Saturday, May 23, 2009

Old roads quiz (1)

When lazy old buggers bloggers (like this chap) are too busy to update their blogs, what do they do? They put up a quiz lor!

But I am not so lazy as to simply ‘plagiarize’ somebody else’s ideas. So I have come up with a new category of quiz called Old Roads Quiz. You have probably seen my Old Beauties quizzes, Old Roundabout quizzes and Old Building quizzes. So what is an Old Roads quiz?

You know; our Singapore gahmen is so hardworking. When they are not digging up the new roads which they have just re-dug a few months before, they like to straighten them or even totally remove them so much so that many of the roads that were once so familiar to oldies like us seem to disappear overnight. But sometimes we are lucky. They leave behind a short deserted stretch for us to blog about. One example is this short stretch of (Old) Holland Road which I blogged about here.


Here is another example. Can you please tell our readers what was the name of this road. Hint: It is in the Western part of Singapore.

Hint #2: (now surely Philip Chew will know the answer) - It is quite near to the Second bridge that I 'blew' up

Hint #3: I took this photo from the entrance of a petrol station.

Remember this stretch of the road is no longer in use. In fact it is fenced up. I took the shot from an opening in the fence. It used to run in front of this petrol station and it was a very busy road with lots of heavy vehicles using it!

28 comments:

yg said...

i also like that, one. when i need a filler, i look through my albums of photos, pick one and throw in a few questions or provided a few suggested answers, and viola! a quiz is born.

yg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
yg said...

question: should be be viola or voila?

passerby said...

Ah... I guess that is not part of the old Hillview HDB estate near Upper Bukit Timah Road? Last time I went there the ground was mostly grass though...

Admin said...

Sometimes when I don't have much to say about a photo that I took around the neighbourhood parks of Singapore, I use it as a quiz too.

JollyGreenP said...

yg asked whether it should be viola or voila. "Et voila" is a French expression meaning "and here it is!", usually accompanied by a flourish, but has often been corrupted by English speakers to viola a small flower for humourous effect. So depending on whether you intended to inject a little humour or were just being a bit flash and throwing in un petit peux de Francais, that was me being flash by the way, either would be OK.

Victor said...

Chun See, when you have run out of ideas,running reruns like the 1st photo is another shameless option too.

Yg - Viola is also a type of string instrument, of size between the violin and the cello.

oceanskies79 said...

I have never been here before, did I?

I shall await the answers.

yg said...

john and victor,

thanks for enlightening me on the difference. voila! now, i know.

Lam Chun See said...

You guy needs more hints?

Life is Short said...

Just a wild guess, is this around Chin Bee Road near Jurong stadium ?

Lam Chun See said...

No it's not near Chin Bee or Hillview. Ijust added another hint.

peter said...

1. Old Jurong Road?
2. Private road to Chun See's mansion?

passerby said...

I have no idea then... I'm pretty sure it's not Old Jurong Road though. Maybe something off Upper Jurong Road? Can't be so obvious as Refinery Road (which was on the map in the blog post you linked to)... is it off Jalan Buroh.

Icemoon said...

I think that is on Pulau Samulum.

Lam Chun See said...

Sorry not Pulau Sumulun. And Upper Jurong Road is too far from here.

Remember, this stretch of road is no longer in use. In fact it is fenced off.

OK. I give one more hint. I took this photo from the entrance of a petrol station. If I give the brand of the petrol surely you will know the answer.

peter said...

SHELL Station opposite former Ice Skiitng Rink? Chun See must be dirivng to SAFTI to visit his son, so the reason he is in western part of Singapore.

Lam Chun See said...

Sorry Peter. Still wrong. But thanks for trying.

It's much nearer to Samulun. During our trip to visit the Old Jurong Line near Samulun, we passed this place at least 2 times. I'll be going there again this week. Maybe try to take a few more photos.

Kling Kling said...

Tg Kling Road?

Lam Chun See said...

Almost there but still wrong. One last hint. The petrol station I was referring to is SPC.

