It has been 18 months since we arrived at Singapore.
Here is the collection of the blogs I wrote about our activities at Singapore - quarantine, outdoor activities and some indoor activities, which summarized our experiences at Singapore so far. The posts are listed in reverse order with 2022 as the time reference frame.
December 2022 Singapore Botanic Gardens
I wrote about the Botanic Garden many times before, I did not write about the Garden this December even though we go there nearly daily. After initial blogs, I write about our trips to Garden occasionally on Wechat Moment from our nearly daily visit. We walk, run and watch birds there.
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| Morning at Singapore Botanic Garden viewed from HPL Canopy Link |
Here are some blogs I wrote before.
Fauna at Singapore Botanic Garden (Oct 2021)
Kingfishers at Keppel Wetland (Dec 2021)
Wild life in Action (Feb 2022)
Watching Banded Woodpeckers (March 2022)
Random Bird Watching (June 2022)
November 2022 MacRitchie Reservoir Park
It is our most favorite park - the expansive lake, emerald green water in the coves, trees, and the continuous long loop trail around the lake, which is mostly shaded. Similar to Botanic Garden, more recent visits to the park were summarized on Wechat/Moment. I liked the place for hiking so much I actually invited a colleague to hike there together.
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| We hiked the 12.4 km loop around MacRitchie on Christmas Day |
The first visit to MacRitchie (Sept 2021)
Working Jog in the Rain at MacRitchie (May 2022)
October 2022 Little Guilin and Bukit Batok Nature Park
These are two small parks in west Singapore. Little Guilin, is really beautiful on a clear day, as the name indicated, a hill and large pond - see the blog from 2021 below. Buikit Batok is bit larger, it has quarry formed pond, cliffs and more wild life.
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| Poh Kim Quarry at Bukit Batok (Oct 2022) |
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| White Headed Thrush (Oct 2022) |
Little Guilin at Singapore (August 2021)
Bukit Batok Nature Park (August 2021)
September 2022 Sentosa
Sentosa is a favorite locale for us as well, we went there for hiking, picnic, and kayaking (twice already! expect to have aa couple more kayaking trips there)
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| Tanjong Timau, West end of Sentosa viewed from our Kayak (May 2022) |
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| Picnic at Sunset at Sentosa (September 2022) |
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| Stroll at Tanjong Beach after picnic (September 2022) |
Off the beaten path at Sentosa (Dec 2021)
August 2022 The Hive and Changi Bay Point
The Hive is a hive shaped building at Nanyang Technology University, its exotic shape drew my attention during online search. Yunnan Garden is right next to the building. In August we also visited Changi Bay point Park …which is less visited, and no shade for the trail. So it is better to visit this park early morning for sunrise and late afternoon.
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| The Hive (August 2022) |
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| Yunnan Garden (August 2022) |
The Bay point park (August 2022)
July 2022 Pulau Ubin, Mandai River, Sengkang Floating Wetland, Keppel Hill Reservoir
We visited Pulau Ubin for the second time, this on a tandem bike instead of on-foot. This time we were lucky to see quite a few "new" birds, and enjoyed the Chek Jawa Wetlands, and Pulau Sekudu islet, which I kayaked to earlier of the year. We kayaked with others for the first time at Singapore, on Mandai River...a very pleasant experience.
Unexpected bid watching at Pulau Ubin (July 2022)
Kayaking to Mandai River (July 2022)
Keppel Hill Reservoir Trail (July 2022)
Senskang Floating Wetland and riverside Park (July 2022)
June 2022 Garden By the Bay, Marina Bay
We visited Garden By the Bay, Marina Bay for nth time in June accompanying Lily's friend from US. They are as beautiful as ever, with their manmade Supertrees, and awesome lightshows - which also highlights Singapore as most light polluted city in the world!
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| Marina Bay |
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| Garden by the bay |
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| dragonfly lake at Garden by the bay |
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| Supertrees |
Urban Oasis - Garden by the Bay (August 2021)
First Glimpse of Singapore (July 2021)
May 2022 Labrador Nature Preserve, Clement Forest, National Gallery
Labrador Nature Preserve is near Keppel bay, with great views of Sentosa and Reflection Towers. It is also a great for intertidal exploration. The most significant outdoor activity we had this month was my first venture into Clementi Forest. Clement Forest is an unmanaged wooded area, with true natural beauty, and unmarked trail. Lily and I visited the forest again in July.
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| dragon tooth at Labrador Nature Park |
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| View of Reflection Tower from Labrador Nature Park |
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| Low tide at the beach of Labrador Nature Park |
Clementi Forest (May 2022)
Gormley's Sculptures at National Gallery (May 2022)
April 2022 Frog island, The Deck, Kranji Marshes, Winsor Nature Park
We kayaked to Frog Island by chance from Changi Beach Park. Frog island, also named Pulau Sekudu locally, is a small islet, just off Pulau Ubin. We explored our first wild natural trail at the Jungle of Alexandra Woodland, aka the Deck, we also visited two smaller parks at Kranji Marshes, Winsor Nature Park.
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| Kranji Marches (April 2022) |
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| Winsor Nature Park (April 2022) |
Adventure to Frog Island (April 2022)
March 2022 Our 8th floor Apartment at Nassim Road
Our spacious apartment has great view of spectacular Sunrise and Sunset from time to time! There is no high rise around us in ~1 kilometer, the area is green, is quiet, and is an extension of Singapore Botanic Garden.
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| Sunrise view from our apartment window |
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| Sunset at Echo Lake |
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| A monitor Lizard climbing a Palm tree at Thomson Park |
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| Lor Halus Red Bridge |
January 2022 Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park, Hampstead Wetland, Rower's Bay, Last Fishing Village, Coat-to-Coast Trail
We started 2022 by visiting Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park, a surpassingly neat park with plenty of birds and beautiful plants. The sunset at Rower's Bay was gorgeous, and the last fishing village is a place best viewed from afar - it is stinky and dirty if you get close to it. We ended the month by hiking coast to coast trail with a few friends starting on Lunar New Year's eve, and completed next day at Coney Island at Sunrise time.
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| Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park - Orange Cheeked Waxbill |
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| Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park - A Heron |
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| Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park - kids by a pond |
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| Banded woodpecker and blue tailed bee eater at Hampstead Wetland |
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| A collared kingfisher at Hampstead Wetland |
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| The last fishing village |
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| Sunset at Rower's Bay |
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| Our coast-to-coast trail - a small deviation in the Middle |
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| Final check point at Coney Island west entrance |
2021-2022
The slide show below provide a more complete list of places we visited
