Singapore has not only a lot of high-rise buildings, but also quite a lot of green areas.
There are areas of rainforest reserve, some giant water areas, and dozens of parks. Singapore has been and still is connecting those green spaces by so-called ‘park connectors.
All in all it is possible to walk or cycle for hours and kilometers from one green place to another.
And Singaporeans make use of that all the time: jogging, walking, cycling, picnicking, camping, you name it.
Frits and I walked a while back through one of the nature reserves; MacRitchie Reservoir. Jungle and monkeys and a huge downpour.
Recently we went on a Sunday walk in another green area, the Southern Ridges. A walk along a stretch of four parks, a small mountain and some beautifully designed footbridges.
It was not a beautiful day, but dry and very hot.
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| We started here, climbing a lot of steps to the top of Mount Faber. |
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| Behind Frits you see some people in neon yellow. Groups of young Singaporeans participating in some ‘run’. Typical; evenings and weekends there seem to be group activities everywhere. One of the reasons that I would actually prefer to stay home in weekends, since it is SO crowed wherever you go in Singapore. |
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| As soon as you are on top of Mount Faber you are on a plateau with good walking paths. |
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| Although you are in the rainforest, near the trees and treetops, the city is never far away. |
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| From Mount Faber there goes a cable car to Sentosa. It is pretty high and long. About 20 years ago, and oilrig sailed through the cable, causing a severe accident with multiple deaths. |
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| Near the cable’s starting point you can have yourself photographed in one of the cars. |
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| Far away the CBD with our building, in the foreground colorful HDB flats, THE way of housing for most locals. |
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| Here you see clearly how city and rainforest are intertwined. |
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| New residential condominums on Sentosa Island. The architecture looks spectacular. |
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| After a while we reached the Henderson Waves. A fairly new, beautifully designed pedestrian bridge. The whole construction looks like a curving wave. The way the wood and metal has been used is playful and functional, creating a lot of space for sitting, eating, relaxing, etcetera. The bridge is very high and quite long. |
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| Here too there were hordes of people. Too bad:-( Chinese tourists arrived in busloads, entire schoolclasses were on excursions. Children running and screaming. You were either in a queue, or you were pushed away. There were joggers, people with strollers, hanging couples… It looked like the central shopping street in a big city on a saturday afternoon. NOT cool! |
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| Group of tourists. |
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| After a long wait there was a photo opportunity for a second;-) |
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| We decided to go back at night another time, to see it with the beautiful lighting. Stupidly enough that was on a saturday evening. It was unbelievable. The entire bridge was occupied by young people. Couples and groups. Sitting, laying down, hanging, chatting, kissing, drinking and eating. No fairytale feeling, quiet nature experience or design moment:-(. Guess we will have to come back one day e.g. on a tuesday;-). |
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| Hanging out youngsters;-) |
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| More hanging out youngsters:-( |
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| But let’s go back to our sunday afternoon walk. As I said it was very hot and we were thirsty. Fortunately this is Singapore, so in the midst of your rainforest experience you run into this cute little house with toilets and … |
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| …a vendormachine. |
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| And amidst your rainforest experience, feeling all nature-y and wild, you run into name tags on trees and plants;-). |
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| Walking at treetrunk and treetop level you see interesting stuff. |
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| Bananatree. |
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| Then we arrived at the next bridge. No esthetic design here, but it was high and very long, providing a great walk on treetop level. |
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| The bridge is really extensive, going back and forth, and higher and lower. |
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| I admit, it is a nature experience for city people and seniors, but who cares. Besides, that’s more or less what I am anyways…hahaha… Who says you have to suffer for a ‘real’ experience? Artificial?, yes, I guess a bit. But still, you are walking through great nature. There even are monkeys, although not during the rush hour that we were in, of course. |
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| Lot of dog walking too. |
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| Caught up by some group again…pffff… |
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| Rush hour in the jungle;-) |
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| At the end of this bridge, you arrive at another one. You can see a part of it in the background. |
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| That last bridge crosses this road. |
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| To the right is Frits’ office building. |
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| And this is that last bridge, a pedestrian bridge shaped like a half leaf. |
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| From that bridge it is a short walk to Hortpark; a beautifully landscaped garden. |
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| Dragonfly. |
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| Orchid. |
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| Butterfly. |
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| Other butterfly. |
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| Orchids. |
Finally we took a bus home. We were exhausted, but what a totally enjoyable day it had been. A delicious mojito at our beloved Cuban bar made the perfect ending of the day.
What is your favorite nature experience or area in Singapore?
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