The Rail Mall and Singapore Quarry

Singapore Bukit Timah Hill is rich with granite and is home to a number of quarries such ar the Dairy Farm Quarry, Hindhede Quarry and Singapore Quarry. As far as more than twenty years ago I use to travel from my working office to Hillview Avenue Lam Soon Factory and Hume Industries,  at that time the place was the steel structure open warehouse of Hong Leong Company I have to pass by the Rail Mall along the way but now things had changed with a new flyover at the intersection of Hillview Avenue and Bukit Timah Road. Rail Mall got its name from the overland trains service form Penisular Malaya now Malaysia also a railway bridge was built across Bukit Timah Road and onward toward Tanjong Pagar Station. For those granite quarries ceased to be operational since 1970 and 1980 only the Dairy Farm Quarry are filled up and today is a popular spot for rock climbing.

Walk among the tombstones

After revisited Tanglin Halt I quickly pop over to Shuang Long San Wu Shu Ancestral Hall simply refer to the Shuang Long San Cemetery or Ying Fu Kuan Singapore last Hakka cemetery situated along Holland Close and its surrounding Public housing and Commonwealth Avenue West with the East-West MRT Line. The cemetery is well into the half of their 99 years lease and when the time comes this place will become a thing of the past.

Final look at Tanglin Halt

Going back to the early 70s when I was working with a freight forwarding company where we had a garage at Tanglin Halt Road just at the junction with Commonwealth Avenue West and behind a Shell petrol kiosk, it brings back a lot of memories where once the Malayan Railway KTM used to chugged along  Van Houten chocolate factory, Daiwa Industries and many more light industries can be found there Tanglin Halt Estate was one of the oldest which had undergone many changes over the years. It is the Selective En Bloc  Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) that put a nail that seals the fate of the estate. The famous Market and Hawker Centre, old school shops with a total of over 3500 units of flats had to make way so that is when I decided to revisited that place to document some of the buildings for memory sake.

Kim Keat Avenue Dinosaur Playground

This playground which was built-in 2000 using Dinosaur theme which is also the same contractor who designs the other one in Woodland. As  I walk toward the other block there was a Chinese temple known as Poh Chung Tian Chor Sian Tong according to record it was built-in 2005 and at the time of the visit the caretaker waved me away I think it is because of the pandemic.

Revisited Holland Village

Last Tuesday I was wandering aimlessly and I found myself in Holland Village sadly the Iconic landmark of the Windmill, the reading man in Block 2 Holland Close and the mosque are all gone, there a new building called Holland Piazza everything looks the same the food court, Hawker Centre, the famous magazine store, the sculpture park together with the wall murals are all there, but the place still draws crowds and due to the pandemic is much quieter now not like before.  

New and Old Skyline

There was a time when people said that Singapore won't make it but we did this is the starting from our National Day theme Song in 1987 titled We are Singapore. Fast forward we are a young nation with only 55 years of independence but with 800 years of history in the making. The Little Red Dot as we are always referring to by our neighbours and the World. There was a time when troubles seem too much for us to take but we did, we built a nation strong and free reaching out together for peace and harmony. Today Singapore the world know as a safe place for work and play and even to raise a family where more than 80% are a homeowner with our public housing, by looking at our forever changing skyline starting from the 70 to the new millennium. Next comes our national pledge We the citizen of Singapore pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness and prosperity and progress for our nation. So lets these being brought for generations to come,  Long Live Singapore and Singaporean.

Playground at Balam Road

Yesterday took a stroll to the very old estate which was once known as Persiaran Keliling and now called Circuit Road. My in-laws were staying at Block 21 Balam Road up on the 10th Floor after which when they moved out I have not been there since. There was an old school playground since the 70s made out of concrete structure, everything was intact but minus the see-saw board surprise to see it still there. Now the estate is served by 2 MRT Lines Circle Line and the Downtown Line