One of few places in Singapore that has still a hint of the old world, even in its modernised form, is Changi Village. While it bears little resemblance now to the sleepy village that once provided a perfect setting of a lazy afternoon stroll, there still are spots in and around it that take you back to its magical days.

The wharf at Changi Creek where fish from fish farms off the northeastern shore are brought ashore.

One part of the village that has been spared from being overly manicured and also from the madding nasi-lemak seeking crowds that descend on the village especially during the weekends crowds, is the area around the creek. Here, one finds a world with much soul in it, coloured by the gathering of slow boats used in the transport of people to and from Singapore’s last inhabited island.  This, plus the activities associated with the delivery each morning of live fish from fish farms off Singapore’s northeastern coast from boats to lorries bound for Singapore’s many seafood restaurants, provides the creek with a character that is lacking in much of the rest of the island.

An early morning scene by the wharf.

It is for these sights that I would often find myself enjoying a stroll by the creek. Observing what goes on at delivery time at the wharf, which is marked by a gathering of styrofoam box topped small lorries wharf side and sees the hoisting by hand of live seafood in nets from the boats, brings as much joy to me as taking in what went on along a once even more colourful Singapore River that I enjoyed as a child.

The colours that the gathering of slow boats to Pulau Ubin bring to the area, as seen from the area where the fish farmers’ wharf is.

The same area seen in 1966 (David Ayres on Flickr).

Sadly, time, it seems, is being called on the wharf and the joy it brings people like me. An article in yesterday’s Straits Times speaks of the prospect of its closure in an effort to curb smuggling. A recent case of cigarette smuggling had apparently been traced to the wharf and in a move typical of the agencies these days, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is looking to have it shut over concerns “national security and safety” and are said to be in discussions with fish farmers on this. The fish farmers, who would be most affected, and would have to offload their time sensitive cargo further away at Lorong Halus or Senoko.

Small lorries topped with styrofoam boxes gather in the mornings in anticipation of live seafood deliveries brought in from the fish farms.

The wharf – as seen from the ferry terminal.

Live fish are transferred to nets …

… which are then ‘hoisted’ up by hand …

… and loaded to lorries bound for seafood restaurants …

A styrofoam box topped delivery truck at the wharf.

Filed under: Changi & Somapah, Changing Landscapes, Forgotten Places, Photography, Singapore

The coming of the Chinese ninth month brings two widely celebrated Taoist celebrations to Singapore, both of which  have a connection with water. One, the pilgrimage to the island of Kusu, is held over an entire month. This sees thousands of pilgrims flocking to the island, where a Tua Pek Kong temple and several hill top shrines are located. The other celebration, held over the first nine days of the month, is the Nine Emperor Gods Festival or Kew Ong Yah or Jiu Wang Ye (九王爷).

Devotees from the Kim San Temple at East Coast Beach.

The Nine Emperor Gods festival is especially interesting. The celebration proper begins with an invitation to the gods – nine stars of the Big Dipper, to descend to earth for an annual sojourn. The often very elaborate invitation ceremony is  traditionally held on the eve of the 1st day of the month. Taking place by the sea or a river, it involves the carriage of the gods on a sedan or a palanquin that is always violently rocked as a sign of a divine presence.

This year sees the invitation spread out over several days, with a few being held on the eve itself, which falls on Friday 30 September. One that I managed to catch over at East Coast Park was that of the Kim San temple from Jalan Ulu Siglap on 29 September, the photographs of which accompany this post. The festival ends with an equally grand send off, with the gods ascending to the heavens on a burning boat. More on this and the festivalcan be found in a previous post: The Burning Boat.

Tucked away in an obscure corner of Thomson Road and Thomson Lane is the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home, sitting on a site whose significance has long been forgotten. Operating in a cluster of single-storey blocks of a style reminiscent of schools of the 1950s, the layout of the home points to it having once been one of many built in the 1950s as part of an ambitious school building effort that we have all but forgotten about. The former school’s name, Lee Kuo Chuan, also links to the late philanthropist and rubber magnate Mr.Lee Kong Chian, being the name of his father.

The former school and its soon to be lost yard.

The school construction programme was part of a ten-year education plan, known also as the “Frisby Plan”. The plan was supplemented by a five-year plan to accelerate the effort to meet the pressing need to provide places in schools for the growing population of children. It was put in place by the the colonial administration’s Director of Education, Mr. A. W. Frisby with the aim of providing free universal primary education to all in Singapore by 1960. The implementation of this also saw the Teachers’ Training College, the predecessor to the National Institute of Education, being established in 1950. The plan although having been referred to as the Frisby Plan, actually had its origins in a 1948 paper put up by Mr. Frisby’s predecessor, Mr. J. Neilsen.

All three acres of the land, on which the school was built – part of a former quarry, was donated by Mr. Lee Kong Chian as its name does suggest. Mr. Lee, who first came across from China with his father, a tailor, in the early 1900s, made generous generous donations to education and to the poor – an effort that is being continued by the Lee Foundation, which he founded. Among the projects Mr. Lee funded was the construction of the original National Library at Stamford Road for which he laid the foundation stone in August 1957. Mr. Lee donated a sum of $375,000 to that effort on the condition that the library charged no membership fees.

Lee Kuo Chuan School in the 1950s (posted by Chong Meng on the Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School Facebook Group).

Interestingly the school seems to have lent its name to Kuo Chuan Constituency, one of three new parliamentary constituency carved out of Toa Payoh Constituency for the 1972 General Election. The constituency, whose first elected MP was Mr. P. Selvadurai, and last Mr. Wong Kan Seng, was absorbed into Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency in 1988.

A classroom in the 1950s (posted by Chong Meng on the Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School Facebook Group).

The school became Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School when it merged with Thomson Primary School in 1985 and moved it new premises at Ah Hood Road. As Lee Kuo Chuan Primary, it operated until the end of 1997 when it was shut down.

A view over the area in the early 1970s when Toa Payoh New Town was taking shape. The school can be seen in the lower left of the photo with Times Building then occupying the other part of the former quarry site.

The home, started by a former nurse Madam Lee Ah Mooi in 1963 at her home in Chong Pang Village, does itself have a little story. It was set up to provide care for former Samsui women and Amahs, many of whom were sworn to singlehood, in their old age. It occupied several sites before moving into its current premises in 1986. It has also been in the news as a possible victim of the North-South Expressway project. Based on updates provided on its Facebook Page, it does seem that the home will be able to remain in place until 2020, although its kitchen and laundry spaces and its front yard would be affected.

More on the school, the old age home and the impact of the North-South Expressway project on it can be found at the following links:

• Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School (Facebook Group)
• Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home (home’s website)
• Uncertain fate for old age home (The New Paper, 8 January 2012)
• Life Memories of Hsu Phillips (Singapore Memory Project)

Filed under: Architecture, Architecture, Changing Landscapes, Forgotten Buildings, Forgotten Places, Reminders of Yesterday, Singapore, Thomson / Balestier Road Area, Toa Payoh

A most delightful gift to Singapore made by Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan is the set of four structures that now grace the campus of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) at Somapah. Dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, the structures were originally from Zhejiang province in China. A chance to have a look at them came with a Nanyin performance by the Siong Leng Musical Association held in the structures that I was invited to recently.

