Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

Our late father passed on to us many wedding photos of his or his older sister’s friends whose wedding they attended in the 1950’s. Here is one of a lovely Malay couple we’d like to share.. The wedding date was 25 March 1951. If you know this couple, please contact us so we can connect with you!

One of the wonders of starting this blog and FB page is being able to connect with former neighbours who were older than us and thus had experienced our Bedok kampong living in a different manner. Mr Ronald Ho, 13 years our senior, who lived across from our house (near the kapok tree), has kindly given us insights into a small river creek that flowed right up to where our house was (we can see a concrete embankment around the house in some early photos). This creek connected to the actual Bedok River, passing by the Sultan of Pahang’s holiday home, the Police quarters and several government black and white holiday bungalows. He recalls that around 1958 the creek became a rubbish and trash landfill that gave out a putrid smell in the air, which our family and those living nearby had to endure during those times. Earth was poured over the landfill and thankfully by 1959 the work was done, looking at some photos of our young mother posing in the house garden, standing in front of the ar...

For the first generation of our family at our Bedok kampong house (encompassing the years prior to and leading up to the 1950’s), the traditional idea of “men manage outside, women manage inside” holds true for our household and the extended families it encompasses. The womenfolk, while managing the house and all its matters, also interact within the siblings’ structures, especially if they are sisters and at times, when circumstances call for it, also among the wives themselves. For our paternal grandmother, having a good relationship with her siblings was key to the eventual closeness we have within our current generation #2 and #3 of siblings, cousins and second cousins as the years go by. In this circa 1946 portrait photo (thanks to our second cousin Irene who provided this), we can see our grandma (she is Sis#2) with her two sisters and some of their biological and adopted children (not all children including our father are in this photo). Interactions were frequent as well wh...

Sleeping arrangements at our Bedok kampong house in Nov 1954: The house had 4 bedrooms of varying sizes, 2 at the upper house and 2 at the lower section where the kitchen and toilets were. When our family first moved into the house in November of 1954, the main upper room was occupied by our paternal grandmother and grandfather along with our 4-year-old paternal cousin while the other bedroom at the upper house belonged to our paternal aunts. Our father occupied the smallest room (that was also a common store area) nearest the ‘jamban’ (bucket sanitation system) and the last room next to the kitchen was the bedroom of our other grandmother “Mama Blakang”, so named because she slept at the back of the house. Yes, in those days polygamy was an accepted practice – and our grandfather indeed had principal and secondary wives, with other wives living elsewhere. We know that both our Mamas living here got along very well actually and that will be another post to be shared soon!

We wish to extend a warm welcome to all new recent followers to this blog. Thank you for joining us! This blog was created as an ode to our old kampong house at Kampong Bedok Laut, just inside Bedok corner, behind the Bedok Rest House (now the Eastwood residences). This blog forms the basis of all our Facebook posts in a related page of the same name, ie "Our Bedok Kampong House - Singapore" (The other FB page without the 'dash' is no longer active due to administrative issues).  This wooden plank, zinc-roofed house had its address firstly as 614-3 then became 10J Bedok Road, Singapore 16. Our stories and posts are not just archival/historical, but we wanted to also layer in the aspects of personal lives lived there from 1954 to 1974, that period of the three generations of us residing here. We do have many old photos and documents that give life to our stories and memories.  We believe this is part of the experiential heritage and legacy of the Singapore community. G...

Who among the readers and followers here, like us brothers, were also born at the former Kandang Kerbau Hospital in Hampshire Road? With three of its old blocks recently collectively gazetted as Singapore’s 76th national monument, we found some documents our parents kept! Happy to share both our birth discharge certificates of 1961 and 1963, and the older one’s hospital bill ($12.24 for 6 days stay) – all before we got discharged and moved into our Bedok kampong house. July 1961 (Mother was actually 22 not 24 years of age) Jan 1963 Hospital Bill $12.24 for 6 days Receipt issued by the State of Singapore Photos by Straits Times