Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Programme

More information about the trail from NPark Website
The Marang-Canopy Trail:
1. Marang Trail (15 min)
2. Faber Walk (15 min)
3. Henderson Waves (5 min)
4. Hilltop Walk (15 min)
5. Forest Walk ((15 min)
6. Alexandra Arch (15 min)
7. Flora Walk and HortPark (5 min)
8. Canopy Walk (5 min)

Afternote:
We took much longer than what was stated in the trail guide. We were walking much more slower (I guess) and we took time to look at the makings of mother nature - smelled the grass (er... the plants) and listened to the sounds.
We took 3 hours to accomplish #1 to #6, which happened to be a convenient exit point.
It's nice to be immersed in the dense forest once in a blue moon...

Note: This is an image for easy reference.

View 20121216 Nature Exploration @ Southern Ridges in a larger map

Here's the GoogleMap embedded in this blog post.
For a more "visual documentation, photos we took along the way have been embedded in selected pins.

View 20121216 Nature Exploration @ Southern Ridges in a larger map

The trail (thrill) begins...

Arriving at HarbourFront MRT Station... The trail starts at around 8.45 am... Heading to the Exit D.


Checking in via Facebook

Starting... This is Marang Road

After 10 minutes, we realised that Marang Trail is not part of Marang Road! Indeed, Marang Road leads us to some residential area.

Gigantic Money Plant

In the secondary forest, have the opportunity to see Money Plant that of different sizes... from the one that I'm familiar with (smallest ones... that crawl on the ground) followed by the bigger ones and the gigantic ones! Amazing! Hm... small, big, huge :)



Up! Up! Up!

We ascended almost the height equivalent to 24 stories along the Marang Trail. Through going up... the path has been made easy because of the steps that were neatly laid out.
A

"Nature" at work

(I) It's amazing to see how the army of ants move in a very 'neat' manner... hm... mass migration????



(II) Notice how the leaves organise themselves?
Thanks to Yin Leng highlighting that to me! They grow in pairs, and each 'layer' organises itself 90 degrees to the layer above/ below it... by doing it, it will have maximised the surface area to receive sunlight! Clever plant, isn't it?



Huge Ferns lying near the end of the Marang Trail



Gigantic Dumbcane



Beautiful flowers hidden behind the leaves


Part 1: Mission accomplished!


Arrived at Mount Faber to embark on Part 2 of the trail

View from the Jewel Box... where the cable cars busily ferrying people across the islands :)




You know who they are...

Well, Mount Faber is swamped by tourists in the morning... and if you notice... they are all from the same "source". Need not to view, but can hear them from far. They all have the same pose, and our poor Mr Merlion has his mouth (er... jaw) touched "n" times.

One good reminder, after observing this group of tourists... As a tourist, one does not own every right to take pictures and ignore "order" and "courtesy". There's a need to include "queue" and "courtesy" in your travel "guide" else, you may just ended up as one of those deemed arrogant and highly disliked human being. That reminded me when we queued to take pictures with the charging bull in New York! That was so much order and peace in the entire process. No rush and all observe courtesy. Haiz... something that this group of tourist need to really learn.



Henderson Waves

Beautiful bridge which stands almost 70m above sea level.










The Forest Walk

A very unique boardwalk... unfortunately we did not get to slow down our pace to appreciate the flora and fauna of this secondary forest because of the heavy rain.



The Alexander Arch

We reached the Alexander Arch after about 3 hours of trekking. We braved through sunshine and rain too! We've called it a day... and shall keep the rest for our 2nd instalment :)