into a beautiful song by Liang Hong Zhi (梁弘誌) and sung by Theresa Teng in 1983. The song was titled, 但願人長久

The last stanza reads:

人有悲歡離合，
月有陰晴圓缺，
此事古難全。
但願人長久，
千里共嬋娟

People may have sorrow or joy, be near or far apart,
The moon may be dim or bright, wax or wane,
This imperfection has been going on since the beginning of time.
May we all be blessed with longevity,
Though thousand miles apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.

The last line, 千里共嬋娟, has come to hold special meaning for me and my family lately.

It’s been more than a month since our youngest daughter left for the UK for further studies. But thanks to the magic of the internet, even though we are thousands of miles apart, we could share the beauty of the Bible together. Using Skype, we continued to have our regular Sunday evening family worship sessions. From half way around the planet, and eight hours behind us, my daughter Wan Hui could, not only participate in reading the Bible – we take turns to read, one verse at a time - she could even sing the hymns along with us, without the need of a hymnal. We just gave her the title of the hymn we wanted to sing, and within seconds she found the lyrics on the internet. However, it was difficult to sing in harmony because her voice came a fraction of a second after ours.

Recently, our Pastor has been writing about the internet; describing it as both an evil and a blessing. I guess ours was an example of the latter.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” (Psalm 103:2)

A Book, A Lion and Trains – By Peter Chan

2011-10-17T21:53:00.003+08:00

A media producer once asked me the reasons behind my prevailing interests in trains. Was it because of the physics of motion when the locomotive “huffs and puffs” pulling the passenger coaches and good-wagons? I doubt it would be chemistry either because I often was penalised in school for giving flasks, Bunsen burners and pipettes the 3D and shadow effects. So what could it be then?

I believe I must have been stirred in part reading a book called “The Lion of Malaya”; a factual account of the courageous Gurchan Singh who led a one-man act of defiance against the Japanese during WWII. I would place 1965 as the probable year I started reading that book.

Photo 1: My grandfather was an avid reader of books and newspapers. He kept a small library in the store room under the staircase. Two books caught my eyes - one was the 1962 Annual of the Littlewoods Football Pool which covered sports betting in the U.K. The other book was “The Lion of Malaya” which was first published in 1948 but I read the 1959 second edition.

Singh warned Malayans to keep away from the Sentul and Brickfields areas which were the targets of Allied air-raids. He blew up trains, sabotaged railway communications between Tanjung Pagar Station in Singapore and Hatyai Junction in Southern Thailand, and distributed anti-Japanese newsletters concerning the state of the war. He was such a scourge that the Japanese put considerable resources to hunt him down. At the end of WWII, the Japanese didn’t know that Singa (Guchan Singh’s moniker) was “lion” for a Sikh.

I would read this book over & over again. Once at a meal time, I held a spoon of rice but it failed to move into the mouth. My eyes were so engrossed on that book that I didn’t notice my angry father standing next to me. I swear I saw “fire spewing from his eyes” because I must have been holding the spoon like eternity.

By the end of 1965, I must have read this book well over 25 times. The book didn’t survive the length of time - having changed ownership several times after the passing of my grandfather. I was very relieved that the Lee Kong Chiang Library of the National Library Board has kept a copy. Seated in reasonable comfort at one quiet corner of the Lee Kong Chiang Library, I read the book again and felt compelled to go for the real train ride; this time from Bangkok to Prai.

Like in any personal travel narrations, we could talk about Day 1 activities, Day 2 activities and so forth. I thought I would use photo-stories to tell about my ride on the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) train.

I left Bangkok about 2.45 in the afternoon and arrived in Hatyai at about 7.45 the next day.

Photo 2 : SRT # 35 started from Hualampung Station (Bangkok, Thailand) and ended in Prai (Malaysia). Before the train departed there was a “Guard Mounting Parade” where the cabin attendants were checked and given the last minute briefings. I bet the officer was reprimanding them for their untidy shoes.

Photo 3: We can’t miss this transgender. (S)he boarded train at Bangsue Station and peddled a food basket in the 1st Class coach. (S)he got off at Thonburi Station.

Photo 4: It is very important to check this part of the train because you never know when a critical situation develops. The benefit of travelling 1st Class is the luxury of cleanliness but I can’t say about 2nd Class or 3rd Class though. 1st Class has in addition a shower facility.

Photo 5: This is the reason why I travel 1st Class: You get room service in your cabin. So if you missed your favourite Thai dish in Bangkok, there’s still hope on the train. But make sure you ask for the menu otherwise you end up (like silly me) with so many “emperor” dishes after listening to the cabin attendant’s recommendations. 100 Bahts = S$4.20.

Photo 6: Only 1st Class passengers receive a complimentary fruit basket and a bottle of Singha beer and bottled water.

Photo 7: After dinner, your bed is made by this cabin attendant. Remember him from the “Guard Mounting Parade”?

Photo 8: Because I don’t need much sleep in the night and outside of the widow was still pitched black, I took walks down the aisle. Here you find a signage board continuously updated.

Photo 9: End of my journey when I see SIAM CENTER on top of that building. Now in Hatyai Junction I spent one night at the Lee Garden Hotel

Stay hungry, stay foolish

2011-10-16T14:53:00.000+08:00

On my way home a while ago, I was driving next to this reckless bus driver who drove his bus like a Formula One racing car. OK I exaggerate.

At first I thought it was an empty bus on the way back to the bus depot. And then I saw the driver jam his brakes, whilst trying to overtake me from the left, when he saw some passengers wave from a bus stop. Then I realized that there were actually passengers in the bus.

A thought occurred to me. He must have read Steve Jobs’ famous Stanford speech. Maybe he was hungry. Most likely it’s the latter.

2nd shot …. Of a different sort

2011-10-14T10:16:00.000+08:00

My friend, Icemoon, likes to post Then-and-Now photos in his blog. He calls them “Second shot” – same place, just different time. Today, I too want to do a “second shot”. In my case it’s same place, same time but different subjects.

As usual, I was getting bored with my work and looking out of my window. Then I spotted a Yellow-Vented Bulbul eating away at the guava in our backyard. Suddenly it flew away, and the reason became apparent when a bigger, more aggressive mynah took over its place. No wonder my friend Peter hates mynahs. He calls them Tom and Jerry.

Such aggressive behaviour reminds me of some drivers on the roads; especially the North-South Highway in Peninsular Malaysia. Sometimes when you try to overtake a big vehicle, you see in the your rear mirror a car charging towards you. "Out of my way, or I will ram your behind!" is the apparent message. Sadly many of these cars carry Singapore license plate :(

Project Neighbourhood @ Okto Channel

2011-10-12T11:06:00.001+08:00

Please tune in to Okto Channel tomorrow night at 10 pm to catch Episode 3 of Project Neighbourhood. Tomorrow’s episode is on Jurong. Previous episodes covered Geylang and Toa Payoh.

You will be able to see a snippet(s) of me narrating about my ‘army daze’ in Safti, Jurong in the early 1970s. Among other things, I will be describing what the landscape of Jurong was like in those days; for example, the places I saw on the way to camp along the route of Green Bus 175, as well during our topo training; such as the cemeteries and farms.

And yes, I would also share about the unforgettable feeling of seeing the lights of Jurong from Safti magazine tower 3 in the dead of the night, punctuated occasionally by the sound of live firing and the illumination from mortar flares behind me. And of course, what recollection of Safti is complete without the mention of Peng Kang Hill?

They interviewed me at my home last month …. on my birthday actually … haha.

The details again:
Programme: Project Neighbourhood (3) – Jurong
When: Thursday, 13 October 2011, 10 pm

Related posts:

1) What Melvin missed
2) A Jog down memory lane

Old roads quiz (2) – Singapore’s newest road

2011-10-09T23:16:00.000+08:00

About a year ago, I saw them building this short stretch of road. They cleared the trees, leveled the surface, paved it and put up the lamp posts. I thought; surely the road would be opened to traffic soon. But one year down the road, it is still barricaded at both ends.

Anyway, I am not complaining. It is ideal for my brisk-walking exercise – lots of greenery and fresh air, and zero vehicular traffic ….. that is until one of these noisy machines come along and churn out tons of black smoke. Thankfully since a couple of months ago, this has become a thing of the past.

Question. Do you know where is this place?

Then and Now – Bible House

2011-10-06T17:40:00.021+08:00

Below are some Then (Feb2006) and Now (Aug2011) photos of the Bible House at Armenian Street.

Old Gadgets Quiz #3

2011-09-29T21:30:00.004+08:00

Can you guess what is this object used for? Hint: we used it in the kitchen.

When I was a kid growing up in a kampong, I used to help my mother with chores in the kitchen; like pounding chilli, pounding fish meat for making fish cakes and fish balls, plucking chicken feathers and so on. One other task involved the above gadget.

Here’s an old photo of my late mother and her sister taken in front of our house. Notice that there are lots of coconut trees in our kampong.

Ok enough of distraction. Here’s the answer.

Answer: It is a coconut grater. Nowadays the process of grating coconut is mostly done by machines and housewives simply bought the grated coconut or the coconut milk directly from the market.

The equipment for grating the coconut was quite interesting. It was made up of a block of wood measuring about two to three feet in length. At the end of this block is fixed a small circular blade with serrated edge. To grate the coconut, you have to sit astride on the wooden block. Holding a half coconut, you run it repeatedly over the blade in a series of forward motions. The grated coconut would drop onto a pan below. In Cantonese we called this process, ‘pow yeh’.

The above photo of a kampong-style coconut grater was taken by my friend YG Ong during a visit to Kuching, Sarawak. It is slightly different from the one we had in our house. For this one, the blade is mounted directly onto a bench whereas in our case, it was mounted on a block of wood.