Ancient music in ancient structures. A performance by the Siong Leng Musical Association held in a main hall that was part of a house from Zhejiang.

Part of a collection of ten ancient structures purchased by martial arts star with the intention that they be dismantled and re-erected as a home for his parents, the structures were put in storage for much longer than was intended. Little was documented on the assembly of the structures, which proved a challenge when the university looked at reassembling them.

The pavilion.

The structures feature some rather interesting and previously unseen features in Singapore in which many Chinese structures are of the Minnan style. An examples of this is the exquisitely carved oversized wooden corbels seen in one of the structures, a late Qing dynasty pavilion. The pavilion, interestingly, also features a mix of styles seen in the wooden balustrades with a Suzhou flavour.

The Suzhou style is also seen in some of the features of the pavilion.

Close to the pavilion, another of the structures – an opera stage, has an interesting feature on its ceiling – a dome of sorts that acts to enhance the stage acoustics.

A feature on the ceiling of the opera stage that enhances the stage’s acoustics.

Hokkien opera on an ancient opera stage.

A close-up.

There are also two structures, complementing parts of a Ming dynasty house and a Qing dynasty house, that have been put together in the setting of a lake. Featuring a mix of old and new in the glass panels that keep the air-conditioning in, the parts which have only a small difference in width, find harmony even if they were from different houses and from different times. The parts are a main hall and an inner hall where bedrooms would have been located. An interesting contrast between the two are the finished wooden columns seen in the main hall where guests would be entertained and the coarser looking (and less costly) unfinished columns in the inner more private area.

In the inner hall.

The two parts of two houses, complementing each other in the setting of a lake.

The opera stage by night.

A carved corbel on the stage.

A Catalonian tradition that dates back to the 1700s, a human tower or castell building performance is being seen for the first time in Southeast in Asia. One of the many rich and interesting cultural practices of Spain as a whole, and of Catalonia, the tradition – usually performed on important festivals, is inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Minyons de Terrassa at Kidzania, Sentosa.

Close to 300 castellers from the Minyons de Terrassa are in Singapore, brought in by Qatar Airways and the Catalonia Tourism Board. The group has recently broken the world record for the biggest human tower ever built.

Practice makes perfect.

The building of castells involve a huge group forming the all important base on top of which tiers of more castellers are progressively built up, supported by the shoulders of those in the tiers below. The bigger built of the castellers form the lower tiers with brave young children climbing higher up to form the summit.

Forming the base.

Forming the lower tier.

The Minyons de Terrassa, who have performed at Raffles Place on 19 October and at Kidzania in Sentosa today, will hold two more performances tomorrow, 21 October 2016, at 4.30 pm for ITB Asia at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre and again at 5.30 pm at Customs House. On another note, Qatar Airways, flies from Singapore to Barcelona (and Madrid) via Doha’s Hamad International Airport. The airlines is offering special fares, which start from SGD 945, until 24 October 2016 for travel until 30 June 2017.

The 5th edition of the Singapore Biennale,”An Atlas of Mirrors”,  opened last week. Running until 26 February 2017, this year’s edition features works by 63 artists and art collectives from 19 countries and territories across Southeast Asia, East and South Asia that have a strong element of history in them. Curated around nine sub-themes the works are being displayed across eight locations with the Singapore Art Museum and SAM at 8Q as anchor venues. More information on the programmes, venues, artwork and ticketing can be found at the Singapore Biennale 2016’s website.

The Great East Indiaman by David Chan on the National Museum of Singapore’s front lawn.

Giving art a finger – Lim Soo Ngee’s Inscription of the Island.

A selection of installations

Titarubi – History Repeats Itself at SAM. Featuring robes of gold coated nutmegs, it recalls the legacy of colonial conquest. to facilitate the control of the valuable trade in a spice said to have been worth its weight in gold.

At SAM, the dreams of a Shaman’s wife. Tcheu Siong, a Hmong shaman’s wife has her dreams reinterpreted as ‘story’ clothes in which one finds the spirits she sees in her dreams, represented by the lanky figures alongside representations of mountains, humans and animals.

Also presented alongside are History, the works of Tcheu Siong’s husband, Phasao Lao.

Paracosmos by Harumi Yukutake at the SAM.

Rubbish by Kentaro Hiroki, which features recreated items of rubbish picked by the artist.. On display at both SAM and 8Q.

Rubbish attrracting a crowd at SAM.

Another view of Inscription of the Island, by Lim Soo Ngee.

Freakily leeky – Chia Chuyia’s Knitting the Future at 8Q. The artist knits leeks to create a body length garment over a five week period. Leeks, as a food item, hold significance to the Teochew community to which the artist belongs.

Knitting the Future.

Rathin Barman’s Home, and a Home, inspired by the experiences of the migrant Bangladeshi community in Singapore.

Melissa Tan and her If you can dream a better world you can make a better world or perhaps travel between them.

Music boxes – which feature impressions made by physical features are part of the installation.

The Great East Indiaman features a recreation of the whale skeleton that once hung inside the National Museum of Singapore in wood.

The supermoon rises over the city of Singapore, 15 November 2016.

They may cause some inconvenience, but the rains that come with the arrival of the northeast monsoons in Singapore are welcomed for the air of cool and freshness that they bring.  I am one who takes great joy in their arrival and find reason to celebrate the downpours as much as I did in the wondrous moments of my childhood. I recall splashing through the puddles the opening up of the skies left, an activity that often left me soaked, inviting a strong reprimand. I also recall the calls of “hor lai lor” – “rain is coming” in the Hokkien vernacular that accompanied the rains’ prelude. In days when the community spirit was much stronger, these calls were intended as a prompt for the mad scramble to get in the laundry that would follow.

Colours of a rain washed morning, 16 Nov 2016.

One of the unfortunate consequences of the rain, especially in days before the efforts to improve drainage became effective, was flooding. There were many instances when flooding was especially severe, more often than not on days when the falling torrents coincided with high spring tides. Many low lying areas would be affected, including the places where I went to kindergarten and primary school. Wading through ankle or knee deep flood waters was quite a regular occurrence and  a fairly common sight that accompanied them was that of school children wading through the waters with what would probably have been an only pair of school shoes, tied together by their laces and slung over their shoulders.

Colours of a rain washed morning, 16 Nov 2016.

Colours of a rain washed morning, 16 Nov 2016.

There were also the monster floods. Two occasions when this happened that come to mind are in 1969 and 1978 when the waters rose to a level that only the roofs of houses in many of the low lying areas could be seen. The damage to property and people’s livelihood – when many were still involved in farming and rearing livestock – was tremendous.  The continuous effort made to improve drainage over the years has seen the incidence and severity of flooding reduce and the grumble most often heard these days is not of disruptions caused by floods but of ones caused instead by a less than reliable mass rapid transit system.

