Bishan Two Zero

Posted by: toycon
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

many thanks for this post Kenneth, its a beautiful ode to the place you call home.

Posted by: Deadpoet's Cave
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

[...] Last week (approximately) marked the 20th year I’ve lived in Bishan. I’ve reflected about the changes I’ve seen since I moved to Bishan at yesterday.sg. Speaking of yesterday.sg, regular contributors Chun See and Ivan will be conducti [...]

Posted by: chunsee
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

I go to Bishan quite often. Hard to believe that merely 1 generation ago, the place was a giant graveyard. Everytime I pass by the Chinese temple along Braddell Road, I think of the open air South Country Theatre.

Posted by: chunsee
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

At 1 tiem, I freqented the coffee shops (next to market) at St 13, near to junction with Braddell Road. Nowadays, it seems to be very quiet there?

Posted by: RamblingLibrarian
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

Wow, that's a great post. I've not read any post that waxed lyrical about a "new" estate. At only 20 plus years, Bishan is new compared to some other estates. I mean, Ang Mo Kio is even older and I don't think anyone's blogged it that way. What about Bukit Merah... now that'll be a story. Maybe most people (who might blog) tend to move to new places. I lived in Ang Mo Kio for over 20 years but I discovered blogging after I moved out! LOL

Posted by: acroamatic
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

Chun See, not sure which coffee shops you are referring to 'cos St 13 doesn't technically join up with Braddell Road. Do you mean St 11, near the Kallang River side of Bishan? RamblingLibrarian, yup, Bishan is not that old. But old is relative. I have - you could say - watched this estate 'grow up'. It's a unique perspective, in a way, having moved there when I was old enough to remember things with some clarity, and young enough to have spent some of my childhood in a brand new estate. You can always blog about AMK. In fact, I was thinking about writing something about Clementi... ;)

Posted by: peter
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

It appears that the helicopter was flying due 9 o'clock; taking the future RI as a reference point, i.e. flying in the direction of Jalan Peminpin. The old Kampung San Teng Road would be in the middle of that photo, from left to right and cutting through RI. Kampung San Teng was opposite to the Little Sisters of the Poor and joined Thompson Road. This side of Kampung San Teng was the "entry point" into the Cantonese cemetery area. The "exit point" would be at Bradell Road where Block 146 stands. The reason behind this traffic arrangement was to facilitate Cheng Meng Festival worshippers. Eeven with this arrangement, sometimes quarrels do arise because motorists break the "one-way" road direction policy. Coming into Kampung San Teng Road, the first stop was a Chinese village called Kampung San Teng (now the new RJC) and after that was the Chinese temple (now Kwong Wai Siew Pek San Teng building). A pond was in front of the temple. Between the temple and the pond was a large concrete pavement where devotees could stick joss sticks into specially prepared metal stands. It was also the place to burn the paper buildings to send off the dead loved ones. The pond was a place to set off the paper boats as part of a ritual honouring the recently departed ones. I was there to when my grandfather died in 1970. By the time when my grandmother died in 1972, we decided on cremation and she was left at "Kong Ming San" colaberaium where the entry was through Bright Hill Drive. Prior to this I did my Cheng Ming rounds to pay homage to my great grand parents, etc as part of ancestral worship, and the map of the different parts of the cemetery was not that useful. As Chun See said, we depended on the "tengs" as a prominent landmark.

