My Old Home Toa Payoh - Reminiscing
We probably do not remember much, not until you were 5 years old or more. When you were in Kindergarten then Primary school. I still remembered the aroma of Milo the uncle made for us in kindergarten. Lots of memories from primary school but at that age we still have a very different mind. Secondary school was the age of youthful exuberance, of raging hormones and boundless energy while we discover our own identity. I know some of you are still searching for your identity.
It was a time from late primary school till I just started work after NS that we lived in Toa Payoh where it was once a swamp land. It was some kind of satellite town in those days. It was our first new HDB flat and it was kind of exciting having visited friends and cousins who were already domiciled in one. Whenever I was around the old home town, I never failed to take a walk around and it was always nostalgic. Nostos is Greek for Return and algos is like yearning, so nostalgia is a "yearning to return". Let me share with you the music of Yanni:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uemgMa5wFzE
I wanted to kiss the ground that I used to walk on but even the basic cemented ground has changed through upgrading.
I witnessed the evolution of hawkers who peddled their food and wares on the streets on exactly this ground, how the butcher and the vegetable sellers got their goods confiscated. Once a butcher used his chopper and wanted to attack the health inspector. I saw how the rojak, popiah and sugar cane juice hawkers came and went in their push cart or motorbike with carriage or the fishball noodle stall set up with wooden tables and stools and the mee siam and mee rebus man who carried his stoves and pots with them manually. It was at this corner in a coffee shop at Blk. 66 where once an old man whipped up probably the best char kway teow ever, even to this day but those were days where TV, the papers do not celebrate it nor were there bloggers. In life, it is all about timing - where you were born and when.
It was also here I got my first bite of what vegetarian bee hoon was like as the woman who sold it put lots of French bean on it with a great gravy. Another woman who manned or "womanned" a laksa stall was special too though I would not say it is the best. She raised her children through their education. The tze char stall was very good especially their "wat tan hor fun" full of "wok hei" and an old lady who sold bread. She would slice the bread for you put on the magarine with either peanut butter, jam or kaya (the orange type). Her young son slightly older than me was a brilliant roller-skater. There was a tall and young doctor if I remember correctly Dr. Wee Sip Leong who operates a clinic there. Now I rememeber he diagnosed and treated me for dengue fever where one of my friend's younger brother died from. I could have died too. He was the son of the provision shop owner who moved there from our old area in Kim Keat.
That was my home. It was here that we got our first colour TV. The World Cup soon followed. Germany v Holland in the Final.
Sierra and Greatz colour TVs were very popular. There were others like Setron and Grundig. Those days TV sets have legs and you have shuttle doors that can be closed and locked. Some people would place their belongings like watches on top of their TV and later found that they were stolen as someone can just reach them from the louvred windows.
This was how it looks up close. Just change the word "Massachusetts" to "my Toa Payoh". Here's Barry, Maurice and Robin on vocals.
May be you could have sold it for $20-30k back then but today it is worth more than $300k? Sigh. Else, I may come back.
It was so convenient with shops below.
This was where we lived. I tried to recall my old residential telephone number and managed to get it: 2544553. Nice number, yes, easy to remember, quite. It is not that but because today everything is in your cell phone's memory so you no longer know what to call anymore. I can remember my very old Toa Payoh friends' numbers too - Loy - 2543611. Ben - 2544993. I don't remember anymore, that's all. Solid right?
I like the display of goods. If everything is neat and tidy, it is overkill.
I found that this is a very good place to get your potatoes, probably Dutch potatoes at just a dollar for five when it would cost double elsewhere.
An old lady was walking by. She has slight difficulty in walking and while asking for more space she created a small banter. There are more old folks here now and I guess they could be lonely. In a busy place like Singapore, who has time for them? I wish I am forever young:
The shop's name has been unchanged by time. They used to supply all the salted vegetables in big urns. Quite a few young men of the time were talking about and may be quietly hoping to marry the owner's daughter. Maybe they wanted to take over the business. I have no such ambition. Not sure if the owners are the same now. There were some other lasses from Blocks 69, 70, 71, 73 and all around the vicinity. Sweet innocence. That was a time for us where boys and girls got infatuated. Ah, young people...it was like Every Beat of My Heart. Here's Rod Stewart:
This is how to make Singapore exciting again and how a provision shop and market should look.
