Re: Visiting memories
Hi Mick, Just to let you know, we made a trip to Kluang!! It was wonderful. I found the hiring we lived in, all padlocked up so wasn't able to knock on the door but we had a cold drink with a lady on the road who noticed us wandering!!! We also managed to arrange a tour around the old BMH Barracks with a fabulous young subby who was the general's aide! He took us to the remaining original buildings and gave us a potted history of the intervening years! I was staggered at how large the actual ground space was! I was also shocked at how close the hiring was to the barracks, literally over the railway line and there was the estate. Also how close to town the estate was. In fact everything was so much closer that I ever remembered! We were fortunate enough to ask a young man, Ben, who was stood outside a restaurant on the parade of shops that fronted the area that was a rubber plantation back in the day, where to get a taxi from and he asked us where we wanted to go to. We explained the situation, wanted to find the area my husband had lived in as a child etc etc and Ben offered his services (totally free of charge, he wouldn't accept any money or anything) as he was managing the restaurant and had the afternoon off, to chauffeur us around for the afternoon. We went the length and breadth of the area, we went for lunch, he introduced us to local pastries, he was just amazing. And all with no hidden agenda, just straight forward kindness. We got the coach back to Singapore in the early evening having had a wonderful day, memories came flooding back, I found it a very emotional visit as it was my mum's favourite posting and she only died in August and Dad is still alive at 95 but suffering with dementia. The day confirmed my good fortune at having been an army brat in the 1960s and living the sort of life my parents could only ever have dreamed of!! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how well everything went and to say thanks for your advice! x
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