Fire At Kampong Eunos

Map of Kampong Eunos



Kampong Eunos fire site in February 1963
Picture from the National Archives of Singapore

The original Kampong Eunos was a Malay resettlement in Kaki Bukit area at Jalan Eunos. My Kampong Eunos then was a Chinese village bounded by Changi Road/Lorong Marican/Jalan Yasin/Jalan Eunos forming a rectangle. A sign post 'Kampong Eunos' stood by the roadside between No 279 and 283 Changi Road showed the way to the kampong.

The kampong had a coffee shop for the villagers to socialise, a provision shop with a stall extension selling perishable food such as vegetables and fish and a Chinese temple to provide spiritual need. There were a few other shops in between. For products not available at the shops the housewives made their way to the nearby markets at Changi Road and Joo Chiat Road now replaced by Joo Chiat Complex. Diagonally opposite the temple was a 2 storey timber building Chinese school. Behind it was a cluster of attap huts. Further into the kampong was a coffee powder factory. In February 1963, a few attap huts situated nearer to Changi Road was on fire. The burnt area was acquired by the authority and a community centre was built. The building is now home to many artists.

Another access to the kampong was from Lorong Sarina. It was originally a foot path leading to a vegetable farm between Lorong Marican and the path. In the second half of 1950 the landscape changed due to housing developments in the area. Lorong Sarina, an earth road was built to provide an access from Changi Road to Jalan Yasin. There was a mixed of Chinese and Malay population in this part of the kampong.

Malay friends came for a visit during Chinese New Year

People in the kampong were very friendly and knew their neighbours by name. I had a Malay neighbour a few doors away. My mother would baby sit for her 3 months old son, each time she went to the polyclinic. The child called my mother 'mak' (mother in Malay). On festival day such as Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri, we visited each other's home.

We owned a black and white television set and children from the neighbourhood came to watch the programme every evenings.

In the morning, mobil hawkers on wheels came with vegetables, fish and pork. Besides marketing it was also the time for housewives to socialise and gossips. The men socialised by playing mahjong with the neighbours especially on week-ends. I had fond memory of the Magnolia fresh milk/ice cream vendor. He'd come in his mini van and I loved to eat his sandwich ice cream with chocolate flavour. Another favourite hawker was the Indonesian satay man. He never over burn the satay and the beef was succulent.

Today, Kampong Eunos has been transformed and become smaller. The terraced house where I lived and the land nearby had been acquired by the Government for the building of Sim's Avenue East and MRT line. Condominiums sprouted out facing Sim's Avenue East. Kampong Eunos is no longer a kampong.

A mobile hawker on wheels.

Housewives meet and chat

The dirt road also act as a playground for the children.

My children

Two good neighbours

A kampong beauty

My brother and our neighbours playing mahjong

Our black and white television set

Kampong wedding

The wedding entourage

Chong Pang Village 1959

Cattle roam freely at Sembawang Road in the 50s and 60s
Above a cow was resting on the roadside at Chong Pang Village

Chong Pang village is so different now compared to 5 decades ago. Recently, I came across a few photos posted by hyacinthus in her blog. It is no longer a village with attap or corrugated iron roofs. The whole landmark has changed beyond recognition. Life within a small community then was more leisurely and the villagers knew almost all their neighbours. It reminded me of the days when our team chose Chong Pang village for our village report. The field works was part of our diploma course.

The wet market was off the main road and hawker stalls overflowed onto the market concourse. Most of the stalls were operated by illegal hawkers. At that time, Singapore was self sufficient in meat and market produce with some imported from the neighbouring countries. Housewives looked their best in sarong kabaya and Chinese samfoo for their marketing.

After the marketing hours, refuse could be seen all over the place. Picture above showed a daily rated worker cleaning the area. People like him helped to keep our environment clean.

In late 1950s the first Mayor of Singapore introduced public standpipes to most of the villages in the rural areas. Villagers were so used to getting free water from public standpipes that they continued to do so even when their homes had piped-in water supply.

Villagers walked quite a distance to the main road to take public transport to work and to school. In the picture, the centre house had attap roof whereas the neighbours on either side had upgraded to corrugated iron roof.

The village had a sago factory. Notice the unhygienic way of drying sago flour in the open.

One of the private clinic in the village. The doctor parked his car on the shop's pavement as there was no proper parking lot fronting his shop.

Mobile clinic from the Ministry of Health for the poor or was it an X-ray vehicle as TB then was the No 1 killer disease.

The Morris Oxford on Sembawang Road, was going towards Nee Soon. Most motor vehicles at that time were British, European and American made. Japanese car was not yet introduced to the population.

Picnic at Changi Beach

Picnic at Changi Point beach on 4th August 1951

I was in secondary one, and during the August holidays the first thing in our minds was to orgainise a picnic but we ended having 2 picnics in the same month.

A group photo for all boys and girls

We played horse riding in the sea.

The fun was to push the other 'rider' into the water.

Notice the the 'kelong' or fishing stake on the upper

left of the photo. I have not been to Changi beach

for a long time, so I do not know if any 'kelong' is left.

We played games and the loser had to play a forfeit.

The guy above lost in the game and

had to put on the lipstick on his lips.

