Good Morning Yesterday

The Taiwanese answer to We Are The World

2009-07-13T19:07:00.001+08:00

Earlier I blogged about how Michael Jackson played a key role in launching the song We Are The World.

Did you know that not long after that the Taiwanese came up with a similar effort? Do you know the title of their song? The answer can be found in my other blog here.

Sawatdi Khap. Welcome to Bangkok (by Peter Chan)

2009-07-09T17:33:00.007+08:00

It is always every school boy dream to travel overseas especially when even a short overseas holiday to nearby Kuala Lumpur was considered a luxury for many Singapore families of the late 1960s. Even as we speak of “Bangkok”, the city still conjures images of Cleopatra, Emmanuelle or Nana-Nana; what more back then in the 1970s.

Photo 1: From my hotel window watching the two trains meet on the BTS line. Times Square is on the left of the photo.

When I looked down from my hotel window at the two trains “passing each other” at the Asoke Station, it brought me back to the past. The school boy dream did indeed come true in August 1971. Twenty rugby players between ages 17 and 18, two male teachers from Raffles Institution made their way into Bangkok for this 12-day trip. The old boys association came up with S$5,000 to sponsor this trip. Each student took with him between S$50 and $150 of his parent’s money to spend.

We boarded the Malayan Railway morning train at Tanjung Pagar Station, arriving in the late afternoon in Kuala Lumpur with just enough time for the only proper bath (for the next 40 hours) before departing on the 9 pm train to Butterworth. Next morning at 10, we transferred to the State Railway of Thailand international train service to Bangkok. Initially the ride was pleasant with plenty of beautiful landscapes to see; e.g. rice fields, villages and mountains. This was also the Thai summer season for longans and rambutans. At each train stop, children with baskets on their heads sold Thai fried chicken and banana fritters. We were greedy or put it another way, there was absolutely nothing else to do besides pacing up and down the coaches, playing pranks, sleep and wake up, and singing “dirty songs”.

Photo 2: Left Photo; A Vajiravudh player holding the ball on his way to a touch down. No Raffles players in sight. Right Photo; I am the last man at the line out against Pre-Military Academy. Flat-top hairstyle had already become fashionable in Bangkok in the early 1970s.

Forty-eight hours later after we left Singapore, we entered the Bangkok area. We freshened-up and put on our school uniforms again with very little hygiene standard to show because we managed a face-wash, brushed our teeth, quick shave and “brylcream” the hair. How we wished we could shower but the train did not have shower facilities and water droplets came out of the faulty basin tap.

As the train pulled into the Hum Lampung Central Station on the dot at 8am, the Vajiravudh College welcome party was waiting and the brass band played our school anthem. There was the customary Thai greeting of clasped hands and “Sawadi Kap”. Before long we were packed into two bus coaches and escorted by out-riders from the Bangkok Metropolitan Police. During the bus ride, I noticed each of us was assigned a male student “GRO” and soon the conversation jokingly drifted to “How come got no girls in this school?”

As the triple-crown champions of Singapore for the Kiwi Cup, 15s and 7s, we took part in this inaugural game against Vajiravudh. It was hoped that this game could eventually develop into an annual series involving Raffles, Malaysia’s Malay College and Vajiravudh. Vajiravudh was considered the Eton of Thailand (www.vajiravudh.ac.th). Two curtain-raiser matches were arranged before our actual game against the Thai school national champions. We beat King’s College but lost by a single point to Thai Pre-Military Academy on the 90th minute. The game against Vajiravudh College was held at the National Stadium. We played before His Highest, King Bhumipol and the game was televised “live” on Thai national TV. We lost the match 46-6. Not only was Vajiravudh playing at a very fast pace, they were very fit and every Thai player had a 6-pack anatomy.

Photo 3: Left Photo; Raffles group photo session at Tanjung Pagar Station before boarding the morning train to Kuala Lumpur. Right Photo; The farewell function for Vajiravudh, King’s College, Thai Pre-Military Academy and Raffles players. Notice there are no girls in sight **gulp**

Unlike athletes today, we were not boarded in a special games village or in a hotel. We stayed at one of the residential colleges within Vajiravudh’ school compound. After many decades, I took the opportunity on one of my business trips into Bangkok to revisit Vajiravudh just to check out how much has changed. I was greeted by Major Apirat, the sports convener who showed me around the place. I told Major Apirat about the wonderful Thai hospitality where we were fed on daily basis for lunch - Thai pineapple rice with huge portions of Thai Chicken Gai Yang, Kaeng Keiw Warn curry, Kai-lan and Thai Otak.

Photo 4: Left Photo; Group photo session with Vajiravudh. Vajiravudh students wear the blue bermuda and white shirt school uniform. Right Photo; The same building where the group photo session took place. It is now the Vajiravudh Assembly Hall.

Our Thai host took us for sight-seeing of Bangkok. We visited the Grand Palace, the Benchama Temple, Bangkok Zoo (just across the school), river boat ride down the Chao Praya River, Crocodile Farm at Samut Prakan and Rose Garden. We went to a Thai Army-owned TV station to watch Thai Boxing and were interviewed over the sports channel – little did we realize that there was a confluence of military and private business interests in Thai society. At official dinners, we were entertained by Thailand’s top cultural troupes. I must add that all the places we went were strictly educational and cultural except probably for the only time when we were allowed to shop at Jim Thomson’s Silk Store. Fortunately or unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Bangkok’s pulsating night life; many thanks to Mr. Natahar Bava and Mr. Graham Pierce (teachers and guardians).

We missed pole dancing and cabaret shows although we did see from our coach the neon lights and attractions of the Soi Cowboys from Sukhumit Road and the ladyboys of Patpong. Even if we were allowed to go on our own in a “tuk tuk”, we had to have one of Vajiravudh College’s seniors; looking as if we could lose our direction in this city. We understood all 3 Thai schools were an all-boys school in every sense of the word - in and out of the school environment - but it was the Thai Pre-Military Academy boys who were more willing to educate us about “the other side of Bangkok”. Perhaps this might explain the difference between civil servants and the military in Thailand. Vajiravudh produced top men for the civil service and Thai Pre-Military Academy produced top generals for the “Brown Shirts” and “Green Shirts”.

Photo 5: Left Photo; The rugby field where we trained on alternate days when we didn’t have a game. Our training commenced at 4pm and ended at 6pm. Then it was time for dinner and curfew. Right Photo; The residential house was our home for the next 10 days. There is a road on the bottom left of the photo which leads to the back gate. This back gate was a “secret door” to leave the school for the bright lights of the city. I was told it is “still operational”.

Now back to 2007. This time I was able to meet an old friend Suchai from King’s College for a social drink. We chat of the good old days and talked “who is where”, each minute serenaded by a live all-girl Filipino band at the Westin Grande Sukhumvit Hotel and serviced from attentive high-slit dressed waitresses. Too bad for you, I don’t have any female companions in my photo album to show you because it was 1971.

Shek Kin – Thank you for the memories

2009-07-06T17:46:00.003+08:00

I dare say, practically every (Chinese) male of my generation knows who is Shek Kin (石坚). Together with Kwan Tak Hing, he starred in more than 80 Wong Fei Hong movies. So strong was their impact on my memories that one of the very first articles that I wrote in this blog back in September 2005 was about going to the South Country Theatre in Kampong San Teng to watch these movies.

