Something’s fishy about the old school building

Somehow, as school boys going to school in the magnificent old school building that housed St. Joseph’s Institution along Bras Basah Road which has since become the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), we always seemed to have a reason to feel that way, after all, the building did have a questionable past, having been used in some capacity by the Japanese occupiers during the Second World War. There were certainly ample reasons as well for suspicion: the sealed second floor of the old toilet block along Waterloo Street and many spots including the dome which had been out of bounds. However, whatever our suspicions were, we were never able to confirm any of them, and were happy to leave them behind when we left the old school. These days, as the SAM, some of the main structures are still there for us to wander into from time to time to satisfy any desire for nostalgia. While the toilet block is no longer there, the dome is – still inaccessible as it had been all those years back … perhaps holding the same mysteries that we had been told of during our schooldays. However, having been there on many occasions, there hasn’t been any reason to fell that there was anything mysterious that is left. Come Saturday however, there is going to be something fishy that would be uncovered …

Children of ages between 4 to 7 and their parents will discover something fishy about the old school building, now the SAM on Saturday 2 Oct 2010.

The SAM would in fact be holding a party specially for Children’s Day on 2 October 2010. The party would be held to also launch SAM’s very first picture book “Salted Fish”, aimed at children between the ages of 3 to 8, a colouring book based on the artworks of the pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng. So what so fishy about the party and “Salted Fish” you may ask. Well, in the book, the main character, Lynn visits an art museum for the first time and discovers something “fishy” about an important painting by a famous artist in Singapore … and to help Lynn solve the mystery, the SAM is inviting parents with children between the ages of 4 to 7 to participate. At $35 for a parent-child pair, participants would get the following to help Lynn:

1) A FREE “Salted Fish” children’s storybook (worth $16.10) pre-autographed by the author and artist;

2) A FREE children’s colouring book;

3) FREE entry for adult and child to the Cheong Soo Pieng exhibition – SAM’s most impressive showcase to date!

Do come along for two hours of fun with your kids … details of the party and registration can be found below.

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Salted Fish Children’s Book Party

Date: Saturday, 2 October 2010
Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Venue: Singapore Art Museum, Glass Hall
Suitable for Children ages 4-7.

Happy Children’s Day! We are launching our very first picture book, Salted Fish. In the book, Lynn is on her first visit to an art museum and she discovers something strange about an important painting by a famous artist in Singapore. Come join us and learn more about this story of how art touches the life of a child.
The programme includes story-telling performances, interactive art activities and FREE admission to the exhibition.*

Admission fee: $35 for a child and an accompanying parent. Each additional adult pays $12.

The admission includes a pre-autographed copy of Salted Fish, a colouring book based on the artworks of the pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng.

Please e-mail to RSVP for the party. Tickets can be paid for upfront or at the registration desk by the Glass Hall on the day.

RSVP and Enquiries:
Masitah Ismail
Education Support Officer
DID: + 65 6332 5274
Fax: + 65 6336 5740
Email: masitah_ismail@nhb.gov.sg

* Admission covers ONE adult only. All children below 7 receive free admission but children aged 7 and above must show their student identity cards to receive a waiver of admission.

Front and Back cover of the book - participants would receive a pre-autographed copy of the book.

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Going up 40 years back in time …

It’s nice sometimes to discover that, what you have thought might have been consigned to memory, has somehow remained right where it had been. I made such a discoveryon a journey back in time, to the place where I had grown up in – Block 53 in Toa Payoh. It was during this visit to my “kampung” that I was pleasantly surprised, to see that the front door (and gate) through which I had spent many hours staring out at a world beyond the confines of the three room flat that I had lived in, is still right where it had been, albeit a little worse for wear induced by the passage of time.

The Front Door, 1968

The very last time I had seen the pair was way back in 1976, some 33 going on 34 years ago when I moved. I had, despite having for long intending to, not ventured to old place, one that holds a wonderful collection of some of my fondest memories, until I decided to have a look around on Sunday. I did this partly to help in the recollection of memories I have of Toa Payoh in preparation for a trail of Toa Payoh that I am working on with the National Library Board, and partly to satisfy a desire to go back in time, stirred by walks that I had been taking of late around what had once been my hometown.

The front door and gate today ... still there after all these years!

There had been many occasions during which I had strayed into the area where the block of flats is … walking past the empty void decks of Blocks 54 and 55 that once held the banks and shops that I had once frequented –  a huge gaping void where I had once bought the loaf of bread from a lady who opened a foldable table on which she would slice the fresh bread that arrived straight from the nearby bakery each evening; where the smell of rubber and grease emanated from the old bicycle shop where I had the tyres of my bicycle inflated; and the old provision shops from which I got my supply of ice lollies from. The huge open space which held the expansive playground where I had countless hours of enjoyment at around which there had been an elliptical red brick path on which I had fallen many times whilst learning to ride a bicycle is also gone, replaced with the clutter that somehow seems to accompany the upgrading of the older estates. The faces of the block of flats had also been altered, once again disfigured by seemingly useless additions that only seem to add to the clutter of the surroundings.

Bicycles lined up along a row where a bicycle shop and other shops had once been ...

Where there had once been shops and where a crowd had once gathered to greet the British Royal family ... now is an empty void ...

Prince Phillip and Princess Anne amongst the crowds in 1972 in front of Block 54 - the shops below the block of flats can be seen in the background.

A cluttered space where that had once been the open space of the expansive playground ...

With all the changes that seem to have altered the entire area, I did not expect to see much that would be familiar. I suppose that was partly due to the fact that I did not want to be disappointed by the foray to the corridors around which I had spent a very eventful childhood in. Making my way up what is now one of four lifts that serve the block of flats (back when I was living there, we only had two … one that went right up to the top, with an intermediate stop at a lower floor and another that only went up to the tenth or eleventh floor), I noticed that the lift cabins were provided a much more positive experience than the dark, slow and claustrophobic ones that I had once had a moment of horror in (I had been in one that stopped momentarily during which time it was pitch black – the lights having gone out) – although it had been only for a few minutes. Reaching the top floor where I had lived at, everything appeared a lot smaller than I had imagined it to be: the corridor around what was the circular core which held the lift shaft and a ventral stairwell around which I had kicked plastic balls with neighbours and where I had played games such as Police and Thief, and Cowboys and Indians looked a lot narrower, seemingly a little to small for us to have played our games on. There was also the central staircase, which again looked smaller in scale. I had used the landings of the flight that led up to the roof on which to build fortifications out of cardboard boxes. From the relative safety provided by the fortifications, I would fire paper bullets in a game of Cowboys and Indians – while that is still there, the locked iron gate that led to what had been the viewing gallery has since been replaced by a wooden door.

The four lifts serving the block are much improved from the two that had served the block I had once had a moment of horror in.

The cabins of the lifts are now a lot less claustrophobic than they were ...

Somehow, everything seems to be smaller in scale than I had imagined ... even the wide circular corridor around the central lift shafts and stairwell ...

The landing at the top of the flight of stairs leading up to the roof on which I often built a fortification of cardboard boxes behind which I would fire paper bullets whilst playing a game of Cowboys and Indians.

The Queen at the Viewing Gallery on the roof of Block 53 Toa Payoh.

Besides the familiar front door and the gate of the flat that I had once lived in (the door still has the letter slots through which the post man who went door-to-door would deliver letters in the days before letter boxes were installed on the ground floor), there were a few others that were familiar. There were the grills against the parapet which many, not used to looking down from heights, dared not go near to in the early days (those were days when we were still getting accustomed to living high above the ground); and school shoes drying in the sun below one of the grills – a very common sight back when I was growing up …

Grills in the parapet that some dared not get close to in the early days ...

School shoes drying in the sun were a common sight back when I lived in the block of flats ...

