chip bee gardens

used to live, or should i say, stay in a rented 2-storey terrace house at 12 jalan kuning in chip bee gardens. that was before holland village became such a bustling place and rental was at an affordable $400 a month.

when a government agency, i think, it was umbc, took over the administration of the estate, the rental doubled to $800. that was when we decided it was time to move on to cheaper accommodation - a rented hdb flat.

when i got married, we did not have our own hdb flat, so we took over the place from my brother-in-law who had been leasing the place. the 2-storey terrace had a short driveway, just long enough to park a car. at that time, there was a patch of grass at the front. on sunday, when i walked past the house, i saw that the whole driveway had been paved. no more green.

there was a small garden in the backyard where we used to grow vegetables like chye sim, bittergourd and chilli.

the neighbour then was an expatriate who married an asian woman- can't remember if she was a local. they had a precocious daughter named evert. that much i can remember of my stay at the chip bee house.