John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
This shows that people here do have a sense of humour.....
Trains in Singapore
- Thread starter John Bradshaw
- Start date
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
Another photo from 1974/5, this time taken from Sentosa Island, only reached by ferry then and no development. At the time the OCBC building was under construction. First two side pillars were erected then the floors were winched up between them Ground breaking architecture at the time. This really does show the difference in 48 years, much of the water in the photo has now been reclaimed.
John wrote about the heavy, short storms. Looks like the city is suffering under one!
Expat life then tended to polarize around English colonial pastimes like the Stage Club. I wasn't interested and tended to circulate among the ethnic communities. Most of my photos haven't been scanned and they are in France, but I have a few:
I loved Chinese opera, no, not so much the music but the sights and the artists' costumes and makeup. These street theatres were set up in a day and taken down the next after one evening performance. I used to go back and side stage to photograph them. Keep this thread alive and I will scan some photos!
Many of my colleagues said, why don't you join the sailing club? I took one look at the little boats and, being a petrol head I had a 16ft speed boat built in one of the kampongs. With a 75hp Johnson this could easily swamp a dingy! So we went exploring:
There's probably no water there now, just reclaimed land for Changi Airport. We used to take the boat to the north shore and cross over into Malaysian water and water ski up the winding mangrove swamp creeks. After a couple of years of doing this I bought an Admiralty chart and discovered our favourite creek was named Crocodile Creek! Somewhat alarmed we sold the boat as there were fewer places to go within Singapore and Indonesian pirates were kidnapping boats for ransom to the south of Sentosa.
John wrote about the heavy, short storms. Looks like the city is suffering under one!
Expat life then tended to polarize around English colonial pastimes like the Stage Club. I wasn't interested and tended to circulate among the ethnic communities. Most of my photos haven't been scanned and they are in France, but I have a few:
I loved Chinese opera, no, not so much the music but the sights and the artists' costumes and makeup. These street theatres were set up in a day and taken down the next after one evening performance. I used to go back and side stage to photograph them. Keep this thread alive and I will scan some photos!
Many of my colleagues said, why don't you join the sailing club? I took one look at the little boats and, being a petrol head I had a 16ft speed boat built in one of the kampongs. With a 75hp Johnson this could easily swamp a dingy! So we went exploring:
There's probably no water there now, just reclaimed land for Changi Airport. We used to take the boat to the north shore and cross over into Malaysian water and water ski up the winding mangrove swamp creeks. After a couple of years of doing this I bought an Admiralty chart and discovered our favourite creek was named Crocodile Creek! Somewhat alarmed we sold the boat as there were fewer places to go within Singapore and Indonesian pirates were kidnapping boats for ransom to the south of Sentosa.
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John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
Lovely pictures! You can still see quite a lot of the colonial legacy, not just the obvious stuff like Raffles and the Fullerton hotels and various buildings around the civic district, but the legal and administrative systems retain much British influence. And of course there is the language, English remains the language of administration and business and is the common language which lets the Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporean people communicate. The cricket club still does excellent mulligatawny soup (I suspect membership is way beyond me but I am invited there for lunch sometimes by people who are).
I spend quite a lot of time in Jakarta and Indonesia, whereas it's difficult to see much evidence of the Dutch in Indonesia the British influence in Singapore is still very obvious.
I spend quite a lot of time in Jakarta and Indonesia, whereas it's difficult to see much evidence of the Dutch in Indonesia the British influence in Singapore is still very obvious.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
On the British legacy, here are a few pictures of Fort Siloso, the last remaining coastal defence fort. This is located on Sentosa island very close to the centre (Sentosa is Singapore's resort island with Universal studios theme park and all sorts of attractions, a golf course etc) and offers some lovely walks as it leads off into a nice nature trail. If you are in Singapore and want a few hours away from the hustle and bustle it's a nice option.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
They seem to like these cheesy mannequins....
