A walk through Coffee Hill

Bukit Brown Cemetary with 100,000 graves is the largest Chinese burial site outside of China. Growing up in Singapore, I've never heard of it until this whole controversy about building a highway over it & the need to exhume 4000 graves. Since my parents are from China, none of our ancestors are buried there, I suppose. 

I recently went on a visit with the Nature Society & was struck by how little I know about that place. Apart from the controversy, I read about it being the final resting place for a lot of the pioneers of Singapore, names like Joo Chiat, Gan Eng Seng, Boon Lay, Boon Tat - should be familiar as many places are named after them. Lee Kuan Yew's father & aunt are both buried there. 

But I had no idea the size. We walked for 2 hours & covered only about 75% of the area. While we were there, we came across many people walking their dogs, running & riding (the Singapore Polo Club is close by). It really should be called Bukit Brown Heritage Park (something I came across on the internet which I thought was very apt). Why hadn't I known about this place before ? This is truly a hidden gem in Singapore. 

I don't find anything morbid about a cemetery - in fact a walk through it is like a history lesson. Pere Lachaise cemetary in the middle of Paris, is well visited (not in small part due to Jim Morrison's grave). I fully intend to return & spend more time exploring before it becomes yet another casualty of our development plans. 

 Lovely Peranakan tiles

This is where the highway will run through

Experience it before it's gone

 Interesting fauna & trees

The whole area is well shaded 

hence making it a very cool place for walking & jogging

 A Terra Cotta Warrior stands on guard

Little tags highlighting the celebrity graves

A tomb with a man & his 5 wives

A rich man

 The number sign marks it for exhumation

 Mr & Mrs Ong Sam Leong

the largest grave in Bukit Brown

Intricate stone carving depicting 24 Filial Piety stories

on the grave site of Ong Sam Leong

This is the story of Wang Pou. When his mother was alive, she was afraid of thunder. Even when she was dead & buried, he would run over to her tomb to comfort her whenever there was thunder. 

A Sikh guard

Unique to graves in this part of the world

Combination of Chinese lion, Western angel & Gurkha

That huge binoculars helped us see up close a beautiful blue kingfisher

Mr  Wing our guide, showing us how they used nature to craft toys

Here's a garland that they made in the kampong days

 A useful plant to spot if you heed Nature's call

but do not have tissue paper handy

The soft leaves makes for a good substitute

Mass grave site

Bukit Brown is a beautiful place. 

Unspoilt. Quiet. Hidden. Calm. 

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

Southern Ridges

Would you think this is Singapore ?

Inspired by my BFF who goes walking every chance she gets, my current fav pastime is to explore the various trails. All you have to do is to go to the National Parks website & browse here. There are good descriptions of the trail, what to watch out for, how to get there & detailed maps. Most of the trails are well marked anyway so you don't worry about getting lost. If you don't feel too confident, by all means download the maps & carry it along.

The first trail we did was the Southern Ridges. It has been one that I've been meaning to go for a long time so I was really excited when we finally did so much so I pressed on even tho it was drizzling.

Old & very tattered cable car on display

You can start from either Canopy Walk (Kent Ridge Park) or the Marang Trail (VivoCity). It takes about 2-3 hours depending on how often you stop & trust me, there are many distractions along the way so take your time & enjoy the walk. We did it from Kent Ridge Park. It was a little nostalgic for me cos I have not been back in the vicinity of NUS since I graduated & boy, has that area changed ! (well I did graduate a long while back).....

The Canopy Walk

A very pleasant way to start

Up close & personal with the friendly monkeys

Do not feed them

If you'd not been there, I'd suggest spending some time walking around the Park

There's a spice garden, butterfly enclosure, weird & exotic plants....

and many playgrounds.

Be prepared to tear the kids away

Sculpture @ Hort Park

Ceramic tiles @ Visitor Center Hort Park

Alexandra Arch near the entrance of Hort Park

We like the Forest Walk

It's an elevated walkway around Telok Blangah Hills

You can see the forest below & I also mean to show you what not to do

Even if the walk is easy, slippers are not appropriate footwear

It was a lot of fun

Next highlight - the gorgeous Henderson Wave

It's a photographer's dream

I want to go there one evening to take pictures of the bridge at night

Next stop, Mount Faber

It has been ages ahem, pak tor days since I have been up Mount Faber so imagine my surprise when I discovered The Jewel Box with swanky restaurants & bars right next to the Cable Car Station. We had drinks at the Emerald Lodge, before you reach The Jewel Box

From there, the Marang Trail which would lead you to the finishing point, right at the entrance of Harbourfront MRT station. If you like, you could always hop over to VivoCity for a meal or refreshments.

It's an interesting & diverse trail. Lots of photo opportunities. Level of difficulty - none. Highly recommended.