Sungei Whampoa

Sungei Whampoa (Malay meaning "Whampoa River) runs from Whampoa near Jalan Rajah to Kallang, where it meets the Kallang River. The Balestier precinct, like much of Singapore in the early 1800s, was a wooded area. The region was bisected by a tiny river, first known as Balestier River and then renamed Sungei Whampoa, which empties into the Kallang River Basin.

Sungei Whampoa was nourished by streams that flowed from the Bukit Brown, Mount Pleasant, and Thomson Road areas. Thomson Road Reservoir was built west of Thomson Road in the 1860s, and was renamed MacRitchie Reservoir in 1922 after city engineer James MacRitchie. Sungei Whampoa is still mostly sourced from MacRitchie Reservoir.

Hills and wetlands to the north of Sungei Whampoa were known as Toa Payoh ("great swamp" in Hokkien, payoh coming from paya, Malay for "swamp"). Meanwhile, the southern side of Balestier Road was a steep terrain that ultimately became home to a Teochew cemetery and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Length: 312 m