Meeting on the repainting of Tiong Bahru - 6th September 2008 Kelvin Ang has just emailed out to every possible residents within the Tiong Bahru Estate to keep them in the loop about this important up-coming meeting to discuss about the repainting issues:Dear Neighbours and Friends,UPDATE ON THE TIONG BAHRU PAINT SCHEME1. I am pleased to inform all of you that the Tanjong Pagar Town Council will be, and is pleased to be organizing a session for the paint consultant to share their thinking behind their current paint schemes, as well as to provide a platform for all other residents to share their thoughts and ideas on the current schemes up for voting, and also alternatives suggestions that they might have developed that they would like to share with other residents. (for possible re-voting)2. All residents of the Pre- and Post-War SIT estate are welcome to attend. The Town Council will also be inviting the members of the Seng Poh Residents Committee to the sharing session.3. Tiong Bahru CC at Eu Chin Street is the host and venue of the sharing session, and the details are as follows:Date: 6 September 2008, SaturdayTime: 1pm to about 2.30 pmVenue: Tiong Bahru Community Centre, Conference Room(ground floor, just after the entrance at the Tiong Poh Road Entrance)4. A lap-top and projector will be provided by the CC, and those of you who wish to share your ideas are welcome to present them in a short computer presentation, e.g. Powerpoint, of no more than 5 minutes.5. If you do wish to share your ideas, do let me know by 30 August, so that I am able to collate the information for the CC to help in planning the event.6. Please also do think through if you have suggestions/preferences on the following:a. Voting system – some have mentioned that it may be better to ask residents to rank their top 3 choices instead of just having to choose 1, as there would be more consensus on the final chosen scheme, b. Whether the option of retaining the existing scheme should be one of the options, andc. Whether if you prefer the Pre- and Post War estate to have the same colour scheme instead of 2 different schemes. 7. We would also appreciate if you could spread the word to those of your other friends and neighbours who would be interested and would like to attend the meeting on the day. It would be a great chance to get to know both old and new neighbours!8. And, please RSVP by 2nd September 2008, by emailing to me9. Thank you one and all for your interest in the 'hood! Yours sincerely,Kelvin Ang Tiong Ma-Lu Part II Mr Peter Chan continues to guest blog about Tiong Bahru at Good Morning Yesterday Blog.I was so glued to his stories about old Tiong Bahru that I'm already craving for more.Let's hope Mr Peter Chan will continue to share with us his valuable recollection about this wonderful estate. If I may borrow Swenson's TV ad's line : I'm so looking forward to Part 3!Meanwhile, here's the PART 2 which all of us can slowly savour and delight in.....for the time being: Tiong Ma-Lu Part 2 Good Morning Yesterday Mr Peter Chan has just guest blogged about Tiong Bahru at the "Good Morning Yesterday" blog.(Good Morning Yesterday blog is a finalist in the Best Individual Blog category of S'pore Blog Award and the creator of that blog is Mr Lam Chun See.)He recalls the many stories his grandfather told him about Tiong Bahru while he was growing up at the Pre-War Tiong Bahru section.Mr Chan also included some very valuable pictures of Old Tiong Bahru as well as a 1963 map of Tiong Bahru!Eng Hoon Street was also mentioned in his post and I never knew that street was used by the retreating Aussie and Indians soldiers during WWII.That street was later used by the Japanese as part of the "SOOK CHING" operation.On the lighter side, Mr Chan also mentioned about a famous Teochew comedian he had for a neighbour.Read all about it here at : Tiong Ma-Lu Lee Keng Kiat (1851-1917) This is another road within the Tiong Bahru Estate that is named after a Strait-born Chinese from Malacca.Lee Keng Kiat (1851-1917) was born in Malacca and educated in Penang.After his graduation, he came to work in Singapore and later joined the Straits Steamship Co as a sub-manager.He contributed much to the Straits-born Chinese community.He is the son of Lee Quee Lim.Lee Keng Kiat had two sons, Lee Chin Tuan and Lee Chin Huk.Mr Lee Keng Kiat died in 1917 at the age of 66.Today, Keng Kiat Road is just a Cul De Sac within the Tiong Bahru Estate and it leads to nowhere. (It was probably a road that goes into a small kampong behind Tiong Poh Road till the early 1980's. The kampong was cleared for the Central Expressway.)The "Karang Guni" people thought this would be a good place to congregate and collect container loads of cardboard boxes from all the uncles and aunties who are trying to eke out a living from their own recycling programme.At times, this Cul De Sac is also used by the nearby temples to burn their "offerings".Since whatever is done there does not get in anyone's way, no one really mind what people do there as long as they don't mess up the place. Remember the Brick Walls! I’ve got something for everyone here to ponder.Within the Pre-War section in Tiong Bahru, there are some blocks of flats that have “exposed bricks” for a facade. The previous time the Town Council did a re-painting job in Tiong Bahru, they had carelessly painted over those exposed brick walls at Block 79 & 80 Chay Yan Street.At that time, Tiong Bahru Estate has yet to be conserved and people living here at that time basically do not give two hoots about what was being done to their estate.But things are so different this time around and the town council would have found out by now that they cannot try to pull wool over the resident’s eyes that easily.One thing I cannot understand is the yellow and blue option which was given to the residents here.Perhaps the colour specialist did not even walk around the Tiong Bahru Estate and basically planned the colour scheme in the comfort of their office.I can only speculate that they probably conjure up the colour combination based on the pictures given to them and since those pictures did not have the brick facade and they may have overlooked that completely!Those bricks are reddish brown in colour and the suggested colour has to be in the same family of colours right?Correct me if I’m wrong here, reddish brown, baby blue and pastel yellow are not of the same group right?Not