Fahrenheit minus 459 ( absolute zero)

CNY - Sentosa Year of the Dragon 2012

2012-01-21T12:10:00.003+08:00

Berlayer / Bukit Chermin Broadwalk

2012-01-08T00:01:00.020+08:00

Now a new way of reaching Labrador Park via the

Berlayer Creek/ Bukit Chermin Broadwalk

The two paths to Labrador Park run parallel to each other...

Labrador Park MRT Station

Exit MRT and turn right.

Start of the broadwalk

Another view of Belayer Creek

Morning glory ... now late afternoon.. no more glory

Sea Holly

A glimpse of the small Belayer Creek along the broadwalk.
Several look out points allow you to have a closer look of the creek.

Cruiser crossing the narrow passage between the Sentosa - Fort Siloso end and Labrador Park.

On the left is the Fort Siloso end of Sentosa and Labrador Park on the right.
Close up view on the Fort Siloso through Nikon Cp7000 below

The marker and the camouflaged structure of Fort Siloso.

Black and white bungalow House #30 on Bukit Chermin (29 m)

Reflections@ Keppel Bay, moon and V-shaped rays

Broadwalk

Keppel Bridge linking to the Keppel Island ( not Sentosa Is.)

Journey ends here. .. walk to the main road and heading Harbourfront MRT.

2012 New year @ ACM and Marina Bay

2012-01-02T10:26:00.010+08:00

Free admission to ACM - Asia Civilization Museum. Hornbill above Dragon head for the boat. Not Sputnik but a bronze drum ACM
Firework Video also here

Singapore Flyer on extreme left and Marina Bay Sands -
three towers linked on top with a boat shaped structure.

Total Lunar Eclipse Dec 10 2011

2011-12-11T13:29:00.008+08:00

December 10 2011 Total Lunar eclipse,
all phases are visible from Singapore!! P1 is 19:33 pm local time moon rising 6:45pm
Chart courtesy of NASA


Rising moon against the Mariana Bay Sands, we went there for an evening stroll.

The Earth's shadow bites into the Eastern limb.. 20:49

Eating into the prominent 'Rabbit in the Moon'. 21:18

and more and more 21:39

Copper red earth's shine 22:01

Around 10:50pm a friend sms me and asked why the moon looked strange tonight....

Gardens by the bay - Flower Dome Preview & WOC Nov 2011

2011-11-21T21:02:00.029+08:00


Bridal Bouquets - adds 3 D feel

Not in any order... bizarre pattern of an orchid with umbrella
or a small kid with flowering dress all spread out?

Yet another one - cropped view.

Face with eyes, noise puffy cheeks and slipper of course

Or a fly dishing out a bat in front? did you notice this orchid while you were there?

Quite a distance away from my point and shoot

Fibers from orchids can be used to make these... from Myanmar.

Explosion of colors

from Bali..

Super trees clusters.

Kangaroo's paw - can across this in earlier Garden Festival.

Add caption

Flower domes - the smaller one is under construction. Resembles a waking dinosaur's back!!

Structure of an Orchid flower

Some looks different

View of the adjustable(?) fin's like covering on the dome to
regulate amount of sunlight going through.


Another inside view from the Plant Dome Saw this while waiting for the bus to WOC. The 2nd rectangle is actually an opening revealing the construction site. From far it looks like a postage stamp poster. Red dot's selling places... Pallets constructed from paper.

Revisiting Yishun .. Pond and Park

2011-11-13T13:29:00.021+08:00

Yishun Pond Map.
This little unappealing unknown service pond some ten years ago was finally rejuvenated! Tiny butterflies - white ones yellow ones fluttering among the flowers. Two egrets skimming the rather small pond surfaces meanwhile a white headed eagle doing the thermal swirls high up in the sky. Nearby the new Yishun Hospital overlooking one end of the ponds.

Notice the porcupine spine -like pattern & shadows

The other end of the ponds - the spill-away during wet seasons i suppose.

Spiral@Yishun Park connecting the walk way from the pond to the Yishun Park nearby.

Collected some fallen fruits ...

... from nearby Safra

CP7000 self timer facing up on the floor and me.

Durians - at least 5 trees were spotted ... this time of the year we still have durian?

Ten years ago I remembered bringing camcorder and sensitive b/w ccd and tripods, batteries etc to this park for the Leonids event. So much have changed over the years. I was told there were durians in the park but i found none then.

Bread fruits. A visible one torn open scattering the contents on the pavement directly below.

Nanga or jack fruits high up in the branches.

It requires strong teeth to chew through this thorny fruit. Not the monkey i saw picking the easy target - Starfruit close to Safra.

Man-at-work. Inlet to the pond on the left. Floating leaves were manually scooped out..

Cave path - where does this cave lead to ..