The Tg. Pagar Station As Seen by A Six-Year Old Boy – Peter Chan

2011-09-23T21:39:00.003+08:00

Much has been said of the Tanjong Pagar passenger hall terminal building at Keppel Road but little mention is spoken of the ancillary infrastructures and buildings which provided much of the support and maintenance services to the railway service. How big was the land-bank?

Photo 1-1: Kg Bharu railway-yard (c 1959).

In the early 1960s I accompanied my mother to the St Theresa Church. Whilst my mother found quiet solitude in the church, I decided there was another better place for me at the Kg. Bharu road bridge. I watched the “chu-chu trains” come and go under the road-bridge. Some were very long, some very short in reference to the number of coaches or good-wagons pulled by a locomotive.

There were some occasions when my cousins and I walked from Eng Hoon Street in Tiong Bharu Estate to Kg. Bahru Road to see the trains. You could sense that I was the “Indian Chief” leading his braves on this adventure trip. We took a short-cut through the football pitch of the Singapore General Hospital, near the Macalister Flats. I believe the football pitch has one-half still on the grounds of the hospital but the other half is now the CTE.

Photo 1-2: Kg Bharu railway-yard (c 2011).

In those days, there was no such thing called “tight security” at the railway-yard. You walk into the railway-yard from several points; Blair Road, main Kg. Bharu Road (near a Chinese shrine and the B03 bus stop), Spooner Road or the laterite track on the side of Silat Walk.

Photo 2: FMSR staff quarters. Near the Kg. Bharu road-bridge, still standing is now Block 23 at Silak Walk [top right corner]. Take note of the original site of the turn-table (c 1959).

A reason for a clear-head memory on the exact spot where we slipped into the railway-yard in 1960 was because it was where I answered Nature’s call. Funny though how memories and history can repeat themselves even till today; on my July 2011 visit, I answered Nature’s call on the very same spot.

Walking around the railway-yard we saw the locomotive/carriage sheds and several housing blocks.

In the railway-yard, we found the coach livery painted in dual colours - the top was beige and bottom was brown - with the familiar “Harimau” (tiger) corporate logo of Malayan Railway. However we did not see workers working because it was past 5 pm.

Some housing blocks looked neat with private gardens on the ground floor and tall chimneys. They were occupied by Malay families. Housing blocks nearer to Blair Road were occupied by male Indian collies.

The Federated Malay States Railway (FMSR) management built the 2 and 3-storey housing blocks for the staff. Each building was unique because it had the name of the different states of Malaya. The buildings were later demolished around 1983. Replacing the housing blocks are now the empty concrete ground facing Godown # 2, Godown #2 facing Spooner Road, and the HDB-designed Blocks 1 & 2.

Photo 3: The SLA signboard was where I pee in 1960; behind me would have been the FMS staff quarters. I pointed into a small drain which still exists. The former FMS staff quarters has given way to one side of the Kg. Bharu Road dual-carriageway, with the ground-level substantially raised.

Photo 4: United Engineers Ltd Steel foundry with St. Theresa’s Church in the background (c 1959). Photo courtesy from the late Brian Raybould.

The workshops and carriage/locomotive sheds at Kg. Bharu date back to 1932. So are the signal cabins, turn-table, a green coloured wooden house and the two red brick bungalows.

Will these buildings be retained to capture the aura of a former railway station? Will they have to go because the future concept plan calls for an optimum mix of prime office space and high-end hotel rooms that can synergise with the commercial, convention and hotel clusters at the future Tanjong Pagar waterfront?

An Old building and Linked Histories - Brian Mitchell

2011-09-19T20:58:00.002+08:00

Cycling home last week here in Cambridge, UK, I took a road I don’t take too often and came to a halt as I passed this building.

I have seen this hut before but had not realized that it was now boarded up, has been sold and will shortly be demolished. Rather surprisingly it had a Japanese name, ‘The Yasume Club’, ‘yasume’ means ‘rest’.

You might also be surprised to learn that this old building in a side street in Cambridge has a great deal to do with Singapore. As the worn, lopsided, sign hanging over the door tells us, this hut belonged to FEPOW – Far East Prisoners of War.

With the fall of Singapore in 1942, 50,000 British, Australian and other servicemen fell into Japanese hands. Most were eventually assembled at an army base at Changi. Lee Kuan Yew, then an 18 year old student at Raffles College, said ‘ I saw them tramping along the road in front of my house for three solid days’.

Those prisoners suffered terrible hardship and 25% of them would die, sent from Changi across S E Asia and to Japan itself. Many died building the infamous Siam-Burma railway. Some who remained at Changi worked building an airfield at Changi. This became RAF Changi, where I lived in the early 1960s, and then part of the new Changi International airport and SAF base.

On repatriation to the UK many of the former prisoners felt that their suffering was not and could not be understood. They formed their own clubs and associations and there were about 60 such associations which were part of FEPOW. Men from the Cambridgeshire regiment, who had fought in Malaya and Singapore where they became prisoners, opened their club house in 1952. Finally, it closed in 2008 – its job, ‘To keep going the spirit that kept us going’, completed.

Now the old hut in which those former prisoners met will shortly disappear and with it a small symbol of the linked histories of the UK and Singapore.

Link: FEPOW Community

Theme from Wong Fei Hung

2011-09-14T20:45:00.001+08:00

Recently I attended a public concert by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra at Clementi Woods. One of the tunes they played was the well-known theme song from the Wong Fei Hung （Once Upon a Time in China）movies made popular by kungfu superstar Jet Li. The conductor did a neat trick by dividing the audience into two groups, and asking us to shout out at the precise moment; Ooh! and Aah! just like in the movie version made popular by George Lam.

He – the conductor – referred to this tune as 男儿当自强. He did not dare to use the original and proper title because he was probably afraid that the young people in the crowd would not recognize it. Do you know what is its original title? I think among the oldies in the crowd, even if they did not know the title, they definitely knew that the original version which was used in the Kwan Tuck Hing and Shek Kin days sounded like this:

This classical piece incidentally is known as 将军令 or The General’s Command. I am sure the iconic intro of the drums and yangqin brings back nice warm memories for the oldies. Although the action sequences of the old black and white WFH movies are no match for today’s special-effects enhanced versions, it did not stop the kids of our era from having a good time then. Here’s a clip to rekindle your happy memories of those good old open-air theatre days.

PS – Although I belong to what they call the hung-mao pai (红毛派 or English-Ed brigade) I do enjoy Chinese classical music. In fact I have a modest collection of 华乐 cds; including the ones containing 十面埋伏 and 将军令. Friends who want to borrow are welcome.

Related posts:

1) To the movies
2) Special effects
3) Shek Kin - Thank you for the memories

Memories in a masking tape

2011-09-10T18:13:00.001+08:00

If you came to my house you will be surprised to find this dirty old masking tape on one of the doors of my children’s rooms. About eleven years ago when we renovated our house, we gave the contractor strict instructions not to remove this masking tape. Do you know why?

It’s a visual record of the heights of my children as they grew up in our house. In the twinkling of an eye they are all grown up. Last night, I sent my youngest off to the UK for further studies. At the same time, my son who completed his NS last year has also started his classes in NUS.

Soon the nest will be empty. But the masking tape will remain.

Techtalk: Bits & Bytes and You (by Peter Chan)

2011-09-04T23:40:00.001+08:00

I am at a loss as to how many computer-related fairs there are in a year because unlike many others I have never made an annual pilgrimage. The first occasion was in 2006 and the next time was to a computer show at SUNTEC City in 2010. On both occasions, it was blogger Victor Koo who encouraged me to make the trip for the best mega-deals in town.

Photo 1: A computer show at SUNTEC City.

From both fairs, I got the impression times have changed. Now it looks more like a bazaar rather than an exhibition or a trade fair. Today there’s a gamut of product-offerings at such as cameras, camcorders, printers, mobile phones, TVs & home entertainment, games, monitors and accessories. The crowd profile looks different - casual in dressing and more female visitors.
So why am I blogging about it? Well the computer fairs or exhibitions do have a heritage touch to it. Do you know when was the first ever computer show held in Singapore? Where was it held?

Photo 2: Hyatt Hotel (c 1981).

When computer shows were first introduced into Singapore, it was led by the PCs. You never found Mainframes, Mini-computers or Workstations in any exhibition until the National Computer Board (NCB) was formed in 1984. This means that big IT vendors such as IBM, Unisys, NCR, HP, Sun Microsystems or Digital actively took part in shows after the Singapore Government’s computerization program swung into high gear. Similar to “rapid urban renewal” in Singapore, NCB disappeared in the late 1990s after it merged with the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) to form IDA.

Photo 3: NCR advertisement(c 1983).

The first PC Show was held at the Hyatt Hotel in 1982. Here are some old snap shots of that show. It was called PerCompAsia 1982. 1982 was a significant year because IBM launched the IBM PC/XT models; minimum configuration was 32K Ram, 2 X 5.25” floppy drives of 360KB each and a higher capacity model which had a 10MB Tandon drive. How many of you can remember home entertainment ATARI or PET COMMODORE? How about the Philips word processing systems?

Photo 4: Big dinosaur PCs. A marketing support personnel explaining to an illiterate IT customer (c 1982).

Yesterday’s PercompAsia 1982 was organised by Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd. The exhibition was quite unlike today’s modern “pasar malam” because the organizers did not allowed for on-the-spot sales. Just to give you a sense of how much Singapore computer users have come from 20 years ago, the software demonstrated included personal productivity tools - SuperCal, Wordstar and Dbase II and accounting - General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable.

