the southern ridges

went for a little trek at the latest 'in' trail provided by our national parks. since its publicity in the media last month, it has become a popular destination for families especially during the weekends.

the start point is at the marang trail, a stone's throw away from the bus stop in front of seah im bus food centre or harbourfront mrt station. although it was a weekday, there were still people on the trail ranging from families with kids, retirees taking a walk, joggers, students on excursion, tourists and expats experiencing a different facet of singapore.

i didn't know that marang trail is a challenging 70 metres upward climb [equivalent to a 24-storey building] until later at night when i read about it at the nparks web site. so those less-fit or have bad knees might want to take it easy and slow.

the slightly strenous ascent will be well-rewarded with superb views of sentosa and the southern islands when you reach the top of mount faber. from that point onwards, it's pretty much an easy hike all the way to kent ridge park without much difficulty.

henderson waves, the tallest pedestrian bridge in singapore at 36 metres high is truly beautiful with it's undulating curves and wooden deck. this connects mount faber to telok blangah hill. my knees felt wobbly when i looked straight down onto the traffic below on henderson road. :P

the forest walk reminds me a little of the hsbc tree-top walk in macritchie except this isn't as high nor is this a suspension bridge. then came the alexandra arch which was a slight anti-climax after the spectacular henderson waves.

next up at the bottom of the bridge is the floral walk leading to the hortpark. i must say i've not seen so many flowers here in singapore except the time when millions were spent landscaping orchard and suntec/marina area for the wto delegates.

the hortpark - the gardening hub is a beautiful place showcasing many themed gardens and is southeast asia's first one-stop centre for gardening-related recreational, educational, research and retail activities in a park setting. there were actually picnickers having food and drinks on the grounds of the park while we were there.

at the end of the hort park is the canopy walk that connects to kent ridge park. couldn't see much on the canopy walk. kent ridge park gave better views of the southern islands. since the park is adopted by the army, there is actually an amx-13 and a howitzer on display.

the orginal plan was to proceed to clementi woods and finally to west coast park. but due to the lack of directional signs and proper research, we got lost and stumbled upon lim seng lee duck rice [recommended by eric previously] instead. just in time for our lunch break! yeah!

the skies darkened and started to rain after lunch. we took shelter at the village centre and discovered allan bakes' cheese cakes for desserts. yummy!

the wet weather prevented my plan to continue to west coast park. so although i've been living in the west for so long, i've yet to see how the park looks like. haha...