Last week the legendary Shek Kin passed away at the ripe old age of 96. Together with Kwan Tak Hing, Cho Tat Wah, Sai Kwa Pow (the buck tooth guy who acted as Ngar Chart So) and many others, they gave us kids many wonderful hours of leisure at a time when there were no televisions or PC’s. Memories of watching Wong Fei Hong movies in open air cinemas will always be an indelible part of our childhood memories.

Links:

1) News report of Shek Kin’s passing

2) Chinese news report of Shek Kin’s passing. You can see short video clip of Shek Kin in action against Kwan Tak Hing here. Kwan’s favourite weapon is the long wooden staff.
3) To the movies

Return of the Sun Birds

2009-07-04T14:34:00.009+08:00

Last year I blogged about how a pair of sun birds built a nest in our balcony and raised two chicks (here, here and here). Well they are back again; or rather, I should say, they were back again.

This time around they built their nest in a very awkward location which was only inches away from our 2nd floor study room window. The only way to photograph them, was to go right up to the window; but the short distance would frighten them away. Alternatively, I had to photograph them with a zoom lens from my garden.

Anyway, I managed to take some photos of the couple building their nest; and I would like to share them with you here.

1) These are shots of the nest taken from my garden. As you can see, the nest is very near the window, but at an awkward angle. Photo no. 1 shows the as yet incomplete nest.

2) These shots were taken at close range. I managed to hide behind the curtain without their noticing. However the sound of the camera shutter did frighten them away initially.

At first, I wasn’t sure if they were still in the process of building the nest or had already laid the eggs. With the opening of the nest facing outwards, there was no way to peek in and check. But from this series of photos you can see them bringing in the material to build the nest. Do you see the leaf in the bird’s beak?

The female actually poked her head into the nest and (presumably) arranged the materials. Then she did something really interesting. She climbed into the nest and sat inside with her head sticking out of the opening and wriggled briefly. I think she was testing the nest which will be her home for the next few days.

With these shots, I suspect I might have achieved something very few amateur photographers had done. I have photographed these lovely creatures from a distance of less than two feet away.

And then tragedy struck

One morning, our maid who was cleaning our study room decided that the nest was dirtying the place and so she removed it and chucked it away. When I told her what I had been trying to do, she tried to hang it back but the birds never returned. Now I am experiencing the empty nest syndrome all over again :(

Foreign Domestic Workers: What lies Ahead When They Come to Singapore to Work? (by Peter Chan)

2009-07-01T18:29:00.003+08:00

We have more than 160,000 Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) in Singapore who come from all walks of life; from the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. It is not uncommon to hear of horrible stories about employers badly treating their maids; verbal abuses, punishing work-hours, working in non-stipulated place of work, insufficient food, and withholding salaries. Also equally nerve-racking are stories about incorrigible maids who gallivant, demanding week-end offs after a contract has been drawn-up, poor work attitude, and engaged in mobile phone gossips. These constitute the minority but the truth is the ugly minority gets all the public attention.

Through these photographs, I hope we can better understand the work of the FDWs. I also do hope you can add suitable captions to each photo. Be fore-warned; some maids are employed for single-tasks while others do multi-tasking? I see the problem arises when a maid is employed for general household duties. This can be very difficult to legally and/or humanely define. Because they come from a different country, their social and cultural ethos may differ from us

Photo 1: Left: Window Cleaner in the morning, Middle: Car Washer at 6am, Right: Walking the dogs at 8am

Photo 2: Left: Removing a wild tree under the mid-day sun, Middle: Watering the plants at 5.50pm, Right: Balancing the plastic bags on a Saturday at the wet market

Photo 3: Left: Buying bread from 7-Eleven at 6.30am, Middle: Riding a bicycle to Cold Storage for the groceries, Right: Keeping an eye on child whilst looking out for “Mom” who is shopping nearby

Photo 4: Making sure doggy has its meal, Middle: Bringing the kid to school, Right: Wheeling “Ah Kung” to the out-patient clinic

Photo 5: Inside a “California Fitness” maid is also a feminine person. So what do you expect? Left: Shopping for that hair-clip, Middle: Must look trendy on her day-off at Snow City, Right: Secretly calling a friend at the public phone

Next round I shall feature the Ah Tiongs, the Prisaks and the Giris.

Of Mice and Men

2009-06-28T18:51:00.003+08:00

No. I am not blogging about John Steinbeck’s classic Of Mice and Men. Too many years have passed since I read that book, and all I remember is that it had something to do with two men; one very big size and the other very small.

It’s just that Victor’s latest post on the New Paper article about durian hunters in Singapore raised the question of why people would take the trouble to travel and camp out in the woods, contending with mosquitoes and fellow durian hunters for something they can easily buy at the nearby market.

This reminds me of something I read in the Readers Digest years ago. I like to read those snippets and annecdotes in Readers Digest. This one was about a study on motivation. Scientists experimented with rats by offering them two sources of food. In one side of their cage was food which was freely available. In the other there was a lever. which they had to push in order to activate the delivery of a piece of food.

The scientists discovered that the rats prefered to get the food from activating the lever. In other words they prefered to work for their food. The scientists then gradually increased the number of times the lever had to be pushed before the rats were rewarded. Initially the rats still prefered to work for their food. But finally, a number was reached when they decided that it was not worth the trouble and they went back to the ‘free’ food.

So maybe the gahmen should follow the example of the Mowbray Camp RSM which sgporc mentioned and put up some triple-concertina wires. :)

Michael Jackson’s role in “We Are The World”

2009-06-26T09:16:00.005+08:00

It’s such a coincidence. Last night, I was watching some video clips of We Are The World on YouTube, and this morning the first thing I saw on tv was news of the death of Michael Jackson.

I noticed that all the news casters spoke about his achievements like Thriller, Moonwalk and that bizarre incident where he held his baby son outside a hotel window; but none of them mentioned his pivotal role in co-writing and singing the song, We Are The World in 1985. I am sure, his fame must have played a part in bringing together a group of the most famous pop artistes of America, who were told to ‘check their ego at the door’, and spend several grueling hours to produce the song for USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa).

"The considerable profits from the enterprise went to the USA for Africa Foundation, which used them for the relief of famine and disease in Africa and specifically to the 1984-85 famine in Ethiopia .....

USA for Africa also held a benefit event, Hands across America, which approximately seven million people held hands in a human chain for fifteen minutes along a path across the continental United States. Participants paid ten dollars to stand in line and the money raised was used to fight hunger and homelessness in Africa.

The combined revenues raised from the sales of "We Are the World" and Hands Across America was almost $100 million.” (From Wikipedia)

Green fields

2009-06-23T22:54:00.002+08:00

Last night I watched a recorded documentary titled; Six Degrees Could Change the World. It was originally aired last Saturday on Okto Channel.

As you probably know, this documentary is about Global Warming. The most frightening scene that stayed in my mind was that of the parched river beds of the mighty Amazon.

There was also a “2nd Shot” sort of scene of a glacier at the source of the Ganges River. An old Indian man who had been taking photos of this glacier compared photos of it 50 years ago with present day photos of the same place. The glacier had totally disappeared. I was reminded of the lyrics of the Brothers Four song, Green Fields.

Once there were green fields kissed by the sun
Once there were valleys where rivers used to run
Once there were blue skies with white clouds high above
Once they were part of an everlasting love
We were the lovers who strolled through green fields

Green fields are gone now, parched by the sun
Gone from the valleys where rivers used to run
Gone with the cold wind that swept into my heart
Gone with the lovers who let their dreams depart
Where are the green fields that we used to roam?

Did the writers of this classic already know about global warming way back in 1956?

Where was the Baharuddin Vocational Institute?

2009-06-18T21:39:00.006+08:00

My recent article about the mysterious shooting incident in Queenstown and the subsequent discussions of the exact spot of the shooting reminded me that the nearby MDIS campus used to be called the Baharuddin Vocational Institute. I expect that many of the younger readers have not even heard of this name. Interestingly, a check with my many old street directories showed that this campus has been occupied by a number of different educational institutions. For example:

1981: Baharuddin Vocational Institute
1993: Temasek Polytechnic (Stirling Road Campus)
1998: ITE Bukit Merah (Campus 2)
2001: Queenstown Vocational Training Centre
2007: MDIS University Campus

Are you amazed and confused by the different names? I certainly am. But I am too lazy to go and research this subject. All I know is that the ITE, which stands for Institute for Technical Education (and not It’s The End), was formerly called VITB, or Vocational and Industrial Training Board; which itself was formerly called STI, or Singapore Technical Institute. I think the first name in my list, BVI was probably a part of the VITB. As for the 4th name – QVTC, this is the first time I come across it.

I think I‘d better leave it to our retired teacher, YG to blog about this bit of history and not confuse readers with my speculations.

As you know, our government is very fond of re-branding and changing names of places and institutions. That gives rise to a lot of confusion among the younger generation. For example, the other day, I was driving my youngest daughter to Hougang. I noticed that she pronounced the name How-Gung (as in ‘how are you?’ and gung-ho). I corrected her saying that she should use the hanyu-pin (Mandarin) pronunciation and explained that the place was originally called Ow Kang which was a Hokkien pronunciation.

Another example is Safti. Like me, my son is now going through OCS training in Safti; but the confusion is that his Safti and mine are two different places. Mine is just down the road and had its name stolen and now has to bear a less glamorous name called Pasir Laba Camp.

Anyway, I shouldn’t be criticizing the government because I myself am guilty of causing this type of confusion by giving my children both dialect and pinyin names. Hence at home we call them by their pinyin names whilst in school they are called by the dialect names (though mispronounced) and in church it’s a mixture; to the extent that a girl asked my daughter recently, “How come your brother’s name is so different from yours?

Anyway, as always, I have digressed. Let’s take a look at this 1981 map of the Queensway/Tanglin Halt area. Practically every major landmark there has changed.

The Queenstown Circus is no more. In its place, are a traffic lights junction and an underpass.

Most of the schools around it have been either vacated or rebuilt. The mosque has been rebuilt I believe. I am not sure about the Queenstown Community Centre. (Strange – I thought they have all been renamed, or rather re-branded, community clubs)

The Queenstown Police Station was vacated some years ago. It was replaced for a time by another uniformed organisation. Do you know its name? That too moved out, and now it is occupied by a student’s hostel.

Across the road, there used to be a Police Reserve Unit. Now the signboard says, Police Special Operations Command.

But this church and Hindhu temple along Commowealth Drive haven’t changed much.

Likewise this row of flats at Tanglin Halt Road. But how long will they last, I wonder?

Seeking your views about Queenstown heritage project

2009-06-16T22:19:00.003+08:00

I received an email from a group of Innova Junior College students.

“My group is taking on a project regarding the conservation of Queenstown's history. Through our project, we intend to educate more Singaporeans about the significance of Queenstown as a historical landmark.”

Among their questions are these two which I hope readers; especially those who know about the history of Queenstown, can help them out with some inputs. Thank you.

1. What are your views on the redevelopment of Queenstown?

2. We would like to propose a heritage gallery cum mini cafe to showcase Queenstown through the ages. Do you have any suggestions on how we could further improve on this idea?

There are places I remember – Wyman Haven (by Peter Chan)

2009-06-13T23:58:00.004+08:00

There are places I remember all my life

Though some have changed.
Some forever not for better.

Some have gone and some remain.
All these places have their moments………..

(Immortal lines from the Beatles classic, In My Life)

Today, there are not too many seafront bungalows remaining on Upper East Coast Road after land-filling of the sea took place. Many turned into condominiums, a medical center and a church. The few that remain are # 492 which was once owned by Alexandra Brickwork, the Hwa Yue Wee Restaurant, former Shaw Bros Holiday Villa and the Columbus Childcare Center site. Gone was Palm Beach Seafood, former President Benjamin Sheares’ home, the former Pepper King of Singapore’s villa, and the Dragon Inn Motel, all well-known icons of the pre and post-WW2 era. Wyman Haven, my maternal grandmother’s seafront restaurant fell victim to land-filling too.

I lost touch of Wyman Haven whereabouts until recently; although I had been told by my father that the property was acquired by the government. I tried various sources including various government agencies but none could advise me. My maternal relatives also could not tell me much except “it was very far away, somewhere in Bedok”. After my grandmother passed away, I went through all the family photo albums but found difficulties finding appropriate photographs or reminders of that place. Since 2005 I “walked the walk; suspecting that a pair of semi-detached houses at #580-582B Upper East Coast Road was the more likely site. I realized my bad judgment was based on recalling seeing tall palm trees just before coming to Wyman Haven from the city direction. By the way, these same palm trees are still standing there in front of “The Daffodile” but the previous big lawn in front of the estate has been acquired for road widening.

Photo 1: Left: Wyman Haven viewed from the side. It was built in the late 1930s with newer extensions made in the 1950s. Upper East Coast Road is to its right and the sea was to its left. Right: Typical 1960s Chinese “Choy Tan” (Cantonese for menu).

Not too long ago on a trip to a military archive in Scotland, I came across some very exciting aerial photos of Singapore, and found images of land reclamation of the Bedok area. Based on my NS knowledge of map-reading and aerial photo interpretation, I found one particular aerial photo indicated the presence of six (6) large seafront bungalows between Parbury Avenue and the Chinese cemetery at Kew Drive, and the Yuan Ming Si Chinese Temple at Hwa San Road. The military archivist was very helpful, patient and understanding. I obtained a copy and turned that over to ICEMOON (http://2ndshot.blogspot.com/) our local expertise for “second shot” Artificial Intelligence photography. He was able to accurately reproduce the present-day location of Wyman Haven.

So where do you think Wyman Haven was? Here are the results:

Photo 2: Wyman Haven is the dark-shaded box. The “Pilot Site” for the land reclamation project started on the left-side of the property facing the sea. Nothing is prominent except the narrow main road and the forest in the distance. I would sit on the seawall throwing stones into the sea whilst waiting for my favorite roasted pigeon to be ready.

Photo 3: The property boundary is all that space bounded by the blue car to the roundabout (old seawall) and to the edge of the basketball court. Recall that narrow main road and the forest in the background?
Wyman Haven is now Temasek Secondary School main driveway. The row of 6 seafront bungalows now fronts one of the main school buildings. The “Pilot Site” for the first Singapore’s land reclamation is the artificial football turf. The fenced-up small forest behind the bus-stop was once the Chinese primary school; a pair of concrete railings across the drain is evidence of the old road into the school compound. The forest is strongly rumored to be the site of the East Coast Line Kew MRT station by 2020.

PS - Wyman Haven in Chinese, by the way, is 惠文港酒家。

5 places where you still find durian trees in Singapore

2009-06-09T18:12:00.008+08:00

Reading YG’s recent article about the Bukit Brown Cemetery brought back some memories of the nearby Adam Road and Lornie Road. During my school days, I often travel along this road. I think it was an alternative route to get to my school - ACS - from my kampong home in Lorong Chuan.

I remember one occasion when our bus passed the Kheam Hock Road junction and I saw parts of a coffin – you know those huge Chinese type - sticking out of the earth. That image stayed in my mind for a long time. At that time they were probably widening Adam Road. I wonder if younger Singaporeans know that at one time, on both sides of Adam Road there were cemeteries.

I also remember seeing many beautiful croton plants with colourful red and yellow leaves. I like this plant. But since it is often associated with cemeteries, (even in Malaysia) not many people grow them in their gardens.

Another thing I remember about this part of Singapore was the kampong houses just after Kheam Hock Road. This would the area between Kheam Hock Road and the PIE. I was especially attracted by the sight of the rambutan and durian trees growing there.

Durian trees are now a rare sight in Singapore, and so I was quite surprised and delighted to see one in Chancery Lane the other day. That gave me the idea to start a meme (I hope that is the correct term) about durian trees.

I will list 5 places where you can still find durian trees growing in Singapore, and challenge fellow bloggers to continue the list in their blogs. I doubt Victor would be ‘taking up the challenge’ because his main interest seems to be another area and not plants; but I am pretty sure YG will be happy to continue with this meme. This guy seems to be exploring Singapore everyday and knows our island like the back of his hand; including places which I thought would no longer interest retired teachers. So here goes.

1) Lorong Chencharu. I took this photo a few years ago whilst on a visit to the AVA Sembawang Research Station to get a permit or something for the pitcher plants that my son and his friends imported from Australia.

2) Woodlands Street 13. I have blogged about this before here.
3) Chancery Lane. This tree has many enticing durians and is clearly visible from the main road. It is actually in somebody’s garden.

4) Brizay Park. This tree is in the garden of a huge bungalow at the junction of Brizay Park and Wilby Road. It certainly looks like a durian tree to me, but strange …. there are no fruits to be seen even though it is durian season.

5) This house is next to a car park near Upper East Coast Road. Peter took this photo when we went for lunch recently in that area. I am afraid, I am not sure of the exact location.

PS – It’s such a coincidence that YG has just posted something about a durian trees here.

Singapore Scenes from the Hollywood Movies (by Peter Chan)

2009-06-06T10:44:00.007+08:00

Victor Koo and Malcolm Young of Adelaide, Australia, were happily swapping DVDs and among Malcolm’s collection was a movie, “G.I. Executioner”. This movie was filmed in Singapore in 1971. I got involved when some questions were raised about the Singapore scenes in the movie and Victor asked me to watch the movie.

Malcolm was interested in one of the scenes which showed an overhead bridge and a Chinese temple somewhere in Singapore. Malcolm’s initial thoughts on seeing the bridge was that (in terms of size) it resembled the Singapore-Malaysian railway bridge that passes over Upper Bukit Timah Road - the one near the Railway Mall. He didn’t think that the bridge in the background would have been a POB (Pedestrian Overhead Bridge).

Now you probably asked what is so amazing about this bridge. Honestly, watching an old “B” movie with a routine Singapore storyline can be quite boring. The movie has a long line of terrible dialogue and the only selling point is nudity. I guess a girl shooting a gun while in the nude and being killed landing in a big net and hanging in the net nude is supposed to be the entertainment highlight of this film.

It was not until the end of the movie when I caught sight of the overhead bridge and the Chinese temple. Good heavens, it was the same bridge along Upper East Coast Road which I last saw in 1983 when I often would take my son for a double-decker bus-ride on SBS #12 to the terminus (future Max Pavilion). When information or photos are difficult to come by, it can be quite difficult to “pictorially” explain the bridge to others, although I knew exactly its location. I know for sure many younger people would never be interested.

Photo 1: A scene from the movie and the same place today. The Bailey bridge was after the future Temasek Secondary School. The man hailing the Yellow-top taxi stood in front of the Yuan Ming Si Temple. The bicycle’s position would be the future Kew Residential condominium

There were two reasons for my interest. First, my cousin Seow Boon, who was 7 years older than I, led me to scale the bridge when it was built in 1963. We were scolded by the contractors for this dangerous adventure. The other reason was because it was my “alarm clock” in the 1970s when I did my NS at Bedok Camp. As the bus drove under the bridge, it created a low droning sound which was of the right decibel to wake me up for the next bus stop outside Jalan Haji Salam

Photo 2: Upper East Coast Road in front of the Yuan Ming Si Temple. View towards Bedok Corner. The sexy dame was walking passed the future Kew Green condominium.

History

This was a Bailey bridge and was built across Upper East Coast Road to support the Phase 1 land reclamation in the Bedok area. It was a temporary steel framed bridge used as a method of supporting the conveyor-belt system which transferred fill material from the hills (between Upper East Coast Road and the Anglican High School in Upper Changi Road) to the sea off Upper East Coast Road. This project was undertaken by the Japanese contractor Ishikawa Jima Harima in 1966, as part of the S$50 million Japanese War Reparation to Singapore.

Photo 3: The Cut-Site (present Yokogawa factory) was opposite Aida Street, Opera Estate. The bucket-wheel excavator scrapped the hill and the fill material was transferred to the conveyor-belt to be transported to the fill area (circa 1969). Photo courtesy of Malcolm Young

There were a number of work-site accidents, one which took place at the foot of Parbury Hill. It was said that at Blk 68, there is a shrine under a tree to appease the spirits because there were many Malay cemeteries in that area. Bedok South Road itself took its shape from the original alignment of the conveyor-belt system as more fill material was taken from the hills off Siglap Hill and Aida Street.

I saw two Bailey bridges constructed in other parts of Singapore. One was from Bedok South Avenue 1 across Upper East Coast Road towards the Laguna Flyover, and the other was on Serangoon Road, near the present Boon Keng MRT Station. All the Bailey bridges had a connection with the land reclamation programs. The bridge at Bedok South Avenue 1 was in support of Phase 2, 5 & 6 of the land reclamation project from the Singapore Swimming Club to Marina Central. The Serangoon Road bridge was used to enable lorries to transfer fill material from the future Toa Payoh Estate to Kallang Basin.

The old Pioneer Road

2009-05-29T18:56:00.010+08:00

Here is the answer to the Old Roads Quiz (1).

This road was part of Pioneer Road near the junction with Tanjong Kling Road. I took this photo recently when I happened to stop at the SPC station for some petrol.

This petrol station used to be a BP station. Unless you are very young, you’d probably know that at one time, BP used to operate a number of petrol stations in Singapore before they sold their entire fleet of stations to SPC, the Singapore Petroleum Company.

This BP station was located near a sharp bend in Pioneer Road. Here is a 1981 map of the area. Can you spot the changes?

1) A part of Pioneer Road was straightened and joined to Jalan Buroh to form a straight multi-lane highway. Instead of a sharp bend in the road, it is now actually two roads at right angles to each other at this new traffic light junction. But both roads are called Pioneer Road.

