Monday, November 16, 2009

Can unk Dicko locate his old kampong home?

This is a bird's eye view of the Geylang River and Aston Mansions which is opposite to the Waterina condos. The river flows to the east towards Guillemard/ Geylang Road junction. My camera is facing NE. At the top right of the picture is a tall yellow striped block and, before it, is CITY PLAZA. In the old days, People's Emporium was located there and it was popular because the goods, mainly from China, were affordable. The area where the Aston Mansion is now located was previously a very old Muslim cemetery, behind the former Queens Cinema.

From Tim's cosy apartment, I now made my way down to have a walk around, past the swimming pool area, the children's playground and finally ended up near the Guardhouse again. I turned around and took this picture (below)looking inwards at the Waterina site. From what I gathered on the web, the Waterina and Sunny Spring presently have the most number of condo apartments at one site in Singapore...about 398 units each.
It is well-maintained and has two basement levels for car parking. Everything there looks pretty new and modern as can be expected. Ditto for the Sunny Spring too...although I did not get to go in. I managed to see it from the outside although I would have loved to have taken a walk inside.
If anyone reading this post can help me out with access, I'll be most grateful. As a reward, we can then have coffee at the Lorong 4o coffee shops and I'll mesmerise you with more anecdotes and tales from Siang Lim Park.
At the Security guardhouse, I told the 2 uniformed guards on duty that I was going out for a while, leaving my car still at the basement carpark. They had a quizical look on their face..must be wondering what this uncle was up to! So to pacify their curiosity I asked them, " Are you wondering who I am?"
They answered affirmatively. I then asked them if they were aware what was here before the condos were built. " No", was their answer. From my folder, I pulled out the old photos of our old home, Lorong 40 and S L Park...and showed to them. They were engrossed suddenly!


From the guardhouse of Waterina, facing north, I captured this scene of the present Lorong 40.
At the top of the picture is Geylang Road. On the right is the boundary wall of the Waterina. Where the cyclist is...that used to be the corner house of the " bapoks" Ref# 25 on my map. And more or less where the lamp post ( left of picture, near road sign "AHEAD") now stands....was the humble home where we Yippies once lived for more than half a century.


I swiveled round to face southwards. This is the present view of Lorong 40 adjacent to Guillemard Road. Sunny Spring is on the right of picture while Waterina is on the left.


































2 comments:

Lam Chun See said...

Aston Mansions, Waterina, Sunny Springs ..... sigh. All these new condos are totally alien to me :( Really out of touch with this part of Spore. Used to go to the hawker centre in Old Airport Road for supper after bowling in Kallang Bowl. Is your kampong near Old Airport Rd?

Unk Dicko said...

Not too far away. Old Airport Rd is parallel and next to Guillemard Rd. By car only 5 minutes away from my old kampong. There are untold numbers of condo sites ...all with fantastic names to " catch" the buyers.