Have you ever asked yourself why you are working so hard? Some of us may work continuously all our lives in pursue of the 5Cs. Some of us may devote all our time in search for glory and fame. But is glory so tangible that it will last forever? In the first series of MyQueenstown Cares, we shall explore the lives of Queenstown residents staying in rental apartments sprinkled at various corners of the estate.
Auntie Gui Yu and Auntie Siew Zhen stay in Blk 48, Stirling Road. Auntie Gui Yi lives in the 5th storey and would visit Auntie Siew Zhen on the 6th storey daily for a chat. "Lonely," is the reason they give.
Auntie Siew Zhen and Auntie Gui Yi
Both of them reside in Queenstown all their lives. Auntie Gui Yi has 3 children and one of her sons live in Blk 159 Mei Ling Street. She used to stay in Lam Po Lay in Strathmore and tried getting a flat in Tanglin Halt when she was asked to leave because of SERS. She said she was fortunate to be physically healthy. Both Auntie Siew Zhen and her would visit the sports complex once in a while for a short brisk walking session. She believes keeping healthy is crucial so that she does not fall sick easily and incur unnecessary healthcare costs! Her grandchildren would visit her during the weekends and teach her how to use Mandarin. "Education is very important. We must carry on learning and make ourselves useful and relevant. Otherwise, being detached will make us lonely and despondent."
Auntie Siew Zhen, on the other hand, have 2 children. She has one who also lived in Blk 159. She has decided to rent an apartment because of clashes of faiths with her daughter-in-law and she doesn't want to quarrel with her and put her son in difficult spot because of that. "Afternoons are exceptionally long if I have nothing much to do," she commented. She also went on to express her concern on the impending demolishment of Commonwealth Avenue Cooked Food Centre because it was convenient for her to settle her meals there. She recalls, "Before the food centre was constructed, food is very cheap. Now every meal is so expensive and it will be worse in the future. Therefore, I would visit the market every day and cook something nutritious yet affordable for my child when they come back for work."
A quiet corridor of Blk 48 in the afternoon
They are ordinary people leading ordinary lives. I believe there are many others in Queenstown who have family issues and conditions similar to that of Auntie Siew Zhen and Auntie Gui Yi. Some of us may come from richer and more stable family who do not have to worry about food or our loved ones. They may come from the lower income group but there is nothing different in the way their experiences and destiny for the future! Let us show our concern and friendship today!
Many residents from Queenstown recommended our team to try the Mee Rebus in Khong Guan Restaurant, located at Stirling Road, next to MDIS. For your information, this restaurant has no affiliation to the confectionary company that makes biscuits. We thought, "This shop is a bit messy, will the food be nice?"
Khong Guan Restaurant in Stirling Road
Mee Rebus or boiled noodles in Malay is a popular traditional Malay dish. The dish uses yellow egg noodle covered with a spicy and slightly sweet gravy that is curry-like. If the hawker wants to sell a nice Mee Rebus, the gravy is very important. Some of the ingredients in this gravy include potatoes, curry powder, salted soybeans, dried shrimps and peanut. This dish is further garnished with a hard boiled egg, lime, spring onions, green chillies, friend shallots and bean sprouts. Mr Asri's Mee Rebus simply marvels!A sumptuous bowl of Mee Rebus
Mr Asri has been selling Mee Rebus at Stirling Road for the past 7 years and he came from Commonwealth Avenue Cooked Food Centre with his sister. He recalled the days there where the rent is low and the shopping centre has attracted many shoppers to his stall.
Open from 7am-4pm daily, he would prepare the ingredients the night before. He also sells Mee Soto, Mee Goreng and Nasi Goreng.Mr Asri
Blk 49 Stirling Road where Khong Guan Restaurant can be found
Mr Yeo was knocking onto the old and rusty shelves and cabinets when we visited his store on their last weekend. At first, we've not intended to post this article. But several residents have wrote in to us to write something to preserve their wonderful memories with the friendly and humourous owners of the Mama shop.