Impression of a bus stop on rain washed morning, 16 Nov 2016.

The relentless pace of development is fast catching up with the few bits of mainland Singapore that has been spared from the clutter found across too much of Singapore such as at so-called Canberra (displaced from Canberra Road from where its name would have been derived) at Sembawang. What was a wonderfully green open space just a few years back, is well on its way becoming more like the rest of Singapore: cluttered, overly built and concretised, and with all of its naturally occurring greenery replaced with orderly rows of trees planted in its sea of concrete. It is inevitable I suppose. The intent, as the rather unpopular 2013 Land Use Plan would suggest, is to fit a magical number of 6.9 million people into an already overcrowded Singapore – a future, given the strains the current population level is already putting on our mental well-being, that many like me, would not wish to contemplate.

The road to perdition.

“Canberra” in 2012.

Another view of “Canberra” in 2012.

Space exploration, fuelled by the cold war rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, made significant progress in the 1950s and 1960s. As a child of the 1960s, I was caught up in its excitement of it and especially of its most significant outcome – the landing of the first man on the moon in July 1969. The space programmes that led to the landing had itself generated huge interest during the decade. It was a space exploration flavoured decade in many ways and I took great satisfaction in rocket shaped ice-lollies, ice-cream packed in a Mercury spacecraft inspired container and on getting my hands on moon-landing inspired action transfer sets. For a child it seemed a most exciting of times; times that certainly came back to me visiting a preview of NASA – A Human Adventure, which opens today (19 November 2016) at the ArtScience Museum.

A Mercury Spacecraft, the first US manned spacecraft.

The exhibition, which is arranged around five galleries, takes visitors into a fascinating journey through space exploration and starts with the dreams humankind had long had of venturing into the unknown. There is an amazing collection of over 200 artefacts on display, several of which have flown in space, connected with both the Soviet and the NASA efforts. There also is get a chance to get up close to several training modules and full or large scale reconstructions of space craft including one of the Space Shuttle’s front section in which the flight deck and the mid-deck – where the crew eats, sleeps and works, complete with a vacuum toilet.

The first gallery – which tells us all about the Dreamers.

A re-creation of the Space Shuttle’s Flight Deck.

The Space Race, prompted by the Cold War rivalry between the Soviet Union and the US, is well documented in the second gallery, Go Fever. The intense rivalry provided much impetus for the rapid progress made by both countries in  space exploration and resulted in the first manned flights and the eventual moon landing. A model of Sputnik, the first satellite, which started the Space Race in earnest is on display. The early lead that the Soviets took is also seen in several rarely seen Soviet space artefacts and in a remembrance of the first human in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

A model of Sputnik – the very first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. The reflection on it is that of Go Fever, the second gallery.

The Soviet Space programme put the first man in Space – Yuri Gagarin, who is remembered in Go Fever.

Soviet space programme artefacts – including a briefcase carried by Yuri Gagarin into space.

The exhibition has three other galleries, Pioneers, Endurance and Innovation – tracing the evolution of rocket technology, how the challenges of space travel were overcome and how ground breaking technologies have been created through the programme. There is also a rather interesting art installation, The Indonesia Space Science Society by Indonesian artist, Venzha Christ that includes a 3 metre sculpture and invites visitors to listen to space.

A scale-model of the very long Saturn V rocket.

The Jupiter nose cone – launched into space and recovered from the sea – the experimental nose cone was a crucial step in development of re-entry vehicles – necessary for manned space flights.

Titan I LR-87 rocket engine.

The installation by Venzha Christ.

A highlight of the exhibition is the G-Force Astronaut Trainer ride, which simulates the flight of the 1961 Liberty Bell 7 with forces of up to 2G. The ride takes up to four and costs $6 on weekdays (Mondays to Thursdays) and $9 during the weekends.

The G-Force Astronaut Trainer Ride.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the ArtScience Museum is also running the Art and Science of Space season. Several programmes are lined up including an Insights Tour during the opening weekend, given by Jukka Nurminen – an avid aeronautics enthusiast and the producer and curator of the exhibition. Two sessions will be held at 11.30am  lasting an hour on 19 and 20 Nov, which will be complimentary to ticket holders but limited to 25 per session (stickers will be given out 5 minutes before the tour begins). There are also public guided tours on 25 Nov at 3-4pm and on 27 Nov at 11.30am-12.30pm. A series of workshops will also be held. The exhibition runs until 19 March 2017 and more information on it, its programmes and ticketing can be found at the exhibition’s website.

Jukka Nurminen, Producer and Curator of the exhibition.

More exhibits:

Spacesuits.

A Soviet lunar vehicle.

Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle.

Moon rock collection case, bags, a glove and a boot.

An Apollo survival kit.

Command compartment of a Gemini Spacecraft.

A command module.

Apollo Command Module.

Space Shuttle front section.

An actual unused leg for the Apollo lunar landing module

Film shot by Apollo astronauts.

A Hasselblad camera of the type used for lunar operations.

TV camera of type used for lunar operations.

Lithium hydroxide canister for removing carbon dioxide. This featured in the Apollo 13 near tragedy that left the Command Module with limited electricity supply. To save power in the Command Module that was crucial for reentry, the Lunar Module was kept attached as a “lifeboat”. The Lunar Module did not have sufficient LiOH canisters and ground engineers very quickly found a way make join the rectangular canisters from the Command Module to the cylindrical canisters of the Lunar Module.

An flight computer – which weighed about 100 kg.

A photograph of the Apollo Lunar Module.

A replica of the module with the triangular window seen in the photograph above.

An actual Command Module parachute for descent back to earth – notice the burns from reentry on it.

A heavily built Command Module front hatch.

Models of Hubble and the ISS.

A carnival-like atmosphere awaits visitors to the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC) today as it celebrates its 20th anniversary with a big birthday bash that will culminate with a burst of fireworks at 8 pm this evening at the close of the party. As part of its celebrations, a special exhibition, the 20/20 Play @ SDC – that celebrates 20 years of National Education – was also launched earlier this afternoon by Dr Teo Ho Pin, Mayor of North West District. The exhibition features a play area that gets visitors to visit games the older folks may have played and provides a feel of the playgrounds of the late 1970s and 1980s.

Dr Teo, Lowrence Chua, Executive Director of SDC, members of SDC’s staff and a new mascot, SingaPaw, at the launch of 20/20 Play.

Dr Teo viewing exhibits.

Dr Teo viewing a recreation of the iconic Toa Payoh Dragon Playground.

Great music too!

Coloured by poinsettias, amaryllis and Christmas roses and conifer trees, as well as several Christmas themed decorations and giant snow globes, the Christmas display at the Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Dome is especially pretty this year. The display, Merry Medley, runs until 5 January 2017 and is best view when illuminated at night.

The beautifully restored Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Singapore’s oldest Catholic church and a National Monument, re-opened on 20 November 2016 when it held its first mass in over three years. Sitting on a foundation of nothing more than compacted earth, its structure had been quite badly affected by ground disturbance caused by construction work in, around, and under it, which required it to be closed for repair work could be carried out.

