A final journey from Tanjong Pagar: into Malaysia before leaving Singapore

Whatever our reasons may have been, some friends and I decided to embark on what may be a last journey by train from the station that has served as the southern terminal of the Malayan Railway, Tanjong Pagar Station, for a better part of a century. For some of us bitten by the nostalgia bug brought about by the knowledge that platforms of the station would have fallen silent by the time the second half of 2011 arrives for the grand old station, it was about reliving our fond memories of train journeys that we have taken through the station. For others, it was a maiden journey – one that needed to be taken before the station shuts its doors to train passengers for good, and one that needed to be taken for the romance perhaps of taking a train from a station that is very much from the old world.

The grand old station at Tanjong Pagar had served as the southern terminal of the Malayan Railway since 1932.

This thought of a last journey had come with a walk or discovery and rediscovery down the Bukit Timah railway corridor, and with little planning, a few friends decided on a day trip to Gemas, the significance of Gemas being that of the main railway junction where the lines running north split into eastbound and a westbound lines, a well as being about the furthest that one could go with the time afforded by a day trip. Having purchased tickets well in advance for the travelling party which had grown from a few friends to a party of 13, something that we decided would be best with the start of the peak travel season brought about by the school holidays on both sides of the Causeway, all that was left for us was to board the train when the day arrived.

The platforms at Tanjong Pagar would have fallen silent by the time the second half of 2011 arrives.

Going on what is the first train out to Gemas, the 0800 Ekspress Rakyat, meant an early start on a Sunday morning, having to arrive at half an hour prior to departure to clear Malaysian Immigration and Customs. Arriving at the station with time to spare, we were able to grab a quick bite at the coffee shop by the platform before making our way to the departure gates. At the gates, somewhat surrealistically, the frenzied atmosphere that had greeted my very first train journey was conspicuously absent, replaced by a calm that was certainly more in keeping with the laid back feel of the rest of the surroundings that early morning.

The was definitely a less frenzied atmosphere around the departure gates and platform compared to when I took my very first train journey out of Tanjong Pagar.

What had been up till 31 July 1998, the southernmost exit point from Singapore for journeys across the Causeway, the booths that were used by the Singapore Immigration Department before the big shift to the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex in Woodlands, now sit quietly and forgotten at the entrance to the platform. Beyond the booths lay ones that still had life, used by the Malaysian authorities, who have stubbornly resisted all attempts by the Singapore government to also shift the Malaysian checkpoint to Woodlands – one of what had been the many thorns that had been lodged in the side of bilateral relations between the two countries for a long time. With the Malaysian authorities continuing to operate their checkpoint at the station (claiming that it was well within their rights to do so despite the Singapore government’s insistence that it was illegal to do so on the grounds that whether or not KTM had a lease on the land, the land was still within Singapore’s sovereign territory), the checkpoint that we passed through is possibly the only one in the world that exists where the immigration clearance is carried out by the country into which entry is being made into first. What this also means is that passports are not stamped by the Malaysian side – an irregularity that is tolerated only as a consequence of train passengers leaving Tanjong Pagar station having technically not left Singapore, not having first cleared Singapore Immigration.

The booths that were once used by the Singapore Immigration prior to its shift to the CIQ complex at Woodlands on 1 Aug 1998.

A stamp on the Immigration Departure Card in lieu of one on the passport to indicate entry into Malaysia through Tanjong Pagar Station.

Passing through Malaysian Customs – I was quite relieved not to have encountered a particular Customs officer from the past, one whom most in the know would try to avoid back in the 1990s when every item of baggage would be rummaged through by the over zealous Customs officers stationed at Tanjong Pagar. The officer in question was one that stood out, being the only ethnic Chinese Customs officer amongst the mainly Malay officers, and one who seemed to think that everything that looked expensive or new had to be taxed.

The disused platform adjacent to the departure platform running parallel to Keppel Road.

An old passenger carriage at a disused platform at the station.

Finding myself on the very familiar departure platform after Customs, it somehow seemed a lot quieter than it had been on my previous journeys – perhaps with journeys by train becoming less attractive with Singaporeans heading up north, with the introduction of improved and very comfortable coach services to the major Malaysian towns and cities, which are not just much quicker, but also a cheaper alternative to the train.

The very silent departure platform.

Another view of the rather quiet departure platform.

Boarding the train brought with it familiar sights and smells ....

The train pulls out ... signalling its intent with a whistle and the blare of the horn ...

... as sways and jerks accompanied the first few metres of movement ...

The rustic charm of the train yard just after the station ...

More views around the train yard ...

There was a lot to take in along the way as well: once again, scenes that will be lost once the corridor through which the railway runs is redeveloped. Clearing the relatively built up areas as the train first passed the Bukit Merah and Delta areas, the bit of greenery around the Portsdown area before coming to Queenstown, Tanglin Halt and the Buona Vista areas, we soon found ourselves amidst the lush greenery of the Ulu Pandan area. The train pulled to a stop at Bukit Timah Station, not so much to pick passengers up but to make way for not one but two south bound trains, letting one pass before moving up the nearby railway bridge only to head back down to allow the second to pass. We were able to observe the handing over of the key token – an archaic safety practice where authority to proceed from the station would be “handed-over” by the station master to the train, before continuing on our journey north.

Pulling out through the Bukit Merah area ...

Pulling into Bukit Timah Station ...

Stopping for the first of two passing southbound trains ...

Crossing the truss bridge over Bukit Timah / Dunearn Roads ....

... probably to change tracks for the next passing train ...

Bukit Timah Station.

Signalling the second southbound train ...

Getting ready to hand over the key token ...

Getting ready to hand over the key token ...

Next, the train headed up the Bukit Timah corridor, past the first of the two distinctive truss bridges, through the notorious Rifle Range and Hillview areas before crossing the second of the bridges. Much of the area was certainly familiar from the recent trek some of us made down from the level crossing at Choa Chu Kang Road, which we in no time passed, crossing three more level crossings through some of the greener parts of the island before reaching Woodlands, where we disembarked to clear Singapore Immigration. Boarding the train, the jam on the Causeway soon greeted us, as well as a hazy and somewhat sleepy view of the Straits of Johore as we crossed the Causeway and rather uneventfully, we were soon at the spanking new Johor Baharu Sentral – just across from the old Johor Baharu Station, from where we would continue on the next part of our journey … northwards through the length State of Johore …

Through the Bukit Timah Corridor near Hillview.

Another view of the Bukit Timah Corridor near Hillview.

Enjoying the scenery of Singapore's nothern countryside near Kranji ... (don't try this at home!).

The sleepy view from the Causeway (looking at Senoko Power Station) of the Straits of Johore.

The water pipelines at the Causeway (supply of water was another thorn in the side of bilateral relations).

Arriving at spanking new JB Sentral ... the gateway to the north...

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Crossings through the passage of time

Writing about parts of the Malayan railway land in Singapore that I am familiar with has somehow fuelled a desire to discover parts that are less known to me, in an attempt to capture images from the railway line, parts of which would have gone back to the days of the Kranji-Singapore Railway in the early 1900s. Most of what we see today has in fact come about through the Railway Deviation of 1932 – one that gave us the two stations that we see standing today, Bukit Timah and the grand old dame at Tanjong Pagar, as well as some that have disappeared altogether. One of these in fact left its legacy behind, in the form of a name of an area – one that I have always had a fascination for, Tanglin Halt. As I have discovered on my walks of rediscovery through parts of the Bukit Timah corridor in which many of the railway “landmarks” I had become acquainted with on the many road and train journeys through the area are still around today, much of the land that the railway runs through look as if time in its passage through Singapore, has somehow passed by, leaving sights that belong in a landscape that we would have been more familiar with half a century ago.

Parts of Kranji Road, where the northernmost rail Level Crossing is in Singapore, looks very much as if time has passed it by.

On my more recent wanderings to parts that I am less familiar with, I was happy to see that time does seemed to have also stood still in many of the areas around, giving me as I strolled through them a sense that I was wandering through a world far removed in time and space from the big city Singapore has become. One of these wanderings took me to the north of the island to what are the three northernmost level crossings on the island, one of which is perhaps after the one at Choa Chu Kang Road, the busiest in Singapore, at Kranji Road. It is here that queues of vehicles form waiting not just for a train to cross, but due to the narrowness of the road lane where the crossing is, has the flow of vehicles across it restricted to one direction at a time. This along with the one I explored earlier at Gombak Drive and is one with that old fashion gate that gives a level crossing the character it should really have, and is close where an abandoned camp stands, skeletons of numerous Nissen Huts bearing testament to the forgotten era during which the camp would have been used. The road is in fact straddled by two former camps, the one on the other side appearing to be abandoned as well. Not being able to stop my car to explore the area on foot – I decided to move to the next crossing further south along Woodlands Road – at Sungei Kadut Avenue.

