Smokey’s and a Red House: Memories of Victoria Street from Bras Basah to Middle Road

For the SJI schoolboy in the late 1970s, Victoria Street offered an appealing escape from the boredom of the classroom. It was not just for the two convent schools that stradled the ends of the stretch of Victoria Street in question (from Bras Basah Road to Middle Road), but also for the other distractions to the classroom that was on offer. The area around the corner of Bras Basah Road was perhaps where we were most familiar with. As we made our way from school or from the bus stop in front of the City Music outlet on Bras Basah Road roughly where the NTUC Income Centre is today, we would come to this corner where the window display of test tubes, beakers and laboratory supplies of the Central Medical Hall which occupied the corner unit of Victoria Building never failed to catch my eye.

A building belonging to the Singapore Management University stands in place of the two storey Victoria Building at the corner of Bras Basah Road and Victoria Street. The Central Medical Hall occupied the corner unit of the Victoria Building.

Around the medical hall, was the row of shops that included a coffee shop that we dubbed as “Smokey’s”, where many of us grabbed a cup of tea in the morning, motivated by the steady stream of convent school girls that dropped in on their way to school. I never found out why we called it Smokey’s and I understand that there were sumptuous beef brisket noodles on offer there, not that I noticed it then. Perhaps we did not have the time to dwell on all that, with the distractions offered by the comings and goings that we observed over the steaming hot cups of tea.

Two rows of steel pillars now lines the row where Smokey's and the Shanghai Bookstore was.

Tea was always served piping hot there, in the thick walled kopi-tiam (coffee shop) cups and saucers of old, complete with green motifs and hairline cracks in the baked porcelain that appeared through the glazing. This offered us the opportunity to observe world within the confines of the white tiled walls of the coffee shop, across the marble table tops and wooden chairs typical of the coffee shops of old.

Further down the row, perhaps at the end of Victoria Building, was the Shanghai bookstore, with its two storeys of Chinese books, smelling as a bookstore of those days did – a smell that I can still recall to this day. The second floor of the shop had a stationery section where many of the white uniformed boys of SJI could be seen, cooling off in the coolest part of the air-conditioned bookshop.

The Shanghai Bookstore was a popular hangout.

A few doors away from the bookstore, the Victoria Hotel stood. Next to the lobby on the ground floor of the hotel, there was another place that offered respite from the heat – one of the few air-conditioned chicken rice restaurants in those days, the Victoria Restaurant, which was quite popular with Singaporeans, seeking an cooler dining alternative from the more popular Swee Kee Restaurant on nearby Middle Road.

The Victoria Restaurant on the ground floor of the Victoria Hotel was popular for its Chicken Rice and Air-conditioned premises.

The Victoria Restaurant was located on the ground floor of the Victoria Hotel.

The stretch where the Shanghai Book Store and the Victoria Restaurant was.

Further along, there was the Hotel New Hong Kong, which became the Hotel Tai-Pan when I went to school. This is where the Allson Hotel now stands. Next door to this is the rectory building of St. Joseph’s Church and the entrance to the compound which holds the Church, St. Anthony’s Boys School and St. Anthony’s Convent, before the junction with Middle Road.

The rectory of St. Joseph's Church along Victoria Street.

St. Joseph's Church as seen from Victoria Street.

St. Anthony's Convent (see here from Middle Road with the National Library in the background) used to look across Victoria Street to the Empress Hotel.

The view of St. Anthony's Convent in the 1950s from a similar vantage point.

My own memories of the area on the other side of the road, where the brand new National Library building now stands, are rather vague and on this I have been helped out by a reader Greg Lim, who lived in the area in the 1950s, as well as by my mother who was a boarder at St. Anthony’s Convent in the late 1940s and the 1950s. There was the Empress Hotel which stood at the corner, which was apparently known for its mooncakes. My mother describes a sign that she remembered, standing out of the hotel building, proclaiming that the “Queen of Mooncakes” was sold there. My mother describes the hotel as being a rather seedy place, to which the nuns at the convent forbade the boarders and orphans whose windows in the boarding house across the street from the hotel faced, to look at. Greg also mentions that the six storey Empress Hotel was also notorious for being a location that was popular with people attempting to commit suicide.

The National Library Building now dominates the area bounded by Middle Road, Victoria Street, North Bridge Road and Bain Street and stands where the Empress Hotel, Lorong Sidin and Holloway Lane once stood.

Holloway Lane in 1958 (Source: Ray Tyers Singapore Then & Now).

Moving on this side of the street back towards Bras Basah Road, there were two streets there which have since disappeared, Lorong Sidin and Holloway Lane, still within the parcel of land on which the National Library is built on. Both were lined with rows of shophouses. The area is described by Greg as being referred to as the Hylam streets, a reference to the Hainanese families and businesses that dominated the area. The area also featured many furniture shops, and my mother says that an uncle of mine had bought his first set of furniture from the area.

Bain Street today - devoid of the vibrancy that the area was once know for.

Bain Street on which Greg lived, which is still there, running along Bras Basah Complex, as Greg describes was dominated by a four storey building named Victoria Court, at the junction with Victoria Street. On the ground floor, there was a furniture shop called Comfort Furniture and on the opposite corner, there was a shop that made mattresses. Bras Basah complex, which was built in 1980, was built in the area between the once vibrant Bain, Cashin, Carver and Miller Streets that were known for bookshops and hawker food. The complex itself housed many of the bookshops and watch dealers that were moved out of Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road areas. Greg mentions that most shops along Victoria Street were furniture shops. Bain St as Greg notes was famous for Hainanese coconut pastry and beef noodles in black sauce. Miller Street is dominated by the Siakson building and with Carver Street, served as the main access for many of us heading to Odeon Cinema which was along North Bridge Road – that was where I watched Star Wars in 1977.

Bras Basah complex, which was built in 1980, was built in the area between the once vibrant Bain, Cashin, Carver and Miller Streets that were known for bookshops and hawker food.

The Siakson Building dominates Miller Street.

The spiral staircase of the Siakson Building.

Past Miller Street, right at the end of this stretch of Victoria Street at the junction with Bras Basah Road, where the Carlton Hotel now stands, was the well known red painted shophouse that housed the popular Red House Bakery and Cafe which was popular which many students for the reasonably priced set meals on offer.

The corner where the Red House was.

---

Added on 14 April 2010:

Victoria Street c.1981. The four storey building would be Victoria Court which was at the corner of Victoria and Bain Streets. The HDB block of flats in the background is Bras Basah complex (Photo courtesy of Peter Chan).

---

The far side of the hill

The far side of Fort Canning Hill, as far as the schoolboys from SJI were concerned, was the area where the southern and western slopes of the hill were. It was an area that we would usually pass through on our jogs around the hill during Physical Education lessons (P.E.) – or on our way to River Valley Swimming Pool for the occasional swimming practice for our P.E. This was also how we could get across from school to watch the annual Thaipusam procession, which would make its way along Tank Road to its destination at the Sri Thandayuthapani Temple (also known as the Chettiar Temple).

The Sri Thandayuthapani Temple as seen from the foot of the western slope of Fort Canning Hill. Also known as the Chettiar Temple, the temple serves as the end point of the annual Thaipusam procession in Singapore.

The western slope which faces Clemenceau Avenue and Tank Road was an area which we would usually try to avoid – several of us had “close encounters” with the boys from the school facing the slope on Tank Road, Tuan Mong High School, which was housed in the distinctive Teochew Building. The Teochew Building built in the early 1960s on the site of the former Tuan Mong High School building, besides housing the school, also housed the Teochew clan associations: Ngee Ann Kongsi and the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, as well as the Ngee Ann College, the predecessor to Ngee Ann Polytechnic, when it was established in 1963, for a while until 1968.

The Teochew Building housed Tuan Mong High School, Ngee Ann Kongsi and the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, as well as the Ngee Ann College.

Tank road is also home to the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, built in the French Gothic style, which was completed in 1910. The church built by the French Catholic missionaries for the Cantonese and Hakka community, was designed by a Rev. Fr. Lambert who was apparently a well-known architect. Interestingly, the site of the church is also close to Singapore’s first railway station: the terminal station of the first railway line running from Kranji to Tank Road built in 1903. The station was demolished around 1939 when the line was dismantled. Drawn perhaps by the concise sermon and perhaps due to the proximity of the newly opened Japanese departmental store, Yaohan, at Plaza Singapura (which opened in 1974), my parents were fond of bringing us for mass at the church on Saturday evenings. We did this for a few years until 1977/78, and would visit Plaza Singapura for dinner and for a walk around the supermarket after mass.