2011-11-08T21:37:00.021+08:00

Hindhede Quarry Cliff face viewed from the look-out-point. Opening bearing from the lookout point is 60 degree NE.
Can you locate the other entrance of the cave? [Hint locate a ledge like opening on RHS]


A strong breeze can be felt in the afternoon as the other end of ( quarry cliff face) sucks in the breeze and ruffles the cave foliage. ~68m in elevation Peeping at the other end with a pair of 10x50 binos reveals tree branches and skyline.

The approximate position of the tunnel from the cliff face to the cave path!

Notice the dark opening between the fore-branches

A closer look.

The dark square hole is there right in the middle. Some painted over sign seen on the extreme right wall. Could be an interesting cooling spot if accessible ( rope ladder from above?)

Circuit lines

2011-10-11T20:50:00.022+08:00

Botanic Garden ( Bukit Timah Gate)

Add caption

Coffee tree near the MRT

Remember this gate ? It was originally from Tanglin Gate

Velvet skin of butter fruit

Just like yesteryears..

Chance to get close to this lotus seeds

Cikgu fruit

Dr Sun's wife signature...

One face stands out from the crowd

East Garden

2011-10-01T17:20:00.005+08:00

The fruit is formed already. Now can you tell me the number of styles and stamens?

When the flower willtered , the mellow like fruit remains.

Its a tiny flower, see my thumb nail dwarf the passion flower-like species

On this tall tree, i spotted a flower fruit directly from the trunk

The ripe fruit littered the floor...

No prize for guessing what this is.... 'hairy fruit' young rambutan

Bukit Timah - steps test

2011-09-25T21:42:00.018+08:00

The fig tree near the Visitor Centre were festooned with ripening fruits.

Interior of a fig fruit.

Rock path

Tui tui hut

to be continued....

Another walk in Bukit Timah

2011-09-18T15:49:00.009+08:00

Blue Berry... &

The other blue thing i saw is this Blue tail kingfisher.

Singapore Quarry - some construction of the road is visible on the mid right.

Roadside weed...

Want some climb steps challenge ? Do the right side Dairy Farm Loop and climb up the left loop continue towards Seraya Loop and Jungle Fall path.

Pick this tiny flower from the forest floor. See the tiny flower-within- flower arrangement.

A bit here and there..

2011-08-30T21:58:00.005+08:00

Micky mouse flower, a climber @ Lower Seletar Reservior. First spotted this in
Saigon 2006 and later in Haw Par Villa.

Wild boar spotted foraging near swampy attap palms edge
- Lower Seletar Reservior

Inflorescence of Mahogany bears tiny flowers - collected near my place.

Tearing open the petals revealing the perimeter- attached stamens
and the central stigma column with reddish base.

Dali's masterpiece - at least remind me to do my skip rope exercises

Dali's Unicorn @ marina sand shopping complex

Listening disk for alien in Singapore? No, this is the upper deck look of the structure that generate a swirling bodies of water and falling water column.

Pulau Semakau 20, 21 Aug 2011

2011-08-21T21:58:00.118+08:00

A group of twenty something took the ferry from West Coast Pier passing by P. Bakun - the petro-chemical island en route to Semakau Landfill island. We arrived at the little white rectangular complex ( upper right of below image). After an educational talk in the briefing room we were taken to our camping ground via the left loop ( ~4,2 Km). The island is carved up into segments / cells and progressively filled with incinerated ashes from either Senoko or Tuas incinerators. There is still a wide region roughly the shape of a rectangle in the lower loop of the perimeter road, 2045 was the projection for the island to be totally filled with assumption of aggressive recycling effort in the near future. ( reduction on food wastage, recycling on building materials ).Water and diesel are have to be brought in by ship to this island by boat. The filled cell was now outgrown with tall grasses and small bushes . Casuarina ( with durian-like small fruit) with apparent absence of black beetles population, Sea hibiscus and Sea grapes lined the narrow asphard road. I tasted the ripe sea grapes and it was not too bad. Two small booth- like toilets - one at the camping area and the other near Intertidal walk 'high way'.

Near camping ground is a three-blade wind mill which does not seems to rotate at all. Together with the solar panel they provide energy to lit up the street lamps at night. We have the luck to have a good view of the southern sky - Pointers and the setting Southern Crux, a passing artificial satellite, a dim meteor we saw together and long enough for me to trace the 'Teapot' or Sagittarius stars to my companion. P Bakun on the Eastern side were bathed in light. Shortly afterwards clouds started to roll in. I only managed to take a short duration Constellation of Scorpio at 1600 ASA.

We pitched our tent under a short coconut tree. I could hear the leaves rattling in the slight breeze and the periodic calls of a gecko, zip/unzipping sounds of nearby tent occupants, a late night Birthday celebration and people scuffling around... The tent screen mesh holes was too large - sand flies flew in and delivered painful bites here and there leaving small circular red spots with faintly much bigger 'yellowing zone'. So do bring your sand fly spray if you really want to spend the night there and tiny mesh to stop them flying in. Image of the tiny devil is included.

