this used to be a one-storey building

black and white pictures from national archives

two simple quiz questions:

1 where is its location?

2 what was the one-storey building?

two dragons at lorong tawas

i have always had the impression that there was only one dragon kiln left on the whole island - the one at thow kwang pottery. today, i discovered another dragon, nestling further inside the track of lorong tawas. it is located at 97l lorong tawas and it is referred to as the jalan bahar clay studios. according to one source, there used to be three dragon kilns in singapore. the defunct one used to be somewhere in the yio chu kang area. it was called the sam mui kwang dragon kiln.

checking on its history, i found out that this dragon kiln was started in 1958 as the guan huat dragon kiln. its dimensions are identitical to the one at thow kwang, that is, 43m long, 2.2m high and 2.5m wide. today, when we visited, the caretaker of the place, switched on the lights in the tunnel for us to get a better idea of how it was like inside the bowel of the dragon.




when renowned singapore potter iskandar jalil was compelled to stop working from home because some neighbour complained that the huge gas tanks installed in his house were a fire hazard, he moved to jbcs (jalan bahar clay studios) to carry on his pottery work. he has since moved back home after some engineers from exxon helped him to modify the gas tanks so that they would meet the requirements for home use.

unlike thow kwang which has on display and for sale a very huge collection of pottery and porcelain wares, the jbcs does not seem to be into sales of finished products.

if you have children, they will definitely prefer thow kwang pottery because there are children's toys and other things that will interest them. however, not all the artifacts and items on sale at thow kwang are their own products. there are also some antique stuff and some creative pieces of art works.

other attractions at thow kwang, where you can spend a whole morning exploring it, include a pond, a tree-house (?) and pottery pieces done by school children.

where is this campus?

when i first saw this banner, i did a double check to see if the word 'singapore' appeared anywhere on it. even then, i find it misleading. however, if you can read mandarin, which i cannot, then you will know that it is associated with a university in the united states of america.

quiz question: where, in singapore, is this campus?

pictorial answers to 'who was wallace'?

1 where is the wallace education centre located?

what is full name of this place?

who was wallace?

alfred russel wallace, naturalist

where are the two designated car-parks?

junction upper bukit timah road and dairy farm road

near petir road and dairy farm road junction

the hungry ghost month

the hungry ghost month is still quite widely celebrated in singapore. i have come across quite a number of tents and performance stages erected or being erected, especially, in hdb estates. in geylang, which i visited on monday, in practically every other lane, there is some form of celebration.

i remember, as children, we were quite ambivalent about the hungry ghost month.

we looked forward to it because of the sumptious food and the entertainment part of the celebration. in the early years, the celebration took the form of chinese wayang staged for one or two days, depending on the funds available. in lean years, it was in the form of hand-held puppet theatre. this eventually gave way to the one-night getai performance.

however, there were the restrictions that came into force during the seventh month. as children, we quite wary of the unseen that were supposed to be roaming all around us. they were kindly referred to as 'good brothers'. we were not allowed to go swimming; not just at the public swimming pools but there was also to be no swimming in the sea, canal or pond. we were warned that the water ghost (chwee kui) would drag us into the deep.

we also had to be home early - before it got too dark - because our mothers did want us to be nabbed by some wandering spirits. generally, there was some sort of curfew during this not so auspicious month. however, we could watch wayang or getai right up to the end of the performance.

in connection with the celebration in my old kampong, there would also be a dinner for all those who have made the once-off monetary contribution to the celebration. it was also just before the dinner celebration that the ' keeper of the urn' and 'deputy keeper' were picked. in the course of the dinner, there would be an auction of all the blessed objects and foodstuff. the money raised from this auction would be used to subsidise the cost of the next year's celebration.

everyone had an equal chance to be one of these holders of position - the keeper and the deputy keeper. the names of all those who have contributed towards the celebration would have been written on a piece of rolled paper. these slips of paper would be put in a container and shook in front of the offering table. the names on the two rolled slips that were shaken out and 'approved' would be the holders.

as there was no fixed home for the worshop items, especially the two urns for joss-sticks at the altar, these would be left in the safekeeping of the keeper and the deputy keeper until the next year's celebration.

for $80 (this year's amount), a participant would take home a red pail of goodies, with a triangular paper flag stuck in it. in those kampong days, we children enjoyed playing with the flags, imagining ourselves as some courageous warriors. apart from the goodies, there was a sit-down dinner and the getai for entertainment.

when i was older, i would represent my mother at the dinner. my father never liked attending any formal function. i would be there just to eat; i did not ever place a bid for any of the auction items.

i asked those who were involved in the organisation how the money collected was sufficient to cover goodies, dinner and entertainment. some of the money for the dinner was raised from auctioning the blessed items. in the past, the top money spinning item was the 'black gold'. 'black gold' refers to a large chunk of charcoal. it could fetch as much as $10K; today, this item has lost its lustre. for the wayang or getai to be staged, a rich benefactor or a few of them would have to come forward as sponsors.

according to one organiser, the amount raised from the auction has shrunk over the years. at the same time, cost has also gone up. the cost for erecting the stage and the sheds takes up about $5k. the cost of the getai is also about $5k. the getai is usually sponsored by a number of people who contribute varying amount.

other beliefs related to the seventh month include not moving house during this one month period. if you are wondering why you have never been invited to any chinese wedding this month, here this is the answer. it is taboo for chinese to get married during the seventh lunar month.

individual families usually offer prayers on the 1st, 15th and last days of the 7th lunar month. but those organised on a community scale can be held on any day of that month. the day will be decided by committee with consultation with the 'spirits'.

the proper name for this chinese festival is zhong yuan jie.