Church of the Sacred Heart along Tank Road.

The Church of the Sacred Heart painted brown in 1976.

Another view of Tank Road in front of the Church of the Sacred Heart in 1976. The shophouse on the left has since disappeared - the Oxley flyover and the Haw Par Glass Tower can be seen in the background.

The southern slope of Fort Canning Hill runs along River Valley Road. This was where four landmarks were located: the National Theatre, Van Kleef Aquarium, River Valley Swimming Pool and the Hill Street Police Station at the end, where River Valley Road meets up with Hill Street. Of these, possibly the two most loved ones, the National Theatre and the Van Kleef Aquarium have since disappeared, and the River Valley Swimming Pool sits disused, quietly awaiting its end.

An aerial view of the southern slope of Fort Canning Hill along River Valley Road in the 1960s on an old postcard.

The area would have been dominated by the National Theatre standing prominently at the foot of the hill where Clemenceau Avenue and River Valley Road met. This served as a proud symbol of self-reliance, being designed by a Singapore architect, Alfred Wong in a design competition. The construction of the 3420 seat open air theatre was jointly funded by the Singapore government and the public and the theatre was opened in 1964.

National Theatre located at the foot of Fort Canning Hill at the corner of Clemenceau Avenue and River Valley Road. The theatre was demolished in 1986 after it was found to be structurally unsound.

The theatre building was notable for a few features, including a 150 tonne cantilevered steel roof reaching to the slopes of Fort Canning. The façade featured a five pointed diamond shaped patterns, each of which represented one of the five stars on the Singapore flag. An outdoor fountain stood in front yard of the building, representing the crescent moon on the Singapore flag. The theatre had to be unceremoniously demolished in 1986 after it was found to be structurally unsound.

Another view of the National Theatre as seen on the cover of a photo album.

A reminder now stands at the site of the former National icon.

The area where the National Theatre once dominated the landscape.

Next to the theatre was one of my favourite places in the 1960s, the Van Kleef Aquarium. The Van Kleef Aquarium was built in the 1950s with funds bequeathed by a Karl Willem Benjamin van Kleef, a successful Dutch businessman who had settled in Singapore, who passed away in 1930 after returning to the Netherlands in 1913, hence the name of the aquarium. When the aquarium opened in 1955, it was one of the most impressive aquariums in the world. The building designed by the local municipal architects, was in itself, an impressive feat of engineering. It featured two underground reservoirs from which water could be pumped to the tanks housing the exhibits by a system of pumps. This was where I had my first glance of beautifully coloured marine fish, including the Lion Fish which was my favourite. While increasing interest in the first 25 years saw visitor numbers to the aquarium peak at 430,000 visitors in the 1979, interest waned in the 1980s, with visitor numbers falling to some 248,000 visitors in 1985, as newer attractions such as the zoo and the bird park became more fashionable. With the opening of Underwater World in Sentosa in 1991, a decision was made to close the aquarium. It finally closed its doors in 1996, and the building was demolished in 1998.

Van Kleef Aquarium seen on an old postcard.

Evidence of the staircase from Fort Canning Hill beside the former Van Kleef Aquarium.

A path along River Valley Road that led up to the Van Kleef Aquarium now leads to a grassy slope.

Next to the Van Kleef Aquarium, the River Valley Swimming Complex was built in the late 1950s by the Singapore City Council. It was designed by a British architect, M. E. Crocker and was opened in 1959. The Olympic sized pool was one of the pools we used as schoolboys for P.E. alternating with the one at the then SAF NCO club in Beach Road. Little did we know it then, but the complex was a haunt of men of an alternative orientation. The complex was closed in 2003.

The entrance area of the River Valley Swimming Complex.

The life guard post of the disused swimming complex as seen through the entrance.

The exit turnstile of the former River Valley Swimming Complex.

Further along the foot of the hill along River Valley Road, the magnificent Neo-Classical styled Hill Street Police Station building. The building was designed by the Public Works Department and when completed in 1934, it was the largest government building on the island. The building features a courtyard which served as a parade ground and has a total of 911 windows. The building housed Singapore’s earliest jail, as well as housing the police station and serving as the living quarters for police personnel. The Kempeitai was said to have used the building as a prison and torture chamber during the Japanese Occupation. The building was used by the police unitl 1980, and the National Archives used the building from 1983, before the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts (MICA) which now occupies the building moved in. One of the things that I clearly remember about the building was a sign which stuck out above a doorway on River Valley Road that I always made a point of looking out for when I was a boy of maybe 5 or 6. The sign had the words “Officers’ Mess” on it, and I was comforted in the knowledge that I wasn’t the only person around who lived with a “mess”! It was only when I was a little older that I came to realise what a “Mess” in that context was.

The magnificent neo-classical styled former Hill Street Police Station building which now houses MICA.

Possibly the door above which the "Officers' Mess" sign once stuck out from.

The building has been since renamed as the Hill Street Building and now sports brightly coloured windows.

---

Some pictures taken inside the old National Theatre during the SJI 125th Anniversary Celebrations in 1977:

National Theatre Staircase

SJI 125th Anniversary Celebrations at the National Theatre in 1977

---

An old postcard showing Tank Road Station:

A milestone in Singapore’s shipbuilding history: the launch of the RSS Fearless in 1995

This eighteenth of February marks the fifteenth anniversary of a milestone in Singapore’s naval shipbuilding history: the launch of the Fearless Class Patrol Vessels. The 55 metre waterjet propelled vessels were launched by the wife of the then Deputy Prime Minister, Mrs Lee Hsien Loong, better known to us as Madam Ho Ching in 1995 at the Singapore Technologies Shipbuilding and Engineering (STSE) shipyard (now known as ST Marine) in Benoi Road. The then state-of-the-art vessels represented a breakthrough in Singapore’s naval ship design and shipbuilding – these were the first missile equipped combat vessels that were designed and constructed indigenously. I suppose there isn’t much fanfare these days about the Patrol Vessels, possibly because they have been somewhat overshadowed by the acquisition of the larger and more heavily armed Stealth Frigates, and perhaps they have intentionally been forgotten so as not to remind us of the tragic events surrounding the third vessel in the class – the RSS Courageous.

Cover of the ST Marine Brochure for the Patrol Vessel.

The Fearless class vessels, which are still in operation, and are equipped with a naval gun and surface-to-air missiles, and feature a locally designed round bilge hull form fitted with a twin engine propulsion system, were one of the first naval combat craft to feature waterjet propulsion, providing the vessel with excellent manoeuvrability. A total of twelve units were built by STSE, the first six of which were equipped with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities being fitted with torpedoes and a hull-mounted sonar [Fearless (Pennant No. 94), Brave (95), Courageous (96), Gallant (97), Resilience (98) and Unity (99)]. The remaining six vessels in the class were not fitted out with ASW capabilities [Resilience (82), Unity (83), Sovereignty (84), Justice (85), Freedom (86) and Independence (87)].

RSS Fearless off Horsburgh Lighthouse/Pedra Branca in 2003, during search and rescue operations following the collision of RSS Courageous (Source: http://www.mindef.gov.sg).

Sunday Times report dated 19 Feb 1995 on the launching of the RSS Fearless.

---

The champagne bottle that did not break …

Traditionally, the naming (or christening) of a ship is done by breaking a bottle of champagne, and in the case of Naval tradition, the naming usually is carried out during the launching of the ship (when the ship is launched or lowered into the water for the very first time). This can be a spectacular event, as in the case of where the ship is side launched. In the case of RSS Fearless, the launching was only carried out ceremonially by lowering the vessel slowly in a syncrolift (a lift that lifts and lowers ships in and out of water), and the momentous event was to be remembered not for this, but for the fact that the champagne bottle refused to be broken. It finally yielded after several attempts, but as superstition would have it, it is bad luck if the champagne bottle does not break the first time. Perhaps this held true for the superstitious as the RSS Fearless was the lead ship of its class, and the third ship in the class, the RSS Courageous was meet with an accident which resulted in a tragic loss of lives.

