Photos are of Tessa in front of her grandfather's house Cliff House, myself with Chun See and Peter at the Opera Estate and the amazingly largely unchanged Mitchell house in Toh Drive Changi.
Arriving in Singapore on Saturday morning at 6am provided the greatest culture shock of our trip. We made our way through the cathedral like terminal at Changi in the hushed efficiency that is Singapore, all is air conditioned comfort and the cleanliness of the Mass Rapid Transit trains we took to our hotel has to be seen to be believed. Only when we changed trains did we finally experience the open air and the humidity that I recall so well.
After six weeks in India we wondered what had happened to the chaotic streets and pavements and the constant honking and shouting. I would not advise any of you to start a trip to India in Kolkata, and certainly not the Sudder Road area where the cheap hotels are centered. The broken pavements, crowded streets, mutilated beggars, people living out their lives on the street are likely to confirm all your worst impressions of India. We had seen so may different sides already that we were able to put this in perspective. Kolkata has a lot to offer but also a lot of disappointments - for example we visited the Indian Museum to find a decaying grand building with water on the stairs (presumably from the rain before we arrived) and forty year old poorly lit exhibits with no environmental control against the Kolkata heat and humidy other than some mothballs - that had us leaving in disgust. In fact that day the City Council had agreed to close another major museum as the building was rotting. This one is surely not long for the chop.
Kolkata and Friday the 13th had its revenge on poor Tessa who after six weeks of no problems finally succumbed to a poor choice of drink, she saw it being brought into the cafe from the street, had no idea where the water came from, drank it anyway and had the most awful time on the way to the airport - a metro ride followed by a search for a taxi and the usual chaotic and dangerous ride to the airport. She was in no state to appreciate the excellent service of our Singapore Airways flight and had to decline the opportunity of a free Singapore Sling - she is bitter about this!
So what about Singapore? It is 46 years since I left and on our first day, whilst Tessa rested, I walked and walked - never seeing anything that was 40 years old, I concluded that I would find nothing here I knew and felt like a very old fella indeed!
The next morning we took the MRT downtown, tall buildings, a completly sanitised river (I remember it muddy and full of bumboats), the continuing hush of people and well ordered traffic, yes the British colonial heritage buildings were there, but the prices, 15 dollars for a couple of coffees! We were eating near our hotel at hawker centres for a couple of dollars each!
But in the afternoon our friend Chun See arrived and after a drink and discussion of what we wanted to see and do he took us for a little drive - just as the rain finally broke - and inevitably we headed to Changi, found Toh Drive where I used to live, found it completely rebuilt - almost. For there at the end of the road stood three of the original bungalows and I instantly recognised the third one from the end as the house I lived in for most of the time in Singapore. AC had been added, they had tiled the driveway and built a fancy front fence and gates but otherwise its virtually unchanged.
Today (inbetween the heaviest tropical rain storms you can imagine) Chun See and his friend Peter took us back to Changi, this time to visit the old buildings that were my school, also still there and very recognisable, and we drove around what used to be the RAF camp and then into Changi Village, the old single storey buildings and dirt replaced with paving and multi storey buildings - completely unrecognisable. We looked across at Pulau Ubin which we hope to visit by bumboat and at the waters I used to canoe in across to the nearby islands.
And then to the far south of the island, near the harbour where we found a wonderful new park from which we could view Cliff House - the house that Tessa's grandfather and father and uncle lived in so long ago. Quite astounding to actually see it so close to. If you have not already done so please check out Tessa's blog on Chun See's blogsite on her family connections to Singapore - there is a link to the right of this blog. And you will also find my recollections of being a teenager here, I can promise you ladies a picture of me in my short shorts!
I will try to add some photos tomorrow when we visit Chun See's house and hope to meet some of the contributors to his blog.
Brian
After six weeks in India we wondered what had happened to the chaotic streets and pavements and the constant honking and shouting. I would not advise any of you to start a trip to India in Kolkata, and certainly not the Sudder Road area where the cheap hotels are centered. The broken pavements, crowded streets, mutilated beggars, people living out their lives on the street are likely to confirm all your worst impressions of India. We had seen so may different sides already that we were able to put this in perspective. Kolkata has a lot to offer but also a lot of disappointments - for example we visited the Indian Museum to find a decaying grand building with water on the stairs (presumably from the rain before we arrived) and forty year old poorly lit exhibits with no environmental control against the Kolkata heat and humidy other than some mothballs - that had us leaving in disgust. In fact that day the City Council had agreed to close another major museum as the building was rotting. This one is surely not long for the chop.
Kolkata and Friday the 13th had its revenge on poor Tessa who after six weeks of no problems finally succumbed to a poor choice of drink, she saw it being brought into the cafe from the street, had no idea where the water came from, drank it anyway and had the most awful time on the way to the airport - a metro ride followed by a search for a taxi and the usual chaotic and dangerous ride to the airport. She was in no state to appreciate the excellent service of our Singapore Airways flight and had to decline the opportunity of a free Singapore Sling - she is bitter about this!
So what about Singapore? It is 46 years since I left and on our first day, whilst Tessa rested, I walked and walked - never seeing anything that was 40 years old, I concluded that I would find nothing here I knew and felt like a very old fella indeed!
The next morning we took the MRT downtown, tall buildings, a completly sanitised river (I remember it muddy and full of bumboats), the continuing hush of people and well ordered traffic, yes the British colonial heritage buildings were there, but the prices, 15 dollars for a couple of coffees! We were eating near our hotel at hawker centres for a couple of dollars each!
But in the afternoon our friend Chun See arrived and after a drink and discussion of what we wanted to see and do he took us for a little drive - just as the rain finally broke - and inevitably we headed to Changi, found Toh Drive where I used to live, found it completely rebuilt - almost. For there at the end of the road stood three of the original bungalows and I instantly recognised the third one from the end as the house I lived in for most of the time in Singapore. AC had been added, they had tiled the driveway and built a fancy front fence and gates but otherwise its virtually unchanged.
Today (inbetween the heaviest tropical rain storms you can imagine) Chun See and his friend Peter took us back to Changi, this time to visit the old buildings that were my school, also still there and very recognisable, and we drove around what used to be the RAF camp and then into Changi Village, the old single storey buildings and dirt replaced with paving and multi storey buildings - completely unrecognisable. We looked across at Pulau Ubin which we hope to visit by bumboat and at the waters I used to canoe in across to the nearby islands.
And then to the far south of the island, near the harbour where we found a wonderful new park from which we could view Cliff House - the house that Tessa's grandfather and father and uncle lived in so long ago. Quite astounding to actually see it so close to. If you have not already done so please check out Tessa's blog on Chun See's blogsite on her family connections to Singapore - there is a link to the right of this blog. And you will also find my recollections of being a teenager here, I can promise you ladies a picture of me in my short shorts!
I will try to add some photos tomorrow when we visit Chun See's house and hope to meet some of the contributors to his blog.
Brian
3 comments:
Brian and Tess, it was nice meeting you in Singapore. I hope you will enjoy your short stay here.
I have a photo of my 5th birthday party at that Toh Drive house, not long before we left. We hired in swings, a slide etc for the party in the front garden - It looks like they are still there!
Ian glad you recognised it all - they have tiled the drive, I am sure that was just concrete before and the fence etc is obviously different and of course the trees have grown!
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