Following on from last weeks post from Sembawang, and what must have been the old trail into central Singapore along Upper Thomson / Thomson & then Balestier Roads towards the city, it makes sense to pick things up a bit closer to home.
The wesern / Thomson Road end of Balestier Road is a twenty minute walk from our place, and as time's gone on we've found ourselves there more and more. It helps there is a fairly new mall with a western-style supermarket, and we also have several friends that live in the area. Over time I've walked and also run the length of it several times over, but this was the first expedition out with the camera.
First things first trying to identify the Eastern extreme end of Balesteir Road itself, which turns out to be at the junction of another famous Singapore street, Serangoon Road, which I hope to get to later this week. Continuing East across the junction, Balesteir Road becomes Lavendar Road, which makes its way towards Kallang Bay towards the city, but for now this is the start.
At the corner of Balestier, Serangoon and Lavendar Roads, heading west (looking right in the photo) takes you along Balesteir Road:
The jury is still out on whether the blue building is the actual Singapore Institude of Science.
Heading off in a westerly direction there's a good example of Housing Development Board apartment blocks on the right hand side of the road:
Slightly further along, and I just couldn't help myself with this one, the state of Singapore education along Balestier Road could use some improvement:
Its not far after here that the Central Expressway, or CTE, slices through Balesteir Road in half to the extent that the eastern and western side tend to have a very different feel about them. As I'll show later the western side has retained much of its historic look & feel, while little remains on the eastern side. With a flyover like this separating the two, its little wonder:
Now on the western or Novena end, there are several examples of old shophouses which line the road, along with information boards that detail the Balesteir Road Historic Trail, something which is quite unique in suburban Singapore. Here's the Sim Kwong Oh shophouses, with more recent development immediately behind:
Along with another example further down the road:
The area has a unique feel in Singapore in that it feels slightly lived in. Some of the drinking establishments along it - which are off-limits to westerners - give it a certain seediness, as does the large number of budget style hotels. For locals its also a famous eating street, and there are dozens of eating outlets catering to various tastes. This is a famous Bak Kut Teh eating house:
And further along, what happens when hawkers go bad. This one burned down in what looks like a significant fire several weeks back:
Nearing the end of the walk at Balesteir Hill, its easy to see the contrast between old and new at the Thomson Road end, where the developers are going crazy because of the proximity to Novena MRT station. Here some new apartment construction is well underway:
While pretty much across the road at Balesteir Hill, an old style row of shophouses remains in place, including this photocopying shop which time forgot:
Comments