Mdm. Ho Ching lets fly with the Champagne bottle ... but it doesn't break!

A second attempt at breaking the bottle - that failed too! The bottle finally broke after several repeated attempts.

---

Collision of RSS Courageous with ANL Indonesia on 3 January 2003

The RSS Courageous was involved in a collision with a container ship the ANL Indonesia off Pedra Branca on 3 January 2003. The collision sheared-off the stern section of the Courageous, and of the 44 crew onboard, eight were injured and another four, servicewomen resting in the aft section which was sheared-off, lost their lives. Two officers in command of the vessel at the time of the collision were subsequently found negligent, as their decision to steer the vessel to port and across the bow of the ANL Indonesia contravened Regulation 14 of the navigation rules of the road, the International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea (COLREGS).

Chart showing location of collision and the path taken by RSS Courageous (Source: Wikipedia).

The sheared-off stern section of the RSS Courageous being lifted off the seabed onto a barge on 14 Jan 2003 (Source: http://www.mindef.gov.sg).

That the vessel was able to remain afloat despite the loss of buoyancy of the sheared-off stern section and the breach in the watertight integrity of several other compartments (albeit with the quick action taken by the crew and supporting Police Coastguard officers in damage control) is a testament to the survivability of the vessel.

---

Beautiful buildings and a tale of buried treasure under a bridge: Memories of Stamford Road

I loved passing through Stamford Road as a child. This was the road that started with the sight of a needle like structure that is the Civilian War Memorial, rising up where Nicoll Highway and Connaught Drive merged, close to where the Satay Club and that semi-circular hawker centre at the end of the Esplanade were located. The brilliant white needle like structure for me evoked a sense of mystery, looking as if it was a rocket destined for the moon, or perhaps, put there by visitors from another world to serve as an observation post. The structure actually comprises four pillars rising each representing the four main race groups is dedicated to civilians who perished during the Japanese occupation, and was unveiled on 15 February 1967, the 25th anniversary of the fall of Singapore.

The Civilian War Memorial.

A new "needle" the 73 storey Swissôtel The Stamford now towers over the original across Beach Road. When it was built in 1986, the then Westin Stamford was the World's tallest hotel.

The old and the new. The 68m tall Civilian War Memorial at War Memorial Park was completed in 1967 is dwarfed by the 226m Swissôtel The Stamford.

Back then, the now undercover Stamford Canal, which runs parallel to Stamford Road, was open for all to see. On the canal side of the road, bridges over the canal could be found at the intersections of the roads that ran perpendicular to Stamford Road, with names such as Polglase Bridge (on North Bridge Road) and Malcolm Bridge (on Victoria Street). I remember an interesting story about Polglase Bridge sometime in the mid 1970s. An elderly lady sparked off a frantic dig for buried treasure on the bank of the canal underneath the bridge, after relating how while hiding under the bridge during the Japanese occupation, she had witnessed Japanese soldiers forcing some civilians to bury what she thought was gold there – I am not sure if anything was found.

The junction with Beach Road would have been the first intersection along Stamford Road heading north – this would be where the white-washed St. Andrew’s Cathedral would stare at me from the left, and, over the Stamford Canal, the buildings that housed Raffles Institution (RI) before it moved to Grange Road in 1972. For a while the disused buildings stood there looking somewhat tired and abandoned until it was demolished at the end of the 1970s to make way for the I.M. Pei designed Raffles City complex.

Saint Andrew's Cathedral as seen from Stamford Road.

The former Raffles Institution as seen from Beach Road, 1975 (Photo source: Ray Tyers Singapore Then & Now).

Stamford Road in 1976 at the junction with Beach Road. On the area on the right of the picture now stands Raffles City (Photo source: Ray Tyers Singapore Then & Now).

The same junction today with the Swissôtel The Stamford towering over the area.

My favourite stretch of the road began at the junction with North Bridge Road. This was of course where Capitol Building stood, with its façade dominated by a colourful hand-painted canvas mural which brightly advertised what was being screened at the cinema theatre that stood hidden behind the building. The building itself was put up in 1933 and was designed in eclectically in a neo-Classical style. Capitol is in fact one of the five iconic cinema buildings that were featured in a stamp set “Cinema Theatres of Yesteryear” issued by Singpost in 2009, and would deserve more detailed mention in a post on its own.

Capitol building with its façade dominated by a colourful hand-painted canvas mural featuring what was being screened at the cinema that stood hidden behind the building (Photo courtesy of Mr Derek Tait).

Capitol Building today.

The building housing the actual cinema hidden behind the Capitol Building.

This stretch that brings us past the junction with Victoria Street right up to the junction with Armenian Street and Queen Street also featured some wonderful examples of architecture on the left-hand side: Stamford House, Eu Court and the MPH Building. Stamford House, next to Capitol Building, stands at the junction of Stamford Road built in the Venetian Renaissance-style in the early 1900s, was originally the Oranjie Building, and for a while was the Oranjie Hotel in 1930s. The art deco styled Eu Court across Hill Street from Stamford House was built in the late 1920s as an apartment block. Sadly the beautiful building was demolished in 1992 to make way for the widening of Victoria and Hill Streets, being replaced by Stamford Court, a building that seems out of sync with the architecture of the area, sticking out like a sore thumb. MPH building, which was built in 1908 in an Edwardian commercial street style is one that I frequently visited and have fond memories of, housed the MPH bookstore until 2003.

A refurbished Stamford House as seen from the junction of Stamford Road and Victoria Street.

Stamford Court (on the left) sticking out like a sore thumb at the junction of Hill Street and Stamford Road was built over the site of the former Art Deco Styled Eu Court.

Over the canal on the canal side of the street at the section between North Bridge Road and Victoria Streets was the walled compound of the Holy Infant Jesus Convent (CHIJ). A three storey building lined the canal behind the wall. This housed the convent’s secondary school. Looking up on the background of the area, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was built on the site of what were several bungalows which once were used by a Hotel van Wijk, established to serve Dutch travellers to Singapore in the early 1900s. The bungalows were taken over by the convent in 1933 when the hotel ceased operations, and were used to house St. Nicholas Girls School. The three storey building replaced the bungalows in the early 1950s. In the place of the building, the SMRT headquarters now stands, another building that seems to destroy the character of the area. Along the next stretch, another girls school – the Raffles Girls School was located over the canal between Victoria and Queen Streets. A building belonging to the Singapore Management University (SMU) now stands in its place.

The bungalows that housed the Hotel van Wijk were demolished to make way for a three storey building which housed the CHIJ secondary school in the early 1950s (Photo source: Ray Tyers Singapore Then & Now).

The SMRT Headquarters stands in place of the CHIJ Secondary School Building at the site of the former Hotel van Wyjk.

Past the junction with Armenian Street and Queen Street, the was a row of shop houses on the left – one of the shops there dealt with crocodile skin products and had a glass display of bags, boots, shoes, wallets and a stuffed crocodile, one that I could not help but peer at every time I waited for a bus at the bus stop which was in front of the row of shops. This is the stretch that led up to the iconic red brick National Library building, which sadly, modern Singapore has no place for. The library which closed in 2004 and the stretch of road just that led up towards the end of Stamford Road where the National Museum is has since been swallowed up by the Fort Canning Tunnel. Stamford Road being realigned around the tunnel as a result of this, meeting up with a part of the original stretch in front of the National Museum to where the road ends at Bencoolen Street and Fort Canning Road.

The red-brick National Library building along Stamford Road (Source: National Library www.nl.sg)

Left as a reminder of the former National Library, the red-brick posts that stood at the entrance to the library.

Fort Canning Link leading up to the newly constructed Fort Canning Tunnel runs over what used to be the stretch of Stamford Road that led to the National Library.

Fort Canning Link leading up to the Fort Canning Tunnel swallowing up the stretch of Stamford Road that ran past the National Library. Evidence of the bus stop in the form of a bus bay from where I caught service number 166 home still exists. The area along the lower left of the picture along the road used to be lined with a row of shop houses.

Another view of Fort Canning Link.

On the canal side, there was of course the SJI school field between Queen Street and what was Waterloo Street. The basketball court was located at this end of the field and there was a story that circulated then that involved the ghost of a person who was said to have hanged himself at the posts of the basketball court there. I seem to remember that there was a car park on the canal side on the stretch from Waterloo Street to Bencoolen Street, filling the space between the former CYMA and the canal.

