Fond Memories Part 1 - St. Michael's Estate

This is a very old photo of my childhood home. I stay there since I was born but shifted out when I got married (1983). The flat was one of the first few homes built in Singapore during the late 50s to early 60s by Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT).

The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) was a government organisation set up in 1927 by the British colonial government in Singapore in response to the housing needs of the population of Singapore. To read more about SIT, you can read from wikipedia. Now the Housing and Development Board take over the SIT.

So I was lucky to be able to live in a flat since the day I was born so I have flushing toilet system and I dont have to use the bucket type of toilet...lol. Most flats during the early days are rented but nowadays more than 90% of homeowners in Singapore own their own flats/houses. (I dont have the latest figure of homeownership...so the figure was based on what I read in the papers.)

The flat and the surrounding flats were all demolished and now new flats built by the HDB take over the place. There are only 3 or 4 new blocks replacing about 20 blocks of the old flats, most are vacant land, I guess there are more plans to built more new flats when there is a demand for it. I just couldn't recognize the place when I went back there last month to have a look at the estate.

The newer flats are much more expensive and higher. Each flat in this area can cost about S$300,000 or more depending how big the flat is.

This empty lot used to be a very big wet market selling poultry, fishes, vegetables, pork, etc and some stalls outside the wet market sell cooked food. I missed the market because it brought back fond memories of my childhood.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Whampoa Estate Part 5-Wet Market and Hawker Centre

My contribution for pink saturday are some interesting scenes in the market.

This is a hawker centre where they sold mostly local food and the prices are quite reasonable . This estate is so old and most of the hawkers are long timers and the food they sold are so good.

Just walked across the hawker centre is the wet and dry market. The wet part sold fishes, chicken, vegetables, etc , while the dry sold dry groceries , clothes, cloth, household items, etc. Did you spot the "P" in Whampoa as a contribution to Pink Saturday?

Did you spot any pink dress in the above photo?

Stalls selling dry groceries like curry powder, spices, pepper, mushroom, nuts, etc

Inside the market will be the wet part, where they sold poultry, fishes, etc

As it is near noon, the market is close for the day, so the stall holders has to wash and keep their stalls clean.

I hope you enjoy the introduction of the market and hawker centre. :)

For more pinky participants, please visit Beverly of How Sweet The Sound.

Skywatch Friday - Whampoa Part 3-Fishing

My skywatch is still in Whampoa Estate. This canal leads to the open sea.

Can you spot a man fishing in the above photo? He is at a corner. Look at the below photo for a closer look at the man. I wonder if he ever catch any fish?

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.

Please return tomorrow for interesting post on the market place in whampoa estate.

Whampoa Part 2-HDB Shophouses

Continuing from my post about Whampoa Estate, here are shophouses that been here for a long time, at least more than 20 years.

These shophouses are known as HDB Shophouses located in the heartland of Singapore where majority of Singaporeans lived. Most of the times you can bargain for your products for about 10 to 20% discount unless they are fixed price. Sometimes, you can find things you cannot find in big shopping malls. You have to return to visit my post on the market place in next few posts.

Most of the shopowners lived above their shops and these shophouses are not cheap, some are sold for about a million dollars and the owner would then rent out or use for their own. My sister had one shophouse just like the one on the right. She stay above her shop.

Please return for more interesting post on whampoa estate.

Community Club

This area used to be a sleepy small village with many attap houses. Attap houses are houses with attap leaves as their roof and the name attap is named after the tree.


I remember seeing cows and goats in here when I was a very young child. Now flats are spotted here. I used to stay around this area but shifted out when my brother bought a flat and my other sisters and myself got married and got our own home too. This area is very old at least more than 30 to 40 years old. The flat that I used to stay are all demolished, I will talk about it at later post. I will post a photo of my old home in later post.

This area is known as Whampoa named after a well known Chinese named Hoo Ah Kay, Whampoa (1816-1880). You can view his history from here.

This is Whampoa Community Club where residents can come here to meet up or join any activities that the CC organises. Noticed the name of the CC are in four different languages, Malay, Chinese Tamil and English. We are a multi racial country and the CC is for all races.



Some of the activities organised by the CC.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.