"Jalan" Siput (The snail pathway)

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This pebble-strewn pathway linking the back of our Bedok kampong house to the garden in front is memorable not just because the pebbles seem to be varying in colours (not so obvious in this colourised black and white 1964 photo) – each morning we would find dozens of giant garden snails or siput all over this part of the garden and not sure why till this day. For young children like us, it was pretty scary when the snail tentacles were actively moving! And our uncle, dad’s cousin, who lives with us would take his dependable penyapu lidi (traditional broom) and metal puntau (made from diagonally cut cooking oil cans) and clear them all. Hey even in those days we practiced sustainability!

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