The neo-classical National Museum Building was completed in 1887 and marks the end of Stamford Road.

Looking up from the junction where Stamford Road merged into a disjointed section of Orchard Road then, there was a beautiful mansion like building that was the YMCA that would stare at you. The building had served as the headquarters of the Japanese Kempetai during the Second World War and we were told it held prisoners who were tortured by the Kempetai, the much feared Military Police. The old YMCA building which had the distinction of a being at No. 1, Orchard Road, sadly has had to make way for the newer, bigger and more modern premises of the YMCA, being demolished in 1981.

The beautiful old YMCA building on 1 Orchard Road (Photo source: YMCA Singapore).

Schools, churches and a candlelight procession: Memories of Queen Street

As a schoolboy in Saint Joseph’s Institution (SJI), the sections of Queen Street that I was most familiar with were the two sections of the street closest to the school. These were the stretches that ran southwards past the Cathedral towards the Armenian Street end which led to the MPH book store, and the other that ran along the school canteen northwards towards the junction with Middle Road.

The part of the street that I most saw was of course the southern section, the all important route to MPH, the bus stop along Stamford Road to catch bus service number 166 home, the National Library, and the little place by the library where there were a few hawker stalls including a wan ton noodle stall and ice kacang. This ran from the Cathedral, past the Cathedral Rectory, the little garden with stone tables and chairs by the Rectory and grounds of the primary section of Raffles Girls School on the east side of the street, before coming to a little road bridge over the then open Stamford Canal at the junction with Stamford Road. On the west side of the street, was the fence of the SJI school field along which there was a row of trees from which flying foxes were frequently constructed by the scouts. The footpath along the fence would be the route to Fort Canning Hill for the occasional jog or cross country training held during P.E. lessons, which many of us returning from the jogs would use to race in a mad dash to the junction with Bras Basah Road.

The Armenian Street end of Queen Street in 1976 (looking at Armenian Street at the junction with Stamford Road). Notice the bridge over the then open Stamford Canal which you don't see today (Photo source: Ray Tyers Singapore Then and Now).

The view southwards today toward Armenian Street.

The site of the former Raffles Girls School (RGS) on what was Queen Street (now a section of the realigned Stamford Road with the construction of the Fort Canning Tunnel) near the junction with Stamford Road. The building that stands on the site is part of the Singapore Management University (SMU) campus. The wide walkway that can be seen on the bottom right of the photograph runs over what used to be an open Stamford Canal

The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd along Queen Street.

A view of the south end of Queen Street looking North. Buildings belonging to the SMU campus stands where the SJI field was on the left and RGS on the right.

The next section of the street was where the building that housed the Brother’s quarters on the upper floors and the school canteen on the ground floor ran along. On the street side of the building there was a little door which the canteen stall holders would use to enter and exit the canteen. It was through this door that outsiders could make purchases from the canteen, with Char Kway Teow and Mee Siam being a popular choice. The Mee Siam seller also parked his cart next to the door, on which he would load his pot of gravy onto at the end of each day and continue his business along the streets.

The Brothers Quarters of SJI along Queen Street (as seen from the courtyard inside the school). The ground floor of the block housed the school canteen which had a back door to Queen Street from which outsiders make food purchase through. The Mee Siam seller parked his cart next to the door (Photo source: SJI 125th Anniversary Magazine).

Opposite the Brother’s quarters on the east side, there was the Kum Yan Methodist Church (which is still there) and the buildings that housed the Catholic High School, part of which was also housed across the street in the compound of the “Chinese Church”, the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul. Further along the west side there was this tall narrow building which housed Stamford College, a private college which was popular with students sitting for their GCE “A” Level examinations privately, which is now used as the Oxford Hotel. Sited next to this building was the Stamford Community Centre and its compound. With some of my schoolmates, desperate for a place to kick a ball around before school, I had on occasion, climbed over the gate which was opened only in the evenings to have our game of street football on the basketball court.

The former Catholic High School building.

The building that housed Stamford College.

The former Stamford Community Centre. I had climbed over the gate a few times with several of my classmates to play street football on the basketball court.

Close to the junction with Middle Road on the east side of the street is where the back entrance is to the beautiful St. Joseph’s Catholic Church which is also known as the Portuguese church, having been established by the Portuguese missionaries . The church was run by the Diocese of Macau up to 1999 when it was handed over to the Archdiocese of Singapore. Within the compound of the church, were St. Anthony’s Convent and St. Anthony Boys School. My memories of the church deserves mention in another post, but the reason I have brought the church up is that having been run in the Portuguese tradition, many of the practices have endured and on Good Friday every year, a candlelight procession is held in the church compound. Besides the participants within the compound, there would be many others who would gather beyond the wall of the church on Queen Street with tall lighted candles in hand. This evenings on Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday) and Good Friday would probably be the time of the year when these two stretches of Queen Street comes to life. Besides the procession, on Good Friday where many candle vendors and hawkers would line the street, on Maundy Thursday when many local Catholics practice visiting of churches to say prayers, with the concentration of Catholic churches along the street, the street would be bustling with people as well as hawker stalls.

The beautiful Portuguese Church (St. Joseph's Church).

The building on the right housed St. Anthony's Boys School within the compound of the Portuguese Church.

The buildings that housed St. Anthony's Convent within the compound of the Portuguese Church.

From driving around beautiful circles to driving under monstrous gantries.

One of the things that I would be reminded of as a child was how difficult it was to get me to sleep. The only thing I was told that seemed to work for me was a late evening drive around the neighbourhood. I suppose this was possible at a time when traffic conditions permitted a cruising around in the car without the many stops and starts that would be a feature of a drive through the same neighbourhood these days. Then, traffic controlled junctions would have been much less of an irritation to drivers as it can be to the drivers of today. In the absence of traffic lights then, many of the busier intersections were built around what was the fashion in the intersections of those days: the roundabout.

Roundabouts would be found across Singapore, with many of the larger ones adorned with beautiful fountains, another feature that was pretty fashionable back then. On the many evening drives that my father was fond of taking when I was maybe little older and having outgrown the need to be driven to my dreams (perhaps developing the habit from the evening drives that seemed a necessary part of the daily routine when I was younger), I would often be kept occupied looking out for these fountains, many of which would have been beautifully lit.

Tanglin Circus, 1966.One of the many roundabouts adorned with fountains

In keeping with the fashion, the new satellite town of Toa Payoh where I had lived in, was conceived as a town without traffic lights. Large roundabouts dominated the two main intersections distributing traffic to and from the Lorongs of Toa Payoh and the exit points which were flyovers that led to Bradell Road and Jalan Toa Payoh. I can’t really remember when the first traffic lights were introduced in Toa Payoh, but driving around the town these days, it would be hard to imagine a time when there were no traffic lights.

Thinking back to what it was like back then, one can’t help but wonder how we have got to where we are in terms of the traffic situation that exists today. Despite the introduction of the many highways (or expressways as they are known here), the widening of many of the arterial roads, measures to curb the number of vehicles and the introduction of congestion charges over the last 40 years or so, being stuck in traffic seems to be as fashionable these days, as roundabouts were back in the 1960s and early 1970s. Just the mention of the Central Expressway (CTE) brings to mind not just the seemingly exorbitant Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges, but also the slow crawl throughout much of the day, one that the introduction of the ERP is supposed to alleviate.

So, how did we get to where we are today? When the first motor car arrived in 1896, things were slow and easy. Rickshaws would have been the means by which most got about and distances travelled would probably have been small. It took perhaps a quarter of a century or so before the motor vehicle population started taking off: from a population of 535 cars in 1913, the number of cars tripled five years later. By the time I was being rocked to sleep in the back of my father’s Austin 1100 in the mid 1960s, the population of the island had grown tremendously and the number of vehicles on the roads had increased by some one hundred times. It was thought that the vehicle population would hit one million by 1990 based on a Ministry of National Development (MND) forecast, and with the limited land resources available, and the need to redistribute population centres as well as industries to the outer reaches, plans were put forward in the early 1970s to improve the road system and for the construction of a mass transit system. The plans for the improvement in the road system were the catalyst for the expressway network that we see today.

The vehicle population has grown from 160,000 around the time of independence to close to 1M at the end of 2009.

