HIKING TRIP # Day 1

25/2/2017
SATURDAY

This is what I did on the trip... 

It was a spontaneous decision to go down Singapore for a weekend trip.   I read about the Hort Park and the Southern Ridges Walk and I was interested to visit the place/walk (while I still can) besides I wanted to meet up with a blogger friend, Sharon too.  

So we took the Aeroline bus down and "what a convenient way to fly" .. comfy seats, light meals and movie and music was available too! It was a very slow and steady drive (no speeding at all)  and finally arrived past noon time.  

The bus dropped the passengers at the Harbourfront shopping Mall and Sharon was waiting for us already. We were happy to meet each other in person at last!  

The Santa Grand Lai Chun Yuen Hotel in Chinatown where we stayed for the night.  I purposely booked this hotel after reading its interesting history.  More about this hotel in another post. 

After checking in, we went for lunch at a Dimsum Restaurant around the area as it was already past lunchtime.  Maybe we were hungry, the food sure tasted good and the price for 4 of us were cheaper than in KL (without the conversion of course)! It started to rain just when we finished our meal, so we just walked around Chinatown while hoping the rain would stopped. 

The sisters. 

Chinatown Buddhist Temple where the tooth relics were kept.   Though  there is no admission fees, you must be properly covered up before you can enter the temple.  We decided not to enter and just took photos of the prayer's hall from the outside.  

the stone mural in front of the temple 

Finally we decided not to waste any more time and with Sharon as our guide, we took a taxi to Hort Park. 

The website shown that the starting point was from Harbourfront and last being Hort Park.  But as Sharon told us, you can actually start/leave  from any point of the walk.  

Maybe it was raining and because it was already in the late afternoon, the place seemed rather empty. 

looking down at the wet courtyard 

Hort Park is a 23 hectare park for gardening -related activities and they have themed gardens and  recreational gardening plots too....but alas it was all quiet except for a few visitors while we were there. 

After wandering around the near-empty place, we moved on towards the Henderson Wave.

past the Floral Walk

its within the Hort Park area planted with a lot of flowering plants 

Dark gloomy clouds overhead as we started our walk and soon it was drizzling throughout the walk.

We saw this interesting building ... just like some haphazardly placed block upon block!

From the Hort Park, we walked towards the Alexander Arch- a 80 metres elevated pedestrian walkway over Alexander Road.  This steel structure is design like an open leaf across the road and has been awarded for its design and innovation. 

Photo with Sharon.. she is an expert on walking.... read her blog "Somewhere in Singapore" where she had done a lot of walks or connector (I think they are called in Singapore) from one place to another part. 

The Forest Walk ... a 1.6 kilometres elevated walkway over the secondary forest of Telok Blangah Hill Park. 

certain parts of the walkways are above 18 metres high and we can see a green canopy of trees.  

Again thanks to the rain, we seemed to be the only ones walking in the rain , saw no monkeys but 

saw these HDB flats rising outside the perimeter of the Forest Walk..

walking in the rain and still be happy...

Bird-eye view of the forest...

this is a great place for bird-watching too  

the Giant Trees... 

We stopped after the Forest Walk to catch our breath as well to shelter from the rain that was coming down suddenly. Thankfully we were out of the Forest Walk as it is not recommended to walk whilst there is rain, lightning and thunder.

As the rain stopped, we proceeded on... 

Sharon:  "here is the Henderson Waves"

A 274 metre long pedestrian bridge standing at 36 metres above Henderson Road, it is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore.  

another award-winning bridge..

The shape of the bridge is like an undulating wave - twisting, curving and rising along the length of the walk. There are 7 curved steel "ribs" that rise over and under the deck, while the deck is composed of yellow balau wood which is an all weather timber found in Southeast Asia.   

The curved ribs forms hidden shelters and alcoves along the deck where you can sit and rest to  enjoy the panoramic view of the harbour 

This bridge is lit with LED lamps at night from 7.00pm daily... we were sorry to miss the lights show!

this is the view towards the harbour... 

So Singapore is not all concrete jungle.... overlooking the tree tops..

another panoramic view of the concrete jungle 

one last lingering look at the "sunset" over the tree-tops 

before we slowly walk towards Mount Faber...

the colourful steps at Mt Faber.

From Mt Faber more walking downwards through the Marang Trail and finally back to the Harbourfront shopping mall.   What an achievement  and amazement that I could walked so far and yet not tired!  We decided to let go of Sharon as she had so graciously walking with us throughout the day. So we say our good bye for the day as we were not sure of our itinerary tomorrow... besides we really cannot impose ourselves on her. 

As we were not keen on shopping, we took a taxi back to Chinatown and came across these street art.

I think the Chinatown used to be known "Cow -Water Cart" (in Chinese).

a toast to rejoice our successful walk and trip together... 

Dinner @ Chinatown for our favourite food....... 

Fried Oysters 

 

Must eat- Singapore Hokkien Mee... good with lots of crispy lard ...

Braised beef noodles.

Happy meal = happy day.