Looking beyond the grills and over the parapet … I realised how much the face of Toa Payoh has changed … what had started as a mix of one, two and three room HDB flats, shops and market areas and some light industrial properties interspersed amongst the blocks of flats in what had been Singapore’s first planned satellite town is now a mix of first generation blocks of HDB flats (mostly three room flats that still stand), with the newer and taller blocks of HDB flats as well as blocks of private flats: condominiums that have come up in place of the blocks that have since been torn down. It is amazing how in the space of half a lifetime, Toa Payoh has been transformed from a public housing experiment built over what had once been an unusable swamp to house the burgeoning population of a newly independent Singapore, into a neighbourhood that is much sought after by an upwardly mobile middle class population. For me however, it is still somehow that Toa Payoh that I knew, one that from time to time, whenever I am feeling a little nostalgic, I am still able to take a walk down memory lane to … and to be fascinated with in the same way I had been as a child growing up in the Toa Payoh of the early days.

What had started as a public housing project to house a burgeoning population of the newly independent Singapore, Toa Payoh is now a mix of public and private housing that is much sought after by middle class Singaporeans.

A once uncluttered view that extended all the way to Kallang basin is now cluttered with the newer and taller housing units that have replaced some of the older units in the housing estates that now dominate the landscape of Singapore's Heartlands.

Journeys through Tanjong Pagar: The Station at Bukit Timah

My earliest impressions of the Malayan Railway were formed perhaps not so much by the station at Tanjong Pagar, but by the two black steel truss railway bridges that seem to give the area of Bukit Timah that they cross its character. I often passed under the bridges as a child, seated in the backseat of my father’s car on the many trips he took us on to and from the Causeway and to Jurong or to the Teck Whye area to visit a friend of my mother’s who ran an orchid farm there. Each time I passed under, my attention would be drawn to the heavy steel trusses, sometimes hoping that I could see a train traversing one of them. The bridges would serve as a landmark for me on the long road journeys from the Causeway. The stretch from the Causeway down Woodlands and Bukit Timah Roads always seemed endless, particularly having had been seated in the backseat for a large portion of the journey along the winding roads north of the Causeway, taking us past the monosodium glutamate processing ponds close to the Causeway and the Metal Box factory, then Bukit Panjang Circus and Bukit Gombak, and further on past Boys Town before the first of the two black bridges came into view. Seeing the first meant that the long and boring part of the journey would be coming to its end and I could look forward to seeing the Hume Factory, Ford Factory, and Magnolia Dairies on the hill, before the Bukit Timah Fire Station came into sight and with it, the huge Green Spot bottle at the entrance of the Amoy Canning Factory that I would never fail to look out for.

One of the two steel truss bridges that give the Bukit Timah area its distinct character.

Passing under the bridges and catching an occasional glimpse of a train on one of them would also bring with it a desire to make a train journey of my own, something that I only managed to do later in life. When I did finally embark on that very first train journey and on my subsequent journeys, I did find that there was a lot more than the bridges that captivated me. The train rides always provided an opportunity to catch a glimpse of a Singapore that would otherwise remain hidden to me, with the route that the train takes meandering through parts of Singapore that could very well be in another world. Two spots came to my attention on that first ride, having been provided with a good glimpse of from the unscheduled stops that the train made prior to reaching the Causeway. The two were a short distance apart, on either side of the first of the railway bridges that cross Bukit Timah Road, the first being at the Bukit Timah Station just before the bridge, a station that I had hitherto not known about, and the second just after the bridge – at the stretch just behind the Yeo Hiap Seng factory.

A southbound train crossing the bridge near the site of the former Yeo Hiap Seng factory.

The trains to and from Tanjong Pagar take a route through some untouched parts of Singapore.

Having caught a good look at Bukit Timah Station that very first time in the dim illumination it was provided with, I was fascinated, seeking to find out more about it when I got back to Singapore. From what I could see of it, it had looked to me like one of the little rural stations that might have depicted in one of the Ladybird books that I had spent my early years reading, one that could be one used to model a miniature station for one of those model train sets that I had often looked longingly at in the toy department of Robinson’s. It was in future train journeys in the daylight that I would get a better glimpse of it, being something that I would never tire looking out for on all my journeys by train.

Bukit Timah Station is a little known about station in Singapore, off Bukit Timah Road.

Bukit Timah Station could pass off for one of the little stations on a model train set.

The station I was to learn, was built in 1932 as part of a realignment of the original railway line which had run from Woodlands down to its terminal at Tank Road via Newton Circus. The realignment or “deviation” as it was referred to then, was carried out at considerable expense at the end of the 1920s, partly motivated by the need to elevate certain portions of the track as the old line had been prone to being overrun by the frequent floods that afflicted the low lying Bukit Timah corridor the line ran through, and at the same time allowing at the the number of what were considered to be dangerous level crossings to be minimised. The realignment also allowed the construction of a brand new and much grander terminal at Tanjong Pagar, one that could be considered as befitting of its status as the southern terminal of the railway line, and more importantly, as the gateway from the colonies in the Malayan Peninsula to Europe and also to the Far East by sea. Bukit Timah Station was also strategically placed to serve what was to prove to be a very lucrative service – the transport of racehorses to and from the racing circuits on the peninsula and the island, being a stone’s throw from the old Turf Club at Bukit Timah. The deviation of 1932 also gave us the two wonderful bridges that were to lend themselves towards giving the area its distinct flavour.

The distinctive truss bridges over Bukit Timah Road and Bukit Timah Station were completed in 1932 as part of a deviation to the rail line that cost a considerable sum of money.

The road out to Bukit Timah Road from the station ... a route that would have been taken by the many racehorses that were transported on the train to Singapore, bound for the old Turf Club.

A old signboard pointing towards Bukit Timah Station from the main road.

A train passing Bukit Timah Station.

The stretch after crossing the bridge over Bukit Timah and Dunearn Roads I had a good view of  through not what one might have called a stop, but a series of stops and starts. That gave me the opportunity to see what had occupied the narrow strip of land wedged between what was the railway track, the old Yeo Hiap Seng factory on one side and Rifle Range Road on the other. The strip was then, packed with some of the last remaining squatters that had survived in the 1990s, something I hadn’t been aware of until I had peered out of the window on that first train journey, right into what were the illuminated dwellings of the squatters which had seemed to be only an arm’s length from me. Much of Singapore had by then been cleared of squatters, most having by the time the 1990s arrived, been resettled in the high rise public housing that marks most of the landscape of what had once been rural Singapore. It was then difficult to evict the squatters with the then poor relations between Singapore and the Malaysian government that had effectively owned the corridor of land that the trains run through.

The bend in the tracks where the Yeo Hiap Seng factory was.

The narrow strips of land along the tracks in the area were occupied by the wooden shacks of squatters living on land belonging to the Malayan Railway.

Corrugated zinc sheets and wooden shacks were once a common sight along much of the railway line.

Another view of the tracks around Rifle Range Road which were once lined with the dwellings of squatters living on the Railway land.

A train carrying bricks passing a popular shortcut from Jalan Anak Bukit to Rifle Range Road, one that would have been used by squatters living in the area.

The shortcut from Jalan Anak Bukit over the tracks to Rifle Range Road.

Looking north from Rifle Range Road ... the train takes a path through much of a Singapore that would otherwise remain unseen.

Looking back, I suppose one of the things that came from having a Malaysian railway line operating through Singapore was that it allowed large tracts of the land along the railway and much of the areas around to remain undeveloped and retain the rustic charm that has been lost in much of our island through the rapid modernisation that has overtaken us since our independence, much of which I guess would soon be consigned to the past with the recent agreement on the land swap and the redevelopment of the Railway land. There isn’t much time left I guess for us to savour the rustic charm of the Railway land and some of the buildings that lay around it. I would certainly like to take a last train journey, to take all this in for one last time and to say a fond farewell to what will soon be lost.

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When Sands wasn’t at Marina Bay

There is a lost world that lies where the Central Expressway (CTE) passes under Orchard Road cutting Clemenceau Avenue into two, what is now referred to as Clemenceau Avenue North and Clemenceau Avenue. This world was in the area just where the CTE passes in between the Istana and the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre, revolving around an approximately one kilometre stretch of Clemenceau Avenue that is now part of the CTE Chin Swee Tunnel (from where the Istana Park is) and the stretch that extends to part of the Kampong Java Tunnel. It was an area that included some pre-war houses, including a row of walk-up terrace houses that faced Clemenceau Avenue at the end of which was a unit that my best friend in kindergarten, Eddie, had lived in. What is probably left of the pre-war houses these days is perhaps only the Sian Teck Tng Temple at the end of Cuppage Road with the rest of the area altered by the modernisation of the Orchard Road area that began at the end of the 1970s and the construction of the CTE at the end of the 1980s.

