The Green Corridor walk along Bukit Timah

Coming 1 July 2011, the old Tanjong Pagar railway station together with its railway track that runs from North to South of Singapore will move on to become part of Singapore's history.

The Tanjong pagar railway mall had been around since 1932, serving passengers coming into and out of Singapore.

The Nature Society Singapore (NSS) had proposed to keep the railway land as a continuous green corridor. Today, 19/6/11 supporters on this proposal organised a Green Corridor Walk along Bt Timah to share with more people about this piece of land and service that is moving on into history very soon.

For the following 2 weekends before 1/7/11, there will still be walks covering other parts of the green corridor.

I woke up early on a Sunday morning with my camera, heading to the meeting point, a bus stop along ulu Pandan rd. There were already alot of people when i reached. Shortly after a short intro and briefing, we started walking towards the tracks.

We enter the vegetation by a small slip road

See the no. of people following behind? There are more infront.

Suddenly people infront were screaming for us to get off the track, "TRAIN IS COMING, GET OFF THE TRACK NOW!!!"

The train zoom pass in a few seconds time, it's gone before my eyes. A small group of people crowd around a portion of the track, curious, i went up to see what happened.

Someone actually placed a SGD$1 gold coin on the track and when the track ramp passed, it left an impression on the railway and the coin is flatten. Amazing at what people can think of.

Short trek ahead, we reached the Bt Timah Station. It is no long open for passenger and freight but the train still pass by here. The old key token system is still being used here. Coming 1/7/11, this system will also be part of Singapore's history.

I remember when i was in Taipei Country, Pingxi railway line, they are also still using this old key token system. This system is to ensure that at one time only 1 train in whichever direction is on the track. Only with the key token, the train can pass through the track. This will ensure there is no collision. 

Signaling Rm

Station Master, Encik Atan, showing a picture of the old fashion key token system given to him as a gift

This young boy is explaining how the key token system works, i guess he is Encik Atan (Station Master) son or grandson?

Old Safe from thr 1800s

Station Master's records of train timing

Not far from the station is a Truss bridge. We cross the truss bridge and walk up to the entrance to Bt Timah hill when the Girder bridge is, which we were told that it will confirmed be remove from 1/7/2011.

The walk today is a very special experience, walking along places i had never and would never get to go to and also be able to see the sight that will soon be gone in Singapore.


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Cameron Highlands 14/5/11 - 17/5/11

It had been a long long time since i went out of Singapore with Grandma and Papa. The whole family together with Grandma used to travel at  least once a year to neighbouring countries. My last memory of such family trip is somewhere during my Secondary School days.

I don't really remember how it started but somehow, me and Sia organised this short trip to bring our parents and Grandma on a short trip.

Brief intro of Cameron Highlands (Info from http://wikitravel.org/en/Cameron_Highlands)

The Cameron Highlands is situated in Pahang, West Malaysia. It is approximately 85 km from Ipoh or about 200 km from Kuala Lumpur. The retreat has a diverse population of more than 43,000 people.

The Cameron Highlands is one of Malaysia’s most extensive hill stations. It covers an area of 712² km, about the size of Singapore, At 5,000 ft (1,500 m) above sea level it is also the highest point in Malaysia accessible by road. During the day, the temperature seldom rises above 25°C; at night, it can drop to as low as 12°C.

We arrived at Tana Rate Town in Cameron Highlands after a long and tiring overnight coach. Transport picked us up to check in at the hotel and off we went to visit the famous BOH Tea plantation and have breakfast at their BOH Tea Centre Sungei Palas.

The BOH Tea plantation has been there since 1929 and covers the largest area in Cameron Highlands.

The green houses are actually the workers accommodation. BOH Tea boss built a self sufficient town with Schools. shops etc for their workers from Myanmar and Indonesia mainly. 

 We had breakfast here, is really a nice place overlooking the plantation. You can also visit the Tea shop to buy some tea back home.

 Rest of the day we visited the Bee farm and the "Big Red Strawberry Farm". Nothing much at the Bee farm, bees are flying all around collecting nectar. I bought a bottle but have not open as i still have not finished the bottle i brought from Taiwan. Hee...

At the Big Red Strawberry Farm,  There are also other hydroponic vegetables. So tempting to buy them back and cook!!! lol. You can pluck the strawberries at RM$20 per half kg. I went with Grandma, but all not very nice, but grandma is really experience, she peep in the middle and guided me to pluck (cut) them, because is really hard to see them when you are nxt to them. The strawberries turns out quite small and sour, those we bought in the market is 50% cheaper and nicer!



The houses of the bees.... lol 

Beautiful flower

 

They have alot of snacks and desserts, everything got to do with strawberries!!!

Our Harvest!

We ended the day early as we were tired from the overnight traveling on coach.Went for lunch and head back to hotel to rest before going out for dinner in town again.

The food were real cheap and fresh!!! 7 adults with table full of dishes only RM$120 plus minus.

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Second day of our trip started with vegetable farms, that's another big area at Cameron Highlands, they are at the lower side of the Highlands. Alot of out vegetables in Singapore are also actually from Cameron Highlands. We also visited another BOH Tea plantation. This time we have to 'trek' up to the 'peak' for nice view. The older folks could not do it and rest at the Tea Center. This is at another side, not Sungei Palas, lesser crowd, maybe because is Monday because the Tea center and factory is usually closed on Monday =)

There's another brand of tea, Cameron Valley is a smaller plantation but i would say the view from their cade is magnificent!  Too bad it was raining when i was taking the pictures, so they don't turn out very well. They are there for 30 over years, according to the guide.

Harvesting the Water Cress

These are brinjour

Starting point to the "peak" at BOH Tea plantation

View from "peak"

 Overall is a nice short trip with the parents and cousin. Enjoys the laid back live, the delicious, fresh and cheap food and the nice weather and air.