| Inside Terendak Camp were
several 'boozers'. The Junior Ranks Club inside Canberra Lines and
the Beach Club and the Crown Inn inside the main Camp area. Here beer
was sold duty free so it was very cheap
(50 cents local money or about 8 cents Australian). About 15 mins away by cab was
Malacca. It was a strange mix of a very new clean modern almost Western
city and old dilapidated dirty areas that reeked of gawd knows what.
Here beer was relatively expensive
($2.50 local money).
In between was the 'Evergreen Strip'.
It was a row of bars, eating houses, barber shops, tailors, pawn shops,
gift shops and just about everything else that a soldier might spend
money on. Beer here was cheaper than Malacca and dearer than in camp (
about $1.80 local money) It
was also easier and quicker to get to than Malacca so business
flourished. Bars were nationalistic. Poms drank at the London Bar. Kiwis
drank at the Wellington Bar and Aussies went to the Sydney Bar (see
photo above). There were others but they were the
main three. |
