Like many young adults who come of age, the first thing I wanted to do was to board a plane and fly to an overseas destination. The year was 1980.
I was 23 years old, and with my friend Darryl, who was not much older than I, we decided after celebrating a cricket match win to plan a trip to Singapore and Malaysia. As I had contacts in both Singapore and Malaysia, we thought we could save some money on accommodation and still have a good time visiting places like Singapore, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. We also thought we would do the Malaysian leg of our journey by road and rail, saving more money instead of flying between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
As this was our first international travel outside Australia, we did not want to go too far. Darryl, an Anglo-Burmese, having been in Australia longer than I, also wanted to travel somewhere with the familiarity of the sights and sounds of Asia as these would remind him of his birth country Burma (now called Myanmar). He had not returned to Burma since fleeing the turmoil of military rule in that country.
After considering how I could share my adventures, I thought I'd transcribe my notes straight from my diary (type set with italic font) and after each write a backdrop story if it required a little more context or embellishment. The diary notes were almost 'short hand' with abbreviated comments. Some sentences had only two words.
Having re-read the journal written 41 years ago in preparation for this blog, it is interesting to acknowledge its simplicity and almost 'childlike' recording of my travels. I have removed the surnames of some people mentioned in my original diary notes to maintain their anonymity.
After considering how I should approach this essay, I decided to create two separate blogs; a Part 1 and a Part 2. Having completed the whole story, I felt that you could only bear reading half of it, as some stories may be a little hard to make sense of it, if you have not lived through it.
By splitting it, I hope to allow you to digest the word pictures of the places I had visited, the people I had met and the essence of the times in which the diary notes were written. I hope you will be able to join with me in being transported to times very different to today.
My travel began with Darryl and I boarding a Singapore Airlines flight in the early hours of Friday, 22nd August 1980 from Perth International Airport. Destination Singapore. Most often my diary recordings were written before I settled down to sleep. In my journal I have mentioned Darryl only a few times, and on the occasions I haven't, we were usually together shopping, eating or travelling.
Day 1 - 22nd August. Friday.
Arrived Singapore 7:35pm. Patrick met us at airport tarmac. Weather was humid. Singapore airport was well organised and large. Arrived at Hotel Tai Pan. Walked around Esplanade. Dinner: satay and mee goreng (fried noodles). Visited Bogie Street.
Patrick was my best friend from primary school. We lived in the same neighbourhood and we would travel to and from school together. He was my junior, so at the time of our trip he would have been around 21 or 22 years old. The last time we met was 10 years prior, however we did correspond after I left Singapore for Australia. We still had each other's home address details and fortunately he positively responded to my letter to him when I wrote to tell him of my imminent visit, with Darryl to Singapore
In 1980, Singapore was still a 'sleepy city' compared to what it is today. Many of the amusement and theme parks we now know of today, were still being developed or not yet conceived.
Day 2 - 23rd August. Saturday.
Darryl and I walked around town from 10:00am. Had mee (noodles) for breakfast. Walked up Orchard Road, half-way back to the museum and into town. Lunch: chicken rice. Late lunch: mee siam. Returned between 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Taken for a drive by Uncle Ralph and Aunty Vicky to their home. Dinner: Chinese food. Then drove to Marine Parade for ice kachang (local dessert). Drove around Orchard Road shopping area.
Ralph and Vicky (pictured left with me) were our very close neighbours where we lived before we migrated to Australia. It is an Asian custom to refer to folks older than us as 'Uncle' and 'Aunty' as a sign of respect to them. Ralph was a teacher and provided math tuition to my sisters and I. Darryl too had similar cultural etiquettes and was comfortable with the salutation.
You will find that there are a number of references to eating in this essay, as Singaporeans are renowned for their past time of eating and shopping.
Day 3 - 24th August. Sunday.
Attended St. Joseph's Church 9:00am. Breakfast as Parochial House. Bought two egg sandwiches and two cups of tea.
Uncle Ralph and Aunty Vicky took us to Jurong Bird Park. Large massive area. The walking was enough to exhaust you for days. Before that we went to see Tanglin Halt. Had char kway teow (fried rice noodles) for lunch. Back at 2:00pm.
When to Marcus's place, then taken to Marie's place. Dinner at Bedok for fried cuttlefish, fish balls, mee and curry crab.