The lady in the photo was very popular.

All the guys who had to perform forfeit chose her as

his partner.

The couple was not kissing because there was

something in between. Maybe they were biting

an apple or ? The person in the centre was holding

the thing to prevent it from dropping.

Then it was her turn to perform the forfeit.

Can you believe this? The couple were

next door neighbours and they did not know

each other existed until they met at the picnic.

A fairy tale story always had a happy ending.

They married and lived happily ever after.

The girls were all from the same class performing a pyramid.

Two of the girls were twin. Try to spot them.

1, 2, 3, cheese!

Another group photo. This time they were in the water.

The guy named Mahmood 4th from the left was a

TV comdian before. He died a few years ago.

Pinic at Changi Point beach on 25th August 1951

Many of the boys and girls who came to our picnic on 4th August

asked us to organise another one. We were happy to oblige.

All girls group photo.

A group photo for all.

A group photo for guys.

Mahmood was standing 5th from right.

Hey! What were you all watching?

Wish I can remember.

Look! They were enjoying and laughing

at the happening in front of them.

I cannot recollect as it took place more

than half a decade ago.

There were bushes at

Changi beach then. Love birds liked to go there

at night as it was breezy and dark.

I wonder whether the bushes are still there.

Picnic At Pasir Ris beach 1st August 1955

I finished school in 1954 and started work in early 1955. But, the spirit of getting together and having fun continued after leaving school. So, a group of friends organised another picnic at Pasir Ris on 1st Aug 1955.
We went to picnic at Pasir Ris on a lorry. We did not have the luxury of an aircon bus like today. But, we had a very good time singing and laughing together
as the lorry journeyed on.
Pasir Ris then was a coconut plantation as shown in the photo background. There was a brick wall between the plantation and the beach to prevent soil erosion.











Smile, you are on condid camera!!!















Tea dance was a craze in the 1950s. All youths wanted to learn dancing. Learning at the dance studio was expensive. So, friends taught one another.
No dance floor? Anywhere would do as in this photo.
The young girl was learning to dance from the older girl . Others watched and tried to remember the steps.

The group photo was for girls only.

Another group photo for girls only?

Where were all the guys? Perhaps they were dancing at Pasir Ris Hotel.

There they were! Crowding at the lorry in the background.

Group photo for girls only.

Pasir Ris Beach in 1950s

The Straits Times Thursday 31 July 2008

When I saw the article on the left published in today's Straits Times, I cannot help thinking of the good old days when we had picnic after picnic at Pasir Ris beach, especially at the stretch between the PA Pasir Ris Holiday Complex and the Pasir Ris Hotel (already demolished). There were a lot of trees to provide shades. Besides having picnics, we also swam in the sea and camped by the beach overnight on week-ends. My previous blog also showed combined picnic by boy scouts and girl scouts at Pasir Ris beach.









In middle of 1950s Singapore's first Mayor
organised a picnic at Pasir Ris Beach for his staff and
their families. I and my then girl friend were there. Photo on the left shows some City Council staff and their families resting under the canvas shade.













Three ladies were taking a stroll fronting the carpark. The cars were mostly Morris or Austin of various models. A Baby Austin or A40 was behind the lady on the right. There was no Japanese car then.












The sea was very safe for swimming then as the swimmers in the background could testify.




No need to say, you know who lah!








The beach had to be very clean on that day as the mayor himself was there to ensure it. The man with long pants in the background was the Mayor. You can also see a cleaner cleaning the beach behind the lady in the photo.

4th of July

4th of July family dinner celebration at the back garden.











Displayed of fireworks fronting home

American Day of lndependance celebrated in a grand fashion in big cities in US as seen in the TV. There were long parades and floats with music and celebrities, and thousands of people gathered on both sides of the road to give cheers and applauses. My experience in an American suburb was different. The day before the celebration we drove in the neighbourhood and discovered a parade route. Residents reserved places with chairs fronting their homes on both sides of the road to watch the parade. I did not see the parades as it was held in the morning and everybody in the house got up late. However, we had a family dinner to celebrate the 4th of July as shown in the photo. In summer at 7.30 pm it was still daylight. Earlier on, my son bought about US$100 worth of fireworks from a stall at a mall's carpark for the celebration at night. Where we lived very few families participated in the fireworks, except those with children. Neighbours not taking part came out to watch the fireworks and chat. We had a friend living in Anaheim, just behind Disneyland. After finishing our fireworks we drove there to watch the fireworks from Disneyland. The fireworks is comparable to what we had in Singapore during the National Day display. It was very colourful and brilliant with many different formations. It started at about 9.30 pm just before closing time. We watched for about 10 minutes and was invited to the house for supper. That ended my experience with the 4th of July celebration in America.

Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts Picnic

In 1953 the Livingstone Patrol of the 32nd Raffles had a combined picnic with a Girl Scout group. It was arranged by a mutual friend who knew the Scout Mistress. Pasir Ris then was still a semi jungle. The coastal area was full of coconut trees with some clearings. We pitched our tent in one of the open area as shown in the left photo.

Group Photo

A story telling

Ooops! I forgot my line.

A guessing game (charade)

A blind catching a blind

Poor fellow! Anyway we all had fun.

Another group photo