Singapore II – Day 2
Monday, 29-Jan-2018
Tags: Travel
We had breakfast in the room.
Larry left for the Grand Hyatt for the start of the MEF quarterly meeting that brought us here.
Eileen went to Watanabe Coffee (Japanese Coffee and Bar – Traditional Japanese and Western Fusion Cuisine ) for a latte before heading out for the day.
As mentioned in the post from the day before, this whole area is upscale malls, one after the other. Orchard and Scotts have one on each corner — ION Orchard (the most upscale) on the southeast corner, Tang Plaza on the northeast corner, Wheelock on the southwest corner, and Shaw Center on the northwest corner (where the Yotel is). They all merge underground at the Orchard MRT. The only street crossings on this busy corner are underground as well and it’s dizzying to figure out how to get from one corner to the other.
Eileen’s plan was to go to Labrador Nature Reserve south of the city on the Singapore Straits across from Sentosa Island. It took a good 20 minutes to figure out how to get out of the ION Orchard heading south to get a bus to the park. Finally figured out, Eileen took the 175 bus to within a 5 minute walk south to the entrance of the park. (It turns out it would have easier to use an overpass further north on Scotts.)
Labrador Nature Park can be entered by the Berlayer Creek Boardwalk east of the Labrador MRT station or Labrador Villa Road west of the station. Eileen entered on Berlayer Creek and exited walking along Labrador Villa Road.
The Berlayer Creek Boardwalk.
After walking a little bit of the Bukit Chermin Boardwalk which sits out on the Strait, Eileen doubled back and entered the main part of the park, which has a path along the water as well as nature trails running all through the park.
Bukit Chermin Boardwalk.
Walking along the water.
The buildings around here are pretty spectacular. This is Reflections at Keppel Bay.
The Red Junglefowl is the wild ancestor of domesticated chickens.
Rain Tree Flower.
A replica of the Dragon’s Teeth Gate, a craggy granite outcrop that formerly stood at the gateway to Keppel Harbour in Singapore. The rocky outcrop served as navigational aids to ancient mariners, but was subsequently destroyed by the British in 1848 to widen the channel for larger vessels to sail through. In 2005, a symbolic replica was erected by the Singapore government near its original site to mark the role it played in Singapore's maritime history.
There is a lot of history to read about and see, with remnants of what used to be British military battlements – machine gun post and artillery pieces, with installations starting back in the 1880s with Samuel Raffles and through the defense of Singapore during WWII.
After returning by the 143 bus and discovering a nice overpass near the Hyatt, it was much easier getting back to the Yotel for a shower and break before heading back to the Hyatt to crash the MEF cocktail and food reception with Larry.
Larry stayed at the Hyatt for a birds of a feather get-together and then joined Eileen to crash on the bed back at the room
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Larry and Eileen Samberg
