Back to Nature

We have been in the Hillview area for almost 2 years since coming back to Singapore, and it is to my embarrassment that this is the first time we have visited the Bukit Batok Nature Reserve. Of course, this is the same person that only got into the condo pool 6 months after living there...

Anyway, this little nature reserve is a well kept secret with little surprises. Monkeys galore, and I must say I was pretty impressed that no one fed the monkeys except for one child who was obviously not local. The kids were trawling about the little streams that empties into the quarry pond. This stream is pretty stagnant, especially since we are out of the monsoon downpours now. The kids managed to catch about 16 tadpoles, 1 tiny shrimp that leapt out of the bucket and a water spider. Not bad for my urbanite twosome. I tell my kids about my childhood growing up next to a pig farm and a pond with whizzing dragonflies, croaking frogs and lizards galore, but they look at me as if I were an alien describing the surface of Mars. At least we have discovered a little place where we can bring them to so that they can grub in sand and puddles.