Walking the train tracks

If you live in Singapore, you can't miss all the excitement over the currently unused railway tracks. As of July 1st 2011, Tanjong Pagar station ceased operations & the Singapore-Malaysia railway terminal has relocated to Woodlands. That means there will only be 1 km of railway line in Singapore versus the 26km before.

The government has already announced that on July 18, dismantling of the tracks will begin so for now until then the railway line is open for the public to experience it one last time. Last weekend, we decided to walk the tracks, along with half of Singapore & their cameras.

Not kidding about the hordes of people

There were some who undertook to walk the entire way. We weren't that crazy. I thought Bukit Timah Station at King Albert Park would be a good start & from there, we headed in the direction of Tanjong Pagar.

I didn't see this until now but The Green Corridor just put up an excellent post with the map of the railway tracks breaking it down in sections, access points, highlighting photo op etc. Last Saturday's Straits Times had a good write up.

My advice is to start early, bring lots of water & wear a hat. The tracks are obviously not sheltered so it can get very hot. Make sure you wear track shoes.

The old station master's house

The platform @ Bukit Timah Station

Where possible, walk on the pathway that runs alongside

The novelty of walking on the tracks wore off very quickly

Looking at this, I realised how rare it is to see a monsoon drain

The children at play

Love the greenery along the way

Going pass housing estates

Beautiful homes

This has become a part of Singapore's heritage & a pity to remove it. I hope the government will come up with a plan to find some way of preserving this.

Graffiti in the underpass where we exit near Buona Vista station

What a great way to end a walk, with food

I found a Kacang Puteh man

Don't know about you guys but I grew up with this.

So imagine my delight when I found the kacang puteh man. It is obviously no longer 10 cents (yup those were the days !) but $1 now. He has all the old favorites plus newer varieties like rice craker types (he is keeping up with the trend).

Do say hi if you do run into him.

Exploring Tiong Bahru

A few months ago (yes I know this is rather delayed) I had to go to Tiong Bahru Plaza to pick up my glasses & decided to jalan jalan over to my favorite art deco housing estate in Singapore. Talk about nostalgia. Brings back memories of Sunday morning marketing with my parents. Chwee Kuey.

Do you remember these mail boxes ?

You know something is a classic when after many years, it still doesn't look dated. Just look at this block. Love the lines.


Not surprisingly the new Tiong Bahru market looks rather out of place amongst the older buildings.

Gorgeous buildings

Do you know of another estate that has coconut trees lining its walkway ?

Tiong Bahru has become home to several boutique hotels. Above is Hotel Nostalgia. There is also Link Hotel & last night, my friends & I were at the roof top bar of the Wangz Hotel. I'd recommend going there for drinks if you are in the neighbourhood.


The good old gathering place for bird lovers. Since it's Singapore, of course, it's updated with a new structure & numbered tags for the cages.