Kent Ridge or Pasir Panjang?

When I first began offering walks on the Ridge in July 2002, I called the series the Kent Ridge Heritage Walks. And offered the walks to the NUS community.

So why this gradual switch to Pasir Panjang?

Well, in order to establish an NUS interest in the walks, our address, Kent Ridge (which I use as "city" when filling in forms), was a useful place to begin with. Few realised the origin of the name, nor that it was only half a century old, and a relative newcomer to the history of the Ridge.

The original name for the area, Pasir Panjang actually means "Long Beach", and isn't unique to the region as many other beaches bear this name (e.g. on P. Bintan and P. Redang).

But it is the name of this ridge and shore behind NUS and its about time I reverted to using it.

And no better time than Heritage Fest.

First posted at Otterman speaks, 05 Jul 2004.