The area which has been altered by the construction of the CTE just by where the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre is.

Cuppage Road now ends at a new section of Cavenagh Road ... further to the right of this on the CTE was the junction of Cuppage Road and Clemenceau Avenue.

The Sian Teck Tng Temple at the end of Cuppage Road is the only reminder of the past still left in the area.

The Sian Teck Tng Temple's structure is very typical of the houses in the area before it was modernised.

Looking at what’s there today, it would be hard to imagine what the area had once been like. It had been the back door to the area of Orchard Road that my parents had frequently visited, coming through Cavenagh Road f to get to the likes of Cold Storage for supermarket shopping, and Glutton’s Square and Koek Lane which provided some of the best hawker fare around. My first impression of the lost stretch of Clemenceau Avenue and the area around it, however, was shaped very much by the rides home in the minibus that delivered me to my home in Toa Payoh from the kindergarten I attended in Cambridge Road. That involved a detour via Cavenagh Road to Clemenceau Avenue to drop Eddie off, before heading north towards Newton Circus and on to Toa Payoh via Thomson Road.

The lost Section of Clemenceau Avenue and the lost roads around what was the back door to Orchard Road.

The recessed part of the CTE between the Chin Swee and Kampong Java Tunnels and part of the tunnels runs below what had been Clemenceau Avenue. Looking north to the area where the Chao Yang Chinese School and the Highway Inn was towards Newton Circus.

Clemenceau Avenue back then besides being the back door to Orchard Road, was also associated with the Scouting and Girl Guides movements in Singapore, Guide House, the home of the Singapore Girl Guide Association being at the stretch that is now Clemenceau Avenue North, and Sands House, the headquarters of the Singapore Scout Association, in the area that is now the CTE, just by where the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre is. Sands House was a two storey purpose built building standing at the corner of Cavenagh Road and Clemenceau Avenue that was opened in 1959, replacing the original Sands House (the former St. Andrew’s House) which was on Armenian Street. Sands House was a popular destination not just for Scouts, but for many shopping for camping and outdoor gear (camping being a relatively popular activity in those days) such as ponchos, ground sheets, tents, gas lamps and stoves, and even compasses and maps at the Scout Shop which was in a bright and airy room on the ground floor of the building. The headquarters of the Scout Association moved to a temporary premises in Tanglin Road, when Sands House was acquired in 1987.

Looking at the area where the south section of Cavenagh Road met Clemenceau Avenue. The junction lay where the CTE runs today, just by where the northbound slip road runs into the CTE. Sands House stood just to the right of the gantry.

Looking down at what used to be below Clemenceau Avenue towards the grounds of the Istana ... Sands House was on the right of this area.

Along with Sands House, quite a lot of property along Clemenceau Avenue was also acquired, including the Highway Inn, a hotel which I somehow imagined to be a popular nightspot. The construction work on the tunnels and the CTE began in 1988, and by the time this section of the CTE was completed in 1991, the area had completely been transformed, leaving no trace of the lost section of Clemenceau Avenue that had existed some years back. Along with Clemenceau Avenue, the area that had served as the back door to Orchard Road had itself been transofrmed. Gone were the pre-war shop units and houses, the old Cold Storage building, and also the former Orchard Market and the food stalls along Koek Road and Koek Lane (the lane itself has also disappeared), moving to Cuppage Centre which was a mixed use development at the end of the 1970s. Cuppage Centre included a wet market on the lower floors and a food centre on the upper floor, with offices above it. Then, there was such a stench from the wet market housed in the centre that many referred to it as “Garbage Centre”. The building has since been refurbished and is now Starhub Centre – the market and food stalls moving out in the late 1990s. Part of Cuppage Road is also now a pedestrian mall, and the portion of Koek Road that joined with the lost stretch of Clemenceau Avenue has also disappeared, buried under the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre, leaving very little to remind us of what had once been around the area.

Koek Road now stops short ... it used to run through what is now the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre on to Clemenceau Avenue.

Where the junction of Koek Road and Clemenceau Avenue once was - right in front of the main entrance to the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre.

Starhub Centre was once the Cuppage Centre which housed a market on its lower floors and a food centre above the market.

Journeys through Tanjong Pagar: First Impressions …

I had as a child, been fascinated by the old railway station at Tanjong Pagar. The grand old station building, which has provided many of us with a passage to the north, had been one that always attracted my attention whenever I passed it in the backseat of my father’s car. The very first impression I have of the station is one that has been shaped by the food stalls that sprouted up in the open air car park in front of the station every evening, stalls that seemed to glow in the shadows cast by the grey façade of the railway station.

The passage to the north.

A passage to the north: Tanjong Pagar Railway Station has provided many travelling from Singapore a gateway to the north.

The car park that had in the 1960s and 1970s been illuminated by night by the glow of hawker stalls.

I had very much been in awe of the old grey façade, one that had appeared to be dominated by the four large statues that straddled the three large archways, each one meant to symbolise one of Malaya’s four economic pillars, with the letters FMSR, the Federated Malay States Railway, giving evidence of the time at which the station was built. The façade later drew me as it reminded me very much of the great trains stations of Europe that I had dreamt of travelling through, whilst embarking on one of the great train journeys that featured in the many black and white movies. The architecture of the station, built in 1932 had itself drawn inspiration from a great European station, Helsinki’s Central Station, and as much as Helsinki Central is a landmark in Helsinki, Tanjong Pagar Station is a landmark along Keppel Road.

The southern gateway to the north would soon be a thing of the past ... the KTM railway station at Tanjong Pagar would be relocating to Woodlands by 1 July 2011.

Four large statues (two of which are seen here) which symbolise the four economic pillars of the then Malaya dominate the building's façade. The architecture of the building was said to have been influenced by Helsinki's Central Station.

Despite the fascination I had, I only visited the station on a few occasions in my childhood, each time taken by the large batik painting styled mosaic murals that adorned the high lobby of the station. It was only much later in life that I made my first journey from Tanjong Pagar, a journey that would was the start of a series of journeys by train to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur (KL). That very first journey had been one that was made on a whim, with me deciding to catch an overnight train to the KL for a weekend. Arriving late after work on a Friday, I was to discover that there only third class seats on the overnight Mail Train (Mel Malam) were available. Having already made my way to Tanjong Pagar, I decided to go ahead with the journey – a decision that I was later to regret …

The batik styled mosaic murals in the lobby that depict scenes of Malayan life.

I had by then, developed a liking for train journeys, having first had the experience on an intercity train from Ghent to Antwerp in 1985, one that I remember for the wonderful view of the flat Flemish countryside. It was however later during my undergraduate days that I was to be able to embark on some of the great train journeys I had dreamt of in my younger years, passing through some of the magnificent stations I had longed to see: Paris’ Gare du Nord and the Gare de Lyon; London’s St. Pancreas and some of those on the Monopoly board; Santa Lucia in Venice … to name a few, each with a distinct flavour and a flamboyance that seemed fitting in their association with the great train journeys of the movies and in literature. Tanjong Pagar perhaps lacks some of the hustle that give some of the character to its European counterparts, but standing in the station that evening, I had the romantic notion that I was back in one of the great stations, embarking on another adventure on the railway.

The airy lobby where many a passenger would wait for the gates behind - ones that lead to the immigration counters and platforms, to open.

Having waited in the lobby for a couple of hours for the gates to open, the romantic illusions I had, evaporated with the opening of the gates that led to the immigration and customs counters. The crowd that had gathered behind the gate immediately surged forward in a rush towards the counters, a rush that I hesitated to join in, deciding against jostling with the seemingly impatient crowd. Going through Immigration and Malaysian Customs, I found myself behind a wall of people held back by a steel barrier across the platform. I was soon to realise why there had been that mad initial rush. A madder rush was to follow – as soon as the barrier was pushed aside, a frenzied dash ensued – one that one might have mistaken for a dash fuelled by fear and panic. Boarding the train, it soon became apparent why the mad dash had occurred – moving up the aisle, I realised that there was not a seat left … not wanting to have to stand for what was scheduled to be a nine hour overnight journey, I searched desperately for a seat, finally finding one – a hard straight backed seat in a smoking compartment, wedged between a chain smoking passenger and a window that refused to be opened.