The northernmost rail Level Crossing in Singapore at Kranji Road. Traffic flow across the level crossing is regulated due to the narrowness of the road where the crossing is.

Skeletons of Nissen Huts at an abandoned camp along Kanji Road, in the vicinity of the Level Crossing bearing testament to a forgotten era during which the camp might have been used.

Another abandoned camp in the vicinity of the Level Crossing at Kranji Road.

The Sungei Kadut is today more known for the industrial estate which has been associated with sawmills and the woodworking and furniture industries since the 1970s. A mangrove swamp had in fact occupied much of the area where the industrial estate sits up to the end of the 1960s when the area was reclaimed to house concentrations of sawmills from areas such as Kallang, which were being relocated due to urban renewal. The crossing at Sungei Kadut Avenue seemed to be one of the more dangerous around for some reason – with a collision occuring between a train and a car in the mid 1970s when the gate keeper had failed to closed the gates at the crossing, in which the car driver somehow escaped injury.

The crossing at Sungei Kadut Avenue was where a train collided with a car in the mid 1970s.

The signal hut at the Sungei Kadut Level Crossing.

Abandoned houses belonging to KTM near the Sungei Kadut Level Crossing.

The refreshing rural scene around Sungei Kadut.

Further south along Woodlands Road, there is a smaller level crossing than the one at Sungie Kadut. This crossing is perhaps the prettiest level crossing in Singapore … with an old style signal hut set in a clearing off Stagmont Ring Road. The crossing is just about two kilometres north of the largest one at Choa Chu Kang Road, and one which I should have remembered from my days in National Service where I had a stint a a nearby camp which involved many exercises in the vicinity of the tracks, but somehow have no recollection of. What is interesting in the area is an old fashioned petrol station with an awning structure that suggests that it might not have changed very much over maybe two or three decades. There used to be a few of these along Woodlands Road – most had fallen victims to the widening of parts of the road. There is another old style station – an old Shell station nearby at Mandai Road – one that I would pass during my National Service days taking the bus service 171 towards Sembawang Road on the way back home from camp … I had a quick glance at it making my way down Woodlands Road and was happy to see that it was still there – signs of a recent makeover does tell me that it would be there for some time to come. Most of what we can see today in the area may soon be gone though, as once the terminal station for the southern end of the railway moves to Woodlands in mid 2011 – vast tracts of land which now belong to to the railway would be available for development and with that, we may see the last of the land that time forgot.

Stagmont Ring Road is where the prettiest level crossing is in Singapore.

The signal hut and level crossing at Stagmont Ring Road.

The crossing in operation ...

The outhouse at the level crossing.

The rural scene by the level crossing at Stagmont Ring Road.

Sights around the level crossing at Stagmont Ring Road.

An old fashioned petrol station along Woodlands Road near Stagmont Ring Road offers a feel of the countryside.

Looking for Gopher but finding a Legend: The Legend of the Seas

I have to admit that it has been ages since I have embarked on a cruise, some three and a half decades to be precise – half a lifetime ago. In saying so, I have to also admit that while I went on a series of two cruises in the short space of a year, they had been ones that provided a very different experience from what the magnificent cruise liners we see on our shores today can provide. The two cruises had been ones that were taken on a shoestring, so to speak, as fare paying 2nd Class passengers onboard an old fashioned davit adorned cargo cum passenger ship of a 1950s vintage, the M.V. Kimanis. While that offered the relative comforts of a clean and what would have been a luxuriously outfitted cabin, the simple furnishings of the cabins would probably seem Spartan against the luxurious settings of today’s cruise liners.

The setting for my first two and only cruises to date.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines offered bloggers a peek through the portholes to the wonderful Legend of the Seas - a very different world from the old cargo ship I had taken a cruise on all those years ago.

The concept of luxury cruise liners wasn’t actually alien to this part of the world back then. The M.S. Rasa Sayang, probably the first to be based in Singapore, offered cruises that offered more than the one-armed bandit, duty-free beer, strolls around the wooden sheathed deck and the odd visit to the Bridge. That however, was out of reach to most back then, and it wasn’t until a few years later that I got my very first experience of a cruise liner – with the help of the very merry Captain Merrill Stubin and his jolly crew on the Pacific Princess, I was, together with my parents and sister, carried to exotic sounding ports such as Acapulco and Puerto Vallata on the west coast of North America – not physically, but virtually on the screen of my family’s first coloured television set. That was of course the then very popular sitcom, known to us as “The Love Boat”, which featured characters such as a favourite of mine Gopher, the Yeoman Purser.

The bow of the Legend of the Seas seen through the link bridge at the Cruise Centre.

Now, fast forward to 2010, and despite my early adventures on the high seas, the inspiration provided by Gopher, and having had many past encounters with ships large and small and one that literally flies, during the course of my career, it wasn’t until the generous offer of a half day tour of the Legend of the Seas made by Royal Caribbean Cruises to promote their “My Royal Caribbean Cruise Adventure” to bloggers, that I finally got not just to peek through the portholes of a cruise liner, but actually be brought around one.

The tour of the Legend of the Seas provided bloggers with a first hand view of the fabulous 70000 ton ship operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Taking the first peek at the very luxurious Legend of the Seas.

The ship tour offered a rare opportunity to visit a luxurious cruise ship and cameras started clicking from the word go!

I guess I wasn't the only one awed by the experience ... Mr. Personality at the Urban Homme Challenge Aussie Pete was wide-eyed throughout the ship tour.

The walk through the ship started with a briefing at the Anchors Aweigh lounge on Deck 5 at which evening entertainment is held during cruises, moving through a shopping arcade Boutiques of Centrum, where we learnt that we could shop with the assurance that prices would not just be duty-free, but would come with a lowest price guarantee. Also on Deck 5, are the Shore Excursion Desk, and the Purser’s Desk, where I might, expecting to see a familiar face in Gopher, have been disappointed if not for the wonderful smile I got from the lady Gopher … uh I meant Purser.

The Anchors Aweigh Lounge on Deck 5.

Decoration inside Anchors Aweigh.

Welcoming the bloggers at Anchors Aweigh...

Decoration inside Anchors Aweigh.

Where I guess one can shop till one drops ... prices guaranteed too! The Boutiques of Centrum on Deck 5.

A cute offering at the Boutiques of Centrum.

The Shore Excursion Desk on Deck 5.

The Purser's Desk on Deck 5.

The Purser - not quite Gopher, but with an equally wonderful smile.

Snail mail gets delivered too!

Moving up to Deck 6, we were shown some of the smaller but no less luxurious cabins – the Ocean View Staterooms and the Interior Staterooms, but not before having a glance at the Photo Gallery and Shop, and being tempted by the offerings at the Ben & Jerry Cafe Latte-tudes.

Ben & Jerry's on Deck 6 at the Cafe Latte-tudes.

Cones waiting to be treated with a scoop of Ben & Jerry's ...

There is much more than Ice Cream that Cafe Latte-tudes offers the hungry passenger ....

The Ocean View Stateroom on Deck 6.

On Deck 7, we were greeted by the busts of the likes of Mark Twain and the Bard, William Shakespeare before coming to the little but delightfully furnished Library where a wide array of books awaits the passenger, and the Card Room where Mahjong can also be played. On the same Deck, we also saw the Superior Interior Staterooms, and the D1 Staterooms which were fitted with balconies – something that impressed our Urban Homme Challenge Mr Personality, Aussie Pete no end and probably helped convince him that a cruise was in order.

The bust of Mark Twain next to the Library on Deck 7.

A well-stocked shelf in the Library.

Generous windows illuminate the gorgeous Library.

Inside the Library.

The Card Room on Deck 7.

The cruises offered are very popular with organisations looking for incentive travel packages.

An Interior Stateroom on Deck 7.

The room with a view - the D1 Superior Balcony Stateroom on Deck 7 with a balcony that wowed many.

The Balcony of the D1 Superior Balcony Stateroom.

The reverse view of the D1 Superior Balcony Stateroom.

Bathrobes.

The view from Deck 7.

The view up ... to where the air is thin ...

