Sunday, May 17, 2009

Village Life in Singapore, Kampong Buangkok - WS

Lovely place to have a meal or just chat....

Chris and I brought oceanskies, my blogger buddy, on a tour of the countryside. Our first stop was to the last village of Singapore, Kampong Buangkok.

We met some residents and spoke to them. We could simply walked in unannounced into one villager's garden and admire the lush greenery surrounding his humble house.


We discovered a secret garden in the village.

A creative DIY structure, a nice place to relax during evenings ....

We came to this simple wooden hut,.......

where a father was teaching his daughter to fry vegetables in their outdoor kitchen. They have their meals in an alfresco setting. Cool!

The father fried two plates of vegetables and sent one plate to his elderly next-door neighbours. Sharing whatever one has with his fellow neighbours are very common in this village.

A Malay family whom we were chatting with, generously invited us to their BBQ on an upcoming special occasion.

Modern apartments can be seen from the village. In another 3 to 4 years' time, Singapore's last village will be demolished and redeveloped by the government.

How to get there :
By car - Try Yio Chi Kang Rd near the junction of Ang Mo Kio Ave 5, then Gerald Drive

By bus - Numbers 70, 103, 854




49 comments:

  1. I remembered about this village too. I wish the villagers all the best and hopefully, somewhere in Singapore they'll still be able to live peacefully :).

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  2. Lovely shots of the tour along the county side. I liked the description of the simple there that you gave.

    Have a great week ahead.

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  3. Progress versus preservation? Anyway, I love going on a leisurely walk in these kinds of places. They soothe the senses. :)

    A great week ahead!

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  4. I like the idea of looking at the high rise from the vantage view of the village. Could it be a sign of progress if they will demolish and urbanized the village in the future?
    This reminds me of home.

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  5. JL,
    Congrats! You are the FC of this post. :D

    The villagers will move to government subsidised apartments. The elderly folks might not get used to the cramped housing units in a block of flats.

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  6. perfect for a person like me who enjoys both rural and urban lifestyle.

    but im sad when trees are being cut for development. i hope they balance it with the goal to protect nature as well.

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  7. Indrani,
    I enjoy visiting the countryside and envy the residents... I'll probably retire to the countryside too. :)

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  8. Lynn,
    In modernised, high tech Singapore, change is inevitable. Sooner or later, the outdated will be removed. :P

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  9. Ebie,
    The village is slated for demolition and redevelopment in a few years' time. High rise apartments like those in the last picture will be built in its place.

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  10. the donG,
    In Singapore, our living environment consists of lots of greenery. It's called the Garden City. :)

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  11. sharing food within the neighborhood is one of our (us Asian) characteristic that I'm really proud of, I want to do it here, share my food in my downstairs neighbor,but knowing the western culture, if they get a stomach ache after eating the food, they might sue me instead of thanking. :)

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  12. Oh dear so the demiltion is confirmed.I saw on the Net a docu about this village and hoped the Ministers and decision makers concerned would hold on to their promises of making it a special landmark but alas its not to be.Moving the villagers into flats will be a hearbreaking event for them.OK.. so its progress but its also sad and even scary.

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  13. It's rare that there is still kampong left in Singapore. It would be nice to stay the night and experience its quietness and being woken up early in the morning by the chirping of the birds.

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  14. It's a lovely village. It's quite sad that eventually it has to give way to more modern apartments.

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  15. Interest village to visit. Thanks for ur kind words on my ws post ;)

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  16. Honestly, I haven't been to any kind of villages in Singapore! I only go tourists places like zoo, and bird park, orchard Road and Sentosa Island. haha!

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  17. But it's nice to visit the villages once in a while too. Away from the hustle and bustle of city life! : )cirsm

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  18. I am a city boy so can't stay in a kampung too long! But a holiday in a kampong is nice! : )

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  19. Oops! I think I typed the word verification "cirsm" in my comment! How did I do that? Amazing! LOL!

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  20. Beautiful nature, its a shame if it will be destroyed in the future!

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  21. Lovely shots :)
    Its beautiful in your country !!
    Thanks for sharing :)

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  22. Looks like a really fun weekend! And the view of the buildings from the greens is awesome!

    The fishes for ph are also a delight!

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  23. I love the photographs and it looks like a great tour. Everything looks very lush and green.

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  24. Looks like a very nice garden - did not know you had that in Singapore - thanks for sharing!

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  25. What a beautiful village. So lush and lovely.

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  26. nice shots, ECL! I like the creative DIY structure ;-)

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  27. Thank you very much for this special tour of the countryside. I greatly appreciate your thoughts and company. :)

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  28. DOn't even know such a place exist. I cannot be a Singaporean lah!

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  29. Morning ECL!

    How green and how idyllic the place looks.
    Old folks will surely have a bit of problem adjusting to apartment life, even here in Malaysia when our Government relocates squatters to high rise low cost flats.

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  30. Wah, so green, so fresh, so natural! I see PY is looking so happy there. LOL

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  31. Hi ECL,

    Wow, I must really go to Lorong Buangkok soon as it is SO INTERESTING!

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  32. Like the last pic cos it shows a good contrast between urban and rual. :)

    BTW, did u see any cats during ur visit to the village?

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  33. What a beautiful and magical place! So glad you showed these beautiful pictures!!! I hope that the villagers will be okay. It makes me sad that the village will be torn down.

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  34. Wow, it looks so exotic!

    My post is here:
    http://digitalpolaroids.blogspot.com/2009/05/yellow-city-lights.html

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  35. it's inevitable that concrete structures would soon replace this village. same thing happening in the Philippines. even our farm lands are now being converted to malls and subdivisions.

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  36. This is one place I must bring my 2 kiddos to see! Hhhmmm... I wonder if the residents there allow house-stay for the 2 kiddos? LOL!

    I wonder how will the 2 kids react manz~

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  37. kampung life... is great! i like it...would probably spend my life there after 60 or what with her >.<

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  38. I wished I would have been this "blogger buddy" lol ! What a lovely place. It's terrible that everywhere in the what we call civilized world villages are disappearing and instead you see these ugly high buildings !

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  39. it's fascinating to see so much natural greenery of the village. but sadly, the villages will be demolished to make room for development, how uncool. :(

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  40. Very interesting to see rural life in Singapore. Very different from the usual city life. So sad that they have to go.

    Hope you can visit my WS here.

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  41. This is cool ECL - you know I am a fan of Kampung Life! Can't wait to be living like this...

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  42. It's kinda sad actually to think what progress is doing to us huh...yeah we do get to have the latest gadgets and ad the newest of the newest but it seems like it also means less time with the family.

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  43. Love all that lush green!! wonderful tour, ECL.
    Check out @marcelafz, that's me, I am following you on twitter :)

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  44. Wow another adventure for my friend ECL heheeh How do you do it getting to so many cool places hehehe. Keep cool always my friend. Have a great week ahead ECL

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  45. Beautiful simple way of life! I know people love modernization but it is also sad to see old places like this diminish forever.

    Thanks for the visit!

    p.s.

    If you are just nearby, i would really give you the cat. :)

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  46. That place for evening relaxation is a great idea! But there might be mozzies though...

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  47. It's nice to go to the countryside once in a while to have fresh air and greener environment. Have a good day/night!

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  48. NOw u r gona just bring hordes of cars and buses to deciminate their quiet existence - i'll b one of them. haha!

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