Monday 6 October 2014

Singapore: Old haunts

I collected the Foys from their hotel on Clarke Quay for a day’s driving around the island to see dead relatives and Andrew’s childhood haunts. The children could hardly contain their excitement.

First stop was Kranji Cemetery to locate a Great Uncle which was relatively simple thanks to the search tools on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. We next drove to the residential areas near Semabawang to find the houses where Andrew used to live in the late sixties. The current occupants and neighbours willingly provided information to the strange people who were wandering around taking photographs of their houses.

Seletar Reservoir Park lookout tower
After continuing northwards to find ‘Shane’s house’ (long story), we drove to Beaulieu Park where Andrew used to play on the pier as a boy. A lazy Susan and attempts to use chopsticks provided great entertainment for the children as we worked our way through plates of Chinese (including a splendid black pepper deer) in the Beaulieu House restaurant for lunch.

A trip to Sembawang Park was the first stop after lunch. We climbed the lookout tower which looks across the reservoir to the vegetation which was blurred by the hazy, smokiness emanating from Sumatra.

Seletar Reservoir Park lookout tower
Finally, I dropped the family at Haw Par Villa. The ticket man had narrowed the small car park into a one-way system using traffic cones  and tape. As a sign in the main car park further ahead forbade dropping off and turning around, I attempted to engage the gentleman in conversation as to how I was supposed to exit said obstacle course. Finally, I developed my own strategy, which, judging by his mumbles, conflicted with the attendant’s  ideas on the matter.

While I rested at home with a nice cup of tea, the Foys toured the theme park before returning to the hotel. Their day would end with a blowout at Jumbo’s on Clarke Quay for Sinagpore’s national dish of chilli crab. 

1 comment:

Andrew Foy said...

Steve. If you ever need a reference re a new career as a taxi driver, I'm you man. Awesome day out, bringing back some great memories, Cheers.