Upper Thomson
For some reason, I found myself along the Upper Thomson/Thomson stretch quite a number of times today. The first was on the way there and back from Sembawang, bringing my eager-as-a-puppy 80+ year old granddad for his annual CNY visit to our relatives' place.
Much later, after a nice but uneventful Reefwalk, and as a result of what seemed like an innocuous response to "Where shall we have dinner?", we (the Reefwalk guides) piled into Applecow's car and made our way back to Upper Thomson where I finally got to try the esteemed Casuarina prata for a late dinner, which for some reason I'd always missed after fieldtrips to Lower Peirce. It wasn't too bad, but I'd probably only eat it when I go there for walks. I was rather stuffed to the gills though, after I had to down 4 pratas after a mix up in the orders.
After that we went for a walk through Lower Peirce, my first time there at night, as all along I'd been waiting to go with people who knew the area well. Although the colugos and owls seemed to all have gone visiting someplace else, the highlight of the night was the exciting but brief sighting of a Mangrove Cat Snake beside the section of the boardwalk by the water's edge. None of us really being familiar with terrestrial life, it took a phonecall, and a description of the striking yellow bands against black for an ID by Z (Z who went "For example specimen Y here", pointing at me. To which I replied, "And specimen Z there." :p), who joined us later on. It was pretty huge for snakes in my (limited) experience, at an estimated more than a metre long. Unfortunately, it seemed to sense our presence and quickly slithered under the boardwalk where it successfully evaded all our attempts to find it again. Turning back to head towards the last section of the boardwalk, we didn't encounter anything more exciting than a rustle in the bushes. However, now that I know where some of the critters can usually be found, I can come back on my own later on to explore (colugos near the entrance, and a patch of trees quite a distance in on the path along the water's edge where apparently some interesting critters have been spotted before).
Some 4h after dinner and still feeling bloated from all that prata , I finally made my way home, after another round of drinks at the other prata place down the road which was still open, the one that is apparently recommended by the New Paper. Guess will have to leave the prata here for another day.
It's been quite a nice and wild (but tiring - I'd forgotten how tiring it can be!) CNY break so far (Sekudu on saturday, Kusu and Lower Peirce today, in between all the cleaning, visiting and late-night mahjong), and hopefully I will have more time to revisit some of these activities that have lapsed the last year or so, due to Genus commitments and my honours project. Looking forward to going to Kusu again tomorrow with another bunch of folks whom I've not seen in awhile. :)
Um oh yea I wanted to upload the video I took using my phone of the fireworks that we caught on the way out from Marina South, but as I seem to have misplaced the cable and it will take ages through infrared (my ancient laptop not having bluetooth), guess will have to remember to do this tomorrow, after I get some sleep. :/
Much later, after a nice but uneventful Reefwalk, and as a result of what seemed like an innocuous response to "Where shall we have dinner?", we (the Reefwalk guides) piled into Applecow's car and made our way back to Upper Thomson where I finally got to try the esteemed Casuarina prata for a late dinner, which for some reason I'd always missed after fieldtrips to Lower Peirce. It wasn't too bad, but I'd probably only eat it when I go there for walks. I was rather stuffed to the gills though, after I had to down 4 pratas after a mix up in the orders.
After that we went for a walk through Lower Peirce, my first time there at night, as all along I'd been waiting to go with people who knew the area well. Although the colugos and owls seemed to all have gone visiting someplace else, the highlight of the night was the exciting but brief sighting of a Mangrove Cat Snake beside the section of the boardwalk by the water's edge. None of us really being familiar with terrestrial life, it took a phonecall, and a description of the striking yellow bands against black for an ID by Z (Z who went "For example specimen Y here", pointing at me. To which I replied, "And specimen Z there." :p), who joined us later on. It was pretty huge for snakes in my (limited) experience, at an estimated more than a metre long. Unfortunately, it seemed to sense our presence and quickly slithered under the boardwalk where it successfully evaded all our attempts to find it again. Turning back to head towards the last section of the boardwalk, we didn't encounter anything more exciting than a rustle in the bushes. However, now that I know where some of the critters can usually be found, I can come back on my own later on to explore (colugos near the entrance, and a patch of trees quite a distance in on the path along the water's edge where apparently some interesting critters have been spotted before).
Some 4h after dinner and still feeling bloated from all that prata , I finally made my way home, after another round of drinks at the other prata place down the road which was still open, the one that is apparently recommended by the New Paper. Guess will have to leave the prata here for another day.
It's been quite a nice and wild (but tiring - I'd forgotten how tiring it can be!) CNY break so far (Sekudu on saturday, Kusu and Lower Peirce today, in between all the cleaning, visiting and late-night mahjong), and hopefully I will have more time to revisit some of these activities that have lapsed the last year or so, due to Genus commitments and my honours project. Looking forward to going to Kusu again tomorrow with another bunch of folks whom I've not seen in awhile. :)
Um oh yea I wanted to upload the video I took using my phone of the fireworks that we caught on the way out from Marina South, but as I seem to have misplaced the cable and it will take ages through infrared (my ancient laptop not having bluetooth), guess will have to remember to do this tomorrow, after I get some sleep. :/
Labels: Nature
posted by Wai at 10:26 AM
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