91- Telok Blangah by a Dummy

Migiman and StephieBaT at Telok Blangah MRT Station

April 2015

Four votes for Telok Blangah. 

The "yay"'s , have it. 

Migiman and StephieBat decided it was high time to go to Singapore again after years and years and years last April 2015. CamilaBoots helped with the housing (thank you, dear cousin!), and with being an awesome tour guide. We had the privilege of staying in CamilaBoots' flat in Telok Blangah housing estate- a joint close to Fairprice, close to the LRT and a bus station, and of course, close to great hawker food. 

What is this strange place called TK, you ask? Well, let this dummy share so bare boned facts with you. 

So TK is a housing estate in Singapore, located Southwest of the country's Central Business District. TK is just a stone's throw away from Sentosa, and is part of the Bukit Merah Planning Area (thanks, Wikipedia). 

In 1849, British Civil Engineer John Turnbull Thomson created a painting called "Tello Blangah". This piece of fine art depicted villages at the foot of Mount Faber, Mount Faber had been known as "Telok Blangah Hill" until 1845, and Telok Blangah Road was christened in 1907 (again, thanks, Wikipedia).

Today, Telok Blangah is awash with condos and HDB flats. One thing I like about Singapore is the country's urban planners' penchant for creating fully functional, stand alone, communities. In the Philippines, we tend to need to travel outside our respective communities to work, purchase essential goods, or, go to school. In Singapore, a lot of communities function as self-sufficient areas. For Filipinos reading this smorgasboard of thoughts, I am confident that you'll agree- we could all use a large heap of improved urban planning. Singapore isn't perfect, but, their system works. It WORKS. That is a victory in and of itself. 

                         Migiman and StephBaT at one of the many Telok Blangah Food Stalls 

                                                                    (Yum and Yummer)

I took a jog around the Telok Blangah estate, and also took time out to observe the little things around me. Lots of senior citizens around, going about their business- some, walking from local groceries back to their flats, some, going about "Lehpa" and relaxing over drinks and peanuts, while others seemed to look as if they were in a panic, in a mess over a lost kettle, a broken piece of furniture, or, a debt unpaid. The place was awash in green. Equally impressive was the fact that flat I stayed in was situated within earshot of Henderson Waves, a nature park that can rival any local park I've been to, or, that I can think of. 

Don't judge us, we're nuts. :P 

Bridges, tree-lined walkways, 3 goofballs. That is how to enjoy life. 

Telok Blangah in a nutshell is-fun-for-everyone. 

MC