unless the town council intend to paint over the brick walls!These bricks had been around for the past 70 years! Please leave them alone!I hope the town council will work around those brick walls and not just paint them over to suit the new colour scheme.Everyone please help to keep a look out and make sure they do not conveniently paint them over. Idiot Proofed Finally, after 3 days of sending every concerned Tiong Bahru residents into a tailspin, the town council has finally 'idiot-proofed' the process.See the picture belowsorry for the poor quality coz it was 8pm and lighting was poor and my phone camera is no SLR quality They even point out the direction to the mailboxes.During the last 3 days, everything at the street level in Tiong Bahru Estate looks normal. It was business as usual.But in the email world, the momentum was quite different.I am glad to see so many concerned residents who made their opinions known.And I even saw an email that was forwarded to Prof Koo, Indranee and Simon (pardon my ignorance, who is Simon?) And we are grateful to Kelvin Ang who alerted the right department to get their processes right.(The Town Council people were still putting up the colour scheme pictures in every available notice boards in Tiong Bahru. I saw them while I was on the way home from my in law’s place at Guan Chuan Street at about 10pm just now)At the moment, I'm still having very mixed feeling. To me, it was not so much the poorly executed processes but the lack of REAL choices offered to the residents.The whole choice thingy is something akin to our Muslim friends' predicament when they walk into the Tiong Bahru Market.Despite people calling this a food haven, they really only have 2 stalls to choose from. The Malay stall and the Indonesian stall!And for people who crave for some Mee Goreng or Roti Prata, they have to walk over to either Kim Tian Road or Tiong Bahru Plaza as there ain't any here at this food haven.So far, it seems that the blue and yellow Combi does not go very well with everyone I know.But we haven't check with the Uncle, Aunties, Ah Chek and Ah Soh. They may actually find those colours refreshing and vote for it.And let me remind everyone here, they are still the majority....according to Wikipedia.Living in an Obiang Blue or Pale Yellow flat remains a strong possibility for me.And if Tiong Bahru is split up into 4 colours, we can organize competitions and literally compete based on 'house' colours....just like primary school days.Arrgh......! The Great Tiong Bahru Mess The town council has finally got their act together.The Colour proposals for the PRE-WAR section could be found on the notice board in front of the Resident Committee at Blk 48 Moh Guan Terrace (Just as it was stated in the survey form)As you can see from the notice board, there were no headings or any mention of what the 4 pictures were for.The Town Council assumed we all knew what the pictures were there for.To make matters worse, the HDB’s colour proposals are not placed alongside with the PRE-WAR Colour Proposal.They are instead placed at a notice board along the pathway in between Blk 46 Seng Poh Road and Blk 48 Moh Guan Terrace.This oversight is going to create A LOT more confusion for the residents!I only realised this confusion may arise when my sis-in-law gave me an incredulous look when I told her I’m going for Proposal D for the HDB section.She thought I was going for the PRE-WAR colour scheme. (I was thinking of this Proposal D) (My Sis-In-Law thought I was talking about this Proposal D)This has serious implication for Tiong Bahru!!!Let’s just assume everyone who was given a survey form shows up at the RC notice board.Looking at the 4 proposals there, they will probably think that those 4 proposals presented there are THE PROPOSED COLOURS.Nothing is on the board to prompt them that they are looking at the WRONG pictures.So let’s assume the Tanjong Pagar Town Council got a lot of votes for PROPOSAL A from the HDB folks.Instead of getting this colour scheme:Of which the resident thinks will turn out SOMETHING like this: They will END UP getting this!!!!!: And the town council can cover their rear-end by showing everyone that the residents here actually chose PROPOSAL A!!!!!Since the survey is so badly EXECUTED, it should be scrapped and be redone again.There must be no margin for error.Right now, we MAY POTENTIALLY end up with 4 groups of colour within the Tiong Bahru Estate!!!!Group 1: Pre-War Tiong BahruGroup 2: Tiong Bahru MarketGroup 3: Blk 17 – Blk 29 HDB Walk UpGroup 4: Blk 33 – Blk 50 HDB Walk UpWelcome to the TECNICOLOUR town of Tiong Bahru.!!!!!! Screams the future billboard at the Entrance of Tiong Bahru.Why can’t we synchronised the Pre-War and HDB colours so that both sides will complement each other?.....like how they complement each other now?I cannot help but feel that the whole colour survey exercise was conducted just for "show" and it is a waste of everyone else time and resources.To be safe, may I have PROPOSAL E?PROPOSAL E is for SAME AS BEFORE.After looking at how the whole exercise is conducted, we better err on the side of caution than to let some colour specialist "beautify" our estate! The future Tiong Bahru Colour I saw these survey forms today while i was conducting viewings for some tenants. The HDB section may possibly have 2 sets of different colours scheme since they are split into 2 groups. I’m sure glad that the town council is making some effort to ask the resident about the choice of colours they would like for our estate. The following are the given choices: PRE-WAR SECTION Proposal A Proposal B Proposal CProposal DHDB SECTION Proposal A Proposal B Proposal C Proposal DBy the way, I walked over to the RC at Blk 48 Moh Guan Terrace and found nothing there.So I’ve got to walk around the estate to piece those pictures together. Happy National Day Tiong Bahru I was alerted to a YouTube Video by Marquis_De_Sade this morning.It was the NDP 2003 Theme Song - A Place in My HeartFunny I don’t recall this NDP song at all!Almost 3 quarter of the footages has Tiong Bahru as the backdrop.You can almost call it the Tiong Bahru Theme Song as it contain very little non Tiong Bahru images.Too bad the roti prata man at Blk 65 Tiong Poh Road (Ah Chang Porridge Coffeeshop) is gone...and so is the bird corner at Blk 53 Tiong Bahru Road (Now the Link Hotel).Marquis_De_Sade, thank you once again.And to every