We seem to have a lot of readers who love the East lately, as there have been quite a few reader requests for landed tours in the East! And so today, I’m heading over to Bedok Walk for my weekly walkabout. (For those who’ve asked for an overview of Kembangan, I’ve heard you and will share my review of a landed enclave there soon!)
Bedok Walk is actually a very short street, so I decided to review the area between Bedok Park Connector, New Upper Changi Road, Tanah Merah Kechil Avenue, and Upper Changi Road. My first impression of Bedok Walk is of the industrial area that one has to drive through to get to it (if driving in from town via the PIE.) It isn’t a huge area, but you would have to be comfortable with sharing the road with lots of heavy vehicles to get home, which can be a potential issue for older drivers.
Note: The traffic from Bedok to the city (via the PIE) is heavy from 7 am all the way to 9 am+.
My second impression is that the estate has a TON of character. If you may recall, I’ve mentioned that I like viewing landed houses because there’s a lot of potential to personalise (versus condos which are usually kept cookie-cutter due to management rules.) Well, this estate has the street with the most character that I’ve ever seen in my many landed tours for Stacked! If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.
I loved this house!Doesn’t this remind you of an Asian version of The Secret Garden?And it’s not just one house! The entire street has been decorated.It must be a delight to come home and see all these cheerful statues! Definitely different from most of Singapore.Close-up for you to admire the zebras.I have more photos to show how unique this estate is, but I don’t want to bore you guys, so I’ll let you explore it yourselves!
On with the rest of the tour!
A few metres down from those colourful statues are these street signs. Since they’re affixed onto the railing, I’m guessing they were put up by the government? I can’t really understand their point though…This is what one of the signs says. I couldn’t find more info than this, so I was wondering if the message is that there are snakes in the area??? I googled and I did read about a 6-foot python – but that was over at Bedok Reservoir which is quite some distance off! Anyway, if anyone knows why there are these signs in the area, let us know!
These photos were actually taken along Jalan Chempaka Kuning, which is a very interesting street as house prices here range from about $700,000 to $10 million! If you’re wondering if I’ve made a mistake, the discrepancy is because some of the houses are on 70-year leases which expire in 2034, whilst others are freehold.
If you’ve been following this landed tour series, you may remember when I reviewed Fuyong Estate and, although I liked it, wondered about whether the area would become very run-down as the lease starts dwindling (based on the experiences of those who stayed at Geylang before the land returned to the government.)
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Well, I’m happy to say that Jalan Chempaka Kuning looked to be in decent condition and I didn’t see lots of litter or rats running around, despite the Geylang horror stories (where some residents actually had to build mini-barricades to keep the pests out!) I didn’t spot any worker dormitories or temples either, if you were wondering.
Note: if you’re wondering about transacted prices, houses at Jalan Chempaka Kuning have been transacting between $320,000-$590,000 in 2021 and 2022.
Date
Address
Type
Lease
Size (Sqft)
$PSF
Price
26 AUG 2022
102 JALAN CHEMPAKA KUNING
TERRACE
70 YRS FROM 1964
2,631
224
$590,000
22 APR 2022
30 JALAN CHEMPAKA KUNING
TERRACE
70 YRS FROM 1964
2,367
135
$320,000
6 OCT 2021
73 JALAN CHEMPAKA KUNING
SEMI-DETACHED
70 YRS FROM 1964
3,072
155
$475,000
7 JUL 2021
21 JALAN CHEMPAKA KUNING
SEMI-DETACHED
70 YRS FROM 1964
3,034
168
$510,000
Anyway, a photo paints a thousand words, so I’ll show some photos of the street to let you decide for yourself!
Jalan Chempaka Kuning is actually next to Bedok Shopping Complex and Simpang Bedok. This photo is taken standing at the through road from the market. (If you’ve not been to Simpang Bedok, it’s really nice. Kinda like a yuppie, fancy hawker centre.)Some of the houses even have back gates that lead directly into the Bedok Shopping Complex!This photo is taken after turning left from the through road above.
The houses here are on the smaller side (terraces) and so there are cars parked on the street, but it’s not as crowded as other estates I’ve been to – probably because Simpang Bedok wasn’t open when I visited. As the street is so near the market (which doesn’t have a terribly big carpark) and is so short, I’m guessing it may get quite jammed when the market is busy!
Having said that, the driveways are quite long for some of the houses. It may even be possible to park 2 (small) cars here!Some houses are on slightly elevated land and need to be accessed via a slope or stairs. The stairs could be rather inconvenient for the elderly (or if you have babies in prams.)Although the street looked long in the photo above (3 photos ago), it’s actually pretty short because it’s a dead-end.
