one rural oasis shows how Singapore used to look

[superadmin]

Away from its soaring skyscrapers and urban sprawl, one rural oasis shows how Singapore used to look

If you turn off the busy Yio Chu Kang road in north-eastern Singapore and follow a long, earthen path that winds and snakes for about 300m, you will find something of a time capsule. Nestled here, on three acres of verdant land, is Kampong Lorong Buangkok, Singapore's last surviving village, where remnants of the 1960s are alive and well. Little resembles modern-day Singapore's panorama of slick skyscrapers. Instead, the cluster of squat bungalows looks like a vintage postcard of the city's yesteryear.

The kampong – which means "village" in Malay – is a rural oasis in a city-state synonymous with urban sprawl. Roughly 25 archetypal wooden, single-storey dwellings with tin roofs are spread around a surau (small mosque). Forgotten flora that once covered Singapore before all the concrete – like the ketapang, a native coastal tree – grow freely. Nearby, power cables hang overhead, a rare sight since most have gone underground in the rest of the city. Elderly residents sit out on their verandas; chickens in their coops cluck endlessly away; and the chorus of chirping crickets and crowing roosters – the sounds of a bygone era – drown out the city's noise pollution and provide a soothing, bucolic soundtrack.

- More -

[paleking]

Thank you for the post. It is really great, but it would be even greater if you submitted some photos to illustrate what Singapore looked like in the last century. I remember that I admired a lot those old pictures of Dubai, so my favorite city will be spectacular, I have no doubts. My sister is a designer there, by the way. So if you need to have innovative lighting in your house, feel free to check Vlux Lighting page. They always design space with love and elegance.