Heat, Humidity and Hawker Centres

[OZDUCK]

Plan for this Sunday morning was to walk the Southern Ridges Trail, research hadn't given an exact starting point of the walk, so I had decided to travel to Haw Par Villa Station, and walk to Kent Ridge Park.


Plan for this Sunday morning was to walk the Southern Ridges Trail, research hadn't given an exact starting point of the walk, so I had decided to travel to Haw Par Villa Station, and walk to Kent Ridge Park.

]

We did that walk a few years ago. We went one MRT station past Haw Par to Kent Ridge station and got to the start of the trail and then walked to the World Trade Centre. It is a lovely walk and very quiet when we did it.

 

[kermatu]

Another great TR. Enjoying it.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Continued on the Forest Walk



After the Forest Walk, about a kilometre or so of the Hilltop walk, which is more road and car parks, but still with the pleasant greenery, until eventually you arrive at the Henderson Waves





After Henderson Waves, you move into Mount Faber Park, and some more photo opportunities



Unfortunately my arrival at Mount Faber Lookout coincided with the arrival of numerous tour buses, so a bit crowded



Another Merlion



Looking down on to Henderson Waves



Walked down to the cable car depot, and found a shady spot and had a bit of a rest before heading down the Marange Trail and Harbourfront MRT station


A Hawker Centre adjacent to the station, quick bandung before I got moving





The walk took about 2 and a half hours, including a few stops along the way, and up until Faber Park was a quite peaceful way to spend a Sunday morning

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Headed to the Old Airport Road food centre, and joined the line for some roast pork





I'm not one for waiting in lines and had to fight my urge to leave my place and go elsewhere more than once, however reviews for this stall were outstanding, and the line quite small from what I saw a few days earlier.



Pork was good, rice not so much, definitely not worth waiting 20 minutes for.
Fruit rojak up next


Quite nice with a little of the sauce it is cooked in, a little overpowering when too much of it. Couldn't quite put my finger on what the sauce actually was, fruits included pineapple, apple, cucumber, chinese fritters and a few other mystery ingredients.

Dessert next and a bubur cha cha



Not quite what I expected, served hot, quite sweet and pieces of sweet potato, potato and yam

Back to the MRT and up to Marina Bay Sands observation deck. Hint for anyone going, you get a discount if you flew with Singapore Airlines, have to present your boarding pass. No idea how much the discount is, was unaware of it until I was at the counter and the lady asked who I flew with and if I had my boarding pass.

 

[OZDUCK]

Headed to the Old Airport Road food centre, and joined the line for some roast pork

.
Fruit rojak up next
View attachment 118357

Quite nice with a little of the sauce it is cooked in, a little overpowering when too much of it. Couldn't quite put my finger on what the sauce actually was, fruits included pineapple, apple, cucumber, chinese fritters and a few other mystery ingredients.

Good to see someone else likes Bandung. I wonder if it is the Tamarind in the rojak sauce that was mystifying you? (Possibly the shrimp paste as well.)

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Not much shelter on the viewing deck so didn't stay long up there. Headed back to the hotel, via Chinatown, where I went to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple again, determined this time to find my way up to the upper levels.

More Year of the dog decorations appearing.



In to the temple, some sort of service going on, so didn't hang around for long, nor search for a way upstairs



Walked back to the hotel, more dog decorations





Back to the hotel and to the rooftop pool. The Marina Bay Sands it aint, but it did the job.



Had a bit of a power nap back in the room, and headed out again early evening
Little restaurant not far from the hotel, ordered the lamb murtabak and a chocolate prata.
Chocolate prata came out first, with apologies from the server



I didn't wait.



Murtabak did the job, not as good as Zam Zam though.

Wandered around Clarke Quay, walking towards the harbour



Korean ice cream, not too sure about the advertising

 

[Noel Mugavin]

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Monday morning, and went to the Clarke Quay Central shopping centre across the road from the hotel, to the Ya Kun Kaya Toast shop that was located there. Bit of a different set up, where the cashier cracks the eggs for you and you take them to your table while your toast is cooked. The cashier put a little bit of pot water in with the bowl of eggs, and while waiting had a bit of a taste of the eggs. The water had an unpleasant taste to it and left me feeling a bit off for the rest of the day. Didn't finish the eggs and toast.



Then on to the Expo line and off at East Tampines station to take the 29 bus to Changi Chapel and museum. After 10 minutes or so on the bus, it pulled in to Tampines depot, and the end of the line for the bus. Right bus, wrong direction.
Waited about 5 minutes for the next 29 to depart, and 20 minutes or so arrived at the museum





There was only 1 other person in the museum which suited me down to the ground. The museum is only small, wrapping itself around the chapel. It is however, extremely well presented, with a major picture of a selected topic, a few artifacts relating to that particular topic, a short description and first hand quotes/accounts. Not too much information to be overbearing, yet more than enough to keep you informed and interested

 

[GarrettM]

Adding the Changi Museum to my May itinerary.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

More Changi Museum

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Back on to the bus and on to Changi Village. Had a walk around the hawker centre, nothing took my fancy and was still feeling off from the morning.





