Sunday, July 24, 2016

River folk series 2

More portraits of river folk  from the collection. These were selected to share the mood of the river at that time.

 
favourite trishaw man



temple brother



rolling up one
  
short back and sides....

  

  
                                                                                     tomorrow today?  fortune teller....

Friday, July 15, 2016

Faces of the river folk

Going through the archives I see so many portraits of people from that time. Here is a selection of some of them. Faces from the river.

peanut seller                                                                  twakow guys resting





ladies in a doorway                          corner shop




lunch break                                                                 street sinseh




   mateship                                                                 tobacco seller with his snakeskin rattle











Monday, July 4, 2016

The Kallang Boat temple (nr.1 missing ikons list)

In coastal China and HongKong there are a group of people, most likely Hakka in origin, referred to as "Boat People". They have their own Taoist style ritualised worship .
  In Singapore at the Kallang river I noticed under the Benjamin Sheares Bridge along Nicoll Highway a small double tiered boat painted in green and red which on closer inspection turned out to be a temple. It lay permanently parked there for many years until the river clean ups in 1987.
   I can't say too much about this as I never saw anyone to talk to. I do feel rather disappointed with myself that I did not make the effort to investigate more deeply. One day it just disappeared. Similar to so many things I took for granted ...and then..poof !** ~~  they were gone.
    ** (Message to self..make a list for further discussion of Singapore entities that disappeared)
 Anyway here is no 1 on that list :



Heres hoping there is some other soul out there that knows something about this Boat temple, or anyone ancient as myself who remembers it. Please make contact or just leave a comment.
I will search for some other photos I have on this topic and plan to add later.

Heres an idea in case there is a following. Do use this blog to pose your own questions about buildings or monuments that you remember now long gone and were wondering.






The above photo is of another boat temple parked at Pasir Panjang wharf, (Pulau Retan) visited by now deceased photographer and my friend Phillip Little in the late 1980s.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

The old Fatty's restaurant

This blog centres on the river and places close by also including old iconic places once famous locally and internationally. I will do something later on Bugis street, but today I want to focus on a super restaurant located in Albert Street known Internationally as "FATTY'S", where the main dish served was Hainanese style chicken rice.
   The street at night was full of energy with a bustling traffic till the am hours. Here is a photo that will speak more than words to describe the scene.