Bukit Timah to MacRitchie

Today we followed a less-heavily traveled trail starting at the Bukit Timah visitor center and hiking eastward first along the Kampong Trail, then along Rifle Range Road, and finally across the northern side of MacRitchie Reservoir to end at the Venus parking lot. We found a convenient bus (151) to take us directly from the NUS campus to Ngee Ann Polytechnic, within a mile of our starting point. On the return, the 165 bus carried us from Upper Thomson Road back to Commonwealth near Clementi, about 1.5 miles from our apartment. The first five photos are from the Kampong Trail, which is the wildest we've seen in Singapore. The highlight for wildness was a major tree crash impassably blocking our trail, as hinted at in the fifth photo. We had to do a bypass that involved bushwhacking through the jungle (where's my machete!) We encountered a major band of monkeys on Rifle Range Road (with cute suckling babies). It also rained a bit and the trails were muddy, as the sixth photo shows. I like the blend of being able to visit city highlights on one day and then turn around and get into the jungle on the next. All within a half hour's bus ride from our apartment!

Colors of Little India, Singapore

Labrador Park plus…

Our outing last Sunday afternoon had considerable visual variety. It was simple enough: a bus ride followed by a walk through Labrador Park and then along a relatively new coastal boardwalk past the "Reflections at Keppel Bay" (a condominium development featuring distinctive building arcs) to a major shopping mall, Vivo City, where we discovered a large wading pool on the roof (?!). After dinner at the mall's food court, we made our way back home by bus. The photos: (1) Near Labrador Park, graffiti is practiced as an artform on a plywood wall. (2) Labrador Park is the site of an important but unsuccessful gun emplacement for protecting Singapore during WWII. (3) Part of Labrador Park is heavily forested. (4) Labrador Park also borders Singapore's southern coast, with a nice walk along the waterfront. (5) Reflections at Keppel Bay. (6) The wading pool atop Vivo City.

Salgado's Genesis and Fort Canning Park

Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian documentary photographer and activist. One of his big projects — Genesis — is currently showing at the National Museum of Singapore. This exhibit contains almost 250 black and white photos, technically stunning, displaying the remote and (in many cases) fragile elements of our planet. Salgado spent 8 years traveling 8 months per year to take the photos. One is displayed below, showing Waura Indians in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

The next three photos were shot outside the National Museum and the final three were from nearby Fort Canning Park, an important historic site in Singapore, which includes tropical plants of incredible scale and a no longer used lighthouse.

Bishan - Ang Mo Kio Park

Every place in Singapore that we visit has had something new, interesting and/or attractive to explore. We're well past only seeing sites that are featured in guidebooks. Last Sunday, we picked out a large park — the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park — in the center of the island. This recently developed land follows a meandering river that drains the Lower Peirce Reservoir. We entered at the eastern end, near the Bishan MRT stop, and walked the 2+ mile length of the park, ending at the reservoir (seen in the final photo). Along the way, among other features, we passed a playground, a wading area, the biggest stone reflexology path we've ever seen, and a wonderful pond filled with water lilies. As always, the weather was warm and very humid, and so the park grounds weren't crowded. (This condition is in stark contrast to the many air-conditioned shopping malls that are completely jammed with people, especially on weekends.)

Happy 49th Birthday, Singapore!

MacRitchie Reservoir