Kampongs, Malay for villages, were, once upon a time, home to most of Singapore's population. Chinese, Malays, and Indians lived side by side in small clusters of houses that were built from wood and attap thatch and raised on stilts. Built along the shores of the island and close to jungles, the houses and buildings were nestled against backdrops of idyllic grenery surrounded by banana and coconut groves and marshes. Homes had land for chicken coops and kitchen gardens, and backyards in which children could play. The kampongs had central wells, provisions, shops and sometimes temples and mosques. Despite their poverty, the kampong villages reprsented a community. The 1950s and 1960s were the heyday of kampong life. Later the houses were improved with corrugated metal, concrete, and linoleum, all of which rusted and rotted over time, making kampongs look more like slums than the homey villages they once were. Inside, modernization brought government-mandated running water, lumbing, and even elecctrical appliances like TVs, refrigerators and telephones. Still, all in all, life was hardly oppulent (Frommer's).
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