Eating out in Singapore in the 1960s

When I was putting together my book More Memories of Singapore and Malaya several years ago, my father recalled eating out in Singapore in the 1960s:

'One of the pleasant benefits of the upheaval of moving to Singapore was being able to eat out more. There was a huge variety of foods from all corners of the world - Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, Indian, Chinese, French and even English if you were hard up. Nowadays, all of these different dishes are fairly commonplace but I doubt that any of them have the original flavours and spices that you found in Singapore and Johore Bahru. Our favourite eating place had to be George's Steak House in

Johore Bahru. During our time there, I must have worked my way through the whole menu! There were no steaks that I didn't try including fillet mignon, chateaubriand, fillet steak and carpetbaggers to mention a few. Then there was Lobster Thermidor, sweet and sour prawns and sweet and sour pork. We tried many times to get the sweet and sour recipes without success. I suspect they simply didn't understand us. Their curries were terrific and the curry on a Sunday lunchtime was out of this world. After being up at the Mess to the open-air cinema, we would call in for a barbecue outside the hotel in the garden. It seemed like everything it was possible to barbecue ended up on your plate. The only problem with the barbecue is while you enjoyed your food, the mozzies made a meal of you! Of course, all of these meals had to be washed down with copious amounts of Tiger Beer! The ladies seemed to prefer a Tom or a John Collins. Well, in such a warm climate, you had to make sure that you didn't get dehydrated!

The food everywhere had to be tasted to be believed. As always, Chinese food was always a front runner. Chinese New Year was celebrated in the Senior Rates Mess. Apart from the usual band, dance, raffle and so on, there was a ten-course meal. It sounds far too much to eat but over the evening, with frequent intervals for dancing or simply talking and joking, it was surprising how much you ate. I remember that three of the courses were different soups. One was bird's nest soup. I didn't like the look of it and didn't try it. The second was shark's fin soup. Again, I was a coward. The third was chicken soup. I've never been a fan of chicken soup but this one was really nice. Each soup was served in a tureen with a ladle and we helped ourselves. Everyone was enjoying it until a friend dug deep with the ladle and came up with a chicken foot!
Food stalls cropped up everywhere in the city. The tables and chairs were very basic and placed on the sidewalk or anywhere convenient. After making your choice, the food would be cooked adjacent to your table with flames and smells erupting from the fires and pans. I don't remember having anything I didn't like.
In town for the night, the ladies usually had a Singapore Sling - a mixture of gin, cherry brandy, cointreau and soda. A lethal mix! The main bar was run by Lingha. He was a friendly bloke, Chinese and very well made. He usually wore shorts that were very large and flapped around his legs. I'm sure that he must have been the inspiration for that Eric Morecambe sketch. He always rode a scooter. Not only did he ride his scooter to and from work, he also made 10am deliveries to all of the Malaysian Naval base. He would chug-chug in, wearing his voluminous shorts and flip flops, with many boxes perched precariously on the back. His curry puffs were

legendary. On nights when I was on duty, he would bring in my supper - usually Nasi Goreng and prawns wrapped in a banana leaf.
The prawns were huge, the Nasi Goreng delicious and the Tiger Beer wasn't bad either!'

My Dad's posting to Singapore in 1959

Years before we all went to Singapore and Malaya as a family in 1965, my Dad travelled to the country with the Navy on HMS Centaur in 1959. He wrote about his experiences in my book Memories of Singapore and Malaya:

'My first visit to Singapore was in September 1959. How long ago it seems! I was 23 years old and wide open to new experiences. I arrived there on board HMS Centaur which was an aircraft carrier. The ship was commissioned on the 3rd December 1958. She was 737 feet long with a beam of 128 feet. She carried 1,637 men which included the air squadrons. Between September 1958 and April 1960, she steamed 80,916 nautical miles and used 62,000 tons of fuel oil. Aircraft landed on her deck 7805 times. I promise no more statistics! The ship sailed through the Med. After the Suez Canal, our route took in Aden, Karachi, Cochin, Trincomalee and then Singapore. The ship had got hotter and more uncomfortable as we travelled further and further eastwards. When there was no flying taking place, everyone took the slightest opportunity to get on the flight deck. The ship's movement caused a welcome breeze. Hours could be spent in the relative coolness watching all shapes and sizes of sea snakes and jellyfish drifting by. The many dolphins swimming effortlessly alongside and the flying fish skimming the surface were enthralling. Nevertheless, the heat on board was relentless, so when we were told we would be victualled in HMS Terror, during the docking period, it was a blessed relief! The ship was taken into King George V dry dock. She was an impressive spectacle high and dry in the glorious sunshine.

