the good old days when everyone had a smile on their face in the streets
If you want to taste authentic Singapore food when you visit next, here is a guide that may be helpful:
UPDATE:
Another Ang Moh’s guide to Singapore Hawker Food:
PS> There must be a hundred different such guides to be found on the net.
This month it is 50 years since the “Keep Singapore CLEAN” campaign was launched:
It is amazing how time flies when you are having fun.
I can remember Singapore in the days when you could smell it before you could see it when arriving by sea and Singapore River was busy, but a lifeless smelly soup of anything unmentionable.
Today it is a fresh water reservoir teeming with fish and home to several families of sea otters.
One anecdote from the early days of the cleanup; at Boat Quay there was a VERY smelly pissoir on the bank of the river. As the story goes, one man that couldn’t hold it until it was his turn took a piss directly into the river just beside the pissoir got fined for polluting the river. The fun part was that the pissoir hadn’t yet been connected to the sewage system but drained directly to the river.
Ohh the good ol’ days!!!
The railway tracks from Tg. Pagar station to the causeway was removed shortly after rail service ended on this stretch on 01. July, 2011 and nature was allowed to reclaim the vacated corridor.
But that is not enough. To speed up the process, nature are given some help:
Move over Tesla, here comes the Singapore made electric car:
No more Bombay Gin, now it is Brass Lion and Tanglin Gin from Singapore that rules (at least in Singapore):
UPDATE:
Singapore building snags top architectural price:
Michael Rogge visited Singapore in 1964:
In 1975:
And again in 1987:
Up date:
Another video from Singapore of my youth:
Nostalgia for me.
UPDATE:
The new Terminal 4 at Changi Airport has opened for business. Here is a NG report about the event.
If you are a frequent flyer but haven’t visited this new terminal, please eat you heart out:
PS> Terminal 5 is now under construction. It is bound to pip this one.
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hate those new terminals, passenger does all the work, f*** that, next year we will be loading our own bags.
Air travel is getting longer and more arduous for the passenger, I waste huge time trying to book a flight on some web site designed to stitch you up, then get to the airport to check yourself in, how is that better for the passenger?
That will be for Terminal 5. (Now under construction)
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The old man is back in charge of Malaysia:
The bicentennial anniversary since the establishment of Singapore as a British colony is fast approaching.
2019 marks 200 years since Sir Stamford Raffles first set foot on the island of Singapore and established a British trading post.
But not everybody find that a reason to celebrate:
Singapore is what it is because they speak the language of business,English and they have a respected banking and financial centre together with the fundamentals of English common law.
The port and shipping followed because of there favourable geographic position.
The Island was home to itinerant fishermen numbering about 40,000 200 years ago but it is lovely to see history being rewritten.
Lee Can Do (Lee Kwan Yew) was educated at Cambridge and the London School of Economics. He was also an exceptional guy who did an exceptionally good job as Singapore’s benevolent dictator.
His son who is running Singapore now is also a Cambridge man.
The movie 'Crazy Rich Asians" anyone? 
Grab (who have beaten Uber in S.E.Asia) is rolling out a fleet of electric cars for their ride sharing service in Singapore:
PS> The name of the car model may be misspelled (??): Hyundai Konas
I wonder how they tax them or maybe new rules as the gov owns grab??
Still no Tesla’s
Singapore’s Bi-centennial celebration is getting into gear with more attractions being opened:
A nostalgic view back on some of the many hotels in Singapore that is now gone. The list is not complete though, there were many more that I remember, although I didn’t stay at hotel very much in my nearly 50 years there. I did visit many of their bars and restaurants though:
PS> My favourit dish at Barkley Restaurant in Sloan Court, which we visited fairly regularly up to the end, was their Ox Tail Stew. Sad to see it close, but that is how it has to be in a city under rapid development I guess.
PPS> Sloan Court was also a meeting place for old mainly British mariners living in Singapore. (I don’t know where they moved to)
Ombugge
were you married/accounted for/honest guy, etc for any of the time you were in Singapore, that tends to determine where one hangs out and fondly remembers
All of the above for most of the time, except the first 7-8 years (late 1960’s, early 1970’s)
Pebbles Bar in Hotel Singapura was among my favourit hangout in the early days.
Seaside Hotel in Pasir Panjang for Chilli Crab, or Sea View Hotel in Katong for Curry tiffin was fixed places for Sunday brunch.
The Ship restaurant in Robinson Rd. was very popular for western food. (Hainanes style)
Not so fun; Long sleeve shirts w/cuff links and tie was standard attire, even in the evenings.
I even had a suite w/vest made for more formal dining.