Northwest CDC has cut steps and installed railings for some kind of event, so these steps and railings helps us to climb up to the railway tracks at The Rail Mall at Upper Bukit Timah Road. It is best to wear proper shoes cause there are many slopes along the tracks and also many stones and uneven path along the tracks. The bridge where the train once runs above the road at Upper Bukit Timah Road. I think the bridge will be dismantled too and the infrastructure return to Malaysia. You can see huge crowd mingle around the bridge near The Rail Mall to take photos.
Even doggie has come to join in the fun in this historical moment. Parents take the opportunity to bring their kids to walk on the tracks and taking photos for memories.
Yes, I am standing in the middle of the railway track without fear of the train coming cause the train wont be coming anymore. This used to belongs to KTM Malaysia, but some agreement between Singapore and Malaysia, a very long stretch of the railway track/land will be hand over to Singapore in exchange for joint venture in a few land parcels in Singapore with Malaysia having 60% and Singapore 40% in the partnership. Many Singaporeans flocked to have last chance to take photos with these tracks before they are being removed.
The entire line of railway tracks will be open to the public from now until July 17, except for a few areas.
After July 17, a 3km stretch of tracks from Rifle Range Road to The Rail Mall will continue to be open until July 31.
Singapore will remove the tracks and ancillary structures of the KTM railway and hand them over to Malaysia.
But there are some hope that certain part of the tracks and greenery will be retained.
For those interested in checking out the walking route from Rail Mall to Bukit Timah Train Station, you can view or download the map from The Green Corridor.
Most people mingle around certain popular parts of the railway tracks, but there are some courageous who actually walked the entire stretch of the railway track.
One of them is my ex-classmate who I met at The Rail Mall, she started at 8am at Kranji and walked to The Rail Mall around 1 pm for lunch and continue to Bukit Timah Railway Station and ended her walk at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station around 4 pm. OMG, she can really walk, I cant walk, I just mingle around Rail Mall and walk only a short stretch of the tracks to avoid the crowd at the Rail Mall and take a short cut out of the bushes and walked back to Rail Mall for lunch...lol. I have just a great time walking on the railway tracks and taking lots of photos, this is the first time I had walked on a railway track.
Two short videos showing people walking on the railway tracks.
Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world. More candid photos of the railway tracks tomorrow, please return to visit.
Just next door to Lian Shan Shuang Lin Temple, is another smaller temple called Shuang Lin Cheng Huang. This temple is so much different from the next door temple, it is only one main building and has a high ceiling.
It is a taoist Temple. High on the roof is a big panel with pictures of all dieties. You need to purchase a pack of joss sticks to pray to the dieties. A small pack cost about 50 cents while at other temples the joss sticks are free but a small donation is appreciated. Devotees burn incense papers in a pagoda like urn as offerings to the Gods. There are two huge lions infront of the temple. I guess they are there to guard the temple.
My last post on this temple. The designs on the roof are beautiful with dragon and phoenix pictures. Everywhere in the temple looked so clean and fresh. The designs on the door looked beautiful too. The lanterns on the top are also well made and the roof very colourful too. Rows and Rows of lanterns hanging up. This is a kind of buddhist fish, a dragon head with a fish body. I forgot what is the meaning of this, read somewhere. I think the dragon head is meant as power while the fish body represent the fish living in a state of fearlessness without a fear of drowning in the vast ocean and swimming freely in the sea.
Beside worshipping at the temple, the temple grounds has a very huge garden with lots of bonsai and other plants. Saw this huge lotus flower grown in the temple ground. It was so tall that I had to tiptoe and raise my hands to capture the flower in my camera. Am pleased it turned out to be pretty. In buddhism, white lotus represents the state of spiritual perfection and total mental purity (bodhi). It is associated with the White Tara and proclaims her perfect nature, a quality which is reinforced by the color of her body. Pink Lotus generally reserved for the highest deity. Thus naturally it is associated with the Great Buddha himself (Source: religion facts) Ths lotus leaves are so huge, reminded me of the lotus leaves used to wrap glutinous rice. Water lily There's a small pond where they grew beautiful water lilies. The gardener taking care of the plants in a small garden infront of the Goddess of Mercy Hall. It is interesting to see so many bonsai plants in the temple ground. They are well maintained and taken care of. The next time you visit the temple, do look out for these plants and flowers. For more pinky participants, please visit Beverly of How Sweet The Sound.
