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.

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.