Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Going places on the sunny island

After I came back from Bhutan (first week Oct), I did some exploring and foot trails in SG itself.

1) Little India (Deepavali)
Almost every year, I will say to WK that we should go Geylang and Little India for the festive markets and lights-up for Hari Raya and Deepavali, but we never do.  This year was no different.  So one morning, I went for my own walk about.

It was rather subdued kind of feel in the morning for a place known for it's bustling energy.  I was only met with breakfast crowd at Tekka market, and the occasional early-raiser tourists.  The walk from Little India station to Farrer Park station along Serangoon Road was 1.2km, plus some distance for a slight detour to Mustafa center.

The deco was nothing out of the extraordinary; I like the purple elephant though.  Having just came back from Bhutan, I occured to me that every landscape and landmark of our little island were deliberate attempts.  This is not a complain; in-fact, what I mean is that I appreciate that we make the effort to retain some traditional and historical stuff amidst the crazy modernisation pace.



"Project Oasis (Hindoo Road): Installation Design
by Ms Marthalia Budiman "My ideas for public spaces; Forgotten spaces, URA competition 2015"


2) Botanic Garden
A few days later, I went for a short walk in Botanic Garden.  I took a round trip from MRT (circle line) to Jacob Children's Garden and back, which was slightly > 1 km.  It was a hot late morning; the high-light was probably the black swan that little children went after.   I also got a lot of unclear photos of the stick insect on the white flower.   Tried different angles, but that's the best that Iphone 7 can do under "shady" condition.




3) PCN Trail
Finally, this was the most interesting one.  I asked Wee Kwong to recommend a walking route from TPY to East Coast Park.  He said that it's doable, about 10km.  I was training for my 10km GE run, so  it was no problem for me.

That morning, I did not go in my track shoes, and proper attire.  It was only fine for the first 1/2 hour, up to 8:30.  Then it got hot, and that's the killer aspect of outdoor activities in SG.  Anyway, I followed the PCN trail from Lor8, to Potong Pasir, cross over to Whampoa/Geylang Bahru, then reaching Kallang MRT at 10am.  It's 5km up to Kallang, so I only did half the plan.

It was a good PCN trail, with only one major hurdle of crossing (overhead bridge) over PIE at Potong Pasir (8:25) to Serangoon (before Whampoa)(8:35).

At 8:50 I reached the "Kolam Ayer ABC Waterfront".  This estate was beautiful.  Here I took a few nice pictures of reflection of plants, bridges and HDB flats in the river.

Then I reached the PCN at Jalan Besar at about 9:30, where I can see at the far end the "end point" of Kallang MRT.  Here I lingered to take pictures and videos of cats and the MRT rumbling into Kallang station.

At 10am, I almost gave up at Kallang MRT.  Well, I walked around the station and saw a sign that say "Walk 800m to Singapore Sports Hub".  After debating with myself for a few minutes, I journeyed on.  It was a "long walk", in the sunny mid morning condition and many photo taking stops.  Got a few nice pictures, especially of the Kallang Airport Terminal Building (10:14).  Finally, I must have reached Kallang Wave Mall around 10:35.  Got a final picture of a cup of Kopi with Cinnamon flavour at 10:50.

I'm want to do this again soon!!!















X) Ok, I going to end this post with something that's totally disconnected.  Some weekend in Oct, we celebrated Lili's BD.  I think she is currently experiencing "mid-life crisis", a few years after me.   I really hope that she had reached rock bottom, and will be on her way up soon.  My most sincere and simple wish for my BFF: be happy.


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