In fact on Friday I couldn't get him out of it, so just Heather and I walked from Yishun to Sembawang Park via park connectors and then along Canada Rd back to Sembawang MRT to confirm a new trail for the Monday walking group. We took binoculars but didn't see any new sightings. Just the same we were happy to have them with us as we spotted storks circling way overhead and tiny flowerpeckers. It was distressing to watch an oriole, a bird I have to this point admired for its beautiful plumage, ransacking the nest of another much smaller bird. The nesting pair were exhausting themselves trying to get it to move on but it was intent on its mission. The pair were moving so fast I couldn't identify them. Apparently the orioles do this just for the fun of it. Vandals!
Unlike the last time we walked in this area, this time we navigated through a network of minor roads, mostly named after the Commonwealth countries and former British colonies, such as Canada, Kenya, Pakistan and Sudan. Some, like Auckland, Durban, Lagos and Wellington, were named after their cities. The rest had their names taken after the overseas territories of Britain for example Bermudas, Falkland and Gibraltar. We wandered along Canada Road, which is lined with the classic colonial black and white houses of the former British Naval Base and still, to this day, houses the American, Australian, New Zealand and other allied forces families who are stationed here. This has now turned out to be a good option for a walk for next term. Below you can see the beautiful leafy gardens and the stunning black and white colonial buildings of the area. Like the last time we visited the park a group were playing petanque and we admired the beautiful Baileau House nearby.
On Sunday night we finished up the week at Bliss in Ang Mo Kio. Last time we went there, a mix-up with meals meant I ended up not being served so I was pleased that they were better organised this time and everyone enjoyed it.
Our Monday walkers met at Bishan and we walked from there to Stadium mostly via park connectors. It was a very hot morning and when we got there we found the stadium abuzz with preparations for the SEA Games which take place here in just 10 days. There has been a daily countdown and they are trying hard to generate interest in the community, urging everyone to wear red in support. I just get the general feeling that sport is not highly valued here in this money-driven community and unless you are in it, it's not that interesting. Just last week the stadium unveiled part of its brand new pitch. They have had trouble with the surface since the beginning but now have an Australia-based company HG Sports Turf supplying Eclipse Stabilised Turf - a combination of natural grass with artificial grass which should guarantee stability and an even playing surface. It works at the MCG and Gabba so hopefully here too, but they are cutting the timeline fine to be ready for next week. To maximise the chances they have put in more growth lights and additional fans for air movement, improved the irrigation system and installed moisture and temperature probes to manage the climate in the stadium. No expense spared. But seriously, if you are a finely tuned athlete like any of this mob, what would the surface matter.
One of Eric's colleagues at Punggol shared a website he had found recently, describing escapades of an adventurous pair of young local lads who were looking for the abandoned Istana Woodneuk building. Home to Sultana Khadija, the fourth wife of Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor, in its glory days the mansion was considered one of the most beautiful private houses in Singapore. With its blue tiled roof and its location on top of a hill, the mansion apparently commanded a dominant position on the landscape.
Sultana Khadjah died in this grand house in 1904. Before she died, she sold the property to Sultan Abu Bakar’s son Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar (1873-1959), who rebuilt the house in 1930 for his third wife Scotland-born Sultana Helen Ibrahim (1889-1978). After the war ended the house reportedly hosted a number of colonial tenants. In 1945 it housed General Sir Miles Dempsey for instance and then-Commander-in-Chief, Sir Montagu Stopford. Former Governor-General Malcolm MacDonald lived there from 1946-1948. It was maintained well past the 1950s. Then the Malaysian royal family decided to abandon it at some point.
The lads found locating the house challenging but once we had read the post and seen the pictures of its imposing entrance, the ornate metalwork and carvings, the large tiled awnings and regal balcony balustrades all being engulfed by tropical growth, we were keen to investigate for ourselves. Here's what they found.
Holland Road forms one boundary of the property and so we walked through the Botanic Gardens to meet Peter at the Tanglin Gate on Holland Rd. Using the pictures on the website as a guide, we did manage to locate the overgrown path leading up from the road. It is unmarked on any map, probably because the land is still owned by the descendants of the Sultan. Unfortunately we were confronted with 'Do Not Enter - Area Under Surveillance' signs and being good citizens we abandoned our search.
Instead we crossed the road and wandered through Dempsey Hill. The area was named after General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey (1896–1969), the same name as above. During 1945, Dempsey was the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) and the General Officer Commanding the Malaya Command, which were both headquartered in Singapore. The grounds used to be part of a huge nutmeg plantation in the 1850s but a nutmeg-beetle blight eventually caused the estate to cease operations in 1857. It was sold to the British Forces in May 1860. Before the purchase, garrisons in Singapore were mostly located at Fort Canning and areas around the city centre. The first barracks were built at the area where Dempsey Hill and the Loewen cluster are now. There were ten service barracks for 50 men each. In addition, there were wash and cookhouses, hospital wards, a school, reading room, library and officers’ quarters. Tanglin Camp, as it became known, was vacated in 1989 and handed over to the Land Office, which leased the barracks out to the private sector. The nineties saw the area gradually transformed into a collection of restaurants, bars, art galleries and spas. We have visited this location a number of times but mostly at night.
Tucked around the corner, we stumbled into the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MoCA), drawn in by the intriguing and comical statues in the grounds. The museum's outdoor exhibition, titled 'Going Forward, Going For Money', features sculptures created by the husband-and-wife team of artists Wu Shaoxiang and Jiang Shuo. The China-born, Austria-based artists fled China days after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989 and their works are a reflection of growing materialism and consumerism in China. Jiang Shuo’s funny Red Guard sculptures are full of expression despite the lack of facial features.
The almost faceless guards with their wide-open mouths represent the turmoil in China when the spouting of slogans and mindless indoctrination was the path to survival. As Jiang's work progressed her Red Guard figures began posing alongside material items that replaced The Little Red Book. You find them singing karaoke, drinking Coca Cola etc – all reflective of the luxury lifestyles of recent rich businessmen. Her husband Wu Shaoxiang is famous for his Coining series, where his forms are made out of bronze-cast US dollar notes, you can see them in the big apple above.
The interior of the gutted colonial building featured artist of the month, Zhang Lin Hai, whose works reflect his difficult childhood and youth, plagued by hunger, pain and suffering, in the wilderness of rural China. They were rather disturbing.
Then we walked by The White Rabbit and took a curious peek inside. It is a restaurant set in a long abandoned Garrison Chapel designed around the theme of Alice in Wonderland. The lighting inside was soft coming through the stained glass windows'
Known as St. George’s Garrison Church in the early years, and designed in the classical Basilica style of the Romanesque tradition, this building has continued as a place of worship to this day. On 25 October 1971, after the British forces had withdrawn from Singapore, the church became a civilian church and was incorporated into the Anglican Diocese of Singapore.
We walked back through the Botanic Gardens, stopping for lunch in the grounds, and caught the MRT home. In the afternoon I enjoyed a deep massage to my neck and shoulders which involved the therapist walking on me, that's a first.
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