The oxygen level did seem to get thinner the higher up we went and on Deck 8 as after the peek at the WIFI access area situated at the Crown and Anchor Study, and an internet cafe in the form of Royal Caribbean Online, our breath was taken away by the gorgeous suites on the deck which included the Grand Suite, the Owner’s Suite and the expansive Royal Suite, something that perhaps I would have otherwise only set eyes upon in a glossy magazine.

Crown and Anchor Study on Deck 8.

Royal Caribbean Online on Deck 8.

Decoration on the bulkhead at Royal Caribbean Online.

Beautiful natural light is provided by the skylight to the public areas on Deck 8.

The view through a blind on Deck 8.

Inside a Grand Suite on Deck 8.

The balcony of the Grand Suite.

The Owner's Suite on Deck 8.

The bed in the Owner's Suite.

Even the toilet paper used onboard reeks of luxury.

Towels.

The Royal Suite.

Ashtray / Cigarette disposal in the balcony of the Royal Suite.

On Deck 9, we had a quick look around the Windjammer Cafe, which had what seemed a sumptuous buffet spread that had my stomach growling. The very inviting looking Main Pool is located on the same deck, as well as the Solarium and Day Spa & Fitness Centre, which our group somehow missed, missing a show stealer that was put on by one of the bloggers.

The Windjammer Cafe on Deck 9.

Offerings at the Windjammer Buffet ...

The view on Deck 9.

Refreshments on Deck 9.

Up on Deck 10, we came to the Optix, an area for teens which had what seemed to be a very cool recording studio within the area. Situated in the same area is a Video Arcade as well as Adventure Ocean, a kids play area. We were then shown the open deck area where a row of deck chairs leads aft to the Legend of the Links, a mini-golf course and then to a Rock Climbing Wall located right at the aft end of the deck – awesome!

The view of the Main Pool on Deck 9 from Deck 10.

Optix is an area on Deck 10 for teens to chill out.

Adventure Ocean - a kids activity area.

View of the Main Pool from Deck 10.

View of deck chairs on Deck 9 from Deck 10.

Deck chairs on Deck 10.

Shuffle board on Deck 10.

Legend of the Links - Mini Golf!

The Rock Climbing Wall at the aft end of Deck 10.

Sadly for us, even though many of us harboured thoughts of finding a hiding place to stowaway, we made our way to our final stop, the Romeo & Juliet Dining Room on Deck 4, where we were treated to a wonderful three course meal. I had a prawn cocktail, the steamed Halibut served with vegetables and polenta, and a very sweet but light dessert. While all this was going on, one of the bloggers seemed to be studying the cruise brochure pretty hard – nipping out for a while to check the Casino Royale on the same deck out, perhaps hoping that it was opened so that he can get lucky, and perhaps return for a stay in one of those very luxurious suites on Deck 8 that not just he, but most of us were most impressed with…

Lunch at the Romeo & Juliet Dining Room.

He's definitely sold on a cruise on the Legend of the Seas!

The area around Toa Payoh Library 37 years ago

Taking a walk back with the Toa Payoh Library to the beginnings of Toa Payoh as a planned satellite town, I was able to explore some of the “newer” additions in the early days of Toa Payoh as a HDB estate. Of these additions, we have of course the Library building itself, and the open space in front of the Library which had incidentally a significant part to play in the history of Toa Payoh as well as having some buildings of significance around it.

The Toa Payoh Library and the open area in front of it as seen today.

The library itself – although it wasn’t opened yet (it opened in early 1974), was the location of a momentous event in Singapore’s sporting history – it was where the Games Village built to house athletes from seven participating countries for the very first mass sporting event that Singapore held, the 7th South East Asian Peninsula Games (SEAP Games), was officially opened by the late Dr. Goh Keng Swee in a ceremony held on 30 August 1973. Looking at the picture of the library in the early days, one is able to count eight flag poles – one to fly each of the participating nations’ flags as well as the Games flag. To house the athletes, four 24 storey point blocks with 346 four room units were built in Toa Payoh Central, each unit housing six athletes in three bedrooms. These units were later sold to members of the public through a balloting exercise, fully renovated and furnished – the first ever HDB flats to be sold that way, at a cost of S$19,000 for the flat and another S$1,700 for the furnishings. One of the point blocks, Block 179, is just next to the library and was in fact also the second VIP block in Toa Payoh, taking over from Block 53 where I had lived in.

The library building soon after completion with the 8 flag poles in front of it. It was where the opening ceremony of the 7th SEAP Games Village was held on 30 Aug 1973 (photo courtesy of the NLB).

Dr. Goh Keng Swee cutting a cake during the opening ceremony for the Games Village (source: The Straits Times, 31 Aug 1973).

Block 179, one of the four 24 storey four room point blocks built to house athletes during the 7th SEAP Games in 1973 and was also the second VIP block in Toa Payoh.

Toa Payoh besides hosting the 7th SEAP Games Village, was also a town of many firsts, as I had mentioned in a previous post. Among the ‘firsts’ was also the first ever fully air-conditioned POSB Bank branch – located at the corner of Block 178 – again just by where the library is (a Bata shoe store now occupies the units which the bank occupied).

The Bata store now at the corner of Block 178 occupies the units which housed the first ever POSB Bank branch to be fully air-conditioned.

In the same area across the open space from Block 179 is another building which is significant in Toa Payoh’s history – the building that housed Kong Chian Cinema – Toa Payoh’s first ever cinema, which opened on 11 May 1972 with the screening of a Charity Premier ‘The Loner’ for the nearby Chung Hwa Free Hospital. Now called 600@Toa Payoh, the building housed a single screen cinema with two classes of seating, which was very typical of the day – where tickets were printed on coloured pieces of paper on which seat numbers were scribbled onto by a box office clerk with Chinagraph. The cinema screened mainly Chinese films for close to fifteen years until it screened its last movie, ‘The Legend of Wisely’ on 31 January 1987 after which the building was sold to McDonalds.

Now 600@Toa Payoh, the building was where Toa Payoh's first cinema, Kong Chian, was housed from 1972 to 1987.

An Italian lady visits the Harbourfront

I was looking through some old digital photographs and discovered three I had taken on the deck of the ITS San Giusto, an Italian Navy Landing Platform Dock (LPD) on a visit here in 2001. That was just prior to the unfortunate series of events that took place on the 11th of September 2001, which as a result of, made public access to visiting naval ships extremely difficult.

On the deck of the San Giusto.

The deck of the San Giusto, which had been berthed at the Harbourfront Centre (which is now VivoCity), features an island superstructure arranged at the starboard side resembles that of an aircraft carrier. The San Giusto is actually one of a series of three vessels built by the Italian Navy utilising the same platform. Two of which, the San Giorgio and San Marco have a longer flight deck – not so much for fixed wing aircraft to take off from, but to accommodate larger rotary wing aircraft, functioning almost as a helicopter carrier.

The deck of the San Giusto resembles that of an aircraft carrier.

Landing Platform Docks can be classified under the wider category of Amphibious Transport Dock Ships – of which the US Navy operates the largest fleet of. Although generally seen as a long range vehicle used for the projection of power, allowing large quantities of personnel and military logistics to be transported over large sea distances and delivered ashore utilising smaller landing craft some of which are discharged from a dock or dockwell in the aft which can be flooded by partially submerging the vessel through a stern door or ramp, and some of which are launched from davits arranged on the ship’s sides, these vessels are particularly useful in delivering aid such as in the case of East Timor and in the aftermath of the Indonesian Tsunami. The Republic of Singapore Navy operates four similar vessels, which at 140 metres in length are slightly larger in size than the Italian ships which measure 133 metres in length, with a more conventional superstructure arrangement and regularly deploys the vessels on humanitarian missions – such as the successful ones to Meulaboh, Aceh in the wake of the tsunami.

The forward mooring deck ... notice what is now Harbourfront Centre on the top left corner of the picture (then called the World Trade Centre) - and what was the Harbourfront Centre (with the semi-circular awning) which has now been transformed into VivoCity.

Toa Payoh’s fairy-tale-like castle

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, a wonderful castle rose up on a little hill bringing a world that seemed to only exist in fairy-tales to the many children who lived in the land. It was a castle that perhaps capped a transformation that took place in the land, once referred to as a big swamp which had contained pockets of zinc or attap topped wooden dwellings that had once been a place where even the brave had feared to thread, having been referred as the ‘Chicago of the East’ or ‘Chicago of Singapore’ for the many gangland activities that seemed to have thrived in the area. The castle had also brought to the children who lived in the newly transformed swamp to a land many had sought to see, a land that lay far across the vast ocean, Disneyland that had existed in the same world that contained the Chicago that many had associated the swamp with. It was indeed a castle where fairy-tales seemed to be made of – as it brought to the children around not just the sense of wonderment that a castle brings, but hope for that better tomorrow that seemed to have eluded many that had once lived around the swamp.

Toa Payoh underwent a transformation from becoming the Chicago of Singapore in the 1960s to a much sought after middle class area we know of today.

The land where the castle had been erected in was the newly transformed Toa Payoh, Singapore’s wonderful new satellite town, the first to be planned as a unit and the first to be built in the then newly independent Singapore. It was a Singapore that was trying to find its feet, as the uncertainty of being cast out from a world that it had long sought to be a part of and one on which it was very much dependent on, gave way to a hope and confidence that the rapid post-independence development had brought about. The castle had in Toa Payoh, become a beacon of hope, as banks, shops and factories moved into the newly developed satellite town, bringing with them the confidence that Singapore’s Chicago could be transformed from what had once had been a hotbed of gangland activity to a land that was safe to live in, bringing not just a commercial presence to the town, but also providing jobs to many who lived there.

Toa Payoh's 'castle' came up in 1969 on the side of Block 54 (source: The Straits Times, 6 Dec 1969).

As with the fairy-tale world from which the castle might have come from, the castle itself was a make-believe one. One that was for most part a two dimensional mural of sorts that decorated the side of Block 54 which stood on a small table of land that rose from the road, Lorong 4 that it faced. I guess to provide a third dimension to the ‘castle’, ramparts – mock-ups built on the open space between the road and the block of flats were added, amongst which children could live out part of the make-believe world the castle had sought to bring. The ‘castle’ had in fact been a stroke of genius – an advertisement for the branch of Chung Khiaw bank that had been opened at the foot of the block of flats, that certainly brought attention to it, recognising that children were a major market force long before McDonald’s arrived at our shores. The bank had then started a ‘coins bank’ scheme, offering attractive bronze coloured coin boxes in the shape of animals, to children which was indeed popular with the children of Toa Payoh, perhaps partly due to the attention that the castle had brought to the branch of the bank, which opened in December 1969. Sadly for the children of today, the wonderful ‘castle’ is now gone – it went sometime in the mid 1970s – not too long after Chung Khiaw bank was acquired by UOB in 1972 (disappearing in name with the merger with UOB in the 1980s).

The view to the end of Block 54 where the branch of Chung Khiaw Bank and the fairy-tale like castle had once stood.

Speaking of Chung Khiaw bank and UOB brings back memories of a run on Chung Khiaw bank that occurred in October of 1974, when over the course of two days, thousands had descended on the same branch (as with many other branches) in an attempt to withdraw their savings with rumours swirling over the bank’s financial stability. What I remember very vividly was the long queue of people that had formed outside the branch and my grandmother remarking that it she was lucky not to have any of her money in the bank. If I remember correctly, this went on for a few days before calm returned as the authorities intervened to restore faith in the bank.

The Fairchild Factory at its opening in December 1969 (source: The Straits Times, 4 Dec 1969)

The Fairchild Factory as seen in 1973.

Besides the advertisement which also had a red-green neon sign of the bank’s name at the top of the block of flats, there were some other prominent landmarks in the area, particularly the short stretch of road, Lorong 3 that the side of the block had overlooked. One was the Fairchild factory – Toa Payoh’s first factory which opened in 1969, operating for several months before being officially opened on 4 December of that year by Dr. Toh Chin Chye. The factory had been set up by the US based Fairchild group with the assistance of the Economic Development Board (EDB) for the assembly of integrated circuits, and was one of the few then that worked around the clock – with three shifts. Starting with 400 employees , which grew to 800 by the time Dr. Toh opened the factory, the factory also featured female only production workers for the delicate shop floor operations. The two storey building that the factory started in, is in fact still there – now used by McDermott, as is another of the landmarks along Lorong 3 – a dragon statue – one a dragon twisting around a red pillar, not as elaborate maybe as the one featured in Royston Tan’s documentary ‘Old Places’ at Whampoa, but one that many who grew up in the area would fondly remember.

The two storey building that housed the former Fairchild Factory along Lorong 3 today.

The other 'landmark' along Lorong 3, the Dragon Statue.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

Every third Thursday of November (which was yesterday), the whole of France and much of the world celebrates the wonderful arrival of the much anticipated Beaujolais Nouveau which is released only on the day. Beaujolais Nouveau is a a quick-fermenting wine which is produced in the Beaujolais region of France made from the Gamay grape and has a very light and fruity flavour, and is best served chilled. The wine was traditionally made to celebrate the end of the harvest and originally sold after December 15 in the year of harvest, with the release date being changed to 15 November before being set as the 3rd Thursday of November, now referred to as “Beaujolais Day”.

Beaujolais Day in Singapore, 2010.

Colours of Bangkok

As with many other living parts of Asia, there is much to catch the eye wandering around the streets of Asia’s City of Angels, Bangkok. There certainly is a lot more to the city than the abundance of well photographed sights and scenes that the city provides, which often jump out at you without having to strain the eye. Bangkok is a city where there is in fact no shortage of wonderful colours and textures that not just add to the colour of the city, but also brings the city to life …

Local oranges ready for juicing.

Sweetcorn on the steamer.

Groundnuts on the steamer.

Grapes for sale.

Eggs being transported.

Chocolate coated bananas.

Bottled drinks on sale.

In the basket of a food vendor.

Tuk-tuks ...

Graffiti at a construction site.

Books at a second hand book shop.

Overhead telephone lines against a background of ventilation louvres.

Reflection off a puddle of water.

Parasols of street vendors along Sukhumvit Road.

Display of a street footwear vendor.

Shoes on sale at Chatuchak market.

Charcoal stoves on display.

Roofs of stalls at Chatuchak market as seen from the Skytrain.

Three perspectives of a house through ventilation openings at Makkasan Station.

Roofs of houses.

Lines of the Skytrain.

Cans of milk at a tea vendor at Chatuchak.

The death of an icon in the City of Angels

One of the sad things about the violent Red Shirt protests that occurred in May of this year, is the destruction of what had been an cinematic icon in Bangkok, the Siam Theatre. One of the few remaining single seat cinemas left in Bangkok, the Siam Theatre has stood in the Siam Square area since 1967 and has thus far, withstood the dramatic changes that the area has undergone in the four decades since. One of the more dramatic changes to area, the Skytrain (BTS) line and station which leaves much of the very busy Rama I Road in its shadow, in fact, provided a vantage point from which I was able, on a recent visit to Bangkok, to see the demolition of the burnt out shell of the former Siam Theatre and some of the surrounding shops for myself.

The view of the demolition of the buildings damaged during Red Shirt protests in May that included the iconic Siam Theatre.

I had first been acquainted with the area at the back end of 1984, during a stay that coincided with the release of Murray Head’s hit “One Night in Bangkok”. That stay, during which I spent not just a night, but some five and a half weeks in the City of Angels, gave me an opportunity to explore a city that I had only once before visited as a teenager in which I was not just to become acquainted with much of Central Bangkok, but with parts of Sukhumvit Road and the Klong Toei area.

How the area around Rama I Road and the former Siam Theatre had looked in 1992 before the BTS was built (source: www.2bangkok.com).

Siam Square had somehow seemed to be a centre of focus somehow, with me frequenting the shops and food stalls in the area on many occasions, once even being brave enough to catch a movie at Siam Theatre … one for which I would most remember for the audience scrambling to their feet at the image of the much revered King and Queen, as the National Anthem was played. On my more recent trips to the city, I have often visited the area – not recognising much of it as a result of the changes that have taken place, as well as for the Skytrain line which now dominates part of the area. What I was able to identify immediately on my previous visits was always the old Siam Theatre, which sadly is now only a memory.

A lady contemplates the changes taking place around Siam Square.

More of the demolition work in the area.

The end of an institution at Tanjong Pagar?

While many of us with a sense of nostalgia for the grand old station at Tanjong Pagar are comforted by the knowledge that the main station building would, as a minimum be conserved in some form, which, we don’t really know yet, we are uncertain of the fate of some of the many features that we have associated with the station over the years. One such feature is what must certainly be an institution at the station, the little convenience shop and money changer, Habib Book Store and Money Changer, which has apparently been very much a part of the station’s scenery for over half a century, having started at the station in 1958.

Habib Book Store and Money Changer has been a feature at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station for over half a century.

It is not just the trains and tracks that we will see the last of at Tanjong Pagar once the station moves to Woodlands, but also an institution that has been very much a part of the station since the 1950s.

