Exploring Kampung Lorong Buangkok with fellow Photoblogger

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The topic of Kampung Lorong Buangkok had been ringing in our local news/blogsphere for a period of time, with international news Reuters, reporting “Rush for land to sweep away last Singapore Village” on 21st December 2007. Recently, during NDP 2009, there was a video recording of residents from Kampung Lorong Buangkok inside the Singapore Flyer giving interviews and thoughts about the 44th year birthday and growth of Singapore, and how their nice and cosy Kampung Lorong Buangkok place would be in modern Singapore.

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Finally, after procrastinating for months and months, I saw fellow LG Photoblogger Tetanus on his recent photography trip to Kampung Lorong Buangkok via twitter and after some discussion, another fellow LG Photoblogger Chester, decided to meet and visit Kampung Lorong Buangkok together. I met Chester at Ang Mo Kio MRT station, hitch a ride with him and drove to Gerald Drive, the rain came pouring and our planned start time to explore was pushed back due to the heavy rain, Chester and myself went up to Jalan Kayu for roti prata breakfast and teh tarik, discussing everything photography under the sun đŸ™‚

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Soon, the rain got less heavy and we headed back to Gerald Drive, started exploring Kampung Lorong Buangkok, it was still drizzling and we decided to go ahead exploring in the midst of the drizzle. We hiked inside and discovered a very peaceful and beautiful kampung, probably due to the rain too ! After an initial exploration, we hiked along the monsoon canal that lead to Sungei Punggol, it was forested on the Kampung Lorong Buangkok side and modern landed property on the other side of the canal, a contrast of the modern and old Singapore. The rain gave us another interesting and exciting challenge, the water droplets forming on the leaves and flowers gave different photography opportunities and Chester showed the power of the Tamron 90mm Macro !

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Hiking back into the heart of Kampung Lorong Buangkok, we photographed the wooden houses, nicely repainted yet retaining her history and aura, a blend of modern and traditional, coming together in this wonderful kampung. Beautiful gardens and flowers, peaceful and tranquil, just metres away from the modern and fast paced life of Singapore. The rain came pouring back and it really became a bit more difficult, nevertheless, we continued our photography walkabout inside Kampung Lorong Buangkok. For more photos of our photojournalistic adventure, do drop by my Flickr !

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As we came to an end of our photography walkabout, how much longer would Kampung Lorong Buangkok has to make way for the growth and expansion of modern Singapore ?

14 Comments

  1. We hope it can be protected as the last village of modern Singapore. đŸ˜›

  2. This is something that we (me and my husband) would LOVE to do.. my husband is a great photographer, and I just would love to see the world.

    really nice photos! I’d be psyched if you guys came by and checked out my bloghere:
    http://bscphoto.com.blog

  3. Author

    Hi iWalk

    I really hope this would happen and take place, let’s keep some last surviving history of Singapore for our future generations !

  4. Author

    Hi lindsayanng

    Thank you for dropping by ! Visited your site too and it is awesome !

    Hope to see you people touring here if the opportunities arises !

  5. Author

    Hi Seen This Scene That

    Thank You !! It was fun and wet, capturing the last kampung in its rainy days !

  6. Glad you finally did make that effort to take a look and capture it last few moments. đŸ™‚

  7. Author

    Hi eastcoastlife

    I am very glad that I stopped thinking & started going there to capture the last moments !

    That’s going to be more changes to Singapore landscape soon !

  8. is it still around? i went there last weekend, but did not see much. stopped at the surau. is there more further up?

  9. Author

    Hi nur

    Sorry for the late reply, to the best of my knowledge & current news update, it is still around.

    It’s not a very big kampung, the surau is probably the middle of Kampung Lorong Buangkok, further up would be the canal leading to the Sungei Punggol & to Sengkang & Punggol estate & grassland.

  10. Hi Jinghui,

    I was fascinated by an exhibition at Toa Payoh library about this Kampong Lorong Buangkok and I actually pedal-biked along a new Park Connector running along Punggol Reservoir and discovered that this Kampong is right next to it.

    Is there anyway to get in touch with the landlord, Ms. Sng if I like to snap some pictures and learn more about the place.

    Just wondering how long will this kampong stays as it is?

  11. Author

    Hi Rickee

    Yup, there is a park connector being built along there, beside Kampung Lorong Buangkok.

    I am not too sure about how you can contact the landlord Ms Sng, maybe you can try chatting with the kampung folks there? They might be able to help you on that. As for taking photos, you can go there take photos, just be discreet, since there are people living there and we need to respect their privacy. As some other bloggers went there, they managed to have a good chat with some of them đŸ™‚

    How long will this kampung stay ? Your guess is as good as mine đŸ™‚ It’s a million dollar question and I sincerely hope it will stay (although chances are very unlikely).


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