Old Posts: Sights Around Punggol (Along The LRT)
Had always wanted to promote Punggol, at least to gain some goodwill from people who thinks that it is a god-forsaken place. and, in spirit of marketing, to promote awareness among whoever is reading my blog, esp, tho hopeless, the PRC programming lecturer who spelt Punggol as Ponggo (is he thinking of Congo??) 2 times in the lecture notes. perhaps it’s the influence of s’poreans who pronounced the name, in the usual slang of Singlish that omits the consonant at the end of ALL words.
Anyway, some of the photos were taken a few mths ago, in aug and sept, and some recently. I guess one ’sight’ about Punggol that attracts even ang-moh tourists to visit the LRT system…
punggol lrt station
The station itself was very captivating, at least when I 1st came. What with seeing the station everyday of my life now, the majesty, grandiose of it all has lost its appeal. the above was a view from inside the LRT station, some view that may seem normal and industrial to the naked eye, but can be captured from another angle.
oh… one thing about Punggol LRT that distinguishes itself from Sengkang’s, that attracts tourists? The lack of crowd. Perhaps not in the morning, and in the evening. but at normal times, the line served basically lazy ah sohs who are doing grocery shopping.
Not to mention dat more than HALF the line is still not under operation.
For a small carriage, I’m amazed at its speed, which can’t b felt while I’m in it. But looking at it from the distance, it was cruising even faster than a normal sedan.
towards home
Anyway, in order to save operation costs also, only one direction of the eastern loop is opened at any one time. One before 3pm, and the other after that. Although every trip comes into a full circle, each direction will offer a different introduction to Punggol.
I guess the majority of the population sees the one about the developed and orderliness of Punggol, which is the direction after 3pm.
matilda hse
Considering that the MRT station was set in the midst of nowhere, emerging from the station was like starting on a journey INTO a developed city. fields abound, and the blocks of flats ahead.
towards punggol cove (the name of the 1st lrt station). budden it’s sk in the distance
For 3 stations along a straight rd, the LRT line was flanked by 2 rows of orderly flats with uniform heights, an irony to the ‘condo-like’, ‘different from old HDB flats’ facades… they’re like cliffs and canyons. The 1st part of the LRT trip was like a kayaking trip down the river of Punggol Canyon.
preparing to enter the canyons
Eating places and minimarts dot the cluster centrals. These were nothing but evidence that here in this town resides the young couples of s’pore. DINKs, juz-past-DINKs, people who r too lazy busy to cook and families like mine who r practically not at home most of the day.
coursing thru the canyons
After passing thru 3 shell-roofed checkpoints, we emerge back into open space, turning just before we hit the face of a small (once-landfill) hill. But of cos, it was a serangoon ‘river’ away.
LRT station
In fact, this is the region where serangoon ‘river’ empties into the Straits of Johor, juz like the river I’d been kayaking down in Punggol Canyon meandering into the delta of flats. It may seem that I had left the canyon behind, but no.
towards riviera
After crossing the great divide of the town called Punggol Central, which leads directly back to the MRT station, we enter into a relatively new cluster of clusters. My cluster. Here, there were some variations. In exchange for a less fancy facade, there were buildings that finally do not face the general N-S direction of the other flats.
towards riviera
towards kadaloor
But not my cluster though. Long ago, before I moved in, my friend ferried me here to deposit some of my stuff and to fix my new desktop. As he drove around the service road, he exclaimed, ‘whoa… like a castle.’
the meadows
Cos my cluster was a combination of 2 clusters, positioned symmetrically about the shopping strip. it’s an immense cliff wall, all uniform, identical twins within each twin, that extends over 200m. In the dark (my cluster was the only one in the neighbourhood back den, so there was not much light in the new estate), the monster loomed above us into nowhere.
It was, juz as ironically, called The Meadows.
i’m not bluffing when i said it was called The Meadows
After the stop outside my cluster, the remaining 2 stations are not in operation. which implied that my station is the only one that offers view of the other side of Punggol, the fields, the distant hills, the river, the straits; the nature.
out of kadaloor station
Which explains that in a cool morning, the scenery from here will b spirit-lifting. There will be wisps of mist hanging about the line of trees at the other end of the fields, like a white veil placed upon the tree tops. The water will no longer glitter like jewels under the morning sun, but becomes milky white. The fields were levelled and grasses cropped, But cos of this, it seems to extend forever into the line of trees, yes that line of coniferous trees that shielded the ugly sights of the industrial buildings in JB.
an optical deception, but a beautiful one.
The train will pass by the 2 unopened stations, stopping but not opening its doors. After The Meadows, the train officially exits the built-up areas of Punggol, into the flat lands beyond, and the canyons look distant and unfamiliar once again.
cloudy punggol
There was once a farm, nursery along this stretch of the line. But it seemed that the 2005 CNY bushfires had taken its toll on the owner, who suffered from the losses due to the fire. The place was closed and abandoned.
Just before the train turns back into the tunnel of the MRT station, the ‘forest’ comes up at the side of the line.
foggy punggol
Beyond this poece of wood-lands, was where the old Punggol was, the pier, the beach and the marina. It was the place that was promised to b an entertainment hub, to draw crowds to Punggol. of cos, it was just promised.
The line of the other loop still not in operation emerges from the tress like a wild life trail. It crosses with the current line in operation and trickles along the same way into the station: the massive mound of aluminum, steel, glass and concrete.
We pass in between 2 ‘hills’ (dunno wat they were for, but they’re just there), before emerging into the open and steering into the station proper. Back to the starting pt, back in a full circle.
There was Sengkang in the distance, right across the gushing traffic of CTE. There was the quaint, silent line of the western loop. There was the Punggol Canyons and there was the Punggol Wilds. gosh, no wonder ang-moh tourists want to come here. What other new towns offer such sights, 4-in-1?
Frankly speaking, i do hope that Punggol stays at what it is. No more development, no more human presence. Of cos, this is hopeless, cos just beside the ‘woods’, a new HDB project was beginning. Soon, the trees will give way to the flats, and the grassland to the high-rise flats. No more scenic views, no more misty mornings. No more wild-life trails, though the canyon kayaking will continue, and in fact, be extended.
But surely the place can be different from the concrete jungle of tampines and pasir ris, yar?
Taken and edited from The Other Side of The Fence 2, dated 10 February 2006.
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More than 2 years into the future, much has changed in Punggol.
After emerging from the Punggol Canyons, we do not see the Serangoon River directly. At the near bank of the river, lined a Chinese temple, a nursery and a Golf Driving Centre. Kadaloor is not the last station on the wilder side of Punggol, with Damai after it. Soon, Oasis will be opened when one of the BTO projects are completed.
The remaining grassland opposite the Kadaloor part of the line will be cut with a waterway, of which the construction will start in 2009. Most probably, the wood-lands will be cleared for the waterway.
Matilda House sits at the site of the town centre… Better go visit before it gets demolished or something.