Photo 5: There was a time when rival computer vendor personnel developed friendship during an exhibition. “How about meeting at Chinoserie after work?” (c 1982)

When I looked back at these old photos, there is a certain smartness and uniformity of these IT personnel. They wore the familiar business suites or normal office attires of dark trousers and white shirt, and spoke proper English (not Mandarin with some English words thrown in).

In fact I heard many stories which echoed the same voice: The day Yaohan Best sold computers, it was time to get out working in the IT Industry. Good bye to bits and bytes!

Flying over roofs, running on walls.

2011-08-31T21:57:00.014+08:00

I have a question for the Chinese men of my generation who used to so love those black and white Cantonese wuxia movies of the 1950’s. When you listen to this Chinese pipa classical called 十面埋伏, what picture or scene comes to your mind?

I believe, like me, many of you will immediately visualize a night scene where a masked intruder in black, crouches and walks stealthily on the roof of a building. That’s the same kind of scene that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon director, Lee Ang (sigh … those Americans changed his name to Ang Lee) so skillfully weaved into the beginning of his movie. However, I am glad that he used the drums as the background for that famous Zhang Ziyi - Michelle Yeoh fight scene - one of the best ever, in my opinion. It adds so much to the excitement.

In Cantonese, we call this type of action, fei sim zhao pek (飛簷走壁)** or "flying over roofs, running on walls". Through the magic of modern-day special effects, Lee Ang helps us to see what it means to literally “fly over roofs and run on walls”. With the help of YouTube, we can enjoy that scene again.

Still it would be fun for us oldies to view those old Cantonese fight scenes once again just for the nostalgia. Anyone know where we can view them?

Can you guess where this photo was taken? Answer here.

** It’s quite confusing. There are actually two versions of this metaphor. The more popular version is 飞檐走壁 ( fei yan zhao pek – thanks to KL for enlightening me) which I found in many websites. But I managed to find one (here) which gives a Cantonese pronunciation that is similar to that which my mother taught us.

Wisma Indonesia (in the mid-1960’s)

2011-08-28T00:00:00.004+08:00

Last week, Geoff Pain sent me 3 mid-1960’s photos of the Wisma Indonesia at Orchard Road. Anyone remember this place? It was relocated to Chatsworth Road and in it’s place the Wisma Atria was constructed.

Below is a scan from my 1981 street directory. You will notice that many of the landmarks there have been either demolished or rebuilt; e.g. the Lido Theatre. Do you see a hotel called Irama Hotel next to Wisma Indonesia? Anyone remember this place?

Quiz:
1) What was the name of the Chinese restaurant at the International Building next to Lido?
2) What was name of the institution that previously occupied the premises marked Raffles Junior College?

Old buildings quiz (15)

2011-08-24T22:18:00.003+08:00

Thanks to Geoffrey Pain who sent me this 1960's photo recently. Can you identify the building? Hint: It was demolished years ago; and replaced by a new one not far away.

For those who are getting tired of old buildings; maybe you'd like to try this New Building Quiz.

And here's a reminder to tune in to Okto tonight for another episode of Foodage.

Clock towers quiz

2011-08-22T21:21:00.001+08:00

I have always been fascinated by clock towers. Whenever I see a clock tower, I am tempted to take a photo. Maybe it’s because for many years I studied at a school which was famous for its beautiful clock tower; which sadly had been demolished and replaced by a modern replica; like so many old beauties in Singapore.

This quiz should be easy compare to my last one. Can you identify these 5 clock towers? The first one is not counted because the name of the school is given.

Foodage Episode 3 (Okto Channel, Thursday 18 Aug, 10 pm)

2011-08-17T21:32:00.002+08:00

Whenever you watch any show about food, they will tell about all the places where you can enjoy wonderful food. But Foodage is different. As you might expect, the bulk of the first few episodes contain snippets of old-timers reminiscing about the nice food experiences of times past. But tonight you will (probably) hear something quite different. A few of us will let you have a taste of the atrocious food that we NS boys had to endure during our army days in the 1970’s.

Do tune in.

The two photos below were taken during my first route march as a recruit in Safti in 1971. The place is somewhere behind the Nanyang University; and probably within the grounds of the present NTU campus. We were having a break and waiting for the rations truck to arrive with our lunch. These rations come in ugly metallic containers and we had to queue up with our mess tins into which the cookhouse personnel would scoop everything; rice, dishes and soup.

I remember our route march took us past the cemeteries near the end of Choa Chu Kang Road and not far from Safti Live Firing Area A (Sungei Poyan). This part of Singapore has not changed much and remains beautifully green and serene.

Five places where you can still find old bus shelters

2011-08-13T15:36:00.002+08:00

ANSWERS (17 Aug 2011) – Answers in red below the photos.

It’s not easy to find old bus shelters in Singapore nowadays. I am referring to those with orange and white stripes on the roof and orange plastic seats. Except for some really ‘ulu’ places like Lim Chu Kang Road and Old Choa Chu Kang Road, most bus shelters are of the modern kind like this one at Bukit Timah Sixth Avenue. Of course they can also be found as temporary bus shelters in areas where MRT construction is ongoing, such as Rochore Road and Bukit Timah Road.

Hence I was quite surprised to see them in some urban areas. In the process of travelling around Singapore, I have seen them is at least 7 or 8 such places. I tried to take some photos. But it is too troublesome and so I simply lifted the rest from Google Street View website.

Can you identify the locations where these 5 old bus shelters are found? I think No.1 has been upgraded recently.

Answer: Corporation Road. The buildings behind are part of the Jurong Junior College.

Answer: West Coast Road near Teban Gardens. Behind the bus stop is the Pandan Reservoir.

Answer: Ubi Avenue 3 near to the Traffic Police Dept.

Answer: Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1 near Keat Hong Shopping Centre.

Answer: Jurong West Central 1.

Another quite unexpected place to see such an old bus stop is at Zion Road opposite the entrance to Great World City.

Foodage Episode 2 (Okto Channel, Thursday 11 Aug, 10 pm)

2011-08-10T22:43:00.000+08:00

Tonight you will get to see myself, Peter, Unk Dicko, James Seah and many others reminiscing about the food we enjoyed – and loathed, in the case of the army food – in years gone by.

Last week, a few of us gathered at my place to watch the debut and enjoyed a round of durians, mangosteens, langsat, longans, keropok and ang ku kueh. Needless to say, our Lor Arh seller got a standing ovation for his fine acting. Tonight you will probably hear him narrate a touching story that happened at the old National Library @ Stamford Road. Do tune in.

Link to Foodage Facebook Page.

Then and Now (Where is this place?)

2011-08-09T18:35:00.001+08:00

The photos below well illustrate the speed at which the physical landscape in Singapore changes. Can you still recognize this place which I blogged about in 2008 (here)?. Fast forward three years and all those buildings bequeathed to us by our British colonial masters have disappeared completely.

As one who lives nearby; and will be a direct beneficiary of the development taking place here at the typical Singaporean breakneck pace, I should not complain. Nevertheless I cannot help feeling a sense of loss because yet another part of our heritage has vanished.

Don't forget to tune in to Okto Channel

2011-08-03T21:08:00.005+08:00

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Eh .. if you want to see the main star in action, you will have to wait till Episode 2 next week.

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Shop N Save (Peter Chan)

2011-07-30T23:24:00.003+08:00

Among all my priorities and interests today, I am not exactly hot on shopping. I only shop when there is a need or a passion. For some there is the all-year round Great Singapore Sale: Die-die must shop to take advantage of the great savings from price reductions.
As an undergraduate, it was easy to pick up knowledge on what to wear and where to shop because I worked part-time as a musician in the hotels. Besides, there were my Arts/Social Science Faculty undergraduate friends who took to the cat-walk as fashion models, writing for HER WORLD magazine or part-timing as tour coordinators. We used our “talents” to earn our pocket-money and to pay the university course fees. There were times when we felt not quite sure whether we were undergraduates first or last, given the amount of time we spent away from the campus.

You find yourself easily exposed to the designer labels like Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani, instead of the mainstream ARROW or LEVIS brand. For young working ladies, there was London-trained Julia T.W. of Fashion Lodge/Miss Lodge who popularized the pillbox hat with veil in Singapore. And Celia Low with her house brand called “Celia” at Centerpoint.

Photo 1: Black is the fashion at ISETAN (c 1980)

After graduation, we went different directions but only two of my male friends made it into the retail industry whilst one close female friend made it to Cathay Pacific airline in Hong Kong. Last week, I met the two guys who first joined ISETAN and C K TANGS as merchandise- buyers. They are still with the same company and have witnessed some of the most “brutal wars” of the retailing business in the past 30+ years. Now what exactly would I like to talk about shopping in Singapore?

In the 1980s, there were a couple of international department stores that challenged “local boys” like METRO, Robinson’s, Marks & Spencer, John Littles, OG, Emporium and CK Tang.

Have you heard of Printemps, Tokyu or Galleries Lafayett?

Printemps was located at the Le Meridien Singapore Hotel in Orchard Road. Japan’s Tokyu was at Marina Square, and French store, Galleries Lafayett had two outlets in Liat Tower and Goldhill Square.

Galleries Lafayett at Liat Towers on Orchard Rd, 1987

Did you know ISETAN began at the Hotel Apollo Annex in Havelock Road? There was a DAIMARU in Liang Court. MITSUKOSHI of Japan had an outlet in the Tanjong Katong Complex.

Many of the foreign retailer stores could not survive the economic downturn in the 1980s. The first to bear the brunt was Hong Kong-owned Singapore Shui Hing’s; it closed down in 1983. Local retailers like Mohan’s Department Store on the ground-floor of Orchard Shopping Center and Peter Chew’s at Supreme House fell victims to the 1985 economic crisis and never recovered.