Sat view of Pulau Semakau 2009. We camped near the 'break' on the left loop a 4.2 Km away from the complex.
If you look carefully there is a large patch of mangroove areas franking the left upper. ( inter-tidal walk area). The original site of Pulau Semakau before linking up with P Sakeng ( see map below)

Kelong not far from the shore

Raffles light house in the Southern side

Sea Grapes - the ripe ones are editable. I tried .. not too bad.

Sea grapes inflorescences.

Daises and grasses against the rock

Small flowers at our feet.

This lovely plant have pod-like legume.

The landfill is divided into cell #.

Wind mill and solar panel.

Light Beacon.. i see no light .

Casuarina flowers and seed and reduced form scary leaves

Top view of the cylindrical pipe. Sampling tube? labelled Mxx

Puffball - mushroom

Relocated and replanted mangrove

Lookout tower there.

Cell#3 - reserved for bird watching instead of filling it up.

This is land filled cell #2. overgrown with grass and

I ventured a short distance still on pretty firm ground.

Handheld shoot of Scorpion Constellation 2 second exposure, ASA1600.

The Southern sky are darker unlike the northern side of the glaring P Bukom Island

This is where we star gaze.

First ray... time to pack up.

Tiny but painful bite .. sand fly!!! Leaving red circular itchy spots.

Bukit Batok Nature Park

2011-08-14T15:16:00.002+08:00

The rubber tree golden yellow leaves break the monotony of all green vegetation.

I gave this pile push but it was strongly anchered.

Spotted this one the ground near the transmission tower.

Bract covering the lateral shoot of Smilax Bracteata.

Close up of the Smilax showing the craw like structure

Revisit of this little park. Take MRT to Bukit Batok, take bus 985 at the back of the Bus interchange.

Chemperai Trail - McRitchie Reservior

2011-08-09T11:59:00.002+08:00

Another one with flower growing from the stem

False Olive of the east - male flowers

Petai flower close up.

Terminal bud of this berry branches always ended with white latex like blob. Why?

Rock Path - Bukit Timah Reserve

2011-08-07T15:45:00.006+08:00

Large vine on the left provide a good support to climb up / down

Now use the large vine and climb

Granites here and there covered with mosses.

You can find thin vine with pretty flowers...

vines and knots

Rock Path Accessible from the main road

Macritchie Reservior to Venus drive

2011-07-31T18:10:00.029+08:00

Starting Point... ( by passing the route from mc ritchie centre) .. our aim is to hit Jelutong Tower and hunt for the terrapins we saw several months ago and en route to Venus drive trying out the Venus loop for the first time.

Close to the overhead bridge i can reach out and touch the palm flowers swaying in the wind and trying to get a steady shot. The bees did not cooperate and sit still. So no bees shown here.

Hollow trunk..

A tiny orange- bellied flower pecker caught my attention.

Near the Golf Link at water edge, tiny flowers dotted ground.

Close up of the tiny ball- like flower of water plant.

Opening of the spider web.

A dried out 'grasshopper'?

Terrapin under the bridge not far from Jelutong Tower. Watch the video.

Several month ago we saw an even bigger terrapin lurking in deeper water here.

Unwelcome embrace?

Venus drive loop - cucumber tree, belimbing. Common fruit trees in kampong.

Bukit Timah Rail Station Jul 27 '11

2011-07-24T22:05:00.008+08:00

Walking from Bukit Timah Rail Station northward....

Can you find the rail track?

Another view of the Bukit Timah Rail Station.

Will they remove this bridge?

Tracks near Bukit Timah Rail Station. Crowds still flocked to the station and walked the tracks.

Bukit Timah Rail Station - a fence was erected to box in this small station

What about the Rail mall? At first i thought the rail might run along the Rail Mall. But using Google Map you can find the track is across the highway and quite a distance away. The rail track is surprisingly close to the main road.

1966...

The following pics do not come from BK rail station. Sour fruit we tried.. and a adult bug 'touching' the smaller ones using the feelers

Pulau Ubin - Celestial resort etc

2011-07-11T17:29:00.015+08:00

Star in above map marks the location of Celestial Resort. My nth trip to this island but first time to spend a quiet night there - no traffic noise nor generator noise. Scout the ground underneath durian trees but found none of the spiky fruit. Early risers had combed clean the forest floor bring guni sacks of the precious fruit.

Fruit bearing branches.. hoping to see one fell but didnt..

Durian for the picking.

Saw a group of painters in and around the Public Jetty... something different from the usual Ubin activities

Master at work.. fantastic

Light is failing when this lone piped horn bill was seen nibbling the palm fruit

Catch and release ..but some didnt survive the unhooking procedure..

China Chestnut, Sterculia monosperma flower,

Hoya diversifolia, mangroove wax plant.

The shallow and the deeper ends.

