We were heading out for dinner, and as the bus we had to take was on Bedok Reservoir Road, we decided to walk through the blocks on the other side of the highway.
I was quite happy, actually.
There is a difference, let me say, between going to a place for errands versus going to a place when your mind is free.
Previous times I had walked through this place on an errand, so didn't get to stop, didn't get to take that many pictures either.
This time I was determined to go a little bit slow.
And slow I did.
Walking along Jln Daud to the Siglap PCN leading to the overhead bridge, there was, of course Windy Heights, that after Lorong Melayu, I had to first pass.
What charmed me about Windy Heights is not just her structure (although, that, too has a distinctive 80s type of charm that makes me think of Cairnhill- I dont know why) but the horticulture in front of her walls and gates.
I don't know if it were planted by the neighborhood committee or the MCST of Windy Heights themselves, but this frangipani tree just outside its walls looked like it was growing very well.
Walking to the end of Jln Daud we turned left onto Jln Kembangan onto the PCN.
There's something about this stretch of the Siglap PCN on Jln Kembangan that makes me somewhat stop and ponder.
No, it's not because there's anything very special about this PCN (it is quite a normal PCN actually) nor is it that this almost-straight route of a PCN stretches from the PIE all the way down to the other highway of the ECP close to the shore side.
But I've always felt this spot to be very serene.
I've also always felt this spot to be very kampung like.
Maybe it's the coconut trees that line the path but I keep wondering just what this body of water used to be- pretty sure it wasn't always a canal- what was it that lined the banks of this body of water, and where exactly did this stretch lead to before the PIE was built.
There're some energies that can't be contained, really, and the restful, serene nature of this particular stretch might just be one of them.
This afternoon for some reason I took a picture of the condo on Lengkong Empat.
Don't laugh, but looking at this picture now I somehow think of either Florida (USA's Florida), or one of those condos in the island's Cairnhill, Serangoon Gardens, Sennett, and the like.
Up onto the overhead bridge I went afterwards, first climbing a long runway with rich foliage of green on either side.
You know, many a bridge I've crossed is simply a structure of concrete and steel, nothing more, nothing less.
But this one here was surrounded by rich green foliage that looked like they had been here a very long time. It wasn't even those horticultural plants that we see along our roads. This was just solid, untidy-looking, unchecked, untouched foliage that might well have been from jungle or forest before urban development and traffic infrastructure came into play.
It's how these plants ramble all around the place that really gets to me.
At the top of this bridge one gets rewarded with the most astounding view.
It might not mean much to people who traverse across this bridge every oh so often, but for me who doesn't always come to the Bedok Reservoir side, I appreciate.
Maybe because it's not everywhere and every time that one gets to cross a bridge that stretches across a highway. I don't think there are even that many of such bridges in Singapore (I don't know) but here we are, here I have one, and yes, I'm going to relish the municipal-granted view.
Such horizons, such views of traffic you don't see on regular roads.
It's just a non-stop flow of vehicular traffic- and humans- either way, a river of movement flowing both directions from the east side of the country at Changi where the PIE begins close to Changi Airport Terminal 4, to the west side of the country at Jurong where the highway officially ends at Tuas Road.
It's a very fascinating route, if you ask me, and I wouldn't mind a sort of (bus) journey all along the entire PIE- that would be so fascinating- getting to see all the different views that line the expressway on both sides from Changi to Eunos to Kallang to Toa Payoh to the Mount Pleasant side, then past Bukit Brown, Sime Road, the Central Catchment area, down past Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Bukit Batok, Jurong East-Tengah and finally Tuas Road.
Except there isn't one.
So I shall have to contend myself with the view from this overhead bridge.
What's interesting is that, up till now, I had not realized just how beautiful this expressway was with its huge canopied trees and flowering shrubs running along the divider separating the lanes.
One side had the red housing blocks of Bedok Reservoir overlooking the eastbound lanes heading towards Changi. On the opposite side of the overhead bridge were the blue housing blocks of Bedok Reservoir also overlooking the same lanes but situated closer to Eunos, Paya Lebar and Kallang.
Same as it were on the westbound side of the expressway, with one condo being Starville (closer to Changi), and the other being Windy Heights towards Eunos and Toa Payoh and Tuas.
Across the expressway we went, down the slope of the overhead bridge, entering the neighborhood park that serves as a border between the housing blocks, and the expressway. There's never been a time when I've seen this place empty. Whether it be in the early afternoon, late afternoon, early evening, or late evening, there's always someone here, either walking on the path, cycling on the path, sitting on the benches or playing at the court.
It's a lively place, this one, no doubt, and perhaps, a bit serene at certain moments too.
From here it might look like there's no one about, but in fact, invisible from where I stood, a person had just crossed over the little slope towards the blocks in front.
I just made sure he could not be seen.
We made our way to the bus stop, first going up a staircase or two to the blocks in front, then all the way to the main road via the car park.
Perhaps you might be wondering just why it was I took these pictures.
I mean, they're just housing blocks, nothing more, nothing less.
But these are the very ones I'd been seeing from the balcony for the last two years, and only today, were I armed with the camera, seeing them up close for the very first time.