As it turned out, the repair effort was quite timely. Columns supporting the pediment at the cathedral’s Victoria Street end gave way as the building was in the late stages of repair on 3 September 2015. Fortunately, the incident – which also saw the pediment come crashing down – happened at night and no one was hurt. The incident also led to the discovery that the supports, on which the weight of the steeple and bell tower also rests, were inadequate and required strengthening and a decision was taken to replace the original brick columns with stronger but lighter steel columns due to weight (which would increase structural load on the base) and time considerations. Another consequence of the collapse would have was in the discovery of the original time-capsule. This was placed beneath the cornerstone when that was laid on 18 June 1843. It was only found due to the work that was needed on the new structure. The time-capsule contained coins, newspapers and a service booklet from the time and its contents are now on display in the Cathedral Heritage Centre.

The entire project, which also involved restoration of the Cathedral and its rectory, as well as the construction of a new three-storey annex block – where the heritage centre is being housed – came at a cost of S$40 million. One of the key areas of repair required was in the underpinning of the cathedral building due to the lack of a suitable foundation. The intervention also allowed service ducts to be run under the building to carry both electrical cables and ducting for air-conditioning – a much welcome addition. The gallery pipe-organ  – Singapore’s oldest pipe-organ – was also restored. This required it to be shipped to the Philippines, which has a rich organ building. The restored pipe-organ also made its debut during the reopening mass when it so wonderfully accompanied the cathedral choir.

The Cathedral Choir making its entry before the opening mass on 20 Nov 2016.

Standing room only. The opening drew a large crowd and pews were already filled as early as an hour and a half before mass.

The sanctuary after the reopening, with a new altar.

In 2013 with a large crack clearly visible on the wall behind it.

The gallery pipe-organ in 2016.

The gallery pipe-organ in 2013.

View down the nave, 2016.

View down the nave, 2013.

The repaired and restored Victoria Street end and the steeple.

The view during the restoration, when steel columns were introduced (to be clad with masonry) for reasons of weight and time when the original structure gave way.

With its columns braced in 2010.

A close-up.

Archbishop William Goh after unveiling a new Pietà before the opening mass.

The old Pietà, seen in 2013.

Another view of the new Pietà.

The old Pietà and the staircase to the choir gallery in 2013.

The choir organ in 2013, which was in the north transept and has since been removed.

Where the choir organ was located.

The cathedral in 2016.

The Cathedral in 2013.

The Good Shepherd, 2016.

The Good Shepherd, 2013.

The annex building and the rectory as seen from Queen Street.

The view of the rectory from Queen Street in 2013.

Balustrades, an original feature, were restored to the second level of the rectory turret.

The turret before restoration.

The old annex building, which was demolished.

The old annex building, which was demolished.

The garage, which was also demolished.

The old annex building, which was demolished.

The restoration was originally scheduled for two years,

Before the restoration.

During the restoration.

Exposed brickwork of the columns seen during the restoration.

More views of the beautifully restored cathedral

Hidden in the thick vegetation in the swathe of land between Old Upper Thomson and Upper Thomson Roads are the remains of a forgotten community for whom the area was home. Interestingly, there is a lot more that lies hidden. Interwoven with the story of the lost community are also names, personalities and events that provided the area with a surprising amount of colour.

The remnants of a lost village are found in the forested area between Old Upper Thomson and Upper Thomson Roads.

The stretch of Old Upper Thomson and Upper Thomson Roads is quite famously associated with the Singapore Grand Prix; not the current incarnation of the motoring race, but one that reflected humbler times. While that may be another subject altogether, the are the inevitable links the area and its community has to the event, and one of it is the references to the village at the now lost Jalan Belang as the “Grand Prix kampong”.

A concrete structure in the former “Grand Prix kampong”.

The “belang” in Jalan Belang, which translates in Malay to “stripes” is said to have been a reference to the stripes of a tiger and speculation has it that it may have been due to a tiger having been sighted there. One of two privately built roads in the area, it provided access into the narrow strip from the area of Old Upper Thomson known as the snakes. Another road, the Lorong Pelita (“pelita” is Malay for “oil lamp”) lay further north. Lorong Pelita, it would appear, was quite a fitting name as electricity supply only reached the area in the late 1960s.

A kerosene lamp at Lorong Pelita.

While the remains of the village do not reveal much of their composition of its residents, it can be seen in the proportions of the concrete and brick structures that have survived, some would have been doing quite well. Interestingly there are also numerous concrete receptacles, large and small – seemingly for collection of rain water – and the conspicuous absence of wells.

A fallen electricity pole at the area where Jalan Belang was.

There are lots of water receptacles.

What is perhaps most interesting is the links the land has with a certain Han Wai Toon. Han, a Hainanese immigrant who arrived at our shores in 1915, purchased 2 1/2 acres in 1936 for some $700 and embarked on a quest to cultivate trees that would yield the perfect rambutan – as research by various individuals including architectural historian, Dr. Lai Chee Kien reveals. A 1960 article in the Singapore Free Press, “The Long Search for Better Rambutans” also provides information on this. The orchard, which Han named “Silly Fun Garden”, or as a graphic novel set in the garden written by Oh Yong Hwee and illustrated by Koh Hong Teng, describes it in more poetic language as  “The Garden of Foolish Indulgences”.

There are lost of fruit trees in the area besides the remnants of the Han Rambutan Orhcard.

A sketch of the ‘Han Rambutan Orchard’ by Lim Mu Hue (Singapore in Global History p. 164).

Despite its frivolous sounding name, the garden attracted also serious cultural and artistic exchanges. Amongst its visitors was Xu Beihong, a famous Chinese artist with whom Han shared an interest in Chinese ceramics. One of the artistic works Xu executed during a stay in 1939 was “Put Down Your Whip”, which  fetched a record price for a Chinese art work of US$9.2 million in 2007. The painting, which has a strong anti-Japanese theme, was one of several that were Han had hidden on the grounds of his garden during the Japanese occupation. Another of Xu’s paintings in the stash, “Silly Old Man Moves a Mountain“, sold for US$4.12 million in 2006.

Put Down Your Whip by Xu Beihong, which sold for a record US$9.2 million in 2007 (source: Wikipedia).

The garden of foolish indulgences?

Han, who would make a name for himself in the study of art, ceramics and archaeology and was the author of 55 scholarly articles, made a permanent return to China in 1962 before passing away in 1970. Rather interestingly, a discovery attributed to Han during his time at Upper Thomson, was that of a Ming Dynasty Chinese tomb in the area in 1949. The tomb of a certain Chen Chow Guan, provided evidence that Chinese settlement in Singapore and the region went as far back as the 15^th century. In addition to the tomb, a cluster of five Teochew graves from the early 19th century was also found by a group of archaeologists that included Han close by. It is not known what has become of the graves.