The construction of new roads have not been able to keep up with the growth in the vehicle population, seeing a 50% increase in the number of vehicles per kilometre of roads since the introduction of the Vehicle Quota System (VQS) in 1990.

By the time the mid 1970s had arrived, demand for cars had driven the vehicle population up by some 75% since independence, despite the price of oil quadrupling almost overnight during the 1973 oil crisis. With increasing congestion on the roads in the city centre, the Area Licensing Scheme (ALS) was introduced in June 1975. The ALS was of course the predecessor to the ERP, or as some would have it: “Every Road Pay”, scheme we see today. Entry into a designated Restricted Zone (RZ), which covered the Central Business District (CBD) was controlled on Mondays to Saturdays between 7.30 am and 9.30 am (being extended to 10.15 am three weeks after implementation). This required drivers of vehicles intending to enter the RZ to purchase a daily license costing $3, or a monthly license costing $60, at a booth outside the RZ. A new buzzword was born out of the scheme, “carpool” – people were encouraged to carpool, with cars carrying a minimum of 4 occupants into the RZ not requiring a license. 34 gantries were initially erected to mark out the entry points into the Restricted Zone and enforcement was carried out by Auxiliary Police officers manning the gantries.

An ALS gantry marking an entry point into the Restricted Zone. 34 of these gantries were initially erected in 1975 and were manned by Auxiliary Police officers.

The Restricted Zone at its inception in 1975, covered the Central Business District (CBD).

The Restricted Zone was extended to include Cuppage Road and Koek Road and also the Marina Centre in the 1980s.

While the ALS was effective in controlling traffic into the city, there was still the issue of the growth in the vehicle population. The population which stood at 280,000 in 1975, had grown to some 490,000 ten years later. Even with the construction of new roads and highways, the vehicle density had grown from 129 vehicles per kilometre of road in 1975 to some 184 vehicles per kilometre in 1985, fuelled by rising affluence and a growing population. In 1990, a Vehicle Quota System (VQS) was introduced, which required new car owners to bid for a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) before being able to buy a car. While the original intention of the VQS was to cap the population growth at 3% per annum, we somehow seemed to have lost our way of late. Based on the latest statistics, a big jump of in the number of vehicles over the last five years can be seen, with 170,000 more vehicles compared to the previous ten year period in which there was an increase of 113,000. The vehicle density now stands at 278 vehicles per kilometre compared to just 188 in 1990.

In 1989, the ALS had been extended to include evening hours between 4.30 to 7.00 pm and by 1995, the Road Pricing Scheme (RPS) had been introduced to include first the East Coast Parkway (ECP), and in 1997 to the CTE and Pan Island Expressway (PIE). In 1998, ERP was introduced and electronic gantries fitted with radio equipment, sensors and cameras, allowing automated deduction of tolls from a cash card slotted into an in-vehicle unit (IU), replacing the previously manned gantries. With this, administration of the system was much easier requiring much less manpower, and time based charges became practical, allowing gantries to sprout up on many arterial roads as well expanding the ERP network, as the 2007 Land Transport Authority map below would show.

Road pricing map today, as seen from a 2007 LTA map. The road pricing net has spread to the outer cordon and even beyond that with the help of ERP (Source: Land Transport Authority, LTA).

Electronic ERP gantries have replaced the manned ALS and RPS gantries thereby allowing time based charges and the ERP network to expand towards many other roads outside of the city.

With the increase in the vehicle population, it seems that there is no wonder that driving isn’t a very enjoyable experience. Much of the crawl seems now to extend towards many of the outer reaches of Singapore. With the ease with which road pricing can now be implemented, it is probably inevitable that ERP would soon take on the meaning that Singaporeans have given it: Every Road Pay.

Memories of my maternal grandmother (IV): My grandmother’s “treasure” chests.

My grandmother came over to Singapore on the deck of a ship with all her possessions in three steel trunks, two of which she would later keep on top of the cabinet and another under her bed. My grandmother never seem to have opened the trunks, and for a while, I had imagined the old rusting trunks to hide a mystery. Later when I was exposed to tales of Black Beard and the pirates that roamed the seas, harbouring ambitions to fly the Jolly Roger with my eye-patch and a replica Chinese opera (wayang) sword and scabbard (one that my grandmother bought from the night market that accompanied the travelling Chinese opera troupes), the trunks resembled treasure chests, and I had imagined them to be filled with a wealth of treasures. Imagine the disappointment I got when I finally got to watch my grandmother opening the trunk under her bed, only to find that it was filled with her bedlinen – oh well, at least I had solved the mystery of where she had kept her bedlinen!

One of my grandmother's steel trunks sitting in the storeroom as if hiding a mystery, as I had always imagined.

Old King Cole and the ten little Indian boys …

The first album I ever owned was a compilation of children’s songs given to me by my Godparents for Christmas when I was maybe three or four, which included two of my favourites Old King Cole and Ten little Indians:

My first record

Ten little Indians

One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys.

Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian boy.

1974, a year of football madness

1974 was a year which I remember most for the feast of football that it provided. That was of course the year in which the World Cup was to be staged. That year it was to be hosted by West Germany, the half of western leaning half of a Germany split by the Cold War into East and West. The World Cup was something that I had looked forward to in anticipation being a little too young to appreciate the spectacle that the World Cup had provided four years earlier in Mexico City. It was also the year in which football fever reached a fever pitch in Singapore riding on the good run of the Singapore team in the Malaysia Cup competition, and with the year closing with the visit to Singapore of the world’s greatest footballer: Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, known to us all as Pelé.

Pelé in action: Pelé was considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time. He held a coaching session at the humble Toa Payoh Stadium in December 1974 (Photo source: BBC).

For me, what started with kicking a ball around the wide corridor that was the circular lift landing of the block of flats I lived in with a few neighbours (and having to scramble down 19 floors every time the ball flew over the parapet), developed into a passion for the game by the time 1974 had arrived. The neighbourhood boys had formed a team in which I somehow ended up playing as a goalkeeper for. In school, my classmates and I were kicking a ball every little scrap of time we found: before school, during recess and during P.E. lessons. I had also become an avid follower of the English game – of which we would get a glimpse of through highlights shown every Sunday of the previous weekend’s action. I became a big fan of the mopped haired Kevin Keegan and the team he played for, Liverpool, and remember 1974 well for their triumph in the F.A. Cup – beating Newcastle United 3-0 in the finals in May of that year. Unfortunately, the team didn’t win the Division 1 championship that year, losing out to Leeds United.

My football mad classmates and me in the Class football team.

The visit of Pelé would perhaps have been the highlight of the year of football to many Singaporeans. For my friends and me, the football crazed schoolboys that we were, the opportunity to see the world’s greatest player up close on the pitch of the Toa Payoh Stadium on 2 December of that year was certainly one not to be missed, even if that meant watching him demonstrating his sublime skills from a distance. He had been scheduled to conduct a coaching clinic for a select few, and my older neighbours had got wind of it and brought me along as a most willing accomplice.

The National Stadium provided the setting for a football match in 1974 that left a lasting impression on me.

What would, however, leave a greater impression on me that year was not seeing Pelé in person, or the World Cup, but, watching the first leg of the semi-final of the Malaysia Cup between Singapore and Penang at the National Stadium. That match played on 26 May, was the first that I ever watched live in a stadium and would be one that got me hooked on the Malaysia Cup. As a match, the semi-final was filled with much drama as the tide ebbed and flowed. Penang took the lead early on before Singapore equalised. At the interval Singapore was trailing 1-2 and the game looked beyond Singapore. However, a second half revival which saw wave after wave of Singapore attacks, and Singapore’s Jaafar Yacob hitting the bar from the penalty spot, saw Singapore first equalising through Quah Kim Lye, and scoring a winning goal through its captain Seak Poh Leong.

The National Stadium under construction in 1973.

