冲山 National Day Weekend !!!

Wow !!!!....
It over !!! ....
Fri night BD party at Jap Restaurant, drink sake like tap water and more drink up thereafter in another pub.... Wash out siah !!!

Sat's highlight was not to nurse the hangover, but to 冲山。。。。It was something that we planned that whole week.... To traverse the Southern Ridge from Mt Faber to Hortpark and back...

To me, mentally and physically it was a breeze, but it was Cleo that wanted to do this, in slippers !! She was all hyped up for the track and I'm game for it, just for her !!! She's very seldom 'so onz' about things like that !!

For me, the prep started at 2pm. I had to prep for the picnic, refreshment, snacks, wine and cheese. I was like the mobile 'drinks-curry puff-popiah-drinks Man' from the National Stadium days.... My backpack was full !!

Found a sweet spot on Mt Faber, free parking.... We tracked to the Henderson Wave from there. It was 5.15pm... Good time to do the track, cos many complain too hot and totally exposed to the weather...

Though not our first to the Wave, but was our first during the day. The view was so different and so magnificent !!!...

I was trying hard to spot my office from up there and I finally found it...
Cos everyday in class, I could see it from one of my training room's window.

From the other end of the Wave, we reached the infamous Telok Blangah Green, where the deserted Alkaff Mansion still stands and the site where the poor kid's body(huang na) was dumped.
To our surprise, there are now 3 free carparks, a fitness park and a public toilet there now. Next time can park there....

We revisited our pak-tor ground on top of the hill, the Terrence Garden. Sadly very bad shape now...
Had our first snack there...

(I knew we walked past the possible location where the body was dropped, but I kept it to myself, tried not to spook Cleo.....)

From that summit, we proceeded to the Forest Walk...

It was a series of bridges that hugs the slope of Telok Blangah Green. This slope faces Telok Blangah Heights....and drops to Alexandra Road.

It was very long and winding, very elaborately done and most of all, the gradient of the bridge is very gentle. Prams and wheelchair will have no problem navigating it.

Personally, I love this stretch alot. The view was great, the walk was interesting and technically, I wonder how many people would bother (like me) to think how NParks had constructed this wonderful bridge...and yet preserved the vegetations....

By the time the bridge reaches Alexandra Road, it links to the Arch bridge that spans across to the Hortpark.

Hortpark, our turnaround point was a welcoming sight !!!...

The restaurant name KHA in the main lobby over looks the park. It was about 6.30pm when we reached there, the sun was setting beautifully behind the restaurant, it was simply gorgeous !!!

After freshening up, we sat at the open field of thick carpet grass, soaked in the cool evening breeze, and had our well deserved makan.... many families were playing on the open field too...

It was sooooo sweet a moment !!!!

After our 'dinner', we took a short walk in the Hortpark, short of moving forward to the Kent Ridge Canopy Bridge segment of the Southern Ridge Track....we turn around and headed back to where we came from...

The way back was almost up up up all the way, from ground level up and cross 2 hills, 2 bridges. I estimated we reach our starting point in 1hr 30mins, but we made it less than 1 hr !!!!!

Maybe have eaten and our bags were lighter....

Instead of heading straight back to Mt Faber, we decided to sit on the Wave and enjoy the cool evening.... I almost fell asleep there.....

It was so cool to sit on the wooden paneled bridge, enjoying the breeze, the starlit sky and people watch all at the same time....

By the time we drove off, it was close to 10pm....

Instead of going home, we went for Teochew porridge supper at Cheong Chin Nam St....
That was not enough, we headed to JP2 NTUC 24hrs for some late night shopping....

I bought ingredients for a National Day BKT pig out !!!!....
BKT = Bak Kut Teh....

In conclusion, it was a fantabulous weekend to welcome the National Day !!
I'm proud of Cleo for being so sporty and so game to take the Southern Ridge .... Considering her stamina, she did very well !!!
We had a great time !!

Will post the pictures here in the next entry... stay tuned...