The gate to the departure platform ...

Somehow, I survived that long uncomfortable ride, one that was made even longer by the frequent unscheduled stops and starts the train made along the way, having to give way to the express services which shared the single track heading in both directions, and the inability to catch any sleep in the discomfort of the smoke filled cabin. The long eleven hour journey finally ended with the sight of the Kuala Lumpur’s wonderful station and with wisdom that taking the mail train to KL wasn’t as romantic as it might first have appeared to me.

My first journey by train had been one taken in the discomfort of a non-air conditioned smoked filled third class carriage - unlike the relative comfort of the air-conditioned first and second class carriages seen at the platforms.

The bag that sold for $1001.68

I attended the “Love Cuts Meet-the-Cast Sharing session at the K Box Union at Cineleisure Orchard on Monday. Present during the session were the Producer, Jack Choo; the Director, Gerald Lee; Scriptwriter, Lee Shyh-Jih and the Queen of Caldecott Hill, Zoe Tay, who played the main character Sissy in a movie that has touched the hearts of many who watched it. The appearance of what is undoubtedly the star of the very moving movie that attempts to bring about a greater sense of awareness of breast cancer and the importance of early detection in the effective treatment of what is today a common disease, wasn’t the only highlight of the evening. The session also provided an opportunity for some of the breast cancer survivors present to share their views on what the movie had meant to them.

Members of the Love Cuts production team and the Queen of Caldecott Hill, Zoe Tay, were present at the session. From left to right: Scriptwriter Lee Shyh-Jih, Producer Jack Choo, Zoe Tay (who plays main character, Sissy) and Gerald Lee (Director).

Central to the theme of the movie was the importance of the support of the family and friends in a victim facing the disease, and this was certainly emphasised by the survivors in the comments made, with even one Rita, going on to say that what she would like to have seen is the main character Sissy, sharing that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer with Kristy who had confided in her first about her fears about the disease. What they felt was really touching was seeing how in the movie, the family in which maybe bonds were taken for granted, had come together when Sissy had found out that she had fourth stage breast cancer. Another survivor, Esther, noted that even the rich boyfriend who seemingly is attracted to Kristy for her looks, does not leave her as she had feared. Esther recounted a poignant scene in which a wedding invitation comes in the mail – Kristy’s, with a tastefully done nude shot of her and her husband to be, which Esther feels was one that carried the message through. Overall, the survivors gave their thumbs up to the movie and to the awareness of the disease that it brings with it.

The sharing session.

The sharing session also provided an opportunity for some of the participants to share their views of the movie and also pose questions to the production team and to Zoe Tay, and in the process of that, it was apparent how the movie had touched and reached out to the audience. It is in the scenes of everyday life that struck a chord with many. One participant recounted how she had cried on each of the four occasions in which she had watched the movie (wow the movie just came to the screens on the 9th of September – and she had already watched it four times!).

Zoe Tay, who was hand-picked for the role as Sissy, looked radiant throughout the one-hour session.

One of the more interesting questions that did crop up, directed at the production team, was about the choice of Zoe Tay for the role of Sissy, with there being several other possible candidates who might have fit the role just as well. The question was answered by Director, Gerald Lee, who said that Zoe Tay was who the team had in mind from the outset. Zoe Tay whom I had found out in a newspaper article earlier was 8 months pregnant, looked radiant throughout and whilst seated, certainly didn’t look as if she was expecting. Zoe had during the session, admitted, that she was herself, touched watching the movie, recalling a poignant moment when the daughter of her character in the movie had smelt the clothes of the character Sissy – something which Zoe had a personal experience of. She graciously also provided two personal items for an auction at the end of the session: a Emporio Armani dress which she bought in New York, and a 4 compartment shopping bag which she had picked up in Japan. The bag surprisingly went for a larger sum at $1001.68 to a self professed Zoe Tay fan Tarren (10.01.1968 being Zoe Tay’s birth date), while Esther got the dress for $350.

Zoe Tay with the $1001.68 bag.

Breast cancer survivor, Esther, with a Emporio Armani dress donated by Zoe Tay that she won the bid she put in of $350 for in an auction to raise money for the Breast Cancer Foundation. The dress was bought by Zoe Tay on a trip she made to New York.

The audience was also treated to a moving rendition of the theme song for the movie, Shou Zhong Xian (手中线) by none other than the recording artiste herself, Serene Koong. Serene shared her experience in the making of the music video for the song which was shot at Fort Canning Park in which she had continued with the shoot despite ants biting her feet. I guess that kept her on her feet … and based on the response to her delivery of the song … would certainly keep a few of her fans on theirs.

Serene Koong who recorded the theme song, Shou Zhong Xian (手中线), making her appearance ...

performing a very moving rendition of the song.

Toa Payoh on the Rise

Rising gradually and somewhat obscurely off Lorong 1 in Toa Payoh, a somewhat lonely and forgotten little road that starts between an old school building and an empty plot of land leads to the crest of a little hill on top of which once stood one of the major public hospitals in Singapore. Part of the road – the section that leads from the former hospital down to Thomson Road, had probably been the first named after the area that was to be one of the first planned satellite towns in Singapore, Toa Payoh. It had been named Toa Payoh Road prior to 1961 and was subsequently renamed Toa Payoh Rise, to avoid confusing it with what was to become a main thoroughfare, Jalan Toa Payoh, now part of the Pan Island Expressway.

Toa Payoh Rise today.

I had first been acquainted with the area in the late 1960s, as a somewhat reluctant companion to my mother who taught at the school on Lorong 1, aptly named First Toa Payoh Primary School being the first school to be built for the new satellite town (the word back then was that the subsequent schools being planned would be named in the order of build). I would accompany my mother on Saturday mornings, when I was home as kindergarten was on only five days a week. Back then, Alternate Saturdays were school days and the other Saturdays working days, so what it meant was that school teachers would be in school for at least half a day. I suppose it was common then for teachers to bring their children along on Saturdays, as I remember having many companions – fellow children of school teachers with me in the school’s staff room.

First Toa Payoh Primary School in 1968 soon after it opened. On the left of the photograph, a 10 storey block of flats, Block 167, typical of the early Toa Payoh, can be seen - that stand on what is now an empty plot of land.

The main school building had been one that was typical of those that were built post-independence – a U-shaped four storey high building – the three sections surrounded a little quadrangle that with its two flag poles right smack in the front of the centre section, formed an assembly area. The paved area extended further back to the fence and served as a car park. Behind the main building, the school canteen with its long rows of tables and benches, doubled up as a school hall and with badminton courts marked on the floor and a stage at one end, the food stalls being at the other. The pathway to this building also led down to the expansive school field behind the school – that was down a steep slope via a long flight of stairs to a field that not only served the student population, but what had seemed a resident population of pythons and cobras that were frequently sighted in the drains that surrounded the school field. The buildings and the field are still there today, now the temporary premises of St. Nicholas Girls’ School.

The former First Toa Payoh Primary School building is today the temporary premises of St. Nicholas Girls' School.

Across the road from the school, there was a cluster of flats that have since disappeared – blocks 164, 165, 166 and 167. The blocks had stood on a raised table of land and accessible from Lorong 1 by several flights of stairs. The flats had hidden a cluster of low rise buildings further up the road, one that was well protected by a fence around it that told perhaps of its use. That was the Toa Payoh Girls’ Home, which was opened 1968 to replace the York Hill Home, and was meant to serve as a refuge for destitute girls as well as for the rehabilitation of young offenders and delinquents. The home was in operation up to 2006 when it moved to new premises and was renamed the Singapore Girls’ Home. These days, the cluster of buildings sits silently behind the fence, awaiting perhaps redevelopment in what must be a prime piece of land.

Up the slope from Lorong 1, where Blocks 164, 165, 166 and 167 had once towered over much of Toa Payoh, an empty landscape now greets the observer.