Photo 2: METRO Store at Supreme House (c 1974)

A decade earlier, Robina which opened in 1974 at Robina House, Shenton Way (now #1 Shenton) and a branch at The Orchard, was the first to close in the late 1970s. Robina’s main business line was ship-building through Robin Dockyard and it had other business interests through a company called Robin Information Systems, which distributed Hitachi Computers.

Shui Hing is one foreign retailer I cannot forget for two reasons; the first was its catchy jingle I heard over the radio when I drove to the office each morning at 7.45. Secondly, Shui Hing not only offered branded goods but a New York shopping experience.

Photo 3: Singapore Shui Hing ( c1983)

What is the New York shopping experience?

To many Singaporeans, this was so different shopping at METRO and Robinson’s. The store was modeled along Sears Roebuck, a giant American retail chain, hired American management staff, named its departments after New York streets and offered 80% products from the U.S. (something very unheard of in those days). It was so Americanized there was even the Statute of Liberty paraded on the ground floor of the store. It was actually a life-sized mannequin dressed in white satin holding a flaming torch from one of the top Singapore modeling agencies.

There’s one impression I got at this store: everything had to be big – XXL or thick in the wallet. Everything from its smallest attaché kit to golf bags had a distinctive look, good enough to make a strong statement. It was also pricey – the cheapest was at $50 for a toiletries kit. The store only accepted AMEX card, not even DINERS CLUB. VISA had not yet been introduced into Singapore.

For me I liked their leather goods department but I could buy one when Shui Hing’s held its closing-down sale in 1983. Before that, I could only admire its collection of leather bags and luggage – dual shade colors of burgundy and cognac. For me the alluring part was the smell of high-quality leather. At the closing-down sale, I picked up my favorite burgundy brief case for $100/- and promptly charged it to the AMEX card. When I first spotted that brief case, it was priced at $780, so this was indeed a good deal. It was either high retailer mark-up or it was genuine Milan leather product.

Now here’s a question. Where was Shui Hing located? Clue: This building still exists down in Orchard Road.

Foodage debut @ Okto Channel, Thursday 28 July, 10 pm

2011-07-25T21:50:00.002+08:00

STOP PRESS

We have been informed by the producers that the telecast of the first episode has been postponed to next Thursday, 04 August.

Dear Readers.

Do tune in to Okto Channel this coming Thursday, 28 July at 10 pm for the debut of Foodage, the Food Heritage Documentary. My fellow nostalgia bloggers like Dick Yip, James Seah, Philip Chew, Peter Chan, Jerome Lim, Hong Eng and I, and maybe others will be appearing in the first two episodes.

For more information about this documentary, please go to their Facebook Page here.

Here are some photos that I took during the location shooting.

Philip and James Seah acting out the Lor Arh scene.

Peter @ Adam Food Centre. Peter and I were talking about the location of the original Adam Road Hawker Centre.

Myself at Dunearn Road. Peter and I talking about Singapore’s first fast food restaurant.

Old Buildings Quiz No. 14

2011-07-22T21:12:00.002+08:00

Cannot give hints. You guys are too good.

Update

As you can see from the Google Street View image below, this building used to house a DBS Bank branch in Taman Jurong. But do you know what was the building originally? No, I don’t think it was OCBC, unless it was before DBS. Hint. It was not a local bank.

Wow. I never knew the images at Google Street View are this old. This DBS branch had closed down months ago. I think more than 1 year ago.

Can you identify this kampong?

2011-07-17T22:23:00.002+08:00

Below are two photos from Geoff Pain. They were taken in the mid-60’s. Can you help me to identify the location please? It is likely to be in the Upper Serangoon/Bartley/Paya Lebar vicinity? Thanks.

5 places where you find Casuarina trees in Singapore

2011-07-13T22:36:00.002+08:00

I have always been quite fascinated by the humble Casuarina tree. I always associate it with my childhood. I do not know why. At first I thought it was because we had this tree in my primary school compound in Braddell Rise School. But recently, when I enlarged the photo of the view from the front of my kampong house to create the banner you see at the top of this blog, I realized that there used to be few Casuarina trees in front and at the back of the row of shops opposite our house.

There are two things that I remember about this tree. One is the string-like leaves. We liked to pull it apart and join it back again. Secondly, I remember seeing clumps of hair-like dead leaves on the ground.

Nowadays, there are not many places in Singapore where you can see Casuarina trees. But if you keep your eyes open, I think you can easily spot 10 places or more. So here’s a quiz for you. Can you identify these 5 places or roads with Casurina trees.

No. 1 is a give-away. There are lots of Casuarinas trees here as to be expected because Casuarinas are supposed to grow well in sandy areas such as the seaside.

No. 2 should also be quite easy. This short road should be called Casuarina Road because it is the only road in Singapore where you can find lots of Casuarina trees growing on both sides of the road. On the contrary, I hardly saw a single Casuarina tree in Casuarina Road near the Peirce Reservoir at Upper Thomson Road.

No. 3 is also quite easy. Hint – it is near to a very famous food centre.

No. 4 is also easy. This is a park where I went recently to take part in the filming of Foodage; a documentary that is coming up this month on Okto Channel. My Foyer friends are sure to blog about it.

No. 5 is probably the toughest as this place is quite secluded. Hint: It is in the Bukit Timah area.

Now let's see if anyone would like to take up the challenge and do a follow-up to this story.

Latest

It appears that my quiz is too simple for you guys. So here are 2 more bonus questions. No hints this time.

Operation Broomstick

2011-07-05T17:26:00.000+08:00

I think many readers were not even born yet when Operation Broomstick was launched in Singapore. So what was this operation about. I thought it would be more appropriate to post my article in my other blog, My 5S Corner.

Share with you another photo of a kampong-stlye home-made dustpan made from re-cycled material. This is in present-day Singapore.

Selamat Jalan KTM (by Peter Chan)

2011-07-02T18:45:00.001+08:00

“In the 1920's plans were made to build a new terminus in Keppel Road and this was completed in 1932……opened to traffic on 3rd May 1932……………………”, Malcolm Wilton-Jones, railway enthusiast par excellence.

I use photographs to illustrate some aspects of railway developments in Singapore, starting with a 1931 photo from a private collection. It was taken during the final stages of construction of the Tanjong Pagar Station. Do you notice there’s a railway track at the bottom of the photo? From anecdotal evidences, the track connected People’s Park Station with Borneo Wharf Station to a point in Tanjong Berlayar in the 1910s. The track was the remnant of the Singapore-Kranji Railway (SKR); the corporate ownership passed to the Federated Malay States Railway (FMSR), then Malayan Railway Bhd and KTM Bhd.
Keppel Club golfers in the 1980s should remember a track across Bukit Chermin Road. Yes that’s part of the western extension of the SKR. My late father told me when he was 8 years old, he came across the abandoned track at Tanjong Pagar Station but he didn’t know its significance then. He also saw something similar at the foot of Bukit Batok in 1942: the SKR line to the Bukit Panjang Station.

Photo 1: Keppel Station and the original SKR track (c 1931).

Besides operating as a station, Tanjong Pagar Station joined other railway stations at Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh offering hotel accommodation. Just recently I tried room reservation at the Heritage Hotel in the old Kuala Lumpur Station (now KLIO) but it was closed down. What a pity because it was here that my family stayed for a few days in 1965.

Plate 1: Malayan Union Annual Report on the hotel and catering services of the railway company (c 1946)

Malcolm Wilton-Jones further adds, “It continued north-westwards until reaching Newton Station, near where Newton Circus now is, and then ran along the north side of Bukit Timah Road,………..to Bukit Timah station, which was across the road from Pei Wah Avenue……….” Where was this SKR track?

Photo 2: The prominent T-shape junction is where Jalan Jurong Kechil (horizontal) meets Upper Bukit Timah Road (vertical) today. Notice the curved alignment just below Jalan Jurong Kechil? That would have been the original alignment of the SKR after Pei Wah Avenue. At the top right corner of the photo is the present railway alignment (c 1946).

That Upper Bukit Timah Road from Lorong Sesuai northwards to Woodlands Road is a dual carriageway with 3 lanes on each side: Was it always that way?

After the FMSR decided on a new deviation for the new proposed railway; a steel truss bridge was built over Upper Bukit Timah Road next to the Rail Mall. As shown in Photo 3, below the truss bridge was a large grass-path which the PWD turned it to become the other half of Upper Bukit Timah Road in the direction of Woodlands.

Photo 3: View of the truss bridge from the future Ford Motor Company factory. A large rubber estate is behind the concrete pillar on the right (c 1931).

I like to think positively these photographs are a strong reminder of Singapore’s connection with the past and Malaysia. We didn’t become prosperous on our own merits though.

“Terima Kaseh atas prihatinan dan kebajikan selama 80 tahun”

Readers who are eager for a deeper understanding of railways – the past and the present developments, do visit KTM’s public library at Batu Gajah in Perak State. HDB residents of Blocks 18 & 19 at Jalan Jurong Kechil, you are sitting on the former SKR track. And me: Photo 4 which was taken at the Ipoh Station.

Photo 4: Mohan Rao and I standing on the passenger coach belonging to the Sultan of Perak (c 1974). This was part of the first train service launched in Malaya in the late 19th century.

Land Border Crossing @ Padang Besar (by Peter Chan)

2011-06-27T13:59:00.001+08:00

It’s possible for one to travel all the way from Tanjong Pagar Station to Bangkok and beyond by train. There are two possible ways but through KL Sentral Station. The first way is to travel on a Keratapi Tanah Malaysia (KTM) night train service to Butterworth to connect with the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) express train #36 which starts at 1345 hours on the next day. This can be pretty inconvenient because we arrive in Butterworth at an unearthly hour of 0600 hours. There is also a morning KTM train service from KL Sentral to Butterworth but arrives an hour after the SKR train has left.

