Neo Tiew Abandoned HDB Flats

October 16, 2010. Neo Tiew Estate (or Lim Chu Kang Rural Centre) was built in 1979. It was vacated in 2002 under the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) in 2002. Residents were moved to Blocks 268A-268C Boon Lay Drive in Jurong West. The estate is now being used as SAF's training facility similar to Murai Urban Training Facility.

However, legend has it that a long time ago, there were may banana trees planted behind the estate. Among them is the Pisang Raja tree. The Pisang Raja tree or, Banana King tree, is different from other banana trees. The flesh and skin of the banana is of the colour of gold and tasted like no other. One day, a fortune-seeker prayed to the Pisang Raja tree, hoping to win a lottery. He had tied seven threads of different colour tightly around the jantung or heart of the tree and recited some verses. What was his intention? By doing this, the flower buds will be deprived of moisture and it will die. The threads will only be untied if the spirit of the tree granted him his special wish. The spirit had no choice but to grant him his wish to avoid dying. His wish was he wanted to win first prize in a lottery and if he doesn't, the jantung will be destroyed and the spirit will die!

Two days later, he won the lottery and moved out of the estate to a condominium. However, he had forgotten to remove the threads and the tree died as a result on the same day! Spirits from all the banana trees from the plantation swarmed into the estate in search of the culprit but he was nowhere to be found. Nobody knows what happened but the residents hastily moved out of the estate, as if they had been haunted by the spirits.

This next exploration was organized by myself and participated by Farhan and Hidayat. Enjoy the pics!

A playground where children used to play.

Hidayat holding a blank bullet

Taken from 2nd level of one of the flats. This estate has only 3 blocks
numbered 3, 4 and 5.

Some vandals trying to show their creativity.

That's Farhan taking a picture of me who's taking a picture of him. I was
in the middle of a flight of stairs in one of the flats.

Urgently need to go to the loo? No toilet in the estate. You'll have to go
to the mobile toilets outside.

Taken from a window of a 2nd level house at block 3. You can see
block 5 at the back and the wet market at the front.

A very old school collapsible gate.

Did the spirit of the Raja Pisang tree wrote this?

Block 4.

Rubbish collection centre.

Apparently, there are no China Girls at 3rd storey.

Interior of a house at block 4. Looks like this house just got burnt!

Vandals trying to add realism and have some entertainment.

A clock and a Sony subwoofer speaker. Cool eh?

This plastic mug reminds me of my NS day as a CD NSF.

Hidayat said, "There, your banana is in this room". And Farhan turned into
a No-Tailed Macaque! Hahaha!

The No-Tailed Macaque feeling a sense of achievement after getting that
banana.

That hole used to be a rubbish chute I believe.

A drainage pipe like this is commonly seen in old HDB estates.

This wall of this house used to be nicely decorated, I think.

Evidence of military personnel's presence.

A very nice graffiti.

A ladder leading to the rooftop of the flat where the water tank is.
Notice some hand prints just below the entrance?

An old school style railing of the stairways.

On of the best-looking door in the estate.

Farhan climbing up to the rooftop.

The rooftop and the water tank on the right.

The rooftop.

I wanted to take more photos of the estate but mysteriously, my phone froze and I couldn't do anything to
make it work again! Farhan has more photos of this expedition. That's all for this expedition!

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