Our gentle and winding Bedok kampong road

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Thanks again to Mrs Jackie Munro, who took this early 1968 photo from her home at 2B Bedok Road (the 3-storey building or sa-chan-lau), we are now able to have a glimpse of our Bedok Kampong then with the Masjid Bedok Laut in the centre. On the right the metal railings that served as the moat bridge led up to the Sultan of Pahang’s holiday home, and on the left a tiny glimpse of our neighbour Kak Min’s house at 4E with a small attap structure within her compound. Our own house at 10J is on the left but out of range and not seen here. Also out of range but to the right are the police quarters, after the Sultan’s home (or Istana)

The kampong gravel road you see here winds gently (from Bedok corner on its left, towards the Sungei Bedok bridge on its right) between the houses and coconut trees, dry and dusty when it was sunny but turning orangey when it rained with its shallow ruts filled with rainwater and the road sides turning into small torrential streams of water flowing through the verges and village landscape until it drained off into the nearest ‘longkangs’, flowing into the Sungei Bedok tributaries nearby.  Our mother tells us that us kampong folk were indeed grateful when we learnt that the holes in the road were filled up by vendors appointed by and paid for by the Sultan of Pahang, also because it enabled his vehicles to travel well, yet allowing us to enjoy the relatively flat terrain as a result of his work.

It may have just been a dirt road and gone forever, replaced by the current built up houses of Eastwood Road, but the memories it carried hold dear to many who travelled on it oh so many years ago: for John who cycled past with his RAF neighbours on route to Somapah, then on to Tanah Merah and back to his home in Siglap; for Daniel who walked from his home just beyond the Sungei Bedok bridge at Padang Terbakar towards Bedok Road and then to school at Bedok Boys School; for the Sultan of Pahang and (we imagine) his consort, popular actress Maria Menado who drove past to go to his holiday home for those evenings of music and song; for the ladies in our house who strolled to the Sungei Bridge for a photo moment and gaze into the sunset; for us boys as we learnt to ride our bicycles on it, taught by our uncle; for the Bedok camp soldiers from 3SIR and 4SIR who trudged this way for their route march (we had an earlier story on this); for our former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who walked along this same path rallying the residents (witnessed by our cousin); and for our Muslim neighbours who walked by to attend Friday prayers at the masjid (mosque) every week, for which we say “Ramadan Mubarak” to you.



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