Habib Book Store started operating at what is now a room used by the KTMB Auxiliary Police (Polis Bantuan), which provides security services at the station, and moved to its present location only around 1990. I had sometimes wondered why the shop was called a book store, thinking that it might have been for the magazines that it sold. The most I had ever remembered seeing of books being sold were the few novels and self-help books that were displayed on two rotatable racks that had been placed opposite the shop through which I would sometimes browse through while waiting for the gate to open. It is a shop that I would fondly remember for its colourful display of magazines strung out at the front of the shop, and one where I would often get my supplies of snacks and drinking water for the long railway journeys. It was also where I had obtained the Malaysian Ringgit I needed for that first ever train journey I made, and one that will certainly be missed not just by me, but by the many who have passed through the station at Tanjong Pagar.

The counter now enclosed and used as a room by the KTMB Auxiliary Police (Polis Bantuan) was the original location of Habib Book Store.

The counter is similar to the one used as the ticket counter and is directly opposite it.

Habib Book Store and Money Changer seen at its original location in 1980 (source: National Archives of Singapore).

If you do ever have the chance to pass through the station, do make it a point to pause for a while and take a last look at the convenience shop – it may be the last you might see of it in its current form. It would also be nice if you could stop and chat with the proprietor of the shop, the very amiable Mr. Syed Ahmad, who would certainly be pleased to share his experiences at the station, where the shop was originally located, and when he had first started operating at the railway station … and perhaps where he will be going next.

Mr. Syed Ahmad being interviewed for television.

A stroll around the Makkasan area

The Makkasan area of Bangkok is well known as being where the main depot of the State Railways of Thailand (SRT) is as well as an area that is known for its slums. The area also contains the delightful little (old) Makkasan Station, a station that would probably trace its origins back to the opening of the depot as far back as 1910, a century ago.

Makkasan Station is along the Eastern Commuter Line which connects Central Bangkok with Chachoengsao.

Slums are very much in evidence around the Makkasan area of Bangkok.

A view of the Makkasan area of Bangkok which has long been associated with the railway.

A rail truss bridge in the Makkasan area.

Much of the old Makkasan Staton building that we see today would have been erected post war, but delightful nonetheless with a charm of a old rural station. It serves as a focal point for the area: an open air market operating in its shadow every morning, and operates as a station along the Eastern Commuter Line that runs from Bangkok’s Central Station, Hua Lamphong, to Chachoengsao some 60 kilometres away, serving primarily as an alighting point for workers at the train depot. There is in fact now, a newer Makkasan Station – developed to serve the Airport Line that links central Bangkok with Suvarnabhumi Airport, which overshadows the old Makkasan (along with the elevated train line that runs parallel to the commuter line in the Makkasan area), and that would probably be the one that most would now think of as Makkasan Station, lying maybe a kilometre to the east of the old station.

The old commuter line, running parallel to the elevated new line - the Airport Link which provides a quick route from Central Bangkok to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The market around Makkasan Station.

The market around Makkasan Station.

What can be seen at the old Makkasan Station and the area around it is possibly a cross section of life in the Bangkok that hasn’t yet been overrun by the skyscrapers and traffic – giving almost a glimpse into a world that perhaps is hidden to most tourists. It is a world that I would have very much liked to have had the time to explore – as I did the klongs off the Chao Phraya River close to the Klong Toei area a quarter of a century ago … something I guess I should prepare a post on, but given the limited time at my disposal, I was only able to catch a glimpse of the area and of life in the area.

The view from the main road of Makkasan Station.

The entrance to the station.

A tuk-tuk outside Makkasan Station.

On the spot repairs on a tuk-tuk outside Makkasan Station.

A proud resident of Makkasan.

Navigating through the labyrinth that is the market and the vehicles parked in front of the station, I found my way to the entrance of the station, and I immediately got a sense of the old world feel. The little station is in fact a gem waiting to be explored, its main lobby serving as a waiting area with wooden and stone benches providing the weary traveller with a place to rest before his next journey, as well as housing the ticket counter and a convenience shop. In the lobby, I was able to catch a glimpse at life at a standstill, something which escapes you on the busy streets beyond the station. Besides travellers waiting for the next train to arrive – something that I missed out on seeing, there were also children at play, bringing life from the streets to the lobby.

From the main lobby looking out to the platform ... A column supporting the new Airport Link partially obscures the Makkasan Train Depot in the background.

A view of the waiting area.

The waiting area and the ticket counter.

The convenience shop at Makkasan Station.

The platform at Makkasan Station.

Another view of the platform at Makkasan Station.

 

A child from the streets, playing at the station lobby.

A close-up of the ticket counter.

Across the platform (as on the platform itself) where I had again felt that I was in another world, one far removed from the hustle and bustle on the main streets on other side of the station, I was able to peek across at the yard of the train depot, where a wealth of old locomotives – including some steam locomotives … I managed to get a photograph of one through the gate before a security guard prevented me from taking any more (I am not sure why as there seems to be a wealth of photographs of some of the old locomotives in the yard on railfan sites). After a quick glance and a last look around, it was time for me to go, and not having the hour that it took me to walk to the area from where I was based, it was a quick ten minute rush back to the madness that is Central Bangkok, helter-skelter, seated on the backseat of a tuk-tuk.

Stepping into another world on the platform of Makkasan Station.

The elevated Airport Link next to the old line at Makkasan Station.

An old diesel locomotive in the yard of the train depot at Makkasan as seen from the station platform.

An old steam locomotive in the yard as seen through a gate.

A view of the station from across the tracks.

The station office.

Passengers waiting at the platform.

More scenes around the Makkasan area:

A slum area in Makkasan.

Buildings built over a high pressure pipeline!

A piece of old machinery at the Thai Labour Museum in the vicinity.

A religious procession taking place ... I think it's for the ordination of a monk.

A drummer at the procession.

A relic of a forgotten time

The Cold War, a time that perhaps has been forgotten during which the clash of the ideologies that dominated the world after the end of the second world war, was one through I lived and one which I would remember most for intrigue provided by the many John le Carre-esque incidents of espionage. In an environment created by the clash of the dominant ideologies of the period, no effort was spared in the development of technologies in the attempt by the purveyors of ideologies to dominate the world. In developing many of the inventions that are still used in the post Cold War world, there are also many more with which had fallen with any lingering memories of them erased by the passage of time, leaving in some cases, a relic of that forgotten time that seeks to be discovered …

Where legends of the silver screen had once set foot on: No. 8 Jalan Ampas

It may not be a surprise to some that the legendary Malaysian actor, singer, songwriter and director, P. Ramlee had actually plied his trade and made his mark on the silver screen from a studio that was located in Singapore, the Shaw Brothers’ Malay Film Productions (MFP). However, it may surprise some that a few of the buildings that were associated with the studio still stand, albeit somewhat obscurely and forgotten and dwarfed by the many commercial and residential developments that now surround its compound at No. 8 Jalan Ampas, off Balestier Road in Singapore.

Lying somewhat hidden amongst commercial and residential properties is the former Shaw Brothers' Studio at Jalan Ampas.

It was back in the late 1940s, the 1950s and the early 1960s, that the studios at No. 8 had its best days, rising to become the most successful Malay film production house of the time. It was also during that time when as a young and aspiring actor at the studios, P. Ramlee, not only made his mark as an actor and a singer and songwriter, but also very quickly as an award winning movie producer and director. P. Ramlee was responsible for over 70 films and 200 songs before his departure for the Merdeka Studios in Kuala Lumpur in 1963. P. Ramlee was of course, well known to me in my childhood, having been given many doses of his exploits in black and white whilst seated next to my maternal grandmother in front of the Setron console television.

A nondescript gate leads to hallowed grounds on which the legendary P. Ramlee had once ruled the studios.

Somehow 1963 had been a very eventful year in Singapore, not just because of P. Ramlee moving to Kuala Lumpur, but it was more importantly, the year in which Malaysia was formed, made by the merger of Singapore and the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak into what had been the Federation of Malayan States. More significantly for the MFP though, it was a year which saw the introduction of television in Singapore, and while it certainly benefited my grandmother who was able to obtain the diet she craved of P. Ramlee and Pontianak movies in the comfort and safety of the living room of our flat, it also led to competition for the Malay speaking audience for the film making industry in Singapore, which besides Shaw Brothers, also featured another prominent film studio, Cathay Keris. Ultimately, this, together with a ban imposed on Malaysian productions by Soekarno’s Indonesia during the Konfrontasi (Confrontation), led to a falling demand and the eventual demise of the hitherto very successful Malay film making industry. The MFP, unable to sustain itself in this climate, eventually closed its doors in 1967.

