Neighbours - "Sa-Chan-Lau" just after the Bedok Rest House

Located just behind/next to (depending on one’s orientation) the Bedok Rest House at our Bedok Laut kampong where the Bedok corner was, was a concrete three-storey house us fellow kampong folk called ‘Sa-chan-lau’ (3 storey building in Hokkien 三层楼). Sa-chan-lau, listed as 2B Bedok Road was just next to our Indian neighbours at 4E. We walked by this place each time we left our house to go onto or return home via the main Bedok Road, and it seemed a place of mystery to us until now. Many thanks to our recent interactions with new friend and former neighbour Mrs Jackie Munro who lived in this house, we have a story to tell about this building.

She and her Royal Air Force (RAF) husband moved into one of the 8 flats inside this house (believed to be owned by a Chew family) in October 1967 as newlyweds. There were 3 flats on the ground floor, 2 on the first floor (or 2^nd storey, where they lived) and 2 on the top floor or 3^rd storey (we used the British term ‘floor’ until 1983 when we changed to ‘storey’ or ‘level’). All were occupied by RAF personnel except for the 8^th unit which was like an annexe and had a separate stair access on the right, in which lived a British Army couple. The Munros’ flat had 2 bedrooms, a lounge, a small kitchen and shower room. Some of the other units had balconies looking out to the beach.

When the entire kampong was demolished in the mid-80’s to mid-90’s to make way for the rebuilt Eastwood residences, this building was the only remnant of those days left and with the Munro family even dropping by for a visit to their old place in 1993. By the late 90’s, houses of Eastwood Road and its vicinity have replaced the area completely with this building redesignated as “34 Eastwood Road”. The final nail in the coffin for our collective memory of our kampong days was delivered when Sa-chan-lau was finally torn down and in its place a brand new “34 Eastwood Road" house exists there since 2020.

Sa-chan-lau is right behind Mrs Jackie Munro, as seen in this circa 1968 photo (on the left was the Bedok Rest House with the British pillbox on extreme left)

Sa-chan-lau as it looked like in 1993, with Mrs Munro and her daughter, just 10 years of age then

This google photo of circa 2015 has Sa-chan-lau redesignated as 34 Eastwood Road. See the awning and stairs just above the 'slow' sign where the British Army couple had lived in. Since 2020 a newly built house is standing in its place

This 1958 photo shows Sa-chan-lau (2B) on the extreme left, followed by our immediate neighbour Kak Min and family (4E) and then our house is at extreme right with its zinc roof. The fencing on the right belonged to the Sultan of Pahang's holiday home (house not seen here but is on the right and out of frame)