My Queenstown 我爱女皇镇

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.

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!

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.

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?

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)

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?

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.

For some elderly residents in Queenstown, every journey seems long and tiring. Some of them may even struggle to trek the distance from their house to a nearby market where they can get their groceries or settle their meals. Today, I met Mr Woo Beng Chong, 70, along his daily trek to Dawson Place Shopping Centre where he settles his lunch.
Hi Mr Woo, nice to meet you. Are you a resident of Queenstown?

A standard plate of cutlet
Mine's bigger though!
No! Your computer hasn't hanged yet. Neither are we gundo to put TWO plates of cutlet. Yes! We ordered two plates of chicken cutlet from the No.1 Western Food Stall in Tanglin Halt Market. Well, it is a little unhealthy but who cares when it's nice? We have queued a cool 45 minutes to lay our hands and mouth on this piece of nicely fried tender chicken. Marinated with soy sauce and some other unmentioned ingredients, it has attracted many residents of ALL ages and ALL walks of life to the stall.

The road out of poverty for many older residents in Queenstown is a long and hard one. The mind is strong but the flesh is weak. There are occasions when they work hard for a change but the tide is changing. No matter how hard they try, they can't seem to fathom why their lives remain so different from those "rich men." Unfortunately, most of us are just young people studying or volunteering in Queenstown or residents who have enough to make ends meet and we are not able to provide material assistance to them. Therefore, we hope that we can offer a listening ear or give them directions on what's their next step. However, we cannot do it alone. If you spot them in your neighbourhood or in some secluded corner, do pass them this number 91769891. Tell them to SMS us!

I remembered my father once told me that Singapore had a few bus companies before SBS comes about in the 70s. Remember STC, Hock Lee or ABS? Perhaps they were known for their colours! I did a small insignificant research on buses plying Queenstown in the late 60s and 70s and realised that some of routes continued to this very moment. 
Remember ABS (Red Bus) No.2? It plied from Commonwealth Avenue to Changi Village! How about ABS (Red Bus) No. 12 from Margaret Drive to Simpang Bedok or ABS (Red Bus) No. 13 from Commonwealth Avenue to Orcahrd Road. A look down the list of buses and you can see many, many familiar routes such as ABS (Red Bus) No.20, 84, 103, 111, 144, 147 ABC (Blue Bus) No. 21, 22, 32, 90, 122, 148, 192, 193, 198. UBC (Yellow Bus) No.64, 93, 112, 153. 

Blk 45, 48 and 49 are the first HDB flats built after the statutory board under the Ministry of National Development was established in 1960 to provide low cost affordable housing at the point of time where many Singaporeans are either living in unhygienic over crowded squatters or homeless. When one visits the these blocks today, some of us may ridicule at the "snail" speed of the lifts, which are built in that manner to save costs in the past. Today, these flats house many residents in rental apartments who are unable to afford a HDB flat. We met Mr Ahmad who lives in one of these 2-room rental flats.

She has been staying in Tanglin Halt throughout her life. Her childhood is especially memorable-all the simple things and games.
Kindergarten Graduation photo in 1980
She was the last batch or the last second batch of graduates at the PCF branch in Blk 77 Tanglin Halt. This branch has since been relocated to Blk 46. 
When she was young, her neighbours will bring her to the playground downstairs. 

It was pouring this afternoon when we took bus 195 to the market area in Commonwealth Crescent. Like other districts in Queenstown, this market area is a cozy and convenient one. The food centre was recently upgraded and the place is pretty neat and tidy. At one corner of the market square, we passed by an interesting "Mama Shop" which displayed all kinds of liquor from rice wine to martell. You name it, they have it. We walked into the shop and met the friendly Ong family, who is managing the shop.