Attending Sunday Mass was a regular practice for us, and it was doubly worthwhile when we learnt that they were also selling breakfast to their parishioners. St. Joseph's Church was also where my sister and I made our First Holy Communion and it was a short distance away from the hotel. The church hadn't changed much since that significant event in my young journey of faith.
The Jurong Bird Park was one of the major theme parks in Singapore at that time. It did require us to walk the whole precinct. Ralph and Vicky were very hospitable and looked after both Darryl and I for most of the morning. They even took me to the old housing estate where both our families lived. We lived in Block 30 and they lived in Block 31. Just seeing the washed clothes hanging out to dry brought back memories of life in the 1960's at Queenstown. If you are wondering where our unit was, it's marked in the picture below with our address 164-F. The grilled metal fence was still there, as we left it 10 years earlier.
Picture from the back of the block of flats my family stayed in before leaving for Australia. Our unit was 164-F on the 7th Floor of Block 30.
Marcus my cousin knew of our trip and made it a point to meet us that day. He also took us to visit his sister Marie. Marcus had made arrangements to see us again towards the end of our holiday in Singapore.
Day 4 - 25th August. Monday.
Visited De La Salle with Pat. Saw Mr. Paul Lim. Went to Haw Par Villa then to Singapore World Fair Centre. Caught cable car to Sentosa. Whole day there. Returned by ferry. Arrived at hotel at 6:15pm. Went to Patrick's place for dinner. Walked around China Town. We walked all the way back to the hotel.
De La Salle Primary School in 1980. Nothing much had changed when I attended the school.
One of the highlights for me was to visit my primary school and meet Mr. Paul Lim. He was the teacher who lived in our neighbourhood and he provided a service of driving Patrick, my sister and I to and from school each day. There was I think another student passenger all cramped in his 'tiny' car every morning. It was certainly better than catching the bus in those days.
My friend Patrick and our teacher, Mr. Paul Lim in the one of the corridors at De La Salle.
That day was also eventful as we visited Sentosa Island, after visiting the theme park Haw Par Villa. At Haw Par Villa or Tiger Balm Garden, we saw thousands of statues and giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese mythology, folklore, history and illustrations of aspects of Confucianism. As a small boy when we visited the place, it was scary to see some of the gory images of demons, dragons and decapitation being depicted.
Darryl and I sitting on a giant tortoise statue at Haw Par Villa theme park
The visit to Sentosa was a little more pleasant. It was more a historical site, far less commercial than Sentosa is today. While playing tourist as we were, with camera strapped across our shoulders we met a Japanese tourist named Mitsumi whom we befriended. We chatted, trying to converse in simple English, about where we were from and sharing our reasons for visiting Singapore. We took photos together before departing our separate ways. There were no Facebook or smart phones back then where we could exchange details and Airdrop our photos.
Japanese tourist Mitsumi and I at Sentosa Island, Singapore.
Day 5 - 26th August. Tuesday.
Shopping day along Orchard Road. At night had biryani and murtabak for dinner. Visited Singapore "red light area" on Rochor Road.
Darryl and I were left to our own devises. We had a relatively quiet day, before venturing out to Little India. Not far from where we had dinner was Singapore's red light district. We joined the other tourists just walking and literally soaking up the high humidity atmosphere that evening. There was really nothing to see, except for hawker stalls and their customers dining at street tables with kerosene lamps for light, people standing and talking, and yes, there were women fancifully dressed with over-applied makeup and large wigs. We left and walked back to our hotel having ticked this off our list of places to see.
Day 6 - 27th August. Wednesday.
Left Singapore 11:00am by Malacca-Singapore Express bus. Five hour ride. Arrived Malacca and met by Maxie. Visited Malacca Settlement. Had dinner on "The Ship" Portuguese Settlement.
Standing in front of the bus, which stopped en route to Malacca at the 'half-way house' in Malaysia
As my parents were from Malacca, and grew up in the district called Portuguese Settlement, I had to make this so called 'pilgrimage' to my ancestral birthplace. My cousin Maxie and his wife Theresa, still lived there with their children Hillary, Juanita and Henry. They were kind to have us stay over at their house in the Portuguese Settlement. It was like coming home to the place where my parents grew up and experience how life would have been like. As I was told by Maxie, things had not changed very much over the years.
