Take a look inside Singapore's last traditional village, where rent is less than $13 a month and the modern city-state feels a world away

Marielle DescalsotaApr 7, 2022, 14:32 IST

The street leading to Lorong Buangkok.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

Lorong Buangkok is Singapore's only surviving traditional village.
Despite living in traditional homes, many residents lead modern lives and work in the city center.

This is Lorong Buangkok, the last traditional village in Singapore.

Pale-colored homes are shrouded in jungle.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

Many of the residents live in attap houses, which are common in kampongs across Southeast Asia.

Many homes have zinc roofs.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

The homes did not always have fences — residents started barricading their properties in the late 2000s.

Cars are commonplace in the compound.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

While Singapore is the second-most expensive country in the world to rent property in, Sng charges residents less than S$13 ($10) a month.

Inside one of Sng's homes.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

Sng's former home is now used as a production set because of its quintessential old-school interior, Yap said.

The dining area.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

The bathroom was simple: Instead of a throne, there was a squat toilet.

The toilet in the home.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

As many of the residents are Malay, the kampong has a surau, a place of worship for Muslims.

A surau in the kampong.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

While the kampong feels like a different world from the rest of Singapore, towering blocks of public apartments nearby are a constant reminder of where it really is: in the middle of a modern city-state.

The view from inside the kampong.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

While the kampong feels like a different world from the rest of Singapore, towering blocks of public apartments nearby are a constant reminder of where it really is: in the middle of a modern city-state.

Take a look at China's sunken courtyard houses, where people traditionally lived in pit homes carved into the ground

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Take a look inside Singapore's last traditional village, where rent is less than $13 a month and the modern city-state feels a world away

This is Lorong Buangkok, the last traditional village in Singapore.

Many of the residents live in attap houses, which are common in kampongs across Southeast Asia.

The homes did not always have fences — residents started barricading their properties in the late 2000s.

While Singapore is the second-most expensive country in the world to rent property in, Sng charges residents less than S$13 ($10) a month.

Sng's former home is now used as a production set because of its quintessential old-school interior, Yap said.

The bathroom was simple: Instead of a throne, there was a squat toilet.

As many of the residents are Malay, the kampong has a surau, a place of worship for Muslims.

While the kampong feels like a different world from the rest of Singapore, towering blocks of public apartments nearby are a constant reminder of where it really is: in the middle of a modern city-state.