Why be so neat and tidy till it gets unreal. This dried foodstuffs make your food taste better. Genius is created from messiness.
This was where it used to have rectangular flower beds where they planted a small tree in it and between each flower bed they built a badminton court. There were a total of five courts. This was where we honed our skills as shuttlers day and night but mostly nights as the spotlight came on and on weekend early mornings. I have a friend Loy who would come over from Lorong 1 by 6am to spar with me on Saturdays. Of course I win mostly as it was skill versus hardwork but hardwork do sometimes win. Even the shop owners and workers joined in. They held a tournament once in a while. There was an old man who was very good for his age. He would ride a bicycle and after watching he would joined in.
There was a stocky guy maybe his name is Oh Mong Yew from Block 69 and then a John Mo from Block 71. John was the champion as he was the most experienced and athletic but my favourite was my best friend there, Ben Hwang who has the most natarual back hand in badminton there. We all played for our schools. Yew from Sin Min, John - Balestier, Ben for Bartley and me Victoria. It just means that where the environment is right, you will hone your skills in the area. You need to allow or create that environment.
It helped that during the time, Indonesia's Rudy Hartono ruled the roost. There were the mystical Chinese legends "The Thing" Tang Xianhu and Hou Jia Chang and Danish Svend Pri.
It helped that during the time, Indonesia's Rudy Hartono ruled the roost. There were the mystical Chinese legends "The Thing" Tang Xianhu and Hou Jia Chang and Danish Svend Pri.
I could would even just watch from the corner of the block if I were not playing.
That was where Ben used to live at the corner of Block 69 on the 9th storey.
There was a tailor shop here and a barber shop.
John's family owned a book store here at the corner shop.
Now the nearby market palce has become modern.
I was so immersed into the place, I nearly forgot we needed breakfast. We found an authentic stall.
I wanted to try the yam cake but the serving was large.
So we had glutinous rice. Very good!
and fried bee hoon. Good.
This is Block 73. I remembered at both coffee shops at each end there were two good wanton noodle stalls. The one here used to housed a Hainanese chicken rice and Hainanese char siew rice stalls. The chicken rice stall made the best broth with very good "bak chor ball" with liver. Throw in an egg and it was pure bliss! During the off peak between lunch and dinner the stall holders would engaged in friendly banter in Hainanese of course. Don't scold me in Hainanese, I understand. I can't help but reminisce. Let the Little River Band help you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0laDzqdzoSU&feature=related
Look at the building's design and facade. We used to hang our clothes out to dry like that.
This ramp way is connected to a back corridor of the 2nd floor at Blk 73. We used to just ride our bicycles or roller-skated down here.
The very bus stop where we used to board our bus to school or to and fro everywhere. Often times, we got up the bus last and were dangling at the door way without knowing the danger. The building across was once Kong Chian Cinema the first theatre here after that we had a 2nd one Toa Payoh Theatre. I must make a trip further north from here and another further South too. I know TP intimately not only because I once lived there but I patrol the streets and knew every nook and cranny any time of day. To the folks who are still there or those who were here before, it is "Somewhere Only We Know". Let Keane sing to you: "I walked across an empty land, I knew the pathway like the back of my hand......Oh, simple thing, where have you gone? I'm getting old and need something to rely on. So tell me when you're gonna let me in. I'm getting tired and need somewhere to begin.....Is this the place we used to love? Is this the place I've been dreaming of? And if you have a minute, why don't we go. Talk about it somewhere only we know."
Further south was once known as the East side of Chicago. Notorious for gangsters once. How did we survived? I have to go to all these places again, one place at a time and let the floodgates of my memory open. Then just let the Reflections of My Life pour in. Here is Marmalade:
Take me back to my old home.
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