Ok.. before the madness starts again let's see what I can post.
Over the week:
Went night cycling with Andy at Ubin and his "friend" Alan. In the darkness, luckily he was riding his own bike. If he was riding a rental like mine(wif f*** up brakes), there will be one baby boar with bicycle tyre tracks across the body. Tempted him over to the side of Incandescent with my old A2 Aviator. While he tempted me over to the side of solid state lighting with his LX2 Lumamax. Since now I'm tempted... for the Dec Thai trip should I buy yet another light or just try to borrow one from Andy or the D10 from Colin? Already been fined $60, paid sch fees and FIC fees this month.. not to mention the 1.4K spent on the AF 85mm f1.4D. Should I spend anymore?
2 days back (thurs) had my ass owned left/right/centre by one of the juniors in groundwork. Felt abit disappointed but actually I was very much excited and kinda happy. Why was I so happy that I lost so badly? If you know me you will know the reason! Now if only he did not injure my left elbow joint. Together with my 2 injured fingers on my left hand which was injured last week, my left arm is now practically useless for the next week or so. This old man should lower his intensity of activity.... and submit to a dreary lifestyle? Not yet!
Other than the loss of the use of my left arm, I also lost my Gshock watch. Coincidentally it was on the same day my company clock died on us. Forgot all about it after my groundwork match as it was late and gotta fall the students out fast. Sad. Really like that watch. Been with me through lots but it still looks like new. Went down the next day morning with Shipei for a futile search. Reported it to poolside security(who was damn eng by the way) and Blk 1 student service centre's lost and found. At least the counter girl who served me was damn sweet and cute! Now I know Jianyang's feeling during the "carabiner girl incident"...hahhahah...
Haiz... another $100+ down for a replacement watch....... a super early bdae present for me anyone?
Slightly overtrained myself in a bid to get rid of the ring of fat around my waistline gained during the last exam period. Kanna fever for 1 day which I got rid by drinking plenty of water and had plenty of fun overnighting in Ubin. Neither is a cure esp the latter kids. Anyway that also mean I had to postpone my blood donation to a fortnight later.
Had a request on Fri from Joyce for her NIE heritage project about Lau Pa Sat. Local heritage sites is my forte and hobby so didn't mind helping out. Tried searching around for some pics and info on LPS but ended up found more info on the Old Brunei Hostel/embassy which I blogged some pics previously HERE.
Below info are somewhat assumed from whatever limited info I have gathered. Could have been more info if you feel like paying NHB for it....
According to Nat Archive of S'pore, this place was (prob still is) unit 7A, B and C of Tanglin Hill and the property belonged to the Govt of Brunei (DUH!). In 1958, it was proposed(approved?) to convert the exiting house into a student hostel. There were also 2 other document that points to amendments to the extensions. Layout approved by SIT (S'pore Improvement Trust, predecessor of HDB).
But a more precious info was found in the form of a Brunei Times news article.
Turns out the Brunei education system was insufficient back then and students was being sent abroad since the 50s. The students stayed at Jalan Haji Salam (very near the 3rd GUARDS camp and former hawker centre with the famous cheng teng. Slurp!), some at Geylang and from 1958 onwards the Tanglin Hill hostel (which supported my assumption above.) was used but it's not until 1969 (when new extensions are added)that all Brunei students stayed there.
All excerpts from the news in italics:
"Islamic students would be studying at Madrasah Al-Junied (The present day Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah) to prepare them for entry into the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt."
Ignore me... but somehow the name Al-Azhar always reminds me of the prata place along Bukit Timah. And no, the Islamic sch is not located at Aljunied but at Victoria Lane.
"Whereas the English and Malay stream students would study at secondary schools at Tun Seri Lanang, Teluk Kurau, Sang Nila Utama, Monk's Hill, Willow, New Town Boys, Bartley, Kaki Bukit, Victoria Institution and Raffles Institution."
Hey New Town is New Town! What New Town Boys? It was never a boys sch from the day it started in '65!
"Football was played at one of the sports fields behind the hostel run by a Singapore sports agency."
I'll make another assumption that the field is the one just behind the recently face-lifted Dempsey Hill watering hole. Where it was just re-acquired and fenced recently. Frequent games of Indian cricket and football by Ang mohs are played there every weekend. Here's a couple of random shots I took recently of a cricket player bowling his shot as I passed by this field:
Yep blurry pics are what you get for shooting fast action handheld at 300mm f5.6 near to sunset on ISO 64 film! When I say fast, I really mean blazing fast! These guys are no amateurs. Their bowling speed is scary.
"In the hostel itself, badminton and sepak takraw were played regularly. Sometimes when the football fever gets too high, football was played on the badminton courts."
As in the case of all sec schs even all the way into the 90s!... but we used the basketball courts cos there was no badminton courts to use.. vice versa for the brunei students!
Here's a view of their 2 badmintons courts, now covered in dried leaves:
"Later a special badge was created and the Malay title of the hostel, Asrama Kerajaan Brunei di Singapura (AKBS) became formalised."
Finally! The meaning to the acronym AKBS in the wall scribbling (to see what was written, visit my previous post on this place).
If you were to zoom in and crop around the centre of the pic:
Yep this is the location of where the below B&W picture was taken.
Late 70s Photo taken from Brunei Times.After 30+ yrs, there isn't much changes except the doors and windows were removed (prob when the place was abandoned) and now there are 3 tall trees in front of the building.
Hmmm... I suddenly wondered if Ah Yong (NUS Wushu) stayed there before? Then I checked his facebook and realised Brunei stopped sending students overseas on the yr he was born. Hah.
One more historical site archived!
Hopefully more will come soon!
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