A peek through the gates into a world that might have once been where dreams were made ...

While many of the events had either been before my time, or had passed me by in the bliss of my childhood, I did have some of my own memories of the MFP after its closure. What I would remember most is the view I regularly got of it in passing-by, from the back seat of my father’s car on the many occasions through the late 1960s and during the 1970s that I passed it on my visits to my paternal grandfather (who lived in the area). I had by that time been very aware of the MFP’s role in providing my maternal grandmother with the endless hours of entertainment which probably kept her sane through some of the lonely moments she had living in the confines of our HDB flat. I would in passing-by often look at what I remember as a desolate looking whitewashed walled compound which had a sign that must have read “Malay Film Productions” for me to have been able to have identified it then. I had also, in passing-by, often tried to picture what it would have been like in the days when the career of the legendary P. Ramlee flourished in the studios, wishing sometimes to have an opportunity to see and explore the place, which I never did get to. In time, with the passing of my grandfather the late 1970s giving me no reason to pass by the studios, it had been somewhat forgotten by me.

To the memory of a legend. A modest memorial to the late great P. Ramlee at the former MFP.

The memories of the studios did come back to me only recently, when I, in recalling the comical antics of Mat Bond (which was produced by the rival Cathay Keris studios), also remembered our very own more Bond like Jefri Zain, played by Jins Shamsudin, which was made at MFP, and the MFP along with it. I had intended for some time, to take a walk of rediscovery in the area where the MFP was (I wasn’t even sure if it was still around), which I somehow never go to doing. It was by sheer coincidence, a group involved in this concept of Urban Exploration, which I was only very recently introduced to, the One° North Explorers, obtained permission to visit the former studios and were kind enough to extend an invitation to me (see One° North Explorers’ post about the exploration of the studios) – an invitation at which I was quick to jump at. It wasn’t for me, so much a walk down memory lane, as I am often inclined to do, as it was to satisfy that unfulfilled childhood desire to see and explore the hallowed grounds that my grandmother’s silver screen hero, P. Ramlee, had once trodden upon.

Where the more serious of the two local Bond like characters, not Mat Bond, but Jefri Zain, was created.

There isn’t really a lot to remind us of the past use of the abandoned buildings which stand silently and forgotten in the compound at No. 8 Jalan Ampas. For one, they are well hidden behind a nondescript gate that one might only notice because of the two misspelt signs that might convince vehicle owners not to park there. There is however, an easily missed marker that does stand just by the gates, which does tell of the forgotten past and of the fact that it wasn’t just local legends whose feet had once trodden on the grounds, but also the feet of hallowed legends of Hollywood, including John Wayne and Ava Gardner. Beyond this, there is perhaps only the faded Shaw Brothers (SB) logo at the top of one of the buildings that gives away a clue to its past.

Information on the Shaw MFP Studio on the marker at No. 8 Jalan Ampas.

A scene from the filming of the last movie to be made at the studios in 1967, Raja Berslong.

I guess I would have been disappointed if I had expected to find much that would have connected the buildings with their glorious past, with most of what had equipped the rooms within the buildings disposed off in the 1970s. However, being there just for the opportunity to satisfy that desire to see and explore, I was quite happy to discover there were indeed some little reminders, this despite most of the equipment there having been moved out, and also the four decades of relative neglect. Within buildings that are still in relatively good condition, beyond the external walls that exhibit some of the ravages of weather and time, were rooms illuminated by the soft glow of light filtered through frosted and textured window panes which did hold a few things that connected the buildings with its past: contraptions that might have perhaps been old film dryers, old reels, posters and photographs that would have been used in promoting movies produced or distributed by the studios … Although that wasn’t really enough to go on to allow me to have a feel of what the buildings might had once been like when perhaps it was the Hollywood of South East Asia, it did not leave me the least disappointed, for at last, some three and a half decades since I last set my eyes on the old buildings behind the wall, I got the chance I had longed for – to have a look around the grounds where the great P. Ramlee had once trodden upon. And, for some reason beyond my comprehension, it felt as if I was home again.

The visit to the former MFP offered me a chance to see and explore the hallowed grounds that I had previously only had a peek at ...

Reminders of a forgotten past ...

Much of the former MFP although worn by the weather and time from four decades of neglect is still in relatively good condition.

The SB logo on top of the building ...

Reminders of the past ...

Evidence of a forgotten time when the MFP ruled the silver screen.

More evidence of the glorious past ...

The Directors' Rooms ... one had been where P. Ramlee had worked from ...

Perhaps Room A?

Some of the current residents of the prestigious address ...

Except for the weather worn walls and a few broken panes of glass ... the studios seemed to have aged pretty well.

A record book ...

A few more scenes from the MFP …

No longer the land that Fairy Tales are made of …

Wandering around parts of the area to the west of Changi Village today, what greets you is the host of holiday facilities, housed in terraced, semi-detached and detached units that had once be given to use as the living quarters of senior servicemen with the British forces stationed in the area. It was back in the days when my very first impressions of Changi Village were formed, that I had first become acquainted with the area, which had lay well protected behind a fence and guarded by alert policemen who played sentry at the main entry point which was a gate just up Netheravon Road from where the village was. Those were the days when what marked Changi Village were the two rows of zinc roofed shop houses which had provided the area with not just a distinct flavour but a feel that made the village a place to escape to. The area up Netheravon Road had a somewhat different feel to the village, being laid out in the fashion of the other British bases found on the island, with much less clutter and wide expansive spaces. Set on the rolling landscape that extended westwards towards the coastline and Fairy Point were the houses that had been the quarters of servicemen, left vacant by that time, as well as several large holiday villas placed at prime locations overlooking the sea. There were also the military facilities for which the area had been guarded including the now infamous former Changi Hospital which had for a time been used as a military hospital as well as several military facilities.

A gate had stood on Netheravon Road at the entrance to what had been a protected area where the likes of the then Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, took his holidays.

By that time, many of the villas by the sea had been turned over for use by the most senior officers of the civil service for holidays, at a time when taking local holidays by the sea was seen as as a fashionable as a holiday in New York, Paris or Tokyo would be seen today. Some of the regular users of the bungalows in the area included members of the Cabinet, including the then Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his family, who often took their holidays in a section that was further protected by another fence not far from where the Changi Sailing Club is today.

The fenced area seen was a protected area within the entire protected Changi Point area where members of the Cabinet would take their holidays.

Another view of the same fenced area along Netheravon Road.

Access to the area at that time would only have been possible by surrendering one’s identity card at the old style Police Post which was at the junction of Jalan Bekukong and Upper Changi Road … my parents would do that on each of the few occasions that we ventured into the area – as guests of one of their friends who were putting up at one of the bungalows there. My earliest impression of this was going to one which was at Fairy Point, at a large two storey bungalow, for a birthday party for one of the children of my parents’ friends, of which I have only vague memories of. What I do remember very well was the name of the area “Fairy Point” and with that, I had somehow associated the area with its large villas by the sea, one where I could imagine fairy tales being made of.

The area where the Police Post had been stood to the right of this ....

It was in the later part of the 1970s, at a time when Changi Village had already been cleared of the wooden shop houses and had been given the facelift that has made it what it is today, that I would frequent the land of fairy tales regularly. With the massive land reclamation project along much of the southern shores that started in the early 1970s, my parents and many other civil servants were deprived of the use of the wonderful holiday bungalows along the idyllic Tanah Merah and Mata Ikan coast that lay to the south east of Changi Beach, and many of the former quarters within what had been the protected Changi Point area were opened up for use by junior civil servants as holiday chalets, and my parents became regular users of the holiday units there. By that time, access to the area was also then opened to everyone, and we were free to come and go as we pleased, making it much easier to move around. The units that I first took a holiday in in the area is in a row of terraced houses fronting Netheravon Road, at its junction with Sealand Road, which still stands today. I remember that very well for the large airy rooms and the narrow staircase which led up from the entrance area that the door opened to. The units were furnished modestly – the living spaces had the old style rattan furniture with heavy foam cushions, and bed rooms had simple bed frames with mattresses lined with white bed linen. What was always nice to have was the well equipped kitchen which allowed us to self-cater, and my mother would often make her way to the new market at Changi Village to purchase what had seemed to be the freshest fruits of the sea one could then find in Singapore.

The terraced row of holiday units that I first stayed in at the junction of Netheravon Road and Sealand Road.

