Tree top walk @ Macritchie Reservoir Park

Whoa...what a weekend after long time. Best hiking experience in Singapore till date. I had only heard that this place has good walking trail connected between two trees. Had also checked out some good pics, found interesting, so decided to go over weekend.

Took cab to reach macritchie reservoir park, best way to reach park using public transport is get to Caldecott  MRT and then 1 km walk to Reservoir. I started from home today morning around 11.30am and was there at park by 12.15. There is one good cafeteria and map information besides it.

On enquiring, got to know the walk to tree top is around 5kms and it will take 2 hours to reach and same way back. And there is no food options inside the reservoir. So decided to have lunch and proceed, but was sad to know that cafetria had no vegeterian options. Atleast was grateful, they had bananas in the store for all veges.




The walk to tree top was really awesome, with water reservoir on the way. They also have good Kayaking activity, where we saw groups of people enjoying this activity.

The way to tree top was very amazing with all dense forest, and route was uphill. I thoroughly enjoyed the every bit of the walk, after all this was trekking sort of walk after long time. Sad that there is no options of mountain climbing in Singapore.

On the way there was very spectacular view of golf course. Took break for sometime for some good photography.

Its worth taking breaks on the way since the route is covered with dense forest and no bright sun even in afternoon. You can relax.

Once we reached and saw Tree top gate from some distance, we had great sigh of relief. After all it was more than 5 kms of walk! But the place was awesome.

Tree top had some really breath taking view from height of 25m. I was for sometime not feeling to leave the tree top bridge and wanted to go back and forth between the bridge. But unfortunately the bridge is one way and you are not allowed to go back. Total bridge was is just 250m but its really amazing.

Started on the way back, which seemed more taxing after having seen tree top walk. But even this time, like Sungei buloh visit, spotted another monitor lizard or one of its kind but very small in size



Took an another 2 hours  to reach car park, but whole walk into dense forest left me feel very refreshed.

Things to note:
1. Tree top walk gate closes at 5 pm and last entry allowed at 4.45pm.
2. Have food and proceed to Tree top walk.
3. Do not carry food items. Lot of monkeys on the way ready to snatch you bag. But do carry water bottle or energy drink. 
4. Have some good camera with you, views are really breath taking on tree top.

Glimpse of monitor lizard @ Sungie Buloh

Having some special attraction towards reptiles and expecially crocodiles and komodo dragon, decided to venture into Sungie Buloh Wetland Reserve in Singapore over last weekend.
On exploring more about this place I learnt that it is inhabited by similar specie Monitor Lizard and not Komodos. However look very similar. So I decided to visit this place to witness Komodo's close relative.




More on to help you, if you plan to travel to this place.
If you plan to travel down to Sungie Buloh, half day is enough to explore this place, unless you want to spot crocodile, since this place has crocodiles but very few in number. As per my conversation with one of photograper, there are only 4 crocodiles in complete wetland reserve. To reach this place, alight at Kranji MRT and there are buses to Sungie Buloh almost every  hour. First bus is at 9.00 a.m and ticket costs you 3$ and reaches Sungei buloh reservioir car park by 9.10. From car park to wet land reserve is 15 mins walk.

Place has entry of 1$. You can join free guided tour which is at 9.30 and limited to 15 ppl and first come first serve basis. The tour is informative and is oriented more around wetland reserve awareness. Its 30 mins tour after which you may decide to take any nature trails.

 I was interested more in spotting monitor lizards, which we spotted immediately after our free tour. The 2 meter lizards was still without any movement for long time into grass land . We were very lucky to spot it as it had camouflaged itself into the grassland. One of my friend could luckily spot and we waited there for around 20 mins but lizard, even after noticing us, didnt make any slightest movement. I was happy that I caught the glimpse of komodo alike from very close.

The land is also famous for migratory birds, though you can spot them only during September to March. We were not fortunate enough to spot lot of birds.

 Also the land is also home for prawns, lobsters and mudskippers. We could actually spot one mudskipper in action - getting into mud, dugging hole and carrying mud in mouth and throwing it out, making the hole bigger and deeper. This was something I saw for first time, and was really amazed at nature.

On the way back to visitor hall that we spotted the monitor lizard talking nice walk on the visitor walkway!