PChew said...

I have not been to Jurong for twenty years. May it is Liu Fang Road

Unknown said...

Pionner Road at the old T-junction which used to connect to Tanjung Kling Road :)

Lam Chun See said...

Finally, someone comes up with the right answer. Well done Shahmawi. Good thing you did not check up my answers; otherwise it would have spoilt the fun.

How come you know this area so well? I would guess that you worked in the nearby industrial zones like Jurong Shipyard or Mobil perhaps.

Lam Chun See said...

I think the next time I put up a difficult quiz like this one, I will not post the answer so quickly. Sooner or later someone who stumbles on my blog will get the answer. Should not deprive them of the fun.

Unknown said...

I know that closed section of old holland road very well. I studied at Singapore Polytechnic, and lived at a condominuim at Hindhede Road (leading to Bukit Timah Hill) around 1990-1998. I cycled to school and often used that road to avoid the busy Clementi Road and jammed 6th ave.
That road that is closed is just after the old demolished chinese temple and a small bridge. From there it goes straight for about 3-400m before climbing steeply and winding right 90 degrees, and then right again. Then a few gentle twisty sections, the road leads back to somewhere at the back of the present Methodist Girls School. Cycling in the opposite direction is very exciting, as it curves and downhills through treeline road. I'll try to bike through the closed roads one day and take pictures or even a video.

Lam Chun See said...

Hi Cory. I am so glad that finally I found a reader who knew the Old Holland Road so well - wow, you even remember all the twists and turns. I have actually blogged about this old road a couple of times before because I really missed it and am rather upset that they cleared the forests and then left the land idle for so long.

So can I suggest that you go to these 2 earlier articles and make some comments to help our readers better understand. Especially I would like to hear your remarks of where Old Holland began and ended.

1) The Short and Winding Road


2) Tragedy Lies in Waste

Redstorm said...

I served with the Provost Unit at Ulu Pandan from the early 70s till the late 90s when it shifted to Choa Chu Kang. Many of us used to refer the road as Old Holland Road but I can't remember if it was an official name. Due to the quietness of the place with very little vehicle traffic, we used to jog there frequently and even had our IPPT's 2.4km route from Ulu Pandan Camp out all the way to the temple (not the old temple besides the road).

2 SIR then was known as Holland Road Camp and it was later taken over by a Artillery unit followed by 46 SAR before the place closed down. According to an ex-colleague, who served with 1 SIR during the Confrontation, a number of 2 SIR soldiers were killed during an ambush at Kota Tinggi and their bodies were flown back to the camp to wash up before they were buried. There were claims later that the toilets and some other part of the camp were haunted.

During durian season, during our jog, we used to deviate from our route into some of the kampong tracks to look for durians. I remember a particular big durian tree situated on the left of a revine just after the first bridge, when entering from Ulu Pandan direction. During those days, there was a huge cemetery on the hill slope on the right (if you are moving towards the Bukit TImah side) just after the old temple. There were even kampongs nearby and one of which was Lorong Panchar, one end of the kampong track was began somewhere near the old temple and the other end joined to Sixth Avenue. Towards the end of the road, just before it joined Bukit Timah Road, there is a Telecom building on the left side of the road. My memory of the place is hazy now as I have not been there since the late 90s and a lot of things have changed. If I drive past the place again it will probably jog my memory. Hope to visit the place again to take a look. Anyone game for it? :)

Lam Chun See said...

Hi Redstorm. Thanks for sharing those important information about the Old Holland Rd area. You really should make a trip to visit this place. You will be shocked at the change. Half of the old winding road from, from the bridge near the former Lor Panchar junction is totally gone and they are in the process of constructing a new road which will join this bridge to MGS at Blackmore Drive.

By the way, recently, my neighbour and I tried to bash through the forest to trace the old Lorong Pancar, starting at Sixth Ave. He told me that there are still big gravestones around plus some durian trees. But it was impossible becos the vegetation was too thick. In the end we hit the canal and walked along it.