A History of our Neighbourhood - Part II

Still devouring through the archives reading about the history of our neighbourhood...

Plaza Singapura, now a glitzy mall on Orchard Road looked like this when originally built in 1974. Today, even the car park of Plaza Singapura is bigger than this!

And the concrete jungle of condo blocks adjoining Peace Centre was once the site of billionaire Eu Tong Sen's mansion.  It was built in 1915 at a cost of S$1M on the site of Adis Lodge which Eu had purchase from Nissim Nissim Adis, the owner of the Grand Hotel de L'Europe in 1912. I'm sure all those people who bought those tiny apartment blocks for a much higher price than $1M are feeling sick in their gut reading this!

A History of our Neighbourhood - Part I

We've been living in the neighborhood we live in for over 3 years now, but it took a happen chance at the public library this week to find out the amazing amount of history in this neighborhood.

Everyone who knows me knows that my favourite part about our neighbourhood is the gorgeously green and peaceful Emily Park. I've been spending almost every evening at the park since little K was born, and there have been times when the kids dig in the park to find water underground. What I didn't know was that it's actually the site of Singapore's oldest reservoir in the 1880s and Singapore's first public swimming pool back in the 1930s. Found this swimming pool timetable from the 30s online!

It was operated by the Japanese during the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945) and returned to the British military after the war ended. In 1946, the charge of the pool was again given over to the Municipal Commissioners, who closed the pool for maintenance and repairs. It was reopened on 1 December 1949, to a long queue of bathers eager for a dip. In 1982, the pool was closed and converted into the park we know today, but some old Singaporeans still remember it as a weekend destination for kids & bathers.

I don't know why I'm so pleased to find the history of Emily Park, but I really am!

Haider

So we finally watched the movie 'Haider' and I'm more a fan of Tabu's tragic eyes now than I was after watching 'The Namesake', and as much a fan of Vishal Bharadwaj as I was after watching 'Omkara'. The movie didn't let me down, loved the adaptation, the setting, the story-telling & loved the digs at the Salman Khan brand of entertainment.

Preparing for Christmas

Halloween

Halloween this year was fun because it wasn't me dressing up little K, but he was very much leading the discussion on what he would like to dress up as (there was a toss up between Ninja Turtle & Transformer, finally he decided being a ninja was more important to him than having cool weapons...what a relief!)

He still doesn't care about collecting candy, and that's another blessing I should thank God for!