Would have liked to take as troll, but had other plans for the rest of the day





In to the ferry terminal, took my seat in the departure area and waited until 12 passengers had arrived so the bum boat could head over to Pulau Ubin.
Waited about 10 minutes or so then we were ushered on to a boat, handed over the $3 fare, and we were on our way

 

[Noel Mugavin]

About 3 or 4 bike hire places 50 metres or so from where you get off the boat. Easy choice for me, the one where the fella running it had a little puppy that he was feeding. $8 for the day. Map in hand, and I was off



A map is not really needed, as there is very good signage and not too many roads or tracks so you can't really get to lost.



Only a few vehicles on the road, and fairly easy riding, a few gentle rises here and there.
Part of the road that goes to Chek Jawa wetlands becomes a loose rock track, certain parts advised to get off and walk downhill. I took the opposite approach, walking uphill, but for anyone with a stronger mindset than myself, staying on your bike and pedaling doesn't hold much of a challenge





My ride


There are a couple of trails to take, I went for the mangrove boardwalk



There is a viewing tower along the boardwalk, went to the top, unfortunately no close birdlife to observe, but some nice views towards Tekong Island



Kept walking around the boardwalk, no one else around, so it was calming as well as a little unnerving.
Information boards along the way



Mounds made by mud lobsters



A little more unnerving when reading that snakes make the mud lobster's mounds their homes. Walked with a bit more urgency when reading that, until getting to the front of the boardwalk and the end in sight

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Mangrove boardwalk links with the coastal boardwalk





Bit of bird life around





Finished the walk then back on the bike, short stop at Balai Quarry



Area is fenced off so can't get into it. Road soon enough became bitumen again, and it was a short, easy ride to Mamam Campsite situated on the north of the island



Short rest and a quick drink and again back in the saddle heading to Katam Quarry.
Bit of wildlife along the way



Smallish swamp along the way



Ketam Mountain bike park is a main attraction, not for this old boy though

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Ketam Quarry, unfortunately the only way to get around to any other viewing positions was on the mountain bike trail



Was another time in the saddle for me, so decided to ride back to the bum boats. A couple of little villages here and there



Back at the jetty, and a little wait for 12 people to fill a bum boat







Back on the main island and through the arrivals terminal, bags have to go through an xray machine.
Swim and a nap back at the hotel, then out to dinner at Kampong Glam





Found a lebanese place, started with hommus and lavash bread



Followed up with the lamb kofta



Quite filling, then a walk up towards the mosque

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Off to Mustafa Centre to pick up a couple of things to take home, couple of pictures along the stroll to the Bugis MRT





Off at Little India, and walked along Racecourse Road



Not great lighting for the shot of the Ghandi Library



Street lighting



My thinking was 10.00pm on a Monday night, Mustafa would be fairly quiet. Couldn't have been further from the truth, couldn't believe the amount of kids in there as well. Battled through, and got out and back to the hotel as quickly as possible, with 1 day to go before my journey ended.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Last day, and a midday checkout, so a slow effort getting up and out and about. Did head down to a Ya Kun store to grab some jars of Kaya jam to take home.
Out the door at about a quarter to 12, stopped at the little place where I had dinner a couple of nights ago for a sugar hit via a milo dino



On to the MRT and down to Vivo City, where grabbed a rather ordinary fried chicken lunch



Out of the shopping centre and walked over to Sentosa Island





Had a bit of a wander, working towards the Sentosa Merlion







To the south side of the island, and the beaches



The walking was hot and thirsty work, so stopped for a mango slushy



Continued on

 

[drron]

Thanks for the TR.I am in awe of all the walking you did.I would have ended up just a puddle of sweat doing that in Singapore.But then I have been known to sweat in the Antarctic.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Beach areas are quiet pleasant looking, a few people on kayaks paddling around





There's a few little islands about 20 - 30m from the beaches, all are roped off though. Zip line goes to one of them so am assuming that one is owned/run/leased by the zip line company



Evidence of Singapore's WWII defences



Continued walking and saw a sign for Fort Siloso. Tossed up whether or not to make the detour, and extremely pleased I made the decision to have a look



2 ways to get there, track at ground level, or up a lift to the top of a tower and a walkway.
Took the lift



The walkway, could see heavy rain in the distance, a few drops as I walked along



Couple of minutes walk and you get to the entrance of the fort



Into the first tunnel section, and unlike Fort Canning, no dramas with taking pictures

 

[OZDUCK]

I am impressed to see how much of Singapore you saw on this trip - certainly not just up and down Orchard Road and then to the Marina Bay Sands. Like you obviously did, we enjoy walking around Singapore - naturally with hats on and lots of drinking water. After a day or so we seem to get fairly well acclimatised and 10 or so Km is not a problem. The worst I had was walking up Bukit Timah Hill - only 164 M high and a couple of K long but with some very steep sections, far harder than the 10 K of the Southern Ridges Walk.

Pulau Ubin is a nice change to the rest of Singapore and we will be doing the same ride in September - the roads look a lot better than when we last went in 2004. I have swum in that little bay on Sentosa - again about 13 years ago.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

This area has only a short set of tunnels and 3 or 4 rooms, with the dummies showing the shells being passed to the gunners, audio playing a s well with the officer giving orders



Back out of the tunnel and the rain had arrived







Stayed undercover for a few minutes then made my move to some old recreation sheds that had been transformed into display rooms











Apologies for the orientation of the last photo, it does show however how the British totally dismissed the threat and the capabilities of the Japanese