Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

The bridge at the mouth of Sungei Bedok (or Bedok River) was the site of several photo snapshots in the evenings.. this is a short walk from the house, in the early 60's. We remember peering down this bridge at low tide as a child and seeing all those mudskippers below.. Location? See in one photo a concrete building behind the writer as a small boy and the river is just about behind (if memory still serves right).. walk past the bridge and you are on your way to Mata Ikan Village and then Koh Sek Lim Road and Sompah Village too. (used to cycle all the way there). 1960 - High tide shot 1962 - At low tide 1959 circa - Lovely shot (despite the photo taking skills!) 1964 - The building behind helps navigate to where the bridge was, which was just a left turn after passing by

How much would a kampong house pay in monthly utilities to the PUB at that time? Here is an August 1974 bill to give you an idea of the cost we paid then.. while some commented it is too high, we do have at least 6 to 8 people in the house at any one time in that year

Our grandfather had a wall clock he placed in the living room of the kampong house when they moved in in 1954. It is a Junghans with a lovely Westminster chime. You can spot the clock hanging there in this 1964 wedding tea ceremony photo. Unfortunately the wooden casing was damaged and we had a new body replaced. The clockwork however still works till this day and now at our mother's house. Just need to wind it every week!

Treasures abounded in this kampong house, too good to be left behind when we moved out in October 1974. One of them is this Sterling metal trunk with the Dutch trading company "Handels Vereeniging Amsterdam" and their stamp of association inside. It belonged to our grandfather, Peter Tan Piah Eng. The shredded newspaper lining inside indicated the date of August 1933, giving some sense of the heritage of this treasure, still around at our mother's HDB home now...

Like fellow Bedok Laut kampong residents, going to the beach was either a daily affair or a treat as the Bedok beach was just a short walk away. Spending time by the sand at high or low tide, the little ones among us swimming or just washing up - are just memories happily captured in these photos featuring all our relatives and family members 1951 - Cool breeze, sand in our feet, with the Sar Chien Lau behind us (Bedok Rest House roof seen by the coconut tree foliage) - a trip made there even before moving into the house! 1957 - Plenty of 'instagram' moments provided by the fishing boats strewn along the coastline 1958 - Lovely walk along the beach at low tide but just be careful of the oil slick spot leaks from the fishing boats staining your soles 1958 circa - Just before heading back to the house, let's wash our slippers in the waters before we go 1967 - Us brothers with our uncle taking a lovely swim in our inflatable floats

Last part of our tour of the house at Bedok Kampong and we visit the garden areas and go up to the main living and bedrooms with the verandah Reimagined floor plan of the house from memory and photo references Photo 18 > 1970. All the house's 3rd generation cousins (one more yet to be born!) dressed up and posing in the garden with Sa Koh's house behind Photo 19 > 1969. A little badminton time with coconut trees looming around. By this time, the garden had some fencing (some horizontal barbed wire for deterrence) Photo 20 > 1966. Celebrating birthdays in the verandah. How many of us have those series of Mandarin ducks (flying upwards) wall decors . Linoleum flooring laid throughout the upper house floor. Photo 21 > 1961. Just inside the verandah coming out from the garden steps and peering into the living room. That's our grandmother Mdm Chan with her first grandson. Photo 22 > 1962. This corner of the verandah overlooking Sa Koh's house is the entry/exit...

Part 3 of the house tour and we are going to see the house from the outside... wooden planks everywhere... An imagined not-to-scale plan of the house drawn out of memory from 50 years ago guided by existing photos Photo 13 > 1961 and here our parents' guest family poses in front of the entrance door of the house. The stilt portion on the left allows for storage of stuff as the floor has been cemented (later our uncle would build a play room too) Photo 14 > 1971. Our maternal cousins came to play and pose against the right side of the door entrance (kitchen and dining area behind this wall). From this angle you can see some of our neighbours' houses Photo 15 > 1972. On right the window to the kitchen / dining area with the main door swinging outwards. A celebration with guests that cannot all fit inside - just do an alfresco then! Photo 16 > 1967. Our parents posing under Room 2 which used to house my aunts and cousin, then my grandmother took over when her son marri...

Part Two of the house tour! This is the communal part of the house where many things happen! See photos for stories. Photo 7 > 1969. When we had a birthday occasion (elder brother's 8th birthday).. see the top part of the photo you can see a door that opens to our 'jamban' (bucket system and needs to be cleared by a night soil collection man walking in this same passage! Photo 8 > 1970. You can see the door to the bathroom (yes we had a shower rose!) next to the belimbing tree and the sapu lidi in front that we sweep the floors with. See that large aquarium fish net hanging out to dry? Photo 9 > 1970. Steps leading to the upper house where we brothers would get ready to go to school. We wore fake mortarboards for fun! We attended St Stephen's Primary School at Siglap Hill (had a school bus driven by another neighbour 'Nano' to bring us to and back) Photo 10 > 1970. That's our uncle sitting by the swing and right behind him are fish tanks. Our mot...

Here is part one of a photo tour of this house of ours featuring 6 shots. There are 23 in total that show (taken from different years and settings) the various places of the house plan based on the writer's memory as a 13-year-old, 50 years ago. The house has two parts - one on stilts and the other part on the ground connected via a middle foyer of sorts.. Not to scale house plan sketch to guide you (and a keepsake for our family). The numbers in red indicate the photo number with the arrow showing the angle with which the photo was taken Photo 1 - 1964 - here is a family shot with a corner of the concrete stilt portion and the verandah behind Photo 2 - 1967 - that is our mother looking out from the verandah into the garden Photo 3 - 1965 - another shot of the verandah. Notice the lattice woodwork with the chick blinds and octagonal pole caps. See the horizontal wooden planks on the left (these were once replaced as some planks got rotten) Photo 4 - 1962 - Our mother (behind) and p...

Our Bedok kampong house is not far from the daily wet market. So it is no surprise to have many mornings where we get visits from strangers who, after their morning marketing would pop by to the house and call out (in Malay) "hello there, is it okay for you to give me some of your belimbing fruits so I can use them for my cooking please" Of course the answer is yes, please come in and help yourself. Because right in the centre of the house between the two portions grew a fabulous belimbing tree and when the season comes (which was often) the trunk would sprout with lavish and bountiful displays of belimbing no family can eat completely by themselves so must be shared freely! See photos for more details 1973 shot 1970 - This photo in colour shows the tree as the central focus on the house between the upper portion on stilts and the lower portion 1970 - that's the belimbing tree with our mother and paternal aunt looking on while our other paternal aunt is putting on the sho...

Here is a tribute to our Bedok kampong house neighbour diagonally behind us with whom we shared a common fence. Kak Min was the matriach of one of the few concrete double-storey houses where she and her family lived. From new information from her nephew, Mr Abubakar Ibrahim we now know the family (30 of them in that house) came from Gohga in Gujerat State in North India (sailors). His grandfather owned a Date shop in Arab Street. This house had modern sanitation (whereas ours was the bucket system) and a telephone. What made Kak Min so memorable to us was her kindness. She willingly gave us her house telephone so that we can receive urgent phone calls in cases of emergency. And not forgetting the delicious food we often get to enjoy every Hari Raya Puasa! 1957 pose with our paternal aunt Mary at Bedok Beach behind our houses Dec 1958 and this bevy of ladies walk Bedok Beach (which include our mother and aunts/cousins) in front of Kak Min's house (ours is just behind with the black ...