Siang Lim Park...the new!

Photo:
This is the Condo block in the Waterina which faces the north. It was from there that I took some snapshots from Tim's open window to the west, north and east. Right below the block is the Geylang River.
















Photo:
I was facing about north-west.















Photo:
Facing directly north.
This row of double-storey pre-war shophouses has retained its old facade especially the rooftop. You can see the existing backlane at the rear of the houses. The backlane of our Yippie home was similar. It was quite broad and allowed us to put up a string or a tattered badminton net tied across the sides of the fences for our regular kampong pastime.



Photo:
Similar to above picture. To the right of the photo is the private Aston Mansions.







Photo:
Facing north-west. Part of the Lorong 40 field or playground can be seen on the left. It is so different from the past where it was basically one big field with only a few swings etc at the edge.
The single storey houses are part of Lorong 38. They are quite different from those in our old Siang Lim Park which all had a common, empty space beneath our floor called "bawah rumah" ( under the house ).


Photo:
Facing north-west.
An overview of the Lorong 40 playground today. Looking at it, one could not have imagined that 2 teams of any number of players were slogging it out in a game called football ...played regularly there. No bookings were required. First come, first served basis....kampong style.





Photo:
Facing approximately west. This part of the river will continue towards the sea. In the early days, the river had no enbankments. Wild vegetation grew on the river banks...lallang, bushes, trees. Many hens,chickens and ducks roamed freely. Eggs could be found among the bushes, riverbanks and "bawah rumah".
I took a walk on that bridge later. In days of old, we could sit on the parapet [ Map Ref # 40, see SL Park map ]. Today it can't be done...just a railing, cement parapet has disappeared.









Photo:
Facing west. That gate, footpath and boundary wall are part of the Sunny Spring today
If you look closely at the picture and follow that footpath from the gate, you come to a white rectangular patch ( top left of pic).
That's the approximate location of the old ancient keramat which I had earlier described in previous posts with Ref# 4 on the Map.

As I walked right to the river's edge, I did not detect any objectionable odour or smell. Except for the inevitable litter, flotsam and some other rubbish...the river today is infinitely cleaner than it was in my days.
Walking around, I did not see a single fruit tree of note.