Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

Going to Peninsular Malaya (not yet Malaysia then) in the 1950’s for a short holiday has always been a favoured option for many of us, and for our father and relatives it was no exception. And because he already has a car, his trusty Morris Minor, and despite the smaller roads, more complicated network and lack of highways as there are today, it was an adventure he would always cherish and talk frequently about. To ensure he gets to his destination was this 1956 Road Directory he purchased and kept all these years. We can tell from his road trips in 1957 and 1958 that he used it well!

On a recent walk to view the former Sungei Bedok, we noticed how much time has changed things. See this 1959 of our aunts enjoying the evening on the bridge (connecting Bedok Laut with Padang Terbakar and Koh Sek Lim estate..and then trying to get the same angle as that photo, is the same river (now canal)

‘Excavated’ from the family home a few months ago, this  Nestlé  Baby Weight Card, tracking the older of us, this writer until he was about 8 months old (March 1962)…  nice to juxtapose the information against an actual studio (some censorship!) photo of me at that same age.. interesting to note the printer was Tien Wah Press (which was just a few years in operation then) March 1962

Recently while doing housekeeping at our mother’s house, we found this precious large print 1940 photo of our late father's cousin, one of the “Four Beauties” mentioned in an earlier post. This was her wedding day, and she was dressed splendidly in traditional peranakan wedding attire. Sadly the marriage did not last long as she became a widow soon after (no information of the cause of the groom’s death). His will dictated that she was to remain unmarried for an extended period of years before his inheritance to her can materialise. She never remarried, had no children with him and with the eventually realised inheritance purchased two houses, side by side – lived in one (with her younger sis and niece) and rented out the other as her regular source of income. We always enjoyed her company and every year at Chinese New Year, father always made sure he brought the family to visit her (she was about a decade his senior, we call her Ko Ko) and is the 10-year old boy on the left in the...

Our late father had always been fascinated by the James Bond franchise, from the first movie in 1962. Even when we grew up into teenagers he would still make it a point to bring the family to watch the newest release at places like Shaw Lido. So as a family we watched as different actors took over the lead character and until we moved out of our Bedok kampong house in 1974 when ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’ premiered. So keen was he that when we went to Phuket for a holiday in 1987, he made sure we all went with him to James Bond Island (Phang Nga Bay, an entire day’s journey) to view the filming location of that movie! We are glad that up to the last few months of his life journey with us, he was able to watch the newest Bond#25 ‘No Time To Die’ on Prime Video streaming. Now that same fascination has also rubbed onto us. But ask him who his favourite Bond is and the reply will always be Sean Connery.

9 Jan 1955. Barely 2 months after moving into our Bedok kampong house from Kg Soopoo in Kallang, the second generation-ers, ie our father, aunts, relatives and boyfriends (now our uncles) enjoy a sunny day out on the beach outside the house, posing by the felled coconut tree trunks lined along the beachfront. This location was pretty near the Bedok Rest House, we believe, just outside the ‘Sa Chien Lau’ 3-storey building.

Today, 8 Nov 2025 our late paternal aunt’s husband Ah-Tio celebrates his 97 th  birthday! 97 and what an amazing uncle to us. Among the men in our Bedok kampong home he was truly a leader, establishing himself as a manager at Bata shoes for both the Singapore and Malaysia markets. As a result of his work commitments, we find him based out at Klang, Selangor but coming back often to stay the weekend with us. He was always a good companion to our dad on their Malaya holidays together. We hear our paternal aunt managed to get our strict grandfather to approve of their relationship – however they only tied the knot in 1958, 3 years after our grandfather passed away in 1955.. Our Ah-Tio is a good-natured, generous man with a pleasant disposition who puts everyone who meets him at ease. He also had a quiet strength in him, that even after his beloved wife left him in April 2023, lives on in how he takes each day as it comes – knowing one day they will meet again. Blessed 97 th birthday ...

Our very own “ 四美 ” or ‘Simei’ in romanised Chinese (Four Beauties). The four sisters here, children of our grandmother’s eldest sister were cousins to our dad and paternal aunts and visited us often as we did them (there is a fifth sibling, a brother whose deaf mute son came to stay permanently with us). The oldest among them would come even more often, cutting the nails of our grandmother, her aunt. Here they are in 1965 posing together and also with our larger families at the front of our Bedok kampong house with our dad's borrowed camera on self timer. Notice their various dressing styles? 1965 1965

We are pleased to share this 1944 Japanese Occupation certificate of education our late father kept. Direct translation of the Japanese from right to left, top to bottom: This is a graduation certificate ( 修了證書 ) issued by 子普通公學校 (likely a primary school) to a student named Tan Kim Suan ( タン キム スワン ). Key Details: Nationality: 支那 (an old term for China, not commonly used today). Age: 13 years old. Graduation Date: 昭和十九年三月四日 (March 4, 1944, in the Showa era). Issuing Authority: 昭南特別市 (Shōnan Tokubetsu-shi), which was the Japanese name for Singapore during the Japanese occupation in World War II. Official Seal: The red stamp at the bottom indicates authenticity. Interpretation: This certificate confirms that Tan Kim Suan (our late father) completed the seventh-year curriculum at this school in Japanese-occupied Singapore ( 昭南特別市 ) during WWII. It reflects the educational system under Japanese rule at that time. He once told us he wanted to keep this to remind him never ...

Growing up as kids and living in the kampong does give rise to beliefs in spirits and ‘momoks’ (like our dad once warned us never to cut our nails in the house at night or risk being visited by a ‘momok’). The other thing that is just brought to mind is how sometimes we wake up in the morning and see mysterious blue-black bruises on our arms or legs like pinch marks. Our elders would always say that we got ‘cubit’ (pinched in Malay, pronounced 'chew bit') by a ‘momok’! With our Bedok kampong house surrounded by nearby banana trees, dark undergrowth and the nearby huge old kapok tree, we never argued about it! Does anyone have any similar experiences as we did?