Fig 1: Border map of Padang Besar (c 1983)

The second alternative is to travel on the same KTM night train into Hatyai Junction arriving at about 1000 hours, and spending a half-day there before boarding SRT #36 or SRT #38. Both train services depart within 20 minutes of each other to Bangkok.

Both KTM and SRT trains pass through the border town of Padang Besar, Perlis. The Malaysian side of Padang Besar is simply Padang Besar but the Thai side is Padang Bazar or Pekan Siam.

Photo 1: (Above) A view of the single train track crosses the international border in the distance. The container trucks are heading in the direction of Pekan Siam after clearing Malaysian CIQ. (Below) I am standing facing Malaysian territory on the Thai side of Padang Besar. Notice the single train track. This narrow passage is frequently used by Thais without passports to enter Malaysia. It appears authorities on both sides of the border are familiar with people using this access. That day I encountered a family of four adults and six children when I was at the spot. Maybe I should think of walking back into Malaysia this way.

I did the first train ride from Singapore into Bangkok in 1971 (link). Today, I toggle between trains, planes, buses and “motosikals” to get across the border but I certainly won’t do what we did in 1974 (link). I doubt I have the courage and a pair of strong legs. Anyway the cost for a “motosikal” and bus journey into Hatyai Junction from Padang Besar is RM3 and 40 Baht respectively.

Photo 3: (Above) The lady just cleared Thai CIQ and is now on Malaysian territory. (Below) This is another way apart from trains to get across the border. A metal basket on the handle-bar holds the luggage. Sometimes the pillion-ride wears a helmet but it depends ……

The border between Thailand and Malaysia over in Padang Besar is not quite of the same alignment as it was. In 2006, Malaysia and Thailand concluded a new border agreement whereby land of equal area (approx. 2,200 m2) was exchanged. A new security fence and wall was erected at the same time. The result is the Tokong Buddha Temple is now inside Thailand and parts of the border-road after the Malaysia CIQ to the guard-house is now Malaysian. People who were previously Malaysians and still living in properties beside the Tokong Buddha Temple are now classified as Thai citizens. Having spoken to those people, I still cannot get over the anomaly.

Photo 4: If you prefer to cross the border the conventional way by train, this will be the daily scene at Padang Besar Station. Passengers alight and walk into the building which houses the Malaysian and Thai CIQ. After clearing Thai CIQ, and boarding the train again, you are already on Thai territory and the next stop is Hatyai Junction. Conversely, it is the same for trains departing Hatyai for KL Sentral Station.

So which way will you go mate?

Chia Keng Wah remembers Gillman Barracks

2011-06-19T22:04:00.003+08:00

After reading my January 2006 article of my memories of Gillman Camp at Yesterday.sg, reader Chia Keng Wah posted a lengthy comment sharing his own memories of what was then called Gillman Barracks. Since many of my readers are unlikely to have seen his comments, I have posted them here as a separate article for your enjoyment. Thanks Keng Wah.

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I would like to add my recollection of Gillman Barracks. I was stationed in Gillman Barracks after three years training as a boy soldier in the Army Boys Trade School in the Far East Training Centre, Nee Soon Barracks (January 1962 to June 1964) and at the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham, England June 1964 to November 1964).

After the three years training I was posted to Gillman Barracks in January 1965 till it's closure as a Royal Engineers Barracks in 1971. That was the year when the British Army pulled out completely from Singapore and Malaysia. My unit, known as the Singapore Engineers Squadron was among one of the six squadrons that made up the Engineer Base Group for the British Army in Singapore. By the way, the Royal Engineers name their units as Squadron from military traditions rather than as Company as in other infantry units.

Our squadron had only two Troops (platoons), one being the Plant and the other the Field Troop, commanded by an OC with a Major rank. The Plant Troop (this Troop was later commanded by then Cpt Cheah who later joined the SAF Engineers) had the earth moving equipments for roads and airfield construction while the Field Troop did the bridging and other field constructions.

Our squadron office is the first building on the left as you enter Gillman Barracks. It is that building behind the red umbrella in the photo posted by Lam. The building is still there after all those years that it was used as a Pub. Further along the entrance road was the Base HQ where the Commandant (a Full Colonel) had his office. Also in the same office block we had the no nonsense, RSM.

For entertainment in those days we had the Regal Cinema managed by the Army Kinema Corporation popularly called the AKC which screened shows twice nightly except Tuesdays. That building is still standing to this day. It was last used as an Italian restaurant till the Gillman Village ceased operation in early 2011. That building you can also see in Lam's photo.

That photo posted by Lam as the officer's mess was used as our WO and Sgt's mess. The RE Officer's mess then was across Alexandra Road where the HortPark is. It was converted into the Institute of Dental Health till the late 1990s or early 2000s which after that was being used as the Jain Institute after the Institute of Dental Health moved to its new home at the Sepoy Lines beside the SGH. I suppose it was from there that those Dental Nurses went swimming on Thursday afternoon?

Lam was correct about the swimming Pool in the valley between the then our WO and Sgt's Mess and our accommodation blocks. It was packed with swimmers every afternoon during those days in the sixties. The Brits were as now, sun worshippers and there was more sun tanning rather than swimming!

As a small Squadron, we carried out many small scale development projects for Singapore during our existence between 1965 till 1971. Just to mention a few: we built the Sarimbun Scout Camp; cleared the land on which the NUH and ITE at Ayer Rajah now stands. We had two powerful tractors with Rolls Royce engines and four smaller powered Fowler dozers to do the job over a year in 1965. Other major projects we did was the Runway improvement for the FPDA exercise up at Trengganu state in 1967 and an access road at the then Jungle Warfare School (JWS) in Ulu Tiram, just before Kota Tinggi in 1968. We would commute to and from the JWS daily. One good thing was that the traffic in those days was much lighter than now in 2011.

Now that all those accommodation blocks have been demolished, I wonder what will be built in their place.

There were eight accommodation blocks on top of the hill next to the Hiap Guan San cemetery. One of the blocks was occupied by the Royal Military Police in Block A, while another was occupied by Bourne School in Block B. Of course we had an other ranks' club known as the NAAFI in Block E. That was the place for beers in the evenings.

There was Local Married Quarters behind the Gymnasium on Maran Road. Together with other buildings on the hill these were also being demolished, I suppose after the HQSCE pulled out those buildings were of no use anymore.

One more mention, that Brazil Restaurant that stood on a small hill between our Squadron office and the Commandant's office was our Guardroom in which I spent six months - as Provost Corporal of course.

I ended ten years of service in the British Army in total from 1962 to 1971 and now live just next door in Telok Blangah Heights. It will always be part of my life I suppose.

Below are some old photos of Gillman Barracks from Memories of Singapore courtesy of Tom O’Brien.

Tanjong Pagar Station was ‘connected’ To Petronas Twin Towers (by Peter Chan)

2011-06-12T17:38:00.003+08:00

Before July 1, 2011, one could board a train at Tanjong Pagar Station, Singapore and ended at the foot of PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. How was it possible?

Fig 1: Routing from KL Sentral Station to KLCC Station on a map.

All north-bound train services from Singapore terminated at the Kuala Lumpur (KL) Sentral Station. KL Sentral Station sits proudly on the old Brickfields area where KTM (and its predecessor, the Malayan Railways) maintained their cargo centre. I am familiar with this area because I spent some parts of my school holidays with a Malaysian friend who lived in Jalan Scotts. The old Brickfields area was populated by the Indian community and still is.

Photo 1: KL Sentral Station.

Upon arrival at KL Sentral Station, you walked over to the KL Rapid ticking booth to make a purchase and then walked past the turnstile up one level. Everything was conducted within the same air-conditioned building. KL Rapid is one of the KL’s metro mass rapid transport systems. KLCC Station is the basement station under PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS and its huge shopping mall. There are direction signboards that point the way to the SKYBRIDGE Visit Centre.

Photo 2: The train from Singapore arrives around 6.30 am. Don’t waste time. Hop into KL Rapid and head out to KLCC Station. This was the scene at 7 am over at SKYBRIDGE Visitor Centre (above). You don’t wish to be disappointed to see this on the display monitor (below)?

Although security was tight, I could feel a sense of Malaysian warmth and courtesy, very unlike at Changi International Airport where a hostile look stared into my face especially when I very much loved photography. It appeared that in Singapore we followed everything to the law as well as government policies so much so that the spirit seemed to be missing even in tourism. Tourism Malaysian and PETRONAS must be commended for their efficiency when it comes to queues for ticket purchases.

For a good understanding, do go visit and not believe in what I say.

Photo 3: (left to right) Uniformed security personnel; Scanning equipment

Photo 4: One of the towers of PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS. It was said that the twin towers were built by a Japanese and South Korean contractor who actively competed to see who would finish the building first.

A visit up to SKYBRIDEGE and the 86 Level can be one form of “cheekek” but for me I also took to the skies on a prop-driven aircraft from Lapangan Terbang Subang. Flying just under 2,000 feet, we came close to the PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS. This joy-ride would be my second after an earlier one which was made out of Paya Lebar Airport in 1962. Cost? RM500.

Photo 5: Pilot Aziz brought the Cessna close to Menara KL (foreground) and later the PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS.

When it’s time to move on, you could make your girlfriend or your nagging wife happy by allowing her to shop “till I can drop dead” at the KLCC Shopping Mall. Thank goodness I am over with those issues. My next stop? Hop on another metro train to somewhere.

Holiday On Wheels (by Peter Chan)

2011-06-07T18:32:00.006+08:00

Photo 1: SQ stewardess serving passengers with re-heated meals.

