Went on the tree top trail at the Southern Ridges this morning. Got up at 6.45am today, which is a feat!! Went with a bunch of middle-aged people from church so I thought I sure no problem. But I was mistaken. It was a 2.5 hour walk and I almost died. I think I have very bad stamina in general… :( Except when I’m in the water. HAHA!

Started at the foot of Telok Blangah Hill, the place I once frequented every week when I was a kid because I used to live there. I used to go up there every Saturday morning to catch tadpoles and dragonflies with our nets. You can say I was a tomboy, cos I was influenced by my brothers. Proceeded to the Henderson Waves next.

My mom with her fancy hat.

I think that the bridge is beautiful! It’s made of wood and links Telok Blangah Hill with Mount Faber. I like the waves and no two waves are the same. My dad asked me what I think was the function that the architect designed the waves for. I said to shield the sun (and also to provide rest stops for trekkers). He thinks it’s to prevent people from jumping, cos it’s pretty difficult to climb out of the bowl-like bridge into the traffic below.

Then we climbed up to Mount Faber where we discovered that there is a baby Merlion at the top of the hill and that it is a destination for tourists to visit. The view from the top is quite good. To the south, you can see the South China Sea and Sentosa (which doesn’t astonish me cos my grandma’s house can see the exact same view and more). To the north you see our concrete jungle of HDBs and even the CBD. There’re these markings on the ground to tell you the direction of Little India, Changi Airport, Botanic Gardens, etc.

Group shot. The green lines on the ground are the said markings.

After that we returned to Telok Blangah Hill and took the Forest Walk trail which is a long zig-zag metal bridge above the canopy.

A freakin’ long journey. Luckily we were walking down slope.

Dad and I on the bridge. He’s wearing a cap from Poland and I’m wearing a cap from Hungary, countries where my parents went on their Eastern Europe tour.

Notice the metal mesh flooring of the bridge. When you’re on the bridge looking down between your feet, you can see the trees below you. Got me quite scared from the heights!!

After the Forest Walk I tell you… I was really too tired already. Walked through the Alexandra Arch to get to Hort Park and we rested here while the drivers took a 30 minute walk back to the car park. Quite sad that I was too tired to explore Hort Park, which I intended to initially.

Being Labour Day, the trail was rather crowded. Saw many dog-owners bringing their dogs for a walk. Makes me wanna bring my bitches here for a stroll also, although they’ll probably give up after 30 minutes. (They’re princesses.)

Helpful Tips:
To any one who wants to walk the Southern Ridges, I suggest you park at the open carpark at Telok Blangah Heights (near block 60). Free parking I think. Make sure to walk from Telok Blangah Hill toward Hort Park instead of the other way around, cos it’s a downward slope… Makes your life easier. Also, I suggest parking another car at the end of your journey so that you can all drive back to your starting point. Believe me, it’s tiring. Lastly, suggest starting your journey early, like around 6.30am when the sun is barely up. We started at 7.40am which was a bit too late and we suffered from the sun’s beating for a great part of the journey.

PDF map of the trail, 9km in all!
Referring to the map, we walked the Orange, Brown, Green and Blue parts of the trail! :D