Annual UE with Winston

It was that time of the year again. Winston's annual trip back home for his summer holidays. Which also means it's yet another session of intensive urban exploration/photo archiving. It's an activity that is almost forsaken for the sake of studies and maybe in a bid to pry myself from activities that is deemed abnormal/childish/dangerous by most in the "sane" society in which I live in. My actions will never be seen as, proper, appropriate, practical or responsible. I abhor the norm, fatigued by the truth I face everyday but refuse to yield. I might someday but not in the foreseeable future. 

Last yr, Winston and I unsuccessfully tried to archive the 70's Singapore Zoo. No, not the one at Mandai but at Punggol. Do your own research. Unfortunately, the govt gotten there before us and cleared out the remnants inside the forest. It was a demoralising day(it was drizzling). We were cold, wet and filthy bashing through the undergrowth. Almost just gave the day up until I made a risky (considered unspeakable to the "sane" population) decision to break the day's monotony. Archived a location that will remain in my memory for years to come. Definitely will not be doing that again(probably). Of cos I cannot blog about it here. 

This yr, just before Winston flew back(timing so zhun), I manage to stumble upon 1 more interesting location. 1 might be a laughable amount a few years back but these days, being able to find historical/abandoned locations (esp with large compounds) is like finding duck's teeth. 

It's been so long..... but finally another one. There's not been a bigger discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun... well not really but it is really significant for me. 

Before bringing Winston over, we made a pit stop to a few other locations. Here are pics of a couple of locations that I can blog about. The others... better not be known... hah...

Always wanted to take a look at this neighbourhood. Never had a chance since it was abandoned till now. Used to a blangalah hangout before it was used for it's current purpose. Quite scary to see dozens of black figures holding bottles in the darkness  sitting around the compound when u drive pass at night. 

Badly neglected standard issue HDB door and unit number plate from the SIT-HDB  transition era.

Weeds abound.... which I feel adds to the aesthethics of the area.

Here's another locale which I've been putting it off for a yr already. Luckily no one acquired the land yet. Nice architecture design even though I seriously doubt it has much historical significance.

Nice colors from the ceiling cobwebs that gives off a multicoloured tint when in direct sunlight.

The lighting and shadow in this room is really artistic in it's own way. Nice!

Typical kitchen furnishing in these type of house.

More light-leak artwork....

The house must have been abandoned for sometime already. The trees growing on the roof of the porch are already full sized!

Here's something new. I never see this type of design in a window yet. 

More plant on top.....

And finally ...... the location I was toking about. Some preview pics.

The rear entrance with the view of the student hostel which is directly facing a banana plantation. I guess the male students previously should have no lack of banana spirit stories to scare the girls.

The keys even though rusting badly, are still there. Which mean no chao ah beng have been here before or they sure will be either gone or strewned all over.

Another nice ceiling cobweb.

Yet another sign this place is temporary unknown to those bo liao bengs.... The ceiling glassware lighting are still intact! I hope this place will be preserved in it's original state as long as possible.

Flooring of the second level suffering badly from water damage and most of it has collapsed through.

The moment I stepped into the room, the floor got my attention. Kinda like a deja vu effect.... of cos....these are the exact same flooring material used at Tyersall Ave's Woodneuk! 

Room with a view...........of the first floor.

One of the things about visiting such places is that somethings u can find books, articles, etc from the past. This time we got lucky and manage to read a page of newspaper from Jan 92. The most prominent article is about the S-League! Anyone remember that? No? Who can blame ya? hah!

I believe I haven seen this style of window louvres since sec sch. Does anyone use the word louvres anymore for that matter.

How cute.. there's even a class timetable on the walls of one of the dorms. 

This is what the scribbling says:

WHILE I WAS HERE I experienced a lot of hardship and perils not only in my studies but in my social and private life. 

I now realized that this was part of growing up one had to endure throughout ones life. I missed a lot of friend who came and went in pursuit of their studies here. 

This place has really taught me a lot of things I really did not know or have or practice in my life before.

Thank you AKBS

sign

*cannot make out the name*

Anyone miss this brand of orange drink? I know I do! Fruit tree from F&N!

And finally a view from the 4th storey of one of the dorms.

This place is essentially a boarding sch. With assembly halls, offices, badminton courts, dormaitories, science laboratories. But somehow I din notice where the classrooms were.

The front portion was also the former Br**** Embassy. Photo archiving the place took a couple of hours but it was worth every minute. The place is also quite serene with the peace being broken by intermittent calls of various bird life in the area. I can id at least 7-10 species in the compound. One of them being the oriental pied hornbill, which is more commonly found over at Ubin and Changi side. Recently I also found a pair living up on a tree somewhere over at peirce. I'll be back to this place. Hope not too much have changed by then.

Back at ECU.....

Edmund's "House cooling" session:

A couple of weekends ago suppose to be going over to Edmund's new place at Sentosa. But since it was the starting of the 7th month so the house warming was postponed and we went over to his old place instead. This time round Edmund's relative recognised us from the previous bbq session. This time we even have an opportunity to see some "show" inside the tennis court.  

Just like a family photo is Jeremy's comment. 

All the more senior ones in the front row(myself, Damian, Edmund and Kester) and all the ginas(Eunice, Angeline, Irene, Ryan, Jeremy and Tiffany) at the back. Can't wait to see Edmund's new place at Sentosa next month.