Going On A Hike With My Daughter

Saga seeds by Lee Siu Wei

It was the morning of Saturday, March 7th 2009. It had rained during the night, and as such it was a cool and overcast morning, just nice for a hike. My favourite daughter, Siu Wei (who insists that I add the word favourite) and I set off from Sengkang to Alexandra Road at around eight. The drive was smooth as we had used the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway which, at 12 kilometres long, is the longest underground expressway in South East Asia. Forty minutes later, we reached HortPark. After parking the car there, we proceeded to Floral Walk which is situated just outside.

Floral walk, as the name suggests, is a 300 metre long footpath lined with beautiful flowering plants and trees and it joins Alexandra Arch, an 80 metre long white bridge across Alexandra Road which looks like an opened leaf. After the bridge is Forest Walk, a step-free elevated steel walkway for pedestrians. It traverses the hilly terrain at heights ranging from 3 to 18 metres which enables us to walk among the treetops. During the 1.3 km walk up Telok Blangah Hill, we spotted the Simpoh Air Tree with its large oval leaves and bright yellow flowers. There were also a lot of Rubber Trees, easily recognized by its large trident-shaped leaves and box-like fruits. When ripe, the fruits would explode with a popping sound sending the light, brown-coloured grape-shaped seeds flying in all directions. After about 20 minutes, we reached the top of Telok Blangah Hill.

We then proceeded along the 1 km long Hilltop Walk which links the hill to Henderson’s Wave. As we passed a car park, we heard a strange tapping sound. On checking, we saw that it was a white-headed woodpecker. The bird was trying to break into a black car! Now why would it try to steal a car when it cannot drive and it is much easier to fly, I wondered? It was very persistent and continued to peck at the car even when we went near to take photographs and when we continued with our walk, the stubborn woodpecker was still at it.

Within a short time, we reached Henderson’s Wave. This is a 300 metre long bridge that connects the two hills of Telok Blangah and Mount Faber. At 36 metres above Henderson road, it is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. The bridge has a unique wave form made up of seven undulating curved steel “ribs”. While walking across the bridge, we spotted a tall African Tulip Tree. This tree is characterized by its large bell-shaped orange-red flowers and long pods which, when ripe, split open releasing winged seeds. The split pod resembles a boat and, as a boy, I had often played with these “boats”. Stepping off the bridge brought us to Mount Faber. A young tree there named the Cow Tree caught our attention. It did not look like a cow so I could only surmise that the name may be because its leaves are used to feed cows.

Faber Walk is the name of the 1 km long road that meanders through Mount Faber Park. While walking along this road, we stumbled across a group of about 8 mynah birds having a heated discussion by the side of the road; they were so agitated that half of them were flying up and down while arguing. Suddenly aware of our intrusion, they broke up and flew away. Maybe they would continue their discussion somewhere else. Continuing with our hike, we reached an area where there were sidewalks with flower-covered roofs. I recognized one of the flowering plants as the Bauhinia Kockiana, a creeper with clusters of bright orange-red and yellow-orange inflorescences which blooms throughout the year. There was another vine with numerous bright yellow trumpet-like flowers. These beautiful sidewalks soon led us to the Jewel Box, an F&B/entertainment complex. It is the only fine-dining establishment in Singapore accessible by cable car and is also credited as having the world’s best toilet!

Not long after, we reached the Marang Trail. The slopes of Mount Faber are covered by dense secondary rain forest and the 800 metre long Marang Trail leads down through this forest to Marang Road, just behind the Harbourfront MRT Station, an underground station located next to the Harbourfront Centre and VivoCity, Singapore’s largest shopping mall. Going down, it is an easy walk of steps and shaded footpaths that ends at the car park beside the Harbourfront Bus Interchange. We then walked through the car park to the Seah Im Food Centre. We were tired, thirsty and hungry. Siu Wei ordered Wanton Mee and I chose the Ayam Penyet. Ayam Penyet is fried chicken which is smashed with a mallet before serving to break the bones so that the flesh is more accessible. Wanton Mee? Oh, it is just a type of Chinese noodles.

After the meal, although tired, we decided to hike back to HortPark even though we could have taken a bus or taxi. On the way up the Marang Trail, we spotted two huge webs hanging among the branches by the side of the path with a large motionless spider in the centre. I do not know much about spiders but, judging from their size, they could be tarantulas but, instead of being hairy and squat, these were black and slim with long and slender legs and a silvery ornate back.
The climb was very tiring as it covers an elevation of 70 metres. On reaching the top, we had to rest on a bench to catch our breath while enjoying the panoramic view of the harbour and Sentosa Island. After a short while, we continued with our journey which was rather uneventful. Near the Jewel Box, we saw four monkeys climbing a telecommunications tower and at the Forest Walk, we caught sight of a Saga Tree with curved hanging brown pods split open, exposing small bright red seeds. On reaching HortPark, we quickly headed home for a much needed rest.

My wife and two other daughters are on vacation in Kuching, Sarawak. When she returns, I am confident that I can persuade her to join me for another hike up Telok Blangah Hill and Mount Faber especially if I were to tell her that we can go shopping at VivoCity at the end of the hike.

Footnote:
I later found out that the Cow Tree is named as such because when wounded, it would exude a milk-like liquid.