hantam bola...

Can you remember how the hantam bola sessions stopped?
· Well the sessions started with rubber balls, then soft balls (those white balls with furs played by softball players) and then graduated to can you remember what? ----------'GOLF BALLS!'. I can't remember who but this nut (if anyone can remember please inform me) brought along his father's golf ball as the softballs were too 'soft' and not 'shiok' when it hit somebody
· Boy, there were many of us involved I remember there were those from 3D, 3E and other classes as well (I think this did not happen in Sec 4). 1 poor fella got a 'baluku' on his head and almost fainted. (Poor fella) and everything just stopped the very next day. I just wonder what he told his parents!

THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!!!!

I remember ....

I remember when I could remember when.......

I left Malaysia when I was 14.. by a Budding Poet

I left Malaysia when I was 14 & now, in my dotage, I still have some fond & vivid memories of the country & its people Here is my contribution:

1. Sudden meeting with a stranger.
   Living in Penang, Green Lane
   A man called at the door, quite vain
   And asked if I knew a Dr. Ah Poke
   Who was a friend of Ah Fook.


2. Abdullah 37
   When I was seven
   I wondered what all the fuss was about Abdullah thirty-seven.
   I then learned that it was a brand of rokok
   Smoked by men wearing songkoks.


3. Teacher love.
   When I was eleven I fancied my teacher Miss. Chan
   She said I had no chan.
   She was going out with another teacher, Mr. Thurusingum
   So I plastered his car with chewing gum.


4. The Sikh
   ‘Achar-hay’ said the Bayee-hay
   As he prepared his rattan bed for the night.
   I aimed my catapault to his right
   Pretending I was trying to hit a jay.


5. Tongkat Ali
   Tongkat Ali was said to have come from Bali
   Walking home up a decrepit alley
   He boasted he had the best soup kambing
   And are we all coming?


6. The Barber.
   The barber said he was going to make me botak
   And I told him he’s had too much arak.


7. Chinese & Indians are brothers.
   ‘Chini-Hindi bhai bhai’
   That, I remember, was uttered by Chou-En-Lai.
   And, true, he never told a lie.


8. In a hurry.
   The mama-man shouted
   ‘Out of my way
   Jaldi! Jaldi!’
   I swore & said
   I was no Fittipaldi.


9. The Gardener & the bees.
   I was playing with a bee-hive
   When our kebun was going home at five.
   The bees attacked!
   What the heck!
   I ran to my kebun
   Who took over the act
   And saved your dear Boon


10. My first Indian girlfriend.
    ‘Oh my goodness gracious me!’
    Shrieked my girlfriend Miss. Jalli
    ‘You have ruined my pretty dress
    And just when we are going to the Deli!’
    ‘Undress my dah-li, & we can play at making fa-mi-li
    Oh my goodness disgracious me!’

bicycling from Mt Rosie to Dhobi Ghaut Polar Cafe

· When I used to ride the bicycle from Mt Rosie to Dhobe Ghaut Polar Cafe to buy cream puff for my neighbours- the Siow girls- Nancy and Jenny
· When I used to attach cigarette paper packs to my bicycle rear fork, so that the wire-spoke would hit the paper and make a rapid flapping noise while riding.
· When I installed brake lamp for the bicycle with a simple contact switching device, and the boys thought I was a genius
· When riding the Honda Sports Cub home daily, have to attack the Chancery Lane bend -next to Lee King Chian's big longkang - till the foot rest scrape the road.
· When watching news black n white TV, newscaster Steven Lee always seemed to be having something in his mouth while reading the news
· When I had my first MW transistor radio, I was so so happy. Yes it was a SONY.
· When it rained on Saturday nights, still expecting bikers down at Shenton Way sarabat stalls. Can't go to sleep without riding there to check things out and feeling satisfied even if no one turned up
· When I didn't have a bike license, had to depend on Tony Gay to pillion me to Shenton Way sarabat stalls and actually looking forward to the riding treats
· When I rode pillion with Tony and we street raced everywhere -from Shenton Way to Changi Point at midnight
· When I 'practise' riding on the Thomson Circuit on Sundays with Feb, Tommy Fang, Ah Keat (Gerry Looi), Beng Hoe and John White Crow
· When I 'upgraded' to driving, my first borrowed mini was a 850 belong to Tony Lim, which I learnt to modify the engine, and proved the result by trashing other mini 850s or stock Cooper on street drags
· When I tried to impress Liz Choo by driving her home in her Austin 1100 - turned the 90* corner really quickly with the help of yanking the handbrake. Yeh really crazy then!
Those were the days my friends........I hoped they'll never end :-)

queuing mee and "ping miok" ...

· queuing for a plate of mee and a carton of "ping miok" (strawberry milk) at the ACS canteen
· taking a bum boat to one of the islands for a picnic at the weekend, loaded down with buckets, spades, snacks, drinks cooler and so on
· standing at the boundary fence of the Singapore Swimming Club on Tanjong Rhu Road, and remembering that the sea used to be just the other side, and was now half a mile away
· hearing the fertilizer truck coming up the road, the crew shouting "cow dung, cow dung ho!"
· turning on the garden hose on a hot day and soaking everyone
· seeing who could eat the most chicken satay and kutupat at one sitting
· peeling the layers of a kuih lapis and eating them one by one (see: http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2005/07/kuih-lapis.html)
· making fun of the local sikh jaga's tonchet (turban), then running away while he followed, cursing and waving his stick
· watching the murthaba man preparing the flour and oil, salivating with anticipation
· going out into the garden at night with a torch, then catching all the toads that you could find
· watching your classmates set their fighting ants and beetles at each other
· watching TV in black and white
· going to the wayang
· watching the kavadi carriers during Thaipusam, and wondering why they weren't screaming with pain (see: http://glennh.tripod.com/wa_sing_tpsm.htm)
· playing chatek during breaks from lessons
· picking rambutans from the trees, and then getting all the ants out of your hair, ears, eyes, nose and clothes
· running across the Padang in the heat of the day to the shade of the trees on the other side
· climbing all over the construction sites, playing at soldiers, then scrounging cigs off the workers
· watching in awe as the black and white ahmah ate her lunch of raw chilies
· throwing stones at the coconuts up the tree, trying to knock one down
· wading home down Bukit Timah in chest-high water, after the longkangs overflowed
· sitting on the first floor of the house after a monsoon downpour, watching the fish swimming around the furniture downstairs
· watching the fighting kites over the kampongs in the late afternoon, battling it out like some world war one dogfight
· smelling the inside of the car after you'd left a durian in the sun on the back seat
· queueing outside the Cathay cinema to see 2001: A Space Odessey when it was first released
· burying your face up to the ears in a slice of chilled watermelon
· going to the hawkers' stalls in the car park opposite Cold Storage in the evenings
· searching through the heaps of red fire-cracker paper during Chinese New Year to find those that had not exploded
· blowing up ants' nests with left-over firecrackers
· standing to attention outside class before lessons, while a scratchy recording of the national anthem was played over the PA system, and someone hauled the flag up the pole
· and for all you nostalgics, go to: http://home.pacific.net.sg/~linachoo/singapore3.htm and turn on the sound

Q-bikers...

· I had a great childhood running around the undeveloped places round the neighbourhood like a little wild hooligan together with Sandy, Rodger & the neighbourhood gang. At one point we called ourselves the "Q Bike" gang after stuff we read in the 'Beano' & 'Dandy' comic books....of course none of us had a bike but that did not matter!
· EuVilla was still standing then & I remember Sandy held a "haunted castle" party there...very daring! everyone had to bring a date & a candle!! I was precocious & allowed to accompany my parents who got there early when the party was just starting to make sure folks were behaving themselves etc. before said kid sister had to "get lost" so she would not cramp big brother's style! Chair Bah....steady one dair.... ;-)
· Fresh baked bread delivered daily in little van - "Joo"
· First drive-in theatre that opened only for about a couple of months
· all the fountains with their changing colours on the round-abouts that exitsted then: Marco Polo hotel, newton circus, Scotts/Paterson....
· the banana split at magnolia ice cream bar
· Some fab F&B places that disappeared: Trioka restaurant; Gino's A go go; Downtown;
· My first "Barbarella" disco experience!
· Police guy in his khaki shorts standing on wooden box directing traffic at the cross junctions
· Trawling for the perfect Parker fountain pen for Father's Day from the shops along brash basah rd. to Victoria street
· All the fish aquarium shops along Selegie Rd from Cathay theatre down to Mt.Sophia rd
· Mom's favourite coffee ice cream came in a brown bag in a round metal tin(!) from shop on corner of victoria/brash basah
· Ngee Ann Building was a block of residential apartments
· First TV transmission was in black/white & lasted 2-3 hours only per day- rest of time was test pattern that we kept faithfully hypnotically watching to wait for it to burst into life again- Rolf Harris "Tie me kangaroo down sport" was a favoured repeat.....
· clanging bell of neighbourhood ice cream man- 50cents for a cleavered wedge between 2 wafers~ yum!
· When the town convent CHIJ was at Victoria Street & St.Margaret's was considered a "2nd choice" school!
· When fireworks were not banned and roads were lined w/a carpet of red firecrackers being thrown down, around & underneath passing cars!!
· How about the cool "Donald Moore Gallery" at LiatTowers
· And lets not forget the following too.......
- original satay club was single alley along beach road......
- sunday tiffin lunch at Cockpit Hotel...
- the snake charmer in front of old Raffles Hotel.....
- and Hey how about those hotels/landmarks that disappeared: Tropicana; Hotal Singapura; Adelphi Hotel (they had the best french pastries & first patisserie!)......
- When "7 Storey" Hotel was pretty swank & ok place to book visitors in!

Fighting horse ...

· In primary school, another game we played was "fighting horse" where the bigger boys would carry (piggyback) smaller boys (jockeys) and the jockeys would try to wrestle the others off their "horses”
· And the favourite time was the last day of school when each would bring something and games would be played and food would be shared in class with all.
· And the cheeky/notorious bunch would go to Keok Road coffee shop (upstairs) to have their food and beer, piss into "Kickaboo" drink bottles, seal them back; for them to be sold to unwary customers!!
· Favourite food then was "satay hum" also at Keok Road.

Beach Mansion...

· One of the best times I can remember was during the Summer holidays (June) when we would be invited to the Beach Mansion belonging to the Lai Family at Tanah Merah (way before the Country Club or even the ECP was born...!).
· We had to climb down a rocky path to get to the beach, as the house was way up high. The sea was great then and so was the company... Edwin Lee (who is a good friend now and still calls me "The Green-Eyed Monster during one of his moods), a Japanese boy by the name of Kim (where is he???), a girl from school called Kim Hoalim, Pauline Fong (Eddie Fong's sister), Marianne Wee (Christohper Wee's sister) and myself, not to mention Joan Lai who's house it belonged to.. What fun we had. Then we had to grow up!
· Of course one never forgets the water fights we used to have at the Island Club swimming pool. The pool seemed so big in those days. Now it's so small and abandoned. So sad!

smell of rubber...

· the smell of rubber from the warehouses and the murky water of Singapore River filled with tongkang as one crosses from Eu Tong Sen St to Hill St on the way to school

Personal memories of Singapore and Penang....

Singapore
· Ayer Batu Kachang, (With Kebongs), at Koek Road - price 10 cents for a decent sized bowl
· "Bum Boat" trips to the Outer Eastern Roadstead used to cost S$1.00 before midnight and S$2.00 after midnight
· The 2nd. best cream puffs in the world used to be sold in a little cafe in "The Arcade".


Penang
· The best cream puffs in the world used to be sold at "Tip Tops" in Burmah Road.
· The entire school holidays used to be spent camping in make-shift tents at "Lover's Bay" Batu Ferringhi - Soap & Toothpaste were listed as optional supplies.

Ku char mata ...

• Often heard among locals, " Ku char mata chengh tuay kor." ("Last time police wore shorts.")


• When I was a National Serviceman at Paya Lebar Police Station, my corporals and sergeants, those who wore chuli-ayam khaki shorts and over-sized batons swore that Abdullah 37 was one the best. She reputedly was the one who smoked Abdullah 37 with the other lips.

hantam bola ...

· hantam bola lands in goobak kuey teow soup........again (ACS Barker Rd canteen)
· waiting desperately for miss buchanans class to start
· writing "the future of the world is now in your hands" over the boys urinal

kuti kuti....

· "when we used to play during recess 'kuti kuti' to see whose kuti jumped over the other to win the 'kuti'
· When we used to play 'hantam bola' and ran around the school
· When we could buy "kanchang puteh' for 10 cents from the mama guy with a box on his head
· when we could get milk for 20 cents and plate of mee for 15 cents at the school tuck shop durig recess
· when we say a bayee walking under the cana with a soap box to stand up on it to perform tricks on a cow
· when we wore little fake gold rings with a lion's head to school
· when we carried small brown school bags to class with two snap locks on either side the first day we could ride a bicycle to school and it had a speedometer on it
· when we would assemble behind the old scout building across the street from Coleman Street school to witness fights between many of our famous contemporise
· when we would drop little pencil sharpeners with mirrors on it to check the lady teachers' legs and panties if any
· when Ms Christina Loh was the sexiest and sauciest teacher we ever had at Coleman Street
· when some of us had to parade around the school as part of the 'late comers parade' for being 5 minutes to school

Yardley Brilliantine Pomade ...

· Yardley Brilliantine Pomade - the green sticky stuff for hair thats in a small low round glass jar with gold-colour metal cap. Years later came Tancho from Japan. Also that time Brylcream and Vaseline were figthing for market share, of course Brylcream was the market leader.
· Yea, for trousers, the tigther the better, must be no pleats, remember I proudly owned a pair of and-coloured stretch levis jeans which I wore and wore and wore.
· Milk Bars - Magnolia milk bar at the old cold storage in Orchard Road, Capitol Cinema, Mont Dor at Ngee Ann flats where the original Mazda showroom was opposite FitzPatricks.
· Yes, tea dance at Princess Hotel Garni and Golden Venus, where the richer had babycham and the less endowed ordered bacardi coke, the guys drank the bacardi and the girls the coke to save money.
· Talentime - Remember Andrew Liew participated and came very close to winning. Then there were the 3 chubby girls, think they called themselves Petals, and the guy with the Tom Jones, Engelbert Hum pa lang tak voice who won 1 year, can't remember his name though.
· Thunderbirds, Flybaits, Crescendo, Naomi & The Boys (sixteen Candles).
· Monthly Movie News and weekly Students World newspaper that I just can't wait to lay my hands on.
· Kept fishes, bred them to sell to fish-shops for pocket money, kau-hoong or live worms which you coiuld get for 5cts or go to longkang use thread to catch.
· Redifusion, and the famous Lay Tai Sor story-teller. Pavilion cinema in Orchard Road, see Sunday matinee for 50cts.
· Hantam bola, badminton, basketball for me. Volleyball at ACS which I never got to play.
· Bicycle racing around the circuit surrounding ACS Barker Road quadrangle, and John King for his magnificent size always outraced everyone. That time Robin Hood brand bicycle and Shimano never heard of.
· Catching big black ants in school by sticking thin blade of grass in anthole, pull off their feelers and let them fight to the death.
· Chinese New Year firecrackers, WALAU really the bestest. Shoot rockets at each others house and frigthening the girls with the little round bomb that explodes loudly when you throw it hard against the floor.

Brylcreem

· Brylcreem; teenagers (and adults) plastered Brylcreem on their hair, shiny hair with not one strand out of place!!! There was a pre-occupation with combing one's hair. Just about everybody had a comb in the pocket!!
· tight trousers, there was a time when teenagers wore very tight narrow pants (and walked with difficulty! explains the high-pitched singing !); it wasn't cool to wear loose pants then.
· "milk bars"; for a short period (early days of rock'n'roll) milk bars sprung up all around; it was cool to be seen in a milk bar with one's mates; yup, milkshakes was the "in thing" to drink, and "floats" was also "in" !!!
· "fighting fish"; those living closer to or in rural areas will remember catching "fighting fish" which were kept in glass containers; the "fighting fish" developed striking bright colours when kept in a dark environment and appeared to be more fierce than those kept in a bright place. Mates would pit their fighting fish against others
· "talent time" - the local/national live-on-stage radio precursor to today's TV American Idol
· "tick tock" - a game
· "shuttle cock" (or some other name which I can't remember), a game where a feather is stuck in the centre of a bottle cap and the idea is to keep the "device" in the air for as long as possible with one's foot.
· rounders - a sport similar to baseball
· pointed shoes; ouch! caused many an ingrown toenail!
· collecting photos of movie stars; in the early fifties, publicity for new movies were in the form of illustrated pamphlets accompanied by autographed copies of photos of movie stars. These photos were collectibles and often exchanged.
· the Elvis Presley hairstyle
- martial arts movies......... Wong Fei Hoong etc
- comics
- raiding neighbours' mango, rambutan, langsat, etc during the fruit season
- writing in to radio stations to play our "requests" i.e. popular songs (pre-TV days when radio was king)

'sesaons' of games

· 'sesaons' of games during childhood
· making 'glass on strings' to do kite fighting
· a walk down Desker Rd and the side / back lanes where one could get a lay for $5.60...
· school canteen ( tuckshop ) : fried noodles, soup noobles, mee siam, laksa, Indian rojakall at 20cents per order
· for 50cents one gets curry chicken or beef rice...
· bottle of plain or flavoured Cold Storage milk for 20c...done on a weekly order basis thro the teachers...then we get a daily coupon...i remember selling them off - even at discount to get cash for other things...
· we come back from recess all sweaty from playing catching & 'police & thieves'... got so many shirts torn playing these games that my mum went to school to enquire what's wrong we me...fights ending up with cuts, bruises & black eyes...had to bullshit about 'accidents'...
· we were probably 10 or 11 years old then... and if you're stupid enof to want to steal from an indian ! well, we were up this rambutan tree, busily plucking & stuffing our mouths full...when she discovered us .. oh oh !she was waiting at the bottom of the tree cursing us in Tamil...waiting won't understand if vulgarities were used... and she had her moments whacking us with a rubber slipper when we slided down and made a hasty retreat... can't remember the details, there were at least 2 of us... so she didn't zero on juz one...we probably had a fair share in taking the beatings ! we took note to stay well away from that particular hut ever since... hahahaha !
· another time, outside some junction near Mckenzie Rd... i was rammed by a motorbike... it was in those days when the gangsters were not wiped out yet...the guy fell, got up yelling in hokkien vulgarities... the main point was " " knn aye ning peh mng si hor larng lai aye ah ! " ( fu jian ) literally, " !@#* your father here is not a good person ah ! "i was in my early teens and was quite shaken up... can't remember if he was full of tattoos or not...but he certainly behaved the part, even if he was acting ! luckily, Eric Fong's house was nearby...i had to go borrow a few bucks to placate this self-acclaimed gangster ! i think it was $5...nevermind that i was merely riding a bicycle AND that he ran into me on a motorbike ! bloody 'ell...i guess we know when to roll & when to fold !!! sheesh...dam ! but we live to fight another day... hahahaha those were the days my friend...
· hantam bola on that small patch of grassey slope in front of the clock tower...
· we used to target the 'barisan socialis' with extra venom : yourself, Seow Pong, Poh Huat, i think maybe Hei Pin & Hwei Yin ( i think ) becoz your mandarin was better than ours ! hahahaha !
· and directly under the tower clock - inside... we played football with a ball made from paper and rubber bands. the 2 goal posts were the 2 alcoves on each end of the hall - on the same side, beside the main entrance... it was actually, foot brawl... often ending with frayed tempers and fights - whether ' chi kek' or punch outs... double recess usually spelt double trouble... those were the Sec 1 & 2 days... hahahaha !
· bought some Hacks the other day from the asian grocer wholesaler there's the original black cough drop the chief competitor to which was Hudsons later came the honey lemon one in a white & yellow wrapper i bought both cough drops / lozenges or to us as kids, simply sweets during teenage days, we ate it to :
o refresh our taste after smoking, in order to smoke some more or
o to camouflage the smell of our smoking - probably fooling only ourselves..
a sweet in one's mouth does bring back memories... memories of childood & adolecence long gone by...
- marbles x 2- kah seng- layang- catapult- catchin fish- catchin spiders- kacheng- kuti kuti- pic cards- cycling- wrestling- football- badminton- basketball- eels- frogs- worms- coconuts- rambutans. mangoes, chikus, sugar cane, guava, jumboo, durians, mangosteens- fighting- temples / festivals / wayangs- evening classes- tuition- hikes, poaching at reservoirs- buah cherry guns- sling shots from vines- bird traps- pets- free range chicken / eggs- chicken slaughtering- mediums- 4-D, samsu, 12 nos

best chendol

· the best chendol was just outside Rex cinema
· Tay Koh Yat bus fare to Orchard road was 15 cents
· free movies at the Elizabeth Estate playing field - you had to bring your own seat
· avoiding the mama stoners at Newton toddy shop
· Orchard road carpark was the best hangout
· the chee chong fan man came around with his baskets on a bamboo pole.... and the yong tau foo man too.... and the 'tick-tock' man with his hard white candy
· the best goreng pisang was at Koek road
· the 'speed trials' at Shenton Way
· bullock carts on Serangoon road
· bullock carts delivering cow dung
· 'pah hong chia' taxis
· A&W's was the first drive-in at Bukit Timah
· Fitzpatrick's supermarket was the 'other' supermarket to go to

3 Tit Bits ..

· The 3 chubby girls were called the Tit Bits not the Petals with Serene Wee the lead singer.
· The craze of having your school pants tailored made and shirts bespoken at CYC tailor.
· Consulate cigerattes were sold loose for 5 cents each and if you bought 5 you could have them in a packet of your choice.

"Montdor" (at ngee ann building)

· being taken to "Montdor" (at ngee ann building) for ice cream
· having to walk across the quadrangle to the principal's office after being summoned over the PA system
· praying for flooding of bukit timah canal so that school would be shut
· "Remember When" Yellow river was top of the pops. Every cabaret in town was playing this song.

lived in Balmoral ...

· I used to live in Balmoral but I have no recollections of the ' rojak man '. Perhaps it was before my time, but I can remember vividly the delicious curry puffs sold on every Saturday during the midnite shows.