Green Iguana

Hi hi,
This post is dedicated to one of my dearest friend, who has been entrusting her car to me whenever she goes overseas. Without her kind gesture and unconditional generosity, visiting some of the remote corners of Singapore would be much more difficult. :) Thank you so so much MC.

And here are a couple of pics on the places I visited lately. So, for those who are disappointed with the lack of posts here for the past 2 weeks, my apologies. But here I am, back to keep you all entertained. :)

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

I was there on a sunny weekday (hmm.. sunny days are getting rarer and rarer these days due to the rainy season) and met a group of about 15 students, led by one or two teachers. Most children (ok, adults too) do not know how to appreciate nature, and more importantly they do not understand what rewards their silence would bring them in the reserve. So, when our paths first crossed, they frightened away the birds I was watching. And what happened next brought the male teacher some embarrassment.

Some of the shy students were pointing to some rubbish nearby, and an underwear was the center of attraction. Then, the most boisterous children started echoing one another, saying, "T'cher, that underwear must be yours" or " T'cher, that one look like yours". They were speaking to their male teacher so it was not done out of malice to embarrass the teacher. It showed a good rapport between the teacher and his class. But then, because of the presence of strangers (ie me), and a couple of parents following behind the class ... the poor t'cher turned red. A good rapport? Ah... sometimes children do not know how to judge where the boundary lies, if any ever existed.

Apart from this, the park was generally quiet. And every corner I went, I startled monitor lizards scrambling for their lives into the water. There are so many of them nowadays. A good sign? And here is a rarer sighting:

Er... no, not the man in yellow (he is there as a 'scale'). Look closer...

It's the...


... the humoungous green iguana. This one is over a metre long from head to tail. Cool creature.


Added this in because one can't tell its huge size from the earlier pict. And isn't she / he a beauty. Hee hee, am beginning to sound like Steve Irwin, Australia's croc man.


And I do love this (click on picture to see a larger version) :

Evolution Garden (within Botanical Gardens)

This is pretty new. It showcases the evolution of plants, from simple moss to ferns and to flowering plants much later on in time, and also a slight touch on other living organisms. Volunteers conduct 1 hour tour of the place on every 4th Saturday of the month, at 9am.

Besides the evolution of plants, there are some mention of the formation of earth, Pangea, Gondwana, and all that geological timeline. And here is something of geographical interest - a replica of North Ireland's Giant Causeway, a very unique volcanic formation of cooled basaltic columns:


Can't get to the real one. So, got to make do with this small and man-made one. Sigh....

Labrador Park

And oh, visited Labrador Park as well. Brought along an aunt to help me identify the plants there. :) And to be my 'scale' in my pictures, although her size can at best be described as Hobbit-size. :P Hee... the trip brought into mind an incident when I was still a kid. My family used to have picnics at the beaches once in a while. Everyone would scramble onto a lorry and one of my uncles would drive the whole lot of us, 20-odd people to East Coast Park or Changi Beach, all sitting on the open lorry. Once, my 6th uncle took a wrong turn and ended up in Labrador Park (we didn't know that of course since we were all simple country-side folks), right on top of a little hill. I still remember peering down a rocky cliff. And my uncle became the laughing stock of the family - how on earth are we to swim from up there? Here is what we can see from the viewing platform on that same hill today:


The park, apart from its educational value (rocky coast, rock cliff, history etc), is a nice place for evening walks as well.

Okie... got to turn in. More park visits coming up soon.


SW