There were several other units that I had also holidayed at that are still there … one that I regularly found myself at were the semi-detached units which now appear to have been rented out off Sealand Road, which had a nice airy living room and rooms upstairs. Another was the single storey detached unit, Chalet L, off Sealand Road, which I would well remember for being the last unit in the area that I had taken a holiday with my parents at, as well as for being where I, with a few of my platoon mates, had our Run-Out-Date (ROD) party at the end of our fulltime National Service in 1987. It was around 1988 that I last took a holiday there … and following that, I guess life caught up with me and I haven’t really had the chance to walk around to the area since then until very recently … Taking a walk around, I found that much of it does still look the same, with the holiday units looking a lot more well maintained than they did before, being now run by a private entity on behalf of the Govenrment, and most of what had been there is still there. There are also some newer buildings and facilities around as well as additional fences which has somehow made the area seem more cluttered and seem less like that wonderful place I had many memories of … no longer the land perhaps that fairy tales are made of.

I was a regular visitor to the semi-detached units off Sealand Road - which now seems to have been leased out.

Another view of the semi-detached unit.

How the semi-detached unit had looked like in 1987 ... I have some more older photographs of the unit which I have not had the opportunity to scan ....

The inside of Chalet L in 1987.

Chalet L today.

The barbecue pit at Chalet L in 1986.

The barbecue pit today.

Windows 1.0

One of the simple things that I love is how light streams through the frosted or textured panes of an old window, casting a soft and somewhat surreal glow on the space it is meant to provide light to. For me, being bathed in that soft glow, often tinged with a green coloured tint the glass is given somehow brings with it a sense of calm, a calm that exudes a surprising coolness that allows one to take refuge from the warm and oppressive heat that lies beyond the translucent panes. It is for me a light so beautiful that it always draws me to the space that it illuminates – a light that somehow we have in our quest to erect the new edifices of glass and steel, we have long forgotten about.

Soft light streaming into a room of a building that was designed in the mid 1900s.

I guess many of these windows came from a time when necessity dictated that windows would provide light necessary to illuminate a space in the day, serving as a means to ventilate as well as keep out the heat and glare of the tropical sun. Most would have been frosted or textured to provide for the latter consideration as well as for privacy – something that perhaps is achieved for practical reasons with adornments to windows such as the blinds that are commonplace with the windows of today.

Soft light streaming from textured windows of a shophouse from the 1930s in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

The frosted or textured panes of glass, sometimes coloured, sometimes not, always succeeds in evoking a sense of nostalgia in me, a nostalgia for a time when I sat in the warm glow of the green frosted and textured windows of the primary school that I attended. It was a time for me when there was much to discover through the eyes of a child with the wonderment of world at his feet, and when many of the friendships made have lasted through the half a lifetime that has since passed. I guess those were the formative years that made me the person I am today, and gave me the eyes with which I now look at the world through.

Green coloured frosted glass adds a cool and calm to the light that filters through them.

The green coloured versions somehow casts a tranquility that envelops the space, something that is very much in evidence in the grand old Supreme Court building. It is in providing Singapore with a masterpiece of his architectural genius, that Frank Dorrigton Ward, makes wonderful use of frosted as well as clear glass windows and skylights, that makes it unnecessary to use artificial lighting during the day. What is simply brilliant about the work is that the soft light that filters through, bathes the internal spaces such as the Rotunda Library, the Courtrooms, Judges’ Chambers and passageways with a glow that speaks of a calm that only seeing can describe. This was something that I was fortunate enough to savour on a few visits to the grand old building before work begins to transform it into the National Gallery of Art. It is certainly comforting to know that once the transformation is complete, we will still see much of the magnificent light that it is now bathed in, comforting in the sense that there is still a place to which I can go to feel the glow that only those wonderful windows of old can bring.

Soft light on the main staircase of the old Supreme Court.

Another view of the staircase of the old Supreme Court.

Soft light entering the former Chief Justice's Office in the old Supreme Court.

The soft light of the Rotunda Library.

The old Supreme Court features strategically placed skylights and windows that allow filtered natural light to illuminate its corridors and chambers.

Even the lobby of the prisoner holding area is bathed in a wonderful soft light that streams in through the windows.

A coloured frosted window in the old Supreme Court.

Coloured frosted windows of the old Supreme Court.

A window to a light well in the old Supreme Court.

Soft light of a room illuminated by light filtered through the frosted glass panes of a window.

Textured and frosted glass is commonly used in older buildings of the pre-glass and steel days.

A close up of textured and frosted glass panes.

Timeless old world illumination reflected off the instrument of illumination of the new world.

A date with a 117 year old

With a few friends, I paid a visit to the H/V Vega, which is in Singapore for a short stopover before heading off on 9 or 10 November 2010 to the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta, where she will be deployed as a press boat. It was my second visit to the historic top sail ketch which I first visited in March of this year. The ketch has been wonderfully restored in 1995 having been built in 1893 as a stone carrying vessel for voyages in the harsh climes of the North Sea and in the Arctic and is a marvel of 19th century craftsmanship and certainly a joy to wander around and photograph.

I love the old sailing ships for the rigging that seems to clutter the main deck.

The Vega is a very photogenic boat and is a joy to photograph.

During this visit, we had the opportunity to have a chat with the very friendly owner and master of the ketch, Captain Shane Granger and his wife Maggie (who incidentally was responsible for the wonderfully designed cabins below deck). Captain Shane was able to share with us some of the experiences in carrying out the humanitarian aid work that the magnificent vessel is engaged in, a lot of it in the outer and remote reaches of the Indonesian Archipelago – places that are ignored and often forgotten by the authorities and mainstream aid organisations.

The very affable Captain Shane Granger, owner and master of the Vega.

Another view of the rigging.

Among the stories that Captain Shane shared was how the gift of very simple things that we take for granted can transform the lives of the inhabitants of the remote islands. With a gift of pencils and erasers, children were able to have the tools necessary to learn to write, where they had been taught to do so previously on a slate that was the moistened sandy ground beneath them. The erasers had been particularly treasured by the teacher, as it meant that exercise books which were in short supply could be reused by erasing the deliberate light scribbles of the children on the pages of the books.

The not so friendly ship's cat eyeing the camera suspiciously.

Besides school supplies, the Vega also delivers aid in other forms such as much needed medical supplies once a year to her regular destinations around the far east of the Indonesian Archipelago. She was able to receive sponsorship for some of this and among the benefactors were Jotun Paints in Singapore and hopes to continue the good work with further sponsorship. More information on the Vega can be found at her website, as well as on my previous post on her. Captain Shane can be contacted at the Vega’s email address. The Vega is due back in Singapore in April of 2011.

Old tools including a traditional caulking tool at the bottom - traditional methods and materials are used in the upkeep of the ketch.

The ketch's anchor.

A pirate awaits the visitor below decks.

The visit provide some of my friends the opportunity to climb up the mast ... well part of the way at least ...

A celebration of light

Last evening’s wonderful celebration of light, brought to us by none other than the master of wonderment, Mother Nature herself, I guess, is a fitting welcome to the Hindu Festival of Lights, or Deepavali, as it is known in Singapore. This would be celebrated by Hindus around the world tomorrow as Deepavali or Diwali to commemorate the triumph of good over evil, a central theme of the Hindu epic the Ramayana. For me, Deepavali would somehow always be remembered for the colourful cubes of coconut candy that a Sikh neighbour in Toa Payoh would invariably prepare for Deepavali. Incidentally Sikhs also celebrate Diwali, with the day being associated with several significant events in Sikhism. With this, I would like to wish all my Hindu and Sikh friends and readers a very happy Deepavali or Diwali.

Last evening's celebration of light.

Cubes of brightly coloured coconut candy similar to the ones a Sikh neighbour would prepare for Deepavali.

Taking off with the Legends of Flight

Anyone with an interest in aircraft may appreciate the iMax 3D movie currently being screened at the Omnitheatre. The movie which produced by Canada based Stephen Low, and executive produced by K2 Communications Inc, traces the evolution of flying machines, pausing at some of the more revolutionary moments in the century and a little more of powered human flight, from powered bi-planes to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

While we may be led to imagine that the movie takes a neutral look at the so called legends that have transformed flying machines, the fact that the audience is in fact navigated through the movie by what many would consider a living legend of flight himself, Boeing’s Chief Test Pilot, Mike Carriker, the movie is in effect a promotional video for the Dreamliner. Carriker takes us through many of the considerations taken in the development of the Dreamliner, manoeuvring through conceptual thoughts, mock-ups of Board Room meetings in which Carriker is seen as a key driver of many of the decisions that were taken, to the production shop and test rigs, glossing over many of the problems that were responsible for a two and a half year delay in the programme which took six years from conception to the first test flight. In all this, the legendary aircraft that are featured have minimum screen time, with much of the attention given to the development of what Boeing and Carriker describes as an aircraft so revolutionary that future generations of it would flying some 100 years from now.

