Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

Our Bedok kampong was more than just the clusters of homes near the coastal front of Bedok Laut and the surrounding areas. It also stretched further along Bedok Road, encompassing the kampong homes whose addresses bore the name Jalan Greja. From Jalan Greja to Bedok Laut, and even across the river to Pandang Terbakar (later renamed Siak Kuan Road) and beyond, the homes were linked by a network of back-lane pathways, making it easy to move fluidly from one house to another. One such home was that of Mdm Salmah and her family at 35M Jalan Greja. Some may remember them from an earlier post featuring a photograph by Mrs Jackie Munro. In a heartwarming way, both families were recently reunited - after nearly 60 years apart. Those connections were no accident. They were made possible through the tireless and generous spirit of Mdm Salmah. As an amah working in neighbouring homes - including that of the Munros - she built friendships that stood the test of time. Yet, even with the weight ...

Our father sometimes took a break from his work as a radio technician at Radio Malaya (pre Radio Television Singapore but at Caldecott Hill still) to travel north to the Malayan peninsula for holidays with friends and relatives. In 1955, 1957, and again in 1973 - when he brought the whole family along - the journey to Penang by ferry was especially magical. On a recent trip to Penang last month, I found myself aboard a similar ferry. As we left Butterworth and approached George Town, I imagined our late father making that crossing decades ago - the wind in his face, taking in the moment, the anticipation of arrival. Wanting to capture that feeling, here is a short clip with photographs from those years to share – and thinking about Dad still.

We recently uncovered this rare 1960 photograph from our family archives, now gently enhanced with AI. It captures a stretch of Bedok Beach, further up from the Bedok Rest House and just beyond the Sultan of Pahang’s former holiday home - a short walk from our Bedok kampong house. Taken at low tide, the image shows washed‑up flotsam along the right edge of the frame. A fenced compound visible here once housed the police quarters. Continuing in the direction of Sungei Bedok (Bedok River, now a canal), we see a row of standalone colonial‑era government bungalows. A recent chat with our former neighbour, Mr Ronald Ho, revealed that there were six of these bungalows in total. Each featured a kitchen on the ground floor, with stairs leading up to the living room and bedroom. Painted in the classic black and white, these wooden structures sat on cement floors.  Beyond them, a lush fringe of coconut palms lined the shoreline, many of their crowns leaning seaward.

 Another beautiful work by Dr Gilbert Tan - this time in watercolour. ‘ Near Bedok Corner’ , completed just last week, was inspired by one of our earlier posts on Upper East Coast Road, which featured “a beautiful tropical beach view of the pre‑reclamation coastline.” “I wish I could take a dip to escape from the heat,” Dr Tan quips. May 2026, inspired by circa 1957-1959 photo

We are deeply grateful to Mr Sutari Supari for sharing with us a screenshot of Bedok Corner, also featured on his Facebook page. This image is taken from the classic 1963 film Darah Muda . We hope it is alright for us to share a short clip from this particular scene, which shows a food vendor walking out onto the road that would lead to the main Bedok Road corner (with a slight slope) and the other way would have led to our Bedok kampong home, numbered 10J. A chat with our old neighbour Ronald Ho revealed all the details of this scene starting with the left of the photo: The vendor walked by a lane that would have led to the morning wet market. Then the first corner house to the left would be the bicycle shop, after which the ice block seller, then the prominent 6C Bedok Road where the Ho family lived. Then (not seen here) a cluster of houses with a large zinc gate belonging to the proprietor (Mr Chia) of the sundry shop, then the sundry shop itself, before the road turned sharply left...

This Mother’s Day weekend, we turn our spotlight to our beloved Ma Um - our father’s elder brother’s wife - who, together with the rest of the family, once lived at Jalan Haji Salam near the Bedok corner (as shared in an earlier story). Hers is truly a story of triumph over adversity. Ma Um gave birth to eleven children, yet only three survived. We can scarcely imagine the depth of sorrow and strength such circumstances demanded of her. Life with her mother-in-law presented its own challenges, but Ma Um was no pushover. She faced each day with a resolute, never ‑ say ‑ die spirit. Against this backdrop, she discovered a passion for cooking and baking. She mastered the art of making all kinds of kueh and sold them to neighbours in the surrounding homes - out of necessity, to supplement a depleted household income. Her mantra was simple and unwavering: “Never go home until the basket is empty.” She worked with such determination that she could well be considered the family’s main bre...