A Walk In Time

Posted on April 13, 2008 Updated on July 25, 2016

Today, I paid a visit to my old neighborhood at Clementi. I moved out of the estate somewhere in 1988 and this is the first time that I’m back in twenty years!

The changes are so drastic I almost couldn’t recognise it anymore.

Clementi is currently undergoing development and sadly, some of the important and memorable landmarks have been removed in the process.

First off, the signature of Clementi Central – the water fountain is gone! What now stood in its place was a building in the midst of construction.

Next, the iconic red-colored clock tower is gone too!! I used to wait for my mum beside the clock tower while she goes about her marketing on Sunday mornings and while waiting for her, I would love to climb up the bars albeit without much success. .

There used to be a playground here. You know, the old-fashioned type with a sandpit? I last saw this playground in the movie, I NOT STUPID at the scene before Shawn tries to kill himself after failing his test.

Sigh… too much development has caused Clementi Central to lose it’s old rustic charm which is quite a shame…

I remembered during my younger days, there will be people selling Koyok here every night. The peddlers would have bottles of foul-smelling medicinal oil spread out on a mat and there would be numerous pictures of body parts inflicted with various kinds of ailments which would heal after using the miracle oil.

Till now, I could still remember the smell of kerosene from their lamps infiltrating straight into our noses.

The shut gutters was where the A&W Restaurant used to be

Someone bring A&W back please! I missed Coney Dog, Root Beer Float and that brown/orangy bear! (the bear is way cuter than that stupid clown and old man anyway…)

Empress Theatre

There used to be an arcade and KFC inside but now, the whole building is closed down already.

After touring Clementi Central aka Ave 3, I continued my nostalgic tour to Ave 2, where I stayed previously.

On the way there, I spotted this botak Mynah outside Pei Tong Primary School where my siblings received their primary education. My mum used to bring me there to fetch my siblings home after their classes. We would be waiting at the canteen where we would have fried beehoon doused with the pink colored chee cheong fun sauce.

Till today, I loved to have pink colored sauce in my beehoon (though it’s quite hard to find anymore) over the current black sauce. I don’t know is it because of the taste or because of old times sake?

When approaching Ave 2, I saw this beautiful cat snoring away.

Notice the paws? So cute…

Remember the Toa Payoh child murders which happened during the early 80s? 10 year old Ghazali was taken away from this playground and was later found dead under a tree in Toa Payoh. The other victim, Agnes, 9 years old, was found stuffed inside a luggage bag.

This case was quite sensational back then. At that time, mum never let us wander out of her sight whenever we were out with her in the neighborhood. She would always tell us that there are bad people out there waiting to catch little children like us. I didn’t understand what she was talking about then until I grew older and read about it which has been written into a book.

(Read the story here.)

Finally, we arrived at Ave 2!

Ave 2 is like a small sleepy town compared to the hustle and bustle of Ave 3. What a striking contrast!

My old house! Can you guess which unit was it?

We sold our house to a Malay family but now, it was occupied by a Chinese family. The coffeshop downstairs has turned into CK Departmental Store. I remembered the coffeeshop has one very nice kway chup and the chilli they served was very shiok!

This is the back.

The side

This old chinese medicinal hall downstairs was my mum’s partner in crime whenever my siblings and I have worms in our feces. My mum would always return with a satchet of ‘deworming powder‘ and force it down our throat.

I’m surprised to see that this Kodak Color Centre is still around! It must be as old as or even older than I am! Most of my childhood photos were developed here, including the one posted on my birthday entry.

The kindergarten which I used to attend has now turned into an aquarium shop. At that time, Singa the Courtesy Lion and the Charity Elephant was all the rage. You know, what with the Courtesy Campaign, Speak Mandarin Campaign, etc…

Do you find this Mosque familiar?

This was where I used to wait for my schoolbus during primary 1 and 2. My friends and I would usually put our bags there to ‘queue’ before running off to play at the playground beside it… Once on the swings, we would compete to see who could swing the highest…

(This was also the place where I saw my very first shooting star in primary two)

This was where the playground once stood but it’s gone now.

Walking along the same path where I used to tread on and looking at the changes of the estate somehow triggers alot of memories. It was indeed a nostalgic experience visiting the old neighborhood which had been an important part of my life and I am sure I would be coming back again sometime soon.