Serangoon River Walk - Lorong Halus Wetland - East Dam

2011-07-02T23:52:00.032+08:00

Buangkok MRT -> Buangkok Dr> walk along the
Serangoon River- crossed the bridge to Lorong Halus Wetland continue towards the
East Dam one end of which is connected to Coney Island ( P Serangoon).

Serangoon PCN

under the TPE ....

Serangoon River

Serangoon Reservoir

Passiflora foetida !!!

You can find plenty of this kampong time wild fruit favorite along

the Seranngoon River near the River walk.

Ripe fruits can be eaten.

This is a rest rooms. Riveria LRT is a short distance walk behind this structure

Looks like mangosteen.

A young one with cap.

Bridge crossing the Serangoon River to the Lorong Halus Wetland

East Dam - official opening July 4 2011

Canvas canopy offers slight relieve from the scotching un.

Evening approaches - blue sky. A lone sea eagle flew over head. The same one that 'pace' the Serangoon river...

A closer view of the East Dam

Looking towards P Ubin enjoying the evening breeze and watching birds doing a vertical dive bomb to catch fish.

Keep walking

lightning conductor and wind speed detection?

Papyrus reed

Field full of them

HG Well's War of the World - taken over by reeds

Reeds lined ponds

Artificial light fittings on long slender supports to simulate the effect of larang grass swaying in the wind.

Note the top West End Dam and the lower right East Dam joining the Coney Is.
The Punggol Promenade we didnt visit this time may be next time.

Fat kingfisher...

Bukit Timah back to Zhenghua Park June 26 2011

2011-06-27T21:43:00.012+08:00

Berries - tiny bunches in ZhengHua Park.

Zhenghua on the left and Belukar Track on the right

Walking up is tough...

Spotted this inflorescence near the base of the stem. Do you know the name of this plant? Is this my long lost plant seen once in Tree top walk trail many many years ago near the stream?

Neatly pleated...coiled up the canopy.

Curtail call for the Malaysian Railway System coming end June 2012. We followed others and climbed up the rail over the entrance to Bukit Timah Reserve in Hindhede Drive.

Will the rail be left the way they were?

Watch out for bikers... cycling at neck breaking speed and expect you hikers to give way.

Venus Drive - Mac Ritchie Reservior

2011-06-25T21:23:00.007+08:00

Trail 'tunnel'

Trail 'tunnel' with 2 runners heading towards us

Bamboo section

Petail ( smelly bean) bulb-like flowers across the bank

Evening sun lit up one trunk

Half a tree - trimmed?

lip stick red..

Reached Mac Ritchie ...

Seam line...

The 1 hr or so easy walk. See map hand marked path.

Forest ant

zhenghua park to bukit timah to mac ritchie June 12 '11

2011-06-14T21:57:00.007+08:00

Click map to see the path we took from Zhenghua Park (top upper) and we ventured close to the sheer drop.

Its a long way down there...but still within shouting distance to the platform of the Singapore Quarry.

Durian loop... got meh? So we look around for the thorny fruits.

Yeap... here is one

Another thorny durrian drop.

I picked up this 'acaica like' seed pods..

Kampong Trail from Mac Ritchie side. Walk along the fence and Bukit timah is just 2.2 Km away.

Fallen logs...

Fallen trees blocked the path. and bunched up the groups of 24 or so.

Mac Ritchie Reservior June 05 '11 - the day orchard road got flooded again!!

2011-06-05T21:40:00.024+08:00

Cant resist. I torn open a fig to reveal the carpetted male/female/sterile flowers within.

Ants 'joining' leaves using jaws power and belly flatten poses.

Chemperai Trail

Dragonflies matting

Found this school of fishes only at specific spot near the walkway.

Another view..

Keeping going...

Water water everywhere.

Submerged section... we wade through the inches of water...

Just inches above the water line.

Reflections which is the real one ?

Jogger went round the submerged section.

This lowered section to avoid low branch was flooded with a few inches of water. we wade through it...

She saw overhanging bundle of fruits and a white bud at terminal position.

The greenish hue caught my attention...

Nearby a mango tree bears small round and sweet mangoes. uncles and aunties were picking up dropped fruits and savored takings. We tried on x3 no bad...

Another view of the water spill over

Water released after a heavy early 5:30am till noon showers. video here
How it look like when dry ( below)

Seat A or F ...

2011-06-02T20:15:00.008+08:00

Notice the houses hugging three branches of road on the left side.

Stripped land

Man make

Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin

2nd link

LPR

2011-05-22T12:42:00.001+08:00

In reverse order... i spotted this tiny tiny branch like camouflage resting on the wooden railing of Lower Pierce Reservoir.

Too bad the symmetrical antennae structure didn't fool me

I give it a push and the 'thing' moves!!

