Went to the southern ridges with yiwen on thursday!! Uh. The whole route is suppose to start from west coast park -- clementi woods-- nus-- kent ridge park-- canopy walk-- hort park-- alexandra arch-- forest walk-- telok blangah hill-- henderson waves-- mt faber-- marang trail.

Sounds like a mouthful? It actually it. Norm newspaper and reviews all took the treking the other way round (means starting from harbourfront then to west coast). Butta, since we live in the west area, i decided that we shd start from clementi.

Bypassed west coast park and started from clementi woods. Yiwen commented that she can bus down from her hse (man, so paiseh). So at clementi woods, w/o and maps nor signs nor whatsoever, we walked towards where we think will lead to the nus. And we did, after a series of uphill that warmed us up.

Another obstacle at nus, cos yiwen thought we were supposed to go on a trail, not walk on the pathway beside the main rd. Ah. Who knows how to get to kent ridge park from nus? Googled and it doesnt show? Heck. We took the internal shuttle that lead us to king george park. A residence area in the uni which looks damn posh and nice (for ppl studying in nus, you can kindly fill me in on whats that). From there, we walked uphill to find the first landmark, a MAP showing to hortpark!!

Passed science park 1 and walked on the pathway towards a leadership insitute (1.5km). The walk here was a tad boring except for birds and interesting signs that i've nv seen. Oh, and cars that crosses the bends and the 200 bus stop.

And tada, our second landmark, KENT RIDGE PARK!

This is another uphill task. Which is the steepest among all. Its quiet, nobody except for greens, an open court, exercise areas and an occasional uncle who's jogging.

Then, this was way too good! SIGNS!!! Seriously, they should place these along the entire process. And may i recommend a better one, placing the distance to reach these places. And more of these..... at least we know that we are on the right path.

The canopy walk was a disappointing one. One is becos of the 3 smokers we met on one lookout pt. It's just too much, i felt like throwing them down. Anyways, as the name suggest, you'll get a view of the canopy.

Then we reached the new attraction: HORTPARK. We didnt go in via the main entrance but by the back, so our first sightings were the big and high glass houses. And they house beautiful flowers!!! Exotic too!

Preettty and BIG yellow flowers.

Bunches of red flowers! So pretty for hand bouquets!

Walk further to the main entrance and you'll be greeted by areas and areas of themed gardens. There's wizard of oz,

the scarecrow which we wondered abt its gender.

tin man and the lion. I think the lion's pic is great with yiwen. =)
and there were dinos statues along the way. Nice for kids. And playgrounds.

and the flowers we saw along the paths, very pretty. and the bamboo garden. Stand in the middle and maybe one can meditate.

Picture taking time if you'd ask me. But not in the midafternoon sun. Do come in the evening for better and cooler phototaking sessions. There's an open area, great for holding wedding receptions. A thai restaurant at the first level filled with officeworkers. And the main lobby had the most christmas trees in one area. There were like at least 6 trees.
Behind this pieceof work is actually an air conditioned room filled with photos taken around the park. This is a good place for some nice cool air from the hot and humid afternoon sun. Too bad they dont have benches inside, or else, it would be filled.

Walked out of the main entrance and you'll come to the ALEXANDRA ARCH. Eh. Basically, just a connecting pt to the forest walk. Its a long and winding. Not recommended for ppl with height-to-phobia. But as you get higher, the breeze is cool.

Banana plant with the fruits and flowers.


This was on the way to the HENDERSON WAVES through forest walk and telok blangah hill. This is where we see more people. Parents with kids. See, its really like catepillar.
And this is one of the resting pts along the way. And this is the pt also when it started to drizzle. But it didnt stop when we reach marang trail, near to mt faber and towards the ending point.

It just got heavier and heavier. Until we had to turned back and rest at jewel box. Luckily for a helpful chef who directed us to toilets we were much drier. Called for a cab when the rain continued to beat down mercilessly. Ya. I know its a terrible way to end a walking trail, but we didnt really had much of a choice.

So we basically got soaked from the feet. But it was nice getting on the train back home. Recommend you to go not during this monsoon season. Go during morning or late afternoon and maybe you can start either from hortpark to harbourfront or the other way round. Bring lots of water and camera, oh and food too. There's no makan except in hortpark, the thai restaurant, which is a little ex but there are vending machines for snacks.

I love this photo. I wished i can bring it home for christmas!!! It's 9 days to christmas!