It is kind of interesting, but I have a surprisingly large number of pictures for what is actually a relatively short bus ride.
Guess Chonkycam decided to work a bit overtime today.
Maybe she was charmed by the daytime light, which for today was exceptionally good.
The bus ride began from the bus stop opposite Parkway Parade.
Here the bus first went along Marine Parade Road, going past the first junction that separates Marine Parade Central and Joo Chiat Road. Here the blocks of 72/74 always stand out- not so much for their corridors- but for their brightness of sea blue.
The bus went onto the next stretch, going past the 4-room flat point blocks of 72 and 71, then what will be the new Marine Parade Community Library.
The junction of Still Road comes up after, diagonally opposite which is Tao Nan School. I am glad to have gotten a rather good shot of the school. It isn't every day that the bus stops in a spot at a traffic light where I can.
Further on came Marine Crescent, and Blk 47. At another season of life, this block would have been just another block that the bus passed by, no significance whatsoever. But there is a 24 hour laundromat at the void deck of this block, where, in this season, we have been doing 20kg worth of laundry.
The bus now made a right into Marine Crescent, going past the main gate of Tao Nan School, then a left past the blocks of 34 and 45, and turning onto Marine Terrace.
I don't have much pictures of the blocks here.
I also don't know which block stands at where.
But the bus made a right out onto Marine Parade Road, where from the window I got a view of what I think is Block 57, with an exit of Marine Terrace MRT Station in front.
Here the bus went on, going past CHIJ Katong Convent and Victoria College before approaching Neptune Court. Up till now I had not noticed that this particular HUDC had an exterior painted of earthy red brick and bright off-white yellow, contrasting sharply with the light blue and white condominium of Mandarin Gardens just in front.
Another school came up ahead- the Victoria School this time- which I took no pictures- and then the bus went past the other blue and white painted HUDC property of Laguna Park.
I had come to this condominium many years ago, so I have a somewhat vague memory of how their apartments look like.
I can't say if those memories are pleasant.
I can only say that they existed sometime in my life, and that is not going to change.
Back then I had not known that Laguna Park sat right next to the waterway canal leading up to East Coast Park, or that one of the blocks here houses the Bedok Lighthouse- the only working lighthouse serving the Eastern waters this side of the island.
But I know now.
Google Maps tells me.
Google Maps also tells me that this junction marks the easternmost end of Marine Parade Road.
From here on, the bus departs the Marine Parade side of territory and enters into the Bedok heartland.
Before that, however, there is Bayshore, with her walls painted a shade of creamy off-white yellow and her windows a dark tint of black.
On Bedok South Avenue 1, the bus passed by the condominiums of Laguna Green, then Eastern Lagoon I, and Casafina.
At first feel, the presence of these condos don't seem much, but it is somewhere around here that the atmosphere between Marine Parade and East Coast changes where it slowly guides you into the distinctive rustic, kampong-like feels of Bedok, Tanah Merah and Changi beyond.
The feel of Tanah Merah and Changi doesn't actually begin from this spot here, but the hints are there, and the hints begin to come off strong.
From here, after trundling down almost the whole length of Bedok South Avenue 1, the bus made a left onto Bedok South Road, going past a host of industrial factories housing the Japanese companies of NCS, Fujitec, Yokogawa, and Panasonic.
The bus ride ended not too long after here.
Right in front of the Panasonic factory stood the huge complex of Bedok Mall, with her apartments rising above her. The bus first went up a small stretch of Bedok North Avenue 1, then made a right, straight into the Bus interchange.