Posted by: peter
Posted on: November 22nd, 2006

Actually cemetery ground is considered "asupicious" to some superstitious Chinese. For example the first "HDB" estate was the British-built SIT flats at Tiong Bahru Estate (Eng Watt Street, Eng Hoon Street, Seng Poh Road, Tiong Poh Road, Chay Yan Street). It was the new cemetery ground after the old cemetery ground at Ang Siang Hill was closed. Like the Pek San Teng cemetery area, Tiong Bahru Estate was home to the dead and the living (Cantonese I think). Tiong Bahru Road towards the Tiong Bahru MRT Station had farmers and squatters on on side and the cemetery from Moh Guan Terrace to Tiong Bahru Road; sloping as it approached Tiong Bahru Road. You still can "feel" the gradient today as you go there for that famous Yong Tau Foo in a cofee shop (opposite the temple) or the "Yee Sung" (raw fish) in another coffee shop. BTW that temple is >100 years old, older than the other temple at the corner of Seng Poh Road and Tiong Bahru Road (recently heritage society members were petitioning for preservation status). It is here the other end of Eng Hoon Street you find 2 storey buildings built in the early 19th century. (Note: I knew about this part because I came for my Indian barber haircut as a child in the 1950s and walked around the place to explore). If you walk towards SGH/CTE, on the right corner is the new St Mathew's Church; next to it is a house which has some architectural lines. The row of shophouses was considered "modern" in those days and faced the cemetery grounds. Of course property prices are higher on cemetery grounds in the long run; if not why is Ngee Ann City rentals are so high? It was also the Hokkien Huay Kuan cemetery ground. The condos bounded by Irwell Bank and River Valley Road are the same for the same reasons. Elsewhere in Henderson Road was also Chinese cemetery ground - for Hokkiens I think.

Posted by: sonicstarburst
Posted on: November 23rd, 2006

The Thomson/Bishan landscape has certainly changed since my family first moved to Braddell View in 1978. I can still remember how I used to duck in the backseat as we passed the cemeteries in Bishan. We had to pass it and make the U-Turn to get home to our estate. These were pre-CTE days; when the U-turn (just outside the then Westlake Secondary School).We were so isolated atop Braddell Hill until the MRT lines came along at Braddell and Bishan. Just wondering why cemetery grounds was considered auspicious? It's always interesting to learn more about our Chinese culture for someone of my generation as many of our grandparents have passed on.

Posted by: peter
Posted on: November 23rd, 2006

Sonic: If you consider that Bradell View was close to cemetery ground, then you also might want to knwo that Lornie Road in the 1950s/early 60s berore it was widened ran very close to the Bukit Brown Cemetery. In fact it was a winding 2 lane road between the Sime Road Singapore Island Country Club and Andrews Road. Now Lornie Road is straight, taking some cemetery land for road winding. I still remember that there were no street lights and we needed the car head lights to travel. Imagine every bend you turn you would see a tombstone. How's that? Like you I closed my eyes each time coming through a bend. Along Andrew's Road (MacRitchie Road towards MediaCorp), there were very nice 2 storey bungalows (second level was at ground level and first level was below ground level, so the driveway was to the second level)facing Bukit Brown Cemetery. Initially the houses could not sell and the "asking pricing" dropped tremendously to S$60K in 1962. Sales were so bad that a temporary high wall was constructed to block residents' views from the cemetery. I am not sure whether the high wall is still there but today these properties easily fetch S$8m on the market. Not bad if you paid $60K in those days.

Posted by: sonicstarburst
Posted on: November 24th, 2006

Thanks Peter! As my dad always says, 'If I know then what I knew now, I would have bought that house!'There's that one house located right next to Bukit Brown Cemetery. For the longest time it was vacant or its occupants would be stay there for long. It's interesting that Kenneth talks about Bishan, which has led to our discussion on Lornie Road. I was just invited to a focus group on the Peranakan identity last week and have since been planning to start tracing my Singapore roots. My maternal grandpa is buried in the Sime Road cemetery (which links up to Kheam Hock Road) while some of his relatives's graves (think my great grand parents and all) are still at Bukit Brown Cemetery. Pardon my long ramble but Lornie Road reminds me of when we first moved from Tanglin Halt to Braddell View.On one of the moving trips,(these were the days before car air conditioning became the norm) my security pillow flew out the window along the Adam Rd flyer-over leading to Lornie Road. My dad could still stop the car in the middle of the road and run after the pillow!I imagine doing that now! The area has seen tremendous changes, like most areas in SINGAPORE!

Posted by: chunsee
Posted on: November 24th, 2006

You're right Kenneth. I meant Bishan St 11. I used to have my office in Jln Pemimpin until last year and ocassionaly go there for lunch, preferring the quiet to the hustle and bustle at Junction 8. Nowadays, I often go to the MOE Language Centre in St 14 and do my brisk walking exercise along the Kallang River while waiting for my daughter. I think those flats next to the canal are really nice. By the way, there's a PUB 'station' next to the river, along Braddell Rd where they have mango and rambutan trees. That station has been there since the 60's if I am not mistaken