“If you ask a lot of old-timers about Taman Jurong, it was a cowboy town,” Jurong resident Poovendran said candidly of his neighbourhood. The 35-year-old former pilot was born and raised in Jurong and has lived there all his life. Despite the less-than-savoury beginnings, Jurong has evolved greatly over the years to one that is home to destinations like Jurong Lake Gardens, a place he thinks is an “underrated” hidden gem. “Most of the time when you talk about lakes and reservoirs (in Singapore), people only think about Lower Seletar or Macritchie, so Lakeside (and Jurong Lake Gardens) is a bit underrated,” he said. The pace of development in Jurong has been unrelenting in the past few years, with malls like Jem and Westgate popping up in tandem with various other proposed redevelopments like the Science Centre. Yet despite the constant change and upheavals within the neighbourhood, there are still heritage hotspots pointing back to Singapore’s history hidden away in this western enclave to make it worth exploring, as mentioned by various people CNA spoke to.... Continue Reading