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

2011-05-14T19:11:00.029+08:00

Bring umbrella (beats hats anytime) and insect repellant ( mosquitoes aplenty). Take bus 925 from Woodlands interchange or Kranji MRT. You will need to walk a short distance to the SBWRservice on Sat as the bus will only drop off to the main entrance on Sunday. Suggest you started the trails on the west instead of the east. Towers are interesting ( for me) so try them ( two in this reserve). Entrance fee is a cheap cheap $1.00!! We took about 4 1/2 hours slow walking under a heavily overcast sky. If you are after the plants, see my earlier visit in 2006 starting from the right hand side of the trails ( east-ward).

Signs a plenty near the entrance.

A ripe nutmeg by the roadside.

There are plenty of monitor lizard in this reserve. Was watching this one drinking up the rain water from leaves. The fork tongue tip is too fast for me to capture.

Mother tells me to freeze ...This one is only 2 feets from me.

Mud-skipper

Tower Hide 2C partially clipped by my umbrella! Pretty steep angle steps.

Sea hibiscus flowers sweeping by the current. [ think floating candle on lotus flower]

Aerie tower #7 on the map..

A spacious tower -Aerie tower. Dont miss this one.

Insect perching on Sea Hibiscus's bud.

Peeping through openings in the observation hide.
Where is my fish?


Aerie tower viewed from below. Ficus lyrata - Fiddle leaf fig ( toa payoh central) A common indoor leafy decor pot plant. Torn open one to review the typical fig's interior. Adding to another fig collection in this blog.

The 255 steps- Dairy Farm loop - Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

2011-05-07T21:06:00.011+08:00


With the tight bunching of contour lines you expect a steeper slope in Dairy Farm loop circled in above map.

Tiny flower

Macaranga Triloba ( three lobed leaf). Look closely you might see ants disappearing inside this ring stipule.

White bodies secreted by the Macaranga triloba feeds the ants who in turn protect the plant from other insects. You can just barely see an ant inside this stipulus ring above.

Bat lily flower on the trail side lying inconspicuously on the ground.

closer look of the bat lily

big steps

255 steps I was told. Didnt count how many.

A little browning on the top


Ficus religiosa, the sacred Bodhi figs. Have not seen the fruits till today near the Malayan rail overpass.

Macritchie Nature Reserve to Venus Drive

2011-05-01T14:46:00.016+08:00

IF YOU ARE GOING FOR TREE TOP WALK FROM VENUS DRIVE and wanted to follow a nature trail instead of asphalt road. Do take the Terentang trail instead of following the main road to Bukit Kalang Service Reservior. ( see the map annotation above. )

Bright flower with tiny stem.

Mushroom festooned on a fallen trunk after a light shower.

A Caucasian lady alerted us the giant turtle lurking under the bridge over a small stream. We were amazed at the large size of this individual. According to her there are a total of x3 turtle and one of them looks different from the other two.

Under this bridge ( not far from Jelutong tower) a giant Turtle was spotted

Accident do happen in nature. Two pitcher plants stack up together due to swagging branches and wind?

Familiar flower of Tetracera indica again.

I remembered gathering this in my secondary school to make a wreath..

some

2011-04-27T21:02:00.007+08:00

A stroll in a nearby garden. Some one planted this warty air yam.

A common fig in Singapore in our gardens / parks

Do you know the name of this fruit?

Found this little bundle by the wooden rail...

Attracted by the white outermost layer of the hard mushroom- like growth from dead trunk. Another common look example.

30,000 ft view of frozen landscape

2011-04-17T15:56:00.004+08:00

We flew over frozen Hudson Bay heading north west crossing Greenland, and loop back into Siberia... heading south crossing Mongolia and southward down to HK International airport flanked by mountain ridges

Grazing sun casing the shadow outline of the peaks

Two ice sheet fronts going to meet each other.

Frozen rivers

Birch tree

2011-04-02T11:20:00.003+08:00

Coach Factory

Latitude 40 north -Pittsburg PA USA

2011-03-27T12:31:00.009+08:00

It snows!

Roster protect the herds

Icicles @ rock layers

Found the tree but...

This one flew away

Red stems

Antique shop

Old furniture anyone

frosted window

Corn field?

trees are still devoid of leaves in early spring

NEPCN Northern Explorer Park Connector Network

2011-03-20T11:14:00.002+08:00

This is the flower of the larger version of the mimosa


Woodlands ave 2 ( back of Sports School)

Singapore Sports School

Rest stp with drinking fountain and plants lined roof

Ulu Sembawang PCN

Umbrella needed... on this long stretch of road.

Pretty flower along the way

Tiny longkau waterfall, playing with shutter speed on the camera

Trying taking this from above ...

Local 'Cherry tree'

common mimosa flower.. tring out P7000 closeup

Trying the closeup mode on the hairy stem of grass

Upper Seletar Reservoir

We branched off the PCN and ventured into this short stretch of road leading into the Upper Seletar Reservior for lunch break

Close up of the 'fingers'


Finally hitting the Lower Seletar Reservoir. Khatib end

A strange fruit turns out to be a fig

2011-03-16T20:35:00.002+08:00


A ripe fig.

