Working Jog in the Rain at MacRitchie

 A colleague from another division and I would like to have a get together. In place of a working lunch we chose to have a working jog at MacRitchie Reservoir Park since both of us like to jog in outdoors.

It was a cloudy day, not the best for scenery, but should be great day for jogging. I got there earlier and walked on the dam a bit, watching people kayaking, running or walking. 

A weather front was moving in. Mist started to form at west end of the reservoir.

Then it started to rain, sporadic rain drops here and there.

I walked to a Gazebo at the east end of the dam for shelter.

In a minute or so, siren sounded from the kayak/canoe rental shop, calling all kayakers return to shore. Many kayaks appeared on the water, seemingly from no where, paddling toward the launching dock.

My colleague, who arrived later than me, was looking for me on the dam in the rain. We finally met at the gazebo. 

clear lake before the rain arrived

the mist indicating the rain front

kayakers were called to return to shore as rain got heavier

it was pouring for a few minutes

Knowing the rain would go away in half an hour or so, we decided to wait it out. 

In the surrounding sound of rain, we talked about hiking trails in Singapore. Of course I mentioned about our recent hikes at the Deck in the woods of Alexandra, and in the Clementi Forest. He was enthralled.  

Time flew, and the rain turned to drizzle in no time.

Just then I heard a beautiful singing behind the gazebo, a middle aged man was walking in the drizzle and singing. I gave him a thumb up, he paused, I blurred out "I like your voice", he chuckled, and continued walking and singing.

We walked out of the gazebo toward the dam and the boardwalk on the south side of the reservoir. 

Our working jog started. 

I was surprised to notice the the reservoir level dropped a lot, about one meter from my previous observation. Many monkeys loitering on the dried up land. Despite frequent rains here, dry season had its toll!

water used to cover the dry land where monkeys were

We talked about work a lot during our 5km walk, but in the end he could not help returning the topic back to hiking :). 

Golf might be prevailing way for social at workplace. Working jog is one good format for me, to social with colleagues outside of office.  

Gormley's Sculptures at Singapore National Gallery

We went to the National Gallery last Monday, Vesak Day. What attracted my attention most were some sculptures that decorate the hallways of the grand building.

Entering from the supreme court wing, there is steel wire formed object hanging from the ceiling above the stairway. Looking up, it has coarse wires at outskirt, and dense wires in the center, looks like something flying with two wings and fluffy hairs, or is it just tumbleweed? When I got to the upper floor, looking at it at eye level, the visual changed, I did not see wings any more, but two legs, and two eyes! The fluffy outskirt is still there.

To me, it resembles a human figure trying to escape.

What does it real mean? What did the sculptor want to convey?

Sculpture - Ferment

 

Eye level look of the Sculpture Ferment

While I was browsing from show room to show room, I saw a sculpture in the hallway. This one is pretty easy to identify, the cavities of two palms and a head in a cubic concrete.

So in this sculpture, human is void, the outside world is solid. 

Is that what it means? What did the sculptor want to convey?

Cubic concrete with cavities of a head and two palms

What puzzled me the most is this blackened male body on the floor to an entrance at first floor. I went there from a grand staircase from basement. When I ascended there, this male body face down, four limps stretched out, flat on the ground, with the testicles prominently between the legs, appeared in front of me. It was provocative! I walked around, the body's head faces the entrance way, less dramatic but still striking. 

An exhausted, burnt man hugging the earth or simply giving up?!

Sculpture - Close V - back

Sculpture - Close V - front

That's my interpretation. What did the sculptor want to convey?

After finishing my trip journal on more benign part of my visit to the gallery, these sculptures stayed with me. I was curious, and checked the gallery's website to find out who the sculptor is, and the names of the sculptures, what the sculptures convey. 

These three sculptures are part of a solo show from the British sculptor Antony Gormley. The sculpture names are Ferment, Sense and Close V. In fact there is a fourth one - Horizontal Field, tangled stainless wires, which is less provoking, but more comprehensible to me. 

Isn't the horizontal field just a reflection of the downtown core, the jungle of concretes formed by skyscrapers, beautiful domes, ugly match boxes …?

Horizontal Field Singapore

I went to the sculptor's website and looked at his collections of sculptures. Individually some sculptures make no sense, but collectively they made sense to me - the sculptures were the extension of the sculptor's thoughts, his loneness, conflicts, struggles, haplessness, and thirsty for connection...

The sculptures' simplicity and abstraction appeal to me.

Notes

Different people make different senses out of a sculpture. Here are the interpretations by National Gallery of Singapore for the first 3 sculptures.

FERMENT, Located at Supreme Court Foyer, Supreme Court Wing, Level 1.
Ferment is a life-sized figure captured in mid-motion, described by a mass of irregular geometric polygonal shapes. The figure seems to be either emerging from or disappearing into this matrix, which is inspired by frothing bubbles. The solid form of traditional sculpture is replaced by what appears to be a dynamic energy field, aided by the light reflecting on the stainless steel of the outer cells.

SENSE, Located at Supreme Court Wing, Level 3 Sense reverses body/space relations and presents the human body as a void within a concrete cube: the smallest space that a crouching human body can occupy. We only see two palm prints and the top of the head where they break through the surface, suggesting a continuum between human consciousness and the world that surrounds us. Sense demonstrates Gormley’s exploration of the body as place, using the most commonly used material in our built environment. CLOSE V, Located at UOB City Hall Courtyard City Hall Wing, Level 1. Close V is cast from the artist’s body in solid iron, a material directly linked to the Earth’s molten core. Lying flat on the floor, it weighs 7.5 times the mass of an average human. The work invites us to reflect on our relative position in space and time and our dependency on our planet, which is now under severe strain from ecological change.