What I remember most about the match was the raucous atmosphere in the stadium and how the stadium literally shook as the match went on. The stadium had been packed to the rafters, probably seeing the largest crowd ever seen in the stadium. 70,000 fans had crammed in spilling into the aisles. My parents and me had been seated right at the top of the East Stand of the stadium, as the stadium had already been packed when we arrived some two hours before the match. While not being the best place to observe the action on the field, it provided an ideal vantage point from which to observe and soak up the atmosphere  on the terraces. The thunderous noise that accompanied each wave of Singapore’s attacks was deafening! This was amplified by the stamping of feet by the boisterous crowd causing the whole stadium to tremble. This was definitely the Kallang Roar, which was in its infancy, at its loudest! The atmosphere was electric, as fans rose in excitement at each attack, corner, free-kick and unpopular refereeing decisions, which had me shaking in excitement even after the game had ended.  The team then featured the likes of Dollah Kassim, Mohammad Noh, Quah Kim Lye and Quah Kim Song, all household names in Singapore football in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the efforts of the team on the night came to nought as Singapore lost 1-4 to Penang in the return leg.

The newly constructed stadium was the most modern in South East Asia and provided an ideal setting for the birth of the Kallang Roar (Photo source: Singapore Sports Council).

I had watched the 1st leg of the semi-final seated near the cauldron as the stadium was packed with 70,000 spectators.

After following the exploits of the Singapore team and rejoicing at Liverpool’s triumph in the F.A. Cup, next on the menu was that summer’s World Cup, one in which we were very much mesmerised by the magic woven by the feet of the new Dutch masters led by the two Johans: Neeskens and Cruyff. We were treated to a show of “total football” by the Dutch, who met West Germany in the final. There was some controversy surrounding the German route to the finals in which it was suggested that they deliberately lost 0-1 to their eastern counterparts during the group stages to avoid meeting the defending champions Brazil in the next stage. Whatever it was, Germany eventually triumphed 2-1 in a pulsating final which saw two penalties awarded, the first to the Dutch in the very first minute before any German player had touched the ball, through a Gerd Muller goal.

Johan Cruyff in action during the final of the 1974 World Cup (Photo source: Wikipedia).

1974 saw the introduction of a new trophy after Brazil's third triumph in 1970 allowed Brazil to keep the original Jules Rimet trophy (Photo source: Wikipedia).

1974 was certainly for me, a year to be remembered for the football feast that it served up to me.

The colours of the day

There are those days when the sunrise or sunset delights us with a spectacle of colours. Somehow up till now, I have not given much thought as to what sometimes makes the transition from night to day or from day to night such a marvellous sight. I guess it is one of those things like art and music, that we should appreciate by sitting back and marvelling at.

The afterglow of sunset on 8 Feb 2010.

Sunrises in particular have long been my favourite time of the day. It is a time when the day is abound with freshness and with the anticipation of the new day. It is a time when a sense of calm and peace envelopes the atmosphere around us. There is nothing that beats watching a sunrise, as the darkness is transformed to light, revealing the beauty that surrounds us. As the sun – our source of life, makes it journey over the horizon, sometimes preceded by the announcement of her arrival by the wonderful colours of the morning, we can find the time to contemplate and be thankful for the beauty that mother nature has provided.

Sunset on Tasik Bukit Merah, Northern Perak.

Sunrise on Tasik Bukit Merah, Northern Perak.

Sunsets bring the day to a close, when the tiredness and heat of day is transformed to the cool quiet darkness of night when we are free to be lost in our dreams. Sunsets can surprise us sometimes … when the heat and anger of red and gold is suddenly transformed into blue and red afterglows that mesmerise as the sun bids farewell to our day …

Whatever it is, I just adore sunrises and sunsets!

The roads less travelled …

As trivial as a fence may appear, a fence does have a place in the memories I have of my childhood. It is a fence that I now pass on the drive to work, which for a while seemed to deserve no more than a cursory glance at, part of the uninspiring landscape along the stretch of Tampines Road which is visible from the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE). The KPE is the latest addition to the Singapore’s impressive expressway network, which should really make travelling across Singapore a breeze.

The KPE running across Tampines Road.

All too frequently, though, driving along the KPE, as with many of the other expressways, is hardly a breeze, and one wonders if it would soon join the ranks of the “every road pay” network. “Every road pay” is of course what many locals use to refer to Electronic Road Pricing or ERP. It was on one of these crawls that I allowed my thoughts to drift as I surveyed the scene before me, and drift it did, as I was soon back in the back seat of my father’s Austin 1100, peering out of the open window at the fence.

For me, the fence, which marks the northern boundary of Paya Lebar Airbase (it was then the Paya Lebar International Airport), had served as a marker of sorts on the frequent long drives my father took along Tampines Road. Looking out for the fence helped to break the monotony of what seemed a long and boring journey, a journey that I willingly partook in for the reward that lay at the end of it, be it a fun day at the beach or wandering around the old Changi Village.

The high fence along Tampines Road.

The journey on Tampines Road would start with a right turn from Upper Serangoon Road, near the sixth milestone, just after the sixth mile market, an area my mother had fond memories of, having spent a part of her childhood in. She would never fail to mention a thing or two about her memories as my father turned into Tampines Road, about which my father would sometimes tease her about. The start of Tampines Road seemed to always be rather busy, as we followed the mini-convoys of rubbish trucks on their way to the Lorong Halus landfill.

The Upper Serangoon Road 6th Milestone area ... a well known market stood the left of the picture which has since disappeared - this is the junction where turn off to Tampines Road is.

The start of Singapore's longest road: Tampines Road.

The right trun from Upper Serangoon Road to Tampines Road would be accompanied by stories my mother had of the 6th milestone area from her childhood.

The first sight of the fence along the road was the precursor to the start of a meandering path eastwards through what was Singapore’s longest road. It was a path that would start with a large bend that brought us past a cluster of houses at Jalan Telawi, seemingly the last sighting of civilisation before we descended into the greener, narrower and quieter section of the road, passing by villages and fishing ponds … and of course Elias Road – the gateway to Pasir Ris beach.

The fence and the bend in the road signified the start of the meandering part of Tampines Road.

Immersed in the musings of a time when journeys on roads less travelled could only be undertaken at a pace far slower than what we are used to these day, my mind drifted off to the many journeys of my childhood along the other roads less travelled: Jurong, Choa Chu Kang, Lim Chu Kang, Neo Tiew, Punggol, and Sembawang Roads to name a few. While many of these roads have been swallowed up or disfigured by redevelopment, a few remnants of the old stretches of these roads still remains, very much as how it had must have been, albeit devoid of the life the roads were built to sustain. These remnants sit silent and forgotten, discarded for the numerous highways that have replaced them to enable the sheer volume of today’s traffic to be carried.

A remnant of Jurong Road running parallel to the Pan Island Expressway.

The journeys on these roads always seemed to take forever. They were never journeys that were taken for the love of a long drive, but usually for the incentive that the destination provided. The ones to some of the “ends” of the island was usually reward with a feast of seafood in one of those wooden shacks that lay at the end of the road where land met the sea. Punggol and Tuas (accessible from Jurong Road) Roads featured these popular old style seafood restaurants where utensils and teacups would be brought to the table in a bowl of steaming hot water. There would of course be the customary bowl of water with lime cut in half bobbing up and down on the surface of the water. These were meant to clean one’s fingers as one fiddled with the delicious mess of gravy coated crabs and prawns that were served. The thought of this brings to mind a story that a friend of my father’s related. He had brought a foreign visitor to one of these restaurants and on seeing the bowl of water place on the table, the visitor prompted squeezed the lime in the bowl of water and emptied the contents of the bowl into his mouth, believing that it was a refreshment of sorts!

On occasion, the journey to Tuas would involve seafood harvested straight from the sea, in the glow of camphor lamps – the smell of which still lingers in my memory. This wasn’t a journey that my mother was particularly fond of, as it often meant a drive home in the wee hours of the morning, past a shadowy part of the old Jurong Road where the rather spooky looking Bulim cemetery always seemed to leap out at you. This was the road that would go through what would now be Bukit Batok housing estate, to the junction with Upper Bukit Timah Road. My mother would always heave a sigh of relief at he sight of Bukit Timah Fire Station and the huge Green Spot bottle at the entrance of the Amoy Canning factory, as this signified our the re-entrance to civilisation.

Where civilisation began ... the start of Jurong Road at the Bukit Timah Fire Station and the Green Spot Bottle next door.

