Retired Nomads: Singapore

Singapore – March 6

We woke to rain, but it ended before we headed out. We grabbed the MRT to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which is 12 km from the bustling city center. We found our stop and then walked the short distance to the park. We saw some monkeys on the way in.

This 163-ha reserve includes Singapore’s highest hill, Bukit Timah Hill, which stands at 163 m and retains one of the few areas of primary rainforest in the country. The forest on the hill has been a botanical collection ground for more than a century, and the first known specimens of many species of Malayan plants have been obtained here.

walking to the park

from the pedestrian bidge

monkeys before we got to the park

visitor's center

It’s an urban park for sure, with lots of locals there exercising and climbing the hill and taking the trails. We climbed to the summit, but really didn’t see very many birds. We heard quite a few, but they seemed to be high in the canopy.

We scoped out the refreshments for later.

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

It was quite the steep climb, but we made it to the summit. The locals were walking back down backwards. (much easier on the knees)

A lady pointed out a beautiful caterpillar and we were photographing it when a little girl came up and asked what it was. I told her and made sure she didn’t touch it. (some can really hurt you) Then we went on our way. On the way down Greg noticed a lump on the side of a tree trunk. It was a very interesting creature and Greg got some good shots of it. The same little girl wanted to know what we were looking at. We showed the photo to her dad and he said he didn’t know, then said he thought it was a Flying Fox. That seemed to make sense. (later, Greg found it online and it actually was a Malayan (Sunda) Flying Lemur. They don’t actually fly; but glide and aren’t really Lemurs either.

Malayan (Sunda) Flying Lemur

Javan Myna

Compared to yesterday we really didn’t see many birds today, but the Flying Lemur made the day. (and the 2 kinds of monkeys) Pink-necked Pigeon, Javan Myna & Greater Racket-tailed Drongo.

We got some cold drinks at the vending machine and some snacks. After our refreshment stop, we headed back to the MRT. We thought we would find some lunch at the Dobi Ghat stop, but only a couple of fast food places in the station that didn’t strike our fancy, so we decided we would go to the Marina Bay Sands mall since it was closer to the ship and eat there. We found a spot that looked good in their food court and wow was it tasty. Greg got some Clay Pot fish dish and I had a Clay Pot dish of Sweet & Sour Pork. Both came with rice and a tasty soup. YUM! We had a ton of Singapore dollars to spend (should have bought a nice top in Chinatown), so we found a store to buy some chocolates, cookies and some wine.