balestier walking group in melbourne

the idea of a trip to melbourne was first mooted about two years ago. the balestier walkies, as we called yourselves, have been walking together on a regular basis for about four years. when we first started out, it was a monthly affair. as the group members grew older and closer, it has become a meeting on a weekly basis. the 16-strong group comprises mainly former teachers and students of balestier hill secondary school. owing to work and family commitments, not everyone in the group could go on this first overseas outing. 8 members of the 16-member group have children who are studying or have studied in melbourne.




based on the pictures, it would appear that it was more a gastronomical adventure than a sight-seeing or walking tour. anyway, we did not have the luxury of a leisurely tour. the group had 5 days only in melbourne. we stayed two nights at rye in the mornington peninsula and two nights in the city. in the city, we stayed at the quest service apartments on william street, for which we paid aud$115 per room per night. at rye, we stayed in a 6-room holiday house belonging to my daughter's pastor.

we had rented a 8-seater kia grand carnival to accommodate all the 8 of us but at the last minute, we had a pleasant surprise. steven, an australian permanent resident and a former balestierian, flew in from sydney to join the group. we rented another car, a holden berlina, to carry the baggage and to ensure that we abided by the strict australian traffic laws. from the airport, we drove to springvale, a vietnamese enclave, where we had lunch at a chinese restaurant.

my elder daughter, who works in melbourne, joined us for a meal at miss marples, up in the dendenong mountains on the third day of the group's stay in melbourne.


we had italian food on the two days when we were at the mornington peninsula, once at sorrento and the other time, at t'gallant, a winery in the red hill area of the mornington peninsula. when we in the city, we decided to go for yam cha at the very popular shark's fin house at little bourke street in melbourne's chinatown. we had to call up one of our fellow walkers in singapore for the name of the chinese restaurant. he had been a frequent visitor to melbourne but he could not make the trip this time.

one of the best meals we had in melbourne was the lunch we had in the open, overlooking the vineyard, at a winery in the mornington peninsula. we had the house wine (juliet pinot noir) to go with the three types of wood-fired pizzas, hot roasted potatoes, sausages, salad and ciabatta bread. there are food, wine and song at la baracca kitchen at t'gallant. on weekends, the place is always packed.



on our first night in the city, we had buffet dinner at kitchen workshop, one of the many restaurants at the crown entertainment complex. we were joined by audrey, the daughter of william, another member of our group. we had visited audrey's place earlier and she led 5 members of the group to take the free city circle tram to somewhere near the casino. the rest of us went in the 8-seater to the casino.

on the second and final night of the group's stay in melbourne city, we had dinner at oriental spoon, a korean restaurant on la'trobbe street. this restaurant is apparently very popular with the asian students from the nearby melbourne university. it was audrey, a melbourne university student, who made the recommendation.

this was how one of the members felt about the trip:

"I had a really wonderful time on this short trip. We were reminiscing the good old days, the laughs and how even after 35 years+ we are like the kids we were in Balestier Hill. I know many people around me are amazed how I still keep in touch with schoolmates and TEACHERS???? but they will never understand how we have become and continue to become the best of friends regardless of classmates or teachers. Now, if those who were in Melbourne might know I bought a piggy bank (after our meals at Ms Marples) with these words engraved on its stomach: OLD FRIENDS ARE THE BEST!"

once there was a bridge here

this is part of the bukit panjang integrated sports complex. the two tennis courts and street soccer pitch have been built over the canal. the canal serves as the run-off for water from the pang sua stormwater pond. when it rains heavily, the canal fills up and the water can be very fast flowing.





there was a cable-stayed bridge over the canal. this bridge was built by the land transport authority (lta) to provide a short-cut to the bus-stop for the residents living in this part of bukit panjang. it must have cost the lta a few hundred thousand to build this pedestrian-cum-cyclist bridge. it took them just about a week to dismantle the whole bridge.




before they wrecked the bridge, they had to prop up the arches. you can see the metal beams (in the above picture) which they used to support the arches as the bridge was systematically dismantled. for the few days we had to endure the rattling and banging as they used heavy machinery to carry out the demolition.





this was the bridge that served us well for a number of years. it was integrated with the covered walkway that led to the bus-stop about 150m away. with the bridge now gone, we have to walk along the perimeter of the front of the complex to get to the covered walkway.

today, 8 september 2010, is the official opening of the bukit panjang sports complex.

exam results in the 60s

i seem to be harping back to the 60s in my last few postings. in retrospect, the 60s was a very interesting decade not only for me but for singapore as a whole. if you talk to any senior citizen, he or she will recall that particular period with nostalgic fondness because of the many wonderful memories relating to clothing, music, food, social activities and things in general.

my fellow blogger andy young has a blog dedicated to the pop music of the 60s. on the fashion scene, there are many who blog about the clothing in the 60s, one of which is this blogger. as for food, there were the real hawkers and you could get food delivered right to your door. the sellers of nasi lemak, epok epok, tok tok mee, bread, green bean soup and red bean soup peddled their ware from door to door.

another interesting feature of the 60s, which has been discontinued, is the publication of examination results, especially those of the school certificate and the higher school certificate in the straits times. the school certificate is equivalent to today's gce 'o' level and the higher school certificate is the 'a' level.

there would be a few pages devoted to the examination results. if you had made the grade your name would appear under your school name with the passing grade (1, 2 or 3) next to your name. for the higher school certificate results, it was either a 4 or a 5 next to your name. a 4 meant a full certificate. a 5 referred to a partial certificate. to qualify for a full certificate, you needed to have 2 principal level passes and two subsidiary level passes, including a pass in the general paper.

in the earlier part of the 60s, there was no junior college. the first junior college, national junior college, came into being in 1969. in 1965, for example, pre-university education was offered in about 11 schools which included acs, bartley, beatty, chij, gan eng seng, montfort, raffles institution, st andrew's, st joseph's institution, st patrick's school and victoria school.

the results of private candidates were not publicised in the newspapers but those who sat for the examinations under the lembaga gerakan pelajaran dewasa (adult education board) were.

prayers on rainy days

rain, rain, go away

don't come and cause any more delay
we need time to clear the messy choke
that has led to massive and costly floods
along our fabled orchard road

rain, rain, go away

we have been cracking our brains
to find out what refuge blocked the drains
that were supposed to carry the deluge
out to the marina reservoir that's so huge

rain, rain, go away

we have been innundated
with a barrage of questions
that the general public has thrown
keeping us on our soaking wet toes

rain, rain, go away

don't wash away the topsoil
that loosen the anchoring roots
causing our angsanas and senegalensis
to topple and fall on roofs

rain, rain, go away

at least now we feel somewhat relieved
that there are some people who believe
that none of our engineering feat
can plug and stop nature's leak

however, in the 60s, we would have said this prayer

rain, rain, come again

we children all want to play

swimming in the longkang for free

and pushing stalled cars for a small fee

photo of flood in the 60s from national archives, s'pore

to all the girls i have loved before

sung by willie nelson and julio iglesias