The accommodation at HMS Terror was on several levels with each level having lovely cool balconies. We spent hours there writing letters home, chatting and playing cards etc. A short walk away was a swimming pool. Tiger Beer flowed like water. After life on board, this was just about paradise. Sembawang Village was close by with its duty free shops and bars. Cameras, watches, binoculars and all the usual was on offer at good prices. However, we were more fascinated with the toy shops. There were toys for sale that you couldn't find in the UK. We would have a good look at them all and soon the floor of the shop would be covered in toys, all battery operated including aeroplanes, robots, telephones and all sorts of gadgets. While we made our selections, we would be given a glass of Tiger Beer. The shopkeepers knew how to keep a customer happy. As with all of the local people, they were very polite, courteous and friendly. After a bit of bartering, our presents were wrapped up and ready for the kids back home. Our visits to Singapore City itself were limited. We did have to work sometimes and our pay in those days was pretty poor. Nevertheless, Tiger Balm Gardens was a must to visit. The other attraction in town was the Britannia Club which was solely for service personnel. It had a magnificent swimming pool and restaurants and was situated across the road from the famous Raffles Hotel. We spent many a happy hour looking around the town and then relaxing in the club. I recall taking a ride in a trishaw. A car clipped the side of it and we were dumped unceremoniously into the road as it tipped over. All the locals seemed to find it hilarious and it was just as well that nobody was hurt. The trishaw was a bit bent and, to rub salt into the wounds, the driver expected a tip! The aircraft squadrons had flown ashore before we docked and spent time at RAF Seletar and RAF Butterworth. Any rest and relaxation they got was well earned as their working days were filled with danger. We lost several helicopters and planes during the commission and sadly, some of the pilots. A ship of this size was like a small village and any tragedy touched us all.

On the 3rd October, we spent a weekend at Pulau Tioman which is situated off the east coast of Malaysia. It was my idea of a perfect tropical island with golden sands bleached by the sun and crystal clear blue water. It was completely uninhabited or so it seemed. We were landed by one of the ships' boats. The palm trees bent out towards the sea at such an angle that you could almost walk up the trunks. One of the sailors climbed up and started trying to knock down the coconuts. At this point, a native came out of the jungle and shouted,' Hey Jack! Leave my bloody coconuts alone!' He came from a tin hut which was just behind the tree line. All around the hut were the rotting husks of coconuts. He had an ample supply of coca-cola which he sold to anyone interested. I cannot imagine who he would sell to normally as we never saw another soul all of the time we were there. We had a wonderful day. I had flippers, mask and a spear gun. The waters were alive with fish of every colour and shape and the coral was spectacular. I caught several crayfish.
Back on board, at night, we bribed the chief chef with a tot of rum to cook them for us. They were
delicious with a can or two of ice cold beer. The ship sailed on from there to Hong Kong, Japan and all of the major ports of Australia. We returned to Singapore in 1960 but not without mishap. We came alongside too quickly and crunched the dockyard wall and smashed a lamppost. The port anchor was huge and the shock of the impact shook it free. It landed on the jetty with a terrific thump. I needed a haircut while we were in the harbour and there was a barber's shop in HMS Terror. I found out when I arrived that the barber was in fact a young Chinese girl. In those days, there were not any female barbers, so it was a bit of a shock. Nevertheless, I was soon in the chair with her clipping away in a competent manner. The next thing I knew, she was clipping away inside my ears and before I could stop her, the scissors were up my nose! I've had trims before but never one in so many places. We left Singapore for the last time on the 4th February 1960 and finally arrived home in Plymouth on the 26th April 1960. We had been away for 3 days short of a year. I never dreamt that five years later I would return with my family and live there for three wonderful years.'

Singapore in the 1960s

This blog has been offline for about 5 years but there's been a lot of interest in the recent history of Singapore lately, with many Facebook groups springing up, and I thought it would be a good idea to restore it.

My family lived in Singapore and Malaya between 1965 and 1968. We lived at Johore Bahru across the causeway from Singapore and my father was a Chief Petty Officer working at KD Malaya within the Naval Base. This blog is mainly about our lives at that time as well as the lives of the thousands of other children who were also stationed there at the same time. I've written four books about my experiences including Sampans, Banyans and Rambutans, Memories of Singapore and Malaya, More Memories of Singapore and Malaya and Monsoon Memories. All are available from Amazon and other bookstores.