金协成 Jin Xie Cheng (Hanyupinized Title and pardon for the translation because the word doesn't exist in the dictionary) was established in 1969 when Mr Yeo's father, a descendant from Kinmen in Taiwan, moved from a kampung stall in Zion to Blk 39A in Margaret Drive They started as a family business serving the residents in the kampung. In the 1970s and 80s, they would deliver food stuff and groceries to the households living around the district as part of their service. Surrounding their stores were tailors, opticians and rows of stores that sold delicious food and snacks. It was around 1990s when his neighbours started to move out because of the closure of the cinemas and emporiums. They were unable to compete with the vast resources and variety offered by the supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice too. He stayed on because he wished to spend more time with his friends and residents who built a strong rapport with him and his brother over the years.
The familiar store will be a part of memory on 30th April 2010
Decorations in the store was pretty simple. There are old plastic columns containing small items like tissue paper where you would open them like a jar. The antique clock ticks without any roman numerals, was a striking feature. At the back of the store, Coca-Cola and Taoist figurines decorated the display shelves and brought us back by 30 years into the 1980s. Mr Yeo and his friends would sit at the corner of the shop and chatted with his long time friends and buddies. The familiar glee and general concept of the Mama shop was a striking difference from the commercialised chains of supermarkets and shopping centres we can find virtually everywhere. Time seems to freeze for a moment when we could visit this store for one last time. And someone, somewhere would hope that time could freeze forever for us to reminisce.
The old shelves and display
As the doors shut, it marks the end of an era in Queenstown
Blk 39A
Heard the famous ballad "How am I Supposed to Live Without You" by Michael Bolton? Sometimes in life, we may make some choices that we regret. At times, we regret really badly! Today, we met a couple Dani and Jue, living in Blk 83, Strathmore Avenue who moved back to Queenstown from Jalan Sultan (Crawford). Let's find out why!
Dani and Jue
Hi Dani and Jue, where did you stay before moving back to Queenstown?
We used to live in those 4-storey SIT flats in Margaret Drive from 1959-1974. I can't remember the block number but my unit number is #01-373. Then I shifted to Holland Avenue in Buona Vista District of Queenstown before moving to Beach Road.
Well, young Queenstown residents would normally shift to other places because the flats are bigger. Why did you choose to come back?
Hahaha. It's because of nostalgia! I miss Queenstown a lot while staying in Holland Avenue and Jalan Sultan. I miss the days watching movies in Golden City! Anyway it's pretty convenient in Queenstown. We are both retired already. We would normally go Tanglin Halt market to buy our groceries or settle our meals at the coffeeshop in Blk 27.
So how's your life now?
Great! I have three daughters and 1 of them is married with two kids, one girl and one boy. So we are taking care of the kids at the moment.
An open message to ALL Queenstown residents: Do think twice before moving out of Queenstown! It's everyone's favourite district at the moment!
The jumbo flats where they stay!
Blk 83 used to stand on several SIT flats!
Rubbish, rubbish everywhere. It seems like Queenstown is getting dirtier and dirtier. Readers, you've been warned! This post does not contain any pretty sight in Queenstown but we've got plenty of disgusting photos and irresponsible people. This begs the question why are there so much rubbish in Queenstown? We let the photos do the talking.
Leaves, Leaves everywhere. It seems like the cleaner has not been working that morning (we took this photograph at 11am)
Rubbish along Commonwealth Avenue near Blk 27A
Rubbish in front of Commonwealth Avenue Cooked Food Centre
Crows munching on the rice thrown by a resident
Rubbish at Block 48 in Strathmore (taken by the RCs & authorities)
So, what's wrong with Queenstown? We've spent the whole day touring around Queenstown at various "hot spots" and witnessed numerous irresponsible residents throwing rubbish as and when they like. We approached some of them to find out what causes their anti-social behaviour.
One white collar worker, who only wanted to be known as James, commented, "Convenient, lor."
Another school boy from a school in Queenstown said, "I can't find any rubbish bin around!"
True, along the two sides of Commonwealth Avenue leading to the MRT Station, our team couldn't find a single rubbish bin available. However, that does not mean that users or pedestrians have the right to dirty the environment used by everybody. In Strathmore, although the number of rubbish bins can easily outnumber the number of food stalls in the hawker centre, we witnessed more disgusting behaviour. The respondents declined to be photographed for obvious reasons.
Hi Auntie Tan, why did you throw the packet lunch on the walkway? (Pointing at the Crows) You'll attract a lot of crows and pigeons!I've finished eating so I don't want to waste my food.