This is a climber.

I flipped over one to show the ostiole. I have no idea what fruit this is until

I torn open a ripe fig revealing the profusion of male / female flower structure.
A check on Figs on Singapore identify this as Ficus pumila

Be a tourist a day

2011-03-14T21:49:00.007+08:00

Millenia Walk

The Merlion Hotel

Singapore Flyer's

Helix Bridge

Singapore Skyline

Duck Tour

You jump I jump, or we all jump

Visiting Tourists in action

Gunung Belumut, Kluang, Johore Mar 05 '11

2011-03-06T10:06:00.047+08:00

Black fungus..

Gum from a trunk

Young fern Dipteris conjugata found at 600-1200 metres starting to unravel the leaves.

Near 80 degree slope. .not as difficult as it looks as there are plenty of branches and footholds to use.

Scouts doing their training in Park's compound.

Spotted this Sandbox fruit near the park. It was used as a blotting paper in the past to soak up ink.

Steep slope

Keep going ... The trail is badly eroded at places.

Boulder outcrop along the way.

Mossy forest zone - they can be found on stunted vegetation near summit ~ 1015 mete

Vertical slap of rock around summit.

Tiny little growths around the edge of this leaf.

Found in lowland nutrient deficient soil N. ampullaria with narrow lid not covering the opening.

Fruits of a thorny palm. Do you know the name of this palm?

Fruit of palm. I was saved from a deep laceration from another backward pointing rows of thorns from a rattan vine - a piece of the T-shirt was torn off.

Stacks of growth on a tree trunk

Stream near the Park's HQ.

My keen eyes partner spotted this N. macfarlanei just beside the footpath leading to the summit

Cooler mossy forest plants. The whitish growth caught my attention. Some of the plants resemble those on KK slope. The three veins resembled those of Melastomataceae

Gunumg Berlumut is tougher than Bukit Timah but minus the giant steps in the later. The primary reason is you continue your climb up and up for average of 3-4 hours. Most of the paths are under the secondary forest shade just like BT. My GPS had not problem putting down the bread crumb trail of the climb. The signals are not obstructed by the relatively light canopy. Surprisingly there were quite a number of fallen logs across the trail . The statistics seems odd as if the obstruction was human made. As there is only one trail up to the top and back you dont have to worry about making the wrong turn. However trying to do the return trail at pitch dark probably is not a good idea / not allowed. and we were told to turn back if we can not reach the peak after 2:00pm.

At 1000 meters you begin to feel that the air is few degree cooler, and more mosses grew on the stunted undergrowth. After the false summit - a relatively flat sandy clearing, the summit is another 20 minutes of easy narrow trail walk to the summit.The ground is wetter, if you look hard enough you can spot pitcher plants and thorny screwpines with thin serrated leaves. The exposed summit with an outcrop of rock can be very warm under the noon sun with no shelter. A small umbrella will definitely help. The rock at the so called summit is difficult to scale. Then Ii recalled seeing a criss-crossed metal railing on the sandy ground just beside the rock. You can use these to scale this rock!!! We didn't stay long. After a few snapshots we headed back and reached the Park's entrance around 5:15pm.

Overall the trail is relatively safe but help will be a couple of hours away on foot!. Few animals were seen, no monkey no squirrels seen so far. On the ways we met scores of girl/guy Scout running down the trails - it was a recreational trekking trail after all and a good workout for city folks.

Post note: The bathing facility in the toilet can be improved.The gravity fed water cant reach the flushing toilet. But i saw tank on elevated structures. Apparently the water there was directed else where.

Bedok Reservior 27-feb-11

2011-03-01T21:14:00.014+08:00

The other unnamed reservoir?

reconstruction - the curvy thin ones on the left is the inner shealth.

Upward pointing fruit. Fissure visible (split-line) in one of them


This is how the fruit got split.

Wallace Trail, Dairy Farm Park

2011-02-27T22:05:00.004+08:00

Fungus that resembles cream cracker

tattered fungus look so much better than the perfect umbrella

Germinating seed pods every where... each fighting for survival in the undergrowth

further growth

Wallace trail, fallen young branch of African Tulip.

This one comes with a longer stalk

More chance to seek out the sun light?

no tigers nowsaday

plenty of streamers in Wallace Trail

deep cut from ex-creepers?

Steps.. luckily a very short flight before leveling out

Another species of Zamziba yam - air yam

Infant snail.

