SINGAPORE'S LAST KAMPUNG IN LORONG BUANGKOK

That's me in the top pic on my son's BMX bike leaving for Lorong Buangkok for my exploration ride. The second pic is that of an extension to a zinc and wood house belonging to a Malay family.


Driveway leading to two houses.
A neat and tiny house which belongs to a Chinese resident. My house in the 60's looked similar to this, except it's a single-storey one.
A neat and tiny house which was shuttered when I was there. From the looks of it, this house is occupied by a Malay family.


Tucked away rather inconspicuously in a corner off Lorong Buangkok, behind a Shell petrol pump along Yio Chu Kang Rd, is the last kampung in Singapore. It would have remained inconspicuous and probably forgotten had not the media discovered it a few years ago and started publicising it. I suppose the residents are regretting it for hordes of "tourists" will descend themselves there during weekends and public holidays. They have complained that such people sometimes photograph them without permission or are indiscreet in other ways. Some items belonging to them have also been stolen.
Having lived in a kampung in the 1950's, 60's & 70's and noting the residents' sensitivities, I went on a Saturday morning to look at the kampung. I quietly took a few photos and then left on my son's BMX bike to explore other areas nearby. I observed that some houses were shuttered and residents who were in kept very much to themselves. I don't blame them in view of the frequent visitors and the disturbance they bring. When I lived in my kampung, the main door was opened when we arose and never shut until about midnight, even when no one was at home. Times have changed, I guess. This perhaps is accentuated by the fact that the fate of the kampung remains uncertain in view of HDB flats creeping up on it in the Buangkok area.