Our village, Kampong Potong Pasir, located between Macpherson at Third Mile and Braddell Road, off Upper Serangoon Road, had houses made of wood, with attap, corrugated zinc or asbestos roofs. We were separated from Toa Payoh by the Kallang River, a huge swampy area which had recently been reclaimed. The word “payoh” comes from “paya”, the Malay word for swamp, whereas “toa” is Hokkien for big. Thus, this dual-language term means “Big Swamp”. Many hills around the island were slowly being eroded, as sand and gravel were needed to fill up the swamps. The name of my own village meant “Cut Sand” in Malay, as the former hills in our area were cut down to be used for land reclamation. The quarries that resulted soon became ponds, fed by the Kallang River and the monsoon rains. The Teochew name for my village, Swa Ti, reflected this. Eventually, the ponds were utilised as fish farms, something that Kampong Potong Pasir was known for, besides its floods.
Except for the main roads leading into town, and those in town, most of the village roads were mud tracks, called lorongs in Malay, unpaved, and filled with gaping potholes. During the heavy rainy seasons, village roads became slippery rivers of mud, treacherous to navigate, comical only when the consequences were not serious. Villagers, particularly those wearing rubber-soled slippers, slid and pirouetted, letting fly whatever they were holding, then crashed to the ground, and the contents of fruits, vegetables and personal effects from boxes, baskets or handbags were flung into the air and then plopped with a resounding sound into the squelchy mud, which instantly coated them like icing. The air invariably turned blue. Sturdier char kiak or wooden clogs became the safer option. “Char” was the Hokkien word for “wood”. In Malay, clogs were called terompah.
Our village char kiak maker, with his stacks of bright, colourful clogs of varying sizes for children and adults, had good business during the rainy seasons. I loved the smell of Ah Liang’s cottage factory when he was shaving the block of wood into inch-high clogs. His small premises opened on one side into the main lorong, though they were boarded up at night. He would be dressed in loose shorts and white singlet as he bent over the shaving block, a Good Morning towel rolled and tied across his brow to catch perspiration. As he moved, his muscles rippled along his arms, sweat dripping down his chest, staining his singlet darkly. I was 15, and doubtless, the hormones were raging in me. I was decidedly simple, having had no instruction on sexual development. It was years before the advent of the Internet, so information was not easy to come by. When I started menstruating at the age of 12, my mother, Mak, simply gave me a long strip of cloth and belt and showed me how to use it, rewash it and use it again. She did not know anything about sanitary towels then! I was an ulu kid. The word also referred to backward people!
But it was not only Ah Liang’s physique which was drawing my attention. I truly loved the scent of fresh-cut logs which rose into the air as curls of wood chippings flew merrily down onto the cement floor. The sawdust and chippings, like those from sawmills along the Kallang River at nearby Whampoa, were sold to the ice factory, to insulate the huge blocks of ice when they were being transported around in our tropical heat.
Kampong Potong Pasir was less than half a mile away from Hoo Ah Kay’s historic mansion, which was built in 1840, but was acquired by the government in 1964. Sadly, the magnificent house was demolished to create the Kallang Basin housing and industrial project and new roads. Mr Hoo Ah Kay, popularly known as Mr Whampoa, after the anglicised name of his village in China, was the first Chinese to be a member of the Legislative Council here and was also the first businessman to import ice into Singapore from America in 1854. He had the first ice factory in our country, near Coleman Bridge at Boat Quay. He was reputed to entertain high-ranking British officers in his mansion. The extensive grounds of his home were famous for their rockeries, aquariums, bonsai, flowers, plants, well-manicured lawns and topiaries. There was even a mini-zoo, with bears and an aviary with magnificent peacocks. It was said that people visited him to see the resplendent blooms of the water lily, though some called it a lotus, Victoria Regia, which was a gift from the Regent of Siam. During Chinese New Year, Mr Whampoa opened his gardens to the locals and even arranged fairground rides, like the merry-go-round. After his death, Mr Seah Liang Seah, who became the second Chinese to be a member of the Legislative Council, purchased the former’s old residence and changed it from Whampoa House to Bendemeer House. The new road that continued from Upper Serangoon Road just after Potong Pasir towards Lavender Street was thus named Bendemeer Road.
Kampong children, usually too poor to buy store-bought games, were very creative and could invent
