a) I've grown tired of all the crowd in train, on bus, at shopping malls. There's a urge to find a peaceful place that is less visited and remain less explored.
b) It's a way to pass time. Now reading is not the only way to gain knowledge (especially when I've the phobia of seeing tonnes and tonnes of book lying on my work desk everyday and especially lying around reading for a long time at home is bad for health). Take a walk and away from people might be a good way to exercise (w/o feeling too tiring) and feel less traumatised by all that retro books.
And so I start off with Sembawang Park, bec I feel I've not been there for a very long time, even though it's not that far from my home. I start off with the Admiralty House, a subject which I'm supposed to write for my work assignment, but I grew curious when I realise it's just a stone throw away from my house, lying on top a hill near Sembawang MRT station. It used to be the residence of the commander of the Far East Fleet under British colonial rule, but now turn into the Admiralty Country Club (and for this reason I was ganna stopped by the security who told me it's a student hostel???). Not far away is a Chinese restaurant龙凤饭店. Dun know what are their famous dishes, but the look of it is certainly for the rich and famous.
Admiralty House is situated at Old Nelson Road -- truly a well deserved name. Think of "Admiral" Nelson who defeated the French and remains the pride of Britain. Along the way to Sembawang Park is a cafe name after him--Nelson Cafe) . This area once house the Sembawang Naval Base, once the pride of the British Empire until its humiliating defeat by the Jap during WWII. Still on my trail in search of the lost naval base (part of which was destroyed by British themselves to prevent it from falling into the Jap's hands), I came to Sembawang Park. Beside the park is the Sembawang Shipyard, formerly the British naval base, now a dockyard for container ships.
Another mission I have in mind for this expedition is to locate the Bottle Tree Village, a seafood retaurant that is recommended in newspaper and on TV. Not sure about the quality of the food, but it's certainly unique that it planted bottle trees introduced from Australia outside its door and secondly, it is damn ulu. On the street directory, it is shown to be some distance away from Sembawang Park, at one corner near a place call Kampong Wak Hasan, but in reality there's no road connecting the seaside to that place. I decided to hum dum -- walk along the main road. To add to my woes there're some construction work going on, but I still press on, crossing the semi-detached houses along Andrew Ave and here I am on a road leading to a jungle which leads to nowhere. The sky is turning darker and gonna rain soon, adding a sense of mystery to the enchanted forest, but still I'm still seow enough to continue walking into that jungle -- let's explore this ulu place, I told myself. And so I continue walking and then I notice somthing -- lamp post with electric wiring on them!!! They are fossils in highly urbanised modern S'pore, but u sure to find this in ulu ulu places in S'pore. I bump into them when I was in NS, while running in Area D near Sungei Gedong Camp. This show it's really a ulu place, and add to that one dog, then follow by another start comin out and barking at me. They follow me for some distance, then stop. Heng ah! Seriously, I find them more terrifying than meeting a pontianak along the way as I ganna bitten by one of their cousin before during NS.
The first signboard that came to sight is pointing to some Malay village at Kampong Wak Hassan, which certainly is gone by now -- not a soul is around. (Later I discovered in Tan Shzr Ee Lost Roads that Kampong Wak Hassan was named after a policeman Hassin bin Ali and the village had moved due to the construction of the naval base). Further down is another strange sight -- a mosque standing alone in the jungle, probably what once remains of a thriving village. The mosque is known as Masjid Petempatan Melayu Sembawang in the street directory. It's architecture is unique of a kampong mosque without its onion shaped dome found in the more typical mosques in Singapore. But at least now I know I'm on the right track as I've seen the signboard pointing to my destination -- Bottle Tree Village.
The Bottle Tree Village is situated at the end of this ulu path I've taken, facing Selat Johor. I would say it's a nice quiet little corner for enjoying a nice quiet dinner by the seaside. But w/o a car, tis place is certainly quite eerie at night, especially if you want to bring your dream girl on a first date (unless, of course, u wanna scare her out of her wit and u wayang as a hero..heh..heh). Beside is a park connector that links to Yishun Ave 2. A nice place to pak toh, but now I have no time for this. Lightning flashes across the sky -- I have to leave tis place fast. Out of the enchanted forest I walked at a much faster pace, and before I knew it, I was out of that strange land and to the nearest bus stop. The sky finally open and start raining, but that my little adventure in there is something I've not experienced for sometime. I suddenly realise I was not that far from some of the last frontier in Singapore, and there's a sudden urge in me to visit all that ulu ulu locations-before they disappear forever. As the bus pass the shops and retaurants leading to this sleepy enclave, I bade farewell to them as civilisation (symbolised by that yellowish Sun Plaza) came into sight.
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