Asking stupid questions Recently I received an email advertisement to join a training workshop on How to Ask Stupid Questions. I dare not comment on such training programmes because I don’t know anything about them. But I do know that some friends at the National Library Board adopt this motto/practice and they seem to be doing fine.But I know one gentleman who doesn’t need to attend such a workshop. He is the famous Philip Yeo, former chairman of EDB and present Chairman of Spring Singapore.It was reported in the papers today that, he once asked a potential scholar: “Have you been to a bar? A red light district?" To both questions, the answer from the young man was: “No.”“This guy spends all his time at the library!” commented Mr Yeo. I am guessing that he would be blunt enough to make that comment in the face of the hapless young man; and no doubt, to the laugher of his fellow interviewers.This report really disturbs me. I fear that other CEO’s of government departments will emulate the famous ‘civil service mandarin’ in asking interviewees such ‘out of the box’ questions. I hate to picture our decent young men being ‘sexually harassed’ by interviewers like Mr Yeo. Therefore I would like to offer a bit of advice to all the young people reading this blog. If you ever encounter this type of stupid questions from an interviewer, please remain calm and stand up to the bully.In reply to the first question, say; “With all due respect sir, I don’t think that’s any of your business. (Even in Singapore, you do have some human rights you know) But if you really must know; no, I have never been to a bar or a red light district.”To his funny comment; ask; “Sir, you mean you like to frequent such places?” Then shake your head is disbelief.Young men. Stand up to your beliefs and convictions; especially if they are based on your Christian faith. Never let any top civil servant tell you that you need to sin to succeed in the secular world. Never let any senior army officer tell you that if you don’t drink, you cannot be an officer. And never let any so call ‘business honcho’ tell you that if you don’t ‘yan chew’ (smoke and drink), i.e. ‘entertain’, you cannot do business in China.It’s really sad to see this state of affairs in Singapore. There was a time when people in high places would tell young people; “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.”Nowadays, it seems ‘godfathers’ find it more appropriate to say, “Let him that does not like to sin be the first to be stoned.” Old Beauties Quiz (4) OK. Here are another 3 photos. Actually I am not too keen to put up these photos because their ‘beauty’ is somewhat marred by poor maintenance by the owners. But, as they say in Hokkien, bo he hey ya ho. (If you cannot get fish, you have to settle for prawns). Old Beauties Quiz (3) Rather busy lately and no time to do any serious blogging. So I will keep you occupied with another old beauties quiz. These beauties are a bit different from the previous ones. They are local beauties.The first one was spotted some time ago at a multi-storey car park in Jurong West St 93. The second photo was taken last week at the multi-storey car park in Shunfu market/food centre.PS – Perhaps I should ask Peter, the old cars, old buildings, old streets and in fact, old everything. expert to give chance a bit and let the others have a go firstHere are a couple more photos. Sorry the Alpha photo is out of focus. Apparently my handphone camera only good for close range shots. - 22 July 2008 Fine city not the most suitable name for Singapore Over the decades, our beloved Singapore has earned for itself the rather unflattering name of Fine City. Well, I think that name has lost its novelty and I find that it is not even appropriate anymore because nowadays, we don’t find many warning signs with the threat of fines printed on it. Anyhow, Fine City is still better than Sin City or Vice Capital don’t you think? But I think a more appropriate name should be Sign City.Going for my brisk walking exercise in MacRitchie Reservoir the other day, and eager to try out my new Sony Cybershot phone, I realised that there are lots of man-made objects in the form of signs even in a nature park. Below are some examples. This rather old one does not have a 'price tag'. It was mounted at the water's edge quite far in, near the start of the cross-country track. PS – with the full mobile phone number portability thing recently, I switched from Singtel to Starhub. The offer was too good to resist. I got a 3.2 megapixels camera phone ‘free’. I do not have to pay a cent for the next 6 months. Plus being an existing subscriber of their cable vision and broadband services, I get $100 rebate and 15% on my mobile phone bill, plus free phone upgrade after 1 year – whatever that means.But I am getting into trouble with Singtel. They just billed me $250 for “Eqpt Plan Termination” for terminating my account with them before the contract expires. But I went down to the Hello shop at AMK Hub to check before I switched, and the girl there asked for my NRIC no. did a quick check on her pc and declared that my contract has expired! I called up Singtel to protest; and they are still ‘investigating’.I am no marketing expert, but I find our phone companies’ marketing antics rather silly and unproductive. Instead of ‘sayanging’ (‘sayang’ is Malay for tender loving care) their existing customers to prevent them from being poached, they go all out to woo new customers from their competitors, making their existing customers feel, what should I say, taken for granted.With all of them employing such progressive tactics, what do we get in the long run ……. a game of musical chairs of course.PS: Please remember to vote for me for the OMY awards here 2008 National Inter-schools Canoeing Championships Last Friday, 11 July 2008, I was at the MacRitchie Reservoir to watch the 2008 National Inter-schools Canoeing Championships. I wrote a report for the folks at Redsports. You can read it here. From my inbox: 11 July 2008 Robin Chiang writes all the way from California. Coincidentally, many of the things Peter and I have blogged about featured in his younger days as well.Dear Mr Lam,I read your "Good Morning Yesterday" blog and would like to thank you for sharing your experiences. There are quite a few common points. I grew up in Singapore in the 70's (I was born in Taiwan) and did my NS in 84-86. I lived in Nanyang University where my father was a lecturer. In 82 we moved to Clementi, just 2-3 blocks from the Ulu Pandan Railway Bridge.In NS I was in SAFTI, and then SMM (School of Military Medicine), and then posted to 30 SCE as an LCP medic. By then 30 SCE was based in Khatib Camp. I was in Charlie Coy for 7-months, then HQ coy. As a platoon medic in 85 I witnessed the last Bailey Bridge built by the SAF. I am quite familiar with many of the SAF points of interest.After NS, I came to California for my univ and have not returned (except for short visits). 2 decades later I recall fondly my days in Singapore and am reading up on her history and finding out how ignorant I am. I hope the Min of Ed places a greater emphasis on teaching history to the country's youth. (emphasis LCS's)Related posts:1) The Ulu Pandan Rail Bridge2) 30 SCE 3) SAFTI4) Bailey Bridge5) Nanyang UniversityPS: Please remember to vote for me for the OMY awards here. Foyers Gathering 2008 Last Friday, the Friends of Yesterday (or Foyers as we call ourselves) had a gathering at the home of Shaun, the “Superman”. Besides the usual makan, we were treated to a display of Shaun’s amazing collection of super toys. I must admit that I don’t quite know how to appreciate such sophisticated toys.Siva had brought along a DVD of the movie Saint Jack which was filmed entirely in Singapore in the 1979. In it were several scenes showing Singapore in the 70’s. However, with all that chatting and eating, it was a bit difficult for us to concentrate on the movie and pick out the places. Anyway, if you want to know more, you can wait for Victor to blog about it because we gave him the assignment to view the movie again. He gladly accepted the assignment. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact this movie has several ‘adult’ scenes.Anyway, I recognized the lead actor Ben Gazarra, and I told my younger friends that he used to act in an old TV drama series called The Fugitive. But somehow, at the back of my mind, I sensed that that wasn’t correct. And so the next day, I did a search on the internet and found that the old TV series that Ben Gazarra acted in was not The Fugitive. Do you know which TV series that was? I give you a hint. It was about a lawyer who found that he had terminal cancer and had only two years to live. And so he decided to “drink life to the lees”. Click here for the answer. You will probably see why I made the connection.On the way home, I had three young men in my car when we drove into Bishan. I asked whether they could possibly picture in their minds what Bishan was like in the 60’s when it was nothing but hills and cemeteries. They all said, no way. In fact, Ivan said he simply could not imagine what life in a kampong was like.That remark sort of stayed with me, and made me think that perhaps, I should blog more, about the kampong days, even though, much of what I can recall about my kampong days, I have already blogged about in the past two-and-a-half year. Yes Good Morning Yesterday has been around that long. For a start, perhaps, I will try to do some homework and try to figure out where roughly were the cemeteries of Pek San Teng located compared to today’s Bishan New Town. But with my limited skill with Photoshop, I guess, I might have to rely of the old-fashioned army style of using real plastic overlays!Meantime, I hope some of the older bloggers like YG, who grew up in a small kampong near Tan Tock Seng Hospital, will share more stories of kampong life.Would you believe that this is what Potong Pasir used to look like (Picture scanned from the book, Singapore, An Illustrated History, 1941 ~ 1984, Information Division, Ministry of Culture) Where have all the ‘kopi how’s gone? My previous post about dating in the old days reminds of a place that I liked to go to. It was a coffee house called The Trishaw. It was located at ground floor of the Hotel Royal Ramada in Newton Road. I doubt it is still there. It had a rather unique ambience. The tables were configured like a trishaw with an artificial canopy. Can’t