Bus Ride Sights: Bedok-Changi Village

It's a little embarrassing, but I got a little excited when told- after lunch at Bedok Interchange- that we'd be taking the bus from Upper Changi Road to Changi Village. 

It's embarrassing because this isn't my first time taking the bus there. 

I've done it countless times before. 

But I probably was excited because I'd never taken pictures of the bus journey there before. 

We sat on the left hand side of the bus. 

And the camera came out a couple of minutes not too long after. 

Frankly I didn't have anything specific I wanted to take. 

I just wanted to capture the scenery of the route as it was- as the bus went.

If it were random, so be it. 

If there weren't, well, so be it too. 

So the route began with a condominium near the junction of Tanah Merah Kechil Road somewhere after the MRT. 

After that the bus made a left into the area we call Simpang Bedok. 

I haven't been to this place before, but I have passed it a couple of times. This is a place with little shops, interesting eateries, a (sort of) shopping mall and a post office in a building that looks like it belongs to yesteryear. 

One day, maybe, I'll get down the bus and wander around. 

But not today. 

Today the bus continued on its route. 

From this stretch it made a right, then continued on. past the river, past the Bedok North Avenue 4 industrial estate, past the junction that enters Simei (and Changi General Hospital), past the construction of what looks like an MRT track, then the row of terrace houses that I think leads to the (old) Changi area. 

The scenery changes somewhat around here. 

Not that the structures end- they actually continue on for a good distance ahead- but there seems to be more space, there seems to be more green, and the scenery juxtaposes the present with the past. 

I'm glad I got to take a picture of the school. 

I call the building a school, but I think it hasn't been used as a school for a very long time now. 

Still, it is a building that at one time used to house a school.

Why it's still here, why it hasn't been torn down, what's it going to be used for- we don't know- but it's still here- and it looks like it won't be going away anytime soon. 

Past some pretty houses the bus went, then a flyover (with the most amazing view) then another construction area of what might be the same MRT track as the one before, then finally the Japanese school. 

Here the scenery changes again. 

There're structures (of yesteryear- almost heritage if we might say- but there're condominiums, homes, terrace houses, petrol stations, and little random shops here and there.

They don't look much, but they do come in useful (I suppose) when one needs to do a quick supply run. 

Especially since there aren't any supermarkets here. 

I don't think there're any. 

At least I haven't seen any on this route so far. 

It might be because of the camps. 

There're quite a number of camps here, and if there's one thing about this stretch of Changi that stands out, it is their presence. 

Some of them have been here a long time. 

Some more recent.

I don't know what exactly they are, but they're spaced out- one here, one there- and with singular-looking colonial-style bungalows dotting the grassy hills in between. 

I'm sure there're other bungalows like these elsewhere, but unlike those here, can't be seen from a public bus. 

It might be that these bungalows look like they've been there a long while. 

And it makes me wonder what it was they once used to be. 

The interesting thing about this part of Changi is how unexpected the scenery is. 

You'd think that all this space and green would continue all the way to Changi Beach and Changi Village, but here's the surprise.

It doesn't. 

There's still the Loyang Way industrial area, which somehow, without you realizing it, seems to suddenly pop up in front of you. 

It's like you could be happily admiring the scenery of the hills but then you soon realize that there's a factory building in the background, followed by another factory building, followed by another factory building... 

Before you know it, all this concrete is right in front of you. 

Fortunately it doesn't last very long. 

You come upon the junction of Cranwell Road soon after, where on your left is a camp, and on your right, Changi Air Base (East).

It is at this junction that I feel marks the entrance of Changi Village and her accompanying Netheravon Road. 

The camera went back into the bag somewhere around here. 

But not before I took a picture of the Cranwell junction, and of a black-and-white house which, at one point in time, would have served as residence for personnel working in the camps, and the air bases that run along this section of road.