It's hilarious. It's irresponsible. It's silly. All the replies given by the residents are uncannily disturbing. Is there a lack of education among the residents?
Another resident, Mr Ong, who lives in Stirling Road, commented, "The PRCs throw, we also throw lah! What's the use of keeping the place clean?"
What's equally disturbing is this:The Town Council vehicle laden with brooms is parked next to the MRT Station
We were interviewing residents on the possibility of re-routing long distance buses and spotted a scooter from the town council parked outside the bus stop. The driver/seen was seen talking on a phone by the side of the road for a full 2-3 hours while on duty (3-5pm). (We did not release the photo because it is not our intention to get the cleaner into trouble)
Earlier today, a resident, Jenn Lee-Ong commented on our facebook page, "There used to be this batch of cleaners from China who did such good work at Tanglin Halt blk 90 area. The place was always so clean because the cleaners stayed nearby and cleaned up everytime they found it dirty. Since they left after the contract ended, we noticed that the place is not as clean as before."
Keeping our environment clean is everyone's responsibility. We shouldn't shirk our responsibility simply because of convenience or "monkey see monkey do." While the authorities should investigate on the above matter, we ought to do our part to keep the public places clean. Queenstown is our home. It is not a rubbish dump!
The name, Aunty Nancy, must be familiar to Queenstown residents at Blk 27A and car owners. Providing a one stop car maintenance service, she has been working in the shop for the past 20 years. At first impression, I was rather impressed by her command of the Chinese language, which I'm hopelessly weak at. Today, we shall explore her shop, Tong Lee Wee.
Tong Lee Wee at BLK 27A
Hi Ms Tay, what services do you offer in this shop?We offer a one-stop service for the servicing of cars such as car cleaning, installation of security system, lighting, bodykit, Hi-fi and many, many others!
So how's the environment here in Queenstown?It's wonderful. The residents in Queenstown have been friendly and you can easily tell them apart from people from other places. I have lived in the area prior 2008 and I had to move because of SERS. (Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme)
Is this business affected by the economic crisis?More or less, yes because the consumers can afford less because of lower incomes. This flat will be en-bloc too and we will have to move elsewhere in the near future. Hopefully we can get a decent location at Lengkok Bahru. We would like very much to stay in Queenstown but we have to see if there's a convenient spot with a car park like this to park cars and allow us to do the servicing for the cars!
A non-exhaustive number of accessories for your vehicle!
Tyres of all kinds...
Hi-fi!
The above shopping complex has upped Queenstown's X-factor in the 1960s and 70s by several notches. It houses Golden Crown Restaurant and a night club in the top level, the popular Tah Chung Emporium at the second and several smaller shops at the ground level. Before Tah Chung Emporium was completed in 1967, makeshift roadside markets along Margaret Drive and itinerant hawkers along Commonwealth Avenue blossomed. This new complex provided the residents with better hygiene, convenience and comfort as residents of Queenstown can now embarked on their shopping tours under airconditioned comfort.
Kamaruddin Hassan commented, "I'll always ask my mom every pay day to buy toys at the emporium and have ice kachang after that. That area nvr fails to bring bck my childhood memories everytime I pass by that area."
Jenn-Lee Ong recalled, "There was a bakery opposite the coffeeshop and a OUB bank behind, nearer to the bus stop. Tah chung emporium had a supermarket department downstairs and I remember there's a ice stall selling like slurpee where you can cut out a coupon-like logo to collect and exchange for stuff like T-shirts.
Patrick Samuel Chan mentioned, "It's a pity Golden Crown Restaurant is no longer around but at least they still produce mooncakes every year. Some of them are the traditional ones like lotus paste with melon seeds and they do have some 'newer' flavours like green tea but nothing too funky..."
Ng Wee Kiat said, "That's the place where I took my 1st step in collecting toys. I still have some of them in my collections I bought transformers there, which were mostly paid by my grandfather. I remember buying my 1st video game western bar and it's still in working condition."The empty plot of land today is the former Tah Chung Shopping Complex
Landscapes refer to the repositories of the ways societies function at any particular time as different eras of human occupation and actions leave specific traces in the landscape that can be detected, recorded and examined. Tah Chung Emporium is our expression of physical processes, individual and collective actions. It may have been a piece of insignificant history to the younger generation today and most likely be worthless. However, as long as it remains a part of us, it is our collective memory.
