25 Oct 2014 – And A Forgotten Reservoir

Thu: excellent movie The Good Lie*****is an American drama film written by Margaret Nagle and directed by Philippe Falardeau. The film stars Reese Witherspoon, Corey Stoll, and Sarah Baker.

Based on real-life events, it features Witherspoon as a brash American woman assigned to help four young Sudanese refugees (known as Lost Boys of Sudan) who win a lottery for relocation to the US.

Seems to be some movie making in this Lim CheeGuan BakKwa****stall in Chinatown. Tkx for dinner Henry with Larry’s good company.

Fri: first sighting of blue sly since my return. Pleasant bus ride to the dentist at NCD passing thru’ CBD. The shortest building – the former General Post Office/GPO. I do so remember buying postage stamps over the counters there in the early 1960s. Now the 5* Fullerton Hotel is located by the SIN river’s mouth.

LauPaSat=Old Market is revamped again. Built in 1894, it is now a national monument and protected. Seating for 2,500diners with 54stalls and 14mini restaurants!! The former Asia Insurance building, now Ascott used to be the tallest buildings in SIN when completed in 1955. Fond memories from the 1950s of Sundays dim-sum on the upper-floors with the Kwoks and the Leungs.

Tkx to Les&Ivy for wine and dinner at Paragon’s DinTaiFung****Their foods have yet to disappoint me. There was enough food me for me to doggy-bag for another meal. Kiera really likes their internationally known xiaolongbao /小籠包

Remembered very well when Albert took me to the original DinTaiFung in Taipei/Taiwan in 1996.

Sat: Forgotten Reservoir Guided Walking Tour was an educational, hot and green walk. Tkx to our guide, Charles Goh who actually is a Paranormal Investigator and happened to stumble upon this reservoir when he was searching for a tomb!

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/abandoned-reservoir-telok-blangah-road-discovered-201409

Edited 29Jul 2017 with above link.

Since I was in the area, decided to revisit Temenggong Rd.

It saddens me to see the fallen gates which once led to a stately house where I was born in 1950 and lived there until I was 15.

New  iron gates at the dead-end of Temenggong Rd, and also the 2 caves or rather 1 cave and the other was a big hole,  have been sealed and now a white-washed concrete wall.

The foot-path to Mt Faber is no more a dirt-path but that has been paved even from the last 2 visits!

Bay Hotel, address 50 Telok Blangah uses Temenggong Rd as their entrance; is the newest addition to the neighbourhood. Some people might mind about staying in a hotel next to the mosque and burial grounds. But of course this is no ordinary burial grounds…

http://bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/johor-pride-and-heritage-in-temasek/

The supervisor at Bay Hotel kindly let me into one of the unoccupied 10th floor rooms to take some pix.

B/W from 1950 and the colours from today

If #5 still existed, one would be able to see it from this view from one of the 10th floor rooms at Bay Hotel.

Ruins of the top gates at #5.

Bottom gates are now completely destroyed, the ruins were there at my other visits, but now completely gone.

View from #5 in the 1940-50s.

Today’s view is VivoCity, taken from the 10th floor of the Bay Hotel, which was the location of a petrol station in the 1950s.

This was what it looked like where Bay Hotel is now standing. B/W pix credits to my father LAM TinYue (1911-1996)

 http://amylamsg.com/2008/12/05/temenggong-road/

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again ― Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca