old coffee-shop quiz

my blogger friend stumbled upon an old gun and based a quiz on it. however, without any clue, it was almost impossible to tell where he had stumbled. all the help he would give was to tell us that 'cannon' in cantonese or mandarin has the same meaning as 'to lie'.

today, i re-visited this old coffee-shop. my quiz is based on this old run-down building. to help you along, i can tell you that this coffee-shop is as old as i, if not older. i used to live in a house just across the road.

looks like this coffee-shop has attained some kind of celebrity status. the day when i was there, there were other photographers taking pictures of the shop. i did not drink or eat at the shop. it looks dingy. it looks like it belongs to another era. time seems to have stopped moving here but the old clock on the wall was still ticking away.

quiz questions:

1 how old is this coffee-shop?

2 it was featured in a local documentary. what's the documentary?

3 where did i use to live? (the type of question my blogger friend, the cannon stumbler likes to pose)

where can you find spring water in s'pore?

spring water is defined as where water flows on to the surface of the earth from below the surface. thus it is where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.

spring water is not the same as mineral water. mineral water tends to contain a higher level of elements that are known as total dissolved solids (tds).

the use of spring water is becoming common in many households in some developed countries. users of the water note that using spring water to brew coffee or tea will result in a more desirable taste for the beverage.

many people who worry about contamination levels in municipal water systems may use spring water for cooking and drinking. for washing and bathing, they still get their water from the taps.

when i lived in a kampong, we had a spring where the water seemed to be gushing out of the ground - just like the one in the top two pictures. the magnitude of the flow was quite substantial. those who lived in the vicinity would wash their clothes and take their bath around the spring. it was a mystery to me then as i often wondered where the water was coming from.

where, in singapore, can you find spring where the water flow is quite substantial? i am not referring to the hot springs at sembawang and on pulau ubin; i am talking about those where the water is clear, cool and fresh.

the top two pictures show a spring at bukit timah nature reserve. this spring is located less than 400m from the start of the kampong trail, just behind the new development that is coming up. up on the hill, there is a smaller spring near the cave path. the third picture shows a spring at bukit batok where private bus drivers collect the water to wash their buses.

cube sculpture quiz

1 at which reservoir can you find this solid cube?

2 what was the original name of this reservoir?

3 in which year was the expanded reservoir officially opened?

4 who declared it open?

The answers to all four questions can be found on the information board at the reservoir.

19th century tombs at bukit timah rd

while looking for the candlenut tree at the eco garden, we did a bit of exploring on a sloping piece of land between the former singapore management university and the present jacob ballas children's garden.

we found at least three graves, two of which the tombstones are clearly seen but the tombstone of the third one has almost been wrapped up by the roots of a banyan tree. i had to get closer to read the inscriptions on the granite slab.

two of the graves were believed to have been constructed in 1842, making them one of the oldest chinese tombs still around. the other was built in 1888.

you can go to this blogsite to read more about the history of these tombs.

'before hdb made its presence here' quiz
answers

the two photographs in the last quiz showed changi village in the late 60s. they were sent to me by the brother of my guest blogger, mdm ow.

among the many photographs of changi he sent me were also these three. one showed two unidentified caucasians at a roadside stall. the second picture showed the changi yacht club and the changi beach club. the third picture was an aerial view of changi in the early 70s.

john (jollygreen), peter and icemoon gave the right answers. victor, using the method adopted by some beauty queen, managed to answer correctly.

who was wallace?

this morning, while on my morning nature walk, i came across this sign-post. this should give you an idea where i walked this morning. i thought: wow, this is my chance to pose a question where the answer cannot be googled. my googling friend had posted this comment in my blog: "YG, you should come up with quizes which are not "googleable".

this is a brand-new place, surely nobody will have blogged or mentioned it on the internet. however, this was not to be. when i typed in the search-box "wallace education centre", not only was the location mentioned, there was also a picture of the place.

anyway, i have decided to go ahead with the quiz because through it, readers will come to know more about this place which is due to be opened anytime soon. i have blogged about this place more than once.

QUIZ QUESTIONS:

1 where is the wallace education centre located?

2 what's the full name of this place?

2 who was wallace?