Childhood 'pop-pop' found in Singapore !Passiflora foetida but this one is far from growing into a full fruit. Let me know where else you can find this in Singapore. The ripen orange berry is nice to eat!
see my miri's entry of this species

Bukit timah Reserve - Nth visit. Feb 20,2011

2011-02-21T20:43:00.012+08:00

We pick a relatively simple trails - Southview, peep at the two caves again at Cave Path, up the steps at Rengas, join the mainroad, branched off to the Submit Path and back the main road walking down the steep slope instead of up..Oranges, dragon fruits and small bottle of H20 fueled this short walk.

Merbau's bark.

Holed bark.

Wise man's gift. but which tree is that- Gaharu?

Gaharu, Aquilaria malaccensis

Passiflora laurifolia picked up along the main road. Not sure where is the vine.

Intsia palemanica, Merbau

Blades-like details of the flower


A handful of the flowers

Taman Cheras Awana, hill climb. KL

2011-02-04T15:35:00.011+08:00

latex following out rubber

white tubular flower structure

... unknown fruits

the underside of a fern with visible yellow lines of spores

resembled a woman with a wig.

Seen the same one back in singapore also. Fruits grow direct out from the trunk

Beehives in hollow rubber trunk.

Sentosa Boardwalk 1/30/2011

2011-01-30T22:36:00.021+08:00

After an incessant rain for more than 24 hours and being holed up at home we decided to go and check out the boardwalk at Sentosa in the evening.

The Year of the Rabbit.

Dice-like dots

Candies shop.

I saw pattern against the sky

Boardwalk shop front

Rangers on patrol.

A channel

and this is not Changi Airport

Similar wave-like structure - think Henderson's wave.

Looking up a dome... remind me of a nuclear warhead silo

Rabbit in the making

RWS Logo

SBG again

2011-01-25T21:01:00.004+08:00

The zigzag

Kris-like shealth...

Someone trying to be funny and stuck these pinkish flowers into the cactus..

A new kind of Vandalism in SBG!

Leaving the auto focusing to do the job... it selected the filaments of this flower.

After the explosive expulsion from the capture...

Fallen petals of Monkey Pot plang.

Jan 2011 - A stroll in a private park up north

2011-01-20T21:13:00.011+08:00

the seeds are tiny and black and flowers lool like a roaster crown..

Saw this in Penang before and you can find a magnificent tree here too.

13, 8, 2 ... guess what am i counting..

Seen this? Where in Singapore.. hint : up North

Common fruits ..

Ok this one from Malayan Rail Tg Pagar.
Dont count on it to stop the train though.

KTM Ticket Counter

A creeper growing from a fence

Do you know the name of this fruits?

The pinkish fleshy carpels

ITS the Bottle Tree Park - Khatib.

surprised picking

Jan 2011... arrived

2011-01-08T21:38:00.013+08:00

Sprouting leaf emerges from the central of a stump.

Patches of algae partially lined the perimeter.

Writings on the bark?

Heart-shaped cluster of petals

Peeling bark

Figure study

Snow city?


Tiny petals among the thorns...

Amorphophallus titanum ( updated Dec 5 2010) and Changi Boardwalk

2010-12-05T22:27:00.016+08:00

Twin peaks in the distance..

Changi Boardwalk - Kelong Walk

Another one some time later. ..outbound journey

Rock - Changi Boardwalk

Dec 05 ' still not fully open - SBG

Changi boardwalk

Elephant Grass ( Changi Boardwalk )

Small catch...

caught in the act ( Changi Village Beach)

Misc - mixed bag

2010-11-28T23:00:00.014+08:00

Jetty

Woodlands Waterfront

Causeway from Woodlands Waterfront

Jump!

We visited the Peranakan Museum - ' Ramayana Revisited'

Reclaimed by nature - a young shoot works its way up the support - oblivious of the additional padlock.

Canon ball young fruit near QE II walk

The furry end of the a young shoot.

Amorphophallus titanum Flower not open yet

2010-11-20T22:37:00.002+08:00

You can get a glimpse of the crimson inner lining color. The flower is still not open yet. What we need is a web cam live feed broadcast so we can all click and find out before coming to SBG! or do the slow way - call the info desk and asked.

Admirer of the Giant one.

eXotica @ SBG Amorphophallus Titianum

2010-11-14T12:05:00.008+08:00

'Tip off' by my nature friend, I went to SBG for one sole purpose - taking pics of this rare appearance. Blooming is expected 17-20 November.

Example of what to expect here

Cabbage- like leaves enclosing the single longish inflorescence inside.

Picked up a bird's abandoned nest under Yellow Flame

2010-11-06T13:39:00.000+08:00

Intricate woven, structure wrapped around a twig. What happen if the twig is dried up and lose adhesion to the tree....

Another view of the shoe-like comfortable abode. Note a man-made red threads, bits of green moss, unknown white shavings...

Labrador Park

2010-10-24T14:53:00.001+08:00

I saw red ants as well as white-fine tent like web spreading between three Barringtonia asiatica fruits.

It was a hazy day. A cruise ship sailing past the narrow water way of Keppel Island

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve II - where is the other cave?

