Kampong Buangkok - Singapore's Last Remaining Kampong

Singapore is a modern city, highly cosmopolitan and one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. It includes Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians, Caucasians and Asians from dozens of different origins.  Singapore prides itself on contemporary architectural designs and state of the art highrise structures.  At first glance Singapore has it all; top notch medical services, extremely (nearly nil) low crime rate, HDB housing for the citizens, and a modern lifestyle.

You quickly realize when living in Singapore that something is missing here.  History buffs see new buildings housing historical data, modern art, contemporary designs and beautiful homes on the island.  However, upon closer examination, you note that there are no century old homes here.  In the states we have stately plantations mixed in with the newer homes and historical buildings mixed in with the new high rises.  History buffs cherish those buildings; often to the point of protesting their destruction and causing years of court battles to halt their demise.  In Singapore it is not so; progress allows destruction, older homes and buildings are destroyed and new ones rise - giving way to 'progress'.

Deep in the heart of Singapore, there remains one last kampong village, waiting for exploration, documentation and admiration.  Deep in the heart of surrounding HDB's lies a tiny village - Kampong Buangkok - the last remaining Kampong in Singapore.  Sadly, it is slated for demolition and redevelopment soon - and this dear friends, we call progress.  Currently Kampong Buangkok houses 28 families (18 Chinese and 10 Malay), in a village that merely takes up about 3 football fields in size. The families pay about $13 in rent, the government provides electricity, running water, trash collection, and once a day a postman comes by on his motorcycle to deposit modern mail in the antique mailboxes. While the city is bustling around them, they continue to enjoy the slower pace of life that the kampong setting offers.

A group of us went to explore the last Singapore kampong.  Always in for an adventure, cameras in hand we took the MRT to Ang Mo Kio.  We then took the bus stop and walked to the kampong - a short walk away. 

Heritage conservation

Chinese Gardens

I went on another trip to the Chinese Gardens for a photo shoot.  It is such a great place to play, however, it was super hot that day so we just took a few photos, wandered, enjoyed the critters and left.  

These were among the best shots of the day:

We thought that carpenter bee was a great guy to shoot - with a camera - of course, until it came for Debbie.  Then she wasn't so sure  :-)

She ran for her life - and lived to talk about it.  

Can you tell we were hot?

We found a couple of beautiful flowers:

The orchids here in Singapore are plentiful, and they take my breath away with their beauty:

Of course you cannot go to the Chinese gardens without taking pictures of stuff like this:

And of course there is a journey everywhere I look:

Off on the next adventure - not sure where it is - but I just know we will find one  :-)  Hope you have a great weekend!

2010 Youth Olympics - How They Came to Be

I am not going to write here - you have enough to read in the signs below.  It explains it all.  Oh, and click on the pics, they will enlarge so you can read them - or they should.  Hope you enjoy the 2010 Youth Olympic Game story:

Kind of odd to read it in the past tense, because it hasn't happened  yet.  The 2010 Youth Olympics are being held August 7th-13th.  If you would like to know more, HERE is the official website.

And now you know the rest of the story...  Hope you enjoyed getting to 'see' the Olympic park in Singapore. 

Fun stuffs tomorrow.  See you then!
 

2010 Youth Olympic Park - More Artwork

Laugh at me if you want, but I worried about having not posted all of the artwork.  If I was a child and some got posted and they left mine out, I might be devastated.  I am not going to be the one to break a child's spirit, so here are the rest.  I loved each and every bit of it; I did not pick which ones to display yesterday, just clicked the next in the row until I felt like there was enough.  So today, you get to see the rest of the artwork - all just as great as the ones I shared yesterday:

They had some black and white ones there too - I thought they were eye catching, very detailed and interesting:

Now didn't they all deserve to be shared?

They were all displayed on walls like this one:

These are flat on the sidewalk - again, all youth that has designed these.  If you look at the second one in each bunch, you will see the names and ages of the designer.  I tried to be sure we could see who designed each piece of artwork - even the ones above.  On these I had to take a closer picture for it to show up:

And this one was fun to take a picture of:

Hey, someone added another Olympic circle there... wonder who that was?

Maybe now that I have shared every piece of artwork I can rest.  Don't know why this annoyed me, but it did - I am sure I didn't want to break some kid's heart.  Wouldn't you be proud if your artwork had been made into a permanent fixture in the Youth Olympic Park?  I can see these 'kids' coming back in 10 years and taking pics next to their piece of art - the history already made.  Today, it has only just begun - the 2010 Youth Olympic Games are only a few weeks away now!

Comments would be great on  my blog  itself - I am sure if a family stumbled across their child's art, they would love to see what comments were made about their art or the park.  

Do you have a favorite?  

Did it make you smile?

Are you in awe of what children can accomplish?

I sure am!

Olympic Park Youth Art

I love art - art of any kind; people using their brains to make cool, entertaining and pleasing stuff to look at.  While out and about on Sunday, we browsed through the Youth Olympic Park - did you know Singapore is going to host the 2010 Youth Olympics?  It's gonna be a lot of fun - and it is right around the corner!   

In the park, there are displays to browse while enjoying the site.  I loved the kids art they have displayed:

This one was great - check it out:

So great they designed it as a display:

How cool is that?!

There was more art, but I am going to hold off making my blog too long.  *gasp!*

However, I wanted to share this, too:

Complete with foot and hand prints!

Now isn't that fun?

It even has room to grow...  Man that little tree has big 'shoes' to fill.

Miracle Grow, where are you?