had nth to do on sunday so decided to take my bike and went for a ride. initially, i wasn't fixed on any location but i decided find my root once again, to the place where i grew up and started my basketball journey.

somewhere around tp, there's an entrance into bedok town park, from there continue until u see the first overhead bridge and there's where my primary school used to be.

used to be known as min xin primary, now a malay old folks' home i think. well, this is where i started my basketball journey.

a closer view.

that was our assembly area.

and this was our basketball court. i would probably be able to dunk if the rim is still there.

our side gate. yeah. normally from here, my friends and i would embark on a short trip towards our favourite place.

well, this isn't the place. our favourite place is further down. but back then, the fence/gates weren't here at all.

this is our rival court. normally we will travel here just to give the rivals here a good thrashing. hahaha.

nothing much has changed other than the fences.

close up view of their rim.

part of the route to our own basketball court.

a stopover along the way. we will usually wait here for a friend to go home and change.

one of the "coolest" place along the route.

lol. we used to fool around and got our basketballs stuck over the ledge. wonder how we got them down though.

further down and you'll reach block 533.

used to be my favourite place. we did alot of stupid stuff here. block catching, stealing of ppl's slippers when ours spoilt, picking up g strings that dropped from bamboo sticks and pulling them over our friend's head.

the place where we played gameboys and talked cock.

and just beside u will come to this resident corner.

favourite spot to play card games. little exposure to the surroundings so police won't know that primary school students are playing dai di here. lol.

there was always a mentally handicapped uncle here who will always swear at us, so one fine day, we decided to bombard him with grass jelly. not a good thing to do, but still, it was thrilling back then.

favourite spot to stop for a drink.

the mama shop there.

the playground where we used to fool around. the starting point for our block catching too. it wasn't like this in the past. looks like this is the only thing here that's changed over the years.

and there u go. once my favourite basketball court in the world. would come here almost everyday. would leave home at 10am and go home at around 7 in the evening during school holidays. when i was in primary school, we got to know some of the bedok town sec basketball team players and eventually became very close friends with them and played with them everyday. thats how i got my basketball basics. playing against older, more experience players and nv winning them really caused me to push myself to the limit everyday.

these bench were where we challenged each other to see who can finish their packet of chicken rice faster. hahaha. of course, the secondary school boys will win.

the not so favourable side of the court.

this is where we will put our bags, relax in between games and spectate games.

our side of the court.

over the years, nth has changed. not even the colour scheme of this court.

close up view.

oh yah, along the way to the court, you will come across this small park/area.

one of the staircase leading up to it.

quite a nice relaxing place to be at albeit for the abundance of mosquitoes.

there used to be a swinging bench here. guessed over the years, it just gave way. best place to relax. my friends used to bring the girls they like here to pak tor. lol.

sometimes when we got tired of hanging around at 533, we will run over to a female friend's estate and hang out there instead. and this, is our daytona track. nth fancy though. just primary sch kids racing with their bikes though the bike accidents can be pretty funny at times.

while the rest are off racing or playing, some of us will just chill here.

another playground meaning another starting point for block catching.

there was a underground tunnel around that estate and on the other side of the tunnel is another paradise. this playground was part of it. its not a starting point for our block catching though, its the place where we would go and wait for a female friend while she went home to prepare to slack around with us. oh yah. fyi, my friends and i were from min xin primary but the female friends we had were from telok kurau primary.

the basketball court there.

so yah, this is the underground tunnel i mentioned.

staircase out of the tunnel.

ramp for bikes.

the sheltered walkway back to 533.

this is the overhead bridge at the middle part of bedok town park connecting it to block 533. u can see it along a certain expressway which i forget along bedok.

view from heaven. lol.

ok. thats was my trip down memory lane. a pretty fun part of my life. of course, dunman sec days and post secondary schools days with team18holdings are still my fav. but this is my root, the place where everything begins. my slacker and drifter attitude and of course my long, underachieving relationship with basketball.

thats all folks.