remember anything about the food though; me being never very particular in that department.At the time when guys of my generation were leaving school in the late sixties and seventies, coffee houses became very popular for young working adults. Even the ‘bengs’ liked to frequent such places, calling them ‘kopi how’. But of course there were different classes of coffee houses; those in the hotels being more classy than those in the HDB heartlands.The first coffee house I ever went to was called Silver Spoon (hope I got it right). It was located at the Supreme House in Penang Road. I believe it was also at one of the shops in this shopping centre that I bought my first pair of jeans. I think that too became a rage among youngsters at around the same time, especially the university and poly students. Levis, Lees and Amco were the popular brands. Anyway, a kampong boy like me knew nothing about fashion; just followed my younger brother James who was the trend-setter in our family when it came to such things. You could say he belonged to the “new jeanaration”.I am afraid, I can’t recall the names of many other coffee houses of that era. But when I started working in Philips in Toa Payoh, my colleagues and I liked to go to a coffee house at Toa Payoh Central for cheap set lunches. I think it cost only a few bucks, complete with soup, coffee and desert. Cheap and fast. It was located near to the bus interchange.At that time, (late 70’s to early 80’s) Toa Payoh Central was very different from what it is today, as you can see from the map of below. (Wah - the $16 that I paid for that 1981 street directory is really worth it man). Do you notice the huge Toa Payoh Circus? I told you before that it was one of the largest in Singapore; maybe second only to the Queens Circus in Queenstown. Another coffee house in Toa Payoh that we occasionally patronized was located just next to the Kong Chian Theatre next to the library.When I started working in NPB in the mid-eighties, my work frequently brought me to Jurong. There my regular clients and I often went to the coffee house at Taman Jurong. Taman Jurong was very different from what it is today. I will blog about that place another day. Next to the coffee house which was along Corporation Road was a famous cake shop called B&W. That cake shop is now located at Taman Jurong Point. We still frequent the shop. Everyone in my family like their ‘tau sar piah’.I can only recall two more. One was at Serangoon Road, near the junction with Boon Keng Road – saw a big cockroach there once. Now I remember why that place stayed in my mind after all these years. I was with my friend Simon, and he got terribly upset by the sight of the cockroach.The last one was at Changi Village. It was just along the main road where there is now a long row of eateries. Sometimes after our in-camp training at Pulau Tekong, my army friends and I would go that for some ‘real’ food.I am sure regular readers of my generation can remember many more names of coffee houses of our era which I have forgotten about. An unforgettable blind date Victor’s post about the cinemas of old reminds me of an unforgettable blind date that I had a quarter century ago.I think the year must have been around 1984. At 32, I was still single and my sister Pat was not happy. Her reputation of being a highly successful one-woman SDU was being tarnished by her uncooperative brother. SDU, in case you do not know, stood for Social Development Unit. It was formed by the government to match-make university graduates. It was the product of the Great Marriage Debate triggered by then prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew during one of his National Day Rally speeches.My sister was really scary. She still is actually. She doesn’t ask for your permission before she arranges blind dates. She simply gives you the phone number and tells you everything has been arranged; just make the call. Even if you object also she doesn’t care. It was a real torture for me.Anyway, I spoke to this girl on the phone. For some reason she did not want me to go to her house to fetch her - too far, I may not be familiar with that area etc. As she lived in the northern part of Singapore, we agreed to meet at the Imperial Theatre car park in Upper Thomson Road. I gave her a description of my car. I believe at that time I was driving a Subaru 1600GL which I bought for only $13,000 from an Australian colleague of my brother’s at Citibank. The car had only clocked a mileage of less that 30,000 km.Map of Upper Thomson in vicinity of Imperial Theatre (From my 1981 Street Directory). Notice the Thomson Village, Kampong San Teng Road, and the Little Sisters of the Poor, which is still there but now has a different name.At the appointed time, I arrived early and once I got there, I realized that I had inadvertently chosen the perfect place. There was no way she could miss me.You see, the Imperial Theatre was a small theatre that we used to go to when we stayed at the kampong in Lorong Kinchir off Lorong Chuan. (Read story here). But since we moved out in 1974, we seldom went back there. And so I did not know that in the eighties, Imperial had become an Indian movie theatre.When my date arrived, one show had just ended and another was about to begin. There I was in the car park, standing next to my car, the only Chinese in a sea of Indians. Please vote for Good Morning Yesterday With all humility, I would like to announce that Good Morning Yesterday has been selected as one of the top ten finalists in the Individual Category of omy's Singapore Blog Awards 2008.The top blogger in each category will walk away with a laptop and a trophy designed by Singapore's multi-disciplinary artist Tan Swie Hian. In addition, the top three most voted bloggers across all categories will also win a LG mobile phone each.The winner in each category will be determined by 30% public votes and 70% scorings by a panel of professional judges - media industry veteran, Man Shu Sum; The Theatre Practice Co-Artistic Director, Kuo Jian Hong; and acclaimed movie director, Kelvin Tong.To cast your vote, please go to this website. Voting is open from 30 June to 31 July 2008.PS - Actually I would prefer to compete in the Education or Nostalgia category if there was one. But anyway, I am quite happy to have come this far, and even if I don't get into the top 3, it's fine for me. A big thank you to all readers and contributers. By the way, if you are new to this blog; perhaps you would want to check the following 3 posts that I submitted for the competition. And be sure to read the comments as well. Some of my readers contribute gems.1) Days of Black and White Television2) Tribute to a Humble Profession3) What Melvyn MissedBesides the above my personal favourites are:4) Pay Correct Sir5) Remembering September 11th6) Tragedy Lies in WasteBut I think the most widely read article judging from the statistics were:Days of Black and White TV and Singapore’s First Fast Food Restaurant which was jointly written with Peter. Charles Jordan remembers Singapore Charles Jordan writes from England to share with us about his trip to Singapore, when his father, who was a RAF (Squadron Leader) officer, was posted to here. He also remembers his time here at the RAF Changi Secondary School as well his life after returning to the UK.Thanks Charles, for your story and the photos. ****************************************************************When I was about 14.8 yrs, my dad was posted to RAF (Royal Air Force) Changi, Singapore and the family, excluding my elder brother Keith (Boarding School) went too. RAF Changi Sec School Sep 1957 - Apr 1960We sailed aboard the SS Nevasa 20,000 Ton Troop ship (P&O Line) from Southampton 23 Aug 57 via Suez. It was a very rough passage across the Bay of Biscay & I recall there were many sea sick persons, but not I.After several days from passing Gibraltar, we finally stopped and temporarily anchored near to the entrance to Port Said, Egypt. I recall there were masts of sunken vessels sticking out of the sea at obscure angles. I noted several elongated concrete structures that that been built on rocky outcrops forming a type of man-made barrier. These had beacons on. We may have stopped for about 24 hours, well it seemed to me to be for ever. According to our Captain, we were the 2nd ship to navigate the Suez Canal since the end of the (fifties) Middle East conflict [as Pat Bramwell states, I now recall there were Tanks and other Army units along both sides of the canal and we were given strict instructions by the Captain, to stay below deck, in case we caused an International incident!! I recall just how very hot it was below deck. Everyone had their port-holes open to let in what little waft of cool air we could get. I also recall that we had to stop about half way along the canal to allow another vessel steaming north, to pass us before we were allowed to continue. It was very hot below deck. By that time, there were no more tanks and infantry along the canal banks and we took advantage of the warm breeze on deck. I also recall that during this period whilst we waited to continue, a number of Arabs in canoes called from below and held up wooden carvings and such like. Several seamen appeared and tied lengths of rope to the ships railings and dropped lengths of rope to these Arabs. Quickly items were tied to the ropes and the Arabs would call out for us to haul them up to see if any wanted to buy. I recall one adult lady shouting down to the boatmen and then drop coins into the water beside their boats. I saw a young boy dive into the water and retrieved the money. It was noticeably cooler when we continued south towards the Red Sea and finally the Indian Ocean. During our virtually uneventful passage across the Indian Ocean, I witnessed Flying Fish, Porpoises/Dolphins and a quantity of sea birds. On one occasion a few of the Army lads gathered on the aft deck and inflated large balloons from a gas canister, tied knots and released them. There were riflemen who would try to shoot them down. There was very little to do apart from play cards or table tennis. There was a ships NAAFI shop, where we purchased crisps and lemonade etc. My dad knew the Head Waiter, I forget his name, but he was a middle aged man with dark receding hair. He was okay I suppose & I started collecting the ships menus as an interest. Ship menus are collectables these days.We arrived in Singapore on 14 Sep 1957Having