An edible flower, bunga kantan or torch ginger flower, better known here as rojak flower (its bud is used in the rojak dish).

Yesterday no more.

Those of my generation will probably remember Thai Handicraft, which was on the fringes of the area at Upper Thomson Road, and the family who were associated with it. It was hard to miss its showroom passing in the bus or a car with the attention the huge wooden cravings of elephants standing guard drew to the showroom. The shop, set in from the side of the road, dealt with imports of wooden cravings from Thailand and was owned by the Looi family whose links to the area also extended to the races.

There’s pineapple too!

The location of the shop, which was right by the start and finish point of the Grand Prix circuit, was also where the Loois had operated a motorcycle shop, Looi Motors. The Loois also had racing in their blood and produced two generations of motorcycle racers. One member of the family, Gerry Looi, would become a household name in the motorcycle racing circuit in the 1970s and participated in the latter races of the Singapore Grand Prix with brother Fabian until its last race in 1973. Sadly, Gerry would meet a tragic end doing what he loved most and passed away at the age of 33 in October 1981 –  just a few days after a crash at the Shah Alam circuit had left him in a coma.

A red brick structure in the forest.

The privately held area was last inhabited in the mid-1980s when it was cleared out after its acquisition by the Housing and Development Board. While this would suggest that the intention then had been to give it to public housing, the site – now a wonderful oasis of green having been reclaimed by nature, will be where the future Thomson Nature Park will be. Work on the park will commence next year and is expected to be completed at the end of 2018.Part of the plan for the park involves the preservation of the site’s mature trees and the incorporation of the village ruins with the trails that will run through it and that will hopefully keep both the lush greenery and the rich history of the area alive.

Further information:

Online:

NParks announces plans for Upcoming Thomson Nature Park

NParks Factsheet (Thomson Nature Park)

History and nature meet at upcoming Thomson Nature Park, The Straits Times, 8 Oct 2016

The long search for better rambutans, The Singapore Free Press, 4 March 1960

Ming tomb claim in Singapore, The Singapore Free Press, 15 December 1949

‘Oldest Chinese cemetery’ find, The Straits Times, 11 January 1950

Han, 69 studies history from old China, The Singapore Free Press, 5 January 1961

Loois will make motor racing fans feel proud,The Straits Times, 15 April 1973

Daring racer was scared of the dark, New Nation, 24 October 1981

Offline:

Lai, Chee Kien 2011. “Rambutans in the Picture: Han Wai Toon and the Articulation of Space by the Overseas Chinese in Singapore”,  in Singapore in Global History,  edited by Heng, Derek and Aljunied, Syed Muhd Khairudin, 151-172, Amsterdam University Press.

Wong, Sharon 2009. “Negotiating Identities, Affiliations and Interests: The Many Lives of Han Wai Toon, an Overseas Chinese”,  in Reframing Singapore in Global History,  edited by Heng, Derek and Aljunied, Syed Muhd Khairudin, 155-174, Amsterdam University Press.

More photographs:

The remnants of quite a large house.

A room in the house.

And the washroom.

A forest stream.

Filed under: Changing Landscapes, Forgotten Buildings, Forgotten Places, Heritage Sites, Natural Heritage, Nature, Reminders of Yesterday, Singapore

Two years in the making, Story of the Forest – an interactive digital installation that brings 69 drawings of the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings alive, makes it public debut on Saturday 10 December 2016. The work was commissioned as part of the revamp of the permanent galleries of the National Museum of Singapore for the Glass Rotunda. The scale and curvature of the venue presented huge challenges to the Japanese digital art collective behind it, teamLab and required team of 30 to be assembled. Much of the task, including pre-production, was carried out at teamLab’s base in Japan and this included the construction of a full scale mockup. A large enough warehouse – there apparently was the only one in Tokyo that the mock-up could fit into – was used for the mockup.

Story of the Forest, by teamLab.

Cascading flowers of Story of the Forest’s first segment.

The interactive second segment that takes visitors down a 170m walkway to the lower rotunda.

More of the second segment.

Deeply inspired by the set of drawings on which the installation draws on for its images, teamLab’s has come up with one of the most amazing of installations that takes visitors on a journey of rediscovery through the rich assembly of flora and fauna that the Farquhar collection so beautifully captures. The Glass Rotunda, an architectural response of the Neo-Palladian rotunda of the museum’s main building, is a huge space to fill. It has a 15 metre high ceiling and a spiral walkway that requires the installation to be stretched across some 170 metres. teamLab response to this is a three segment installation. Cascading flora greets the visitors at the entrance, before the journey begins down the walkway with animals serving as a guide. A mobile app is available to enhance this experience. The app allows the “capture” of animals through the phone’s camera. The climax of the installation is a very dynamic one that takes place at the lower rotunda. Running animals, blooming trees, shooting stars and falling fruits make the experience especially immersive.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTEAMLAB.inc%2Fvideos%2F1196617013726202%2F&show_text=0&width=560

The lower rotunda is also where a second installation can be viewed – that of Robert Zhao’s Singapore, Very Old Tree. 17 photographs of the 30 photographs in the collection are one display. The photographs explore the nation’s identity and uncovers the personal relationships between people and trees.

Singapore, A Very Old Tree.

Admission to the Glass Rotunda (and Permanent Galleries) will be free to all visitors during the opening weekend on 10 and 11 December 2016 (it is also free on a permanent basis for Singaporeans and PRs). A host of activities for the family is also being lined up, more information on which can be found at www.nationalmuseum.sg.

A Patek Phillippe ‘Farquhar Collection’ Dome table clock donated by Hour Glass. Proceeds from an auction have gone to the revamp of the Glass Rotunda.

Second Nature, an interactive and immersive “secret garden” exhibit that features elements from the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings and reacts to your movements! Visitors are encouraged to participate and engage with the exhibit, as well as contribute to the installation by folding origami flowers and attaching them to a flowering board

Wings of a Rich Manoeuvre. A permanent installation by Suzann Victor for Swarovski, which was unveiled on 30 Nov 2016.

It seems that time may finally be called on the former National Aerated Water Company’s bottling plant at 1177 Upper Serangoon Road. Long a landmark at the 3rd Milestone, it sits on a valuable freehold site that has just been sold for quite a tidy sum to a Malaysian developer according to on a report in yesterday’s Straits Times. One of a handful of structures left along a stretch of the Kallang River that recall the river and the area’s rich industrial past.

An icon at the 3rd Milestone (Nov 2016).

Those of my vintage will remember the plant with fondness. Built with hints of an Art Deco influence, it will not only be for its unique and “un-industrial” appearance in the context of the industrial buildings of a more recent age, but also for its production of Kickapoo Joy Juice and Sinalco. Kickapoo in its signature green bottle and inspired by the comic strip Li’l Abner – which had a lengthy run in the local newspapers, was an especially popular choice. Sinalco, of German origin,  might have been less so, but had its fans. A third drink that would be introduced by the plant in the 1970s, Royal Crown or RC Cola, had much less of an impact.

