Singapore's TidbiTs

Anyone who has visited Coney Island before, will certainly have been awestruck by the tall and lush casuarina trees, probably the largest clusters of casuarina trees in one place one has seen in Singapore. There are casuarina trees almost everywhere on the island. Also known as the Common Rhu, there are casuarina trees elsewhere in Singapore too like at the Big Sisters Island , but not in the same scale as at Coney Island Park. Located off the northeastern coast of Singapore, between Pulau Ubin to its northeast and the mainland to its southwest, Coney Island is the starting or the ending point of the 36km (22 miles) coast to coast trail, depending on if you start from there or from Jurong Lake Gardens . Connected to Punggol Point and Punggol Promenade by a bridge on the west entrance, the 87-hectare Coney Island fronts the new Punggol Town and provides respite to the residents there. Actually, there are several parks around Punggol area including the Punggol Waterway Park and Sengkang...

Singapore is not all concrete blocks and skyscrapers. You will be surprised there are nature reserves and parks all over the island, and one of the preserved nature areas is an island called Pulau Ubin or granite island. Singapore is actually made up of a total of 64 islands, though some islands have been combined so the number is lesser now. Do you know that the word pulau means island in Malay? And the word ubin means stones or specifically the Jubin tiles that used to come from the many stone quarries on the island. Pulau Ubin is a laid-back diamond shaped rustic looking island located at the eastern corner of Singapore. The island, about 1,000 hectares or ten times the size of Gardens by the Bay, is the only preserved kampung island left intact in urbanised Singapore. Previously Pulau Ubin supplied granite for major construction works in Singapore including the Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branch and the Raffles Lighthouse. The last active granite quarry on the island, Aik Hwa...

A squarish-shaped potong ice-cream held together with wafer biscuits or two slices of coloured bread depending on your preference. And it's only a dollar or a dollar and twenty cents at the most. Licking the yummy cold ice-cream is great in our hot and humid weather. You can find the portable or mobile potong ice-cream vendors (mostly middle-age or elderly uncles and aunties ) in their modified motorcycles complete with box freezers at parks, beaches, pasar malam (night markets), outside MRT stations, along Singapore River, at the Esplanade, even along Orchard Road. For office workers they can also be found outside industrial offices or estates so it is snack that can be enjoyed during lunch-hour! Thus, enjoying ice-cream need not be an expensive affair. Well-known gourmet ice-cream brands are known to cost about $5 for a single scoop! Potong ice-cream A favourite potong ice-cream flavour is yam with black beans, as can be seen in the photo. Other popular flavours include red b...