Bukit Timah Road

Bukit Timah Road runs 25 kilometers from downtown Singapore to the Causeway to Johor Bahru in Malaysia, making it one of the island's longest roads. The British colonial administration built it in 1845 to open up the gambier and pepper plantations of the interior, and named it after Bukit Timah, Singapore's highest hill; old colonial black-and-white bungalows, temples, schools and the nature reserve line its route. Today it mixes eight lanes of commuter traffic with long-running hawker centers like the famous Beauty World; it is less a sight than a red thread through a slice of Singapore most visitors skip.