Kampong Lorong Buangkok

Kampong Lorong Buangkok is the last village of its kind left on the Singapore mainland: about twenty-five households in single-storey houses of timber and zinc on land bought by one family in 1956 and rented out ever since at rents that have barely risen. There are chickens, fruit trees, a surau and unpaved lanes, in the middle of an island of high-rise housing. It floods when it rains hard, which is part of why it survived unredeveloped.

History

The land was bought in 1956 from Huang Yu Tu by Sng Teow Koon, a seller of traditional Chinese medicine, who rented plots to families, and the village was nicknamed Selak Kain, hitching up one's sarong, for its floods. By the 1960s some 40 Chinese and Malay families lived here, and in 2024 there were 25 (Wikipedia, Kampong Lorong Buangkok).

The main sights

• The kampong houses - single-storey timber and zinc dwellings on unpaved lanes.
• The surau - the small prayer house at the centre of the village.
• The contrast - a village surrounded by high-rise blocks a few hundred metres away.
• The last of its kind - the only mainland kampong left in Singapore.

When to go

Year round; daylight hours only and quietly. It floods in heavy rain. There is no reason to come at night.

Good to know

People live here and it is not an attraction: walking through with cameras is intrusive and residents have said so publicly. Keep to the lanes, do not photograph houses or people without asking, and do not go in groups. Redevelopment has been announced repeatedly and its future is uncertain.

Nearby

Ang Mo Kio is west, and Serangoon is south.

Key facts