Jurong Road would be the road the buses took on the many school excursions of my primary school days. Even then, the journeys seemed to take forever. I would look out for the distinctive JTC flats with the louvered windows of their exteriors at the junction of Jurong and Upper Jurong Roads, Jalan Bahar, and Jalan Boon Lay, where HDB flats seemed to feature common corridors, as it meant the journey would be drawing to its close. The turn left along Jalan Boon Lay would always be greeted with anticipation by my classmates, for near the end of the road, a whiff of chocolate would always greet us as we passed the Van Houten chocolate factory as we made our way along what seemed like a grand avenue lined with trees on the wide central divider.

What is nice to know is that there are a few remnants of the narrow roads less travelled that remain, some sitting beside their modern replacements which carry a much heavier volume of traffic to and from the huge densely populated public housing estates, constructed where there were once farms and villages. They serve as a reminder of the journeys that I have taken in my childhood some of which I have lasting impressions of.

A fascination with flying machines: some alternative views of the Airshow

Flying machines have caught the imagination of many a young boy or girl and I guess still does for the adults that the young boys and girls have become. I for one have had varying degrees of fascination for these machines, peaking with each encounter I had with an aeroplane. It was after an excursion in kindergarten to the airport that provided the motivation for me aspiring to be a pilot. I am not sure how long that aspiration lasted – weeks, or perhaps months, as did my ambition to become an astronaut in the wake of the first lunar landing. The fascination I had would probably have peaked with the first Concorde flight into Singapore in June 1972, during which an uncle rounded up my cousins, my sister and me, to excitedly watch the landing from the viewing gallery of the Paya Lebar Intentional airport. For a while, I was into drawing the Concorde (which I didn’t do very well), with its drooped nose, delta wings and all … and I would surround myself with news on the Concorde and a Soviet counterpart – the TU 144. Whatever it was, today, the Singapore Airshow provided me with an opportunity to revisit the childhood fascination I had with aeroplanes …

The Singapore Airshow has provided me with an opportunity to revisit the childhood fascination I had with aeroplanes .

Having revisited my childhood fascination, I was left with a different perspective. The airshow is not just about the flying display which draws the crowds, especially this year’s which had a the Korean T-50 and the RAAF F-111 grounded. However, being at the airshow on a trade day does allow you to have many photo taking opportunities that a crowded public day wouldn’t – providing the opportunity for some alternative views of the airshow …

"Bombs" on display: Drinks that cost a bomb at the Airshow.

The flying machines were not the only thing taking off. Umbrellas were deployed in full force due to the blazing sun.

Here's looking at you.

Tail and winglet.

A jet engine on display.

Airbus 330-200F.

Winglets.

The control tower.

Watching over the Firescout UAV

Rocket Pods on the AH-64 Apache

An executive jet on display.

Strobe light on the Fire Scout UAV.

Exhaust port on the Fire Scout UAV.

Fire Scout UAV.

Global Hawk UAV.

Lockheed Martin's F-35J.

CH-47 SG Chinook.

Gulfstream G550 AEW airborne early warning and control system aircraft.

A USAF F-15E through the eyes of a trolley ring.

Afterburner of the RAAF F-111.

An alternative view of the airshow provided by a leading edge.

After the flying display.

The view downwards during the flying display - evidence of the light breeze which made it a lot cooler!

Another view downwards during the flying display which didn't live up to expectations this year.

F-111.

A F-16 and a AH-64 Apache crossing paths?

Wilting in the heat of the day.

A friend mentioned that this looks like a racy toilet seat cover.

Post Offices of old

I just loved the old two storey post office buildings that were found all over Singapore when I was growing up. With a compound where one could park the car, it made it easy to “run in” to the post office for whatever stamps you might need. These were unlike the post offices of today, nestled in an obscure corner of a crowded town centre or on the hard to access upper floor of a shopping complex. I suppose there are those SAM self service machines which does make it convenient to buy a self-adhesive stamp label and post a letter, but nothing actually beats buying a stamp which would come out of a book and wetting it on a damp sponge placed in a little container of water at the counter, or even licking it, before getting it onto the envelope.

Many of the old post office buildings have since disappeared. Of the few that have been left standing – what comes to mind are the ones at Killiney Road and Alexandra Roads are still used as post offices. There is also the former Nee Soon Post Office building, now disused, which still stands along Mandai Road, close to the junction with Sembawang / Upper Thomson Roads.

The old Nee Soon Post Office along Mandai Road.

The disused Post Office building now stands as a reminder of the old Nee Soon Village.

Some of the post office buildings were built with an upper floor to serve a purpose: while the ground floor served as the post office proper, the upper floor given to serve as the Postmaster and his family’s quarters. A childhood friend whose father had been the Postmaster at the Thomson Road Post Office once related a story of how visitors to the post office were sometimes greeted by the strange sight of bean sprouts strewn across the car park. To get quickly through the tedious chore of plucking the roots off the huge bag of bean sprouts, which his mother often had him and his brother do, they would discard a portion of the bean sprouts out of the kitchen window into the car park!

The former Nee Soon Post Office building that still stands provides us with some reminders of a time when it served Nee Soon village, dominated by the rubber factory with a zinc sheet exterior painted in a rusty red, which was once owned by Lim Nee Soon: an orange and white post box of another era, old PO Boxes built into a wall … I am not sure what the future holds for the building, but I do hope it would always be there, to serve as a reminder of the old Post Offices that I so loved.

Evidence of when the Nee Soon Post Office sold its last stamp - an orange and white postbox with the old Telecommunications Authority of Singapore (TAS) logo. The orange and white TAS post boxes were introduced in 1982 and were used until the reconstitution of the TAS in 1992 which saw the TAS split into three entities: TAS, a statutory board serving as a regulatory body, and Singapore Telecom and Singapore Post.

Another view of the former Nee Soon Post Office.

PO Boxes at the disused Post Office.

Looking down Mandai Road to the Sembawang / Upper Thomson Road junction.

Danger on Wilkie Road?

While walking around the Selegie Road area I came across this sign next to Wilkie Edge – which stands on the grounds of the former Selegie Complex, in which one of my aunts had hosted her wedding in one of the restaurants …

I guess the whoever had put up the sign did not realise that the words on the sign could be understood quite differently …

Drop off at Wilkie edge?

Curry puffs, brightly coloured candy and a bus garage: Selegie and Mackenzie Roads

As a child, I often passed through MacKenzie Road, a street that my father would use as a means to get to Kampong Java Road on our way to our home in Toa Payoh. What I remember most of the street is the area where Rex Cinema is where there were back lanes of food stalls, and the bus depot which always caught my attention. My parents sometimes stopped by, visiting the back lanes for chendol and Indian Rojak. There was some nice Indian Muslim and Malay food as well. My mother sometimes would pick up goreng pisang there and of course the delicious Rex curry puffs from a coffee shop in the area.

Back lane next to Rex - which was once be filled with food stalls.

Back lane across Rex - which was once be filled with food stalls.

The original cinema was opened in 1946 by the Shaw Brothers and ceased operations in 1983. The building then housed the Fuji ice skating rink at the end of the 1980s and early part of the 1990s, and was also used as a church at some point. Rex is of course one of the five iconic cinemas featured in a stamp set “Cinema Theatres of Yesteryear” issued by Singpost in 2009, being one of two still used as cinemas. It saw its rebirth as a cinema sometime last year, screening mainly Indian movies – with the help of two enterprising businessmen. I don’t think I patronised the cinema much as I only can recall one occasion on which I accompanied some older neighbours for a movie there, having visited one of the Malay food stalls in the back lane across the road for lunch.

Rex Cinema - opened in 1946 was used as an ice-skating rink and a church before being reborn as a cinema in 2009.

The reborn Rex Cinema now screens Indian movies.

Shop along MacKenzie Road where the Selera Rex curry puffs are found.

The area around Rex was also interesting to me. On Selegie Road – we could see the tallest school building in Singapore, all ten storeys of it, which belonged to Selegie School. Being used to walking up to classrooms from Assembly class by class in rows of two, I often wondered how pupils could do that with the lifts. Next to the school building was Selegie House – a complex of HDB blocks of flats with shops and restaurants below – passing by, I always noticed the sign at the foot of the block closer to Selegie School with the words “Gomez Curry”. Gomez was known for some of the hottest curries around Singapore. My parents mentioned that Gomez had moved there from nearby Sophia Road where he had first set up shop – operating out of a car garage, with a long table from which he sold his curries!

The ten storey former Selegie School building as seen along Selegie Road.