A view through the fence to a reminder of the past (April 2012).

While one could quite easily miss noticing the row of shophouses just up the road with its stone working shops that catered to the demand for headstones and religious statues from Bidadari cemetery just a mile down the road and an oddly located shop hawking Czechoslovakian Petrof pianos; the factory and another iconic structure nearby, the Serangoon Fire Station, would have caught the attention of most who passed through. The rather notorious Woodsville junction or previously roundabout just down the road, where chaos reigned with its confluence of six major roads, brought traffic to a slow enough crawl, allowing for more than just a cursory glance at the plant.

Locked gates (Nov 2016).

The factory added its presence in 1954, the same year the National Aerated Water Company had marked its 25th anniversary. The investment, amounting to some S$500,000, gave the company an output to 48,000 bottles a day – more than twice what its previous plant at Hamilton Road could manage (see New $500,000 soft drinks factory opens in Oct, The Straits Times, 23 July 1954). The motivation for the new plant was the exclusive rights the company had won in 1952 to bottle and distribute Sinalco in the region.  Sales of the company’s products grew at a phenomenal rate, increasing 30% year-on-year through the new facility’s first decade. A second plant would built in 1964. Located in Petaling Jaya near the “Rothmans Roundabout”, it catered to the growing demand up north.

A peek inside (Apr 2012).

Things began however to head south at the end of the 1970s. The death knell for the plant would be sounded in the 1990s when the Kickapoo licensor, Monarch Beverage, cancelled the agreement it had with the company. The company would also face a suit for copyright infringement, which it lost  (see : Infopedia page on the National Aerated Water Company) and the plant ceased production at the end of the 1990s. The site was left abandoned with a clutter of crates and empty bottles at its front yard for what seemed the longest of times.

The front yard cleared of its clutter (Apr 2012).

That the buildings are still around has very much to do with the fact that the sale and redevelopment of the site had been prevented by a long standing tussle over shares one of its shareholders, the late Ching Kwong Kuen (see: Ching Chew Weng Paul v Ching Pui Sim and Others [2009] SGHC 277) had placed in trust with one of his brothers and a niece. The Chings, whose roots were in steel work and ship repair business with Kwong Soon Engineering, interests in the bottling company began in 1953. Connected with Kwong Soon Engineering are two other industrial buildings with a non-industrial appearance including a 1933 Art Deco style foundry where it started. Both buildings are still around and found  at Cavan Road, which is just next to Hamilton Road where National Aerated’s first plant had been located.

Kwong Soon Engineering’s two buildings at Cavan Road, including its former foundry on the left.

Kwong Soon Engineering, some might remember, made the news in January 1996 when the RV Calypso, the famous mine-sweeper turned research vessel used by the legendary oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, sank at its yard in Tuas. The vessel was hit by a barge that had broken free of its moorings and left under 4.8 metres of water with only part of its superstructure and mast exposed.

Another look at the former foundry.

With the privately held site long marked for residential development (with a plot area of 2.8), there seems little chance of anything being kept even if there are renewed calls being made for its conservation.  It will certainly be a shame to lose an icon that has long been part of the area’s identity and representative of a past being too rapidly forgotten to just another towering apartment block the area seems to already have much too much of.

The third milestone is being colonised by towering apartment blocks (Nov 2016).

More photographs:

We seemed to have said too many goodbyes in the year we have just left behind; goodbyes to those who coloured the world, goodbyes to political certainty, and in Singapore, goodbyes- once again – to too many bits of what makes our city-state unique. The year we have just welcomed, brings the end for many of the places we have said goodbye to, either through their complete erasure or through alteration. Two, Rochor Centre and the Ellison Building, both of which are affected by the construction of the North-South expressway due to commence this year, have received more than a fair share of attention.  The former will  be completely demolished as it stands in the way of exit and entry points of the southern end of the expressway, while the latter, a conserved structure, will lose some of its original façade. While there is an intention to have its lost face rebuilt, the news was met with quite a fair bit of displeasure, prompting an effort to have the extent of the façade affected minimised.

The “Rainbow Flats”, or Rochor Centre, will be demolished this year for the construction of the North-South expressway.

The expressway will be built overground at its northern end. The impact this will have may not in the loss of buildings or parts of them, but the much altered vistas the parts the viaduct is being built over would have. One area in which this would be painfully obvious will be in Sembawang Road between Mandai Avenue and Khatib Camp. Taking a path through a landscape recalling a countryside we have largely discarded, the road and the pleasing vistas it has long provided, will surely be missed once the expressway is built. My acquaintance with the road goes back to the early 1970s when as a schoolboy, I would find myself bused down the road, to support my school’s football team playing in the north zone primary schools finals at Sembawang School. The road’s charm hasn’t changed very much since its more rural days, despite its subsequent widening and the building of Yishun New Town and Khatib Camp just down the road.

A beautiful stretch of Sembawang Road – near its 11th milestone, recalls a rural past. A viaduct for the North-South expressway, will give it a very different and a much more urban feel.

The road is set against a charming landscape that recalls its days as part of the huge Nee Soon plantation. The former plantation’s Assistant Manager’s residence – still stands prominently atop one of the areas’s high points.

An area affected by the expressway that has already lost its charm is Toa Payoh Rise. I often enjoyed walks along the quiet and well shaded tree-lined road in more youthful days when the air of calm it provided was supplemented by the chorus of its tree lizards. The then much narrower road, an access point to Toa Payoh Hospital, has seen much of its magic taken away. Associated also with institutions for the visually handicapped, it has since been given a completely different feel with its upgrade into a main access path in and out of Toa Payoh and the building of a Circle Line MRT station, Caldecott. Several structures of the past can still be found such as the former Marymount Convent complex and four low-rise blocks of flats that served as quarters for hospital staff. The former convent buildings and two of the four blocks of flats are  however set to disappear just so our world could be kept moving.

Flats at Toa Payoh Rise – two will be demolished for the North-South expressway to be built.

The Marymount Convent complex.

At the other end of Thomson Road, there are also two reminders of more youthful times that are also set to make a partial disappearance. Here, the expressway’s tunnel will burrow through soil once intended to provide eternal rest – that of the former New or Bukit Timah Cemetery – already disturbed by the exhumation of the cemetery in the 1970s. The tunnel will also swallow up several units from a delightful collection of old houses at Kampong Java and Halifax Roads. Built around the 1930s as municipal quarters, these are of two designs and have very much been a feature of the area. The area was where I attended kindergarten (at Cambridge Road) and also primary school (at Essex Road). While the demolition would involve a few units close to the side of the Central Expressway, it will have the impact of further reducing the area’s already eroded charm.

Former municipal quarters at Kampong Java Road that will make way for the expressway.

Former municipal quarters at Halifax Road, several of which will also fall victim to the North South expressway.