2010-10-16T23:40:00.015+08:00

We missed out this one on last week trekking. Going in for a closer look.

What strikes me : a bright light at the other end of the cave !!!

If you stood near the entrance you could pick up the dripping echoes from the cave ceiling. A flashed shot revealed the many ripples ( the through entrance is barely visible from this angle).

'Ants' marching up the buttress root..

A closer look reveled the 4-5 lane highway were stationed with peripheral 'guards'. From the pic the antennae of these guards were not angled so could these be marching termites instead? Ant vs Termite diagram courtesy of the unknown author from the web ( reproduced below) [VIDEO here]

Rock Path .. a short but interesting path

Looks like the one in SBG's rain forest path

005- first cave 007 2nd cave, 37.52 metre from the first cave.

South View Path to Cave Path to Catchment Path to Rock Path.
Take blue line to TAS VHF station and back

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve walk

2010-10-09T18:10:00.036+08:00

Look like two limbs ..

There are other more menacing looking steps else where. If possible walk on the side.

Singapore Quarry@Seraya Valley

A disused cement circular silos. Water?

Gall on leaf

Giant straight trunk of Pulai ,Alsotonia sp. Note the termite nest creating a black streamer up the tree.

YF walked round and found a fold in the fluted trunk that can hide two grown adults

Beginning of the South View Path you will came across to this rather

large and boa constrictor like liana vine. Wondering how the leaf look like?

A moth - note the two 'eye' at the rear end of the wing 'brownish' edge

on both the moth on top and the leaf insect's limbs below. Mimicry in nature.

The front left leg is missing... 3 on the right and only two on the right.

See how this insect walks normally video by Eva using Sony DSC-T90

and my video below using Nikon P5100

video of this leaf insect.

X-sectioned of a log

We were attracted to the almost iridescent greenish lichen carpeted roots bathing in the morning sun.

Fungus that looked like calcified rock crystal.

Cave entrance on the side of Cave Path. If you are not observant you might walk straight pass it.

We missed the 'other' cave.

You can hear the echo of water dripping onto the pool ( invisible) in the dark. A flash photography revealed the murky pool and i even caught two ripples. [ water was seeping through the roof!] A trail of whitish streamer appeared to leach out from the interior. This is a granite cavern definitely man-made.

Claws - close up of a spiny vine climber with stem as thick as my wrist.

Nice 'yellow'-sulphur looking fungus.

Caterpillar shielding against the sun from the base of a leaf. You can barely seen a large black dot not far from the head. Another 'eye' design on body to frighten predators?

A 'heart' with an umbrella cover. Young leaves of Macaranga triloba

Red fungus appear on a damped wood. Focus on a protruding one.

Reflection from Hindhede Quarry not far from Visitor Centre

GPS log - so next trip will cover the minor few that we missed.

Visitor Centre no longer giving out the free pamphlets with the map. If you have half a day (4-5hrs) to burn you can cover all the tracks leisure walking and have time for photography. Most of the tracks are sheltered by foliage so heat or direct sun is NOT a problem.

SBG revisited Wealth of the Rain Forest Exhibition etc

2010-10-02T18:37:00.035+08:00

Wing seeds of Shoera sps.(Sarawak) in the SBG library. There are more species than you can count. See my Lambir (Miri, Sarawak) trip report ( Left hand box).

Spindle tree's Bhesa robusta seed. ( a similar one posted before here)

Male cone of a cycad. Firm and not spiky as you would thought.

This one decided to take a further probe horizontally.

'Curl' from the petal of Pachira aquatica

Pachira aquatica flower. Too high up in the tree (see below) so inspect a fallen petal instead.

The hairly fiddlehead of a tree fern.

Other species fern young shoots and fiddlehead

are delicious dish e.g. baku when fried with balachan.

The long narrow javelin like petal of Pachira aquatica pierced through a leaf!

Hibiscus - 'twisted' Look.
Stigma ( 5 style-branch with knobby heads) follow further down
by the stamens ( anther with yellow pollens on filaments)

I once commented all Syzygium sp.'s flower look like this.

With heavy emphasis of Sarawak items - the hornbill carving..

de ja vu - remember the hut in this year Garden Festival?

The column- like greenish leaves - dragon's tongue - Phylodium longipes.

Recognize the cat's whiskers? The red round fruits were rukum masam or Flacourtia inermis mentioned in at least one place here

At 6:15 pm

2010-09-19T18:58:00.001+08:00

I flew an insect plane

2010-09-17T21:51:00.002+08:00

A dragonfly flew into my boy's study room on night perhaps dazzled by the night fluorescent light. It went inside the lighting fixture with a bit of the rear end sticking out. I stood on a chair and pulled out the pretty dragon fly. After a couple of photo shooting session and close inspection 360 degree i let it go. ( the insect was not harmed in any way.. and lucky it didnt turn around and 'bite' me)