The reserve closes at 7 pm, but we were done by 2pm. Park also has cafeteria near visitor hall. Cafetria has couple of good options for breakfast and lunch.
Last bus from wetland reserve is at around 7pm and place also closes at around same time.

Things to note:
1. Place has lot of mosquitos and other insects since its a wetland. Suggest you to carry some mozzy spray.
2. Carry high lens camera
3. Carry Binoculars or if you dont have one you can get one on rent in this place. But get one, who knows you might spot some rare bird or some ferocious crocodile.
4. Better to visit the place is first half of the day.

Things to do in Batam

Just back from Batam where i had another weekend out. Short trip was refreshing and relaxing. Place is now one of my favourites added in Singapore weekend relaxing trips. This trip changed my perception about the city. I had heard Batam is Old man sex city, but i found it to be very good place for shoppers, water-sports lovers and someone looking for great beach resort. Also city has great massage centres which provides genuine massages known as Balinese massage.

Me and my friend Satish planned for this trip month back, and made it over this weekend of 19th and 20th May. People planning for short batam trip, might want to check Groupon or Deal.com to check available deals. I have shared most of details below.

Ferry to Batam is avaialble from ferry terminal @ Vivo city mall in Harbor front. Ferry to batam are avaialble every almost 1 hour. Make sure you book ferry in advance, since most of times Ferry are full. Check it atleast 2-3 days prior to your trip day. And you need to be at terminal at least 1 hour before departure for immigration.We had booked it for 8a.m. ferry however we couldnt make it in time and reached terminal by 7.30 and had to reschedule to next ferry time of 9.15am. Extra amount of 7 SGD was charged for rescheduling. I would recommend people to take 8 a.m. ferry so that you have most of acitivities covered in time. With 9.15am ferry, we missed sunset @ beach since we reahed to our hotel prety late.

Once you reach batam you need to 18$ SGD per person for on arrival visa fee. Though the boards read it 25$ per person, conversation with counter guy (indonesian) was confusing and we ended up paying 36$ for 2 person. Visa you get is for 7 days.

We had done our booking from Loko poko travel through Groupon. The coupon was 105$ per person including - Ferry return tickets  which is normally (excluding fuel surcharge), city tour, massage, stay 2day, 1 night @ Turi beach resort and transfer and return to hotel from ferry terminal. However we had to pay extra 7$ for fuel surcharge and 10$ to our tourish for having missed 8 a.m. slot.

City tour was nice and itenary included old temple visit, Miniature houses which displays indonesian provinces and culture, shopping @ factory outlet and visit to massage centre. In all the interaction with our tourist guide and locals , i found people extremely cooperative and helpful. Though the currency is highly infalted, i found city and its people very descent.

Place is haven for shoppers. You get branded yet cheap tshirts in factory outlet. So set your budget aside for it.

I would highly recommend people for massage in Batam. The massage is called balinese massage as per what i heard from my guide. It was absolute relaxing and refreshing experience.

We reached  Turi beach resort around 7.30 pm. Turi beach was beautiful.I would recommed this beach for couples and families specially.  The restaurant has island bar which stretchs into sea and has vibrant ambience in night. Good place to enjoy the couple of drinks. During day this beach resort also has water sports including parasailing, banana boat ride and water motor biking. You will definitely enjoy the pool and walk around the beach resort.

The breakfast had lot of varieties and extermely good for some like me- veggie seekers. Just make a note this beach resort is faraway from city and takes alomost 1 hour of travelling. So people looking for pubs and night lifes should looks for other hotels and resorts.

For people in Singapore, batam is nice place to be at on weekends... Enjoy, shop, get massaged, relax and come back refreshed to work on Monday :)

Truly about my experiences my discoveries

I have had diverse experience this year since I moved out of India and ventured in Singapore. I am meeting people, visiting places, exploring all new world since then. But I was missing one thing, never noted these all. It would be nice to have all my experiences noted when they are fresh in mind and revisit them sometime later in life and recall. Some others might also find it helpful...

Just over 4 months and i have experienced so many things including Singapore culture, Working at Marina Bay Finance Centre, Sky diving in Malaysia, Art of living - Bangalore, Singapore - Sentosa, Punggol promenade cycling experience, Night Safari... I will cover my experiences and my discoveries on all these. Many more to come...

I welcome all your suggestions and feedbacks... Would also be more than happy to help in case you need contacts or any more details about the places i visit or for activities i did.

Happy blogging!