Roast Posted November 26, 2013 Posted November 26, 2013 Greetings Everyone, I'm 35 and from Singapore. Been lurking in these forums for a while and am pretty happy to find that it's quite active and full of informative posts. Got myself a XVS400 Dragstar Classic a week ago and enjoying it so far. Have lots of questions to ask. I am good with a wrench, but have no experience working with bikes. I'll have a lot to learn from the guys here. Ride safe!
blackhat250 Posted November 26, 2013 Posted November 26, 2013 Good day roast" lots on Xvs owners to keep you right , did you miss that storm over there,,
slice Posted November 26, 2013 Posted November 26, 2013 Hi Roast, Welcome to the YOC, make your self at home.
fil77 Posted November 28, 2013 Posted November 28, 2013 Hi! Roast Singapore and especially Malaysia are my 2 favourite places to be. I married my wife in Butterworth 42 years ago so my inlaws are all in Malaysia. I have a great time every visit and love the food. Spent a few months at the RAF base at Tengah back in 1969. Things have certainly changed since then. I hardly recognised it when we were there a few years ago. My nephew who lives in Johor and works on Singapore took us over for the day. Happy and safe riding. Ken
mike1949 Posted November 29, 2013 Posted November 29, 2013 Hi Roast, what a coincidence. I was stationed in Singapore in the 60's in Sembawang and believe it or not at this present moment my son is there. Not in Sembawang but elsewhere on the island.
Roast Posted December 12, 2013 Author Posted December 12, 2013 Hi Mike, were you stationed at HMS Terror? I was stationed there as well during my stint in the navy. Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk
mike1949 Posted December 12, 2013 Posted December 12, 2013 No, I was on HMS Triumph which was in Terror, or just anchored off but we used to come into Terror a lot. I got most of my tattoos just down the road in neesoon? (not sure of spelling) by Johnny Gurkah. I've still got them
Roast Posted December 12, 2013 Author Posted December 12, 2013 In the 60s? Wow. I was there in the late 90s. The whole place has changed a lot. Don't think Johnny Gurkah is still around. Small world. Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk
mike1949 Posted December 13, 2013 Posted December 13, 2013 I bet it's all skyscrapers now. I can remember Bars with only a record player, playing Tom Jones "green green grass of home" over and over again. On the way back to Terror food stalls selling banjo's. Pirate taxis, I think were Mercedes. The Maryland bar where I used to frequent often and "The Yardbirds" walking in. Bugis street. The stalls which used to sell tea in a glass with a slice of cake. The causeway going over to Johore Bahru One thing you can help me with is we used to visit a place where they had displays of models of people being tortured, something "world"
fil77 Posted December 13, 2013 Posted December 13, 2013 One thing you can help me with is we used to visit a place where they had displays of models of people being tortured, something "world" That sounds like ,what I know as "The Tiger Balm Gardens". (Probably not the correct name).
mike1949 Posted December 14, 2013 Posted December 14, 2013 That sounds like ,what I know as "The Tiger Balm Gardens". (Probably not the correct name). Cheers fil77, that rings a bell. Were you there by any chance? The reason I ask is that when I was there in 1967 the naval base at Sembawang was being taken over by the Ozzies. As far as I can remember the dockyard was slowly being converted from RN to RAN, am I correct? Maybe Roast can help on this one?
fil77 Posted December 14, 2013 Posted December 14, 2013 Sorry Mike1949, I was in a different service. I spent 3 months at Tengah Air Base on detachment as our home base was getting it's landing strip resurfaced. That was in early 69. I spent 3 years at Butterworth in Malaysia and had a few trips to Singapore. I have no idea about the happenings of the navy. I do recall a big USA carrier payed a visit when we were there. I think it was the "USS Enterprise". A few of the mates got to go aboard but I was not a drinker so did not get to the bars enough to be invited. The good ole days
mike1949 Posted December 14, 2013 Posted December 14, 2013 Sorry Mike1949, I was in a different service. I spent 3 months at Tengah Air Base on detachment as our home base was getting it's landing strip resurfaced. That was in early 69. I spent 3 years at Butterworth in Malaysia and had a few trips to Singapore. I have no idea about the happenings of the navy. I do recall a big USA carrier payed a visit when we were there. I think it was the "USS Enterprise". A few of the mates got to go aboard but I was not a drinker so did not get to the bars enough to be invited. The good ole days Thanks for replying fil77, I presume you were in the RAAF? I appreciate you replying to me because although I was stationed in the Far East in the sixties I did visit Australia, to be precise Fremantle in Western Australia near Perth. But believe it or not at this very moment my son is in Perth, I think, because he is traveling around at the moment.
fil77 Posted December 15, 2013 Posted December 15, 2013 Yes Mike it was the RAAF and stationd in Butterworth from 1969 to 1972. Married my wife there in 1971. I have never been to Perth, it is about 4 hours by plane or a couple of days by car or train. I hope your son enjoys Aus.
Roast Posted December 16, 2013 Author Posted December 16, 2013 Can't help you with that Mike. All I know is that it's now a Republic of Singapore Navy base. And that the base is now pretty much abandoned and home to a small unit of frogs. And yes it was called tiger balm gardens, then subsequently changed to haw par villa. If you guys were in the service back then I can only imagine your ages now. I feel like the baby here. Lol. Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk
fil77 Posted December 16, 2013 Posted December 16, 2013 Yes Roast I was much younger then but except for the aches and pains I still feel the same. Singapore used to send an attachment out here for bombing practice. We often had many of the crews here for a get together where our friends and us could feed them with good ole asian style food instead of the Aussie stuff in the mess. Had some great times and fond memories. My kids used to collect aluminium cans and cash them in for some pocket money till one day I found out that the cans from Singapore were infact made from steel. We were ripping of the local aluminium recyclers.
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