Southern Ridges

On the day we went to collect the academic gown from school, Ralf was driving me and Benjamin past Telok Blangah Hill, when he decided to make a detour into the Telok Blangah Hill to show us his 'territory'- the newly constructed Southern Ridges connecting Kent Ridge Hill, Hort Park, Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill.

First up, entering from the Telok Blangah Hill, we arrived at this carpark where there is free parking. Ok, people driving up to the Southern Ridges, here's an alternative carpark. It is also a 5 mins walk from DSTA/CMPB, so people working there can actually park there for free during their working days.

Just a slope up, we reached the platform of the Henderson Wave. The Henderson Wave actually links Telok Blangah Hill to Mount Faber, and what's so special about the Henderson Wave is the wave-like architecture of the bridge, quite cool.

Following the walk on the Henderson Wave, we drove up a little towards the Alexandra Arch, hoping to see and get some pictures of the Arch-like form of the bridge, but apparently, you have to walk a little to get to see that. However, from the entrance of the Alexandra Arch, there is this mega zigzag pathway that apparently links quite a few places together. Sorry, i'm not so sure where link to where la.

From the very same Alexandra Arch entrance, Ralf took us up this very steep slope at the opposite side of the road, and we arrived at this very serene, tranquil place, a very romantic place for couples to hang out. Apparently, it overlooks the beautiful garden of the Alkaff Mansion, and also the busy ports of PSA.

These are the few places of the Southern Ridges we covered during the short half an hour there. I'm looking forward to the day where I will start the hike from Kent Ridge Park all the way to Mount Faber. Probably I can jio Ralf and Benjamin go there jog the whole 7+ km, in preparation for our Nike+ Human Race. Wahahaha...

Trip to Changi Airport

Two days back, because Xuan's maid, Leny, was coming back from Philippines, I tagged along with her family to Changi Airport to fetch Leny back. Because Leny's flight was slated to touch down at 2358h, we took the opportunity to go to Changi Airport earlier, and went to take a look at Terminal3.

Terminal3 was reported to be very beautiful, very environmental-conscious, especially with the lush green plants planted all over the terminal. Not long ago, there were reports of the floor in Terminal3 being too reflective, causing some problems for gals wearing skirts, especially mini-skirts. And after the trip there, I would suggest gals to mind their skirts when walking around in Terminal3, because I think the floor is a little too reflective. Not that I specially go there to see, OK.

Taking that aside, the interior of Terminal3 is really very beautiful, even better than that of Terminal1 and Terminal2. For your info, Terminal1 and Terminal2 are already very nice lor, much nicer than the airports in Bangkok and Taipei in my opinion.

Terminal3 Basement floor is just like a mini-shopping center lor, with a variety of shops selling clothes, shoes, pastries, souveniers and even a NTUC Fairprice. Food available in Terminal3 is also a tad much better. One big KOP ITIAM, Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, Ah Kun Toast... Great to be able to work in the airport eh? Haha..

Because the time then was about 2230, most of the shops were already closed or closing, so nothing much to shop around. Then because Leny's flight is touching down at the Budget Terminal, we made our way to the Budget Terminal.

From Terminal3, one have to take the tram to Terminal2/Terminal1, then transfer to the free shuttle bus. A bit ma fan, so we just drove from Terminal3 to Budget Terminal.

Going to Budget Terminal from Terminal3, it was like WAH PIANG! The contrast is damn big. Ha. The impression of Budget Terminal in my mind was completely destroyed. NO TIGER AIRWAYS & NO CEBU PACIFIC man. I'm sorry, but I thought the Budget Terminal was quite pathetic. Haha. This is probably why it costs much cheaper to depart and arrive at Budget Terminal.

Anyway, I guess if u are traveling overseas and want to check in early to use free internet access at the many computer terminals, or shop at the many Duty Free Shopping shops, or to use the OSIM foot massager for free, then please pay a little more to take flights leaving from Terminal1, Terminal2 or Terminal3. I guess, WHAT YOU PAY IS WHAT YOU GET.

MacRitchie HSBC Treetop Walk

While eating lunch at Bishan S-11, seeing the weather was so nice for a trek, I jio-ed Ralf to go to the HSBC Treetop Walk. I guess if you are bored at home, just like us, it's good to sometimes take a walk at MacRitchie or Bukit Timah Reserve and take in the essence of nature. Just for the information, the Treetop Walk opens Tues-Fri 0900-1700 and Sat-Sun 0830-1700. It's closed on Mondays for maintenance.


Clad in our running attire, we met at the Raffles Institute (back) bus-stop, and walked to MacRitchie. Once we entered the MacRitchie Reservoir Park, we followed the sign and started our trek towards the Treetop Walk.

On our way towards Treetop Walk, we encountered a few monitor lizards, a few squirrels and groups of monkeys. The squirrels were like damn cute, monitor lizards like damn cool but the monkeys were like intimidating. Ha. Guess reports of monkeys snatching food from people got to me a little. Not that I have food with me la.

Ok, I don't have pictures of squirrels because they were too elusive for my K770i to capture them.

Anyway, after nearly 1 hour plus of trekking 5 plus kilometers, we finally a rangers' station which is about 500m away from the start of the Treetop Walk. There are 2 water-coolers there, so everyone who goes up there can quench their thirst over there.






Arriving at the entrance of the Treetop Walk, I thought the scenery from there was not bad. Lush vegetation, clear blue sky and only the noise of nature. Tranquility!

Because the suspension bridge only allows one-way traffic, we continued moving on and continued with the trek back. Looking down at the flights of steps down, we figured it's another long trek back.

Now that we had explored into the MacRitchie area, we decided to take a look at the Jelutong Tower, to see what it exactly is that.














We climbed up the tower and thought the view from there is great too. It's probably a good spot to look at the sun-rise/set.







From the Jelutong Tower, we followed the dirt trail along the Golf Trail, along the reservoir, skirted the Singapore Island Country Club golf course and trekked back into the vegetation back to the MacRitchie Reservoir Park. The whole journey back took us probably 6 plus kilometers and we jogged about most of the time back. SHAG!

By the time we got back to the MacRitchie Reservoir Park, it was about 1815hrs. We set off at 1500hrs and ended the whole trail in 3hrs15mins. Ha. It was the most tiring experience since my NS days man.