disembarked, leaving some of our friends on board (going on to Hong Kong), our family were driven to temporary accommodation in the name KATONG GRANGE near Geylang. A few days later, another family arrived with 2 sisters, Sonia & Elaine. [I have been in touch with Elaine (Beckham) who currently lives in California, USA]During my time at Changi, I joined the Scout Group at Changi and attended the Scout Jamboree at Geylang during 1958 and met with Lady Baden-Powell and Prince Philip.Later I joined the Malaysian Air Training Corps (MATC), based at Kallang (see photo below) Incidentally, the officer I believe became the Air Chief Marshall of the RMAF based at KL.16 MATC ID, Aug 1959During my time with the MATC, Singapore became Singapura and an independant state of Malaya during April 1959 and I along with the MATC was on that parade (see photo below)Back in the UKHaving returned by a 'Whispering Giant' (Brittannia) to UK on 12 APR60 moved to RAF Rudloe Manor where I found great difficulty in finding a pupils place at any of the local BATH schools and colleges.I found myself employment with the Bath Co-operative Society as Stockroom Boy, general dogsbody and tea maker. Whilst in the Despatch Dept one day, I found evidence of a rodent and lay a non maiming mouse trap. Having caught this LARGE mouse, I placed it in a vacuum tube bound for the Accounts Dept run mainly by female staff. The mouse was obviously petrified and as the tube was recovered and opened, it leapt out, crapping as it went, all over various accounts and other important paperwork. I could hear the screams from four floors down. Oh, how I laughed! I was sacked! Good though....I sat an entrance exam for the RAF. I visited RAF Cardington, Bedford and went to RAF Cosford 23SEP60 as a Boy Entrant. Became a Telegraphist (Morse Cade, Teleprinters & general telecommunications in Signal Offices, etc) and was posted to:- RAF West Raynham (JUL62-OCT63) - Northolt(FEB63-AUG63) - Bahrain (Muharraq & Juffair OCT63-OCT64)- Upavon (NOV64-JUN65) - Changi (JUN65 - DEC67)- Rudloe Manor (FEB68-AUG69) - Medmenham (MAY69-JUL69) - GAN (Addu Atoll AUG69-AUG70) - Annual Leave at Changi and later HQFEAF Sailing Champs at Seletar - Kinloss - Pitreavie Castle - Mount Wise (Mount BattenHQ18 Maritime GP)- Manston (OCT70-NOV73I married Sep 1972 and was blessed with a beautiful baby girl (Josephine) 29 May 1975 During my time with the RAF, I completed an 18 jump Parachute course, Desert & Jungle Survival Courses - I was a member of the RAF Inter-Services Sailing TeamNOV73...Joined Kent Police & posted to Gillingham, Chatham, Margate, Maidstone & West Malling where I decided it was time for a change as the Police Force was not the Force I had joined...During my time at Margate, I organised a class reunion inviting Mr PineI divorced May 1982.I remarried Aug 1983. I have a Stepson, Andrew and a further 2 wonderful children. Louise & Robert.Whilst with the Police I built my own Phantom sailing dinghy [Photo 799] from paper plans over the winter of 1979-80 and during 1983, I won the British PHANTOM National Championships at Grafham Water.I was elected as Phantom Class Secretary 1986-89.During 1988, I was invited aboard 'RADICAL' the Blue Arrow British Team for the America's Cup Challenge yacht, then based at Falmouth. [3 x Photo's]I left the Kent Police to set up my own company : Nightsafe Investigations, Marine & Security Services (UK) Maidstone office in MAR94.I now have my own 26 ft Snapdragon berthed at Oare Creek, Faversham.Plus a Moody 56 based in Falmouth. 'Jamboreee' is chartered out.Back in JUL91 I flew to Belfast to board a 50ft Yawl 'Sally Endeavour' (sail training ship for the Duke of Edburghs Aware Scheme) to sail 10 children from families of [RUC Disabled Police Officers Association] to Cowes for Cowes week. [5 girls, 5 boys ages 12 - 19 years. 5 Roman Catholics and 5 Protestants] Thrown together - they got on!!We sailed to Falmouth non stop and gave them a tasty meal in a local restaurant. Then on to Cowes. We moored to a pontoon in the river. We signed on for 3 races. All other yachts had been stripped out for light weight performance racing. Sally Endeavour had not been out of the water for 18 months and therefore had a certain amount of slime under the water line. She was carrying 14 persons. Skipper, 1st & 2nd Mate, and 11 landlubbers including an RUC WPC. Only one of which had had any racing experience. Me. Heavy metal masts and rigging, Heavy sails cut for cruising, fuel, water, rations, bedding and personal belongings, in other words, NOT a 'mean machine' 1st race we did not finish. 2nd race we hit the mark called 'Brambles' with a resounding clang and were disqualified. We caused mayhem at the start of the 3rd race. They still talk about us at Cowes, we finished 27th on handicap of 36 starters in our class.I have an elder brother, Keith (67) (who later joined the RAF as an Air Traffic Controller & FltLt) who visited us at Changi and a Younger sister, Josephine (60) who was a pupil at Changi Junior now (a Solicitor) in Halesworth, Suffolk.As I am nearing retirement age, we will be moving to a quieter UK location, but as yet not too sure where - downsizing.I am delighted to report that I have after many years searching, I have found several class mates.- LOOKING FOR: - Alan HATTON - Tony BUSH- Keith PHILIPS - Brian PHILLIPS - William FROST - Ian BEATON- David LAWRENCE - Colin FISH (located NORFOLK, UK) - Terry CROSS & his brother David CROSS - Denise WALKER (Believed living in M'sex UK with her 2 children) - Jacqui WALKER (located STOCKPORT, UK) - Marg MaKAY & her sister Liz MaKAY - Teresa MALTBY - John KIRBY (I believe that someone told me more than 20 yrs ago that John had been killed) - Angela ERWIN - Lesley STOCKOSusan GREY - Jackie GODDARD (Deceased February 2008)- Mo WESTWOOD (Located in Tuftley, Glous)- Michael HURST - Ann RAMSAY (Located BOURNEMOUTH, UK...now Mrs Pordum)- Heather HAZELWOOD - Sandra SAUL - Michael HOLMESMr. FOREMAN (Teacher) ... believed to reside in Sandwich, Kent........ and anyone else who is ex Changi. Holiday bungalow at Wing Loong Road Peter’s stories about the famous Bedok Corner remind me of the time our family booked a holiday bungalow at Wing Loong Road in Changi. I am not surprised if some of our younger readers have never even heard of Wing Loong Road.The year was around 1972 or 73. My sister who was a teacher booked this government holiday bungalow for a few days. (On another occasion, she was able to book a beautiful bungalow at Fraser’s Hill). I don’t remember much about what we did; maybe some parties and swimming. I did not spend as much time there as I wanted because my university exams were approaching, which meant that it was probably during the beginning of the year.What I remember though, was the route. We did not use Tampines Road but rather took the Bedok Road approach. After passing the Bedok Corner, we came to a T-junction where there were a row of shops facing Bedok Road. This place used to be called Simpang Bedok Village. I remember these two places clearly because they were the prominent landmarks we were supposed to look out for to get to the bungalow. Over the next few days we traveled this way a few times. We turned right at this junction into Upper Changi Road which led all the way to Changi Village. At that time, there was no New Upper Changi Road. After some distance, we came to Wing Loong Road which was a narrow track on the right. It was a rather deserted road with much vegetation and led to the bungalow by the sea. I believe that area was known as Kampong Ayer Gemuruh.This is what that T-junction at Simpang Bedok look like today. I took this photo 2 days ago before joining Peter and two other "Friends of Yesterday.sg", Victor and Wee Kiat, for dinner at Bedok Corner Food Centre. The food was really as good as Peter had promised.This is what the same place looked like in 1969. This photo was taken from Upper Changi Road looking towards Anglican High School. Bedok Road is on the left. Photo courtesy of Peter Chan.Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos to show you. But as you can see from the map below, our bungalow was probably located on what is today the perimeter fence of Changi Airport. The airport itself was built on what was once the sea. I would guess that Wing Loong Road was located somewhere opposite the Japanese School in Upper Changi Road.The above map is scanned from Peter’s 1963 street directory. Latest: Eureka! I managed to find one photo taken at the bungalow. It was dated 1st Jan 1973. By the way, this type of T-shirt was very popular in the early 70's ... you know why? Bruce Lee wore it in The Big Boss! Traditionally, it was worn by the Chinese 'Ah Pek' shop-keepers.PS – According to this website, the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home was originally housed at chalets in Wing Loong Road until it was acquired by the government for building the Changi Airport runway. I wonder if their chalets were the same as the one we stayed in. Balek Kampung To Bedok Corner Part 3: Bedok Corner Hawker Center (Written by Peter Chan) For the knowledge on how alfresco dining and rustic charm was like in my time, I would not mind stepping back into the past. Like many others, I prefer the modern amenities although I am aware that with modernization it comes with a price; a loss of the laid-back kampong ambience, unsociable people, warm evenings because of lower ceilings, and higher food prices.The Bedok Corner Hawker Center did not begin at its present location next to Bagnall Court. In fact it began at the bus-stop in front of the former 3SIR. The present location of the hawker center in the early 1960s was a piece of empty ground filled with lallang. Shortly after the Bedok Camps were completed in 1969, all the hawkers were re-sited across the road to its present location. In my memories, I can “see” stalls selling “Jill Her Eng Chye”, Chicken Porridge, “Cher Char”, Hokkien Mee, ”Cheng Teng” and Satay. Only the Lim family operating the “Jill Her Eng Chye and “Cheng Teng” and the Hokkien Mee were the sole survivors from the 1950s, while many retired during the upgrading of the hawker center. Of course it might not be fair to compare yesterday’s food prices to today’s; inflation, wages, rental and utilities always rising more than decreasing. Satay was $1/- for 10 sticks, chicken porridge was 0.30 cents a bowl and Jill Her Eng Chye was $2/- by the time I was in National