Singaporean, Happy 43rd National Day. Noticing the Notices Today is a typical day for me. It is a Friday and it is the usual day I go around slotting my flyers within the Tiong Bahru Estate.To make my routine a little more interesting today, I thought I will snap all the notices that are pasted all over Tiong Bahru today.The following are what I found today: This notice is pasted from Blk 17 to Blk 29 in Tiong Bahru Found this pasted at Blk 81 Tiong Poh Road This notice is pasted throughout the PRE-WAR section. Littering continues to be a problem here as there is no rubbish chute within the homes. Some inconsiderate residents just leave their litters all over the places other than the bins provided. This notice is pasted along Tiong Poh Road as SP Power is digging up the road. StarHub was digging up the same stretch 3 weeks ago! Why can't they all dig at the same time? One of the many RENOVATION notices that could be found pasted within the estate. A notice by one very annoyed owner who is fed up with people who continuously dump rubbish just outside his home. Another notice by another annoyed owner This notice shouldn't even appear here as no one should ever park their motorcycles along the walkways. What if the motorcycle catches fire? Tiong Bahru is hot property but not in that literal sense. This owner even leaves a phone number for the litterbugs to contact him or her. This is Singapore most famous guy and is probably constantly on Mr KS Wong's mind. I applaud this owner's effort in doing up a nice poster. I hope this dog owner has found his or her puppy by now. Call Fion if you share the same interest. Curiosity kills the cat....I might just call to find out about this miracle. So far I've never stopped by a lamp-post and suddenly decides to buy my wife flowers. Today may be just the day I do something crazy. It is after all 08/08/08 right? Call this number at your own risk!You've been warned!This is fantastic advice! YES! Call ONLY the professionals.The number above may not be "professional" enough. Do your homework well or you'd be sorry. Chain REACTION I supposed these chains were put up by the town council today.Looks like there won't be any more unauthorized traffic zipping across to terrorize some old ladies into giving way.Out of concern, I think the chains are a little inconspicuous.... especially in the night when lighting is poor. Those unwary motorists may trip over these chains and hurt themselves badly.It would be good if these chains are made a little more noticeable.Now that these chains are put up, I wonder how the town council's “buggies” are going to zip around to clear the garbage now. I supposed they have to stop and unlock and lock the chains every time they need to enter this sector. It is so troublesome…..if only everyone use these pavement responsibly, we will not need to chain it up in the first place. The Singapore Song We will be 43 years old in a few days' time.And everyone is busy making their own plans on how to spend that holiday.National day has different significance to every one of us.I guess those that braved through those pre-independence day will find this day especially meaningful while people like me will always seems to take what we have now for granted.We will probably treat this day as just another day to take a break and some might even take the opportunity to scoot off for a short holiday.Mr Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism does it a little differently.He wrote a song to celebrate our independence. Though the song sounded like a hymn, I’m still touched by his effort in putting this video together.And I’m amazed that he is able to find so many old footages of Singapore.For those who do not like old stuff, here's a funnier version by Hossan LeongAnd here're the official NDP 2008 versions : ENGLISH VERSIONMANDARIN VERSION What a TREAT! What I treat I had when I was conducting a viewing yesterday evening.I think my home buyers were pleased too!We were standing at the balcony of this home which I am currently marketing when were heard the sound of helicopters.Lo and behold, we saw a huge Singapore flag being dragged through the sky by a helicopter.Too bad we couldn’t spend another 2 hours in this home; otherwise we would have a clear view of the Black Knight’s aerial display and the mesmerising fireworks.Bet you never knew you could actually see the whole National Day thingy from a low rise estate such as Tiong Bahru.This particular unit is unique because it overlooks the rest of the Tiong Bahru Pre-War estate since most of those units are about 3 storeys tall at the most.The unit we were at was the signature block of the Tiong Bahru Estate as some columns of this block is 5 storeys tall.So anything on the 4th and 5th storey would offer the home owners a fabulous view or the city and the occasional fireworks display treats. The work has begun Yesterday, I was on the way for a viewing appointment when I saw these men working tirelessly in the hot sweltering sun.It was about 35 degrees and I was melting.A notice pasted above the letterboxes revealed what they were tasked to do.They are water-proofing the end wall of the buildings.I’m so glad that improvement works are being done to the estate. I take this as a sign that this Post War Estate will be around for a while longer.Phew! A bit too early..... Tonight, when the clock strikes 12, it would be the start of the annual hungry ghost festival.All over Singapore, you will see a lot of colourful tents being set up to usher in this event by the Taoist practitioners.I was at the Tiong Bahru market on Monday and I noticed 2 “brothers” who may have gotten the dates wrong.They are kinda early but they sure chose the right place....the Tiong Bahru food centre! Repainting the 'Hood Kelvin says, "Hi! Do think about the repainting and if you can, pass the word around... let’s try to get the Town Council to let us vote or choose the colours... it can make a difference to what we all have to live within the next 10 years!".Event: repainting the 'hood ("Do you want to have a say?")What: Informational MeetingHost: Kelvin AngStart Time: Monday, August 11 at 12:00pm End Time: Monday, August 11 at 3:00pmWhere: Tiong BahruTo see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=38084446528 Repainting of the Pre-War Tiong Bahru Section What a relief!I saw another signage along Moh Guan Terrace this afternoon.The Pre-War Section of the