E-lyn ThamIn this concrete jungle we call home, we stumble upon the very last (read: last) surviving kampong. Here we don’t find tall shiny buildings or neatly paved roads of asphalt; instead we find attap and zinc roofed wooden houses, and a web of electrical cables overhead. Here, postal codes consist of only 4 numbers, and dirt roads are aplenty.
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Kampong Buangkok.
Kampong Buangkok was established in 1956, and is currently home to less than 30 families. True to the ‘Kampong’ spirit, the families are of mixed Malay and Chinese ethnicities, forming a tight-knit community nary found elsewhere in Singapore today.
Avid photographers, do take note – Kampong Buangkok is full of nostalgic photo spots that ooze rustic charm and seasoned sentimentality. Now, let us take you on a stroll down memory lane, where time seems to have frozen some 60 years ago.
You imagine old men in their singlets, sitting on their front porches watching their grandchildren run amok and screaming with laughter. You imagine women dutifully watering the plants, beaming in pride as they grow lush and verdant. Mosquitoes hover, but are waved off absently – such is life in a kampong.
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Chickens cluck, roosters crow. The sound of crickets become an incessant buzz in the background, while dogs patter and sniff their way between houses. It’s almost as if you can smell the inviting aroma of a home-cooked meal in the air, and the creak of a rocking chair next to a crackling radio.
You imagine how your childhood would have been like in a kampong – you imagine you’d be out catching spiders, splashing around in drains, running barefoot through the slightly overgrown grass. For the older generation, this was their childhood, full of life’s simple pleasures and rid of lofty desires or paper dreams. To live in a Kampong would be to know the meaning of contentment, and the true meaning of community.
Ah, Kampong Buangkok. A blast from the past, a far cry from the modernity we are now much accustomed to. The kampong has been able to steadfastly resist the onslaught of modern development so far, but not for much longer! The area is pegged as part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 1998 Masterplan, and will be eventually demolished and replaced by schools, residential properties as well as other facilities. Gasp!
Gather your grandparents, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, and even the little ones – there’s no better time to visit Kampong Buangkok than now, before it becomes nothing more than a mere memory and an echo of the past. Do visit before it’s too late!
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How to get to Kampong Buangkok
Kampong Buangkok is located at Gerald Drive, off Yio Chu Kang Road. For those coming by car, do look out for this sign along the road.
For those taking public transport, take bus 70, 103 or 854 from Serangoon MRT station to Yio Chu Kang Road, opposite the Church of St.Vincent De Paul. Go down the stairs beside the petrol station, cross a bridge, turn left and soon, Kampong Buangkok will be on your right!