Service in 1972. Through the years, I always patronized Mak Chik who sold mutton soup; always conscious that her price went up from $1.50 to $3.30 today.Photo 1: (Left Photo) Chicken Porridge stall. (Right Photo) Hokkien Mee stall on the side of the future 3SIR. In front of the stalls was Vienna Inn, the future Bagnall Court. Bedok Corner is on the right of the photo. The sea was behind the stalls. (circa 1958)Photo 2: Bedok Corner Hawker Center: front facing Bedok Camp 1. The front row comprised the Drinks stall, Cher Char stall, one stall always closed, passage way, Hokkien Mee, Mee Goreng/Mutton Soup Stall, Seafood Bakar stall, Cheng Teng stall and Jill Her Eng Chye stall. The back of the hawker center faced Bedok Road (now the public car park)Photo 3: Old familiar faces such as “Jill Her Eng Chye”, Hokkien Mee and Ah Pek who is seen “kooning” at the public toiletAfter the upgrading works were completed in 2005, a new name was given to this place; to keep pace with its new Minangkabau architecture. Bedok Corner Food Court did not retain many of the Bedok Corner Hawker Center stalls. I missed the goreng pisang Malay women selling her kueh and tapioca & banana fritters, Rashid the Bandung drink specialist, and the chicken & duck rice stall – on some days the taste of his duck was better than his chicken and vice versa. Today a horde of new food stalls appeared with new menus; tandoori chicken, ice kachang in soya bean, O-luak, Tahu Goreng to name a few.One question for readers: Look at Photo 3 again and guess which person is likely to be the CSM from 1st Commando BattalionPhoto 4: Bedok Corner Food Center (circa 2008) Balek kampong to Bedok Corner Part 2: Changed Landscape from Sea to Land (Written by Peter Chan) If I were to tell you that the sea was once in front of the Bedok Canal Connector, you might not believe me. When I tell you that Fairmount Condominium was where Long Beach Seafood made its name, you would doubt that too. I use these photos, courtesy of my friends, to describe the changed landscape; Dr. Michael Wang (a medical specialist who collects heritage postcards as a hobby), Douglas Chan – who does nothing but point & shoot from inside the airplane cabin, and retired x-RAF airman Peter Biggadike. Photo1: Bedok Rest House (circa 1960) became Long Beach Seafood in the 1970s but today is the Fairmount Condominium. The WW2 pill-box is now the refuse bin under the lone tree on Bedok Junction. The concrete steps became the driveway into Bedok Camp 1. The “koleks” is the bus-stop.Phase 1 of the East Coast Land reclamation Project stopped exactly at the canal between the Laguna National Golf & Country Club and Bedok Camp 1. By 1969, the seafront bungalows such as Bedok Rest House, the property of the Sultan of Pahang, the block of flats (now a part of the East Coast Medicare Center), and a zinc-roofed motor workshop stood facing the sea.By 1972 when I was in Bedok Camp 1, there was no more sea in front of those seafront bungalows. Phase 4 of the land reclamation project from Bedok Corner had reached Tanah Merah Besar Road, leaving the sea off Nicoll Drive still intact. Photo 2: Long Beach Seafood – Through the YearsOn “Day 1” of my enlistment, I peeped out of the louvered window of Delta Company block and I saw a secondary jungle. What would they do with that piece of land I asked myself? Never did I know some 20 years later, I would be standing at the same spot on the tee-box. Fast-forward to 1992, it could well have been the site of the first F1 race track and not Marina Bay. I am not sure for the reasons the Singapore Government turned down the proposal. Photo 3: Beyond Bedok Camp 1 to Sungei. Bedok. At the bottom of the lower photo is the ECP towards Changi Aiport (left to right direction). Before land reclamation, the Sungei Ketapang and Sungei Bedok separately drained into the sea. After land reclamation both rivers (and canals as they are now called) connect to each other first to become the Bedok Canal that drains into the sea at the East Coast Parkway; a distance of 2km further from the original shoreline. The Sungei Ketapang is now the canal between the golf course and the Changi MRT Depot and its mouth became the golf driving range. The Bedok Canal is now the flight-path of numerous golf balls that fly from the tee-box to the pin.A small section of Koh Sek Lim Road remains but is now inside the Bedok NeWater Plant. When you enter the Bedok NeWater Plant, that road is the truncated Koh Sek Lim Road having lost a part of it to the business park at Changi South Lane. The Laguna National Golf and Country Club’s clubhouse was the site of the original tofu factory and the land around it was cultivated by Chinese farmers. My Malay classmate told me that during the racial riots of 1964, the Chinese farmers and Malay fishermen banded together as one united community and armed themselves with changkols and parangs against “foreign incursions”.I have indicated with a blue arrow in the last photo the path of the 2.5 km Run that I took during my National Service days. Depending on “how siow” the OC of Delta Company was, we ran beyond Somapah Village to Teluk Mata Ikan, a Malay Village (somewhere near the PIE and Runway 02L of Changi Airport) and back to Bedok Camp 1. Today with the Bedok Connector, one could go further than that to Changi Point from Bedok Corner.What a transformation since the 1960s! Photo 4: The sea which is now the Laguna National Golf and Country Club Balek Kampong to Bedok Corner by Peter Chan I am familiar with this area for three reasons.I took this route to Changi Beach after exiting Frankel Avenue in the early 1960s. Next time was 1967 it became my school holiday “resort” when I went to live with my Malay classmate in a kampong. In those days school holidays did not mean an overseas holiday trip to exotic Bali or to snowy Europe. We went to catch fish in the Sungei Bedok; now called Bedok Canal and explored the old kampungs at Padang Terbakar (now a golf course) and Ayer Gemuroh. Word spread and soon other friends joined us. It was because of his young, fair-skinned and sweet-looking sister, “Rosmawati” or “Rose” in short. Rose “Ada class tetapi atas sikit”.The next time came in the early 1970s when I did my National Service at the “BU-LOK camp (the Hokkien expression for Bedok). My training area was Harvey Avenue, the reclaimed land and Kew Drive. Imagine carrying the white-board from Bedok Camp through Hwa San Road and doing camouflage in the Chinese cemetery area in Kew Drive. Of course there is a fourth reason but you have to admit, “It’s home coming one full cycle” again.Photo 1: Bedok Corner where Katong-Bedok Bus Company had a watch-keeper hut. It is now the Fairmont CondominiumBedok Corner is where Bedok Road meets Upper East Coast Road. It has some bits of history besides the well-known Bedok Hawker center, going back to as early as the 1970s. It was home to the first National Service battalions – 3SIR and 4SIR. 3SIR and 4SIR were raised in Taman Jurong Camp but moved to the Bedok location in 1969. During the Vietnam War, US war surplus were stored in Nissen Huts on the reclaimed land which is now the Upper East Coast Road Bus Terminus. There was strict security and triple concertina wire fence surrounded the buildings.There was also the Long Beach Restaurant which closed in the early 1990s because the land was acquired by the government. This later became a condominium next to the Eastwood Center. The Sultan of Pahang once owned a seafront bungalow at Bedok Corner. Fortunately this 3 storey property still stands at #38 Eastwood Road.Photo 2: Upper East Coast Road and Bedok Camps 1 & 2The Bedok Camps were once on water before land was reclaimed from the sea. Did you know the first land reclamation project in Singapore began here in the Bedok area in 1961? It was managed by the HDB. The exact spot is the row of landed properties next to the Temasek Secondary School. I actually witnessed the land reclamation taking place but had no idea then what was going on. All I saw were many lorries ferrying earth from the hills off present-day Bedok South Road and Parbury Avenue. The sea in front of my maternal grandmother’s bungalow house became murkier each time I came until soon I found the sea breeze had weakened considerably. The lorries were heading in the direction of the beach. In the 1970s, I saw a Bailey Bridge across Upper East Coast Road. This bridge was used to carry earth on a conveyor belt to be dumped further out into the sea. Photo 3: The former Sultan of Pahang’s bungalow facing Bedok Junction; once the sandy beach. It was completed in 1932My inclination towards this area was because my maternal grandmother once operated a restaurant called Wyman Haven in one of the seafront bungalow houses. Her signature dish was roasted pigeon. There was one other competitor to Wyman Haven on the same road about 4 houses away at that time – it was the Palm Beach Seafood.The hills, the cemeteries, the sea, the temples and the pondoks have changed over time. One wish I have is for the government now not to sell the reclaimed land next to the SAF camps and in the process destroy the natural fauna. I believe my wish can be realized because there is a “height restriction” on any construction due to the close proximity of Changi Airport.If time permits, I will write on various landmarks and things to do in Bedok Corner area. PS - LCS is taking a 1-week break. A question for the Clementians The series of articles that Peter and I wrote last month about the Ulu Pandan and Clementi area has caught the attention of some Clementi residents and they posted a link to this blog from their website.So to those visitors for Clementi, and to all other readers who care to try, I have a question for you. According to my 1981 street directory, the area south of Ulu Pandan Road and Sungei Ulu Pandan was known as Pasir Panjang. How to you explain that?Please note; this is not a quiz question because I am just as puzzled as you? Old Buildings Quiz No. 8 The building in the photos below are of the Econ Nursing Home. It is located between Bukit Timah Plaza and Jalan Jurong Kechil.Map of the vicinity from 2007 street directoryThis is Bukit Timah Avenue leading to the Econ Nursing HomeI have two questions for you.1) What was the name of this place before it was converted to the Econ Nursing Home?2) There used to be a white building between Bukit Timah Avenue and Jalan Jurong Kechil, facing the Bukit Timah Food