To the right of the previous photo is Springfield, a leasehold cluster house development that borders Bedok Park Connector. It has 111 units and (at the time of writing) had units on sale from $1.998 million to $2.45 million. (The 99-year lease dates from June 1995, so it has quite a while to go, unlike the leasehold houses around it.) Next to The Springfield is another cluster house development, Summer Gardens, also with a 99-year lease dating from June 1995, with a public playground opposite from it.
If you continue walking across the dead-end barrier (the yellow and black barriers shown in the previous photo) you will see the houses with the statues that I started the article with.
Another photo for you to enjoy how unique the area is.A more “regular” looking house.A few more steps and you’re at Upper Changi Road, which is quite a major road. (There are at least 3 car lanes going in one direction.) I’ve included this photo above so that you can see how close some of the houses are to Upper Changi Road.To the right of the junction with Upper Changi Road is a row of shophouses, which has several eateries, all of which had good ratings on Google at the time of writing. There’s Nyonya Taste, which has a 4.5 star rating and, according to the signage, does not use MSG, as well as Nuvo Bar which looks like a nice place to relax with a drink after work. Other non-eatery shops include a Montessori Kindergarten, a butchery, a sofa gallery and a vet.
Turning left, so away from the shophouses, there’s yet another playground across the street. (Jalan Pari Burong Playground.) There’s also Simpang Bedok Pet Playground and Dog run next to it.
Walking back towards Bedok Walk, we see more interesting buildings.
One had this super cute mural on the wall!And note how they’ve kept up-to-date with otters in the picture!!! As you can see above, there are bus stops along this stretch of the road.We pass a low-rise condo on the way to Bedok Walk.To get to Bedok Walk, we need to turn left into Bedok Road (From Upper Changi Road.)Turning back for a view of Upper Changi Road. This is at 830 am on a weekday morning.At the junction of the 2 roads, there is a small development called East Village with restaurants on the ground floor, such as Pizza Hut, Yang Zhou Fried Rice and Hao Mart (a small grocer.)The character of the estate shines through here too. There is a small, rather unique army vehicle display in front of East Village.Close-up of East Village (I’m standing at the entrance of the open-air carpark to take this photo)Store directory – if you’re wondering what they have here. Although this mall isn’t the most happening, it may not even classify as a mall?! The area is not short of shops and amenities with all the shophouses, Simpang Bedok, etc. It definitely looks to be quite a self-sufficient area!
Walk past East Village and we reach Bedok Walk on our right.
Entrance off Bedok Road into Bedok Walk. On Bedok Road (as shown above) there is yet another row of shophouses!I turn into Bedok Walk and I see a large alley to my left (behind the row of shophouses I mentioned.)According to the signage, there’s a small hotel here??? It seems quite an incongruous spot for a hotel! Not sure what kind of travellers would be looking to stay here…Straight ahead is PaLeLai Buddhist Temple which was founded in 1963.
I must confess, when I saw the temple, I went “uh oh” due to concerns that the street may be noisy and that parking may be an issue when the temple is in session. (Bedok Walk is not a terribly big street.) In fact, there is even a sign in front of the temple asking cars not to block the way!
This is what the parking situation at Bedok Walk looked like when I visited.
It was easy to drive through and to find a space to park, as it was 7ish in the morning and the temple wasn’t in session. But if you were looking to buy a house on this street, I’d definitely suggest visiting a few times when the temple service is being held to see how comfortable you are with the situation….
The houses here are on the larger side though, so there’s probably ample space to park in the property. (However, you may have difficulty leaving or entering your property if there are too many cars on Bedok Walk!)There are only a few detached houses. Most are terrace houses, but even those are larger than average (definitely larger than the typical terrace house at Jalan Chempaka Kuning.) Looking down Bedok Walk, with the temple behind me, there is the MRT line in the distance. If you squint, you can see it above, as well as some high-rise buildings.
Unfortunately, Bedok Walk is pretty noisy even at 7 plus in the morning. I could hear the constant rumbling of the MRT trains, construction, and what just felt to a constant buzzing of background noise. Noise-sensitive people may want to visit several times before committing to a decision!
Note: In comparison, the houses around Simpang Bedok felt much quieter. That said, I visited on a Monday, when markets are generally closed, so it may not be a good gauge of the crowd and noise over there!
As mentioned the houses here are on a larger scale so, even for the terrace houses, it may be possible to park 2 cars!The street has a few detached houses, terrace houses (the most numerous) and a few semi-Ds.
One thing I like about the area is how much care the homeowners spent on landscaping. If you look to the left and right of the photo, you’ll see that the homeowners don’t just pay attention to their internal gardens, they even grow plants outside their house boundary walls (behind the green street railings.)
There’s also lots of room to maximise the plot ratio as this re-built house shows! Bedok Walk leads onto Upper Bedok Road.If you turn right, you see a short street which leads to a dead-end for cars. You can climb the stairs at the end of the road and reach Tanah Merah playground as well as Tanah Merah Kechil Avenue, which has several condos.
