I've been living in Singapore for several months now. I'm doing my PhD, so it's an entirely new chapter of my life. What I like about school (that's why I keep coming back), is that it has discrete endings and beginnings. You have something to look forward to and celebrate. You know when you're done. When you're out there in the world and working in a company, things just roll over one after the other in a never ending stream of deliverables and meetings. And unless you consciously think about (or celebrate) project completions and significant changes in the workplace, you don't take advantage of the energy and release you get from knowing something has ended and you can start anew.
New Chapters, New Celebrations
I just finished my first semester of my PhD life and I knew I needed to do something to commemorate it. When I did my master's, I celebrated my first semester by going to Bantayan Island. If you've been following my blog, you know that Bantayan is probably my favorite beach destination. I went there by myself. You can read all about it in this post. I celebrated by drinking myself to stupor in the middle of the day. It was not the healthiest decision. This time, to celebrate the first (of many) semesters in my PhD life, I was not alone. My girlfriend visited me, and we went to several parks in Singapore. It was quite tiring, but I know it was much healthier than just popping some drinks until I fall asleep.
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One of the parks we visited was Kent Ridge Park. It's located along the south of the island. It's close to where I'm living, so I was happy I had the chance to finally visit it. Before heading to the park, I gave my girlfriend a short tour around my school, and we also headed to a nearby mall that just opened. It's called Geneo and we wanted to check it out because of its foyer. It had a cathedral style high ceiling space with the structure made of wood. The space also had these giant steps where people could sit, relax, and lie down. It was so hot outside during this day, so decided to lounge for a bit and enjoy the cool shade.
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Exploring Kent Ridge Park
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At around 4 in the afternoon, we headed out. We just followed Google Maps towards the entrance of the park. We left the tall buildings and entered what looked like a forest. But it didn't feel like the wilderness because the road was still paved with railings and lamp posts. But soon, the trees became thick that you couldn't tell that there was a nearby industrial park. The road was steep and we climbed it for a few minutes before arriving at what seemed to be the peak of Kent Ridge Park. From the vantage point, we could see a portion of the busy port of Singapore. There was also a monument about the battle of Pasir Panjang, where the last battle in Singapore during WWII happened.
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The Canopy Walk and Beyond
After resting for a bit and drinking water from a fountain, we started going downhill. We were headed for the Canopy Walk, an elevated boardwalk as high as the trees, with views of the lowlands and the Pasir Panjang nursery. We were still on a paved road, and we were amazed to see how well put together the park was. It was obvious that many trees were deliberately planted on their exact location. You could hardly see any trash, and they even had working and sturdy benches for people to rest. It's a testament to how Singapore really puts importance to its public parks.
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Anyway, we reached the entrance of the Canopy Walk, and the structure looked really well constructed. No creaking, no rust. Just solid and reliable. We walked in and we could see the tops of the trees. We were so high up that we could see some of the buildings already. We could also see the huge nursery with rows and rows of seedlings and plants. And I had to take a close picture of the giant Pothos plant that was clinging on a tree.
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Southern Ridges Exploration (To be continued)
The end of the Canopy Walk brought us to the ground, and we could see the boardwalk supported by massive columns. Eventually, we neared the exit of Kent Ridge Park. The park is actually really big, 47 hectares, but going through the paved road and through the Canopy Walk only took us less than an hour. Well, Kent Ridge Park was not our only destination for this day. The plan was to hike along the southern ridges and the parks along it.
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The Canopy Walk was a link to another park, Hort Park. We momentarily saw tall buildings again and we passed by small gardens and a restaurant that had a small pond full of turtles.
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I'm going to end my blog here, and continue in the next part about our journey to the next parks. We had a lot of obstacles along the way, and we weren't able to cover all the parks that my girlfriend wanted to hike to, but we still got a very satisfying ending to this day of commemorating my achievement of finishing my first semester of PhD. Stay tuned for the next parts. Cheers!