Centre cum Market (see blue question mark in map). What was it?Answers (Posted on 6 June 2008)1) Yes, it's the Bukit Timah Community Centre. I went there to play badminton in their indoor court once during the early 70's. At that time, my younger brother James and his team mates from one of the infantry battalions (I think it was 7 SIR) used to train there. Below is a photo from the National Archives of Singapore collection showing the official opening in 1959.2) The answer to the second queston, as most of you know, is the Bukit Timah Post Office. It was there until not long ago. I remember it had a very small car park. The design was one of the very standard ones built in that era. You can still a few post offices in Singapore which are of this type of design; such as the ones at Serangoon Gardens and MacPherson Road. There's another one at Alexandra Road near Prince Philip Avenue. I passed by it just a couple of weeks ago and it looked like they are going to demolish it soon. So if you want to take one last look, better not wait. My new old street directories Ever since I started Good Morning Yesterday, I and my guest bloggers have blogged frequently about old places of Singapore that no longer exist. Often we found it difficult to describe the locations of these places because we did not have an old street directory to refer to; and sometimes our memories play tricks on us. The oldest street directory I had was a 1998/99 copy which wasn’t very helpful because by 1998, many of the present expressways have been completed, replacing many old roads. Also many of the roundabouts and kampongs that we blogged about had been cleared.But recently I was able to acquire two street directories from the last century. One was a 1993 copy given to me by my elderly neighbour. Another was purchased from a second-hand bookshop at Bras Basah Centre. This was a huge shop on the 3rd level. After a long search, I managed to find 2 copies. One was a Chinese edition dated 1985. Another was an English edition dated 1981. I bought the second at a hefty price of $16 (the original price was only $6). I think the shop owner sensed my excitement in finding this directory and jacked up the price to $18 initially. Anyway, as far as I am concerned, it was $16 well spent. Now I can check up all those places that I have been blogging about from memory.Unfortunately, I am now faced with a dilemma. Should I go back and update those old posts? I think I shan’t because that would be too much work. Might as well spend the time writing new stories. Where the opportunity arises, I will simply refer back to the earlier posts. For example, in one of my stories about the stretch of Bukit Timah Road from Sixth Avenue to Beauty World, I mentioned that there were several factories and commercial buildings here. I was wondering what was this building called the Tricity House. Now I know. It’s the old name for the Tan Cheong Motors complex. You can now refer to the following map from my new 1981 street directory. Unfortunately, it does not show the Rothmans cigarette factory that I described or the Tien Wah Press printing company.And I still can’t figure out what was the William Jacks??? Looking for members of the Satellites Netball Team from Serangoon Gardens Some months ago I received this email from an overseas reader. I think it is self-explanatory.Hello Mr Lam Chun See,Please forgive my intrusion but I saw your website which brought back some lovely memories of my time in your wonderful country from 1966 to 1969. As you may have guessed my husband was a serviceman and whilst in Singapore I joined a netball team that played in Serangoon gardens called the Satellites. My plea to you is; can you please put me in touch with a website that might be able to help me contact some old team members? I met some lovely people that I would like to contact again and I have been trying for some years now without success and you are my last hope. Once again I am sorry for the intrusion and if you can't help I will understand.Kind regardsRachael Oremek.I have actually referred Rachael's request to my friends at Redsports. But apparently they have not been successful. Maybe their readers tend to be of a younger set. So I hope some of the older readers of this blog maybe able to help out.Thanks. Keeping Pets (by Peter Chan) I think I was about 5+ when I developed an interest to play with furry animals. No I don’t mean the stuffed toys but “live” animals. My late mum told me that every morning at 7am I found my way to a construction site where the workers slept in a dormitory cum canteen. There were many puppies for me to choose but I took all the puppies home. By the end of the day, my mother was the one who returned the puppies to the construction site. Just before my sixth birthday, my father surprised me with an Alsatian puppy which was purchased from the owner of Katong-Bedok Bus Company. The owner of the bus company bred dogs for sale.Photo 1: Different dogs from two different generations – Me and my sonAs time went by, I kept more than one dog. At any one time I could have about 5 different dogs in the house. These pets were not necessarily pedigree but could be mongrels or cross-bred. The reason was simple. I started with an Alsatian bitch and a male Boxer. They had many off-springs because the dogs were not sterilized. Sometimes I took pity on friendly stray dogs and brought them into my house. There was one occasion when my aunty gave away her Dashhound. I never sent the dogs to any training school but personally undertook the task myself; sometimes my techniques worked, sometimes they flopped.After I got married, my wife would not have anymore of my “nonsense”. I guess she was right in her opinions because we lived in a flat then. My two boys always wanted a pet; maybe this was inherited from my genes. There must be a reason that my old dogs never bit the children even when they winded up their tails, rode them like a rodeo-horse or opened their jaws. Photo 2: Playing dead, sleeping on the desk, having her shower and on sentry-duty (Clockwise direction)10 years ago my aunty gave us two kittens born on the day that Hong Kong was returned to China. One survived on three legs after some nutty motorist decided to run her down. It cost me closed to $2K going to Mt Pleasant Hospital for surgery, amputation and skin-grafting procedures. There was also two months of worries and nursing-care.Personally cats are a different proposition unlike dogs because I never had any affinity towards them until now. Our black cat exhibits “dog behavior” for some strange reasons. Even my neighbors recognize that this is the only Chinese fella who whistles to his cat to come home every evening. Once a Malay neighbor asked a surprising question; “You are Chinese how come you keep cats and not dogs?”Related posts1) Our Kampong Best Friends2) Oldest Cat on the Blog Do you know where is this place? My blogo-friend, YG has put up a couple of interesting photos in his blog. They show what looks like a farm house complete with chickens grazing outside.It's hard to believe that such a farm house can be found right here in Singapore. Do you know where he took these photos? I give you 3 guesses: 1) Lim Chu Kang2) Lorong Buangkok3) Bukit TimahTo find out the answer; go to YG4. Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (10) – The Lost Railway Line: Part 2 (by Peter Chan) Photo 1: View from Clementi Block 307 showing the Jurong Line as it crossed the Sungei Ulu PandanAfter the railway crossed the Sungei Ulu Pandan, it swerved to the right (the tracks are still there in front of Clementi blocks 301 and 305) and ran parallel to the river until somewhere behind the Clementi Fire Station and the Buddhist Temple. Then it turned to the left, cut across Commonwealth Avenue West and ran behind ITE Clementi and Faber Terrace until it reached the AYE where it then followed the road westward to Jurong. Next time you travel along the AYE towards the city, look to the left just after the Teban Flyover and you will see some remnants of the railway track. Likewise, if you are traveling along AYE towards Jurong, after you passed Penjuru Road, look to the left and you will also see some remnants of this track.At Jurong, the Jurong Line terminated at the doors of different industrial activities. Some railway friends of mine spent many hours using old 1960s and recent photos, and the 1985 Street Directory to piece together the many prominent landmarks along the Jurong Line. My appreciation goes to Dominic Thomas and Stanley Tan.In total there are 3 sub-branch lines ending at.1) Fishery Port Road2) Jalan Tepong3) Shipyard RoadPhoto 2: Various parts of the Jurong Industrial Estate were served by the Jurong LinePhoto 3: The “ends” of the Jurong LinePhoto 4a: Jurong Station Signage in recent yearsPhoto 4b: The same Jurong site some decades earlier. The time-keeper’s hut is visibleIndustrial users of the Jurong Line included Pan Malaysian Cement Works Ltd, Asia Cement (Malaysia) Ltd, Sugar Industries of Singapore Ltd, and an oil storage company.The Jurong Line slowed down its freight activities in the mid-1970s but this finally ended in the early 1990s, by which time only the Jurong Port Road section towards Jurong Port was busy. By the mid-90s it was proving difficult to spot its alignment. Not many of the old Jurong Line and its prominent landmark features were visible to the casual observer, unlike the railway bridge across the S. Ulu Pandan or the Teban Garden Tunnel. Railway tracks were either removed because of new construction projects or covered by thick vegetation. Even the wooden railway sleepers rotted over time.Here’s a question. We know that Malayan Railway Berhad (or its successor KTM) operated the Jurong Line. Who owns the land on which the railway track was built?Final note from authors:This concludes our series of articles on the Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail. We hope you have learnt something from them. Perchance some young reader has developed an interest in Singapore’s history, we encourage you to take this up as a school project. Go and investigate some of the places that we have told you about. Take some photos to show to future generations. We fear that before long, even these last vestiges of Singapore’s lost railway line will be sacrificed in the name of progress in fast changing Singapore. Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (9) – The Lost Railway Line: Part 1 (by Peter Chan) In the previous article, Chun See told you about the disused railway line across the Sungei Ulu Pandan. This line was actually part of what was called the Bukit Timah Siding. As the name implies, it was actually an extension of the main Malayan Railway Line which went from Tanjong Pagar to Peninsula Malaya. It was connected to the main railway line near the Bukit Timah Station. After crossing S. Ulu Pandan, it continued all the way to Jurong. Hence it was called the Jurong Line.According to the 1960 Malayan Railway Berhad Annual Report, the Jurong Line was built by and the project funding came from the company itself and not the Singapore Government. The only reason for the existence of the Jurong Line was purely economics. When Singapore was a part of Malaysia, it was envisaged that Singapore was to be the heavy industrial hub of Malaysia through the Jurong Industrial Estate. At the same time, a small number of Malaysian companies producing essential commodities like sugar were to be relocated to Singapore. In order to obtain the raw materials for the Jurong heavy industries; the steel was required by the Jurong Shipyard from Prai, and not to clog up the Woodlands and Bukit Timah roads a railway track that ran-off the main Malayan Railway line was built. Historically much of Peninsular Malaya’s (and the future Malaysia) natural commodities such as rubber and tin were routed through the port of Singapore at Tanjong Pagar. So creating an extension from the main railway line was not all that difficult. Is this a surprise? Not really because when I worked for a large US MNC in the mid-1980s, I found that many of Malaysia's IT requirements from Europe and the US were re-exported from Singapore.Today, I will describe for you the section near Clementi. Next time, I will describe the Western section. Picture 1: Bukit Timah SidingI used to travel the stretch of Clementi Road and Bukit Timah Road very often. Around 1960 or 1961, I saw huge excavators digging at the spot where Lorong Gaung used to be. The space next to Lorong Gaung finally became a deep valley which is now the tunnel under Clementi Road.After Singapore separated from Malaysia, I found military trucks using a narrow dirt track (passable to only one vehicle at a time) running above the valley. The dirt track was Lorong Gaung which connected the Old Maju Camp with Clementi Road. Maju Camp was a People’s Defense Force Camp which trained volunteers for the army in the days before National Service was introduced in 1967. It was scary to see the 3-tonners getting stuck halfway up the muddy steep dirt-track and men pushing the vehicle forward. When the vehicle finally could get started, you could see the rising black exhaust smoke. Picture 2: Map of Clementi Road area from 1981 street directory showing location of Lorong Gaung off Clementi Road. Notice that there was an Old Clementi Road at the lower part of the map. Notice also a Singapore Boys' Home and a Ngee Ann Technical College further up. This is a recent photo of the railway bridge over Sunset Way. Picture 3: PDF soldiers coming out of Maju Camp to main Clementi Road. This place is directly opposite the future Corona Florist nursery. Today there are some small evidences that the valley and dirt track did exist.Picture 4: Old entrance to Maju Camp marked by road block pillars. At the same time, I saw the building of the railway bridge across the S. Ulu Pandan. There was a small dirt track to the left of and before the Sunset Way railway bridge. This dirt track lead to a British Army Camp called Colombo Camp. I used to see British military tanks doing their maneuvers in the area across the S. Ulu Pandan.Photo 5: Down in the valley, the old railway track is still visible to the eyeHow come I knew so much? Well we had our family outings to Clementi Park when it was first offered for sale by City Developments Ltd in the early 1960s. My 98 year old grand-uncle, who still lives at Sunset Drive, briefed the rest of the family members about his new bungalow. As for me, I was not interested in those adult conversations and was more tempted to watch the railway bridge under construction.Coincidentally the S. Ulu Pandan railway bridge has a uncanny resemblance to a bridge in the movie, “Bridge On The River Kwai”, especially during sunset and when there are no HDB estates around it. Close your eyes, you can hear “Colonel Bogey” whistled by the POWs. Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (8) – The bridge that I ‘blew up’ twice (by Lam Chun See) If you were to travel along Clementi Road in the direction of Bukit Timah, you will cross the Sungei Ulu Pandan near the junction with Ulu Pandan Road. If you looked to the left, towards Clementi Avenue 6, you will see a pedestrian bridge with white canopy. And if you were observant enough, you will notice another bridge a hundred metres or so behind it. This is a black colour iron rail bridge. Have you ever wondered why they built such a strange bridge there? Do you know the history behind this bridge?Picture 1 - Sungei Ulu Pandan viewed from Clementi Road (in direction of Clementi Ave 6)Well, I too do not know the history of this bridge. So I will have to leave it to Peter to tell you more about it in the next article. All I know is that a railway track runs across this bridge. (I use the present tense because the railway track is still there as you can see from the photos below) This railway starts at the KTM (Malayan Railway) track somewhere between Holland Road and Bukit Timah Road. After it crosses this railway bridge, it swings to the right running parallel to Sungei Ulu Pandan towards Jurong East direction and ends at a few points in the western end of Singapore; the furthest being at Shipyard Road, near Pulau Sumulun.Picture No. 2 – View of the railway track crossing Railway Bridge from Clementi Block 305Picture No. 3 – Map of the Ulu Pandan Railway Bridge and vicinity from a 1993 street directoryBut I do have some close and personal knowledge of this railway bridge because during my active NS days, I took part in 2 exercises to demolish this bridge. The first was when I was attending the Junior Officers Engineers Course at Gillman Camp. The second was when I was a platoon commander in Mandai Camp. I have blogged about the second exercise before, and so today, I will just talk about that first encounter with this bridge.During my JOE course, the very first exercise; if my memory serves me, was a demolition raid called Exercise Musang (or Mongoose, I am not too sure). As trainees, we hated this type of exercise for two reasons. (1) Such demolition raids were always conducted in the dead of the night, which meant that by the time we returned to camp and cleared the stores and so on, we won’t have many hours left to sleep. (2) Such raids typically ended with a fire fight which meant that there will be casualties to evacuate during the withdrawal phase.For this particular exercise, our RV (rendezvous) point was at Dover Road. From there we moved on foot to the car park at Sunset Avenue (now occupied by a small shopping mall called Sunset Arcade), formed up and proceeded to set up the charges according to plan. After the bridge and surrounding tracks were successfully demolished, and the enemies killed in the ensuing firefight; the controller called for a halt. This was so that we could dismantle all the dummy charges and detonating cords etc. and pack them onto the 3-tonner. After that the exercise resumed and we had to withdraw with our casualties back to the RV at Dover Road. We took turns to carry the casualties using the fireman lift method. In those days (1977), traffic along Clementi Road was very light after midnight and so we did not cause any traffic jam.Picture No. 4 – A 1991 photo of the Ulu Pandan Railway Bridge from the National Archives CollectionPicture No. 5 – A May 2008 photo of the Ulu Pandan Railway Bridge taken from a similar anglePicture No. 6 – This recent photo shows remnants of the railway track that runs over the now disused bridge.Besides this exercise we had 2 other demolition raids in our JOE course. One was to blow up the bridge joining Shipyard Road to Pulau Sumulun. This one was quite tricky because we had to lower the men by toggle rope to attach the ‘explosives’ to the pillars. The third exercise was in Sungei Gedong area. A funny thing happened during the withdrawal stage. A very friendly stray dog ran along with us all the way to the RV point. When we finally departed by 3-tonner, the poor dog was unable to follow us and he looked so sad.Today I often travel along Clementi Road. Each time I pass Sungei Ulu Pandan and see the bridge in the distance, my mind goes back to that night 31 years ago. When I see the busy traffic along this stretch of Clementi Road, I just cannot picture myself and my buddies evacuating casualties along it.My …….. how much Singapore has changed in one generation.P.S. - To get a clearer view of the pictures, just click on it to go to my Flickr account. Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (7) – The famous Kota Tinggi-2SIR Incident: Part 2 (by Peter Chan) The two photos below were scanned from the book, Singapore, An Illustrated History, 1941 ~ 1984, Information Division, Ministry of Culture. Top photo notes read: Members of the Second Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment (SIR) in the jungles of Johor, Malaysia. The SIR was deployed to combat armed Indonesian infiltrators in Malaysia. Bottom photo notes read: An ambush by the Indonesians at Kota Tinggi led to the deaths of eight SIR soldiers. Suspected Indonesian infiltrators are escorted from a mangrove in Pasir Panjang on 29 December 1964. Local security forces working in close cooperation with British forces succeeded in rounding up many infiltrators and saboteurs and in keeping terrorism generally under control.***************************************************As a NS recruit, I did not know much about the Kota Tinggi details but later as a staff officer I had the opportunity to meet these personnel from 2SIR during the usual Friday Tombolo Night.At that time when Singapore was a part of Malaysia our two SIRs were renamed as 1MIR and 2MIR. 2SIR was operationally responsible for the Singapore and southern Johore area. 2MIR (2SIR) was raised in 1962 and billeted at Holland Road Camp.According to my superior who was then a young 2LTA in 2 SIR, Dalgit Singh was already a platoon commander, together with LTA Mejar Singh. 