I hope to continue this blog with new stories and photos but, meanwhile, I've posted many pictures on the Facebook group, On A Little Street in Singapore. Please check it out.

Below is my original blog post, first posted in 2009:

Many people reading this blog will have read my books, 'Sampans, Banyans and Rambutans' and 'Memories of Singapore and Malaya' which feature tales from my childhood in Singapore and Malaya in the 1960s. I hope to continue writing similar stories here and hopefully, this will include other people's memories and photos from the same time also. I have been working on a new book called, 'More Memories of Singapore and Malaya' which will hopefully be available before December 2009.

Living in Singapore and Malaya was an idyllic experience especially for a child. The whole area has changed so much now. I haven't been back since 1990 but noticed a lot of change even back then. I hope to return one day and visit all our old haunts including Penang, where we stayed at the Sandycroft Leave Centre. I hope people who lived in Singapore and Malaya at the same time as me will find this blog interesting and I hope to add to it as much as possible. If you have any stories or photos from that time, please feel free to email them to me.

Jalan Wijaya and Google Earth

Firstly, sorry for not blogging for a long time but I've been busy writing books, many of which can be found at : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Derek-Tait/e/B0034NQ5E0
I love Google Earth but when I've tried to look at our old house at 103 Jalan Wijaya, Century Gardens (Taman Abad), Johore Bahru, all I've been able to see is an aerial shot and it's been hard to make anything out.
However, it seems that Google Earth has recently introduced street view and it's been amazing to not only see our old house (it looks so small now) but also to travel along the streets and see how the area has changed over the years. It's certainly a lot more built up with houses and tall rise buildings in the distance. The jungle of the 1960s has long since gone but it's still easy to recognise many of the places I visited as a boy. Across the road is Mr

Lee's house (he'll be long gone now) and travelling along the road takes me to the shops where we got our groceries and where there was an insurance man with a pet monkey. Jalan Dato Sulaiman (where the shops were) was once a quiet road but is now very busy and built up. At the bottom, was 'Flip Flop Hill' where the bus would brake down and everyone would jump out (or off the sides) and give it a push. It was called Flip Flop Hill by the

British residents because it ran by the old rubber factory. The factory and Flip Flop Hill are now also long gone and it's hard to tell where it was nowadays.

I don't suppose I'll ever travel all the way to Singapore and Malaya again so, I suppose, Google Earth is the next best thing!

Christmas at Robinsons

Here's a lovely photo that was kindly sent to me by Helga Ford showing her younger daughter at Robinsons in Singapore in the early 1960s. I'm sure we all remember visiting Santa when we were kids. I particularly remember the ones at the Naval Base and the parties and the presents we got. My present was a wonky camera that fell apart when I got home. Seems such a long time ago now.

(Sorry, photo temporarily mislaid but here's another showing Robinsons at Christmas).

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my friends around the world who have enjoyed my books and blogs about Singapore and Malaya. It's been lovely hearing from you all over the years, all with similar memories to my own of our idyllic times spent in Singapore and Malaya.
I haven't added much to my blog in the last year but hope to write a lot more in 2014.
I've had lots of books to compile for various publishers over the last year so that's kept me very busy. Next year will see three books all about the First World War and one about the 1960s. I hope to write a lot more about Singapore sometime in the future.
Thanks to everyone for their support, it's been lovely to hear from you all. Best wishes for Christmas and for 2014!

Noel Harrison

I was sorry to read about the death of Noel Harrison recently. For many, he will be remembered fondly for his record 'Windmills of the Mind' but for me, he is best remembered for his role as Mark Slate in The Girl From Uncle. When the programme was first shown, I was 5 years old and living in Jalan Wijaya, Johore Bahru, Malaya. We all loved The Man From Uncle which had started two years earlier and loved anything that was connected to the show, so when the spin-off series began, we all made sure we watched it. The show was broadcast for a year and also starred Stefanie Powers as

April Dancer. Although the show is almost forgotten nowadays, hearing the theme or seeing clips from the programme instantly transports me back to my boyhood, staying in on a hot day, making sure I didn't miss it. Of course, we all really wanted to be Napoleon Solo or Ilya Kuryakin from The Man From Uncle and perhaps The Girl From Uncle wasn't quite as popular but it will always bring back happy memories for me.