Tiong Bahru Estate will also be repainted.All the shutter-bugs, please get ready to capture as many images as possible.We do not know what kind of colour scheme the Tanjong Pagar Town Council has chosen.Hope it will not be something like the following: Repainting of the Post War Tiong Bahru Section Finally there is some information on the repainting of the Tiong Bahru Estate.Here the signage the Tanjong Pagar Town Council has put up at the junction of Seng Poh Road and Tiong Bahru Road.It seemed that they are only going to paint the POST WAR section of the Tiong Bahru Estate.And they have given themselves a huge time frame to do so. (June 2008 to 3rd Quarter 2009!)More importantIy, I wonder what the colour scheme will be like.We, the residents of Tiong Bahru, await the transformation with a tinge of uneasiness.Check out my previous post about the repainting of this estate: A Fresh Coat of Paint Rogue Van Spotted this yellow van this afternoon.Van was parked next to Block 44 Moh Guan Terrace. To get to where it was parked, it must have reversed all the way from Block 35 Lim Liak Street, passing by Block 36 and Block 43 Moh Guan Terrace. I'm sure this van has got many blind spots and thank goodness no one was walking around the foot path when the van was doing this illegal reversing. This is after all a footpath and it is located next to a badminton court and a children’s playground. Whatever excuses they can conjure up, I cannot accept it! What if a child is run over just because some people wanted to save some sweat? By the way, this is not the 1st incident I've witnessed. There was a station wagon that had reversed in the same manner to Block 36 Moh Guan Terrace just to unload some bridal gowns......on two separate occasions! And every day, there will be one or two motorcyclist who will used this footpath as shortcuts to get to Moh Guan Terrace from Lim Liak Street or vice versa. Some privileged folks here even seemed to have a private motorcycle lots located on the ground floor of their block. I don't mean to be nosey about such things but I dread the day someone will get hurt because of such inconsiderate behaviour. My feathers are quite ruffled partly because my kids do play around the badminton court and the children playground here. It would only be fair to expect that all kids play here would have a safe environment to play in without having to look out for traffic that was not supposed to be there. Perhaps these inconsiderate pavement users are above the law because they are descendants of See Moh Guan and Low Kim Pong. This could be the reason why they can use it like their grand daddy’s road. I should have walked over to ask those 2 men to show me their birth certificates. 225 Outram Road 225 Outram Road in the 50s 225 Outram Road as at 26 June 2008This building has stood at the end of Eng Hoon Street for the past 50 years.I heard a KWA family owns this building and the immediate neighbour suspects it belongs to a very influential family in Singapore.Anyway, I don’t care who owns it so long as they don’t tear it down to build another boutique hotel.Here’s a short write up about this building which I found from the book titled: Singapore, A Guide to Buildings, Street and Places by Norman Edward and Peter KeysOne might pass by this corner building without notice it but it is a good example of the Modern Movement style established in England in the 1930s and further developed in the 1950s.The building has shops on the 1st storey set behind a series of round columns supporting a reinforced concrete frame containing 5 storeys of apartments above.A Niemeyer-like curved concrete slab skirts the building to form an awning above the shops and creates an interesting spatial effect in its relationship to the cantilevered slab of apartments above.The building turns the corner skilfully on 3 sides and is of good proportions.Windows have sun-shielding cantilevered slabs above on one side and metal curve louvres on the other, very much in the Modern Movement vogue.Fact: Built in 1956 and designed by Alfred Wong Partnership Another Boutique Hotel? Heard that this will be converted into another boutique hotel!!!!!Do we really need that many hotels here at Tiong Bahru?Hotel RE! just opened along Chin Swee Road and that is just a stone throw from Tiong Bahru Estate. Their website looks interesting and the retro designed rooms looks good.And now the new owner of this Tiffin Box lookalike building will be joining in the boutique hotel club.If all the hotels succeed in filling up their rooms, I'm sure certain parts of Tiong Bahru will come alive and the retailers will be rejoicing.Time will tell. COOL CONDUCTOR The current resident conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) spent his growing up years in the Tiong Bahru Neighbourhood. Find out more about Mr Lim Yau in this article that appeared in the Straits Times yesterday. The Straits TimesJune 16, 2008The monday interview, LifestyleBy Stephanie YapAn entire generation of musicians have played or sung under SSO resident conductor Lim Yau, who is still mentoring and nurturing amateur ensemblesTHOUGH conductor Lim Yau is in the process of moving house, the living room of his condominium in Sembawang - the aptly named Euphony Gardens - is still decorated with all manner of music paraphernalia: bookshelves full of music scores, towers of CD cases and a wall covered with framed posters of concerts and operas he has conducted.Most of the posters are elegantly subdued and the one that stands out is a poster for the Singapore Lyric Opera's 2006 production of Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro. It shows the corseted torso of an amply-endowed woman as two pairs of apparently male hands lace her up.'Part of my agreement with the Lyric Opera was that I would get the poster,' the resident conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), 56, says in a quiet, deliberate manner, as if carefully considering each word before uttering it.'I tried to find the person whom the pair of boobs belongs to. But, I think, it is maybe computer enhanced.'He pauses for a beat, then chuckles softly in his sonorous, bass-baritone voice.Indeed, his reserved, imposing manner and wry sense of humour are well known among musicians who have worked with him during his almost 30 years of conducting.SSO's fixed fourth-chair first violinist Chan Yoong Han, 33, says: 'He may appear fierce