SINGAPORE - A Singaporean photographer on a trip to Malaysia discovered a peculiar finding - a housing estate in Johor Baru that looks like Singapore's Dakota Crescent.

Full-time photographer Lim Weixiang posted photos of the "replica" in Johor Baru on his photography page, Zeitgeist Photos, on Monday night (Nov 20).

A playground he photographed is similar to Dakota Crescent's famous Old Dove playground, which was designed by the Housing Board's Khor Ean Ghee in 1979.

Mr Lim added that "even the ventilation openings in the stairwells are the same".

The estate is located in Stulang Darat, a suburb that is 10 minutes from the Causeway, according to Mr Lim, who began full-time photography in 2014.

Mr Lim, 35, told The Straits Times on Tuesday night that he was quite surprised to see it as he was familiar with Dakota Crescent.

"To see an exact replica of it in JB is just very unexpected," he said. "The similarities don't end with the playground. The blocks are quite similar too."

The former Serangoon Junior College teacher added that he was curious and keen to find out more about the links between the estate and the one back home.

"Especially after watching Stranger Things. This could be Dakota Upside Down," he said, referring to an alternate dimension existing in parallel to the human world in the popular Netflix show.

Dakota Crescent, one of Singapore's oldest public housing estates, consists of 17 low-rise brick-clad flats built by the Singapore Improvement Trust in the British colonial days of 1958.

It was announced in 2015 that the estate was slated for redevelopment by the end of 2016.

HDB said in April this year that more than 96 per cent of the 400 households there had moved out, and seven of 17 blocks had been "gated up and locked".

Extensions were granted for some residents who were waiting for their new homes to be ready.