Ok, so this is going to be a bit of a personal post.
Yet, at the same time, it's not going to be as personal as some think it might be.
It is no secret that I used to live in Hougang.
And because school five days a week was on the other side of Hougang near the Hougang Avenue 1, Lorong Ah Soo side, there was always a commute, plus a stopover, at the bus interchange between home, and school.
It wasn't just weekdays that I came to the interchange.
Weekends too we came, at those times when we wanted to head downtown, and the only buses heading down Upper Serangoon Road to town area were all berthed here.
I know this interchange well.
One side of the interchange had all the feeder bus services going around Hougang Town. The other side had the buses all heading to other parts of the island, some going towards Tampines, some going to Chinatown, Orchard, Jurong East even. Hanging from the ceiling was this huge clock- which I do not have very happy memories of- and in the middle of the whole interchange was a kiosk where sweets, snacks, buns, and drinks were sold.
This is a place where not only do I remember where the berth of Bus 111 was, not only do I remember buying sweets and snacks and later SMASH music magazines from the kiosk, I also remember bumping into my grandparents who had come to the nearby shopping center for errands and groceries and were taking the same bus as I were, back home.
But life changes.
Things move.
And what used to be a lively hub of the Hougang Bus Interchange along Upper Serangoon Road is now vacant, quiet, and empty.
When it was that the bus interchange moved lock, stock, barrel down the road to where it is now in present day, I can't recall, but it might have been around 1998, 1999, near the time when the NEL started, and even though both interchanges were always running concurrently, to this day no one really knows why this bus interchange had to move.
I've not had much of an opportunity, nor reason, to come this side of Hougang, or Kovan, as it is now known, very much in the intervening years.
But the other day I did.
And, let's just say, I was very surprised.
I can't say whether it was a surprise of the good kind, or the not-so-good kind, because even though much of the place looked same as how I remembered it, the vibe seemed different.
Was it just me or were it the retail mix of shops that made it so?
Was it just me or had I- after spending so much time elsewhere- become unfamiliar and desensitized to the space that I once used to frequent?
The largest change was of the space where the car park once used to be.
This was the car park where, if coming from Upper Serangoon Road, we'd cross Tampines Road, and up the slope of the car park directly to the hawker center.
Few years ago it was still there.
But now it's gone, replaced by construction works for public housing flats, and whilst I could see how this helps alleviate future home owners and maybe makes this part of Kovan a place to live, work, study and play, somehow the presence of those flats makes the place feel different.
Especially the hawker center, which has become a little less airy and sunny than how I remember it, in particular the side where used to be my favorite chye tow kuay stall (and which is there no more)
It isn't just the hawker center and the car park that has changed.
The shopping center too has evolved so much that I'm not sure what to make of it.
On one hand I know I ought to see it with 2025 eyes.
Yet at the same time, I can't seem to erase memories of the department store that once used to exist there.
I guess I still remember it as a time of Kimisawa and Oriental.
And I still remember how it used to be when Delifrance, Pizza Hut and A&W were on the ground floor, with the peach tarts at Delifrance on display, the waffles and fried chicken wings and root beer floats at A&W, the KFC at the back, and the pizza buffet at Pizza Hut where you could have salad and soup and pizza and lasagna free flow for $7.
There're a good number of cafes and eateries and restaurants at the shopping mall today- not that they're gone- great for families and teens, plus snack booths but a lot more pop up space has been rented out both downstairs and upstairs, and I had a bit of a time trying to figure out what was where.
Perhaps it might be great for someone who has given oneself the space and time to shop and look around.
Perhaps too it might be great for someone who is exploring the area and wanting a quick grocery run.
But I wasn't so much in the mood that day, and so headed out of the area (deciding to miss the McDonalds outlet entirely), passing by what was once a bowling alley, crossed over to the road where opposite once used to be the Wing Tai Garment Factory, and from Hougang Avenue 3, took a bus home.