June is a special month in Singapore. This is the time for the school-breaks and parents would have planned to take their families for that one holiday destination; for shopping or for relaxation. There are others who prefer to join boot camps organized by religious bodies as in Chun See’ case, whom I was informed, had been consistently active in the last two decades.

Photo 2: AirAsia stewardess pushing her trolley of drinks down the aisle but you have to pay for coke and mineral water.

Coincidentally this June 2011 is “extra special” because KTM Bhd will terminate its KL-S’pore train services at Tanjong Pagar Station come July 1. I thought it smart to “beat the crowd” by going on the last train ride early and what a pleasant surprise awaited me. You see, most of us are traumatized by train rides and KTM is of no exception. With a Singapore wife who prefers to travel in style, gastronomic food and good hygiene, train rides simply is never one of the options.

Photo 3: Stewardess pushing a trolley passing the second-class beds. She is serving MILO in Styrofoam cups. I thought I had seen that MILO logo before until I realised MYLOW was coined referring to Mr. Low Thia Kiang, MP for Aljuneid GRC during the Singapore 2011 General Elections.

To the best of my recollection, excellent service can be found on air-planes and that only with certain airlines. On this train ride, I was awakened by these familiar words, “Kopi, Teh or MILO” spoken by an English-speaking stewardess. Her name is Miss Tuti. I have made comparisons of the KTM cabin service with those provided by some Asian airlines. Does it look familiar and unusual at the same time?

Photo 4: These visitors from India did think it very unusual for this high-level of customer service, something very uncommon on India State Railways. They are told that tosai is a special order otherwise they have to settle for that box of Nasi Lemak.

Let’s check out the buffet coach. In the past, KTM did not offer the full in-house dining experience. It was the usual tea tarik or kopi-susu in Styrofoam cups and even then it was not “panas”. The sandwiches were very much left to be desired. Today the standard of dining and cooking has improved. MALAYSIA BOLEH LAH!

Photo 5: It is 4am in the morning. The warm lights and powerful air-conditioner adds a touch of class not seen for many years on the KTM buffet coach. The tables are cleaned each time a customer departs. Whilst a group of ladies chat, there is a customer who needed a quick snooze. The kitchen is at the far end on the right.

Being the June holiday and “Salamat Jalan KTM” farewell, I shall be coming up with my PETRONAS Twin Tower experience; inside the tower and from the air. There is also the cross-border Malaysian-Thailand experience and my personal discovery of an important 1931 photo of the Tanjong Pagar Station.

Special ‘father moments’

2011-06-03T21:39:00.010+08:00

I was taking an evening walk around my neighbourhood when I saw something quite interesting. A car stopped not far from me beside a maid walking a toddler. The kid went into the car, it drove off and the maid waved goodbye. A few houses down the road, the car into the driveway of their house. It reminded me of those times when my kids were young, and they - my son especially - too liked to do that.

Last Sunday I read a very meaningful article in Today on Sunday on the topic of Father-son relationship. Titled, A Love Measured in Memories, it was written by Jason Wong as part of the Dads for Life Movement. He tried to recall scenes of moments he had spent with his dad. I really like this saying which he quoted; “If you want to be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today”. I would encourage all parents; especially fathers of young children to read this article.

I am also reminded of something I saw at the Gunung Ledang Resort, also last Sunday. I was on a visit to Tangkak and decided to check out the nearby Gunung Ledang (formerly Mount Ophir) Resort. The owner told us that they had a group consisting mainly father-and-son teams from ACS (Anglo-Chinese Primary School). As part of the activity, father and son had to camp outdoors on the first night. How meaningful.

In this blog, I and my fellow guest bloggers have shared with you many of our special ‘father moments’ with our dads. But here’s one that I had been too embarrassed to tell you about.

The year was 1959. My father wanted to enroll me in Anglo-Chinese Junior School in Barker Road. We were in the principal’s office and he (maybe she) wanted to test my vocabulary of English words. Would you believe I couldn’t even say chicken and duck in English, and in the end I answered in Cantonese - kai, arp ….. My father must have felt terribly embarrassed.

Ahem ..… I should direct your attention to Row 3 of my report card.

It’s been only slightly more than ten years, and my children do not remember their car-hopping thing. But one thing they do remember is how we used to play shadow games outside our neighbour’s house. Our neighbour’s corner terrace has a huge white wall, and it is just next to a lamp post. Sometimes, after dinner I would take the kids for a stroll and we would stop by this wall and make animal shadows with our hands. One game my children remember fondly is that I would pretend to hammer their head; and on the wall it would look as if with each blow of my fist on my daughter’s head, she would be hammered lower into the ground. Hope you get the picture.

Below is a photo taken with my first digital camera. The brand was Epson but I cannot remember the model name. I think the year was 2000. It was taken at a fish farm called Hausman at Neo Tiew Crescent.

And here’s a song all fathers of young children should listen to.

1) Precious memories

2) A day with my dad

Prime Minister’s Visit

2011-05-28T11:27:00.003+08:00

In the Straits Times today, there is a section devoted to our former prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew – High 5 for LKY: Five essays on former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s places in history.

One of the essays was about community centres. It reminded me of his visit to our kampong, Lorong Kinchir in 1962. As I was only ten years old then, I cannot recall much other than the usual fanfare. But I do know that my father was involved in the welcome party. My father, as one of the few residents who could speak English, probably played a big role in liaising with the authorities. Furthermore, he, together with our village chief, a Mr Low Thiam Aik represented our kampong in the Serangoon Gardens CCC (citizens’ consultative committee).

I was very happy to be reconnected with one of Mr Low’s grandchildren, Eng Leong, who had read this blog. Just two days ago, I met up with him and we spent almost an hour at a Yishun coffee shop trying to recall the people and places of our kampong. He shared some of his family photos and gave me a spare copy of this classic which I had been searching high and low for. It was taken at our kampong’s community centre during the prime minister's visit.

Besides my father who is seated on the extreme right, my Seventh Uncle who is seated on the extreme left and Mr Low who is on PM Lee’s left, I could not identify any other faces even though many of them looked familiar. You would notice that besides PM Lee, there is one other person not wearing a ribbon on his chest. He is seated second from the right. Hence, he is likely to be a visitor with PM Lee’s entourage and not from our village.

Question. Who is this gentleman?

Related post: Remembering September 11th

Some things never change (9) – Parking bicycles

2011-05-22T21:02:00.006+08:00

I used to live in a kampong called Lorong Kinchir, off Lorong Chuan. Before Lorong Chuan was constructed, we – my brother Chun Seong and I – had to cycle out to the main road at Braddell Road, and take a bus to our school at Braddell Rise School. Seong would do the cycling and I would sit at the back with our school bags. We would chain our bicycle to a lamp post or a roadside railing next to a drain; just like many foreign workers do at Taman Jurong.

Even the chain lock in this photo looked similar to the ones we had more than 40 years ago.

Related post: Kampong kids learning to cycle.

Old gadgets quiz #2

2011-05-21T22:01:00.002+08:00

My friend Tom Brown sent me three photos of this old beauty. Do you know what it is?

Answer here.

Some things never change (8) – HDB Laundry

2011-05-15T21:14:00.004+08:00

Judging from the photos that I have received from my foreign friends, visitors to sunny Singapore seem to be fascinated by the rows and rows of laundry hanging from our HDB flats. Below are three such photos from the mid-1960s.

Photo No.1 is from Geoffrey Pain. Photos No. 2 and 3 are from Mike Robbins. The rest are mine – taken recently.

I guess, with our numerous high-rise apartments and ample sunshine, this is the most practical way to dry our clothes. I wonder how people living in similar high-rise apartments in temperate countries dry their laundry. Drying machines?

By the way, can you identify the buildings in the old photos? I have no idea.

A word of advice to the politicians

2011-05-12T12:01:00.000+08:00

Nearly a week has passed since the general elections and still I get daily emails and articles about it.

I have always tried to keep Good Morning Yesterday free of political and social issues. Nevertheless, I cannot resist giving a small bit of advice or rather, reminder to the politicians. To quote my favourite platoon sergeant major in OCS, Encik Rahman from more than thirty years ago,:

“Don’t every time say say but never do!”

Answer to Old Gadgets Quiz #1

2011-05-09T22:14:00.007+08:00

The gadget featured in Old Gadgets Quiz #1 is the Casio ST1 digital stopwatch cum calculator. The button on the right is the start/stop button and the vertical sliding switch is the mode selector. In calculator mode, you can open the plaster door to access the buttons.

I bought this device primarily for its digital stopwatch function. The year was around 1980 or 81 and I was working as an industrial engineer in Philips Singapore. As IEs, my colleagues and I had to do a lot of time studies in the factory shopfloor. Prior to the arrival of the ST1, we used analogue stopwatches which were really very difficult to use, especially when you were timing short cycle time operations.

In time studies, we often used a technique called Flyback Timing. You first observed an operation and divided it into a series of work elements. Then you would stand next to the production operator and time each of these elements as she worked; using a special stopwatch whereby the hand would actually ‘flyback’ to zero every time you pressed the button, and commence timing the next element immediately. You then had to record the reading and start observing the next element. It required a lot of skill, especially if the work elements are very short – say a few seconds in duration. It is made worse when you had to do what is called Rating; i.e. assessed the working speed of the operation and assign a numerical Rating to it. Strictly speaking you are supposed rate every single element, but often we took the short cut and did one common rating for the entire cycle, especially when we could see that the operator’s working pace was quite steady/consistent.

