One Answer to Two Quizzes - You need to turn the house

The dessert at the end of 2010

The appetizer at the beginning of 2011

I hope the dessert and appetizer whetted your appetite. Short of time and feeling lazy with energies focused on my nine days escapade, I could only whip up simple fare. My culinary skills must have been superb because the two are essentially the same dish, a fact lost on the visitors who savoured it.


For the disused bridge, Chun See and Andrew were the only ones who ventured a guess. Dogcom asked for clues and I almost wanted to blurt out, the appetizer is just outside the dessert. The bridge must have been "no kick" to Andrew, who is one of the founders of One° North Explorers, an urban exploration group based in Singapore. They are the pros when it comes to exploring urban ruins. In fact it was Krisgage Lee, another member of the group whom I recently befriended, who suggested visiting Turnhouse Road after I offered to drive him around in Changi.

Former SIA Group Sports Club at 24 Turnhouse Road

For the building, nobody guessed the answer correctly. I thought yg came close with his community centre guess as the place once had a similar function. The building was the former SIA Group Sports Club at Turnhouse Road and the disused bridge leads to the carpark of the Club. When Krisgage told me its previous identity, my mind drew a blank. From the website, I learnt the Club was relocated to Turnhouse Road in 1982 from Paya Lebar Airport and it won an award for its architectural design. I'm not certain of its impending fate.

1934 Art Deco at Turnhouse Road

My buddy that day is a meticulous person and true to his urban explorer nature, he dashed off made his way towards the building. Better document the sorry building for posterity before it is demolished. As it was my first time in the area, I took my time to explore the environment. There is this heritage gem where I parked my car - a 1934 Art Deco building now occupied by Punggol Choon Seng Seafood Restaurant. Was this the Turnhouse which gave the road its name? From what Krisgage told me, it was once the A&E ward of the old Changi Hospital. This is corroborated by Laokokok's blog article on the same building that has a photo taken in Oct 2007. Till now, I'm still baffled how the hospital staff shuffled between this lower ward at Turnhouse Road and the main building higher up across Netheravon Road. Anybody has any idea?

No trespassing at former SIA Group Sports Club

By the time I strolled down the disused bridge to the building, Krisgage was nowhere in sight. There was a "No Trespassing" notice on the entrance and the potential intruder is warned of camera surveillance. I found out the entrance was locked too. As there was no telling what lies inside the building, I was reluctant to probe further for any security loopholes.

If I can't go in, maybe I should just go around. So I made my way to the edge of the building. I realized one can actually walk along the perimeter of the compound that is just beside a drain. The perimeter is fenced up of course and as I peered beyond the chain-link fence to what must have been a basketball court, I found the recipe for dessert 2010.

See the white dotted arrow and basketball court? I took the shot outside the court in the direction of the arrow. Aerial from Google Earth. Note Turnhouse Road is on the other side of Netheravon Road, so how did hospital staff coordinate (move patients?!) with the main Changi Hospital block?

A building, just like us, can have multiple faces. I guess most people are familiar with the front face of SIA Sports Club and may not have seen the view from the side. If you compare my dessert 2010 with the photo of the front face with the "no parking" sign, you'd agree they look different. If you turn the house, you get the answer.