You know, there was a time in my life when I didn't know anything about Kembangan.
What I did know of was its name, and of it as a space that you went past as you traveled your way to either Bedok or Paya Lebar westwards the other side.
But that was it.
I knew nothing else.
I knew nothing more.
Then came a day when I moved into the estate.
Best part, not just at the fringe of the estate near the MRT, not even at the heart of it, but right at the back, not too far away from the expressway.
It's been a while, and whilst I wish I can say I know the estate very well, I'm afraid I can't.
But glad I am to know it a little more.
And glad I am to explore it a little deep.
One of the first things that surprised me the first time I came here were the HDB public housing blocks.
I had not known.
To me the area seemed to be all terraced houses and condominiums and standalone homes.
But no, there is this housing estate of what I think is 10, 15 blocks, and not a very small one it is either.
One side of the estate runs along Lengkong Tiga (hence the name).
The other side runs along Lorong Melayu.
I tend to stick to the Lorong Melayu side way more, so, yes, what lies on the other side of Lengkong Tiga, what lies beyond the back doors of these houses, and beyond, I can't say for sure.
But the soul of the estate has to be, I think, this canal.
At first glance she seems like an ordinary canal, no different from the ones you see at various housing estates all over the island, but this is a canal that begins from somewhere near the PIE (maybe even beyond- I don't know) and goes all the way all through to East Coast Park out to the open sea.
Here's the cute part.
You don't really think of the beach and the open sea when you're here walking along the canal to the bus stop, but this place- this part here at the junction of Jln Daud and Lengkong Tiga actually marks the very first stretch.
From this very spot the canal runs all along Lengkong Tiga before it tilts right at the roundabout, and then heads straight down towards the MRT station.
Under the MRT station the canal then runs, before coming out on the opposite side of Sims Avenue East where the park connector then goes along the stretch which, in all honesty, I find hard to define, but ends at Changi Road with Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup on the right hand side.
Across Changi Road the canal then goes (under, of course), then pops back out where it is Telok Kurau on one side, Frankel estate on the other, and on it goes until it gets to East Coast Road.
The canal is pretty near to the sea by this point.
But then there is East Coast Road to cross, after which the canal runs along the stretch where St. Patrick's School is on the right.
All the way it goes until it hits Marine Parade Road.
The canal is even closer to the sea by this point.
But there's still a final stretch.
Victoria Junior College, that is, that runs on the left side of this stretch, after which the canal then enters what I call the vegetation zone, goes under the ECP expressway, cuts through the space and scenery of East Coast Park and then finally ends at the Lookout Point near Campsite Area D.
That's the charm of this canal.
It might be divided into four, five different sections, but each section has its own vibe.
It's like the vibe of Lengkong Tiga is different from the vibe along Telok Kurau and Frankel Drive.
The vibe of Victoria Junior College and even St. Patrick's School- despite being diagonally across each other- feels different as well.
Yet it is the same waterway that moves in a single direction from Bedok Reservoir Road all the way down.
Is it fascinating how the water runs?
Is it fascinating how this side of the canal is so different from the other sides?
Absolutely.
If the other sides were more spacious, more spread out, more urban, this side in the Kembangan somehow still holds on to its shade, its huge canopied trees, its rich, deep sense of the earth and its sense of Land.
I always get kampong vibes when at Lorong Melayu, Lengkong Satu, Lorong Marzuki and Lengkong Tiga.
Which, by the way, feel a little different from the vibes across the road at the Seng Kee side.
But that's not all.
Apparently, as what Google Maps shows me, these 10, 15 blocks that make up the Lengkong Tiga HDB estate are in fact the only public housing blocks that are sitting right by the water next to this canal.
There aren't any others.
From here- all along Lengkong Tiga all the way down to East Coast Park- there're no more other HDBs. They're all either houses, condominiums, shop houses, or schools.
I suppose that must mean something, mustn't it?