Two other major road transport projects – involving the MRT – also adds to the destruction brought on by the need to keep our world moving. One, the final phase of the Circle Line, has seen part of the Singapore Polytechnic first campus demolished and the levelling of what had been left of the very historic Mount Palmer. Another big change the project will bring is to the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. The line will run under the former station with an MRT station, Cantonment, built under its platforms. This will see the well-loved National Monument closed to the public for a period of nine years during which time it will acquire an entirely different feel. One of the MRT station exits will bring commuters up to the former station’s platforms and into the former station building, which will by the time it reopens, may feature a mix of retail and food and beverage outlets.

A last Christmas at Tanjong Pagar, before a lengthy closure during which it will be changed forever.

Not everything however, is going due to the need to keep us mobile, as is the case for what is left of Old Kallang Airport Estate or Dakota Crescent – as it is now commonly referred to. The well-loved neighbourhood is a a last remnant of an estate built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) – the predecessor to the HDB, that features the first attempts at high-rise public housing blocks. Built at the end of the 1950s, parts of the estate has already been lost to redevelopment. The part of it that is still left features four block designs arranged around two spacious courtyards and a playground introduced in the 1970s. Some of the blocks were designed to also include units intended for commercial and artisanal use – a feature of the SIT estates of the era. A group is currently seeking to have parts of the estate, which offers an insight into the public housing programme of the pre-HDB era, conserved, supported by the Member of Parliament for the area.

Dakota at the crossroads.

Will the estate and the last of the dove (playgrounds), like many of the SIT estates of the past, be discarded?

See also:

Some places that will be affected by the North-South Expressway

• Parting Glances: Rochor Centre in its Last Days
• Calling an End to One Cycle of Time for the Ellison Building
• A Search for a Lost Countryside
• A Forgotten Corner of Thomson Road
• Toa Payoh on the Rise

Some places that are affected by the Circle Line’s Final Phase

• Closing the Circle
• Parting Glances: Tanjong Pagar as It Will Never Again Be 
• The first Singapore Polytechnic Campus

More Winds of Change:

• Critically Endangered
• Dakota at the Crossroads
• The Rail Corridor
• The Forgotten Star of MacTaggart Road
• The Last and a Soon to be Lost Countryside (possibly after 2020)
• The Last Forest Hill in Sembawang
• Losing its fizz: the third milestone without the former National Aerated Water Plant

The highly anticipated annual Chinatown Street Light-up will be launched on Saturday 7 January 2016, kicking-off a seven-week long celebration in the precinct aimed at ushering in and celebrating the Chinese Year of the Rooster. This year’s light-up features the largest number of lanterns made for a Chinatown celebration – some 5,500 in all – including a centrepiece giant rooster that crows across the road on the divider between Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road at the streets’  meeting with Upper Cross Street.

The 13 metre tall rooster lantern with long tail feathers that crows every now and then.

Designed by students from the SUTD, the LED lit lanterns along the centre divider illustrate the stages in the life of the rooster and impart life’s values through the 55 roosters, 64 hens, 134 chicks and 56 golden eggs on display. In addition to this there are also 1000 peony flower lanterns along New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street and 4,100 peach blossom lanterns, 21 peach blossom trees and 90 lanterns along South Bridge Road. The crowing rooster, the centrepiece, measures 13 metres tall, 7 metres wide and with the inclusion of its tail feathers, 100 metres in length.

Lessons from the life of the rooster – along the centre divider between Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road.

Peonies over New Bridge Road.

Peach Blossoms over South Bridge Road.

In addition to the light-up, the Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations also feature the popular annual street bazaar, which will run from 6 to 27 January 2017. The bazaar will feature some 440 stalls, which will line Pagoda, Smith, Sago Temple and Trengganu Streets, offering festive goodies and decorations among other items and brings great atmosphere to the streets of Chinatown.

The giant rooster – seen at street level.

Chickens, chickens everywhere.

There is also a youthful theme being introduced to this year’s event with YouthEats @ Temple Street and YHFlea: Come Lepark edition. YouthEats will see 12 entrepreneurs with unique food offerings, while YHFlea, being held on 14 and 15 January, is a flea market that will feature 100 local brands and independent designer. Other activities to look out for are Walking Trails being held on 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22 January at 3.30 to 5.00 pm for which pre-registration is required at www.chinatownfestivals.sg, the Official Light-up and Opening Ceremony on 7 January, Nightly Stage Shows, the International Lion Dance Competition – for which more information can be found at http://chinatownfestivals.sg/chinatown-chinese-new-year-celebrations-2017/.

Filed under: Chinatown, Events, Singapore, Traditions

I revisited my first journey to Pulau Tekong last Friday. It is a journey that many a Singaporean son makes at the start of National Service, one that I made some three decades ago, when the island was already cleared of its previous inhabitants and made the home of Singapore’s largest Basic Military Training (BMT) complex. 31 years and three months since, it was time for my son to make his own journey. This first journey, is often accompanied by a a reluctance and a mix of emotions brought about by the fear of the relative unknown, the loss of two years of one’s prime and of life as one had known. While boys these days may be much better prepared for this and with family members now allowed to make part of the journey, it does not in anyway lessen the dread that comes with it.

My son’s journey began at noon, with a bus ride from Pasir Ris Bus Interchange. By contrast, my had begun in the militaristic setting of Dempsey Road where the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) was then based. That involved a trudge up the incline of the road that I was already very familiar with from the many occasions I needed to visit CMPB since I turned 12 to obtain an exit permit necessary to leave the country, and to have my passport extended. At the top, the induction into military life would be swift – civilian identification needed first to be surrendered and in no time I found myself lifting my right hand to take the Oath of Allegiance. Goodbyes – for those who family members had gathered – were quickly waved as enlistees were being rushed up a 3-tonner Bedford truck for what was to be a long and uncomfortable ride.

The first stop, Keat Hong Camp, was where enlistees was kitted up and given their first taste of the then infamously bad army food. We were then back on the 3-tonner  for the road trip across the island that ended on the beach at Changi. There we would wait for the Ramp Powered Lighter (RPL) for the final part of the trip and it would only be late in the afternoon that we found ourselves being marched in the then still rustic settings to what would serve as home for much of the three months to come – the Infantry Training Depot’s (ITD) rather sinister looking Camp 1.

The island has much less of a rustic feel these days – at least at the landing point at which enlistees and their family members find themselves after a much more comfortable ride from Changi on a civilian operated catamaran ferry. From the new and sheltered jetty at Tekong, the immense Ladang Camp complex comes into sight. It is where the bulk of the enlistees will be based at during their stint in BMT- some would however find themselves based inland at a second camp complex at Rocky Hill. This transformation came as quite a surprise to me, even if I may have had glimpses of the island from the air and from the boat when I visited Beting Bronok and Pengerang in more recent times .

With there no longer being a need to make the long detour to the Keat Hong with kits now being issued on the island, the journey is also a lot more efficient. In a matter of four hours from boarding the bus at Pasir Ris, family members would have been briefed on what their sons, grandsons or brothers would go through, get a glimpse of how they would sleep, be told about when to expect them home, witness the taking of the Oath, have a taste of the much improved and now catered army food with the enlistees and also wave their goodbyes.

