Singapore's TidbiTs

Bukit Batok Nature Park is known as the Guilin of Singapore, Little Guilin or Xiao Guilin as it is called by locals here, it resembles the much bigger Guilin Mountains in China. Well, perhaps a little, though it is just a part of it. Bukit Batok Nature Park is a respite for those living in the western part of Singapore. It is not to the extreme west like Jurong Lake Gardens but is actually quite close to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to the east and there is a 1.8 km (1.1 miles) park connector network walking path linking between the two as they are both part of the 36km coast-to-coast trail. Some may combine Bukit Timah with Bukit Batok. Bukit Batok literally means 'coughing hill'. 'Bukit' is 'hill' and 'batok' is cough. Jurong Lake Gardens is the start point or the ending point of the coast-to-coast trail, depending on if you start from it or from Coney Island . The distance between Jurong Lake Gardens to Bukit Batok Nature Park is 7.3km (4.5 miles...

Mention MacRitchie Reservoir to anyone here, two things usually come to mind. The scenic tree-top walk and the long-tailed macaques who are the long-time residents of the forest. Named after municipal engineer James MacRitchie, MacRitchie Reservoir is Singapore’s oldest reservoir, and an important source of the city’s water supply. The reservoir, within the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, has also been transformed into a venue for recreation which is part of Public Utilities Board’s Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters Programmes to bring community closer to water. Do you know that the Central Catchment Nature Reserve was first established as a nature reserve under the directorship of the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 1990? You can stroll along the submerged boardwalk, take in the scenic views from the bandstands, chill on the benches among the huge park, enjoying the bright looking flowers amongst them. Rows of bright orange flower trees of Kock's Bauhinia (Bauhinia kockinia) an...

Other than Sentosa Island , do you know there are many islands that you can visit off the Southern shores of Singapore for a fun day out under the sun? While there some islands that are not accessible to the public such as Pulau Semakau (the landfill island) and the Raffles Lighthouse that require special permit, there are still many islands that you can easily access with the regular ferry services. These islands include St. John's Island, Lazarus Island (Pulau Sakijang Pelepah), Pulau Seringat, Kusu Island, Sisters' Island (Pulau Subar Laut) and Pulau Hantu. That's quite a lot, right? And many of these islands have colourful histories. Lagoon at Lazarus Island On all these islands you have wide open spaces for a day out of island-hopping, or you may want to just laze around at only specific islands. Ferry companies based at Marina South Pier (MSP) run inter island shuttle between Sisters, St. John's and Kusu Island. The ferries from Marina South Pier run at specific t...