2) Tanjong Kling Road has been shortened and part of it ‘taken over’ by the new Pioneer Road. Thus a short stretch of the old Pioneer Road has become redundant and fenced up.

In the old days, this stretch of Pioneer Road was a very dangerous place with high volume of heavy vehicles (traveling at high speeds) and no central road divider. It was also a bottle neck with many vehicles waiting to turn right into Tanjong Kling Road.

Can you guess what road is in the photo below?

It is Liu Fang Road viewed from Pioneer Walk. I took this photo this morning. As you can see, tremendous changes have taken place. There used to be many old factories here. One of them was called Guthrie Engineering. While waiting to get re-enlisted into national service, I spent few months doing a temporary job there. This factory, which manufactured electrical switchboards, wanted to fine-tune their costing system. So they hired me and another fresh Industrial Engineering graduate to do time and motion studies and set standard times for their operations. The factories have all been cleared and lots of civil engineering works is going on.

I also remember this place because it was where I did my 10 km running test during the final days of my OCS course in Safti. I have described this before here.

In the seventies, as you approached Pioneer Circus, (no AYE or fly-over in those days) you will see 2 big factories on the left. One of them is Black and Decker. What is the other one?

Hint: It belonged to a well-known US multi-national company. At that time, they were the biggest investors in Singapore, having (if I recall correctly) a total of 7 plants in Singapore. Do you know the name of this MNC?

I give you a hint. The plant in Pioneer Road was known as XX Hermetic Motors, and they had a plant in Toa Payoh called XX Consumer Electronics. The Toa Payoh plant was located somewhere near the present SPH complex.

Answer: GE or General Electric.

Well there you have it – a history-cum-geography lesson of the old Pioneer Road. I must say, I am a bit disappointed that none of you got the correct answer to my quiz in spite of the many hints. Let’s hope you do better next time.

Old roads quiz (1)

2009-05-23T14:31:00.007+08:00

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!

Oldest Cock on the Blog

2009-05-16T11:03:00.005+08:00

Mellow: July 2000 – April 2009

Last month, my children’s pet rooster Mellow, died peacefully of old age. At 8 years 9 months, he must be the oldest cock in Singapore – and the luckiest one too, I would suspect. Instead of ending up on the dinner table, he enjoyed nearly 9 years of tender loving care.

One day in July 2000, my wife brought back 3 chicks from the market for my children to play with. My children loved animals. It was a decision she would regret. As the chicks grew, they started to crow loudly at all sorts of hours. By then it was too late to get rid of them because the kids had grown attached to them. Finally in October when we had to move out of our house to do a major renovation, we struck a deal with the children to keep only 1 chick. Our renovation contractor’s Thai workers were only too happy to help us do the necessary, and Mellow had them to thank for escaping the chopping block, ending up on this blog instead.

Our many attempts to get rid of Mellow

Mellow had a powerful voice** and it soon became an embarrassment for us because he would crow in the middle of the night or early in the morning and disturbed our neighbours. We tried several times to get rid of him. Yes we did consider murder – after all the Sixth Commandment doesn’t apply to noisy roosters - but decided against it because the bible does tell parents not to tempt their children.

Once we brought him to an animal corner at Ghim Moh which was run by the neighbourhood residents’ committee but we could not find the person in charge. Another time, we brought him to an animal shelter in Jalan Kayu, but found that it was not suitable. Meanwhile we tried all kinds of methods to keep Mellow from crowing at unearthly hours or at least lower the volume of his crows. Once I bought a big piece of canvas to cover his chicken coop but his powerful voice easily penetrated the cover. I even surfed the internet to look for ways to keep him quiet. Perhaps there was some kind of poison that can cause him to lose his voice without killing him. Alas, the only information I found was that a healthy chick can live up to more than 10 years.

Finally I discovered a way to keep Mellow from crowing at night. By covering him with a carton box, he can be fooled into thinking that it was not yet daylight. So during the day, we would keep him in a coop in our backyard, but at night we would bring him into the back kitchen and cover him with a box.

I should mention that many of our friends and visitors were kind enough to volunteer to take care of Mellow for us. But when they found out how old he was, they changed their minds. Apparently old chicken meat is very tough.

Below is a video of my children playing with the rooster. Sorry – cannot figure out why there is no sound.

** I think Victor, YG and a few other Friends of Yesterday.sg who have been to my place can testify to how loud his crowing was.

Related Post: Oldest Cat on the Blog

Mas Selamat's Escape - Let's see whose theory was the closest

2009-05-08T21:39:00.003+08:00

Last year I blogged about 'The Great Mas Selamat Escape' and speculated on the route he might have taken. Some readers have also put up their theories. Now that Mas Selamat has been caught, we can finally see whose theory was the closest.

1) My theory was that he escaped (with help) to Bukit Brown Cemetery and then to the forests of MacRitchies Reservoir where he hid for some time and survived with help from his friends.

2) YG who also blogged about this here, is of the same opinion.

3) Peter thinks he got onto the PIE and was whizzed off by a waiting car to either East Coast or Malayan Railway.

4) The police probably thought he was hiding in the Malcolm Road areas and concentrated their search there in the initial hours. They got a tip-off from a member of the public who saw someone looking like Mas Selamat there.

5) One reader said he was probably dead and the escape story was just a cover up.

Mysterious Shooting Incident in Queenstown

2009-04-30T22:22:00.005+08:00

Any shooting incident in this little country of ours which has one of the strictsst gun laws in the world is always big news. But what makes the incident that I am about to narrate truly unprecedented and bizarre even is that it happened in broad daylight.

It happened around noon time in Queenstown, 18 September, 1972. A 22-year old seamstress by the name of Cheng Li Zhen (曾丽珍) was walking with her 19-year old sister Li Bao (丽宝) somewhere along Queenstown (I think it was Margaret Drive) when she suddenly gave a scream and collapsed on the ground. Blood was oozing from her chest. It was only after she was sent to the Singapore General Hospital that they discovered she had been shot. She died from her wound without regaining consciousness. She was from a small Malaysian town called Kluang.

I remember reading some criticism being levied against the policemen on the scene for being too shy to examine the wound which on her left breast; and thus not even realizing that it was a gunshot wound.

It was really big news at that time. And it is only recently that I was able to recall more details about this case because a friend gave me a copy of the Sin Min Daily’s 40th Anniversary Commemorative publication, and this was one of the archive items mentioned. I have tried searching for it at the National Library’s Straits Times archives but was not successful. Hope one of you readers can help out and let us have the link to any news articles about this case.

Anyway, X-ray showed that the bullet entered from her upper left chest and hit her heart. Initially, the police classified the case as ‘murder’, and suspected that the shooter was a sniper hiding in one of the high-rise buildings around Queenstown Circus or Stirling Road. Later, they confirmed that the bullet was a .22 calibre round and was probably fired from close distance from a handgun. But the trouble is, there were no witnesses and her sister did not see any shooter.

Another theory was that the round was accidentally discharged from a passing vehicle. Yet another theory that I recalled reading was that the round has gone off a weapon from the nearby Police Reserve Unit in Queensway when somebody was cleaning his weapon.

The case was later re-classified as an accident as the victim did not have any enemies and her family simply cannot think of anyone who would want to harm her.

Thirty-seven years have gone by and the case remains a complete mystery.