In photographs

The journey now begins at Pasir Ris Bus Interchange.

No longer does it involve a long and uncomfortable ride on a 3-tonner. Enlistees (and accompanying family members) are now transported in air-conditioned comfort directly to the SAF Ferry Terminal at Changi Beach.

The wait to board the ferry is also sheltered. Back then, the wait (and ride across) would have involved standing exposed to the elements.

The jetty. Tides are no longer a consideration. Previously boarding would have been up the ramp of a beached RPL that was only able to land at the higher tides. This consideration resulted in several shortened weekends – when unfavourable tide times could translate into having to head back to camp on a Sunday morning.

Civilian operated catamaran ferries are used these days.

Boarding the ferry,

The first view of Tekong is no longer over the bulwark of the sun baked deck of the RPL but from the air-conditioned passenger cabin of the catamaran ferry.

A first view through a ferry porthole.

Arriving at Tekong.

The well sheltered jetty at Tekong.

The view of Ladang Camp from the jetty – almost paradise?

The welcome at the end of the jetty.

An briefing on Basic Military Training, aimed at providing assurance to family members.

Family members are taken on a bus tour, whilst enlistees are being in-processed.

A view of the Parade Square at Ladang Campfrom the bus.

A tour of a show bunk. Bed frames are a lot sturdier and mattresses much thicker (we had 2 inch mattresses supported – if you can call it that – by soft bed springs, or the little that was left of the springs).

Bunks are also a lot more airy.

Enlistees rejoining family members for a meal after taking the oath.

Queuing at the cookhouse.

Falling in.

Ke-kanan pusing – a first march and a last look.

Sentosa, or the island of peace and tranquility and now also of posh homes, fancy boats and overpriced hotels, was once the rather sinister sounding Pulau Blakang Mati – the island of death at the back. No one seems quite sure of the origins of the name, although there have been several suggestions including one that is tied to the legend that Pulau Tekukor to Blakang Mati’s south had once seen duels to the death pitting Bugis warriors against ones from the Malay world.

Ruins on Mount Serapong.

It was in putting up a deference to violent confrontation that was to be Blakang Mati’s purpose for a large part of British rule. Strategically positioned, it served not only as a natural breakwater for the new harbour. Endowed with high points, it was only a matter of time before guns to protect the harbour from seaward attack were positioned on the island. The idea was in fact already mooted by William Farquhar, Singapore’s first resident, as early as 1820 – a year after the British arrived.

The first military installations would however only come up in the late 1800s. Undeterred by outbreaks of malaria and “Blakang Mati fever”, fortifications requiring extensive use of concrete – then newly introduced to Singapore, were constructed at the end of the 1870s on Mount Serapong – Blakang Mati’s highest point. It would only be in 1885 that work started on the installation of coastal artillery on Serapong. Two 8 inch guns were installed with supporting infrastructure such as casemates built into the terrain, which contained magazines, accommodation and other working spaces.

By 1912/13, the guns at Serapong Battery would be upgraded to 9.2 inch calibre guns and a separate Spur Battery, also equipped with a 9.2 inch gun added. These guns would be decommissioned in the later half of the 1930s when 9.2 inch guns at Fort Connaught were installed. Two 6 inch guns would however be placed on the spur (renamed Serapong Battery) after a review in 1936 and this was operational up to the final days before the fall of Singapore. Both guns were spiked and destroyed, No. 2 on 14th and and No. 1 on 15th February 1942.

With the development of Sentosa today, it may perhaps be surprising that extensive remnants of the installations scattered over Mount Serapong – just a stone’s throw away from the luxury developments at Sentosa Cove – can still be found today. The remnants include a underground magazine built for the 9.2 inch spur battery that was converted for use for Serapong Battery’s 6 inch No. 1 Gun, the battery’s gun emplacements, as well as several other support structures built in the 1930s for the battery. What may be more surprising are casemates, thought to have been built around 1885 can be found along with mountings for the 9.2 inch guns and best of all, a bunker 20 metres under the casemates that served as the Blakang Mati Command Centre. The bunker, with several chambers is in a damaged condition and has a vertical escape shaft at the top of which is a hatch.

The National Heritage Board, through a series of guided tours to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore, offers an excellent opportunity to learn more about and see these remnants. One tour, Fort Serapong @ Fort Siloso, for which 3 sessions on the 25 February, 4 and 11 March (from 9.30 am to 12 noon) will be held. Places are limited. More  on the tours and other programmes can be found below.

For more on the guns at Serapong, on Sentosa and also across Singapore, do visit Peter Stubbs excellent FortSiloso.com site.

Photographs of the ruins on Mount Serapong

On the spur, the Gun No. 1 Gun duty personnel rooms and gunners’ shelter.

The collapsed structure of the 6 inch Gun No. 1 emplacement on the spur.

The underground 6-inch Gun No. 1 magazine on the spur, converted from that for the 9.2 inch spur battery.

Inside the Other Ranks shelter in the magazine.

In the ‘courtyard’ of the magazine.

Inside the magazine.

The 1936 kitchen complex.

More of the kitchen complex.

Another view.

The 1936 bathroom.

Fort Connaught’s Battery Command Post (BCP), positioned on the highest point.

Another view.

9.2 inch gun mounting studs.

A close-up.

The 9.2 inch shell hoist.

Nature reclaiming the space.

Stairs at the casemate.

Space inside the casemate.

Part of the casemate.

Inside a casemate space.

Another collapsed structure.

A underground reservoir.

Magazine inside the casemate.

Another view.

The Blakang Mati Command Centre.

Another view.

The view up the escape shaft.

The hatch at the end of the escape shaft.

Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore

This 15 February will mark 75 years since the Fall of Singapore, an event that brought about 3½ years of occupation by the Japanese and a period of immense hardship.  The National Heritage Board is commemorating the anniversary with  “Battle for Singapore – Years under the Sun Empire: Tales of Resilience” that will see guided tours, talks and activities organised by various Museum Roundtable museums from 16 February to 12 March.

There would be 12 different tours with a total of 49 tour runs to look out for. These will cover 11 World War II related sites and structures, including some rarely opened places such as the former Fort Serapong and the former Command House. There is an opportunity to also hear accounts of battle and survival and learn about the contributions and courage of the local population to the effort to defend Singapore.

Also to look forward to is the re-opening of the Former Ford Factory, which has been closed for a year-long revamp. This will reopen to the public on 16 February 2017 and see a new exhibition gallery with never-been-seen-before archival materials, There is also an interactive component offering a more immersive account of the days of war and suffering. Special exhibitions and programmes are also being put up by the Army Museum, Battlebox, the Singapore Discovery Centre. the Eurasian Heritage Centre, and Reflections at Bukit Chandu. More information is available at  www.museums.com.sg. Sign-ups for the Battle for Singapore 2017 programmes can be made at this link: https://www.eventbrite.sg/o/national-heritage-board-9384989257 (available from 6 February 2017 at 10.00am onwards). Slots are limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.