The iconic red painted Malacca Museum and Christ Church buildings in the centre of Malacca.
Day 7 - 28th August. Thursday.
Darryl couldn't sleep that night so left him behind.
Walked around Malacca with Henry. Visited museum, St. Paul's Hill, St. Peter's Church and around town, including Portuguese Settlement. Came back late with Juanita and Henry.
Henry took me for a walk around the town of Malacca. During the walk I bumped into my mother's uncle, her father's only brother, whom we affectionately called Uncle Tone. He's real name was Anthony, but folks back then would often give someone a nickname which often stuck with them for life. Both sets of my grand-parents died before my parents married. Uncle Tone was a bachelor and this was the last photo with him which is much treasured.
A treasured photo of my mother's uncle, affectionally named Uncle Tone, whom I met while walking along the streets of Malacca.
During the day we drove around Malacca and we passed the house where as youngsters, my mother and her four brothers lived in. They were cared for by their Uncle Henry and Aunty Mary. Being mum's close relatives, they were whom my siblings and I, with our parents would stay with, went holidaying in Malacca during the late 1950's and 1960's. On reflection, I still remember the well at the side of the house where we as small children would have a bath with bucket and ladle, after drawing water with rope and pulley from the well. There were also the paddy fields where rice, or paddy, was grown at the back of the house, and the friendly Sikh neighbours next door. We would play and run along the mount of dirt bordering each paddy field, we would watch the buffalo pulling the plough and would try to climb coconut trees. We never succeeded climbing any coconut tree. Life was very simple back then.
A picture of the house of our Uncle Henry and Aunty Mary, whom my family would visit and stay with when in Malacca.
My cousin Maxie was a school teacher, and in the evening after travelling around locally, we returned home after meeting his daughter Juanita who was walking home from a study group meeting held at the Portuguese Settlement.
Picture of cousin Maxie and his wife Theresa, with their two sons Henry and Hillary in front of their house in the Portuguese Settlement. Their daughter Juanita was away when the photo was taken.
Day 8 - 29th August. Friday.
Caught Kuala Lumpur(KL)-Malacca Express bus. Two and a half hour journey. Was not as rough as Singapore-Malacca trip.
Arrived KL. One and a half hour wait at bus stop for Edward. Taken home. Then taken to railway station to buy tickets for Penang.
Left in town. From 12:30pm to 8:15pm we walked around town. We were lost three times. Did some shopping. Arrived home, had to wait until 11:30pm. No one home.
Edward was a relative of mine, whom I did not really know. They were kind enough to allow us to stay at their house while we were in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur Railway Administration Building, styled on Moorish architecture
Day 9 - 30th August. Saturday.
Had cold bath. Taken to city and left at Sungei Wang Shopping Centre. Met two girls, Dorothy and Chie. Took them out for dinner to The Ship Restaurant. When back to Dorothy's place. Returned at 2:00am. Suffered diarrhoea whole day.
On returning to Edward's house, Darryl asked me that night while lying in bed, what would have happened if we stayed till morning. I did not answer as I soon fell asleep. Just thinking about it now, the two girls who were boarding at the local University, seemed to have been watching Darryl and I from the top floor of the shopping complex as we were taking the escalators. As we reached the top floor they were already waiting for us. Since there were two of them and two of us, we struck up a conversation, and the next thing we knew, we had invited them to join us for dinner. Coincidentally the restaurant we chose was also called The Ship, which was not related to the restaurant in Malacca.
We were invited back to their accommodation. After coffee and as we continued with our chatter, the conversation during the night got a little uncomfortable. Darryl looked at me, and I looked at him. They somehow got hold of our passports and immediately, thoughts of extortions went through both of Darryl's and my minds, as both our eyes crossed again.
Before leaving for overseas, especially to Singapore and Malaysia we read and were reminded of 'things not to do'. One being, not to loose our passports and the obvious one in Asia, not to do drugs! Fortuitously I was not feeling well that night, and made suggestions that we had to go back to my cousin's place as he would have been waiting for us. I was glad that 'they let us go'!
There was still thirteen days to go for our holiday. We stayed in Kuala Lumpur before travelling to Penang, then onto Ipoh which was not on our original itinerary, before finally returning to Singapore.
TO BE CONTINUED
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