2SIR's CO was a Colonel Campbell, a British seconded from the British Army.It was the crack Indonesian paratroopers from the "KKI", an elite Guards unit from Jakarta which was sent on this mission. The Malaysian police post at Kota Tinggi were alerted of the parachute-landing and the nearest infantry garrison to Kota Tinggi was 2 SIR in Singapore. 1SIR at that time was deployed to the Sabah border with Indonesia.One platoon of 2SIR was sent inside the jungles of Kota Tingi. For those who have ventured into Kota Tinggi (which I did as a child and as a teenager), it has a waterfall as the key attraction. The killing zone was north of the waterfall.2SIR made no contact with the Indonesians for about a week. However, unknowingly the Indonesians were tailing one of the SIR sections. Not finding them for a week, that section grew tired and went for a bath at one of the nearby Kota Tinggi streams. Everybody left their weapons at the riverbank with no personnel on sentry-duty.For those trained in the SAF doctrine, you are not supposed to do this and at all times, your rifle must be with you. The Indonesians pounded on our boys but one injured personnel managed to sneak away and ran for his life into Kota Tinggi Town. All this time, there was "radio silence" because this was a mission. It was only after the injured personnel emerged from the jungle that the incident became known. When the dead were recovered, their bodies were infested with maggots and were very gruesomeReinforcements were rushed up from Singapore. On that mission were names like James Teo (who was the 5SIR CO for BERSATU PADU in 1971), Jimmy Yap (CO Officer Cadet School), Mahinder Singh (Dy Director SAFTI) and Dalgit Singh (CO 3SIR). They were “young lieutenants” then. James Teo was the unit signals officer. This time, the Indonesians scattered in different directions. It must have been somewhat of a surprise that no Indonesians were caught alive. I leave it to you to guess what must have happened next because I saw some of the photographs taken at that time. Don't forget our jungle-weapons also included the machete. The two Singhs were later involved in the Labis incident and again credited with many enemy killings.The decomposed bodies were brought back to Holland Road Camp for the Malay burial rituals. The slain men were given a full-military burial. Photo of the funeral at Bidadari Muslim Cemetery. Men wearing songkok were Malaysian regulars working side by side with their Singaporean counterparts in 2 SIR##Akan Datang (Coming soon): The bridge that I 'blew up' twice - Lam Chun SeeRelated Posts:1) The Famous Kota Tinggi-2SIR Incident Part 12) The Famous Haunted Camp Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (6) – The famous Kota Tinggi-2SIR Incident: Part 1 (by Peter Chan) It was at our 3SIR Basic Military Training “Rifle Handover” ceremony in 1972 when we first heard about the Kota Tinggi incident. As usual, most fresh “civilian-turned military” conscripts were wondering what so big deal about this ceremony and all about the “AR15”.The guest-of-honour was Ltc. Dalgit Singh, CO of this Bedok Camp 1 unit. Of course the Hokkien Pengs joked about “Bai-singhs” and making remarks such as "BIG, STRONG & FRIENDLY", probably adopted from a recent Chartered Bank TV advertisement. There were lots of giggles on the parade square. Even the presence of WO1 “Tiger Ong” made no difference. Later that same evening OC Delta Company, a Lta Lau had all of us at the Company Line for “OC Talk” and after that a punitive lesson called “Change Parade”.1. Dalgit Singh was a young lieutenant with 2SIR credited for single-handedly killing 6 or 7 Indonesians at Kota Tingi in 1965. Most military pilots would score a "kill" by painting a symbol on the aircraft; however this man was very different. He was always quiet and very stern-looking. From that day, “everybody took cover”.2. We were told in no uncertain terms that if we lost our rifles; be it a part or a whole, sure “kenna big trouble”. Possible punishments often meant DB (detention barracks). It seemed at that time the SAF was bent on instilling a sense of responsibility; especially over weapons. Recently I came to know of a missing rifle by an infantry man in the Mandai Forest area. There was public coverage and many SAF personnel were deployed to find the rifle. I am not sure what has happened to this chap. In my opinion this episode has taught me something deeper than just the rifle. It taught me the significance of personal responsibility over what we do, and being responsible for its outcome - positive or otherwise.Cadet C S Lam meticulously cleaning his precious AR-15 Photo of a stripped AR-15 displayed at the Army Museum by Acroamatic To others, you might wonder; “What so big deal?”The story goes back to mid-1965 when the Indonesian regular army units parachuted into the Kota Tinggi region of Johore, Malaysia. After this incident, there were two other incursions into Johore; a parachute-landing at Labis and a beach-landing at Pontian.In the next episode, an account of the Kota Tinggi incident and the people involved from 2SIR. It is interesting to know that when Singapore was a part of Malaysia, 1 and 2 SIR were renamed as 1 and 2 Malaysian Infantry Regiment (MIR). The 4th Malaysian Brigade HQ with overall responsibility of the two SIRS was based at Fort Canning. Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (5) – The famous ‘haunted camp’ (by Lam Chun See) There used to be three army camps along the Ulu Pandan/Holland Road. The first was Mowbray Camp which Peter blogged about earlier.The second was 1 SIR which was opposite Pandan Valley. According to Peter who used to live nearby; “The original barracks of 1 SIR were built on the hilly terraced slopes of Hill 110 which faced Old Holland Road and its junction with Ulu Pandan Road. The present parade square (at the foot of Hill 200) was not built until early 1962. The single-storey buildings were made from wood and had asbestos roofs. Shortly after independence from Malaysia, some of these wooden buildings were demolished to make way for the present rows of multi-storey concrete buildings facing Old Holland Road. The new buildings were meant to cater to the NS intakes. For field training such as 81mm mortar weapons, the hilly spaces (flattened in the early 1970s to make way for Pandan Valley Condominium) opposite to the camp were used.”One of the buildings of the camp complex viewed from the main road. Some renovation was going on. I wonder what they are converting this place into. Anyone know?The main entrance to the camp was from Ulu Pandan Road. But there was a small road leading to it from Old Holland Road. In the late seventies, when squash was a big craze among young Singaporeans, my friend who was an SAF regular brought me there occasionally for a game of squash. I will blog about those old squash courts of yesteryears in another article. 1 SIR occupied the Ulu Pandan site from 1958 through 1969 when it relocated to Dunman Road and it became known as Guillemard Camp. The camp at Ulu Pandan Road was converted into the School for Military Medicine or SMM for short.This is the spot along Old Holland Road where a small road led into the camp. On the way, there was a ’new’ squash court on the left.The third camp was 2 SIR. It was located on a small hill and its entrance was from Old Holland Road. I have not entered the camp before but have seen it from the main road. It had several wooden buildings. It was visible from Mount Sinai View. This is a 1965 Photo courtesy of Peter Chan showing the entrance of the camp. In the background is 1 SIR.This is a recent shot of the place where 2 SIR used to stand.This is a recent shot taken from Mount Sinai View of the hill where 2 SIR used to stand. In those days, there were less tall trees and the camp buildings could be seen quite clearly.And finally I come to the part which you guys are waiting for; the ghost stories. In the early 70’s, there were stories circulating about some army camps being haunted. I was not sure whether to believe them or not, but soldiers being soldiers, it was fun to listen and retell these stories. As far as I can recall, there were five army camps that were rumoured to be haunted. The first was Pulau Tekong Camp (I think it was the camp further inland - cannot remember if it was Camp I or II) where I did one in-camp training in the 80’s. Another was Tampines Camp. The third was the Magazine Tower 2 of Safti (now called Pasir Laba Camp). I myself have done a few guard duties here and never experienced anything worth telling. The fourth was the School of Combat Engineers in Pulau Blakang Mati (Sentosa). The fifth, and most famous (‘spiritwise’) was 2 SIR.When I doing my Section Leaders Course in Safti after completing my BMT (basic military training) also at Safti, some of my new platoon mates who joined us had done their BMT in 2 SIR. They told us many ghost stories about this place. Unfortunately I can only recall a bit. For example, they said that at night they often heard people moving about in their bunks; but they were too frightened to get up to check. One particular recruit, quite a fat chap, often woke up in the morning to find that his sleeping position had somehow been reversed. I am sorry I don’t remember much else.My brother David who served as a corporal in the demolition platoon in 2 SIR in 1971/72 used to tell us about one of the toilets being haunted. Apparently the corpses of soldiers who were killed in Kota Tinggi during the Indonesian Confrontation were brought back from Malaysia and ‘washed’ in this toilet. According to Peter, their decomposed bodies were brought back to this camp for the Malay burial rituals. As to what actually happened to those dead soldiers, I will let Peter give you the gory details in the next post.Recently, I emailed my brother David, who is now in Perth, if he remembered those ghost stories that he used to tell us, and his reply was; Yes, definitely. This is what he wrote:“2 SIR comprised of 2 camps, divided by a road. Most of the platoons, including HQ, guard house, main parade square were located on one side, while demolition and other support platoons like mortar were in the other camp. Both camps were located on top of small hills.It was in the smaller camp that most of the so-called "ghost sightings" were made. I was in Demolition platoon, after my section leader course .... that was sometime around 1971-1972.One