{"id":366,"date":"2011-08-21T23:49:14","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T15:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/?p=366"},"modified":"2011-11-30T16:11:02","modified_gmt":"2011-11-30T08:11:02","slug":"a-visit-to-my-childhood-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/2011\/08\/a-visit-to-my-childhood-home","title":{"rendered":"A Visit To My Childhood Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not too long ago, a friend and primary school classmate told me that the HDB block where I used to live in as a child will be torn down soon. It is part of the Selective En-Block Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), and by now most of the residents have moved out.<\/p>\n

Not wanting to lose a piece of my childhood memory to the rapid development that Singapore is undergoing, I decided to make a trip down to take some photos of the place where I grew up in. I was feeling rather lazy so for this I’ve decided to use my trusty Panasonic LX-3 instead of my DLSR. The Panasonic also has the advantage of having a wide-angle 24mm at f\/2.0 which my DSLR setup cannot provide.<\/p>\n

Block 20, Upper Boon Keng Road is a L-shaped HDB block. Arriving at the carpark near the intersection of the “L”, I took a shot of it from the bottom. I had the fortune of having a nice blue sky today.<\/p>\n

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A view from the bottom corner where the 2 sides of the black meet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearby is a now-disused and rusted bicycle racks.<\/p>\n

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Disused and rusted bicycle racks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Downstairs, at the void deck is a provision shop that I used to visit regularly to buy tidbits. It still looked the same as I remembered, with a public toilet next to it which visitors have to pay 10 cents to use.<\/p>\n

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The now-vacated old provision shop at the void deck where I used to buy titbits as a kid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moving over to the open field in front of the flat, I took a shot which shows the L-shape construction of the block.<\/p>\n

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View of the L-shaped Block 20, Upper Boon Keng Road, from the open field in front.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interestingly, the playground (which wasn’t there when I was staying here) only has a rocking horse and nothing else. Kind of pathetic, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

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A lone rocking horse at the playground below the block.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like many HDB flats of yesterday, Block 20 has sides made of a red brick wall where a sign indicating the block number is attached to.<\/p>\n

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View of the brick side-wall of the block with the Block 20 sign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A close-up view of the Block 20 sign on the brick wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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View of the block from the car park. Tone-mapping was done in Photomatix to bring out some details on the brick wall which was in a shaded area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Typical of old HDB flats, some of the lift landings require climbing a short flight of stairs to get to. I believe that’s because they need some space below for the lift engine or other mechanics.<\/p>\n

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A small flight of stairs leads to the lift landing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lift here is of the old-school kind, with buttons and indicators lit by orange\/yellow incandescent light bulbs instead of the newer LEDs. The door is also a single sliding door instead of the more common double doors you see today in newer HDB flats.<\/p>\n

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An old-style HDB lift. One needs to climb a small flight of stairs to reach this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The incandescent-lit lift button.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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An old-style lift-level indicator lit but incandescent bulbs. This is actually taken from another lift in the same block as I've forgotten to shoot the same one when I was taking this lift.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The control panel inside is just as old school. Typical of old lifts, this one does not stop at every level, only at specific levels.<\/p>\n

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The old-style lift control panel, complete with incandescent-lit buttons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I took the lift to the 10th floor to see what it’s like. I can no longer remember how it looked like when I was still a child, but it’d still be interesting to see what it looks like now.<\/p>\n

What greeted me was a panoramic view of the surroundings.<\/p>\n

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A panoramic view taken from the 10th floor towards the direction of Geylang. Click the image for a larger view.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Looking down the corridor, I was intrigued by the converging lines of the ceiling and the parapet wall leading towards the other part of the “L” shaped block.<\/p>\n

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A view down the corridor from the 10th storey showing the other part of the "L" shaped block.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Looking down, we see the open field where a playground and basketball court is. A tent has been setup for some religious event (probably the Hungry Ghost Festival).<\/p>\n

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View of the field in front from the 10th floor. There's a playground and a basket ball court. A tent has been setup for some religious activity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I decided to go higher up to the 14th floor to see what I can get. I realised I did not have a shot of the corridor showing the residential units so I decided to take one.<\/p>\n

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A view down the corridor from the 14th storey, showing the residential units which are now vacant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Walking along the corridor, I realised some of the units have missing windows, presenting an opportunity for the voyeur in me to snap a couple of photos of the interiors.<\/p>\n

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The evening sun streams into a decorated living room complete with Roman columns, now vacated and abandoned.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I also decided to take another panoramic view of the scene in front of me, this time from the 14th floor and a slightly different angle.<\/p>\n

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Panoramic view taken from the 14th floor. Part of the Aljunied MRT Station can be seen on the left. Click on the image to view a larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

High shots done, I decided to go to level 5 where I used to stay. The parapet wall has regular openings guarded by a steel grille. I remember peering through them to see the happenings below when I was still a child.<\/p>\n

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A little grille at regular intervals along the parapet wall which I used to peer through as a kid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Approaching my old home, I realised the unit which my ex-neighbour used to stay has large splats of black and red paint on the door – a sign that the debt collectors from the loan sharks has come. The current owners must have owed them money.<\/p>\n

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A vandalised front door - the work of the runners of loan sharks performed on units where the owners owed them money.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And this is the unit where I used to live in. #05-1142.<\/p>\n

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The unit which I stayed as a kid before we moved out to a bigger place later. A notice of possession can be seen posted on the door.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A view down the 5th floor corridor outside the unit where I lived.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mission accomplished, I took my leave and walked past a residents’ corner. This must have been a new addition as it wasn’t there by the time we moved out.<\/p>\n

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This wasn't there when I still lived here. It was added later as a place for senior citizens to sit back, relax and chat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And before I go, one last shot of the block.<\/p>\n

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Another view of the block from the car park. This is the side facing Block 19.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Farewell, Block 20. Thanks for the memories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not too long ago, a friend and primary school classmate told me that the HDB block where I used to live in as a child will be torn down soon. It is part of the Selective En-Block Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), and by now most of the residents have moved out. Not wanting to lose a… Continue reading A Visit To My Childhood Home<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[156,158,21,157],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}