A walk with Nicole

Spent the morning taking a walk with Nicole at Changi Beach before she flies off to NZ & Aussieland for a year. Call it quality time, or whatever, but it was good. Also gave her the opportunity to drive in SG for a day since she'd passed her driving test yesterday. Such memories will always remain closest to the heart. Take good care of yourself, dear daughter.

At Changi Beach

Near Changi Sailing Club

A Scaly-Breasted Munia (look like sparrow, huh?)

A Black-Naped Oriole ... I just call it the yellow bird

Resident Malayan Water Monitor
(mistakenly called an iguana in Singapore)

A distant relative of the water monitor - the chameleon

A Walk in the Park ... Southern Ridges (Part III)

The last leg of my exploratory venture into the Southern Ridges. The entrance to Kent Ridge Park is marked out quite clearly in HortPark, it's just after the glasshouses. A winding path uphill takes you to a sort-of T-junction. The left leads to Bukit Chandu and the right goes on to Kent Ridge Park. Bukit Chandu it was for me as my last visit was like 8 years ago? The museum doesn't seem to have changed much. Right opposite the main entrance is the Canopy Walk, an elevated boardwalk among the treetops. The other end of the boardwalk leads to Kent Ridge Park. It was quiet in the afternoon. I was totally thrilled to see my first ever wild and live woodpecker - couldn't quite believe my eyes. The ignorant me didn't even know that there were woodpeckers in SG! The only woodpecker I'm familiar with is Woody! The paths around the park (after the car park) are a little confusing. I wandered around before ending up at Science Park, and effectively bringing my Southern Ridges adventure to an end.

Reflections at Bukit Chandu

Canopy Walk

View from Canopy Walk. The winding path on the right
leads down to HortPark.

Many signages to point the way

Part of Kent Ridge Park

What exactly is there to see when one sits at this bench?
You must be one very die-hard fern lover to sit there.

Common Flameback or Golden-backed Woodpecker

The colours make it stand out

Lots of greenery at Kent Ridge Park

View of the Southern Islands from a look-out point

If you're interested in the names ...

Car-park at Kent Ridge Park

Look more like Sleep-out Point!!

Commemorating the Battle for Pasir Panjang

White-crested Laughing Thrush.
There were 5 of them there...a family?

I think this is a female Brown-Throated Sunbird

Ended up at DSO in Science Park.
Took Bus 92 to the MRT Station

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park

A change of venue for blading today...destination : Bishan-AMK Park. A 10-min bus-ride was all that was needed to get there. Definitely much better utilized than most of the other parks I've been to. Quite busy human traffic on a Monday morning. The park, which is quite huge, is separated by Marymount Road. Most of the activities seemed to be concentrated on the eastern part hemmed by Marymount Road and Bishan Road.

There's a path for walkers and another for bikers.
Bladers need to have one leg on each path!!

Lovely open spaces
The bridges link the flats to the park

Many ponds dotted the park

See the solar panels on the pond behind the sign?

The park caters to many elderly

Wildlife in Bishan-AMK Park

The marvellous thing about this park is that despite it being located right smack in between 2 crowded housing estates, its unique design has attracted many birds and other animals.

2 White-Breasted Waterhens

The Little Egret is what's circled above.

Lots of tortoises around

Who's the odd one out? The rest are pigeons.

The Striated Heron

No shortage of fish

The latest addition

Happy ... finally managed to catch
a Whited-Throated Kingfisher on my cam

Wish I had better zoom

Perching, waiting ... for lunch to be served

What fish is this?

Chameleons seem to populate many places
in Singapore nowadays

And the common Spotted Dove

A Walk in the Park ... Southern Ridges (Part II)

Procrastination is defeated today ... we finally kicked our butts outdoors to continue where we left off several weeks back. Leaving the car at the carpark along Telok Blangah Green Road, we headed for our first stop : Terrace Garden - the name is apt as we walked up the stairs to a lovely view at the top of the little hill.

Who would have thought that
Singapore had a hidden magical garden?

View of the Reflections at Keppel Bay - high-class condo!!

After soaking in the sun and view, it's off to our next stop : Forest Walk. Forest Walk is a series of elevated walkways with metal grills as footpaths - hats off to whoever came out with the idea. You look down and see how high up you are ... in other words, how far you'd fall!! Not for those with height-phobia.

Signages to show you the way

The ubiquitous CB Leaf ... known to all NSmen.
Never knew it was called Dillenia Suffruticos

Permanent slope repairs being carried out.
At the top is a covered reservior

Seldom see wild bamboo in Singapore

Looks scary...

The Forest Walk ends at the Alexandra Arch ... supposedly a lovely bridge but now dulled by the weather. Repainting works were in progress when we were there. The Alexandra Arch leads to the HortPark, a modern gardening hub for visitors to learn about recreational gardening and other gardening-related activities. A very nice place to relax ... there's even a cafe and a restaurant.

Alexandra Arch

A lovely business school in a colonial bungalow

Entrance to Hortpark

Don't know what flower is this but it's certainly eye-catching

Lovely mosaic wall at HortPark

Catching a breath and a drink at the The Plant Story cafe (above)
HortPark Vineyard Restaurant (Below)

A part of HortPark

A permanent resident of HortPark

Cactus thorns piercing a dead leaf...ouch!

My fav pix of the day

Zooming-in

Panoramic view of a part of HortPark 

The old vs the new.
Reminds me of the movie "Up".

We interrupted the lunch of some pink-necked green pigeons

Female Pink-necked Green Pigeon

Not sure what bird is this...feeding on the same tree

Yellow-crested Bulbul