Leisure In The Past.....

When work is done , we like to take a rest.Some of us will read, watch television or play games . Others go out shopping. There are many things we can do in our free time . In the 19th century, there was no television to watch, no shopping malls and libraries to go to. There were no sports complexes too. Children did not have many things to amuse themselves. They could go fishing, kite flying or play with boats .

Early chinese migrants led hard lives. After work , some went to the opium dens to smoke opium.Opiums help them to forget their sufferings. Others went to the gambling dens. This is a moving 'cinema'. The man had a projector and many reels of cartoons. Children chose which cartoons they wanted to watch. Roadside stroytellers provided some entertainment to the chinese after work. These storytellers set up tables and some stools by the roadside or in an open space. People paid to listen to their stories. Chinese street opears (wayang) a dying art now , were performed at festivals or on regligious celebrations.

Today , we have so many places we can go to enjoy ourselves. there are cinemas ,shopping malls , playgrounds , parks , swimming pools and interesting places to visit like Zoo, Sentosa, Bird park and so on. Gambling is a singaporean obsession ; less interesting for anyone other than the aficionados, bird-songs contest ; even that colonial classic , the cricket match, still finds its fans at Padang ,the vast green fields in the heart of the city.