The former Toa Payoh Girls' Home, seen through the locked gate.

The cluster of buildings of the former girls' home now sits silently behind a fence and locked gate which now keeps people out rather than keeping girls in.

Beyond the home, lies the crest of the small hill which Toa Payoh Rise rises up to – a clearing there these days with quite a fair bit of construction activity going on for a Circle Line MRT station, erasing any evidence of its past as the site of one of Singapore’s public hospitals – the Toa Payoh Hospital, and before it was renamed on 1 April 1975, the Thomson General Hospital or Thomson Road Hospital. The hospital had been set up in 1959, opening in May of that year, as a hospital for the chronic sick and included a nursing school as part of its complex. Set in a quiet and somewhat secluded area, the only means of access to it in the early days was via Toa Payoh Rise from Thomson Road. It had been a hospital that I visited on many occasions … my maternal grandmother in her later years had frequent stays there and I myself had been a patient, having been warded whilst I was in Secondary 2 with an illness that deprived me of 8 months of playing football. I had on two occasions visited the A&E Department as well, once when I had a nasty spill taking a corner on a racing bicycle in 1980 that had half my tee-shirt covered in blood and required several stitches to be put in my head … and another time when I had an extremely high fever after returning home from an overseas trip in 1991. The hospital closed its doors in 1997 and moved, lock, stock and barrel to Simei as the New Changi Hospital which is now known as the Changi General Hospital (CGH). More information on the history of Toa Payoh Hospital can be found at CGH’s website.

The former Thomson Road Hospital and its nursing school in its early days.

Another view of the former Toa Payoh Hospital (source: http://www.healthcare50.sg).

The top of Toa Payoh Rise, once a quiet spot - ideal for the former Toa Payoh / Thomson General Hospital which had once stood there.

Where a main public hospital once stood, an empty plot of land now stands. The construction activity going on for the Circle Line MRT station will erase all traces of what might still be left as a reminder.

The view from the grounds of the former hospital towards the fence of the former girls' home and beyond to Toa Payoh.

At the crest of the hill where the road that led to the hospital is, there is another building that still serves its intended function – the School for the Visually Handicapped, and a little beyond that, the Association for the Visually Handicapped. Beyond the crest and the area where the hospital had stood, the road rolls downward towards its junction with Thomson Road. That had been a nice shady and wooded area – one through which I enjoyed my frequent walks through – not just for the peace and calm it provided me, but as a “short-cut” when I was older, to Thomson Road where I could hop on the many buses which could take me down Thomson Road and to the city. That would take me past a cluster of flats beyond the line of trees which are still there today, marked by a sign on the road. Further down at the junction, there used to be a Mobil Service Station – one that stood as a landmark for many years – which has quite recently disappeared. Much has changed in the area around the junction over the years and it is hard to imagine now what it might have been like … something I guess might soon be said as well about Toa Payoh Rise.

A road sign at the crest of the hill seeks silence for the School for the Visually Handicapped and also previously for the hospital that had stood nearby.

What had once been a quiet wooded area now sees much construction activity which involves the construction of an MRT station and the widening of the road that will completely disfigure what had once been an escape from the concrete jungle.

A sign off Toa Payoh Rise pointing towards the cluster of low-rise flats that are still there today.

The junction of Toa Payoh Rise and Thomson Road ... looking to where the Mobil Service Station had once stood.

The Wonderland at Battery Road

There were two places with the name “Wonderland” that I enjoyed visiting as a child, one was of course the Wonderland Amusement Park that used to sit in what is now the open car URA car park next to Kallang Leisure Park. The other wasn’t so much a wonderland of fun, but one of pies and shakes – it was a little cafe on Battery Road just around the corner from Raffles Place that I never, whenever I had a chance, pass up on going to, the name of which I had forgotten about until a recent conversation with my parents. One thing that I certainly remembered the cafe for was what it had smelt like – it was a smell that would greet me as the heavy metal framed glass doors opened, one that was laden with the delicious aroma of baking pastry with a lingering smell of vinegar that came from the HP sauce and tomato ketchup that somehow always seemed a great complement to the delectable pastries that were served. It was actually a smell that familiar in many ways, being very much similar to the ones that came with the many coffee houses and snack bars that were popular back then. The aroma would always be met with a sense of anticipation – the anticipation of the sumptuous treat that was to follow … one that would certainly have seemed to be a just reward for the hours spent with walking behind my mother as she navigated her way through the shelves and racks of Robinson’s or John Little’s at nearby Raffles Place (not that I was an unwilling accomplice – as it alway meant a stopover the wonderful toy department in Robinson’s). That treat was none other than a tasty mush of potatoes, carrots, peas and pieces of diced chicken wrapped in a crust of fresh puff pastry that made the taste buds crave for more. It was Wonderland’s wonderful chicken pie, which for a while, seemed all I lived for and my love affair with it probably fueled my passion for all kinds of pies …

An aerial view of the Singapore River area in the 1950s ... Battery Road as it was is seen on the left of the photograph (source: Over Singapore 50 Years Ago).

Battery Road today ... the area where the Wonderland Cafe was ... just around the corner from the area of Raffles Place where John Little's was.

Another view down the same stretch of Battery Road.

Battery Road and adjoining Raffles Place and Fullerton Square back in the days of Wonderland’s chicken pie (the late 1960s) featured some of the best architectural treasures we had in Singapore, amongst them the very grand Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building across from the Fullerton Building (the General Post Office then and now the Fullerton Hotel), the Chartered Bank Building at 6 Battery Road, and the glorious buildings that lined Raffles Place – a wonderland of beautiful buildings. Most of those buildings have sadly vanished today, in part due to a lack of appreciation for what was our architectural heritage, and in part due to the pressing need to modernise the city in which there wasn’t much time for us to stop and think about what we were losing. What is left today is the Fullerton Building, and the once towering 16 storey Bank of China Building which was the tallest bank building when it was erected in the early 1950s as well as being the tallest building in the area until the mid 1970s. Now the building is part of the Bank of China complex there which includes a newer taller building behind it and is dwarfed by the concrete, steel and glass towers of the neighbouring bank buildings which is somehow seen as defining Singapore’s economic success since gaining independence.

Collyer Quay, 1976. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building is across from the Fullerton Building at the corner of Fullerton Square and Collyer Quay (source: Ray Tyers' Singapore Then & Now)

A view of Collyer Quay from the Harbour, July 1974. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building can be seen on the left of the Fullerton Building (Photo courtesy of Peter Chan).

The new 21 storey high HSBC building that replaced the old building after that was demolished in 1979.

Raffles Place had been where some of the best shops of those days were found – Robinson’s and John Little’s being two that my parents frequented. The former commercial heart of Singapore was then dominated by an underground carpark (it was partly underground with windows that served as vents lining the part of it that stuck out of the ground. Its roof top had a well landscaped roof garden which was accessible via a short flight of steps from the street level and was a place where I had many a photograph taken. Robinson’s for me represented another type of wonderland – one of toys in the toy department that provided me with much amusement and also with many of my acquisitions … toy soldiers, a go-kart, building blocks and one of my favourites – a Red Indian costume complete with a feathered head dress.

Raffles Place in 1966 was dominated by an underground car park with a landscaped roof top garden and some wonderful buildings which have now been replace by the cold of concrete, steel and glass.

An MRT station sits underground where there was once an underground car park at Raffles Place, surrounded by skyscrapers that have replace some of the architectural treasures that have been lost.

Besides the wonderland of pies and buildings, Battery Road did also have another attraction for the young boy in those days – a pair of stone lions that still stand guard outside the entrance of the old Bank of China building at the corner of Battery Road and Flint Street. For some reason, I would always look up the lions whenever I am in the area, and approach them with the same sense of fascination I had as that young boy. These days however, there are no more pies … somehow, but for the stone lions, the area would seem cold and distant, and it makes me wish I could be that boy again back in a place that now only remains in photographs, a place that perhaps I did not have much of a chance to say good-bye to.

Once the tallest bank building in Singapore, the Bank of China is now dominated by the towering bank buildings that have sprouted up around it.