EX. RED BERET: Almost Lost (by Peter Chan)

2009-04-27T21:01:00.005+08:00

0715 hours – reached first checkpoint at Serangoon Garden School @Kensington Park Drive, Serangoon Garden Estate. Thanks to one Mrs. Rozario of Tavistock Avenue who gave us Danish Butter Cookie for breakfast

1210 hours –Second Checkpoint at Hill 255, Mandai Forest

1420 hours – Third Checkpoint at Hill 270 Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Ex Red Beret was a good introduction to the changing landscape of Singapore. We uncovered farmlands to residential built-up areas. We saw different types of residential dwellings; zinc-roof homes to “Ang Mo Choo”. We walked on well-defined laterite tracks and metalled roads. In those places even when we lost our way, surely we still ended up in civilization. But this was not to be the case deep inside the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. How did it happen?

Take a look at the topo map that we used in 1974 (Photo1). After the checkpoint at the foot of Hill 270 (1420 hours) we headed slightly south-west, expecting to find Hill 237 and the Y-junction in another 5 minutes time. We planned to take the track that passed Hill 169 to the Bukit Panjang Community Centre; located next to a canal. Instead we found ourselves at the water edge.

Photo 1: What was the missing “piece” in this old topo map?

This was puzzling. Did we end-up somewhere by mistake? We were forced to create our own path as the original track was covered by water and ferns. We backtracked and bashed our way through unfamiliar territory, each step made things even far worse than before. The problem begins when you end up disoriented and not knowing exactly where you are; every direction held up great hopes. By 1500 we confirmed we lost our bearings. If this was MacRitchie Reservoir we certainly headed too far south. If this was Pierce Reservoir, we must have come back to Old Upper Thomson Road.

Photo 2: The “missing piece” was Upper Pierce Reservoir. Today’s BKE is indicated by the thick yellow line.

Out of frustration we gave up using the topo map and the compass to navigate. We followed the afternoon sun and walked on the reservoir bed. We were hot, thirsty and started to worry about having to spend the night in the forest. I now figured if we kept moving in the direction of the afternoon sun we would eventually get somewhere.

Photo 3: Left; the embankment near the Chestnut Avenue Water Pumping Station. Right; Route out from the reservoir through Chestnut Avenue (Chestnut Close on the left) to the junction with Chestnut Drive. Under Chestnut Avenue and Chestnut Drive is a 66” water pipeline that carries treated water from the Upper Pierce Reservoir into Singapore’s water distribution system.

We jumped over granite boulders and maneuvered over soft soil and puddles of water. We followed the 66” water pipe from the deepest end of the reservoir as it seemly followed the afternoon sun. As luck would have it, I saw in the distance the outline of a concrete building. Before we reached this building, we climbed up a steep embankment. This steep embankment reminded me of something similar I had seen before at the MacRitchie Reservoir; the embankment impounded the water in the reservoir with the stream below. There were water pits, water pipes, gauges, gears and wheels in the building compound. Then I caught notice of a big signboard which read: “Upper Pierce Reservoir Scheme……….Chestnut Avenue PUB Water Treatment Plant. Date for Completion: June 1975…..” We had finally arrived back into civilization.

Photo 4: Aerial view of the path through the Upper Pierce Reservoir. The Chestnut Avenue Water Pumping Station is at the bottom of the photo. The green line marks our route before the reservoir was filled with water. The steel-piled embankment separates the reservoir from the pumping station facilities.

Next thought on my mind was going to my house which was in a private estate not far away from the Upper Pierce Reservoir. Anyway since we still had to traverse this private estate to get to the next destination, we might as well rest at my house. We took “cover” at my house, filled our hungry stomach with Ayam Penyet and a quick shower before leaving at 1700 hours for the Bukit Panjang Community Center.

The Bukit Panjang Community Center (near present-day Blk 606 Senja Road) was to be the meeting-point to pick up our night ration; packet rice with veggies and curry meat. After picking up our dinner packets and bidding farewell to LOBOS, we hurriedly crossed Woodlands Road to Jalan Teck Whye for the “last mile”. There was to be one last checkpoint at West Bukit Timah Hill, off Track 22, Jurong Road.

EX. RED BERET: the old version of the Amazing Race (by Peter Chan)

2009-04-16T18:04:00.004+08:00

1984 was the last time I saw Pasir Ris when land was cleared for a future HDB town. Today Pasir Ris Estate looks so much different from what it used to be. Back then, Pasir Ris referred to the Elias Road area only. Instead of the name “Pasir Ris Estate” it should have been “Tampines-Loyang Estate” – the old geographical definition from the east of the Sungei Api-Api to the west of Loyang Avenue, and north of the TPE to the sea.

Photo1: Old Tampines Road – THEN & NOW. The thicker green arrow indicates the Start Point at Mariam Close and the route taken by the two OCTS through Kuala Loyang Road and Jalan Loyang Besar. The jagged white patches were the sand pits and the dark shades were the coconut estates.

By the early 1970s, the “Tampines-Loyang” area had a mixed landscape. At both ends of the Tampines Road (Upper Serangoon Road and Upper Changi Road ends were modern private estates. The rest were coconut estates, sand pits, fresh water ponds, pig farms, Chinese temples, PDF camps and rubber estates. There were the SIA Holiday Chalet and Dari Laut at Jalan Loyang Besar, and Golden Palace Holiday Resort at Jalan Ang Siang Kong. The land sloped from Tampines Road towards the sea. Ulu Bedok (now Tampines Estate and Simei) were hills accessible from Jalan Tiga Ratus and an un-named track opposite the Anglican High School. Tampines Road had 2 lanes, very winding with varying gradients and only became a straight road after a long bend behind the Paya Lebar International Airport runway.

Ex. Red Beret’s mission was to complete within 24 hours a planned 80km route from Changi to Pasir Laba. The planned route took us through the Tampines-Loyang area. The exercise included a platoon assault on Chua Chu Kang Hill (Spot Height 286 ft.) and a withdrawal to Pasir Laba.. We were dressed in FBO, worked in pairs, equipped with topography maps (Scale 1:25,000), magnetic compass, compo-ration biscuits, and no money allowed.

Our exercise began at 0145 hours when we entered Kuala Loyang Road (now New Loyang Link). My partner was OCT CK Pek, a Nantah graduate/Chinese-educated who hardly spoke any English. Our relationship was far from satisfactory; he “followed every page of the book” and always made negative comments of my suggestions. It was only after we were judged to be the winners of Ex. Red Beret that he became more open to the English-educated cadets.

Because of the exasperation “walking in circles” around the many fresh-water ponds and the difficulty reading the topo-maps in the dark we took to Tampines Road at Sungei Tampines. That night I saw the future TPE under construction at the junction of Jalan Ang Siang Kong and Tampines Road (now Coral Secondary School). Land for the TPE was acquired on the Tampines Estate side of the old Tampines Road.

Our joy was short-lived because there were many SAF Rovers on Tampines Road; stimulating an ambush. So we were forced to get into Elias Road and walked towards the Pasir Ris Hotel, later through the coconut estates to the smelly refuse dumping grounds at Lorong Halus before emerging again on Tampines Road at Lorong Teban (now Buangkok Drive). To avoid detection, we brisk-walked, ran, hid in the monsoon drains, and zig-zagged Tampines Road several times until we reached the Upper Serangoon Road junction.

