Labrador Park Walking Tour Part 2 - Labrador Nature Reserve

Part Two of our walk in Labrador Park was the Labrador Nature Reserve. Here we spend more time walking and lots of climbing too. We interested in few interesting old ruins (circled in photo).

Just follow the signboard to Dragon Teeth Gate. 

On the way, we spotted a lots of wild chicken.

Long Ya Men (simplified Chinese: 龙牙门; traditional Chinese: 龍牙門; pinyin: lóngyámén; Malay: Batu Berlayar) or Dragon's Teeth Gate, is the name Chinese explorer Wang Dayuan recorded for Batu Belayar, a craggy granite outcrop that formerly stood at the gateway to Keppel Harbour in Singapore. In his description, “The strait runs between the two hills of the Danmaxi (Temasek) natives which looked like dragon’s teeth.” From there, the name Long Ya Men or Dragon Teeth’s Gate was born.    For more information, please read from source  

Located on an outcrop at the southernmost end of Labrador Park, the iconic seven-metre tall structure at Tanjong Berlayer served as a navigational beacon for boats and ships approaching Keppel Harbour in the mid-20th century. Ships entering the harbor used the red Berlayer Beacon as a visual marker to navigate themselves towards the harbour. 

For more information, please view from source.  

Labrador Park machine gun post, facing the sea in anticipating the enemies coming to attack from the sea.

The remaining structures of the gun casemates and the underground bunkers of the old Fort .

Spotted lots of fungus growing in the reserve

Lots of walking in Labrador Park. Rememebr to bring insect repellant but we were not bitten at all, thanks to nice cooling weather that day.

Ended our walk of the Nature Reserve at this hotel. So we walked back to our next destination for the Bukit Chermin Boardwalk. 

Our walking route - 

1. Berlayer Creek (Board Walk)

2. Labrador Nature Reserve

3. Bukit Chermin Boardwalk (view of Sentosa)

4.Keppel Marina

 

Labrador Park Walking Tour Part 1 - Berlayer Creek Board Walk

Been two years we were unable to travel. So the next best thing was to travel within our country. Singapore is a beatiful green and clean city but we tends to forget Singapore has a lot of nice nature places for walking , hiking and cycling. So planned to put on my comfortable shoes and walked around Singapore instead of waiting to travel overseas.

Located within walking distance of Labrador Park MRT Station, the 2.1km Labrador Nature & Coastal Walk comprises three distinct segments – Alexandra Garden Trail, Berlayer Creek mangrove trail, and Bukit Chermin Boardwalk. Visitors can now enter mangrove and coastal areas which were previously inaccessible to pedestrians. These tranquil nature spots not only contain 40% of the endangered and vulnerable plant species in Singapore; they are also an oasis of calm for visitors amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.  For more information, please view official website   of Singapore National Park.

Took the MRT train to Labrador Station. Once out of the station (street level), turn to the right and able to see the signs. We choose the Berlayer Creek Boardwalk. 

Lots of monkeys in the nature, dont carry any plastic bag, they will think there's food in it and snatch. Wear comfortable shoes, bring a hat, umbrella (incase of rain) and a water bottle.

Our walking route - 

1. Berlayer Creek (Board Walk)

2. Labrador Nature Reserve

3. Bukit Chermin Boardwalk (view of Sentosa)

4.Keppel Marina

 

Merlion Park Singapore ( No tourists visiting)

This is the famous landmark in Singapore, the Merlion. Located at Merlion Park, Marina Bay. It looked strange, used to be so crowded with tourists but now only few locals visiting. Largely due to the closed borders with many countries.

The covid is causing a lot of disturbances to the tourism industries. But it looked like earth need a little break. It looked so clean and peaceful for once. 

At least I dont have to jostle with visitors to take a nice photo of the Merlion. 

In the background is the famous Marina Bay Sands.

Julibee Bridge connecting from the Merlion Park to Esplanade. It gives a good view of the Singapore River and Marina Bay Sands.

The baby merlon in Merlion Park.

Collecting some water from the Merlion haha. 

Now that we cannot travel overseas, we become our own local tourists visiting Singapore attractions.

Christmas Shopping in Orchard Road, Singapore

Took these photos before Christmas. Surprised to see lots of people during a weekday. I guess December is the time where everyone supposed to travel for holiday but due to the current covid pandemic, lots of countries closed the borders or were in lock down, so most locals who need to clear their annual leaves took this opportunity to shop for Christmas in Singapore  and be local tourists in Singapore.

The crowd in Orchard were huge as if it is pre covid period but everyone (yes , 100%) are wearing masks as it is mandatory to wear indoor or outdoors except when dining or exercise or in our own homes.

Just love the christmas atmosphere in Orchard Road with all the christmas trees and decorations.

Shopping in Paragon Orchard, and yes we need to scan our identity before entering any malls or buildings etc for contact tracing incase of a positive covid case. So far Singapore is experiencing low or zero local community cases, mostly are imported cases.

2020 is really a bad year for most of us, let's hope 2021 will be a better year and let's say bye bye to the virus.

 

Singapore Trace Together Token to be use in Singapore in 2021

Finally, I collected my Tokens after queuing for one hour. It is the latest big thing in Singapore. 

The token is a physical device that exchanges bluetooth signals with other trace together tokens or trace together mobile apps nearby,  to aid digital contact tracing efforts due to the Covid Pandemic.

The token was originally meant for people without smart phone or wifi but many would like to have the tokens as the apps might drain the phone battery. 

From next year, we need to have the tokens to be able to enter huge venues like cinema, malls, buildings, etc 

We will be entering Phase 3 on December 28, means we can now gather in groups of 8 instead of 5 but masks is still mandatory. 

Public venues such as museums are currently open but subject to a capacity limit, while events like wedding receptions can be held in two zones of 50 persons. In Phase Three, these capacity limits could be increased, with events having multiple zones of 50 persons. (Source)  

The queue at a local community club to collect the tokens.

I managed to have the latest design of the token which is slimmer and can fit into my key pouch.

My friends had the earlier design which is thicker.