One of the two lions standing guard in front of the Bank of China Building at the corner of Battery Road and Flint Street.

A view of Raffles Place with the Chartered Bank Building at 6 Battery Road seen at the end of Raffles Place. The Bank of China Building is seen towering over the rest of the area on the right (source: Over Singapore 50 Years Ago).

The 44 storey building at 6 Battery Road, a new Chartered Bank that replaced the old which was demolished in 1981.

Love Cuts … a preview

I managed to catch a “blog aloud” preview of the much anticipated local movie “Love Cuts”, produced by Clover Films, over the weekend, which was followed by a sharing session with scriptwirters Danny Yeo an Lee Shyh-Jih and breast cancer survivor, Shirley Au Yeung. The movie which come to the screens tomorrow (9 September 2010), stars local favourite Zoe Tay alongside Hong Kong actor Kenny Ho, Ipoh lass, Christy Yow, and Chinese American hunk Allan Wu, together with a host of local talents, some familiar and some less so. The launch of the movie, which had been produced in conjunction with the Health Promotion Board with the aim to raise awareness of Breast Cancer and the prevention of Breast Cancer, had been accompanied by much hype surrounding Zoe Tay’s baring of skin and what the press across the causeway had labelled as Christy Yow’s “southern exposure”.  While that may be an attraction in itself, that should not take the attention away from what is a excellent film with a story line that attempts to broach what can be considered to be a difficult subject to address in the local context where pain, suffering and death, particularly of the heroine that in another context, can sometimes not be well received.

From left to right: Danny Yeo (scriptwirter), Shirley Au Yeung (breast cancer survivor), and Lee Shyh-Jih (scriptwriter) during the sharing session after the preview, sharing insights on the screenplay and Shirley sharing her real-life experience on being a breast cancer survivor.

While I felt that the movie was a little slow moving at the beginning as the characters are introduced to the audience, I thought the the script was expertly handled, in particular the handling of how the main character, Cecilia or Sissy as she is fondly called, played by Zoe Tay, undergoes the ordeal of finding out that she has fourth stage Breast Cancer and living through the moments of uncertainty, fear, pain and hope. During the opening moments, a family undergoing what many families go through … a father, Chan Wai Mun, played by Kenny Ho, struggling with his ego and work problems and not being able to spare the time he really should with his wife and children, a teenage son, Howard (Edwin Goh), quiet and withdrawn as he struggles with the teen angst, and a daughter, Mabel (Regene Lim) who while being the source of her mother’s joy, is a little too pampered for her own good. Thinking that I was in for a long 118 minutes, I soon found my eyes glued to the screen as what I thought was a really wonderfully written script captured my attention, not dwelling at all on the pain and suffering as one might expect, but how under the unfortunate circumstances, the family which was beginning to fall apart, pulls together and becomes one again. What the scriptwriters shared was that the thinking behind this was the portrayal of the strength that the suffering person can exhibit and it is often the case that they are the strongest person in the family, as the other family members find themselves at a loss as to what to do or say … and it is around their strength, that everyone pulls together.

The central message of the movie is of course the need for awareness of the disease, particularly amongst the age group of the main character,  women above 40, who are encouraged to go for a mammogram at least once a year, with statistics showing that only 41% of women aged 50-69 reported going for a mammogram within the past two years despite the fact that 54% of breast cancer cases happens with women above 50. In introducing a younger character, Kristy (Christy Yow), a successful model with a high net worth boyfriend, who has a family history of breast cancer, helps to also bring the message across to those younger than 40, who can also be afflicted. Shirley Au Yeung in sharing her experience, reinforced the point by speaking of the need for regular screening to increase one’s chances of early detection and survival. She also talked about another subject which the film aims to put across, the need to involve the family and not being afraid to tell loved ones, a point put across by the dilemma that Kristy, who finds out that she has an early stage of breast cancer, faces in the movie. She struggles with first the fear of having the disease, and than with a positive diagnosis, finding solace in the friendship that she struck with Sissy, not knowing that Sissy herself has the disease. Kristy fears that in removing the affected tissue, she would not just lose her career which depends very much on physical perfection, but also her boyfriend. But happily for her, perhaps with seeing what Sissy was going through, she decides to make the unkindly cut, as we see in the final semi-nude scene involving her. I was struck by the many poignant moments in the movie … particularly the scene which deals with Sissy’s death in a very delicate way. Overall, Love Cuts is certainly a movie that was well worth spending my Sunday afternoon at.

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Synopsis:

Forty-something Cecilia (Zoe Tay), better known as Sissy to her friends, is a cheery and vivacious seamstress. Diligent and keenly devoted to her art, Sissy has earned a respectable reputation in the trade for her superb craftsmanship and exquisite style. Her second-storey tailor shop Sissy’s Seamstress at the Textile Centre is modest yet distinctly in a class of its own.

Sissy is recognized as an exceptionally talented seamstress, not only in her community but also garnering clients from far and wide. Moreover, Sissy’s candid, affable and attentive disposition also makes her extremely well-liked and popular.

Wai Mun (Kenny Ho), her husband of many years, is the captain of an acclaimed Chinese restaurant. Although somewhat discontented with life since his migration from Hong Kong to Singapore, he and Sissy are a loving couple and enjoy a blissful marriage. They have a 15-year-old son (Edwin Goh) and a nine-year-old daughter (Regene Lim) who has a very close relationship with Sissy and is a source of great cheer and comfort to her.

In a twist of fate, an unexpected occurrence befalls their seemingly mediocre and uneventful lives. One day, as Sissy feels a hard lump in her left breast. A gush of complex emotions overwhelms her…

Adios Amigo! The beginning of the end of the National Stadium

Preparation work for the long anticipated demolition for one of places in Singapore for which I have many fond memories of, the National Stadium, has finally begun. Last Friday, heavy equipment started moving in, occupying the open space in front of the East Entrance, and this week, we see a fence being erected around some parts of the much loved stadium as she is being readied for demolition work proper which should commence in October, based on a news release by the Singapore Sports Council on 25 Aug 2010. Besides the heavy equipment and the erection of the fence, there is also quite a lot of activity happening inside the stadium, where salvageable and reusable items including the wooden planking that served as benches on the terraces are being painstakingly removed and moved out of the stadium before the wrecker’s ball descends on the grey concrete terraces in October …

Heavy equipment has been moved to the site of the former National Stadium as preparation work is being carried out for its eventual demolition.

Mobile cranes and parts of the fixed tower cranes that the mobile cranes will erect moved into the area in front of the East entrance last Friday.

A fence is being erected around the former stadium ... and we would soon lose sight of it.

The wooden seating in the gallery has been ripped out of the terraces.

Stay Me, Stay You at the Holiday Inn

I seem to have had some wonderful experiences of late, first a trip to Hong Kong courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, and more recently, a night’s stay in the deluxe suite at the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre. This latter was most kindly provided by the Holiday Inn, as part of their global marketing campaign which revolves around the theme of “Stay You”, which is all about staying you while staying at the Holiday Inn. The 319 room Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre is one that has already been quite well established in Singapore, having opened in 1985 (that’s 25 years ago already!) as the Holiday Inn Park View, and has had a refreshing makeover at a cost of S$25 million as part of a global re-launch of the already well established Holiday Inn brand. The refurbishment, carried out with the aim of putting the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre alongside the top hotels in the Orchard Road area, has given a refreshingly new look and feel to the entire establishment. What I really liked about it is the excellent location which brings one close to the action on Orchard Road, Singapore’s main shopping street, but yet is set just off where the hustle and bustle is across from the lush greenery of the Istana which provides a sense of being in a world away from the madness of the city – a perfect location to recharge.

The Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre: right close to the action on Orchard Road, and yet in a location in which one can easily forget where one is ...