and stern on stage but he's actually a very warm person inside, with a wicked sense of humour.'Besides his work with the SSO, Lim is the music director of the Singapore Symphony Chorus, which he has worked with since 1981. He was music director of the Singapore Youth Orchestra from 1990 to 2002 and co-founded the Lyric Opera in 1990.Life! classical music critic and SSO board member Chang Tou Liang, 42, says: 'Practically all the younger musicians of Singapore, professional or amateur, have played or sung under him - I would say an entire generation.'Dr Chang himself first met Lim back in 1992 when the physician joined the Singapore Symphony Chorus, where he sang for 10 years as a tenor: 'Lim is known for his droll humour and dry wit, which he often uses to diffuse potentially tense situations when the choir does not sing to his expectations.'Choir members regard him with awe and sometimes reverential fear, but he is always an approachable person who is very frank and candid, and does not mince words.' The only baton-wielding gig on the local classical music scene which Lim, a 1990 Cultural Medallion recipient, does not appear to have taken up is the big one: that of music director of the SSO, a position currently held by China-born conductor Shui Lan. But he seems more bemused than defensive when you ask if he has ever wanted to be the SSO's music director. 'No,' he says firmly. 'It is a very hard job. It takes a different type of person to do that.'Then, in his quiet, deliberate way, he adds: 'I doubt I'll ever be. But that is not an issue. I am happy where I am, contributing in the way I am contributing.Those who can, teachAS IT turns out, the contribution Lim seems proudest of is not to any professional organisation. He is most animated when he talks about amateur music societies which he founded - the 14-year-old The Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the 10-year-old The Philharmonic Orchestra.Though these ensembles are defined as amateur, the members are so highly regarded that they are occasionally hired for professional engagements, and are described by Dr Chang as 'Singapore's most accomplished semi-professional classical outfits'.Lim seems especially attached to the orchestra as he has known many of the musicians since they were teenagers with the youth orchestra, and has even referred to them as 'my children'.'Those who, having been provoked, scolded, insulted by me, and are still willing to stay - they stay long,' he says, chuckling.He has been preparing the two ensembles for their upcoming concerts. On July 10, the choir will present Light And A Hundred Colours, a concert of sacred motets from the Renaissance.On July 27, the orchestra will present Northern Exposure III, featuring the fifth, sixth and seventh symphonies of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.It is the last in a series of three concerts featuring the composer's complete symphonies. The orchestra has tackled Beethoven and Schumann in previous symphony cycles. 'It is a good experience for us, as well as the audience, to do the journey together,' says Lim.His work enables music lovers who do not pursue music as a career to continue pursuing it as a passion.One example would be Ms Wang Siao Hua, 29, an officer with the Ministry of Education who plays double bass with the orchestra. She first met him when she joined the Singapore Youth Orchestra in 1991.'It takes a while to get to know Mr Lim, and for some of us to get his jokes. But we are all his adopted children,' she says. 'Without his guidance, I'd have stopped playing in an orchestra long ago.'Lim's dedication to the ensembles is all the more remarkable given that he is not paid for his work: 'I don't want them to pay me. I say, 'We are all putting in our spare time and let us build it up together'.'Guiding non-professionals seems a natural fit for Lim, who comes from a family of teachers. In fact, his ambition as a young man was to be a music teacher. 'The funny thing is, I had never thought of being a conductor. I always had a very pragmatic approach to life and when I went to the Royal College of Music, I planned to be a teacher,' he says.He candidly confesses that he 'did not like' the youth orchestra when he first took up its baton in 1990: 'I found the kids arrogant and maybe I was arrogant too, and we simply got nowhere together.'In the end, it was his biological children who helped him appreciate the experience.He has two children with his wife Quek Soo Hiang, his high school sweetheart who is a choir mistress with the Singapore Symphony Children's Choir. His daughter Veda Lin, 26, is now in Germany studying the baroque and modern oboe while his son Lin Juan, 24, is studying the cello at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music.'After my kids joined the youth orchestra as well, I became more than just a conductor. I was also a parent and I began to see that it is very meaningful to work with young people,' he says. 'They are always so open. To be able to plant the seed in their thoughts, to cultivate certain musical disciplines in them - I consider this a privilege.'From Beijing opera to batonsUNSURPRISINGLY, Lim came from a home filled with music.The youngest of four children of a Chinese literature teacher and a housewife grew up in a flat in Tiong Poh Road, opposite a coffee shop which played Rediffusion, the cable radio service, from 6am to midnight every day.'In the last half an hour before midnight, I would hear the nan yin, Fujian's ethnic instrumental and vocal music. It was a kind of lullaby for me,' he recalls.The Chinese music would be followed by the British national anthem, God Save The Queen, as the station closed for the night. In the mornings, he would hear snippets of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony and Ravel's Daphnis Et Chloe used as mood music in radio soap operas. Although his family was not musical, they played an instrumental role in his musical development.'My father died when I was 11 and the little that I can remember of him is that he enjoyed reciting Tang poetry in Hokkien,' says Lim. 'He also liked Beijing opera, so I too like jing ju nowadays. I can't claim to know a lot about it, but I would happily sit through the whole show and listen to the songs.' As for his mother, 'the only musical influence she had on me was that she would cane me if I didn't practise on my piano'.Though he started studying the piano at the age of four or five, he never took any formal exams. 