Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Taking a Hike - Bukit Timah Nature Preserve

Today I wanted to get a little bit out of the city and commune with nature. I decided to head to Bikut Timah Nature Preserve. It's got the tallest point in Singapore, and a reputation for housing wild monkeys.

Alas, I saw no wild monkeys (just a couple of random critters, see below). But I did get to traipse through the jungle. Man it's loud in there. For the first half of the trip I was alone, and I have to say, it was spooky. If I ever need to shoot a horror film, I'd shoot it in the jungle.

Half way through my hike, I encountered a barrier that had been put up by the park service. Victor, who became my guide for the rest of the trip suggested that we scoot around the barrier and take the cut off path. As he explained, it's a much better path, and besides, it's the one all the locals take.

Victor turned out to be an excellent guide. He told me that he is 71, but man, did he set a killer pace. We should all be so able bodied when we're 71. His secret: lots of exercise, and lots of variety of exercise. Like I mentioned before, the people he are just so dang nice - and Victor was another good example.

The cave photo below is a cave that was used by the Japanese during world war II. There's not much to see inside, but it fit in perfectly with the spookiness I just mentioned.

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