Clementi Forest

We hiked in the famed Clementi Forest yesterday, Saturday, May 14th, 2022. 

It was just like what was described by many who hiked there before me - out of this world feel, amazing beauty for some sections, muddy, messy in others, fallen trees, high grasses, faint trails....

Wonder of nature !

This meadow is formed around a drainage canal

We started our hiking in the clementi forest in late morning, arrived at trail head behind Opp Ngee Ann Poly around 10:30am.

The trail head is behind the bus stop on the left hand side of the canal

The trail is a narrow footpath in tall grass. It was warm, but the sunny sky made the meadow and forest so much more beautiful. The path we took was actually shaded by tall trees. The most beautiful part of this trail is the first kilometer along the canal, from trail head to Railway corridor. One might turn around at the corridor to get to other other side of the canal, and enjoy the scenery on dry/firm path.

in the wilderness

few other hikers in the forest, mostly young people

The only challenge in the first kilometer is a wide muddy stream, which cut through the trail, that's where we got our shoes muddy. The rest of the trail to the railways corridor was dry and firm.

An obstacle for an otherwise easy trail

Into the woods

A landmark at the trail/railway corridor intersection is some red steel beams over the canal. It is not hard to find, turn right when the trail meets the corridor (paved trail), and some barriers (railings) by the corridor indicate the crossing of the canal with the railway corridor trail from below. The path from left hand side of the corridor, to the canal is blocked, but one can access the canal from right hand side, just continue to walk along the the barrier until it ends. We went down through a pretty steep slope uneventfully and walked onto the beam, but not in the water. There were a young couple with a dog walking in the canal at the time.

Access path to the red beams

Look into the canal through the red beams from above

The next landmark on the trail is the abandoned Jurong railway, which was a bit confusing from the online trail guide because reference direction for the left and right was not defined. We walked around the red beam area twice, and finally got the correct direction. 

For our path, turn right at trail/corridor intersection. When reaching the location the canal passing the corridor trail from below, take the right hand side, off the corridor trail, go straight to the big log, and keep left the rest of the way, we reached the abandoned railway. The track is quickly submerged in a muddy stream, so we walked onto the slippery bank, with plenty of barriers of large roots, fallen branches, and small sink holes.

We stayed on the side and walked to the top of the railway tunnel! When we realized it, we walked down, and walked backwards a bit, and look at the tunnel from the "correct" path. 

The trail does not branch the rest of the way, and the trail is pretty much along the railway track, some portion dry and firm, some muddy. I did see tree roots grow around the track! 

Along the way, we heard bird chirpings all the time, but barely see any, and final encountered a monkey troupe. We met two groups of young people at the forest section, and saw one couple at the railway tunnel. That's it.

 

The track

Fallen trees on the track

The track is submerged in muddy stream

The railway tunnel 

The trail to the tunnel

in front of the tunnel

This must a ficus tree with air roots

Rocks with moss

Near the end of our hike, we encountered a money troop

The exit to the Clementi trail 

I had two distinctive experiences from this one hike - the amazing beauty of the1st kilometer of the trail from the trail head at Opp Ngee Ann Poly, and the adventure in the woods, along abandoned railway, along a muddy trail, the rest of the way.

Keep Clementi Forest Wild!!

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Notes 

1. The online trail guide https://thetravelintern.com/hiking-clementi-forest-singapore/ is very helpful.

2. A late start to hike on Clementi forest trail had its toll, humid and hot, which made the  3km hike really tiring, but there were no bugs!

3. There is a report that at least part of the Clementi forest trail will be managed, SG Park services announced.  I am sure it will be easier to hike, but just by adding wide paved trail to the Clementi forest instantly make the wonder go away. So go hike at Clementi forest before it is artificially decorated.

4. We took bus to return to our parked car.

5. Clementi Forest and  The deck are very similar: both are natural parks, not managed; both have true natural beauty.

Another Visit to White Rock Creek

White rock creek is a major tributary of trinity river. It is originated at Frisco, Texas, just north of highway 121, runs through Dallas suburbs, south to south west, widens and pours into white rock lake before continue south to join trinity river. Over the years, besides the visits to white rock lake, we intentionally visited the creek a few times. We explore the portion of the creek at Plano in 2013, and then paddled in it near white rock lake in 2020.

On this beautiful May day morning, I visited white rock creek again, at Katie Jackson Park, near the intersection of North Dallas Toll Way and Bush Turnpike. 

The park has a beautiful front part at the entrance, and the few people visited there this morning stick to this portion of the park. I went to the real trails in the woods and by the white rock creek. It did not disappoint! 

A short distance from the trail head, the trail split, and left side is for hiking. Another short distance, I saw a sign "jump", and it led me to a big drop by the river bank.

The creek at this location is wide, and deep. Big white rocks and white rock river bank are dominant of the vista. I climbed down, and then got on a big rock in the stream. I meditated, sitting there, with eyes closed, listening to the running water, and the chirping of birds for five minutes.

Left for hike, right for bike

The jump 

White rock river bed

When I opened my eyes, a full duck family swam by in the creek, mom in the front, dad in the back, four ducklings in the middle, riding on the flow of the water.

An egret landed upstream from me, standing in the water, a couple minutes later, another larger egret landed there, driving the smaller egret out of the spot. Several ducks flew overhead in the downstream direction. The pair of egrets took off together shortly, flew downstream as well. 

An egret

a few large birds flew overhead

The hiking trail is named yellow trail, which is well marked and well shaded. Portion of the yellow trail is parallel to the creek, the rest in the woods. 

Yellow trail

Despite in a high density housing area, i.e. area with apartment buildings, there are few hikers on the trail, I encountered 1 hiker and 1 group of hikers, and 4 bikers during my 4.5 km hike.  The park is quiet, a place for solitude.