Sunday, September 27, 2009

Singapore Dairy Trail [26/09]

I read on the papers the previous Saturday (19/09) that there is this Dairy Trail hidden away in the western part of Singapore. I find this is quite an adventure and sent to FP on it. We roughly arrange a day to check it out and it has been confirmed to be on the 26/09.

Based on the newspaper recommendations, we were to take bus 67 and alight at the bus stop on the map (just next to the Rail Mall). But FP mentioned it is better to take 966 and alight at Petir Road instead. Based on a quick analysis of the route map, the 966 journey is indeed better.

And so we are underway, we rendezvous at 1pm. Thereafter depart Eunos at 2pm, arriving at Petir Road at 2.25pm.

There is a prominent carpark to the north of the Dairy Trail route. You can't miss it as the surroundings are all trees.

Photobucket

The toilet along the route has a natural feel to it. It seamlessly integrate with its surroundings.

Photobucket

And so we begin our hike at 2.40pm. The weather is good and is also perfect for outdoor photo shoots.

Photobucket

Here is the map and the trail manners to observe. There are many 'No's but whatever. Basically we start from the northeast of the map, walk down towards the Wallace Education Centre, walk around the Wallace Trail and back up back to the northeast carpark, then we proceed west and south towards the Singapore Quarry. Finally we will exit at the point nearest to the railway track where the Rail Mall is.

Photobucket

We begin the route towards Wallace Education Centre. There is a 'No Entry' sign to the right, hopefully we are on the right path and will not get shot, chased by a dog, get stuck, etc (reference to Penang 9 - Malihom)

Photobucket

What is a cow doing here?

Photobucket

Some eerie looking murals.

Photobucket

The interior design of Wallace Education Centre is nice. It is airy with natural lightings. I didn't really read the texts placed around the centre and just move on.

Photobucket

A window that allow us to peer into another room (which is locked). There are some words written on it, try to read it if you can.

Photobucket

The Wallace Trail is some forest trail. FP told me that his russian colleague mentioned it is nice to spend 2 hours in a jungle once a while. And he remarked for Singaporean guys, it is also nice to spend 3 days 2 nights in a jungle. Here is a forest stream.

Photobucket

There are many multi-colour flowers around the place.

Photobucket

We left Wallace Trail and proceeded northwards, east and back on south. Along the way, I came upon this mega-leaf plant.

Photobucket

And tall canopy-shaped trees.

Photobucket

This might be of interest to my Penang friends who are into mountain biking. There are mountain biking trails all around the Dairy Trail (perfect mud road where bikers can zoom through the forested trails)

Photobucket

And we arrived at the Singapore Quarry at last. It is a beautiful and remarkable sight (considering we have been walking 1 hour 30mins non-stop through greenery).

Photobucket

There are pavilions where visitors can relax.

Photobucket

A closer up view of the cliff against the reflective quiet waters.

Photobucket

We left the Singapore Quarry / Dairy Trail at 4.20pm and took a shortcut out to the railway track. The first sight any visitor will notice is the black railway bridge. We climbed up the small incline towards the track.

Photobucket

Here is the black railway bridge. Very impressive and seems to be from an ancient era. The Malaysian government are better in preserving structures and buildings than Singapore.

Photobucket

The Rail Mall. There is a Cold Storage here where we can replenish our water supply. After 1 hour 40mins in the outdoor, liquid isotonic is what our body needs most.

Photobucket

There is a restaurant that shows "Doggie Style"

Photobucket

We took at bus 178 from the Rail Mall towards the science centre, it's a very fast journey and it took only 20mins. It's been more than 4 years since I last came to this area and 10 years since I visited the science centre.

Photobucket

A dinosaur will welcome you at the entrance, and also MacDonalds. I remember school children visiting the science centre will enjoy going to the MacDonalds. (notice Ronald trying to grab the T-Rex tail at the bottom left)

Photobucket

Fountains where kids can run around and get themselves wet.

Photobucket

From the science centre, we took a bus 197 towards Bugis. There is a market research I need to conduct there and we arrived around 7pm. The evening setting sun across the Singapore river (Clarke Quay) is very beautiful and I took a quick snap of it.

Photobucket

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Penang 10 [02/09 - 11/09] Close Friends

11th September (Friday) - Farewell to everyone

Today is our last day in Penang. These 5 months have been truly memorable. On our last day, everyone from the STK1 and STK4 offices gave us parting gifts of Butterworth's local specialty. It is very touching as we say farewell to everyone and took group photos together.

Photobucket

Here are the ladies from STK1. Our site office is in the STK1 office, so we are in contact with them all the time.

Photobucket

And the ladies from STK4. The staffs from STK4 feels like one big happy family. I visit their office very often too.

Photobucket

The extended family of STK1. There are two storeys to STK1, so the ladies from the second storey also join us. We always see them walk up and down the stairs as our site office is just next to their stairs.

8th September (Tuesday) - Dinner at Tao

The visit to Tao has been quite a great coincidence. Kent, who has already returned to Singapore, sent me a newspaper article of this Japanese restaurant in Autocity call Tao. In the afternoon, the local subsidiary team asked for advice on the places to have dinner and they were referred to Tao too. I immediately call one of them and told them, we want Tao!

Photobucket

And here we go. Walking up the stairs of Tao.

Photobucket

It is Japanese ala carte buffet. We ordered lotsa food till we are full.

Photobucket

And also bottoms up two glasses of beer.

Photobucket

7th September (Monday) - Dinner at Ferringhi Garden

Wan Keong, our local big boss arranged a dinner with us on this day. This is an exquisite high-class restaurant at Batu Ferringhi call Ferringhi Garden.

Photobucket

A lot of foreigners like to visit this restaurant cos the ambience is really nice.

Photobucket

The place is lighted by candles.

Photobucket

There is live music going around table to table.

Photobucket

Here is our group photo. :-)

Photobucket

Check out the size of this pepper.

Photobucket

I went for grilled salmon steak.

Photobucket

The musicians came over to our table and started singing 'Pretty Woman'

Photobucket

The koi pond is quite well maintained.

Photobucket

This is the more posh area in Ferringhi garden where people just hang around for pints of beer and strong liquor.

Photobucket

The garden is also a great place where exotic plants can be found.

Photobucket

After dinner, Wan Keong recommended us a place at Jelatong where a famous Leng Lui (pretty girl) dessert can be found.

Photobucket

5th September (Saturday) - Northam Beach Cafe

After reading through the Ho Chiak list sent by Wan Keong, we decided to check out the Northam Beach Cafe.

Photobucket

It is al fresco dining by the sea.

Photobucket

We ordered a lot of BBQ stuffs.

Photobucket

3rd (Thursday) and 11th September (Friday) - Morning Dim Sum

During Kent's and our final day in Penang, we have Dim Sum morning breakfast. According to Kent/Chok, the Dim Sum here is half the price back in KL.

Photobucket

2nd September (Wednesday) - Korean Dinner

We decided to go Korean for Kent's farewell dinner. We ordered the steamboat and some side dishes. It comes up to only RM140.

Photobucket

Here is our group dinner.

Photobucket

Daily Morning

Every morning and evening when we cross Penang bridge, I love to observe the beautiful sky. Here is a morning sky.

Photobucket