Sure, there is still old Toa Payoh town and the last kampong in Singapore but I don't think they will be around for very long.
The beach is nice but it is too crowded:
There is still yet another place in Singapore that I discovered recently which has an idyllic charm. It has wide open spaces which are seldom seen in Singapore nowadays. Which wide open space is not being earmarked for yet another HDB development, condominium, office space or shopping centre?
The road leading to this area is deserted and scenic:
There are some very nice colonial bungalows here, like this one:
Even some that look like old kampung houses:
Complete with a toy house:
On a Friday afternoon, I even saw two newly-wed couples having their outdoor photo shoots there. It is certainly a choice location for a photo session. (Kenneth and Etel, please note.)
Here's a little quiz for you. From the photos, can you tell where this place is? (This should be an easy question for taxi drivers and wedding photographers alike. They are therefore disqualified from taking part in this quiz.)
waseh, nice place!! looks like queenstown to me LOL but actually i dont know much about sg places.. I will surely ask VL to go with me when you reveal the answer! ROAR
ReplyDeleteGNE - Close but not quite. Ask VL to go there with you to take wedding photos ah? :P
ReplyDeleteJokes aside, if you don't drive, you may have to walk 15 minutes up-slope to get to this place from the main road. Let GD help you out, hehe.
Those are 2 more clues to people who want to guess.
i mean alexandra hospital there.. i think i sat wrongly lol...
ReplyDeleteis it near there? my friend lives there so i sorta know that area =x
i mean i SAID wrongly.. omg =.=
ReplyDeleteyou must be enjoying playing with your new toy (new camera) haha! So how do you like it?
ReplyDeleteGNE - No 2nd guesses allowed and cannot enlist friend's help, haha. Joking only. Okay, even closer this time. But can give me the road name or not?
ReplyDeleteLKK - Yes, the camera is very handy and fun to use. The sunset scenes here were taken with the sunset mode which enhances the red colour. Can even take photos in 16:9 (widescreen) format. Hmm... I think I will take some of that and post it here.
ReplyDeleteI am actually not a first-time Lumix owner. I have a 5mp Lumix FZ-20 for a few years already but it is quite bulky to lug around. Besides I don't want to look like a tourist in my own country, with a camera hanging around my neck all the time, haha.
So you use a Lumix too? What model(s)?
Have taken note. =) This place should be near Alexandra. Can be seen from the boardwalk at Kent Ridge Park.
ReplyDeleteWell done. Very observant there, Kenneth. But do you know the street names?
ReplyDeleteHmm... Warwick Road? Jalan Hang Jebat?
ReplyDeleteOk, I cheated. I looked at Google Maps.
Hi Victor, great pictures. I've featured your post in The Singapore Daily [singaporedaily.wordpress.com]. Keep blogging!
ReplyDeleteVictor, I have been wanting to do a similar type of quiz actually. Nice pics. good to see some green open spaces for a change.
ReplyDeleteKenneth - Looked at Google Maps and still wrong? Haha, they are Canterbury Road and Berkshir Road (enter via Hyderabad Road).
ReplyDeleteThe Singapore Daily - Thanks for the compliments and the plug.
ReplyDeleteChun See - Thanks for the compliments. You are always slightly behind hor? Hehe.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected. I looked across this huge street called the AYE. Silly me.
ReplyDeletei don't know the name of the road but..
ReplyDeletethe first house u took is my friend's i think hahahaha.. its a nice place, i agree! Point taken. :)
Kenneth - In fact, this place was featured in an article titled "Secret Singapore" in the Straits Times of 4 Jan 2006. Below is a quote from the article:
ReplyDelete"Green, green grass of home - Some newly-wed couples looking for a scenic place for that memorable wedding photo have discovered this hideaway of rolling green slopes in Hyderabad Road, just off busy Alexandra Road."
GNE - The house next to the "rolling green slope" is your friend's? Wow, does he/she have a guest room to let? :P
nice idyllic places and very nic photos
ReplyDeleteYour colonial bungalow pics remind me of a government bungalow I once stayed...it was near the beach and also very idyllic.
Fr - Thanks. Was the bungalow where you stayed located in Singapore? Around which area?
ReplyDeleteIt was one of those for civil servants at Changi. The one I stayed was called Ayer ...something.
ReplyDeletehis house very old liao.. last time when I was taking my O levels.. (YES THAT WAS LIKE 4362653635634 yrs ago) we overnight stay at his house and study heee those were the days.. nice huh? got garden got dog got everything i wanted. :p not in contact anymore though LOL!
ReplyDeleteThe next crowded place will be THIS place liow! :p
ReplyDeleteSomewhere near Alexander?
"You are always slightly behind hor?" ... That's beaos I am always saying Good Morning to Yesterday!!!
ReplyDeleteFr & Chun See - Thanks for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteEtel - Don't exaggerate lah. Your "O" levels where got so long ago?
Tigerfish - Yes, you are right on both counts. It is off Alexandra Road. The answer is given in my comments above. (BTW "Berkshir" should be spelled as "Berkshire".)
You are right, using a DSLR seems like a tourist! But one may also look like a pro too, just too bulky to carry it in our pocket haha.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm using my wife's Lumix FX01. It's the first model of this series.
LKK - The FX01 came out in 2006 and is therefore still quite a recent model. FX2 and FX7 came out in 2004 and are the real predecessors of the FX series.
ReplyDeletehi there uncle!
ReplyDeleteinitially i thought that place is somewhere along admiralty rd & canada rd (sembawang). coz they hv colonial houses like that. i stay there so i know :p but since u said its alexandra rd then its not lor.
Evan - Thanks for the info. You must tell Etel. She likes to go explore such places and capture the scenes with her camera.
ReplyDeleteActually besides places like parks n old houses, have u venture into the former Pasir Panjang Power Station? There are oil storage tanks which were once used to feed into the power station and the blocks of flats facing Alexandra Road and one next to the power station. The one facing the sea is #5 and beside it was the old Pasir Panjang School which has been canabalised into the AVA at one corner. If u walk into that power station area and #5, it's like walking back into Singapore of the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteI came here often during the mid-1960s because my friend lived here in one of the staff quarters.
Peter - I really must make a trip down memory lane with you one of these days.
ReplyDelete