Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

August 1955, the first recorded holiday or vacation our late father, then just 25, took with his friends to Peninsula Malaya (officially called at that time the Federation of Malaya) – leaving our Bedok kampong house and going from Singapore all the way to Penang via the Malayan Railway KTM train, stopping by places like Port Dickson, Muar, Ayer Hitam, Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh. Too many wonderful photos taken, and only found after he passed on, here is a selection to share. Boarding the KTM railway from Tanjong Pagar, this photo is just incredibly exciting Dad reading the newspapers on board the KTM. Always excited about taking trains in Malaysia he kept reminding us Posing by a Malayan kampong house Enjoying the Port Dickson beach with a friend Posing by the Ayer Hitam signage - note the roads and no expressways in 1955 He took this incredible photo in KL Posing by the Birch Memorial clock tower in Ipoh Too exciting taking the Ferry from Butterworth to cross into Penang island Relaxing o...

The Raleigh Chopper bike was all the rage in the early to mid 70’s – but when the family budget did not allow for us to get the original, one that closely resembles it was fine with us! We were so proud of it! 1973 posing with our 'chopper' bike in our kampong house garden

The Generation One foundations of our family and living at our Bedok kampong house began long before we moved in. Here is a glimpse into that first generation in 1940 when our grandmother’s oldest sister’s second daughter got married Peranakan style to a wealthy businessman's son. It was an arranged marriage but the portrait here of the extended family is exquisitely a rare one and very precious to us. Thanks to our older cousin who recently shared this beautiful and amazing photo with us. Seen here is our father as a 10-year old boy front row second from left, standing next to our grandmother (on his left) who is next to her oldest sister (our cousin's grandmother), next to the bride. Our dad's older sister is top row third from left. Top right is our uncle, son of our grandmother’s brother who also moved in to the Bedok kampong house in the mid 1950’s. Notice the eclectic mix of traditional Chinese, Nyonya and western (for the men) wear in the photo. 1940 - A peranakan we...

Weekends in the early 70's (or when dad was off duty) will find the family travelling from our Bedok kampong house to visit the Tay Buan Guan Shopping Centre in Katong - and our favourite record shop, Max for our newest LP (vinyl) purchases... the visits continued even when we moved over to Marine Parade in the mid 70's until when Katong Shopping Centre opened... and then later, Parkway Parade - but this record shop held so many wonderful memories for us Max Record shop was located at the 2nd floor (today it will be called 3rd Storey) of Tay Buan Guan shopping centre and a go-to haunt for us when we wanted to purchase our LP records! This screenshot was taken from the NLB's site and all rights sit with them

In the early 1970s, the land reclamation projects near our home (towards where the Bedok army camp areas are) were already in full force. With the hearsay that the beach in front of our house will likely suffer the same fate with our Bedok kampong house and surrounds to be acquired by the government, our parents decided it was time to move out before any of these stressors came upon us. The first time we applied for a HDB (Housing & Development Board subsidised government housing) flat at Farrer Road, we were unsuccessful. Then came the opportunity at the newly reclaimed land off Marine Parade for us to apply. Gladly we succeeded and in April of 1974, an invite card to witness the balloting and allocation of our 4-room flat came. Cost of the flat when we first purchased it? S$21,500 which our father paid in instalments for several years. It has been more than 50 years and our mother is still living there now.

This weekend we celebrate Father’s Day, and as a special tribute to the fathers who lived at our Bedok kampong house, here’s a gallery of photos featuring these 4 men – from our grandfather with his family members and their friends in 1950, to our paternal uncles in 1969 and 1972 and our own father in this family pic of 1973. With us both as fathers now ourselves, we understand the sacrifices that we needed to make for our families and the responsibilities these come with. So this post is for all fathers reading this. Happy Father’s Day 2025! 1950: Our grandfather, seated second from left with his family members and some of their friends in this portraiture taken at Kampong Soopoo before moving to Bedok. 1966: Our paternal uncle "Ah Tio Ah Peng" holding his year old daughter with us boys encircling him. We were 3 and 5 years of age then. We were seated at the house verandah steps. 1972: Our paternal uncle "Uncle Garlo" with his second child, posing in the garden of ...

Flowers in our garden. Among the flowers that blossomed in the garden of our Bedok kampong house, we most remember the red Bunga Santan and Japanese Rose. Each time we spot these growing along the streets or in other gardens, we can’t help but stop and reminiscence those old times back at that house. Here are two photos of our paternal aunt and cousins from 1967 and 1970 posing by these beautiful flowers. 1967 - Our paternal cousin as a toddler standing among the Japanese roses at her feet  while the red Bunga Santan shrub towers over her 1970 - Our paternal aunt with our cousins posing by a tall Bunga Santan shrub in the garden of our house Recently shot Bunga Santan (red) Recently shot Japanese roses

Saving money, a virtue, existing even then at our Bedok kampong house from the early 1950’s. Here is a treasure we’d like to share: our paternal grandfather’s Post Office Savings Bank book from 1950 itself. He opened the account before we moved in, when he lived at Kampong Soopoo (at Kallang). From our research at nlb.gov.sg we learned that during that time, Singapore’s POSB was already separated from the rest of Malaya’s. However, overall operations of the Singapore POSB remained under the jurisdiction of the Postmaster-General of Malaya.

This week commemorates two years since our father passed away. To remember him by and as a tribute to him, we decided to feature him as his work place at his only employer, now called Mediacorp Singapore. He joined in 1953 (he was just 23) when it was Radio Malaya, then Radio Television Singapore, then Singapore Broadcasting Corporation when he retired in 1985. Due to his hearing injuries in the late 40’s and also due to delays from post-world-war-2 challenges, he could only continue his education vocationally and in the radio technician trade. This clip help paint a picture of a man who had a strong work ethic, and was the single breadwinner to his family even before we moved into our Bedok kampong house despite having a radio technician’s pay. Below photos are all from January 1955. He and the family just moved into our Bedok kampong house at 614-3 Bedok Road (changed to 10J Bedok Road in 1964) in November 1954

We were just kids playing in the garden of our Bedok kampong house in the late 60's. Here we were, squatting by a low garden table, probably playing with our kuti kutis, when one of us peered down and there right beside us and under the table and by one of its 4 legs was a sizeable monitor lizard. To us it was a giant monster, up close. In fright, we fled and ran up to the house and into our bedroom, cowering in one corner and shaking. The older of us remembers vividly us both visibly trembling so much with fear and sobbing away. One of those traumatic childhood memories for sure!