Pasir Ris Bus Interchange : Fall In!

24th September 2011. Written by Xin Li.
Last Saturday, I was back at Pasir Ris. I spent about one and a half years transiting here during my NSF days. The heard the booking-in system have changed.

Back then, we used to wait and gather our recruits here before we set off together for the ferry terminal. During those days, platoons would compete to see who get to finish counting strength first and get back to camp first (so on eh?). The early bird gets to rest and unpack their stuff and catch more sleep.

Recruits or Commanders would normally grab some last civilian bites from McDonalds, Old Chang Kee, Cake History, Kentucky and NTUC before boarding the bus bound for SAF Ferry Terminal.

It was probably here where we first met the army on our first day, joining an excited, nervous and anxious group of people in their wait for the buses that would bring them to the ferry terminal.

Then months later I was back here again…not part of the queue. Witnessing others going through the same process, you got to see a families, friends, and relatives of the enlistees and themselves coming from different backgrounds, heading for the same destination.

It was not easy to manage a queue and it was very tiring when there were several cohorts enlisting in a day.

After spending a week in camp (or two), we always looked forward to seeing this bus stop on book out day. It is the book-out bus stop, it was here where recruits and commanders (who long bang with the book out bus) would alight and return to the civilian world (for the weekend).

It is the past now, but often, I will miss those days spent in Tekong.