The aircraft featured in the movie as seen on the movie poster.

That the Dreamline is a revolution, there is no doubt. Much of the motivation for developing the aircraft was to regain Boeing’s market leadership which was threatened by Airbus’ launch of the Airbus 380 which in exploiting the economy that is associated with scale in arriving a what was, from a fuel economy viewpoint, the most efficient commercial jetliner ever developed. In doing so, as we are shown in the movie, Boeing was determined not just to match the fuel economy of the Airbus 380 with a smaller aircraft for which they felt there would be a greater demand for, but one that will be the benchmark of the future of aircraft. To achieve that vision, many of the legends of flight were looked at from a perspective of what had made them the revolutions of their time. The lessons we have from Nature were also taken on board the many considerations made (Carriker admits that much is still a mystery – and that is what makes it beautiful), with the Albatross which is described as the most perfect flying machine, one that is able to sustain flight for a great length of time with its highly efficient long thin wings, being the inspiration for the wing design. The legends that are featured also include the first powered flight in the form of a piston engine driven bi-plane, the piston engine powered Lockheed Constellation, the Schleicher Glider, the Harrier VSTOL Jet, and the Airbus 380.

The Harrier is cited as one of the legends - its VSTOL capability showing that sheer power and not just aerodynamics alone can be relied on put an object in the air.

In the design of the wings of the Dreamliner, the thin long wings could only be achieved by the extensive use of some of the advanced materials available to us today, primarily carbon-fibre composites, which allows lightweight high modulus fibrous material to be aligned in directions where strength is needed, much like the lightweight materials which were used in the very first sail planes where extensive use was made of lightweight wood and sail material. While carbon-fibre composites is used extensively in military jets to optimise their weight, the extensive use of the new age material in the Dreamliner is in fact a revolution in itself, with the aircraft being the first commercial jetliner to exploit the material fully – aided in part by the leaps and bounds in computing power that now allows extensive and exhaustive analysis to be carried out on a composite structure. The introduction of carbon-fibre composites, we were to find out later, was not without its problems – an unpredicted weakness at the joint of the wing root to the fuselage that only came to light during static tests resulted in a long delay in which titanium brackets had to be retrofitted to the first six units on the shop floor.

The movie does come with stunning 3D effects – one particular scene that is animated takes you on a ride over the rockies with a Schleicher Glider is especially spectacular, and all in all the flow of the movie makes it not just educational, but also quite entertaining with its thrilling virtual flight sequences, something that is well worth making a trip down to the Omnitheatre for. The movie made its debut at the Omnitheatre on 2 November 2010 in a grand premier that was graced by Mrs Lim Hwee Hwa, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Transport.

---

About the Legends of Flight:

Directed by Stephen Low, produced by Pietro L. Serapiglia, and executive produced by K2Communications, Inc. in association with the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Legends of Flight brings the excitement of air travel to the giant screen through the eyes and experience of The Boeing Company’s Chief Test Pilot Mike Carriker.

Flight-rated in more than 100 aircraft types, Carriker, one of the world’s top test pilots, is the audience guide, interpreter, flight instructor and amiable companion. With him, viewers will enjoy the serenity of soaring through majestic mountain peaks and then feel the sheer exhilaration of a Harrier Jump Jet as it leaps into the sky and rockets to tactical speed. Virtual flights in classic airplanes of the past give way to the film’s highpoint; the drama of being aboard for the world’s most anticipated commercial aircraft’s maiden flight, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Beyond the technical marvel that is IMAX photography – where advanced cameras and technologies add to the superb storytelling abilities of large format cinema – is the film’s innovative use of SANDDE animation. Developed by IMAX co-founder Roman Kroitor, the Stereoscopic Animation Drawing Device (SANDDE) enables Carriker to literally draw in space, allowing the audience to see technical explanations as they appear on the screen and move as an overlay in real time.

In production for more than three years, Legends of Flight will premiere in late spring 2010 at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC., followed
by premiere showings in Seattle and Chicago. The film will then begin an international exhibition schedule.

The Stephen Low Company, based in Quebec, Canada specializes in films for the Giant Screen cinema. K2Communications, Inc. serves as Executive Producer and is a leader in
the Giant Screen industry. K2’s extensive IMAX format film library is available internationally. Legends of Flight is the third film collaboration between acclaimed IMAX director Stephen Low and K2. Prior work includes Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag and The Ultimate Wave Tahiti, set to premiere globally in February 2010. A fourth film collaboration – Rescue – is under way.

---

The final part of the walk down the Bukit Timah corridor: From the site of the Green Spot to a very green spot …

Wet and sticky from the exertions of a walk that had started early on a Sunday morning just as an electrical storm was developing, wet from the drenching we got and sticky from the humid air that was heated up by the sun’s appearance in the latter part of the morning, the eight of us started on the last leg of the trek from the site of the huge Green Spot bottle that stood at the entrance of the former Amoy Canning factory that most of those my age would well remember. From there, we trudged along Upper Bukit Timah Road to the entrance to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve on Hindhede Road where we came to a second steel girder bridge.

The narrow span girder bridge at Hindhede Road.

What we noticed of the bridge was that it, being of a much shorter span than the previous one we had encountered at Hillview Road, was supported by only two deep girders – which were quite clearly of riveted construction (rather than of welded construction – a method that is more commonly employed today), which provided some evidence that the girders have not been replaced since the bridge was first erected in 1932.

The bridge is supported by two deep girders which are riveted.

The view on top of the bridge at Hindhede Road.

Leaving the bridge, we decided to give an intended detour to the site of Beauty World a miss, moving on towards Jalan Anak Bukit, where we were greeted by the wonderful sight of the second of two White-Throated Kingfishers that we had seen that morning, perched on an extended branch of a tree over the tracks in the area.

The stretch of the tracks approaching the Anak Bukit area (looking northwards).

The second of two White-Throated Kingfishers that we spotted along the trek.

Taking a walk down down Jalan Anak Bukit, we turned into what must be quite an infamous shortcut across the railway track to Rifle Range Road, where there have been several fatal incidents over the years involving pedestrians taking the shortcut. Somehow, my earlier visit to the shortcut where I had, across a speeding train, caught a glimpse of a woman holding an umbrella on the other side of the track, seemed a lot more eerie than this one – perhaps because of the company I was in. The sight of the woman with the umbrella had brought to mind an incident at the end of the 1970s when an incident had occurred not far from shortcut, in which, a girl, last spotted holding an umbrella, had been run over by a train.

A train carrying bricks passing a popular shortcut from Jalan Anak Bukit to Rifle Range Road. The ghostly figure of the lady with the umbrella brings to mind an incident at the end of the 1970s in which a girl, last seen holding an umbrella, was run over by a train not far from the shortcut.

From the shortcut at Jalan Anak Bukit it was through familiar territory, haveing taken the same walk a few weeks back to rediscover the area around Bukit Timah Station. Taking the short walk down Rifle Range Road, past an abandoned factory building which we couldn’t decide if it might have once been part of the former Yeo Hiap Seng factory complex that stood on the wedge of land between Jalan Anak Bukit, Rifle Range Road and Dunearn Road, we soon came to the second of the two black truss bridges across the Bukit Timah area. From the bridge, it was a short walk to the quaint old Bukit Timah Station – which I have devoted a previous post to, still looking as I would always remember it. The station, we have been given to understand based on the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed between Singapore and Malaysia on the relocation of the Tanjong Pagar railway station to Woodlands by 1 July 2011, and the redevelopment of railway land, could possibly be conserved as well.

The abandoned factory building next to the track between Rifle Range Road and Jalan Anak Bukit.

The view of the railway land from Rifle Range Road.

The southern reach of the railway as seen through the truss bridge over Bukit Timah / Dunearn Roads - part of the deviation in 1932 that gave Singapore the grand old station at Tanjong Pagar.

The black truss bridge over Bukit Timah / Dunearn Roads as seen from Rifle Range Road.

Bukit Timah Station certainly has a rural Malaysian feel about it, surrounded by a sense of calm in very green surroundings.

The quarter kilometre marker at the station - the line will be slightly truncated with the shift of the main station to Woodlands by 1 July 2012.

Manually operated control levers for operation of railway points at Bukit Timah Sation.