Selegie House - I used to watch out for the "Gomez Curry" sign at the foot of one of the blocks.

Closer to the junction with Rochor Canal and Bukit Timah Roads, opposite Mackenzie Road, there was of course Albert Street, where supposedly some of the best food in Singapore could be found. The stretch joining Selegie Road is now a pedestrian mall. On the opposite side at the junction with Bukit Timah Road, there is the very distinctive façade of the Ellison building, with its domes on the roof, believed to have been built for a Jewish lady named Ellsion in 1924. The roof was reportedly where Colonial governors would watch the races at the neaby Race Course. From the vantage point of the bus I took home during my secondary schools, I would often observe the going-ons at the shops at the stretch of the building along Selegie Road – there was a little shop that sold magazines that operated out of a little unit next to a restaurant, with items displayed on a wooden rack fronting the shop, as well as on shelves in the narrow passage. I remember that there would usually be a bunch of bananas on the stem that hanging outside, from which customers would pluck bananas off the stem to purchase them from the shopkeeper.

Ellison Building as seen from the junction of Rochor Canal and Selegie Roads.

One of the domes atop the Ellison Building.

There were also a couple of Indian vegetarian restaurants there – I remember noticing the wooden counter at the entrance of the Sri Vijaya Restaurant and the display opposite it which would be filled with Indian sweets and candies … what always attracted my attention was the brightly coloured coconut candy, similar to the very sweet tasting ones that a Sikh neighbour would make with condensed milk during the Deepavali celebrations, stacked high in the display cabinet.

Cubes of brightly coloured coconut candy - one of the things I observed from the bus.

The Mughals, a treasury of the world

The Asian Civilisations Museum will be holding the “Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals” exhibition from 12 Feb to 27 Jun 2010. Please go to the section at the end of this post for details.

---

History lessons in school were one of those things that most of us would dread. For me, it didn’t help that it was delivered with what seemed like an endless drone of the teacher reciting passages out of the textbook. What we lacked then was maybe the opportunity to see history come alive in the way that many of the exhibitions in the museums in Singapore bring to us these days. The Asian Civilisations Museum, housed in the Empress Place Building of which I have fond memories of, runs a series of exhibitions and activities which brings history out of the textbooks which can perhaps make the subject more interesting and better appreciated.

The Mughal Emperor Jahangir, son of the great Akbar, reigned from 1605 - 1627 (Source: ACM)

Despite the uninspiring lessons on history, there were the bits and pieces which did have enough intrigue to keep me interested in the subject. I certainly was enthralled by the story of the Mughals, who ruled India for over 300 years between 1526 and 1858. The term “Mughal” immediately evokes in me impressions of grandeur and splendour that graced the Mughal court, of art and poetry, and of tales of love and romance. It would also be difficult not to be impressed by Akbar the Great, who besides being known for his role in expanding the Mughal empire, had a significant influence on art and culture, which has allowed the Mughals to leave a magnificent legacy for India as a nation and as a cultural entity to inherit. There are wonderful examples of this legacy in the buildings that the Mughals have left behind – a constant reminder of the pinnacle that the Mughals achieved in architecture, many of which have been very well preserved and are listed as UNESCO heritage sites. There is of course the magical Taj Mahal and with it a romantic tale of eternal love, which serves as a magnificent icon for India. There are the many forts the Mughals have left behind, a reminder of the warring nature of the Moghuls: the Red Fort in Dehli, and the forts in Agra and Lahore. And there is the “ghost town” of Fatehpur Sikri, a city constructed from the ground over a period of fifteen years by the great Akbar to serve as the capital of his empire, only to be abandoned after some fourteen years later when it became clear that its water supply could not meet the demands of the growing population of the city.

The magical Taj Mahal rising over the Yamuna River (Source: David Castor on Wikipedia).

Finding myself in Dehli with a free day while on a working trip in 1997, before I was to catch an evening flight out, I could not pass the opportunity up to visit the Taj Mahal, even when it meant a four hour journey there and a five hour one back, through half constructed highways which were notorious for slowdowns caused by the numerous bullock carts using parts of the 200 km route. The sight of the magnificent white marbled edifice rising over the Yamuna river proved that it was all worth it, as did the forty minutes that I spent, first, gazing in awe over the reflecting pools in the forecourt and then in the cool shadows of the Taj, mesmerised by the sheer scale, splendour and beauty of what is a mausoleum inspired by the romantic tale of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. What struck me then was the intricacy and fine work involved in many of the motifs, colourfully inlaid with gemstones, that beautifully decorate the white of the marble structure.

Inlay on Taj Mahal (Source: Wikipedia)

The Mughals, having at their disposal, the rich gem deposits that the sub-continent had been blessed with, certainly had large appetite for gemstones, not just in decorating their monuments by also by adorning themselves and the implements of their daily lives expansively with the colourful stones. In doing so, the Mughals perfected the art of inlaid work, jewellery making, and in the crafting of wonderful treasures. The reaction of a 17th century British Ambassador, Thomas Roe, so astounded on seeing Emperor Jahangir adorned in all his finery, that he described Jahangir as being “the treasury of the world”, leaves us an appreciation of the taste that the Mughals had for finery and gemstones.

Having been left with the lingering taste of the splendorous Mughal legacy, I certainly have a desire to see more examples of it. The exhibition to be held at the ACM would provide an excellent opportunity for me to do this without having to venture far and I will be looking forward to a visit to the exhibition.

---

A sneak peak at the Treasury of the World
Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals
An exhibition to be held at the ACM from 12 Feb to 27 Jun 2010

5 pairs of passes to be given away (courtesy of the ACM)

The upcoming exhibition that the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) is holding, the “Treasury of the World: Jeweled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals”, which is on from 12 February to 27 June 2010 provides a wonderful opportunity to see the splendour of the Mughals first hand. The exhibition has been organised by The al-Sabah Collection, National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters, Kuwait in collaboration with the ACM, and will provide visitors with a chance to be dazzled by the magnificence on display, where the visitor can also learn about life in the Mughal court, from leisure pursuits to food and weaponry of the royal family. The exhibition also offers a fascinating insight to the diverse techniques in the jewellery arts used by artisans and craftsmen during the period.

Featuring gem stones and other precious objects from The al-Sabah Collection, this blockbuster exhibition has been shown in prestigious venues such as the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre Museum in Paris. It makes its Asian debut at the ACM in Singapore.

---

Details of Exhibition

Date: 12 February to 27 June 2010

Venue: Special Exhibitions Gallery, Asian Civilisations Museum 1 Empress Place, Singapore 179555

Website: www.acm.org.sg

Enquiries: 6332 7798 / nhb_acm_vs@nhb.gov.sg

Admission charges: $8 (adults) / $4 (concession); Family package at $20 for up to 5 pax. Free admission for children aged 6 and below and seniors aged 60 and above every day (locals and PRs only). 50% off for foreigners aged 60 and above. 50% discount every Friday, 7-9pm

Opening hours: Mon, 1pm-7pm; Tues to Sun: 9am – 7pm (to 9pm on Fri) How to get there: By MRT – Raffles Place; By Bus – 100, 107, 130, 131, 167, 608

---

A sneak peak at the some of the exhibits that will be on display at the exhibition:

Dagger with Scabbard (LNS 25 J). Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait.

Turban Ornament (LNS 1767 J). Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait.

Royal Spinel (LNS 1660 J). Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait.

Small bottle set with rubies, emeralds and diamond crystals (LNS 959 J). Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait.

Pendant with Cameo of Shah Jahan (LNS 43 J). Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait.

Bangle set with rubies, diamonds and chrysoberyl cat’s eye (LNS 2219 J). Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait.

---

Details of the exhibition ticket giveaway (courtesy of the ACM):

The first five entries to correctly name who is described as the “treasury of the world” will each receive a pair of tickets to the exhibition. Entries need to be sent by email by noon on Sunday 7 Feb 2010 and the winning entries would be announced on this blog on 8 Feb 2010.

---

Congratulations to the 5 recipients of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) “Treasury of the World” exhibition ticket giveaway, who will each receive a pair of tickets to the exhibition:

1. Agnes Gan

2. James Tan

3. Novella Tan

4. L. H. Tan

5. Alyssa Wong

Winners may collect the tickets at the ACM front desk at any time during the exhibition.

---