You know, I've been wanting to write about this route for a very, very long time.
But I've never had the chance.
It's difficult to take pictures of the view outside the bus window when everything's dark- and that's how it has been for me- for most of the time.
But I was here on this one Sunday afternoon.
So out came Chonkycam, and she stayed with me all through the journey until I got off at the final stop of Hougang Central Bus Interchange.
It's not every day that I get to take pictures of the shops bordering the Eunos housing estate along Jalan Eunos.
It's also not every day that I get to take pictures of the trees that are on the road towards the Pan Island Expressway.
The picture of the shops don't look as pretty as I wish it did.
But there're the trees, and the canopy, and on a bright, blue-sky day, I think they'd provide much shade and cool.
Further on from the Eunos housing estate is the Ubi housing estate.
I've always been charmed by this estate.
It might be small but it has to be one of the most quiet, quaint, and charming estates this side of the country.
For some reason it's got that rustic feel.
Like that sort of village feel (which maybe at some other point in time it really were).
Today the rustic feel is not due to village homes or mud paths cutting through virgin forest, but the row of coconut trees that line the canal and along the field.
Ubi residential estate is also very close to the industrial area of the same name, and that of Kaki Bukit opposite.
I'm not very sure what it is that Ubi Industrial Estate is known for, but there're a good number of roast meat suppliers somewhere along the stretch, and on the other side, nearer to Eunos Link, a slew of car repair workshops, motorcycle workshops and motorcycle showrooms.
Why the motorcycle showrooms are not along the main road that this bus was trundling on, I don't know.
The car showrooms are.
I know- I look out for their buildings when I take the bus at night.
Not because I drive, but because I know that right after the brightly lit logos of Honda, Hyundai and Chevrolet come into sight, I have to look out beyond Bartley Road East and this humongous field near Kim Chuan for the blocks of the housing estate commonly called as either Hougang Avenue 1, or Lorong Ah Soo.
I like to think of them as being part of Lorong Ah Soo.
I also like to think of them as being where the Prime Supermarket is, where the hawker center with the carrot cake strips is, and where the popular local pastries shop Molly is, too.
You know, I hadn't known just how popular Molly was when The Parent and I dropped into it at an early hour of 5am that very first time.
Now I do.
We didn't get to buy any pastries back then.
Maybe some other time I will.
The stretch beyond this housing estate past the intersection of Tampines Road is familiar ground to me.
I used to come here from time to time.
On both sides are the flats that form the estate of Hougang Avenue 3.
There's a Community Center somewhere in between.
And then after that, the blocks facing Upper Serangoon Road that long-term dwellers in the area commonly to call as "Ponggol Clinic the block" like a sort of landmark that marks the intersection between Upper Serangoon Road, Hougang Avenue 3, and Hougang Avenue 2.
The place has changed significantly in recent years.
What used to be a playground for the residents of Realty Park has now become a condominium of terrace-like houses.
But beyond that- and the new LTA structure (for maybe the Cross Island Line) on Hougang Avenue 4- there's still the quaint, neat-looking terrace houses near Jalan Naung and the Hougang Central Road.