Spending a day in the very comfortable and expansive suite certainly allowed me to “get away”, something that I guess I needed to do for some time, whilst certainly allowing me to just “stay me”. The view from the suite was really wonderful, looking across the Central Expressway (CTE) and Cavenagh Road to the wooded grounds of the Istana, not only provided me with a sense of calm, but also with a trip back in time to the area now disfigured by the construction of the much needed CTE, that I had known from the journeys on the school bus which took me from kindergarten in Cambridge Road to Toa Payoh. The bus would take a detour via Cavenagh Road turning right into Clemenceau Avenue, before heading to Toa Payoh to drop a kindergarten mate, my best friend Eddie at a row of terrace houses along Clemenceau Avenue, close to what had been its junction with Orchard Road. Much has changed with the CTE cutting a swath through a Clemenceau Avenue which had the likes of Sands House, the home of the Scouts Association of Singapore, and the Highway Inn among its well known landmarks. I guess I should really devote another post to this.

he gorgeous deluxe suite from which I was able to take in the excellent view of the lush Istana greenery, as well as take a trip back in time.

The calm setting of the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre ... just a stone's throw away from the busy Orchard Road but yet far enough from it and set amidst the greenery surrounding the Istana that makes you feel that are in another world.

What I guess made it a really great stay were the personal touches that were added all around: a green rubber ducky for the bath (green as part of the Holiday Inn’s branding image); a bowl of candy coated chocolates; the arrangement on the coffee table which included a luxurious looking fruit basket, a bottle of red wine, a plate of chocolates and a book with photographs of old Singapore (I guess going with the main subject matter found in my blog).

Nice touches were all around ... a rubber ducky for the bath ...

Candy coated chocolates to satisfy those with a sweet tooth ...

and personal touches to enhance the entire "Stay You" experience ...

As part of the overall experience, I had also had the privilege of dining at the two food and beverage outlets that the hotel has, the Tandoor North Indian Restaurant, as well as the Window on the Park Restaurant, and along with this, I had Club Privileges extended to me allowing me to make use of the wonderful Executive Lounge on Level 3. The Executive Lounge provides a cosy area where one can relax, surf the net, have faxes sent, and best of all, indulge in before dinner cocktails which can be supplemented by a selection from the excellent spread of finger food, which all in all is an excellent concept for the man on the move. Breakfast is also served at the lounge if one chooses to have breakfast in a private and exclusive setting, or alternatively, at the Window on the Park Restaurant, which provides a wider spread in its breakfast buffet.

The Executive Lounge on level 3 ...

offers finger food and cocktails in the evenings for those with Club Privileges and is popular with executives staying at the hotel.

The highlight of the dining experience for me was at the Tandoor where I had dinner, which offers an excellent selection of breads and well marinated meats cooked in the tandoor as well as some delectable Northern Indian curries. For those who are at a loss for a choice from the menu, set menus are also offered which provides a selection of the best dishes served in thoughtfully sized portions, which for me was completed by a serving of the not too sweet (as is often the case) serving of nutty and creamy Kulfi. To top it all, the service provided by the very attentive staff was excellent. Lunch the next day was a buffet at the Window on the Park, which provides excellent views of the greenery surrounding the Istana. While the restaurant was small, and inadvertently crowded due to the ongoing one-for-one buffet promotion, it was an experience I enjoyed for the excellent attention and service provided by the staff in the restaurant.

The Tandoor provides a wonderful setting for a North Indian culinary experience ...

The set dinner menu offered an excellent mix of North Indian breads and dishes in well thought of portions.

While staying at the hotel, I also had a chance to chill-out by the roof top swimming pool out. The pool was really nice and doesn’t just offer a refreshing dip to the hotel’s guests, but a wonderful place to relax and recharge. Set in the well landscaped private and quiet setting of what is the secluded roof top of the hotel, it takes one away into a world that seems far from the madness of nearby Orchard Road. Next to the pool, a gym also provides a wonderful place in which to work out – something I might have thought about doing if not for the call of the very comfortable suite.

The seclusion of the roof top swimming pool offers a quiet setting to relax and recharge.

A view of the roof top pool with the wading pool in the foreground.

The view from the comfortable poolside chairs ...

Even the little creatures found the pool a wonderful place to stay themselves.

Overall I must say that my stay at the Holiday Inn was certainly a “Stay Me” experience, one in which I was able to catch up on rest, relax by the pool, and feast on the flavours and aroma of spices of Northern India right in the heart of the city. Best of all, I was able to also take a trip back to my childhood as well as do one of my favourite things – catch the glorious sunrise from the window of the suite!

Even with the rain clouds that had gathered, mother nature obliged with a glorious sunrise ...

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As part of the global re-launch campaign the Holiday Inn is running a photography competition with some fantastic prizes. As the rebranding as mentioned revolves around the theme of “Stay You”, i.e. about people “being themselves” when they stay at the hotel, the Holiday Inn, is looking for pictures of people being themselves any place. The grand prize is a trip to Bali for 4 (winner + 3 friends/family members) and US$1200 spending money. Hurry to submit you entries – the contest ends on 12 September 2010 at 11.59 pm.

Now from the outside looking in and from the inside looking out …

From the world apart at Little India, my ex-schoolmates and me made our way back to Bras Basah Road by MRT for the final part of a walkabout which had started right where we found ourselves back to. Tired from what was a hot afternoon’s stroll, this leg was thankfully (for me at least), more of a winding down session. Emerging from the trains at Bras Basah Station, we found ourselves right below what had been the school field all those years back, on which we would have had a good time at kicking footballs. These days, a glass bottomed pool serves as a skylight of sorts, sits right where the part of the field closest to the school had been on what is now SMU Green.

A skylight where we had once kicked footballs on a grassy field.

Aerial view of the former SJI and the SJI Field (c. late 1960s).

Once on street level we were welcomed by the familiar sight of the building which had been school, Saint Joseph’s Institution (SJI) for four wonderful years of our schooling life. With its two curved wings which had always appeared to arms reaching out to protect us as school boys. These days, as the Singapore Art Museum, it still stands as a reminder to the many school boys who it nurtured over the years, and with the statue of Saint John the Baptist de La Salle serving to remind us of what the school had once stood for. There are of course the many jokes about the statue … one has it that La Salle in pointing in the direction of Stamford Road, is reminding the two boys standing beside him that if they are not diligent in their studies, they might end up in the rival school at the foot of Fort Canning Hill (which in our days, had a reputation for having producing boys who had female tendencies).

The former SJI building, which now houses the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), is a landmark along Bras Basah Road as it was back when we were in school.

Bras Basah Road (seen here in the 1950s) has been completely transformed over the last three decades. Three landmarks that are left along the road are the former SJI, the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, and the former CHIJ.

The statue of Saint John the Baptist de La Salle.

We took the opportunity to wander into the courtyard where we had once had our assemblies. It had been a lot bigger in our school days, able to take in the 30 or so classes of 45, assembled in rows of two. The courtyard had been for many of us back in school, the focal point of the school, and most would stand around the courtyard during recess or before classes. A popular activity had been feeding the pigeons with kacang putih bought from the tuck shop, an act that the pigeons sometimes repaid by blessing a few unfortunate boys with the digested bits of the feed that were expelled from their perch on the rafters above.

Reflection of a courtyard which had once been where. as school boys, we had assembled.

The passage way that had once been a main thoroughfare to get to the courtyard and tuck shop, running by what was once the staff room.

The kacang putih seller, seen in an old school annual.

There were some familiar sights, the green louvered wooden doors seemed very much like it was back then, which I guess helped in bringing a few memories back to us, transporting us back some 30 years in time. Somehow, we could picture ourselves in the place as it was back then, seeing sights and hearing sounds that we were once familiar with. It is always nice to relive old memories from time to time, and I guess we as students of SJI and one of the few with the privilege to do so at leisure, primarily because of what the buildings that were the school is used as today.

Back to school seeing what was yesterday reflected in what is today.

Another reflection of what once was.

Familiar sights ...

and maybe some less familiar ... but even then, some things never change ... the school building has a reputation for ghostly apparitions ...

An unfamiliar sight in a familiar place.

