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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Vacation In US


My son and my grandchildren




Swimming pool behind the house


I am here already a week. How time flies. My son and his family lived in Anaheim, California. His house has a swimming pool and we swim almost daily as the day temperature here is between 80 to 100 degree F. Wine and beer are very cheap and needless to say we drank like fish especially by the poolside in the evening.

Disneyland is nearby his house and nightly there is fireworks before closing time. I could watch it from the backyard or for better viewing, from a back window on the upper floor.



Sunrise at Belmont Pier, Long Beach

On Saturday morning I and my son went fishing at Belmont Pier, Long Beach. We started at 4.30 am and drove for about 30 minutes to the site. There were many types of fish in the sea. On that day, there was a lot of sardine fish. A Phillipino family had half a pail full. We were targeting for other types of fish and managed to get nine. When we arrived at the pier the sun had not risen yet and there were few people. Later more and more anglers appeaered and by 10.00 am the pier was crowded and also time for us to head for home.


My son holding his catch, a croaker



This is a buttermouth



This fish is sand bass



This fish is sand shark





Friday, July 3, 2009

Teaser 3




This is a nostalgic picture. I am sure all the old timers out there had seen the like of him before. Some might have seen him performing his skill. What was he doing?

Monday, June 29, 2009

Tubes TV Sets

I went through my old photographs and came across a number of nostalgic pictures. The year was 1957. I moved from Joo Chiat Road where I grew up to our new house at Kampong Eunos to live with my parents. Television then was a novelty. We were among the few households to own one in the kampong. The television set was made in Germany and the picture was in black and white. The picture quality depended on the antenna installed on the roof top. It flckered very often. Sometimes the fault was from the source and we had to wait patiently for it to resume broadcasting. Every night the neighbours' children came to our house to watch the tv shows. I liked comedy shows such as Ed The Talking Horse.


My present television set is still a cathode tube. It is more than ten years old and is still going strong. I shall change it to a LCD only when it stops working.




My brother standing beside the television




A Japanese television set in mid 1970
My grandmother's house at Joo Chiat had a Rediffusion box. In fact, almost every household in the suburban area had one. It was very popular with the young and old. It broadcasts news, music, story telling, entertainment and others. I liked to listen to Chinese songs and Oh Toh's story telling. The rediffusion box was hung on the wall, but I brought it down to a table so that I would not miss the story.




Listening to Ong Toh story telling

Monday, June 22, 2009

Malayan Chinese Association

Any Singaporean wants to be a Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) member? Pay $20 and be a life member to receive 1) a Malayan Chinese Association (Singapore Branch) Certificate of Membership, 2) an MCA life membership card and 3) an official receipt.


Sorry, it is not applicable now unless you go back to the year 1951. The Malayan Chinese Association is now known as Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA). It has no business to be here after the separation in 1965.



MCA Certificate of Membership



MCA life membership card



Payment receipt for a life membership

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Teaser 2



Recognise this article? Yes to yg, Chun See and other old timers. It is a utensil commonly used in the provision shop as well as in homes especially in the rural area about 50 years ago.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Holiday Bungalows

Nowadays regional overseas tour packages are very cheap and Singaporeans spend their holidays in China, Taiwan, HongKong, the Asean countries or Australia. In the 1960s, such tours were few and very expensive. Furthermore, not many international airlines flew to Singapore. So, where did an average wage earner and his family spend their holidays? Our Government have many holiday bungalows by the sea for Division II & III officers located at Changi, Ayer Gemuroh, Tanah Merah (Wing Loong Road), Mata Ikan and Tanjong Rhu. They were very popular with the civil servants especially during school holidays. There were also Government holiday bungalows in Malaysia. Allocations of the bungalows were by a ballot through the Ministry of Finance. The period was from Monday to Thursday (week days) and Friday to Sunday (week ends). The peak period was during the school holidays and getting a holiday bungalow was like winning a lottery ticket. Most of us were single then and we applied for the bungalows during off peak period. As there was no guarantee of allocation, we got some of our friends in the civil service to apply together, thereby increase our chances in the ballot.

Unlike at Matta Ikan where all the holiday chalets had common compound and play area, the Tanjong Rhu bungalow was self contained, each with a large compound where several cars could park together. The bungalows were all of the same architectural design, each with 3 bedrooms and a large sitting room. Kitchen and toilets were at an out-house connected by a short covered walkway. It was very dark at night outside the buildings with no public lighting. There were many ghost stories and at night no lady dared to visit the toilet without a male escort.

The beach was very narrow and full of small sharp rocks. It was separated from the bungalow by a low concrete wall. Few people wanted to swim there becuase of jelly fish. Dancing was a vogue then and there was dance party every night. During the day, we had mahjong party. Holidays at the bungalow always ended up with a barbeque party on the last night. Tanjong Rhu bungalows by the sea were affected by land reclammation. They are now replaced by tall condominuims along the ECP (East Coast Parkway) expressway.



Tanjong Rhu Government holiday bungalow.



Children enjoying the sea breeze.

Sitting on the low concrete wall to enjoy the sea breeze



Relaxing with a game of mahjong



Taking a nap

Smile, you are on candid camera!



The wooden poles on the left showed the end part of a kelong which was very close to the beach

Monday, May 4, 2009

Teaser


The above photograph was taken in the early 1950. Only 0ld timers age 50 plus would recognise this place. Where is it? Give it a try or find out the answer in a few days.


Picture from National Archive
The answer is Chinese Swimming Club. Yg almost got the answer but strayed away at the second guess. The attap house and the coconut trees in the background was Kampong Amber. The kampong has been transformed into many blocks of condominium at Amber Gardens.
Chinese Swimming Club then had 2 tier diving boards. At my first try I landed on my chest and had great pain, but only for a while.