my dad was born in china, canton province, teo ann district, leng oh town, 1950. my grandma brought him to singapore at the age of 7. once arrive, they are station at at island called "kusu island" now where they are held up for 2 days, full body check up before coming to singapore. landing at "red light harbour". my grandpa was at singapore then. dad, grandma and grandpa took the trishaw went to havelock road, attap maki and settled there. grandpa's boss then was a supervisor at plastic factory (SGD$150/mth). grandma also work there SGD$2.50/day. rice was $0.15 with curry and vegi. when ah mah and ah gong was working, dad went to the school till primary 5 (bao chet primary school near havelock rd) at when ah gong lost his job. the factory went bankrupt. then ah mah sold tao tiao mee, kway chap. ($0.15 per bowl). ah gong help ah mah and dad went to work at queenstown(boss home). morning 7am sell bowl, cultury, plates, until 12 noon, then follow boss to stock up goods, sell at pasah malam. job knock off from 10plus. after work he went to boss's home to sleep. his house is situated at the currently infront of the queensway shopping center. (SGD$20/mth)
lifes goes on until aged 14. goh leng kerng, his older cousin, intro him a job to sell textile - lian heng. day time sell at tiong barhu, afternoon will set up at new market road until 9pm. after that he will sleep at his boss house at no. 12 new market road. everymonth when dad gets his salary, he will ah mah to give her all his salary. (SGD$80/mth). the life goes on for 2 years.
till then, see pang, an aquantance, intro dad another job to sell textile at tiong barhu market, boss: lim bark kwang. (SGD$140/mth) morning 7am ride trishaw with full load of textile, from indus road, till near amoy street, (dad pronoued to me as meh kalang street). that was boss house. then to tiong bahru, noon will go to china street. 6pm will go to boss home again. then back back to indus road. indus road flat room rental was SGD$26.00. the room was avalible because of the bukit ho swee fire. the whole kampong was relocated. job goes on till marriage.
at then, my mum's mother, wa-mah, know my ah mah through some gambling session, playing see sek(4-color) . wah mah's bro owe's a soya sauce factory, which linked to yeo hiap seng, gave the business to wah mah due to the bukit ho swee fire. ah mah will go to wah mah's house to work as a part time labouror. thro all these, they both into their child into marriage. dad followed see pang to wah mah's house, presently SAFTI, to visit my mum. the first time when dad saw mum, the was like a wood. duno about BGR. bus number 198 will link dad to mum. at the time of courtship, mum will use her home own car to fetch dad to go dating. they will go jurong hill, botonical garden, mount faber. dating goes on for 18mths. the working hrs my dad has was off half a day after 2 weeks. when dad was abt 24yrs old, both parents agreed to their marriage. marriage dinner was at hang kang restruant. ang pao was $4 to $8. leng kerng gave the biggest ang pao. 1973 was their first child. miscarriaged. they rented a room at bukit ho swee. the child was then 3mth plus. mum went to alexandra hospital when she found pain. dad recived phone call while at work when the news of miscarriage. worried.
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