Leaving the Art Museum, we made our way through the compound of the Cathedral, where mass was going on. We were of course very familiar with the cathedral as boys, having attended mass there many times in the white of our school uniform. It was always on the agenda as well for my family for our church visits for Maundy Thursday. I had in fact visit the cathedral on several occasions as a young boy with my parents for mass as well. Each Sunday morning that we were there, we would encounter this rather impossible person who was the warden in charge of directing cars parking in the compound, which even then always seemed to fill up. The warden, a certain Mr Prince, never failed to find himself as a source of displeasure to church goers in his attempts to convince them to park their cars in the tightest of spots. The Cathedral, a gazetted national monument, is these days sadly in need of repair, having been damaged by much of the construction activity including tunneling work for the Circle Line which runs underneath Bras Basah Road. It is quite sad to see part of the structure needing to be propped by wooden shoring, and hopefully the damage and be completely repaired.

The spire of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd is now dwarfed by the buildings that have come up around it.

Shoring now supports part of the cathedral's structure which has suffered damage from all the construction activity that has gone on around the national monument.

Across Victoria Street from the Cathedral, what was the walled compound that used to house the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) stands. Back when we were school boys, much of what went on behind the walls was a big mystery to us. Looking at CHIJ then from the streets around it, one would have been confronted by what appeared to be a rather thick wall, almost as if it was some kind of fortification, parts of which were topped off by broken pieces of glass cemented in with sharp edges facing up. Along two sides of it, running along Bras Basah and North Bridge Roads, were rooms ventilated by small openings in the walls that I understand, had housed rooms which were used by the nuns who ran the convent. Along the Stamford Canal, another wall concealed much revealing only the secondary school building. The only glimpse we could get of what it was like beyond the walls was along Victoria Street, through the tall iron main gate, and perhaps by peeking through the small opening in the so called “Gate of Hope” close to the junction with Bras Basah Road.

From the outside looking in ... what was behind the walls were a mystery to many of us schoolboys.

The Gothic styled chapel dominated the compound.

A view of CHIJ as it was in its early days.

The view port on the Gate of Hope, where abandoned babies where left. The nuns ran an orphanage which took these unwanted babies in.

The wall of the former CHIJ along Bras Basah Road.

As boys we were always curious to know what was beyond the walls that swallowed up many of the pretty faces we had encountered each morning going to school, not being able to see beyond the magnificent structure of the Gothic styled chapel that proudly stood just behind the tall iron gate. I did have some first hand accounts from my sister who spent the first two years of her school life there before deciding that leaving for school at 5.30 each morning was something she could do without, but being at that age, she didn’t really have too much to share about the school. I did have an opportunity to see what did go on behind the walls, having been chosen to attend a girl guides campfire as a scout. I guess what the flickering glow of the campfire didn’t reveal much of the convent’s secrets as I do not not much of an impression of what was within the premises besides the field where the sunken courtyard we see today is, and the buildings that surrounded the field making it seem almost like a cloister of sorts.

The Gothic styled former chapel as seen on our recent walk.

The field that was behind the chapel ... now the sunken courtyard of CHIJMES.

Times have changed I guess, and the usage of the buildings of the former convent has as well. The convent moved to its present premises in Toa Payoh in 1982 before the complex of buildings were restored and transformed into what we see today … a dining, entertainment and shopping venue that in keeping with its past (only in name) has been named CHIJMES (pronounced “chimes”). So, now the once unadulterated grounds have been overrun by establishments that maybe serve some of what the nuns may have frowned upon. The complex is dominated by the sunken courtyard behind the former chapel that was once the school field, perhaps telling of how low the use of the premises has sunk to (from a spiritual viewpoint). That knowledge did not stop us from enjoying a couple of beers in the now unholy cloister.  What is nice about the place is that the sunken courtyard that provides a very Mediterranean feel about it.

The former cloister now houses food and entertainment outlets.

Mass being celebrated in the chapel.

The building that housed St. Nicholas Girls' School from 1949 to 1983.

The building today.

Although CHIJMES is today used in a manner that is perhaps not what the buildings were originally intended for, what is nice about it is that we are now able to see and appreciate efforts placed in giving us the magnificent examples of art and architecture erected to the “greater glory of God”. There is certainly an opportunity to savour what has to be some of the best examples of European style religious architecture in the this part of the world, works that were once only seen by those who lived and went to school within the closed compound. What must certainly stand out in this respect is the former chapel, built in the gothic style complete with flying buttresses that support the spire, which was completed in 1904. The chapel’s splendid architecture is complemented by what has to be some of the best examples of the medieval art of stained glass making in this region, made by a master craftsman, a certain Jules Dobbelaere, schooled in the Bruges tradition. Burges is a city which has received a lot of attention for some of the best preserved medieval edifices, in particular the many churches and the works of stained glass that seek to leave those fortunate enough to bathe in the glow in total awe. More information on the stained glass windows in the former chapel can be found on the CHIJMES website. On thing that would really be nice if the interior of the former chapel, now a private function hall, can be made accessible to allow the general public with an opportunity to have a close up view of the magnificence of the stained glass windows.

The stained glass windows above the altar area.

Stained glass in one of the side chapels.

Close up of the Nativity scene over the former altar area.

Stained glass above the entrance.

Another pane inside the chapel.

A pane at the entrance area ...

The chapel and the Neo-Gothic gallery flanking the chapel.

The grounds are full of delights waiting to be found … that in the brick and mortar of the buildings, in the glass work as previously described, and also in some wonderful pieces of ironwork that can be found in the gates and spiral staircases that lead up to what were the primary school classrooms above the Neo-Gothic galleries that flank the chapel. It’s certainly nice to have the opportunity to be able to discover all these and to savour the treat to the eyes that, for so long, the nuns at CHIJ had kept as a secret to the world outside.

Besides the wonderful chapel ... there's a lot more delightful work to be discovered ...

particularly in the Neo-Gothic galleries flanking the former chapel ...

including some delightful ironwork ...

on the spiral staircases ...

and floor tiles ... we had similar tiles when we were in SJI.

Frothy black substance seen floating on top off Tuas

Off Tuas Road that is … at the Asia Pacific Breweries (APB). The folks there who are responsible for bringing Guinness to Singapore, were kind enough to organise an inaugural meet up for fans of the liquid black gold. The fans were treated to a tour of the brewery (not that Guinness is brewed there … we were told that the Guinness we get here is in fact brewed in the Emerald Isle, Ireland, and is actually not black as it appears to the naked eye, but a rather dark shade of ruby red, during the course of the evening). It was certainly a night not to forget, as following the tour of the brewery, there was still time to indulge in a few pints of the glorious ruby red stuff at the Tiger Tavern next door.

The Tiger Tavern at APB in Tuas.

Beer delivery in the good old days ... surely there couldn't have been enough beer to go around!

Having had the opportunity to visit breweries and distilleries which always seem to be dominated by the copper kettles and vats, I guess the visit to the brewery wasn’t remarkable in itself, but there still something that I learnt in the process … that while we take things standing up, the Dutch seem more laid back in taking things lying down: Heineken is fermented in a horizontal tank whereas most other beers are fermented in a vertical tank.

While we take things standing up ....

The Dutch seem more inclined towards a more laid back approach ... Heineken is fermented in horizontal tanks.

Another thing I learnt that evening once was that Guinness was in many ways lighter than lager … first by having less calories than lager … and also that it is actually a less dense liquid and can be made to float on lager by a skilled bartender … what the Guinness folks call a “Black and White” – also referred to as a “Black and Tan” more generically. A spoon is used in the process to tap the Guinness into half a glass of lager … a process made to look easy by the skilled bartender who in no time at all, produced a pint of what was certainly a sight to behold: Black liquid floating on gold.

Making a Guinness Black and White ...

Easy does it ...

Voilà! The frothy black substance floating on top of a little more than half a glass of lager.

Of course the evening wouldn’t have been complete without some fun … some lucky people walked home with the much coveted new Guinness Pint Glass which is being introduced this September and several other prizes by providing correct answers to questions posed by the Guinness Team and also with some creative attempts as downing a pint of Guinness ….

Getting creative at downing a pint of Guinness!

Oh, and I did learn one more thing … that beer doesn’t cause a “beer belly” as is commonly thought … it does however increase one’s appetite … so I guess there’s only one thing left to blame – too much of the other good stuff, food, which the folks at APB were kind enough to provide an excellent spread of for the evening to complement the Guinness. I understand that they would be organising more events like this … and it is certainly worth to keep your eyes and ears wide open for a really good time.

Saying goodbye ...