'I am quite rebellious and right from Day One, I did not see the point of doing that sort of thing,' he says. Still, he was accomplished enough that during his secondary school days at River Valley High School, he would help members of the Chinese orchestra notate music from cassette tapes.But his first love was for the voice, which he attributes to hearing the Vienna Boys' Choir sing on television when he was in Primary 6: 'The television was not very common then, so you had to stand outside other people's windows to watch. They sang the Blue Danube, and I could not tear myself away. 'I kept hoping that my neighbours would not switch channels - though in those days there were only two, I think.' He sang in the school choir and took his first music exam in his late teens, earning his Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) in singing for both teaching and performance.Though he was seriously thinking about pursuing music as a career by then, 'my mother had other thoughts', and thus he spent a year at the then Nanyang University studying biology.'But this was 1970, the year the world celebrated the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, and so instead of reading my biology textbooks, I studied Beethoven's symphonies,' he says cheekily.In 1975, after completing national service, he left Singapore for the Royal College Of Music in London, studying voice and choral conducting and graduating with honours.It was his three elder siblings - his sister and his elder brother were teachers, while his second brother worked in telecommunications - who paid for his three-year course. They are all retirees now. He gained real-world experience by joining London's Philharmonia Chorus in his second year, where he sang under famous conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa and Ricardo Mutti, and after graduation, he joined the chorus of the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, which specialises in Wagner's operas.Lim truly fell in love with conducting after attending a masterclass with famed conductor Sergiu Celibidache in 1980. So he was excited by the news that Singapore had set up its first professional orchestra in 1979.In 1980, he applied for the post of chorus master with the Singapore Symphony Chorus. He got the job, but as then music director Choo Huey pointed out, it took up only one day a week. However, the orchestra did need a concert manager.This was why, for the first three years after his return to Singapore, Lim found himself writing Chinese programme notes, picking artists up from the airport, ordering music, borrowing unusual instruments, and even accommodating the backstage demands of guest soloists.'I had to prepare a bucket of hot water for a prima donna pianist, who had to warm her hands right up to the second before she walked on stage,' he recalls with a wry grin, referring to Israeli pianist Ilana Vered.But his waterboy days were soon over. In 1983, he received a British Council scholarship to take an advanced conducting course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He then worked as the assistant conductor of the SSO, eventually becoming the associate conductor.'I had a three-year bond with the SSO and I have been stuck here ever since,' he says with a laugh.He pauses for a second and adds: 'Well, except for when I resigned in 1997.'That resignation caused no minor stir in the classical music scene at the time. Although it is understood that he left due to contractual and artistic disagreements with certain people in the management, he remains tight-lipped on the matter.'We all have our differences,' he says simply, without any apparent rancour.Three years later, he bumped into the SSO's current music director Lan Shui, who succeeded Choo in 1997. They chatted, and Lim signed on with the SSO again, this time for his current post of resident conductor.What convinced him to go back after his dramatic exit?He pauses, frowning thoughtfully. Then his face slowly breaks out into a grin: 'Because those people that had differences with me had all left the SSO.'Indeed, as the SSO celebrates its 30th birthday next year, Lim is one of the few people who can claim to have seen the orchestra through its growing pains.'With great amusement!' he quips, before breaking into raucous laughter.When pressed to elaborate, he says coyly: 'You can't be too frank on this sort of thing, can you? I am very comfortable talking entirely openly, but it is not good for other people.'Then, more seriously: 'I have seen myself grow, too. I am a typical SSO product. Much as I at times like to poke fun at it, like it or not, I am part of it.'ysteph@sph.com.sg WITH MUM: A young Lim with his mother at their Tiong Bahru flatPHOTOS: COURTESY OF LIM YAUWITH FORMER PRESIDENT ONG: Lim with the late President Ong Teng Cheong in 1993, when the then presidential nominee made his conducting debut with the SSO in a concert at Victoria Concert Hall to celebrate Singapore's 28th National Day Lim Leack Located within the Tiong Bahru Estate, the first Singapore Improvement Trust estate built in the late 1930s, Lim Liak Street was named in 1941 on completion of the housing estate after the well respected Chinese merchant, Lim Leack. Lim Leack was the proprietor of Leack, Chin Seng and Co and Chop Hiap Chin. He came from China to Malaya in 1825. He started his business in tin-mining and later part of his life, he moved to Singapore and started his shipping business. A public spirited man. He was much respected in the Chinese community. He died at age 71. The Art of Being Laid Back. Just Read this article: How to Be Laid BackI never knew we need to learn about this. Doesn’t this come naturally to everyone?It is funny that we now have a website to teach people how to be laid back.Perhaps we live in a fast paced society that being labelled “LAID BACK” is not exactly a compliment.....unless you have made it BIG time.....financially and thus has earned the bragging rights to this label.Anyway, the reason why I’m discussing this topic is that many visitors to the Tiong Bahru Estate have always used this term to describe this place, A Laid Back Place......Perhaps people here walk in an unhurried manner. Or maybe it is our dressing. A Tee-Shirt and shorts attire would suffice.If you are super comfortable with yourself and not