Note: I believe Upper Bedok Road may be located a little below Bedok Walk (so may be a little less windy.)
Here’s an example of the kind of houses you can find on Upper Bedok Road. They’re quite an assorted lot though, some have really long driveways that look like they can park 5-6 cars, whilst others are larger detached homes. However, what they have in common is that almost all are in more of a vintage style.Although I could see examples of rebuilding in progress!You can climb stairs or go up a ramp to get to the playground. This is the playground, with the condos behind it. Based on my exploration, it seems to be the closest playground to Bedok Walk.There’s also an outdoor exercise area.I believe this gate (right off the playground) leads to D’Manor, a 99-year cluster house development with units asking around $2.5 million at the time of writing. (I may be wrong as there was no signage at the back gate but based on Google Maps, it should be D’Manor.)Walking back down to Bedok Walk, this is what you see.To the right, is the ramp access as well as a canal. There is a pedestrian path next to the canal as well, which I use to cross over to Bedok Lane, where one can find more houses being rebuilt. Bedok Lane. Like Bedok Walk, the houses here are on the larger side. Definitely nowhere as cramped as MacPherson Estate!You can see this is quite a spacious area. It would have been rather idyllic if it wasn’t for the constant hum of background noise!Walking out of Bedok Lane, we reach the main road – Bedok Road.This is what the traffic situation for Bedok Road looks like.There are several houses along Bedok Road too. Normally, I abhor houses located on the main road as turning in and out is a PAIN. However, these houses on Bedok Road have super long turn-ins, which makes driving in and out of one’s house much easier! (Also allows you to park several more cars!)
Along Bedok Road is also Jeet’s Little Learners School for Early Years Development and a Shell station. Unfortunately it’s located after the turn into Bedok Walk (if driving from town), so you would have to make a small detour to fill up before heading home.
On this side of Bedok Road is the row of shophouses I had mentioned (at the entrance to Bedok Walk.) There is a 24-hour restaurant, a Mamak mini-mart (not open when I was there), a reflexology centre, Pet Lovers centre, 7-11 and more. There’s also a bus-stop right by the shophouses.Head across the road and you find Bedok Market Place, rather confusingly also labelled as Bedok Shopping Complex. For those who use snail mail often, there’s a Post Office on this road too.There are shops and restaurants underneath, including a small 24-hour Giant and a Medical Centre, with a fancy food court, Simpang Bedok, above.
Note: there seems to be “happy hour” reflexology here for a great price. $29 ++ for a 60 min reflexology session on Mondays-Fridays, 11 am-3 pm according to the signage! Full body massage for $39++!
Fancy food court, Simpang Bedok. This area definitely looks like a great place to hang out!
As you can see, the area around Bedok Walk has tons of amenities and I’ve not even mentioned that Bedok Walk is a mere 6 minutes to Tanah Merah MRT station! (FYI, my friend lives in an apartment near Tanah Merah MRT and she says she can hear the station announcements every morning! That could explain why I felt the area is so noisy!)
In terms of education, Bedok Walk is also walking distance to Saint Anthony’s Canossian Secondary (18 minutes on foot) and Anglican High (10 minutes on foot.) Saint Anthony’s Canossian Primary is also under 1 km away, according to yoursingaporemap.com.
Moreover, if one ever needs medical services urgently, Changi General Hospital is 5 minutes by car or a 20 minutes walk.
All in all, there’s lots to be grateful for if one lives in this area. If you can see yourself living here, prices (at the time of writing) start from $3.65 million for a (single storey) terrace house.
Now that we’ve finished our loooong tour of Bedok Walk and its surroundings, how did you find it? I was pretty charmed (apart from the noise)! Let me know in the comments if there’s any other landed enclave you’d like me to feature. There’ve been quite a few requests so, if I haven’t done the tour you requested for, I’ve not forgotten about you, I’ll get round to it eventually as I make my way down the list!
P.S. As the last few tours have taken a distinctly foodie slant, I thought I’d regale you with a photo of my breakfast-Jalan Tua Kong noodles at Bedok market (it had one of the better reviews on Google amongst the restaurants that were open!) It was not bad, quite generous with the ingredients, although not a large portion (I ordered medium, $6.)
TJ
14 min read
Oh so looks like the infamous “Chempaka Mini Zoo” house HAS cleared the walkway outside it…!
https://mothership.sg/2018/06/tanah-merah-theme-park-chua-enlai/
Haha! Thanks for sharing, puts things into context!
Can you go take a look at Toh Estate at Upper Changi Road North…… thanks!
Will check it out, thanks!
You can take a look at the landed housing estates along Sembawang Road… Jln Mata Ayer, Goodlink Park, Platina Road, Jln Lengkok Sembawang
Can you also review Bedok Ria across from Simpang? The Stratford court and the terrace house in that area. How do they compare?
Thanks for the feedback, we’ll look into that!