Photo 2: Jalan Simpeh is now the Tampines Mountain Biking Trail. Jalan Guan Choon is now the Livia housing project next to Pasir Ris Drive 8.

A memorable experience I cannot forget was when we walked on the water pipeline in Teck Hock Village. OCT Pek slipped because a woman screamed. She must have heard boot sounds when she had her early morning shower. OCT Pek fell into a pig-sty and I joined him not long afterwards whilst trying to pull him up. With no change of clothes, a chipped rifle butt and sore elbows, we continued our journey to Pasir Laba.

Photo 3: Left: The rear of the Pasir Ris Hotel at the end of Elias Road (now CP D Pasir Ris Park). Right: The Tampines Road-Upper Serangoon junction. Blue Arrow was original intended route to Simon Road. Green Arrow was the actual route to Lowland Road.

We reached the Upper Serangoon junction just 0530 hours and were about to make a dash across the road to Simon Road but halted after seeing two SAF Rovers parked at the corner coffee shop. One Rover had a flashing red light on its roof. Dam it! LTC Tan Chin Tiong, CO OCS was chatting with section instructor LTA Goh Cheng Hui. We back tracked and chose an alternative route through Lowland Road to get to our first checkpoint at the Serangoon Garden School.

Next episode begins after we crossed Upper Serangoon Road.

Commonwealth Drive

2009-04-03T21:45:00.005+08:00

I am surprised that my earlier post about Margaret Drive in Queenstown attracted many comments. It appears that many former residents who grew up in this old HDB estate still harbour fond memories of it. So I am motivated to write another post about Queenstown.

If you are not familiar with Queenstown and you were given an address in Commonwealth Drive, then I should warn you to be careful. You’d better check your street directory before you set out. The reason, as you can see from this 2007 map, is that Commonwealth Drive is truncated into 2 sections by the East-West MRT Line and Commonwealth Avenue. So if you went to the wrong section, you would have to make a big detour, and if you are not familiar with this area, you will definitely get lost.

At Tanglin Halt, there is an old hawker centre (Blocks 1, 2 and 3) that I used to frequent. When I went there recently for lunch, I noticed that the place looked run-down and deserted. Many of the stalls were empty. I guess they must be about to redevelop this place; and so I took some photos with my handphone camera (which explains the poor quality).

When my kids were young (this would be in the early 90’s), we liked to come here for dinner. We frequented one zhi char stall near the children’s playground. In fact, the owner knew us so well that once we went off without paying but the she wasn’t worried at all. Usually, whilst we waited for the food to arrive, my children would play with the facilities in the playground and were reluctant to come back. I guess that is one of the drawbacks of staying in a small private estate. Unlike the private condominiums and HDB heartlands, there are no children’s playgrounds in the vicinity of my home.

Let me end with a quiz about the old Queenstown. See this photo of the PUB gas tank (from the National Archives collection)? Can you tell me where exactly it used to be located?

Some things never change (2)

2009-03-27T18:50:00.004+08:00

Recently my son completed his BMT and brought back a lot of stuff from his camp while waiting for his next posting. I saw some interesting items among his things; including stuff that we would not be allowed to take home during our time; such as a personal helmet, SBO webbing and toggle rope.

Of course these items are quite different nowadays; and of better quality. The webbing for example is made of some kind of water-proof synthetic material which can be washed and dried. In our time, it was a kind of fabric-canvas which soaks up all your sweat ….. and that of everyone else who had used it previously. The only washing it gets is when we did our training in the rain!

As for the helmet, I was surprised to see that it was quite heavy. I have heard people say that nowadays the helmet is much lighter than ours. I don’t think so.

I noticed that he didn’t have a belt. He told me it was optional. I guess it is because nowadays, they don’t need to tuck in the shirt. In our time, we had to kiwi and brush our belt until it shines whenever we had drill period. Otherwise you will be punished when the CSM checks your turnout. And your belt must not be loose. He will grab it at your tummy level and tug and shake you to see if there is any slack. By the way, the belt was very handy for removing soft drinks bottle caps.

But I saw two items which looked exactly like ours - the mess tin and water bottle.

To the ‘lau pengs’, what comes to your mind when you see these two items?

For me, the mess tin brings back three memories.

1) Maggie Mee

The sight of the mess tin immediately brings back memories of times when we had to cook our instant noodles in the field. We were issued solid fuels which came in white packets.

2) Queuing for our food behind the 3-tonner

How can one forget the routine? First you wrap your mess tin with a plastic sheet to prevent it from getting dirty. Then you will queue up behind the ration truck where the cooks will sit at the edge of the 3-tonner and scoop the food from stainless steel containers (I cannot remember the name) into our mess tins. After that, we would look for a shady/comfortable spot to eat our meals.

Man … how I envied our commanders who not only were served on proper plates, but sat on wooden chairs and ate at GS tables in the shade of huge tents (again I cannot remember the name of the tent).

3) Stand by bed

One of the things the commanders liked to check was the cleanliness of our mess tins. I have heard friends say that any dirty mess tin would be flung out the window, but I have not actually witnessed this myself (neither did I do such things when the time came for me to check others). But I do remember using steel wool to polish our mess tins until they shone. Needless to say, nowadays the NS boys don’t need to do that.

As for the water bottle, ours had an alluminium cup as a base, and it was always a hassle to remove it from the water bottle pouch.

Sometimes after an exercise, we were too lazy to discard the leftover water, and then in our rush when the next exercise came along; which could be days later, we simply drank the stale water in the bottle. Yikes. Just think of all the bacteria! My wife would faint if she thinks our son does the same thing.

The smelly flower with obscene name

2009-03-25T19:00:00.005+08:00

If you had walked past the two rubbish bins in front of my house at night last week, you would not be able to savour the sweet fragrance of our Solandra Longiflora; even though they are blooming profusely. Instead you would be greeted by a pungent smell like that of rotting meat.

Don’t be alarmed. No crime had been committed. Neither had any animal been harmed. It’s just that this flower with an obscene name had just opened; and its stench was so strong that it had completely drowned out the fragrance of it’s neighbour.

Apparently the smell attracts insects which help to pollinate the plant

Do you know the name of this plant? Its common name is Corpse Flower or Elephant Yam. My Indian neighbour told me that it is a sort of yam which the Indians used for cooking. You can buy them in Serangoon Road. He told me the name in Malay, but unfortunately I have forgotten. But never mind. I am sure Chuck or YG is able to help out.

Below are more photos taken from a few months ago when the plant was still young.

Before I give you the answer, I should clarify that the big ‘flower’ is technically not a flower; but a leaf. Having little interest in Biology or Botany, I had quickly forgotten the explanation given by my son who planted this ‘beauty’ in the first place.

The name of the plant is Amorphophallus paenoiifolius. Amorphophallus is Greek for misshapen or deformed phallus (male organ).

有缘千里能相会

2009-03-19T22:38:00.006+08:00

There is a Chinese idiom, 有缘千里能相会, 无缘对面不相识. Roughly translated, it says; “Fate brings together people who are far (1,000 miles) apart”. On the other hand, if not fated, you would not even know the person who lives across the street.

Well I don’t know whether or not it is fate that brought first John Harper and now Brian Mitchell and his lovely wife Tessa thousands of miles from wintry Cambridge to our sunny shores. (Actually not all sunny because we had quite a few rainy days this past week). Still I am thankful to be able to finally meet up with somebody I seem to have known for decades this week. And they also got to meet a few of our regular friends of GMY (Good Morning Yesterday), Victor, YG, Peter and Chuck. I think our visitors were happy to be able to see most of the places that they wanted to see, such as:

Brian’s houses in Toh Drive and Opera Estate, Brian’s school in Changi, Pulau Ubin, Cliff House in Bt Chermin and Johore Causeway. Unfortunately, Brian’s school is now part of the RSAF’s Changi Air Base and thus out of bounds.

I will leave it to Brian and Tessa to tell you about their trip to Singapore in their blog. I will just show a few photos here and keep my fingers crossed that another friend from UK, Tom Brown will make it to our shores soon.

Brian and Tessa with Cliff House in the background. Notice how dark the skies were. It was raining heavily and we almost decided to turn back. Miraculously the rain ceased long enough for us to take a few shots. On the way back, it started to pour again. At Benjamin Sheares Bridge, you couldn’t even see the sky scrapers of Shenton Way.

Brian and I at the Siglap Road entrance to Opera Estate. Brian recalls that the bus taking him home from school would speed down this slope. The surrounding was mostly empty land.

Brian and Peter taking a shot of the houses at Aida Road in Opera Estate.

Brian and Tessa sampling our local hawker fare at Sunset Way Food Court

I stopped my car at Woodlands Street 13 to let our English visitors see a flowering durian tree close-up. Unfortunately, in this trip they did not get a chance to try the durian. I guess they can do that in Malaysia. After all our durians are mostly imported from Malaysia where they’re much cheaper.

That Chinese idiom may not be 100% appropriate in describing my meetings with Brian Mitchell and John Harper. But it certainly applies to a chance meeting between Lynn Copping’s brother and their amah. Lynn, you may recall has written about her stay in Pulau Brani here. Recently, she emailed me to describe the amazing coincidence which enabled her and her brother to be reunited with their amah from more that 40 years ago. Here is their story in her own words.

“By the way, I was in Singapore in July 2007, to meet up with my old amah. My brother found her completely by chance.

He has been in Singapore about 18 times in the last three years, and in April 2007 he mentioned to the porter in the hotel that he had been brought up in Singapore, on Pulau Brani. 'So was I' said the porter. My brother asked him to look at some photos of old Pulau Brani that he had on his laptop, and when the porter saw one of my elder brother with our amah, he said 'that's my mother'. (He had first seen one of me, and thought to himself that he had seen a photo of that girl before, but didn't like to say anything - it was a copy of one that his mother had in her album). My brother went to see her the next day, and I flew out on my brother's next trip (in the July) to see him and to meet up with her. It was so exciting.”

PS - to read Brian and Tessa's posts click on the label Brian Mitchell on right side of this page

My Recollections of Braddell Rise School by Kim Aii Chan

2009-03-14T13:57:00.006+08:00

1950 photo of Braddell Rise School nearing completion

Introduction

This article is contributed by my primary school classmate Aii Chan. As some of you may know, I went to Braddell Rise School for 4 years from 1960 to 1963 and have blogged about this school previously. Aii Chan read my story and contacted me. Since then we have exchanged emails and managed to unearth many old memories of BRS.

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

Years: 1959 – 1964 (6 years)

Location of BRS was 2-3 bus-stops away from home (Thomson Road), so to save the 5 cents bus fare (for extra use in the school tuck-shop) quite often we (my sister & I) walked to/fro school.

School Principal was Mr Marriappan (I thought we had a temporary one in early years before his arrival, a certain Miss Guin or Miss Quin (Caucasian lady) ??

List of class teachers

Pr.1 Miss Koh (children with neat handwriting – received a sweet each) Pr.2 Mr Seto Mun Chap (he taught us sewing !! really unique)

Pr 3 Miss Josephine Gomez (v. lively teacher, brought her favourite students (me included) out a lot and even to her home near Farrer Park swimming pool)

Pr.4 Mr Chew Wai Choon (yes he taught us to sing Yellow bird with his guitar. We loved also his Art lessons becos we moved our desk into 4’s )

Pr. 5 Mr Chia Kah Hock, thin (not tall) soft-spoken

Pr.6 Mr Pang (drove a red sport car like a playboy, can be quite fierce esp. to the boys) Our Chinese teacher was Miss Ong and I think she stayed v. long because she also taught my nieces many years later.

School Tuckshop

On entering the first stall sold kueh kueh and otak in banana leaves, then came the old Hainanese lady who sold cakes/biscuits, tea and coffee, then the drink stall of Fong Jie who kindly gave us cold water foc, the mee pok lady (her niece called Lily was in our class for some years), the Indian Mee siam stall then the sweet stall (our favouriteJ)

Girls Toilet (2nd Block)

Facing the entrance door are table-tennis tables, we have to go early to “chop” the table for our group of friends to place. The toilet doors can be quite difficult to lock esp. for young children and I remember one girl called Elsie (who stayed across the school, at the corner of MacRichie Reservoir, she was in my sister’s class) got locked in the toilet for some time !! After this, we all got frightened and never went to toilet alone during recess time. Near to the girls toilet was the Indian Jaga’s home or storeroom (?).

Girls Toys

Some of the girls also played the kuti kuti but I think it was considered more for the boys, for us I remember that we sewed our own 5 stones (triangle cloth-made filled with red seeds from the angsana trees growing in the school ground) and we also played group skipping : 2 girls turning a long rope while a 1 or 2 girls jumped inside.

Memorable events

School sports days (since Miss Gomez came, our sport days included also Folk dancing. I was involved in this in Primary 3 we wore a standard white blouse but Miss Gomez made us red skirts from a type of fluffy paper) and I remember also some concert days which took placed in 2nd block with a piano esp. when Singapore merged with Malaysia in 1963 and there was a song which went like this:

Let’s get together, sing a happy song
Malaysia forever, ten million strong
Land of the free, marching as one
Ready to go in every way, so let’s get it done, get it done!

We’re all in the same boat, sailing as we go
???????????????????????
we’re ready for merger, let’s open the door
To Malaysia forever, ever more.

Chorus:

Malaysia forever, ever more, united for Liberty,
Homes of the happy people Just you wait and see,
wait and see !

I also remember singing at a school concert with Catherine and another girl (Lim Poh Lan ?): Isles of Capri (must have been either Primary 4 or Primary 5)

The BRS sports field was situated at the back of the school at the highest point. Today it would be the Assissi Home and the Marymount Road

Unpleasant memories

Early years, when the mobile Dentist van came and we queued up for the nurses to check our teeth. The primary 1 classes were situated in the first block where we could see the arrival, then fear set in our little heads!

During primary 2, Mr Seto picked me (with a few others) to be School Prefects. I ended up being assigned to make children pick up papers/other rubbish on the school ground during recess time. This was really difficult because being only at Primary 2 (also shorter than the other kids), so much younger - how could I get the other “bigger” ones to obey me? I tried always to get the lower primary ones to do that but they were not always around. Quite often I ended up picking the papers or rubbish myself!!

Of course this was only the first initial years, on getting older with each passing years, it was easier to get the others to obey J During Primary 5 or 6 years Catherine and I even helped the primary 1 or 2 teachers to look after their classes in their absence: it was great because we felt like teachers and the “little” kids respected and obeyed us too!

Conclusion

BRS brought to me more pleasant than unpleasant memories : A great school!