Green Dragon's anniversary

 Pic taken: 12 June 2016.

The wayang (Chinese street opera) started on the right foot -- by unscrolling a banner that said " Peace on Earth". No, it wasn't Christmas. It was June and the wayang marked the anniversary of the Green Dragon temple nearby. 

There wasn't a single soul out in the open on that hot afternoon. No audience  notwithstanding, the actors and actresses proceeded to go round the temple -- perhaps only the main players as I saw only three of them plus one holding some sort of whisk* slumped at the post of a nearby bridge (guess he was tired) -- to pay homage to the deities in the temple. 

Then, the three made their way back to the stage, met by the one with the whisk at the bridge. They took a bow to an invisible audience and unfurled the peace banner -- all to clanging cymbals and blaring wind instruments. 

After that, it was exit stage left. And there was peace as they turned in for a siesta before their real performance in the evening, hopefully for a larger audience than just me.

*BTW, a horsetail whisk was believed to have magical powers to whisk away evils. It can be used as weapon too -- you see them often enough in old Cantonese gongfu movies -- a flick of this weapon, usually used by highly skilled nuns, could send victims flying. I believe (if memory serves me right) there was such a nun in "Sin Hawk Sun Jum" (The Fairy Crane and the Magic Needle).

Pic taken: Aug, 2015. 

The Ang Chee Sia Ong (Green Dragon Temple) at West Coast Drive: A Mr Wang Dong Qing brought to Singapore the joss ash from a temple on the south bank of Hanjiang in Chaozhou, Guangdong. He eventually erected a temple at Pasir Panjang's 7th milestone (Tao Yuan Village) in the 1920s. When the area was redeveloped, it was moved to West Coast Drive, consecrated in June 1997. The temple features a Green Dragon pond, bridge (which used to spout water from two dragons when one stepped on the bridge) and fountain. Another highlight is the wall carvings depicting 24 classic examples of filial piety -- for example, story of the son staying up the whole night to serve as "food" for mosquitoes -- just so they won't attack his mother.

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The legend attached to the original temple (Qing Long Gu Miao) in China, is interesting. According to this site:, green snakes were found near a temple built to honour an upright official (during the era of the Three Kingdoms). Any generals seeing a such a green snake would end up victorious in battle. Hence, the temple became known as Qing Long Miao (Green Dragon Temple). BTW, in ancient Chinese culture, serpents were more or less equated with dragons.

Railway temples

A shrine marks the spot where the Sri Muneswara Temple used to be at Kg Bahru.

THE Sri Muneswara Temple at Kampong Bahru was at least 60 years old when it was demolished in 2011. Apparently it had moved several places in the vicinity (former KTM land) before it got to where it used to be at Blair Road. And now, it has moved to 871, Upper Bukit Timah Road -- again, near the Railway Corridor. They have a Facebook! Their timeline started in 2012.

Built by Indian railway workers, it was registered with the Malaysian authorities. There was similar temple along the railway line, near Portsdown Road -- photographed and mentioned by Joseph Nair in his article in Going Places, a publication by URA. I am not sure it is still there. Possibly not.

Then there's the grand temple that's quite well known at Commonwealth Drive. It too, has its origins as a small hut and shrine at Queensway, erected in 1932, also by railway workers. Due to Queensway's widening, it became the grand building (pillarless) that it is today, in 1998. It's believed to be Southeast Asia's largest shrine for Sri Muneswara.

Circle of change

Previously part of  KTM --  now state land -- and soon part of a car park and bus interchange. Picture taken from Blair Road,  7 May 2016.

Now that this plot of land at Blair Road and Kg Bahru Road is going to become a car park and bus interchange, perhaps I will soon know whether this round thing I see was once a fountain? It looks a lot like one to me. But what was a fountain doing there? Currently, this piece of land is really green and lush -- befitting a park (Spottiswoode Park) or a plain (Blair Plain). Oh well, all part of the cycle of change.

Postnote: The "mysterious" circle was actually some sort of structure and mechanism probably for refuelling. See Streetsing's post. It could also be used for reversing the engine -- suggested Walter who took the picture below in 2011.

Picture taken by Walter in 2011.

And the shrine at the tree guarding the entrance to the land, marked where the Sri Muneswara Temple used to be before it was torn down in 2011. See Walter's blog. You can also see the remaining structure of the temple in the picture above as it was being demolished.

Today -- the Sri Muneswara shrine at the entrance to the land from Blair Road.

Land will be cleared for a car park and bus interchange, according to a Straits Times report today (23 May). Picture taken 7 May 2016.

Everton spirals

The orange unit gets a facelift -- but still sports a spiral staircase. Pic taken 7 May 2016.

Here's another one that is next to Asia Gardens. Pic: 7 May 2016. 

Everton has really charming shophouses. But those spiral staircases which I like so much are well hidden in their back courtyards -- or perhaps not around anymore -- I can't tell unless I peer into their covered-up backyards. Anyway, I managed to find two "exposed" ones.

I must say that Everton has some of the most interesting shophouses in Singapore and I will be posting pictures of those in my other blog on shophouses. (I know many pictures of these famous shophouses have been posted already... but I am slow on the uptake, as usual.)

Just a little trivial: Besides their beautiful wall murals, there's a unit at Everton Road that was much talked about -- maybe for the wrong reason -- associated with a coroner inquiry in 2013.