of the most common stories was that around late evening, say, 6.30 pm till 7 pm, a young lady in white runs across the road near the canteen. The other story was that people often heard weird crying sounds when they were showering.I have a true personal experience. It was a Saturday night. I was then on duty (don’t think it was guard duty) and was sleeping on a mattress in the office of the Demoliton platoon. Around midnight, I was awakened up by marching sounds just outside the office .... up and down .... clog, clog, clog ..... I tried to stand up but just could not - maybe my legs went soft. It went on for a few minutes then stopped. I could not sleep for another few hours and was too scared to go out to investigate. Next morning, I checked around to see if there were any soldiers who stayed over the weekend - none .... anyway who wants to stay in camp over the weekend.Many years later, when i was working for Citibank, I heard from colleagues that the hill where our camp was located used to be execution grounds for Japanese soldiers during WW2. Opposite 2 SIR, in the Moonbeam Terrace hills, it was also another execution and burial grounds during WW2.The Hokkien soldiers in our support platoons were especially strong believers that the camp was haunted. One private soldier even painted a big picture of a tiger on the wall of one building (don’t know why he was not punished for it ), but he got very sick a few days later. As usual, the other soldiers blamed it on the 'ghosts'.Well that’s about it, more sounds and rumours actually ...... nothing like what you see in Liao Zhai. However, my personal story is true. In fact it’s the only "encounter" I have ever had in my life.” PS - I have become a bit confused by the names of the 2 camps and hope some of you can clarify. Was 1 SIR known as Ulu Pandan Camp and 2 SIR known as Holland Camp? Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (4) – The Short and Winding Road (by Lam Chun See) If you had to vote for the most ‘winding’ road in Singapore, which would it be? South Buona Vista Road perhaps? My choice would be Old Holland Road. Do you know where that is? Photo shows where Ulu Pandan Road (left) joins Holland Road (right)Old Holland Road is actually a side road that joins Ulu Pandan Road and Holland Road. However if you check the street directory, it is listed as Holland Road. But I am very sure it was formerly called Old Holland Road and it led all the way to Bukit Timah Road near the Komoco/Hyundai showroom and opposite the Swiss Club Road. There are a lot of big private bungalows as well as old trees and sharp bends along this short and winding road.However, this short road has been shortened even further a few years ago. It is now truncated by a huge piece of empty land which I blogged about here. Thus the short and winding road suddenly ends where it crosses a canal. This is the part where the Old Holland Road was truncated. That short stretch behind the barrier used to lead all the way to the Bukit Timah Road via a winding route that passed through thick vegetation. I used to jog here quite often.The road in the foreground used to be called Holland Lane and it led to Chinese cemetery and an old temple. Very quiet and eerie. Below is a photo of that temple taken from the National Archives collection. Today the road is renamed Holland Plain and the temple is called Fong Yun Thai Association (see photo below). Just in front of the entrance to this temple complex, the road makes a 90 degree turn and becomes Holland Link which rises steeply till you come to Old Holland Road again. With this development, I guess they have no choice but to rename the front portion of Old Holland Road back to Holland Road as in the sixties.Very interesting (and confusing) indeed. I often do my brisk walking exercise here and on more than one occasions encountered drivers who had lost their way; including a couple of taxi drivers! I used to wonder why this road was called Old Holland Road when it looks more like a side road joining the main road; and it seems as if Holland Road and Ulu Pandan Road are actually one continuous road. I believe some of you may not even know where Ulu Pandan Road ends and where Holland Road begins. But looking at a 1964 street directory, it becomes clearer. In those days, Holland Road and Old Holland Road were one continuous road called Holland Road and Ulu Pandan Road was a side road. According to Peter Chan, it was a non-metalled track which started at Reformatory Road, the old name for Clementi Road. This track was to serve Mowbray Camp which existed prior to WW2. All the above is only my hypothesis. I hope some reader familiar with this part of Singapore can confirm.At the junction where the old Old Holland Road joined Ulu Pandan Road and Holland Road (see photo no. 1 above), there used to be two army camps. One was 2SIR which was on the small hill. My elder brother David used to serve his NS (National Service) in the early 70’s here. The other was 1SIR.Of these two camps, 2 SIR was the more interesting one. A number of interesting ghost stories originated from here. Want to know more. Look out for our next installment coming up soon. Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (3) – Mowbray Camp (by Peter Chan) Mowbray Camp was originally a gun detachment of the Buona Vista Gun Battery. This gun battery detachment was responsible for the defense of the western section of Singapore during WW2. There is a secret tunnel that runs from one of the buildings inside Mowbray Camp down to the valley in the forest beside the camp (currently under lock). Down in the valley was a narrow-gauge railway track that formed a part of the British Military railway transport system.The original camp area was much larger than it is today. The present Clementi Road, just before turning left into Ulu Pandan Road, was once a road within the military compound before it was acquired for road widening in the 1950s. The seafood restaurant across the camp was once a “Radio Taxi” stand in the 1960s. It was set-up to meet the needs of the British Military. The booth covered the geographical areas of Dover Road, Sussex Estate and Clementi Park. A unique practice of making a booking for a taxi meant you had to search for a specific telephone number of the “Radio Taxi” stand nearest to where one lived; in this case the taxi stand opposite Mowbray Camp. You could not expect a “Radio Taxi” stand in Jalan Jurong Kechil, King Albert Park or Holland Village to dispatch one of its taxis. Thus the present system of calling through a hotline, e.g. 65551188 is certainly better than the old system. Fig 1: The former Mowbray Camp’s main entranceThe prevailing use of Mowbray Camp as a guard unit is something historical. After WW2, it became the home of the #3 British Army Guard Unit and in the 1960s home of the #5 Gurkha Dog Company. Armed guards and dogs were dispatched from here to various British Army camps and bases for duties. Although this facility was run by the British Army, it did not provide for security cover for RN and RAF bases. Very often when I passed this way on my way to town, I could hear dogs barking during their morning training. I was informed that even dogs also have their own “5BX” and these animals thoroughly enjoyed their daily training schedules.Fig 2: One of the pre-WW2 buildings at the highest point of Mowbray Camp (circa 1958). It was used as a football pitch but the SAF converted that into a “Parade Square”. The secret tunnel was somewhere around that buildingBetween 1971 and 1974, it was used by ANZUK forces, the Commonwealth Forces of Australia and New Zealand that replaced the British Military. After the SAF took over in 1974, it became the SAF Provost Unit. Different SAF Provost units were based here including SIB, School of Provost, APC, SC and DB. The SAF also shared the facility with the Singapore Police Force before vacating it completely in 2003 for Kranji. Fig 3: Gurkhas and their guard dogs Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (2) – Pandan Valley (by Peter Chan) I don’t usually follow any of our locally-produced TV drama serials; be it English or Mandarin. The first and only time I did was “Masters of The Sea”. Who could forget Koh Cheng Mun’s “I’ll crush him like a cockroach”. So it was a pleasant surprise when I came across “En Bloc”. That the drama has the lovely Andrea Fonseka is not the reason. I quickly recognized a few familiar landmarks. “En Bloc” was filmed using the backdrop of Pandan Valley, a condominium off Ulu Pandan Road. Lim Beng Teck’s Minmart was certainly on the void deck of Eugenia or Chempaka Court. Pandan Valley was the first private condominium built in Singapore and developed at the height of the property boom in 1975. It was left vacant until 1978 when the project was re-launched by DBS Land, the property arm of DBS Bank. Somehow Pandan Valley never gained popularity with expatriates or upper middle-income Singaporeans. Those people preferred Ridgewood, a condominium located behind Pandan Valley. Could it be the case that Pandan Valley was lying in District 21 and Richwood in District 10?There were many other differences between Ridgewood and Pandan Valley. Ridgewood was built and owned by Dillingham Inc. Ridgewood offered a Hawaiian theme for its architecture and the garden-landscape, whereas Pandan Valley had largely a strong “Singaporean” influence of Spartan interior finishes and large floor spaces. The cheapest unit in Pandan Valley was priced at S$98,000 with tower block penthouses going for S$280,000 at that time. Pandan Valley was a mixed development, a first concept for any private sector housing project in Singapore. It had both retail space and residential units. There was the Yamaha Music School at the block nearest to Ulu Pandan Road. Fig 1: Pandan Valley viewed from Jalan Jelita (circa 1977). The block on the extreme left is RidgewoodFig 2: I am standing in the open space between Poinsetta Tower and Poinciana Tower (circa 1979)Fig 2A: The swimming pool at Pandan Valley (circa 1979)Before Pandan Valley was built, it was a hilly terrain with low vegetation. It was frequently used as a training area by 1 SIR in the early 1960s. 1 SIR was the original “tenants” of the former School of Military Medicine. Fig 3: The hills opposite 1SIR which would become the future Pandan Valley (circa 1958)Will Pandan Valley go through an enbloc sale? Stay tune every Wednesday on Channel 5 as the drama unfolds.