My World Tuesday-Bedok

This is another old housing estate in Singapore. It is Bedok. Bedok is on the eastern part of Singapore.

You can see many shophouses in here. The shops are mostly non air conditioned and you can bargained for the products you want to purchase unless they have a fixed price tag.

Shophouse meant the ground floor is often used as a shop for business and the owner occupied the 2nd storey as a residential quarter. The higher floors are occupied by other flat owners. Further down the photo, you can see a lift upgrading going on. In the past, lifts stop only at certain floors but as the population aged, lifts are being upgraded to stop at every floor for the convenience of the aged residents.

Bedok is a self contained small town, that have many amenities/facilites eg. bus/train stations, malls, banks, markets, hawker centre (above photo), etc.

Wet market selling poultry, meat, vegetables, etc

This wet market has already been upgraded, it is so much spacious, clean and the floor are dry and not wet.

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Skywatch Friday- Housing Estate - Part 4

Skywatch concludes my series of posting on the housing estate and its facilities.

Although we are a small island and our homes are mostly built upwards, we do remembered to have greenery around the island.

This tree is fully bloomed with yellow flowers. Dont ask me what tree this is...lol.
Beside the mini park (which I posted yesterday), there is a big field for residents to play foot ball, etc.

And yes, the field is well taken care of.

A short video (zoom bigger) of the mowing process. The birds love it cause it helps them find food...lol

I conclude the posting with an evening sunset photo taken from my brother's flat.

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Housing Estate Part 3 - Mini Park

This is the same park near my brother's apartment that I have posted before. You can view my previous posting in here.

I went down to the mini park with my little niece in the evening. Now I see people starting to come out and play and also to exercise.

This place is so shady, I like it.

A track for residents to jog or run. Noticed in the background, some flats are on the ground floor and they can dry their clothes in the open space and also to grow plants. Residents on higher floor also can grow plants in pots but they cannot placed them on dangerous place (eg. window ledge), which can pose a danger to people walking on the ground floor.

Anyone who throws objects down from high buildings to endanger lives would have to face a heavy penalty.

Pebbles on the ground for foot exercises. There are many fallen leaves in here, the poor cleaner would have a hard time sweeping them the next day.
A suspended bridge popular with kids.

Looked at my little niece having fun with her stuffed doggie on the sea saw. The doggie is a christmas present that I bought for my niece when she was about 2 and she still keep it. It is so dirty and yellowish but she refused to change for a new stuff doggie ....lol I think I will bring her out next month during the school holiday to get a new stuff dog.


Noticed that the see saw is designed for safety. It is low and the mat to cushion any fall by kids.

There are more play equipment at the playground like the swing, swinging chair, car, etc but I did not take the photographs .

Housing Estate Facilities (Part 2)-Fitness Corner

Continuing from yesterday post about the facilities in housing estates around Singapore.


This is a very small amphitheatre for the green tea corner's (posted about it yesterday) activities.

Residents would come here to perform or watch dances, songs, and etc.
Behind the amphitheatre is a little fitness corner.

There are instructions teaching people how to warm up before using the equipment.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it to read the instructions.

This signboard teaches how to use the equipment. It is quite easy and fun to use.
We are so well taken care of. The mat below the fitness equipment prevent someone from falling on hard concrete and hurt oneself. It is fire proof too.

Noticed the background of the covered linkway. They are built to connect blocks of flats so that we wont get drenched by heavy downpour and to shelter us from the hot sun. Do you think we are too pampered?

When I was young in my teens, I had to walk knee deep in flooding places....lol. My sons had never even experienced a flood in Singapore. That's how well built and organised my country is, but it is still not 100% perfect.

A short video of the equipment.

I had my sister play on the equipment so that I can video it...lol

P.S. There are not many people using the fitness corner cause when I took this photo was in the noon. Visit tomorrow post where I took some photos of the nearby park in the evening where people are starting to come out and exercise.

My World Tuesday-Green Corner in Housing Estate (Part 1)

I am starting a new series of the facilities in some housing estates of Singapore.


Singapore is a small island. Majority of us stay in high rise buildings and own our home. We have housing estates scattered all over the island and each estate is self contained in such that they have malls, markets, library , cinemas, etc.

But we cant always be in malls, etc.

So to get people to come out of their flats and mingle around with their neighbours, corners like the above are created. Some corners are known as senior citizen corner while the above photo is known as Green Tea Junction.

I think the word green explained the small garden near this corner and Tea Junction really meant to chat/mingle over tea at this corner.

It is for everyone, young or old. They have tables and chairs, wash basin, TV, etc. Residents can get together in this corner to discuss the day's happenings or celebrate a festival or occasions.
This corner has a small garden for residents who love gardening but dont own a garden in their home.