3 if you are driving, where are the two designated car parks?

where's the oldest malay cemetery?

this old street map indicates the location (3) of the oldest malay cemetery in singapore. the mosque marked on the map is the malabar mosque located at the corner of victoria street and jalan sultan. (the malabar muslims were originally from the southern state of kerala in india.)


the oldest malay cemetery is found behind this mosque, which is undergoing some renovation. it is at the junction of victoria street and sultan road. there is another larger cemetery ground on the other side of jalan kubor (kubor is malay for graveyard).

some of the graves are so old that trees have grown out of them. although most of the graves appear unattended, there are some that have been visited and the cloth wrapping the grave markers changed.

my fellow walker had mistakenly thought that ngah ibrahim - one of those implicated in the murder of j w w birch - had been buried in this old cemetery. i made a check on the internet and found out that he was buried at the masjid al-junied along bencoolen street. his remains were taken back and buried in perak in 2006.

this is the oldest malay cemetery on the island. it dates from 1819 - 20, when sultan husain mohammed shah and his followers settled in and around the area lying between arab street and jalan sultan. but since there was already a small village on the coast at this point, the kampong gelam graveyard, may, therefore have been used before this date. sultan husian himself died in melaka (on 5 september 1835) but a number of his relatives were buried at kampong gelam.

what are these grown ups up to?

this shell and a replica of the 15-inch gun are found at the johore battery located at cosford road, off upper changi road north. the place is open on weekdays (monday to friday) from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. admission is free. what you see at the site is a replica of one of the 'monster guns'. it is a pity the underground tunnels are not open to the public.

the johore battery comprised 3 guns. they were part of a group of 29 large coastal guns installed in singapore in the 1930s.

the johore battery's 3 weapons were among singapore's largest coastal guns. they were known as 15-inch guns because 15 inches (38cm) was the diameter of the shell they fired. their gun barrels were 16.5m long and the shells stood 1.5m high. the guns were capable of hurling these shells at battleships over 20 miles (32km) away.

they were originally called 'monster guns' when tested in england in 1934, before being sent to singapore. when world war ii started, there were only 7 of these defending the coasts of the british empire. 2 were near dover in england, and 5 in singapore.

besides the johore battery, singapore also had 15-inch guns at buona vista battery. they were located at the junction of ulu pandan and clementi roads, in the west of the island.

each of the johore battery's guns had its own ammunition bunker. these were 500m apart, arranged in a line that stretched from the present site onto what are now the runways of changi airport. though these guns were originally intended to stop an attack from the sea, two of these guns could turn around to fire to the rear, towards johor bahru. the third, the one located at this site, could only fire out to sea.

from 5 to 12 feb 1942, the 2 guns of the johore battery that could turn around fired landwards in s'pore defence. they shelled japanese infantry positions from johor bahru, just across the causeway, eastwards to the area north of tanjong punggol.

the guns of the johore battery fired 194 rounds before their demoltion by the british on 12 feb. the demolition, and the postwar upgrading of changi aerodrome, means that all that remains are the underground tunnels on the site, which once house ammunition and power plants.

there's a similar posting but with a different picture here.

where can you find this structure?

my blogger friend posted an old gate, and apparently it generated a lot of interest (responses). so, i have decided to show an old structure found in a disused place for this quiz. it is definitely older than the old gate. actually, this structure also has a gate, albeit, a small one.

i will pose the same kind of questions.

1 what is this structure?

2 where is it found? name the nearest road.

2 name one landmark very near to it.

clues: it is not in some ulu corner of singapore. in fact, it is in one of the oldest, if not the oldest, residential districts in singapore.

you may not have seen or noticed it but i came across a photograph of the same structure in some foreign traveller's blog. it goes to show that some tourists know more of the history of singapore than our own people.

danish seamen's church

(golden bell mansion)

today, we went to locate and explore the danish seamen's church at 10 pender road, mount faber. it is a small church - with a sunday congregation of about 40 worshippers - catering to the small community of danes in singapore. we were told that there are about 1500 people of danish nationality residing in singapore.





there are at least three bells in the compound of this building. wonder if these have anything to do with its association with seamen. the smallest yellow box in singapore is also found inside in the compound of the building. on the day of our visit, there were many prams within the compound. on thursday mornings, they conduct a playgroup for small chidren in one of the rooms in the main building. maybe, the yellow box is meant to ensure that the prams do not block the passageway.



