Aunty in Perth We took the train and she picked us up in her new Toyota. Yes even the retired widow can afford to buy a brand new car. Eat your heart out, Singaporeans. It was nice to visit her in her modest but clean and tidy home with a well maintained backyard garden. We […]
When I asked Alan Hiu from Kuching, Sarawak, about his unusual surname, he explained that different dialect groups would pronounce it differently. “What about my surname?”, and I wrote the Chinese strokes for Chee in the air. He gave me a lesson on it: the Hockchiew (my father’s dialect) would call it “Hee”; the Cantonese […]
The 1960s feel It was like going back to the 1960s when Singapore was less crowded with buildings, cars and people. Most houses and buildings in Kuching were not more than 4 storeys and were well spread out. The streets were conspicuously clean and they still have roundabouts. Modern tall hotels and commercial buildings with […]
Roots in Kuching It was an old photo hanging on the wall of my uncle’s house that caught my attention. Interested as I was with my earthly roots, I took a few shots with my mobile. It was my maternal grandparents’ wedding photograph. They looked forward, stiff and formal – the common pose in those […]
Who has heard of Kame ManNen? I have not, that is until now. Its a Japanese optical frame brand known for its design and quality. Tired of cheap spectacles made in China and Korea, I tried going Japanese. An internet search showed that this strange sounding brand got its name from a old Japanese proverb […]
This old family photograph brings back memories of a time when my children were still in nursery, and kindergarten and primary school. It was about twenty years back in the 1990s when I lived in Bukit Batok East Avenue 4. The long wooden TV console in the background, the cane furniture by the side and […]