Recollections Part 1 - My Childhood My first impression of my childhood was staying in a bungalow at No. 163 Moulmein Road. A rich relative owned this bungalow. There were many families staying together, the Yeong, Lau, Yap and the Loke family, which I belong to. It is a two-storey building constructed in the middle of a plot of land. There was a garden in front of the main gate, and a strip of open space on each side of the building. In the front garden was planted a mango and two jambu trees. On one side of the open space was a communal toilet. There was usually a long queue in the morning for this was the place to report to before any other work begins. I could remember during the mango season, how my cousin, Anthony and my self each trying to wake up earlier than the other just to be the first to collect the fallen ripe mangoes. On one occasion, I threw a stone at Anthony’s head just because I was late to wake up. Though he had long pardon me but he still chides me for doing it. Now he chides no more for he had pass away 10 years ago. Together there were almost 30 children of various ages and the older ones decide the game or the trend for the day. Being young and weak I was always left behind. There were no television then, only radio, and I could remember our favorite Mr. Lee Tai Sor telling his stories in the evening and all of us children would crowd around the radio (Redifusion) listening to Journey To The West story, which lasted for years. As for toys we usually make our own from whatever scraps that were available. Street hawking was allowed then. There was the mobile char kway teow man, who comes along during lunchtime pushing his make shift stall on wheels. It was cheap then, a basic plate with cockerel clams would cost only 20 cents and 30 cents with egg. Another mobile vendor is the “Tok Tok Mee” hawker. He had a young boy going around the streets knocking on his bamboo instrument to announce his arrival. This boy will take orders and deliver the noodles to anyone’s house and he would collect the empty bowls later when he passes by. The satay man usually Malay would carry his stove and the raw satay on a split bamboo carrier over his shoulder. He would stop by at specific spots along the way and every one knows that he has arrived by the delicious aroma carried along by the breeze. A stick of satay costs 10 cents then. I could remember that the Yap family occupied the 1st floor of the bungalow. They stayed in one room only. At one corner just besides the staircase leading upstairs, there was a huge empty coffin, cut out of a huge tree trunk it seems. This was stored upstairs by our rich relative for his funeral when he passes away. Because of the coffin we children always avoid going upstairs. It is only the Yap family who were brave enough to stay there. One day we children receive bad news, one of our 5th uncle (mother side), the elder of the twin was brutally stabbed and we heard the dreadful news that his body was pinned by a dagger to a huge Tembusu tree with a portion of his intestine dangling out. His friends who were with him fled the scene when the fight broke out. He was actually not the target of the feud but just because he tried to intervene he lost his life. His friends did not stand out to identify the murderers. The funeral service was carried out in Sago Street, in China Town. His body was laid in a coffin outside the funeral parlor but not covered for friends and relatives to view and pay their last respects. I can still remember the chilling experience of walking through the narrow pathway to the toilet located at the back of the parlor. There were corpses being laid out on straw mattresses and placed on make shift benches along one side of this pathway. There was one old lady I understand was placed there to await death. She belongs to the single women clan, these ladies came from China and do not have any husband, or children to care for them. A few years after my uncle’s death we heard from the maids who were working for the rich relative and were staying on the other side of the road, said that they, on a few occasions saw the apparitions of my uncle crying in the garden of our bungalow. My grandmother immediately consulted a medium located at the junction of Balestier Road and Kim keat road. The medium was an old lady renowned for her abilities to communicate with the dead. Under a trance the medium spoke and another old lady interpreted that my dead uncle was not happy, because he was still a bachelor and he wanted very much to have a wife. Later my grandmother received news from the medium that there was a Chinese girl in Hong Kong who had died recently and was willing to marry my dead uncle. So a marriage in the underworld was arrange by this medium to pacify the dead. During the 1950s and 60s, there were three amusement parks in Singapore. The New World, The Great World and The Gay World. Those were the main attractions then. The New World Amusement Park was accessible either from Kitchener Road or Jalan Besar. Because, New World was nearest to my home then, it was visited most. I could remember there were many mini stalls pedaling fashionable wear, food stalls, beer lounges, amusement rides, and assorted businesses to make the park worthy of a visit. My most indelible memory of New World was the stage show, I was not interested in the show then for I was not even in my puberty, I only enjoy the carbonated drinks, because it was really a treat to be able to taste this drink, known then in Cantonese as “Horlan sui”, meaning drinks from Holland. My parents were enjoying the show, whereas I was enjoying the drink from Holland. To get there, well at that time it was by trishaw, for about a kilometer and a half distance away, the fare was 50 cents. Because of the limited space in the trishaw, only my parents could be seated and two or three children would squat in front, anything more would be impossible to accommodate. All those three amusement parks were demolished to make way for new buildings selling at a lucrative price now. The Gay World was the last to be demolished and in its place was a new hawker center, serving many local delicacies, it was here that I really enjoy a meal occasionally, but it too was relocated to the new hawker center at Boon Kent Road. The place now is just an open lot with nothing but grass. It has been left open for almost 10 years, and I do not know why the hawkers were relocated. Why leave a plot of valuable land vacant for so many years! I could still remember the bus ride to my primary school, Winsteadt Primary School; the bus fare was only 5 cents. For the whole journey of the bus route, it was only 10 cents. The bus services then were provided by the Singapore Traction Company, (STC), and the Tay Koh Yat Bus Company. The STC serves the city areas, and the Tay Koh Yat, the rural areas. I could still remember the bus terminal at Moulmein Green, an island of green to control the traffic. This was the location where Moulmein Road, Norfolk Road, Balestier Road and Rangoon Road meet. It was on this piece of land, that during the weekend crowds would gather to watch a magician putting up his show, actually to sell his medication for all sorts of common illness. This island had a tall and huge angsana tree at the corner near Norfolk Road and Moulmein Road. The island and the angsana tree were demolished a long time ago. Strikes were quite often then, I could remember the bus companies went on strike in the late 1950s and we went to school in lories provided by the government; it was the British then for we were still a colony of the British Empire. Of course the ride was free, but we have to jostle for a place to be in the lorry. Talking about Moulmein Green, it was here, where the Oily Man, made a mark in the history of Singapore. Rumors were abundant about the presence of these half naked nocturnal “Ghost” going around molesting and raping girls and breaking into houses, but no one was caught to prove their existence. While these rumors were spreading, the streets were haunted in the evenings, until the early hours of the morning. From the description of those who had seen the Oily Man in person, was that, the man was dark and drenched in oil, and he only wore a loincloth and nothing else. He could not be arrested because one could not hold on to him, because of the oil on his body and bullets would just ricochet from his body! This is unbelievable now! There were no television then, so the cinemas were always full, sometimes we had to buy tickets from the black market touts. The usual price was a premium of 50 to 100% on top of the normal price. The cinemas like, Cathay, Odeon, Rex, Ruby, Hoover and many others were all closed now, due to lack of patronage. This happens when the laser disc, VCR, and later the DVDs were introduced into the market. However, the cinema bug is back again now, and there are more Cineplexes sprouting up in the city area, especially in Malaysia. I hope people now spend more time with their family instead of concentrating on the paper chase. Life would be happier.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 05:24:54 +0000