the pastor lives in room upstairs, i suppose, it is just below the dome, and the other two live downstairs in an adjacent building. this blog mentioned that the chinese revolutionary leader dr sun yat sen stayed one night in this building. some of his family members were believed to have stayed in the same mansion, though not at the same time as dr sun.

the dome resembling a buddhist stupa was built in 1909 for straits chinese tan boon liat. the house was sold in 1934 after owner's death in shanghai.

chwee kang beo (shui jiang miao)

taking up my suggestion, my monday and thursday walking kakis went with me on a visit to the kolam ayer basin. during my previous visits to that area, i had admired the taoist temple from outside and did not step insideat all. this time we decided to take a look inside as i wanted to see the relica of a ming boat i had read about.


while we were waiting tentatively outside, a lady caretaker proudly pointed out to us that there was a board, put up by the national heritage board, on the other side which has a bit of history of the temple.



located at the kallang river near the upper stretch of boon keng road, chwee kang beo (in hokkien) or shui jiang miao (in mandarin) has been sited here for more than 45 years.

the main deity of the temple is tua pek kong (grand old man) who is considered to be the guardian saint of overseas chinese in south-east asia. another equally important deity is cheng huang (city god) who has been associated with the temple for more than 40 years. other temple deities include the stone lion city god, the horse general and the tiger god.

the area was once known as kampong soo poo. more people settled into the kampong after the japanese occupation. human bones were once washed up at the site of today's temple. in order to alleviate the bad omen and to seek protection from deities, the villagers erected a simple shrine.

over time, the shrine evolved into an attap-roofed temple. it gained a tarred rof and stilts in 1961 as it would flood during high tides and heavy rain. since then it has attracted many devotees from the then kallang gasworks nearby. in 1991, the temple managed to establish ownership of the site with the help of two malay members of parliament, and with the support of devotees and residents, carry out the latest rebuilt which was completed in 1993.

the temple used to be sited next to the former jin mu chang boat factory and whenever there was a new boat to be launched, a ceremony would be held at the temple to bless the new boat. the ceremony was last held in 1970.

this is extracted from the heritage website:

there is a boat which is unique to this temple by the river. the boat is built of teak and is a scaled replica of a mng dynasty era vessel, complete with a keel, canvas sails, rigging and even miniature ladders in the cargo hold. it was built by a devotee who once used to build and repair boats in the area. i took him two months to complete the miniature boat.

kolam ayer abc waterfront

what does abc stand for? it stands for active, beautiful and clean (water). today, i went back to the kolam ayer abc waterfront and saw a number of pleasing and interesting additions to this beautiful stretch of water from bendemeer to the kallang mrt station. the water was already quite clean even before the marina barrage was completed. i used to see shoals of fish darting about in the kallang river, the longest river in singapore.







i took bus service 67 and stopped near the kallang mrt station. from there i walked to the pcn that actually connects bishan park to the kallang riverside park, a distance of nearly 7km. there were a lot of flags fluttering by the side of the river and on the bridge across the river. no, they were not national day decorations put up by the residents' committee of that area. i think they were displayed by the taoist temple (chwee kang beo - shui jiang miao) for some religious festivity.





across the bridge from the temple are some octagonal-shaped buildings that reminded me of my visit to china. these are industrial storerooms and warehouses which have been around for sometime already.




there are disruptions to the path at two points along this stretch of the connector where you have to cross the road at traffic light pedestrian crossings to rejoin the path.

soon the the kallang vista come into view. these blocks of hdb flats, by the edge of the water, are nearing completion. these days, it is not easy to tell if they are private condominiums or hdb flats because of the better design and finish and also the name - river vista at kallang.

the floating deck is the focal point along the walk. "the floating deck is a dynamic structure that moves with the water level. by following the water movement, the deck stays close to the water surface. activities such as morning exercises or festive celebrations can take place on the deck or one can simply enjoy the scenery of the riverside on the deck". the last time i was there, it was not even under construction. how fast things change in singapore!

it is not only the deck that is floating, there are also troughs of plants floating by the side of the deck. it is a pity that some people do not realise that to enjoy the place, you have to keep it clean. there are empty cigarette packs, bread wrappers and tissue papers on the deck and by the edge of the water.









children will enjoy the two mechanical devices used for drawing water from the river - the archimedes screw and the water wheel. they are working models.