Those who have not worked in factory before will probably find my explanation difficult to follow. Anyway, let’s just say that it was extremely demanding, and you had to be very alert because if you missed a reading you cannot ask the operator to stop for you. Furthermore, our results were used in very sensitive applications like setting production targets and cost prices. Hence we IEs were not very popular with the girls on the shopfloor. Some of them called us ‘sat yan wong’ (杀人王) which is Cantonese for ‘notorious killers’; because our standards were too tight and the girls had a tough time meeting the targets.

However, with the digital stopwatch, things became much simpler. When the stopwatch is set to LAP-2 mode, every time you pressed the stop/start button, the reading is frozen and you could ‘take your own sweet time’ so to speak to record the reading. Meantime, the clock is reset to zero and starts timing the next cycle/element. Furthermore, it is much easier to remember a numerical reading when it is displayed in digital mode than in analogue mode.

One day my colleague Roger Lee came to office with this Casio ST-1 which he found at a shop in People’s Park Complex paying about $70+ for it. The rest of us in the IE dept were very excited and rushed down after work to buy one for ourselves. The shopkeeper did not know how desperately we wanted this device and was quite happy to sell it to us for about $60+. Apparently there was very low demand for such a specialized device and he was quite happy to make the sale.

A modern stopwatch with dual displays.

PS – I found someone trying to sell the ST-1 on eBay for about £11. That’s even lower than the original price that we paid. No way will I part with my ST-1 at that price.

Last Train to Tanjong Pagar Waterfront - Peter Chan

2011-04-28T21:42:00.007+08:00

Come June 30, 2011, the KTM-owned property at Tanjong Pagar shall be vacated because agreement has been reached between the Malaysian and Singapore Governments. When news broke out about this impending development, shutter-bugs and heritage conservationists quickly took great interest on this prominent landmark. Property watchers think the current KTM Bhd railway station site and the adjacent waterfront at the Tanjong Pagar Distripark offer tremendous opportunities for waterfront residential, recreational and commercial development.

Photo 1: Usually we don’t chance on this kind of situation inside the Tanjong Pagar Station. I had no hesitation because they were doing for a fashion magazine. Her mother told me she’s in Primary 2.

But the picture should become clearer when the new Singapore Master Plan is released, which is typically at intervals of 5 years; the last was in 2008. For sure the Concept Plan has indicated the area south of the railway station is earmarked for residential use, i.e. when the lease on Tanjong Pagar, Keppel and Brani container terminals expire in 2027. A good contact of mine from Prima Flour told me his company lease in the waterfront area was not extended and this alludes to the property watchers’ belief.

Lest we forget what it was like, come 2050, I like to go back in time to share with readers what else we may not know about this place.

Photo 2: The Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya, Tengku Abdul Rahman speaking to the press when he made a stop-over in Singapore. Tengku was on his way to London. On the right is Raeburn Park (c 1962).

Being the southern-most terminating end of a railway system from Bangkok to Singapore, Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was also very important transport hub much before the terminology became a buzzword. Singapore was then the inter-modal hub for land, ocean and aviation travel. People from the Federation of Malaya travelled by train to Singapore and boarded P&O ocean liners at the Main Wharf belonging to the Singapore Harbour Board.

Going into military history, in 1945 about 15 formations of 115 B29s from the U.S. 20th Bomber Command from bases in India conducted a daylight strike on the Singapore Harbour Board waterfront. Primary targets included berthing wharfs for ocean-going vessels, warehouses (housing substantial enemy military supplies), oil storage, and railway sidings.

Photo 3: Black smoke rising from the Tanjong Pagar dock area. The actual target at a large oil storage facility (bottom left) escaped the U.S. bombing but the passenger hall of the Singapore Station (old name for the Tanjong Pagar Station) took a direct hit. Photo courtesy – USAF Historical Studies Office.
Photo 4: A view of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station from Lim Teck Kim Road (bottom left) and Hoe Chiang Road (bottom right). The tobacco factory is at the bottom right corner. In front of the SHELL oil storage farm was a school which was one-time the Corrupt Practices Investigation Board (CPIB) premises before it moved to Jalan Bukit Merah (c 1958).

In the 1960s, I came through this place for various reasons. There was the visit to the British-American Tobacco factory at Hoe Chiang Road - one of our relatives was a cigarette packer. Then there was the Singapore-Kranji Railway (SKR) heritage walk when I followed my father. My father was very familiar with the place because he lived in Kee Seng Street in the 1920s. The heritage walk began at the railway station where he related his childhood experiences of walking on the abandoned SKR tracks which later became Cantonment Link and Yang Kit Road. In the early 1970s, my uncle had a transport business which operated out of the former Guthrie Building (now the Southpoint). Uncle supplied lorry and container haulage services and I often hopped on the prime-mover going inside the PSA harbour area.

Because we are living in Singapore, architects out-live the buildings they designed. I can’t think of any building built in the modern era which survives longer than the life-span of the designer. So it will be not too long before Photo 5 will change. The Keppel Viaduct will stay as part of the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) but for the rest, I can’t be certain. Do revisit this place whilst you can.

Photo 5: Contrast the modern streetscape of Keppel Road with Photo 4

. Tanjong Pagar Station is dwarfed by the Keppel Viaduct rising above Keppel Road and the warehouses along Empire Dock replaced by a modern container-yard. Thank goodness Mount Faber has not been levelled.

Another one bites the dust – Market Street Car Park

2011-04-21T18:57:00.007+08:00

It was reported in the newspapers yesterday that the iconic Market Street Car Park will be demolished soon. According to this Today report, it will be redeveloped into a ‘Grade A office tower’ at a cost of S$1.4 billion. It also says that, built in 1964, this was the first multi-storey public car park to serve the parking needs of the financial district.

Below are two photos of the car park courtesy of Geoffrey Pain. You may not be able to make out the names of the 3 shops on the ground floor in the first photo. They are 海洋 Ocean Garments (OG), Crocodile and The Record Library. On the left is the famous Lau Pa Sat food centre.

Can you identify the street in the second photo?

Here's another photo (circa 1970) from Peter Chan.

Do you have any memories of this Market Street car park?

Great Moments at City Hall by Peter Chan

2011-04-11T18:25:00.011+08:00

How many great events took place here? The easiest to know are our National Day Parades (NDPs) which are always celebrated with much pomp. Except for a time when there were the decentralised NDPs or a switch to the National Stadium, NDPs would always be at City Hall. In recent times, the Singapore F1 night GP ran passed City Hall as the backdrop.

Photo 1: City Hall on race day.

Wait! Let’s rewind the clock and see what else we could have over-looked. A memorable event for me was in 1962 when we were taught by teachers to sing a special jingle because Singapore was going to be a part of Malaysia, together with the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and British North Borneo. This jingle was broadcast on the air-wave and became an instant hit with listeners. To celebrate the occasion Malam Malaysia was held at City Hall and there were thousands of people on the Padang. That night, we heard for the first time Malaysia Forever. People of my generation would surely know these catchy lyrics.

Photo 2: This jingle was sold as a 45 rpm record although Radio Singapura (predecessor of Mediacorp) sold the long playing record version comprising 6 Malay and 6 English songs about Malaysia. The choir was from Marymount School.

Chorus:

Let’s get together, Sing a happy song, Malaysia forever, Ten million strong.

Land of the free, Marching as one. Ready to share in every way, So let’s get it done!

We’re all in the same boat, Steady as you go. Let’s pull together, Everybody row – row, row, row.

It’s right, It’s the answer ,There’s no other way, To be good neighbours, Everyday Malaysia Forever.

Evermore more, United for liberty, Land of the happy people, Just you wait and see.

We’re ready for merger, Let’s open the door, To Malaysia forever, Ever more!

Photo 3: Public entertainment on City Hall Steps. City Hall was transformed into a stage and the spectators sat or stood on the Padang.

Just for December 1959 alone, City Hall achieved a number of milestones. It was the site for the inauguration for the first local-born Yang di-Pertuan Negara (Head of State) - the first Yang di-Pertuan Negara was a British. There was the new Singapore flag and the new Coat of Arms. That night, Singapore heard a strong 300 school choir sing our Majullah Singapura when we would have traditionally sang God Save the Queen. I think that was the first time we heard loud shouts of Merdeka throughout the Padang.

To achieve a new spirit of co-operation and national will in a post-colonial Singapore, the new Ministry of Culture was created; bringing together the departments which had hitherto been under different authorities in a Colonial Singapore. The ministry launched the Aneka Ragam Ra’ayat (People’s Outdoor Concert series) and the one at the City Hall certainly dwarfed everything else.

Photo 4: Student activists demanding education reforms

In later years, there was even a student-led disturbance at City Hall. Are you familiar with the history of Ngee Ann Polytechnic? This Poly could well have been the third university like Nantah and University of Singapore, if not for the Thong Saw Park Report. In November 1966, Ngee Ann College students clashed with the police and several people were hurt or arrested. What else can you remember?

Old gadgets quiz #1

2011-04-06T21:13:00.005+08:00

This gadget is from around 1981 or 82. I have not used it for years. I am so surprised that it still works. Do you know what it is?

I felt like I was in a foreign country

2011-03-30T22:25:00.011+08:00

Yesterday I attended a full day conference at the Suntec Convention Centre – the 2011 Business Excellence Sharing organised by Spring Singapore. I decided to take a bus instead of driving to save on the cost and the hassle. I took SBS 174 which brought me through Orchard Road, Bras Basah Road and alighted at North Bridge Road near St Andrews Cathedral. I took the opportunity to take a good hard look at the new buildings along the route. I must tell you, I felt like I was in a foreign country. The two places that looked totally alien to me was Orchard Road where so many new buildings have come up since the mid-1980’s when my office was at the National Productivity Board in Cuppage Centre, and Bras Basah Road where the Singapore Management University campus is located. When I alighted opposite the former Capitol Theatre, I was disoriented for a few seconds and thought that I got off at the wrong bus stop. Expecting to see an open field and the St Andrew’s Cathedral, I was staring at a modern building with a glass façade instead.

