I don't remember what prompted my dad to rear pigeons. But quite a few of our neighbours did. Maybe it was for the eggs or maybe he wanted to cook them.
Have you tasted roasted pigeons before? When I visited Hong Kong some years back, our hosts brought us to a restaurant which served this dish. Tasted just like chicken. Funny not many people eat it in Singapore.
Actually just a few years back, there used to be some stray pigeons living in our present house. They made their home in the empty space between the false ceiling and the roof. At night we could hear them moving about and cooing softly. I was a bit worried about the droppings and the shed feathers and so when we renovated our house in 2000, we asked the contractor to seal off the access. But once my children caught one and managed to train it to fly from person to person. They named it Pigeonol.
Actually just a few years back, there used to be some stray pigeons living in our present house. They made their home in the empty space between the false ceiling and the roof. At night we could hear them moving about and cooing softly. I was a bit worried about the droppings and the shed feathers and so when we renovated our house in 2000, we asked the contractor to seal off the access. But once my children caught one and managed to train it to fly from person to person. They named it Pigeonol.
Nowadays, it Singapore, it is quite common to see mynahs and pigeons around HDB blocks especially near the coffee shops.
OK. Here’s a quiz to round off this post. See the photo above. I took this photo of the pigeon in 1985 at a very well-known place - not Singapore. Hint: It was very much in the news earlier this month. Where is this place?Just received in my Inbox:
Brian writes. (About my photo of the pigeon house in Cambodia) “It reminded me of the bird feeder we were shown in Old Ahmedebad in India where people built these structures to ensure that birds still visited their areas after all the trees had disappeared through intensive building.”
Thanks for sharing this photo Brian.
Thanks for sharing this photo Brian.
19 comments:
Twice I had pigeon soup. Once when I was a little boy visiting grandma in Segamat, and more recently on a trip to Jakarta.
I don't find it very tasty.
After reading chun see's comment that I did not response to his write-up, I would like to clarify here. My memory of things seems to be selective, meaning that those I have deep impressions would surface easily in my mind, whereas others need more effort to recollect. It was likely that my mum was influenced by her kampong friends that pigeon steamed with herbs enhanced health and therefore a dark coloured pigeon house was constructed to provide a steady stream of cooked pigeons for her consumption. Later on the dwelling was demolished due to the birds defecating all over the place - roof-top, ceiling and the pigeon house itself. In short,it was an unbearable maintenance problem and could not be tolerated any longer. Later on my mother bought pigeons directly from the market for her herbal brew - a better sourcing way. I notice this pigeon droppings nuisance still persists as a cleaning problem in most housing estates. In fact it is one of the reasons why my sister-in-law sold her condo unit recently and relocated to another place.
Hehehe ... I tawt I taw a 'black' puddy tat (comments, I mean).
the black puddy tat must have be in the trash bin.
"Oldest pigeon on the blog"...nice caption. I like it.
I think I tasted the pigeon soup before. Mine was served in a bamboo container.
Eh, help to guess leh. Where is this "very well-known place" that was very much in the news earlier this month? Taiwan?
One time this Szechuan restaurant @Taipan Hotel in Victoria Street was famous for pigeon soup served in real bamboo like what icemoon described.
Ahh... Peter gave me an opportunity to throw in 2 quiz questions here:
1. What was Taipan Hotel known as formerly?
2. What is the name of the hotel standing at the location now?
Hotel Tai-Pan was formerly known as Tai-Pan Ramada Hotel. Name was changed by its new owners.
It was subsequently changed to, its present name, Allson Hotel.
The music lounge in Allson Hotel was very popular, especially with the Filipino band, OVADA, performing there.
I thot Icemoon would have little difficulty answering the quiz. The pigeon is actually standing on a plaque which is on a shallow pool. There are some words on the plaque with if you can decify should give the answer easily. Good thing the picture is so old and thus the answer is not so obvious.
Original name for Allson was Taipan but before that it was called "Hotel New Hong Kong".
It became a publicly traded stock after Jack Chia-MPH Ltd bought over the place in the 1980s.
Under Taipan name, it had this retro place (nearer to Queen Street side on the ground floor where group check in counters are located). They had 1970s disco dancing as the themse, up to late 1990s. can't remember the name.
Can someone help me recall the name of that Szechuan Restaurnat please at the Tapian? It became famous after another Schechuna restaurant at the former Singapore Forum or Hotel Intercon Hotel as it was then called shut down for the present bdlg. Its signature dish was spicy red hot dry chilly chicken with white/brown colored pau.
Peter is right about the history of Allson. I remember when I was living in Cheng Yan Place around 1970, I could see the red block letters "HOTEL NEW HONGKONG" on its rooftop. Sometimes one or more of the letters would blow out and you get something like "HOT NEW HONGKONG". Haha.
>The pigeon is actually standing on a plaque...
If Chun See didn't say so, I thought it was a discarded shoebox!
First 2 words: 平 和
I can vaguely see a の as the third word. Could it be Japan?
Japan is correct. More specifically, Hiroshima. I have written 2 related posts about this place a long time ago.
Winds of War
Hiroshima 28
Read my latest article @ My 5S Corner: What a Waste - Ice Cubes.
A few weeks ago I recorded this programme called Lost Images which was shown on Okto Channel. It was a compilation of videos of Spore in the 50's taken by Ivan Polunin. Watched it last night and saw some footages of kampong scenes and there was one showing pigeon houses just like those I described.
My favourite part was about the farms. It brought back a lot of memories for me especially they way they fed the animals. There was an interviewee, I think his name was Julian Davidson. He said that he used to live in Braddell Heights and had ever ventured into a kampong "across the road". I think he was talking about my kampong, and the road was Lorong Chuan or at least the earlier dirt track before it became Lor Chuan.
To we kampong folks the mention of Braddel Heights gave us an impression of exclusiveness - beautiful houses, rich residents, fierce dogs and servants - a different world which existed in our dreamland.
To we kampong folks the mention of Braddel Heights gave us an impression of exclusiveness - beautiful houses, rich residents, fierce dogs and servants - a different world which existed in our dreamland.
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