bothered about what others think of you, you can even walk to the market in your pyjamas.Or perhaps these visitors are constantly bumping into these “LAID BACK” folks in Tiong Bahru.Spotted between Block 19 & 21 Lim Liak Street Spotted at Seng Poh Garden Spotted outside Tiong Bahru MarketThese are truly laid back people and I envy them for the peace and serenity they possess in them....or that’s what I would like to think.....positively.Most people would think they are just dead tired and needed a convenient place for some shut eyes before they go back to the grind. More pictures of the New 4-Storey Hotel I was surfing the NET and I accidentally stumbled upon these pictures which may interest all of us here at Tiong Bahru.This may be how the new hotel at the junction of Tiong Bahru Road and Seng Poh Road may eventually look like.Notice there is no swimming pool in the facade of the hotel in these pictures.I suspect this could be the initial proposed design from the architect.The infinity pool was probably an after-thought.I’m glad they put the fish tank in.So instead of watching birds at the birdless corner, we can now gawk at people swimming at the new Van Kleef aquarium!I hope the name, Hotel Nostalgia, is just a project name and not the FINAL name New 4-Storey Hotel @ Tiong Bahru The artist’s impression of the new 4-storey hotel is out!And this "yet to be named hotel" will be ready in June 2009.That's just a year away.Scrutinise the picture closely and you would have noticed a “lap” pool on the facade!Wow, that would be Tiong Bahru Estate’s 1st swimming pool!There are some questions I have in my mind right now.Where will the drop off point be located?Will the taxis or mini buses stop indiscriminately along Tiong Bahru Road?And are there any parking facilities within this hotel?There seems to be an opening at the sides of the building.I hope that is the entrance into the hotel’s car park.We welcome all visitors but we do not condone indiscriminate parking at the resident’s expense! I SMELL SOMETHING FISHY IN TIONG BAHRU Extracted from TravelMoleby Yeoh Siew Hoon/Transit Cafe 28th December 2007It was one of those balmy evenings in Singapore. The rains had just ended and there was that slight earthy smell in the air. Water on hot earth. Sizzling. Sensuous. Every now and then, the smell of incense wafted towards us. Spicy. Tangy. We were seated at a new wine bar, Tbone Steakhouse Cafe, in Tiong Bahru, a new and up-and-coming neighbourhood for the BoBo (Bohemian Bourgeous) crowd. My Scottish friend, who works in the area, tells me he likes it here because "here, I still feel like a foreigner. I still get someone trying to sell me a suit".Such is the evolution of Singapore as the urban sprawl spreads and we urban rats scurry for new haunts where there is still a lingering of the old – Tiong Bahru is like the forgotten suburb on the edge of town, known among locals for its great food (of course) and dilapidated shophouses and flats. An old apartment block here has been converted into a hotel. And a few advertising and Web design agencies, escaping escalating rentals in the city, have moved into the neighbourhood – it's the beginning of cool for TB.We inhaled the bouquet of our wine – a chardonnay from Australia. Fresh. Zesty. (I am sorry I cannot tell you what it is because I think I drank too much of it and we all know fermented grapes are bad for grey cells.)Next to us was what we called "the magic door". Every now and then, a stream of girls, all with pretty impressive chests, we noticed, would emerge and another stream would enter. It was like watching Betty Boop In Revolving Land.We wondered.And we chatted. Our conversation wafted to that of smells.Perhaps it was the smell of the hot earth or the incense or the garbage truck parked nearby that inspired us but my friend, who owns a Web design agency, talked about the next wave in online – that of smells.How we would soon be able to embed smells into our websites so we can engage our customers in all senses of the word.I know. Hotels have also woken up to the sense of smell. Almost every deluxe hotel now has some kind of scent wafting through their lobbies and public areas.For example, Westin has the "White Tea" scent. Shangri-La has "The Essence of Shangri-La" – it says the "scent's bottom notes of vanilla, sandal and musk are highlighted by top notes of light bergamot and tea spiced with ginger". There's also the Sofitel scent.But I feel there is something amiss in all this. How can one scent rule them all? Shouldn't individual hotels in different destinations have different smells that are evocative of the place they are in?I mean, I don't want to walk into a hotel in New Delhi and be reminded of Beijing, for instance.According to research, 70% of our emotions are based on smells so wouldn't smells be a good way of giving us a sense of place instantly?And so our conversation drifted to the notion of places and smells.Can a destination be encapsulated in a scent? Just like the protagonist in Patrick Susskind's "Perfume" who became so obsessed with a woman that he wanted to distill her into a bottle of perfume, can we do that with destinations?And so we began our question and answer game.What would Thailand smell of? Lemon grass *Malaysia? Tumeric and ginger*India? Masala*Vietnam? Fish sauce*Indonesia? Kretek (cloves)*Switzerland? Chocolates*England? Fish and chips*Germany? Beer or sauerkraut.Interestingly, most of our answers were related to food (I was the only Asian at the table, okay) until we got to Singapore and one wise person quipped, "Dettol."Would you like to continue?From all of us at The (Aromatic) Transit Cafe, here's to an olfactory 2008. --------------------------------------------------------------------------I've spotted this article from TravelMole and am reposting here. The observation made by the writer is quite entertaining. The Boys’ Brigade Connection I've just finished dinner at the Tiong Bahru Market when I bumped into a familiar face while walking toward the escalator.This person was wearing a Boys’ Brigade officer’s uniform.“Wah, you are an officer now?” I asked Timothy. “Not too long ago, you were just a Private.”“Yes Sir, I just finished my Basic Officer Training Course.” Timothy replied.“Please lah, don’t call me Sir, just call me Alvin”, I said.“Cannot lah, must call you Sir.” Tim replied............