Currently, I am reading Simon Tay’s City of Small Blessings, and I am beginning to understand why he managed to connect with many older Singaporeans. The notes at the back cover says that the book is about a Singaporean retiree who migrates and then returns to a Singapore he barely recognizes.
I am not a retiree and have not been out of Singapore for longer than a couple of weeks in the past two decades; and yet the scene captured on my mobile phone camera below made me feel like I was “on the fringe of a city I barely recognize”.

Old Buildings Quiz 13 - Answer

2011-03-25T21:11:00.005+08:00

I believe this church was located within the Tengah Air Base in 1965. Today, it is occupied by the Calvary Tengah Bible-Presbyterian Church. Below is a photo taken on 14 March 2011.

I believe the original photo was taken from within the Tengah Air Base and hence Choa Chu Kang Road should be behind the church; in other words from the North towards the South direction. I wanted to take a ‘second shot’ from the same angle and distance. It would be very interesting to note the difference; especially the background. According to John Harper, that area used to be mainly vegetable farms; but today it’s the Kranji Expressway and more. Even the name of Choa Chu Kang Road has been changed to Old Choa Chu Kang Road. But unfortunately, I could not because this church is now outside the Tengah Air Base. That small road with the cars is now separated from the church building by a heavily fortified fence.

Here’s another view of the church from the car park. Notice the fence on the left. On the right would be the main road.

When I put up the quiz, I thought only somebody like my friend John Harper who used to live in Meteor Road within the Tengah Air Base would be able to identify it. It would be difficult for a Singaporean to do so unless he or she has actually visited this church. It is a very small church and being on an elevated ground is not easily visible from the main road. Hence, even my friend Icemoon who has blogged several times about Choa Chu Kang and Lim Chu Kang could not identify this church. As it turned out, Tyler, who traveled along CCK Rd frequently during his NS days in the 1990s was able to give the correct answer.

Kampong household items

2011-03-21T21:45:00.009+08:00

Last week, Wee Kiat and I visited a former Foyer (Friend of Yesterday.sg), Cha Aun at his home in Skudai. He brought us to see his father’s small Gaharu tree plantation. My wife and son who are very much into life science topics came along. We had a swell time; and as a bonus, I spotted some household items that I used to see in my kampong.

1) Dustpan

This is a dustpan made from ‘recycled’ materials. The base is made from a sawn-off kerosene tin or oil tin. Just nail a piece of wood to it and voila, you have a dustpan.

2) Jamban (Toilet)

This is what a typical kampong toilet looks like. Notice that the roof is simply made of a couple of zinc sheets nailed to two beams. I deliberately avoided the toilet bowl because it looked too modern and would spoil my photo. Leaning against the toilet is a home-made ladder. No need to describe how to construct one, I think.

3) Well

One reason that got me quite excited about this visit was the prospect of finally being able to take a photo of a well to use in my next book Good Morning Yesterday. Unfortunately, Cha Aun’s well turned out to be a ‘small’ disappointment. Firstly it is so small and shallow compared to the one we had in our kampong house. Secondly it did not have a pulley. Still that did not stop my wife from showing off how to scoop a pail of water from the well. (By the way, how can you tell from this photo that this is not a well from the 1950s?)

So I am still without a photo of a well like the one in my kampong house. I heard that Ivy Singh Lim’s Bollywood Veggies in Lim Chu Kang has a well with pulley. Is any reader able to confirm?

3) Punki (basket)

This one is not ‘authentic’ because it was made of plastic. A genuine kampong punki should be made of rattan.

We also saw a number of fruit trees, like dragon fruit, rambutan, papaya, pineapple and star fruit; but the one that got us most excited was this one.

Quiz Time

As always, I end my post with a quiz. You see this photo of the three of us - from left, Wee Kiat, Cha Aun and myself? Do you know what the building behind us is used for? No it is not Cha Aun’s ‘good class bungalow’ :)

Old Buildings Quiz 13

2011-03-18T22:20:00.003+08:00

Below are two 1960s photos of old church buildings from the Memories of Singapore Fan Page. Can you identify them?

Photo No. 1

Photo No. 2

Please note. These are 2 different churches located at different parts of Singapore.

I think Photo number 2 should be easy. Below is a photo which I took of the same place in 2009.

It is the Blessed Sacrament Church in Commonwealth Drive.

This is the way we eat (Part 2) by Peter Chan

2011-03-14T22:43:00.008+08:00

After the P.A.P came into power in 1959, the Hawker Department was amalgamated into the Ministry of Health until in 1972 when it was hived-off to the Ministry of Environment. Licensing started in 1968 but implementation was slow because of the British Military Pull-Out. Although the government intended to contain the street hawker problem, this could have been political dynamite. In many P.A.P “Meet the People Session”, the top two most sought after “needs” were getting a hawker licence, and public financial assistance.

Photo 1: Beef Kway Teow at Empress Place Hawker Center. It was built next to the present Asian Civilization Museum ( c 1972).

Getting hawkers to be re-sited into hawker centres and/or action by way of arrests, fines and demolishing structures usually draw the attention of Members of Parliament (MPs). This is because each constituency had its own peculiar hawker problems. For example in new industrial area like Redhill and Jurong, there were always business opportunities when there were factory workers. Lower-income families living within HDB estates took to illegal hawking to supplement income. Testimony of the “bureaucratic intelligence” when adhering to a public policy, the result was hawking licences were issued in places far from homes and inaccessible to public transport. Thus MPs appeal on behalf of their constituents by petitioning the Minister in charge of the Hawker Department, a Mr. Yong Nyuk Lin.

Photo 2: Left to Right – Eating on stools at a Ho Chi Minh City roadside; Bak So Mie Push-cart in Jakarta.

As part of the hawker development projects, 16 hawker centres by 1972 were under various stages of planning/construction. These hawker centres were meant to house re-sited street hawkers. Zion Road Hawker Center was completed in my second-year at the university. When I went dating, Esplanade Satay Club opened in 1972, Empress Place in 1973 and 7 mile Bukit Timah Hawker Center cum wet market was completed by the time I graduated. By the time I went to work Cuppage Center was opened.

By 1986 there were no more street hawkers and all stallholders in hawker centres were licensed by the Ministry of Environment. Since 1996 all the ENV market and food centres underwent upgrading works. Today, Singaporeans are very selective as to where they eat.

If we miss the ambience of street hawkers, we can always try our ASEAN neighbours. Rest assured this is very sedap man (aka Mo Tak Teng). When I was based in Hong Kong, I would take “short-cuts” through the alleys of Hong Kong to get from point to point. Not too far back, I revisited one of the routes (photo3). It looks like things don’t change that fast in Hong Kong.

Photo 3: Ah Chan and Luk Siew Fung at their stalls on Hong Kong Island.

Hmmmm ... maybe this is one of the reasons why I enjoyed Ipoh food. They have lots of roadside foodstalls. They also have lots of push-cart type food vendors at the wet market. Chun See

This is the way we eat (Part 1) by Peter Chan

2011-03-11T21:34:00.006+08:00

Since Chun See kicked-off the blog on street hawkers, I thought it interesting if I look back and follow Singapore’s progress from street hawkers to air-conditioned food courts. Thanks to my old university Economics term paper submitted to a lecturer (with a PhD as a salutation to his name and also a P.A.P MP then) I am able to pluck information from therein. By the way this lecturer never made us male undergraduates happy; he graded most of us with a B minus.

Photo 1: Ngo Hiang street hawker operates in front of a “5-foot-way”. Little glass cups in the foreground contain chilly and sweet sauces. You pick the skewed food items from the plates and dip into the sauce and dispose the skewer on the road. Just remember you are never the only one doing it (c 1970).

Singapore cultural and food streetscape used to be a myriad of hawker stalls that filled the wet markets and alleys. Living in the city you just took up space along the “5-foot way” shop-houses and in the rural area you built a tent, perhaps under a tree. There were few barriers to entry to begin with; small capital, simple cooking skills and cheap family-supplied labour. Hawking licence? Not really necessary - those that needed one operated in government-built wet markets or pasar malams. Although there were licensed street stalls, unlicensed hawkers out-numbered the former by 8:1 at the time of separation from Malaysia.

There were different types of hawkers, generally categorised as cooked food, cold drinks, fruits & vegetables, sundry goods, and fresh meats. Even the neighbourhood Cold Storage and Walls Ice Cream seller was included but under a slightly different definition. The Chinese were more open to the idea of street hawking as a form of employment than other races. Hence large concentration of street hawkers was found in Kreta Ayer, Teluk Ayer Street, Queen Street, North Canal Road, and Tanjong Pagar.

Photo 2: Feeling thirsty? Try this push-cart for coconut-water. 10 cents one glass (c 1967).

During the British colonial rule, the hawker management came under the purview of the City Council and the Ministry of Health. Prosecution was seldom practised and this could be attributed to rampant corruption or because hawker inspectors were frequently assaulted. If the arm of the law works, confiscated perishables were forcibly removed by hawker inspectors and foodstuff s donated to charitable institutions.

This is a 1967 photo of a shop selling roast meat in downtown Singapore. Russ Wickson remembers seeing hordes of flies take off as he walked by.

Queen Street – Middle Road, Then and Now

2011-03-02T22:25:00.004+08:00

Below are some photos of the Queen Street – Middle Road junction.

Photo No. 1 – 1967 photo from Geoffrey Pain
Photo No. 2 – 1968 photo from the National Archives of Singapore
Photo No. 3 – 1989 photo from the National Archives of Singapore
Photo No. 4 – Present-day image for Google Street View