Will Kampung Lorong Buangkok still be around ?

In a country’s quest for economic growth and prosperity, there will definitely be scarifice, when trying to strike a balance between economic growth and development versus other matters. Every country will inevitably face this issue and they will have their own unique situations and issues. In the context of Singapore, land scarce and the only resource is the population, the growth and prosperity of Singapore has gone from leaps and bounds since her independence in 1965.

During this journey from 1965, Singapore had transformed into a cosmopolitan city with tall high rise buildings, offices and public housing estates, nicely designed and layout, structured and systematic with a good transport network of trains and buses. However, what gave way to all these were the traditional farms, poultry rearing, vegetable growing, rubber plantations, prawn and fish ponds, that was an integral part of early Singapore history. A lot were gone, disappeared from the landscape of Singapore, only appearing in history and photography books, libraries, national archives, old collections and our own vivid memories.

When I brought Nellie , Daphne, Amanda and Renhao to Kampung Lorong Buangkok, this was their first visit there (my 2nd trip there, check out my 1st visit post !) It was also another good time to go back and capture Kampung Lorong Buangkok again, the last remaining Kampung on mainland Singapore. Before entering the entrance to Kampung Lorong Buangkok, I found out that the grass land beside the monsoon canal and the Kampung, it was gone and transformed into a cycling and walking/running track, known as our Park Connector Network.

From 2 perspectives, it’s good to have Park Connector Networks to link up the various parks and rivers together for the people to keep fit and healthy, encouraging them to lead a active and sporting lifestyle by running, walking or cycling along the greenery. However, from another perspective, it was disappointing that the wildness and tranquility of the area is being “cut out” to make the man-made paths. Nevertheless, while we were hiking up to Sengkang Riverside Park using the Park Connector Network from Kampung Lorong Buangkok, there were still signs of wildlife around and that is a blessing.

Although Kampung Lorong Buangkok is small in size, we had a good time exploring the rural lifestyle that once defined Singapore, different wooden houses that form the neighbourhood, the open areas and gardens. The simplicity and greenery, away from the hustling and hectic city lifestyle, Kampung Lorong Buangkok still retains its charms and beauty, attracting city dwellers to visit her during the weekends, tourists too, are attracted by her charm, beauty and tranquility.

1 year difference between my visits, most of her beauty has been retained and much unchanged, comparing to her nearby regions and Singapore overall, you might/will find a lot more changes to the physical environment. This is a great blessing, however, the golden question in a lot of our minds

– Will Kampung Lorong Buangkok still be around in the future ? Would it stand the test of time in Singapore’s history ? How would land scarce Singapore look at Kampung Lorong Buangkok for its population expansion and thirst for more land to build high rise public housing or private estate ?

Nobody knows how long more Kampung Lorong Buangkok will still be around, while the golden question remains, let’s all enjoy the beauty, charms and tranquility of Kampung Lorong Buangkok in cosmopolitan Singapore.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.