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
This picture may look totally disconnected from the previous pictures, but there is a link. This is Buona Vista, one of the two famous 15" gun batteries built to defend the great naval base at Sembawang was at Buona Vista, the other one, the Johore battery, was at Changi. Three guns formed the Johore Battery and Buona Vista had two. They guarded the Straits of Johore, the naval base was at Sembawang which is more of less the middle of the North side of the island in the strait. There is still a dockyard at Sembawang but the Republic of Singapore main bases are now at Tuas and Changi.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
Something that is nice is that despite the extreme urbanization of Singapore and high population density there is a lot of wildlife. Squirrels are common, otters have returned, in the central catchment area and some other areas macaque monkeys are common and there are various lizards, monitors, iguanas and of course the geckos you see all over the world. And bugs. And birds. The lizards are impressive, there are still crocodiles in Singapore which are probably best avoided but the monitor lizards and Iguanas are very impressive and seem oblivious to people as long as you don't upset them, some of the monitor lizards are huge. This is an iguana visiting a neighbour, when my kids first saw a huge monitor lizard walking along a foot path they were terrified (I suspect they thought it was a crocodile or something) but they just go about their business and have a lot more to fear from people than we have from them. There are still a few patches of mangrove in Singapore, there's a nice walk near the big Vivocity Mall opposite Sentosa, the Labrador walk, which includes some mangrove. For ship enthusiasts it also offers excellent views of the Pasir Panjang container port. The ones to be careful about are Macaques, they can be quite aggressive, especially if they have young ones with them. The otters have made a few headlines but in general the otters are harmless if left alone, the macaques can be rather problematic even if not threatened.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
A Singaporean no trespassing sign.....
simond
Western Thunderer
Macaques are not nice. They’re ok most of the time but it’s best to keep a good distance
When we lived in Pune we had some friends over from the UK and did a tour including the Taj Mahal, and the red Taj. One of the kids was separated from the group by only a few metres and we had to rescue her from a bunch of them, which seemed to deliberately target her. Her dad and I chased them off by being as big, and as loud, as possible. As he was a professional singer, he knew a bit about “projection”. It did leave me worrying that had they not backed off, and it had got physical, we would definitely have got hurt, possibly seriously. I was swinging a DSLR by its neck strap, but I’d have rather had a can(n)on!
When we lived in Pune we had some friends over from the UK and did a tour including the Taj Mahal, and the red Taj. One of the kids was separated from the group by only a few metres and we had to rescue her from a bunch of them, which seemed to deliberately target her. Her dad and I chased them off by being as big, and as loud, as possible. As he was a professional singer, he knew a bit about “projection”. It did leave me worrying that had they not backed off, and it had got physical, we would definitely have got hurt, possibly seriously. I was swinging a DSLR by its neck strap, but I’d have rather had a can(n)on!
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
One of the problems here is that people feed them and so they associate people and bags with easy food. If they are not offered food they seem to interpret it as a form of hostile behaviour and will grab bags and stuff. And they can be vicious. They are clever though. The government has been making a big effort to educate people to change behaviour to reduce tension between the macaques and people as conventional pest control doesn't do anything while they still associate humans with food.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
This is something you see occasionally. Singapore is a very safe place, to the point that you stop thinking about crime and personal security. However it's not crime free and the Police Force maintains a high visibility with regular patrols (for some reason they always seem to be in groups of 4 - 6).
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
Robberies occurred frequently in the 1970s. Ordinary weapons associated with crime were and are banned with very severe penalties so thieves were known to carry bearing scrapers with them. They also would empty the kitchen drawer of knives and leave them on the table as a calling card. So it was always advised to stay upstairs if there were sounds downstairs.
I only know this as as I needed a bearing scraper for my 1952 MG. I got a funny look from the Chinese towkay in the old Thieves Market when I bought it. Friends in the trade explained later.
I only know this as as I needed a bearing scraper for my 1952 MG. I got a funny look from the Chinese towkay in the old Thieves Market when I bought it. Friends in the trade explained later.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
These days physical crime is rather uncommon here, in hawker centres I've seen people leave mobile phones on tables, and it is quite common to see people leave bags of shopping, though it is more normal to leave a packet of tissues (the word here is to 'chope' a table). They have a rather heavy handed approach to law enforcement and sentencing here, the downside of that is obvious but the upside is that it does seem to have worked. They still have capital punishment (which I disagree with) and corporal punishment. And these aren't punishments which only exist in statute books as a deterrence, they're used. I remember we had a couple of friends from the Singaporean high commission in London for dinner one night and my daughter asked about it as she thought I was winding her up and my friend told her yes it was true, and the people who do the caning are professionals and know how to make sure it hurts 
As I say, I feel rather uncomfortable about aspects of law enforcement here but at the same time I am happy to enjoy the upside. What is much more common is cyber-crime.
As I say, I feel rather uncomfortable about aspects of law enforcement here but at the same time I am happy to enjoy the upside. What is much more common is cyber-crime.John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
A short little video on arrival of the new Circle Line trains, built by Alstom.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
The Singapore Air Force Museum has re-opened, situated next to Paya Lebar air force base and easily accessible using public transport (94 bus from Eunos MRT) and with free entry it's well worth a visit. It's nowhere near being in the same class as Duxford, Hendon or Cosford but it has a nice collection which is well presented. One of my favourite jet fighters has always been the Douglas A4 Skyhawk, and the re-engineered Super Skyhawks used by the RSAF were arguably the best of all the Skyhawks, the avionics fit wasn't as good as the Argentine A4-AR Fightinghawks but the Singaporeans re-engined theirs with non-afterburning GE F404 engines with a lot more thrust. They also had the unique to Singapore TA4-SU two seaters which used a double canopy arrangement rather than the normal extended canopy of two seaters. A few pics for any other Skyhawk fans.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
The still beautiful Hawker Hunter in RSAF colours, one of the best looking aircraft ever built.
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
A few helicopters, a bit of Wagner is needed for the Hueys.......
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
And a few other things.
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
Fascinating collection, amazing that so much has been accumulated and preserved for posterity. It does show how Singapore values its freedom.
Now I am in France it is my intention to pack up all my Singapore photos (mostly colour negative prints, the negatives having been attacked by “bugs” over the years). No railways but a fair smattering of nostalgia for comparison with your current offerings!
Paul
Now I am in France it is my intention to pack up all my Singapore photos (mostly colour negative prints, the negatives having been attacked by “bugs” over the years). No railways but a fair smattering of nostalgia for comparison with your current offerings!
Paul
John Bradshaw
Western Thunderer
I look forward to the pics!
Singapore must be one of the most heavily armed countries on earth on a per capita basis. It's a city state, these days it wouldn't even be considered an especially large city CA yet the Singaporean armed forces are truly formidable in terms of size, human quality and equipment. They still have national service, two years for boys, and they take defence extremely seriously. The Navy is the poor relation in some ways but they have a modern fleet. The army and air force are huge for the size of the country, the army has 3 active divisions plus reserve units and the air force has I think 5 active fighter squadrons operating the F-15 and F-16 plus a full spectrum of other types (G550 AEW, AH-64D, CH-47, A330MRTT, C-130, AS-332 etc).
From a European perspective it looks a bit over the top (compare it with the Australian and UK armed forces, indeed any European forces, it's quite eye opening given relative size) but I guess a rich country sandwiched between two much bigger neighbors and which has often had troubled relationships with those neighbors has a very different sensibility to defence.
Singapore must be one of the most heavily armed countries on earth on a per capita basis. It's a city state, these days it wouldn't even be considered an especially large city CA yet the Singaporean armed forces are truly formidable in terms of size, human quality and equipment. They still have national service, two years for boys, and they take defence extremely seriously. The Navy is the poor relation in some ways but they have a modern fleet. The army and air force are huge for the size of the country, the army has 3 active divisions plus reserve units and the air force has I think 5 active fighter squadrons operating the F-15 and F-16 plus a full spectrum of other types (G550 AEW, AH-64D, CH-47, A330MRTT, C-130, AS-332 etc).
From a European perspective it looks a bit over the top (compare it with the Australian and UK armed forces, indeed any European forces, it's quite eye opening given relative size) but I guess a rich country sandwiched between two much bigger neighbors and which has often had troubled relationships with those neighbors has a very different sensibility to defence.