(The rest of the conversations are too mundane to be blogged)In case you are thinking that I’m going off tangent, hold your horses 1st.There is actually a connection between the Boys’ Brigade in Singapore and the Tiong Bahru Estate!The connection lies in the founder of the 1st Singapore BB Company, Mr James Milner Fraser.And since I spent my A LOT (And I mean a LOT!) of my time in the BB from 11 years old till I took my ‘O’ levels, I am especially elated to stumbled onto this piece of information.From official records, Mr James Milner Fraser was already working for the Singapore Improvement Trust in 1927 as a Town Planning Assistant.So the Pre-War Section of the Tiong Bahru Estate may have traces of his work already!And I’m pretty sure he played a huge role in the post war series of Tiong Bahru as he was promoted to Manager of the Trust in 1946 and supervised many major developments, including more than 10,000 houses, shops and flats, as well as writing a number of papers and reports on town planning and housing issues.Prior to coming to Singapore as a young architect in 1927, Mr James Milner Fraser was already very much into the BB movement; having grew up in the 23rd Aberdeen Company and later became a BB officer in the 23rd London Company.The Singapore BB Story was in fact made possible by 2 men who have a deep love and respect for the movement and a chance sighting of a BB buttonhole along the streets of Singapore.BB Ex-Sergeant Quek Eng Moh, a Swatow Old Boy was just walking along some streets in Singapore when he saw the BB buttonhole on Mr James M Fraser.Fortunately it was not just a “Hi-Bye” kinda encounter between these 2 people.They went on to start Singapore’s 1st BB Company on 12th January 1930 at Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church. The block of flats next to this church is exactly the same as the Post War Tiong Bahru flats. So now you know who was responsible for that designI’m proud to have been a part of this life changing movement.Here’s more information about Mr James Milner Fraser, Singapore’s BB Founder:James Milner Fraser was born on 5 January 1905 and was articled to James Cobban of Aberdeen in June 1920. When Cobban ceased practice in September 1923, Fraser transferred to the office of George Watt, where he completed his apprenticeship in June 1925.Throughout this period he studied at Aberdeen School of Architecture, Alexander Gordon being among his tutors. He then moved to London where he joined the LCC Housing Department as an architectural assistant and studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic and at the Northern Polytechnic, Holloway Road. In 1926 he made a study tour of Rome, Florence and Paris, and in the same year took a position as assistant architect in West Ham Borough Council. The following year he emigrated to Singapore where he joined the Singapore Improvement Trust, working in the Municipal Offices under his former tutor and fellow émigré Alexander Gordon. He passed the final exam in Singapore in August 1928 and was admitted ARIBA in late 1929, proposed by Gordon, Percy Hubert Keys and another. By the mid-1940s he had been promoted to the position of Manager to the Trust, and in the ensuing years supervised major developments including more than 10,000 houses, shops and flats, as well as writing a number of papers and reports on town planning and housing issues. He was admitted FRIBA in 1955, by which time he had been awarded a CBE. He subsequently returned to Scotland, probably to retire, and he died at Cults, Aberdeenshire in November 1978, survived by his wife Alice. Me in the Junior Section of the 25th Singapore BB Company a very long time ago Me in the era where it was NORMAL for the spectacles frame to cover half your face We had a lot of fun performing even though we played worse than the neighbourhood funeral band Air raid shelters A five storey block in Guan Chuan Street is where the air raid shelter was located during the World War II.When the Japanese bombarded Singapore in 1942, residents in this area dashed to the shelters for cover. (Watch the following YouTube video for more information)The shelter could accommodate between 200 and 300 people.During the war, bombs were dropped and hit the roof but the shelter was not damaged beyond repair. In fact, repair works were carried out to the shelter soon after it was hit by bombs.Today, these air raid shelters have been decommissioned. The only shred of usefulness the Tanjong Pagar Town Council could think of was to use them to store their spare rubbish bins.What a tragedy!Whoever is sitting at the Tanjong Pagar Town Council or the Bukit Merah Branch Office, here’s a question for you think of during your spare time.Why not open these air raid shelters to the public? Or turn these air raid shelters into a Tiong Bahru museum to showcase the history of this wonderful housing estate?Why should this piece of history be allowed to fade into oblivion?Maybe it is just plain laziness that no one bothers to explore the options. Sigh.FUN FACTS :Did you know that these air vents could only be found along Block 78 Guan Chuan Street within the entire Tiong Bahru Estate? These air vents are only visible from air well of the top most homes located along Blk 78 Guan Chuan StreetThese air vents originates from the air shelters below. And since these air-raid shelters are only located under block 78 Guan Chuan Street, no other blocks has such a feature.Below is a simple illustration to show the difference. Units with windows that opens to the airwell Units without windows as they are blocked by the ventilation shaft Irreversible & Permanent Change Another of Tiong Bahru's icon has been destroyed.The signature red gourd burner (Hong Hu Lu) has been torn apart to make way for a new 20 room hotel.This is the aftermath.My feeling is quite mixed at the moment.I'm happy that hotel operators are beginning to take notice of this sleepy enclave and thinks that tourists might be interested in this area.But at the same time, I feel sad that a Tiong Bahru icon has to be sacrificed to make way for that development.I just hope the 5 storey hotel will not look like the Cape Inn Hotel along Seng Poh Road.If it is like those boutique hotels like 1929 or Majestic Hotel, then I don't really mind.But if it is some Cape Inn kinda hotel, then I think they've got the wrong place to plant that hotel.Whatever the case, time will tell what kinda hotel Tiong Bahru Estate will be inheriting.