We had arranged to go to the camp on the 1st November but we were having such
awful weather that we decided to cut short the Thailand trip and we flew to KL.
I rang Major Anwar (Defense Department) at the High Comm in Singapore and he was not
really pleased that we were changing the arangements. I don't think that he told the camp
because when we got there they were obviously not expecting us.
After much deliberation the young man dealing with us found some transport and we set off.
They neither of them spoke much English but we managed very well. One thing amused me -
they pronounced mosque as MOSKEW. It is a very impressive one and is on the way into the
camp before you get to the guard room.
There is a new part to the guard room and it is like a visitors reporting area.
The first stop was the Olympic Pool and it is very well looked after but the Roman
Catholic church is a little seedy after all these years.
The Beach Club was clean and tidy as well and fenced off and I think it will be to stop
the children falling in. The place is unattended and not like it was when we were there.
I am sure that when we were there we did not have nice blue steps down to the beach
- but someone please correct me if I am wrong. I always got on to the beach from Beach
Avenue through the bit of jungle that was left and then walked along and scramble up the
slope to the pool.
When I looked at the O.R.'s bar there I just fancied a Nasi Goreng - they were lovely from
there.
Next we went to Jalan Malor which is Stevenson Avenue and there I got a shock although
some previous visitor had said that the quarters were in a dreadful conditions. I was not
prepared to see my house which was a cool shade of blue and now turned in to a beige,
mucky, scruffy delapidated house. It has been pointed out to me that we had gardners and
cleaners where as the present army people will not. I met the lady living there now and
she was all smiles. I could kick myself though that I didn't go round the back to take
pictures of the lovely back garden - well lovely when we were there. That would have
brought back some memories.
I liked the shopping arcade although the colour scheme is abit lurid. The covered walkways
are a good idea and the swings are definitely a good thing. I went in to a shop to get a
drink and missed seeing the watch shop and the photo shop with that attractive little girl
who used to work in there.
Maybe I should have gone to the cemetary but I was so strung up that I forgot lots of
things. I wanted to take picture of the graves of the three people mentioned in these
pages. Anyway we had a lovely time and I am glad that we made the effort to go.