I could not get in the garden cause the person in charge of the keys was not around and it is noon and most dont do gardening at this time.

So I placed my camera through the fence and took photos of the little garden. :) I spotted some bamboo shoots, chillis and okra(ladies fingers).

Not sure what fruit they are in the below photo.

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Do come back tomorrow to view more photos of the facilites in our housing estate.

Telok Blangah Housing Estate-Part 3-Playground and Exercise Corners

Walking around the estate of Telok Blangah, I could see these exercise facilities for the eldery. The one on the extreme left are for swinging both legs. You just stand on top of them and and hold on the handles and swing both legs. The one in the middle is for exercising your hands. Just use both hands and turn the handles of the wheel. As for the extreme right, I have no clue how to use that...lol But I knew those blue benches are for sitting...hehehe.



These huge pebbles are meant for treating the soles of the legs. You have to walk barefooted on them. I tried walking but it was so painful...lol

Something for the youngs too. A playground with slides and bridges.



The place looked so dirty it is not because the cleaner did not do his job. As I have mentioned in yesterday post, this place is facing the sea and on top of a hill, it is extremely windy here and these are all leaves that had fallen from the many trees in this place.

I will post about the many trees in here in tomorrow post. :)

My World Tuesday-Telok Blangah Housing Estate (Part 2)

Continued from yesterday post.......

It is a very emotional task to sell my in law's flat. Both have passed away within seven months of each other and been a roller coaster time for us. The flat had been vacant a few years cause dad in law was bed ridden and had to be in a nursing home (very expensive) and mom in law went to stay with her unmarried daughter.

It is strange that friends thought we are going to inherit a big sum of money. It is just a small flat not a bungalow and also dont forget to include the nursing home charges, lawyer fees (in laws never make a will), hospital fees, funeral expenses, etc. Dont forget..... the cost of living in Singapore is quite high and all these fees are a hefty sum. So after deducting all these expenses, there are not much left from the proceeds of the flat and hubby need to share the proceeds with his other siblings. I will write more about cost of living in Singapore in another post whenever I get the chance.

While hubby is clearing the stuff in my in law's flat, I was having a great time looking at the view of the scenery from the flat. The scenery is so beautiful and as it is on the high floor, it is so windy and the flat is on top of a hill too.

The above photo shows some apartment blocks(more than 30 years old) in Telok Blangh. The apartment blocks are of different designs. Some are five rooms apartment , some are four rooms , some are three rooms and the smallest are like my in law's flat two rooms flats. The flats here are very popular as they are facing the sea and with great views. The rich greenery in the background is Mount Faber. Despite the name "Mount" it is not a mountain but a hill. You can view my previous posting of Mount Faber in here.

Look at how Singaporeans hang their laundries. Majority dont use dryers but hang them on bamboo poles and out of the windows. We are two degrees north of the equator so drying clothes in the hot sun make sense. It is also a green way too. :) I do that too but at times, I hang them in my balcony when I am not at home.

Closer look at the laundries hanging out to dry on bamboo poles. How to you dry your clothes?

This is the view from my in law's flat. I could view the cable cars on the left leading to and fro the little island opposite me. The island is known as Sentosa. You can view my previous posting of Sentosa in here. On Sentosa, the intergrated resort with Universal Studio and a Casino is under construction and when completed, one can view the lovely fireworks from here too.

I am looking forward to the Universal Studio instead of the Casino because I dont have gambling luck and not addicted to gambling. :) We can ban family members from going to the casino if they are addicted and locals need to pay a fee to enter Casino while tourists enter the Casino free of charge.

A short video of the surrounding area. Look towards the end of the video, you could spot the corridor of the block where I am standing. :)

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Please visit tomorrow for more photos of the surrounding housing estate.

Telok Blangah - Part One

These two pots of plants are the beginning of my new posting of Telok Blangah Housing Estate. I was there with hubby clearing some stuff of my in laws's flat. They have both passed away last year and this will be our last trip here.

These two flower pots are placed in a small balcony outside the flat. The area is so windy as it was facing the sea and Sentosa. The flat has a very nice view. I will talk about it in tomorrow post.

I will also show the surrounding area in Telok Blangah Housing Estate. The series will probably end with skywatch Friday. Some of you might like to know how the average Singaporean lives, so please come back for the Telok Blangah Series. :)

Skywatch Friday-Condominium above Jurong Point Shopping Mall

This will be my final post in Jurong Point Mall. Looking up in the roof, I can see the perfect shot for my skywatch photo. I think it is great they allowed natural light in from the glass roof to brighten the mall, they can save much on electricity. Great way to go green.

New condominium above the mall still under construction. Nowadays, condominium are so small and expensive.




Oh I love window displays.

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