Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

Mr Yeo Hong Eng shared in his blog https://yeohongeng.blogspot.com/ that the rice bin “represents the family’s wealth and health. Without rice (food) one has no health and without wealth one has no rice. To be healthy (enough rice to eat), one must have a store of rice in his bin…” Thank you, Mr Yeo for these insights. How true and how significant this family and house symbol has been in those days. This tall (about 70cm) metal rice bin that the family had in our kampong house from those days is still in our mother’s home today. At that time, it had to be big enough to feed 10 or more people every day and so it had followed us when we moved out of the kampong in October 1974 to our current HDB flat. With over 60 years in existence, how many mouths both residents and guests have been fed through this bin, how many generations (at least 4) have tasted its ‘goodness’, how many people had been blessed in life with the nourishment it helped provide.

When we were just kids at our Bedok kampong house, one of our favourite memories was our mother bringing us to the wet market in the morning which was just about 100 feet away from the house to buy those tiny baby goldfish. They were sold in low plastic basins (among other species) in the open by a vendor that would pack up and go once the market hours are over. We could use a small net to catch the fish ourselves to bring home. How exciting for us! Our uncle (who stayed with us and pictured here on the family swing with the fish tanks behind him) would help to rear them for us. We had several of differing colours but one morning we woke to find our fish including one fully grown black goldfish stolen and gone (our mom told us this story). Because the house was not fully fenced, anyone would be able to come in through the garden areas. Quite scary at that time to think someone actually came into our house yard! We hear this black gold fish is a rarity! Photo colourised by Nusan N. See ...

Our father made sure music filled our Bedok kampong house especially on weekends and on his off days. In the earlier days of the 78 rpm, he had Victor Silvester & Orchestra, then when the 33 1/3 LP (now called Vinyl records) arrived in the mid 60's it was the Los Indios Tabajaras and their instrumental hit Maria Elena. Then a mid 60's trip to a record shop along East Coast Road very near the Siglap Road junction and opposite the now empty Siglap flats, it was a purchase that is still a treasure today - Skeeter Davis' Here's The Answer. Of course there was the 45 rpm too and a big buy our father did was for our mom in 1960 when he got her Elvis' 'It's Now Or Never' EP single. After all, which young lady in those days did not have Elvis as their idol? (all photos not ours) 1960 -  It's Now or Never by Elvis Presley (we never played the B side!) 1961 1965

Remembering those days at our Kampong house when our Tua Ee (mother's eldest sister) would come visit us, stay the weekend and make Nyonya kueh chang with colourings made from the blue pea flower she would 'petik' (pick or pluck) from those growing on the fences of our house. What made it special was we boys helped her with the picking! We have no photos of our own to share so thanks to these found on the internet, we have a story here... Photo credit - Borneo Post Photo credit - NParks Flora and Fauna Photo credit -  whattocooktoday.com

Durian season is here and sure enough we had to record our love for it at our Bedok kampong house! 1970 photo, taken at the back (but main) entrance to the house. This door is open from morning until night.

Our family matriarch, our grandmother Mdm Chan, was born on 11 July 1897. Here in 1957 celebrating her 60th birthday in grand style at the Chinese Restaurant at Happy World, Geylang are photos of that memorable evening, hosting all the family members, relatives and friends. Sharing also an ad from 1956 promoting this wondrous place (Happy World became Gay World in the early 60's) Family members around our Grandmother 1956 ad for Happy World A 1959 shot of Happy World, credit to National Museum Credit to National Museum

Growing up in the 60's in that kampong house had its shares of nice and not-so-nice memories. We remember our late deaf mute uncle who lived with us owned a View-Master and he had all these wonderful Disney reels that made the scenes come alive in 3-dimensional visuals. Once in a while he would allow us to take a look at his treasure. All was great until this scene of the wicked witch giving Snow White the poison apple. That slide looked so real in 3D we kids found it terrifying! Taken from a 1957 catalogue in French that we have in our possession That View-Master we saw into The slide packets Credit to The Walt Disney Company for this screenshot

This peranakan marble-top dining table is at least 70 years old today. It has existed in our Bedok kampong house since the day the family moved in in November 1954 and is now sitting in the kitchen of our mother's HDB home (and in use still) when we moved out of the kampong in October 1974. Its four pairs of eyes would have witnessed through the years the various marriages, births and deaths, family meals and special occasions with some photos curated to illustrate the table's existence all through the years... Recently photographed - this Peranakan marble top dining table The eyes (and nostrils, teeth etc) have it 1958 - with hand knit lace coverings over the table 1961 - baby (the writer) on the cool top 1965 - our paternal aunt and uncle pose with the table overlooking the scene 1968 - birthday celebrations with the children 1959 - a clear view of the table back then

A big pastime in those days if you like to listen to the radio is to 'copy down' (that was how we said it!) the lyrics of the songs when you hear them. At our Bedok kampong house, our cousin has written down hundreds of songs within these books, along with cutouts of her teen idols Cliff and Elvis. Together with her friend they would sit down and sing along to the songs in the alcove of our kampong house below the stairs leading to the kitchen. Enjoy this short clip!

It started like a low rumble that became louder and louder and we all stopped whatever we were doing to go outside our Bedok kampong house to see what it was... ah, a throng of SAF soldiers doing their route march and trudging through the earthen road pathway of our kampong (see photo). They were so many and it looked like the passage of soldiers would not end! Most likely they were going towards Mata Ikan and Somapah via the Sungei Bedok bridge. In those years of 1969 and early 70's, it was especially thrilling for us young boys and our elders to see these men in green, most likely from the nearby Bedok camp. A salute to these early soldiers on this SAF Day of July 1st 2024. This July 1969 photo shows the earthen road on the top left Closeup of where the soldiers route-marched through (1969 photo) Photo credit - Mindef