Singapore's Arts Festival - A walk to Remember (Part 1)

On Sunday the 5th of June, four wonderful couchsurfers, Jamie and I went on a trip! Our theme was loosely inspired by the Singapore's Arts Festival's "I want to Remember". 


As Singaporeans, we WANTED to remember our past and our history. But how could we when we didn't know anything about it? So we decided to organise a walk of sorts to the very old places in Singapore; sites which have been earmarked by our big daddy for "future redevelopment". We were happy to create these memories with our friends from abroad. Here is our story! 

Picture Summary of our trolley ride! I'm long-winded by nature (haha!) and so  the post will be long. Hence I've thoughtfully -ahem- put up a nice collage for our readers who wish to bypass the lengthy prose beneath!

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The torrential downpour had finally slowed to a drizzle and heavy humidity hung in the air once again. Dover MRT station was empty except for a group of strapping young men in basketball singlets.

"What train station? I don't know what bridge truss you are talking about" said the particularly tall basketballer as he peered down as earnestly as he could, letting slip an almost indistinct sneer in his voice.

I guess he was pissed off that I had had the audacity to literally step into his circle of big buff men.

We had just been told by the officers at the control station there that was no way we would be able to get to Bukit Timah railway station via Bus 74 (bullshit! We were right all along!).

We were desperate. Jamie and I had plans to take a group of couchsurfers around and we were probably going to be as clueless (or likely, more clueless) than them.

"Look here," the young man continued very slowly and deliberately, making sure to enunciate every syllabi in perfect Singlish "there are two bridges over here. One bridge on the right", he turned a hundred and eighty degrees, and pointed to the pedestrian bridge that led to the right side of the road, "and one bridge on the left. As for which bridge you want to go, I don't know. okay?"

I'm usually very well mannered. Really!! But this time, this barrel of laughter guffawed, gave the beefy cattle a cursory smile and rolled away in the direction of Jamie, eager to re-tell the moment.

Anyway, four young girls and two kind bus drivers later, Noemi (German but considers herself American ), Emma (who's Irish), Josephine (from the wonderful city of Versailles), Arush (who was born Iranian but lived in France), Jamie and I arrived at Bukit Timah Station via Bus 74. :p

3:30pm Bukit Timah Railway Station
Built in 1915, almost a hundred years ago. It has not received passengers since 1923, when Tanjong Pagar train station was completed in 1932. Little did we know that we would be one of the first passengers in many long years, as well as the last. 

4:10pm A yellow trolly from the direction of woodlands chugged pass, stopping in front of the station. A group of uniformed men hopped off. We wasted no time in pleading for passage. "Uncle, please, please, please". 

4:20pm  "Chooo chooo"and we're off!  Our sweet chorus of pleading must have been too much for this kind Encik who is really KLM's CEO. He had come all the way from KL to ride on this maintenance trolly one last time.


In our modern world where Shinkansens rule, I often dreamt of being on an old locomotive that really really chugs, only this was better! 

5pm We passed through thick forests and train tunnels while the rest of the world zoomed by in ultra modern cars right above us.  Some of the train tunnels had colourful graffiti spray painted on its underside; the sight of which effected loud oohs and ahhs from Jamie and I that must have left our foreigner friends puzzled! haha!

The above picture is one of my favourite scenes - super modern Singapore in the background (Pinnacle@Duxton built by the housing board. Yes, I'm incredibly proud to say that this IS public housing), older HDB flats in the middle ground and in the foreground, a wild piece of land engulfing what was once home to KTM's now defunct transportation of goods sector.

510pm Another station - I never knew of its existence. Our trolley driver tells us this is a "cabin" where the key token is exchanged once again. We've read that the train/trolley does not usually stop. Instead, it speeds by, throwing the token out of the window. 

But since this was the very LAST TIME any maintenance trolley would be passing by, our trolley stopped for a long time and both members on our trolley as well as the station master exchanged firm handshakes. I felt so privileged to have been able to witness these poignant exchanges.

5:45pm Our very lucky party of six who got to ride the trolley and the wonderful crew (all all the way from KL who came equipped with a zillion cameras!) who allowed us to ride the last trolley ride with them. 

Goodbye Yellow Trolley! We'll always remember.