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Musician Benjamin Kheng rediscovers Woodlands in the seventh episode of Tatler Tours, taking us to an abandoned war site, wholesale food factory and a hot spring park that borders the neighbourhood
If you don't live in the northern region of our city-state, chances are, you won't know much about it unlike all that the east or west has to offer. For many locals, a trip there usually means visiting our Malaysian counterpart—after all, they are but a mere 1km away on the Singapore-Johor causeway. But the north definitely has more to offer, and it brims with a rich history peppered with lesser known attractions yet to be explored.
(Related: Tatler Tours: Cheryl Wee Takes Us Around Tiong Bahru | The Best Food, Activities and Spots)
For a start, the northernmost neighbourhood of Singapore was named after its heavily-wooded appearance when viewed across the Straits from Johor. Long-time residents and those from previous generations would tell you about the rubber plantations and poultry farms that used to fill the area before it was cleared out by 1972. Thereafter, it welcomed the first 1300 housing units and comprised four estates in total: Woodlands, Admiralty, Woodgrove and Marsiling. Today, the area is undergoing a major facelift to situate itself as the largest economic hub in the north. Not only will there be new spaces for business, research & development and innovation nestled in the region's luscious green landscape, it will also be a strategic centre location for Singapore's up and coming food corridor that connects the future Agri-Food Innovation Park with key institutions such as Republic Polytechnic, Senoko Food Zone and farms located at Lim Chu Kang.
In the seventh episode of Tatler Tours, we enlisted the help of local musician and actor Benjamin Kheng who brings us around the neighbourhood of Woodlands. Prior to his debut as a singer with the now-defunct local band The Sam Willows, Kheng spent his youth as a national swimmer enrolled in the Singapore Sports School where he was part of the 141 student strong cohort as the proud institution's pioneer batch. And lo and behold, where else could the school be located at if not—that's right, Woodlands.
Watch the video below: