Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

Early 70's and us brothers were growing up so we found ourselves having our own shared room at the lower section of our Bedok Kampong house. We were already 10 and 12 and it made sense since our paternal aunt moved out and that room was available. It was hard to sleep in though! Our room opens directly into the already busy kitchen and dining areas and the wall of our room facing the road separated us from an entirely different world in the mornings! The wet market nearby would find itself extended by sales of dry goods, sundries (think household plasticware and brushes, crockery and cookware etc) just outside our window. See this photo of the younger of us just outside the kitchen window which is next to our window (to the right and not seen in this photo). We remember waking up not to any alarm clock or the cockerel but the din and cling clang of pots and pans just outside us! 1973

A short walk from our Bedok kampong house and a pose by the bridge across the mouth of Sungei Bedok... our late paternal aunts (and their pup Spot) were having an evening of relaxation in this beautiful photo from the late 50's Beautifully colourised by Nusan N

Our late father kept this article of 2013 because it featured this special "Cheavin's Saludor" water filter, an antique filtration system that belonged to our grandfather and purchased in the late 30's or early 40's, brought into and used at our Bedok kampong house, and then when we moved out continued its use at our parents HDB home but unusable (just for display) today. In those days it made absolute sense for such filtration, something that seems to be re-emerging today with modern versions of drinking health products. This still sits at our mother's home in 2024, unused Our father kept this newspaper story cutting

Oh hilarious laughter would fill our Bedok kampong house as well as the rest of our kampong neighbours whenever Wang Sha and Ye Feng appeared on our TV screens! One spoke in Cantonese the other in Teochew!

Something about babies in baby metal tubs in those days that make for great photos. Here are shots of us brothers taken in 1962 and 1963 (we were about 9 months then) just outside the bathroom at our Bedok kampong house. Notice the tempayan (green dragon earthenware urn) that holds water for our use? We submitted photos for the Jack Neo 2016 movie "Long Long Time Ago" and it got featured too... 1962 1963 End credits from Long Long Time Ago (2016 Jack Neo movie)

The hype about space and space travel had already begun even before the moon landing, with us excited kids (5 & 7 years of age) already beginning to collect cards by buying Walls ice cream then... each picture card was then pasted onto the little Moon Fleet Log Book we had as part of the fun and education. Here is our unfinished collection to share, when we began collecting at our Bedok kampong house in 1968.

A 1973 pic of our mother posing next to our black & white TV in the living room of our Bedok kampong house. Glad that our father could afford one (like our neighbours too) then as it provided some entertainment for our grandmother and the more than 10 other family members we had in the house. So in July 1969 when man first walked on the moon, it was broadcasted on Radio & Television Singapore (RTS) and we remember distinctly watching Neil Armstrong making that famous move on the surface. When that happened, our father joked with Mama and said all this time we have been praying to the Moon and now man's feet has stepped on its face! Colourised by Nusan N

Now for the unglamorous aspects of our Bedok kampong house living - the sanitation. We did not enjoy modern sanitation but used the bucket system. Each trip to the toilet was necessarily short (no reading nor staring at your phone if it existed then!) When we entered we had to climb up a step and squat with the 'dong' (soil container) below us. Options to use toilet paper or water was there. The night soil man would come every day (via the back garden) to clear. Sometimes he pulls out the 'dong' through the flapdoor below while one of us is still inside! Water and the sapu lidi was used to clean up the 'dong' before inserting back through the toilet flapdoor (yes we witnessed this cleaning). You can imagine when we moved to our HDB flat in 1974 this was one of the inconveniences we were relieved (pardon the pun) of Left photo credit to blogger Yeo Hong Eng, right photo taken 1969)

This writer was around 12 or 13 when he took to trimming his toenails at night seated in a rattan settee in this veranda at our Bedok kampong house. Our father was seated just across and promptly reminded me: "Boy don't cut your nails at night or the momok* will come (for you)". Was thinking this was just some superstition to disregard but when I glanced around the darkness outside the house and realised the silhouette of banana trees just about 30 feet away, I thought I'd better stop doing my nails and stop I did, just to be safe than sorry! (*momok means ghostly spectre or supernatural being) 1965 photo