周末晨运 Weekend morning exercises

有好一段时间没有在周末往公园晨运。最近连续在武吉支马自然保护区 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve），温莎公园 (Windsor Park)，万里木板走道 (Mandai Boardwalk)走了一圈。

万里木板走道是个新景点，它毗邻动物园 (Zoo)，飞禽公园 (Bird Park)，以及河川生态园 (River Safari)，入场免费。哪里设有多层停车场 （收费），停车还蛮方便。如果运气好的话，可能会看到一些野生小动物 （如松鼠，乌龟，蛇，猴子， 及一些不知名的动物）。

万里木板走道沿着综合公园的外围延申，一边是翠绿的湖泊，另一边则是围墙。。。景观还蛮不错。

There was a period of time when my wife and I frequented many of the parks on Sunday morning. Then we paused for over 2 years (unable to wake up in early morning, and/or due to catch up with works). After the recent Chinese New Year, we started to explore the nature parks again.

So far, we have visited Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Windsor Park, and newly minted Mandai Boardwalk. 

Windsor Park trail

During our morning walk in Windsor Park, we chanced upon a mousedeer...

can you spot the mousedeer?

And as we were exploring Mandai Boardwalk, we saw this marsupial attaching himself on the tree "motionless" with eyes wide opened.

Chinese New Year Lights up in Chinatown 牛车水农历新年灯饰

 I have missed out the light decoration in Chinatown during Chinese New Year the past 2 years.

This time, I managed to take some snap shot of the light decor during the 2nd week of Chinese New Year.

This being the year of horse - hence it is inevitable that horse will be the protagonist.

香味肉干，是过年必备的零食之一

往年我都会去捉拍牛车水农历新年的灯饰；但是过去两年我却错过了佳节时分的灯饰。

趁着马年，我在农历新年的尾声，赶紧到牛车水去逛一逛，顺道捉拍了一些灯饰。

马-冲劲十足！灯饰也中规中矩。

这几片竖着的画像，是已经停业的戏院正门的标志。能否保存下来，没有人能保证！

地标 Icons

Was driving in the vicinity of Marina Bay. Inevitably, the iconic MBS building with the Helix Bridge come into my view.

Cannot help to take a snap shot of the iconic building.

路过滨海湾一带，难免会看到新加坡的地标，金沙湾酒店以及毗邻的螺旋桥。那乍看之下犹如神主牌的金沙湾酒店，无可否认，确实是有它特殊的一面。

 

大红灯笼高高挂 Red Lanterns

大红灯笼高高挂。。。这种场景唯有在东方社会才能看到。要看到密密麻麻的红灯笼高高的悬挂在屋梁上，往往也只能在庙宇方能看到。

昨天就在大巴窑双林寺拜太岁时，看到了那有排排的大红灯笼。

Red Lanterns are signature decors of Asian culture - particularly those of Chinese descent/ or related to Chinese culture. I don't remember seeing these in Indian's temple. Even in Japanese culture, only sporadic red lanterns are hang in front of ancient buildings or temples; not "a bunch" of them.

The highest peak in Singapore - Bukit Timah Summit 重游武吉支马自然保护区，新加坡的最高峰！

趁着年初三没有开工，我在太太的建议下，往武吉支马山晨运。

已经好久没有爬此山 （想来有5-6年了）。原本想顺道带上我家的狗狗“螳螂”，但网站标明宠物不可步入自然保护区，也只能委屈把它留在家里。

禁止宠物前进。。。

这天来运动的人没有像往日（周末）多。毕竟是年初三，有些人得上班；那些没上班者，这时可能还在睡懒觉呢。

山林区域，远离喧杂的闹市，空气清新。

还是无法脱俗的在最高峰打卡。。。

Went for a hike at Bukit Timah Hill Natural Reserve on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year.

The place was not very crowded. Managed to park our car at the parking lot just in front of the entrance to Bukit Timah Hill. ( It is almost impossible to find a parking lots in regular weekends).

Took some random photos of the natural park...

和睦共处 Living in Harmony

在宗教意识逐渐偏向极端的时刻，能目睹不同宗教和睦共处，确实难能可贵。昨天在四马路观音堂参拜时，就看到不少华族信徒在观音堂参拜后，顺道在隔壁的兴都庙参拜。

Imaging people of different faith offering prayers in a Hindu temple during Chinese New Year. This is unheard off in other cultures, but not uncommon in South East Asia (particularly in Singapore/Malaysia).

There is a Hindu temple situated just next to the renowned Goddess of Mercy temple in Waterloo Street. Many locals go there for prayers, particularly in the first day of Chinese New Year. Inevitably, people will also offer prayer in the Hindu temple next door.

新年朝拜观音堂 Lunar New Year Ritual

农历新年正月初一，去岳母及大舅家拜年后，因为下雨的缘故，挪后了去四马路观音堂拜拜的行程。

这也是我们第一回带Mantis去拜年。

新年新气象

回家稍息几个小时后，在下午4点左右，便驾车去四马路拜拜。抵达那里时，发现一条蛮长的人龙整整齐齐的在离观音堂还有一段距离的街道旁缓缓移动。因为当时还下着雨，每个人都撑着形形色色的伞；这构成了一幅色彩缤纷的画像。

民间虔诚的信徒确实蛮多。

Time flies - today is first day of Lunar New Year (2026). As usual, we went for traditional family visits (拜年) - typically to pay respect to elders in the family. We went to my brother-in-law's place first, then to my mother-in-law's place. It rained from 10am (when we were still in my brother-in-law's place). The rain didn't stop till about 6pm.

This year round, we brought our pet dog Mantis along for the family visitations. He was quite excited, walking around in the house, hardly had time to laze around on the floor. 

We usually visit Goddess of Mercy temple after that (around lunch time). But because of the heavy downpour, we decided to defer the trip to later part of the day (hoping that the rains would dwindle by then - but it didn't). When we reached there in the afternoon, there was still a long queue of people lining up patiently and orderly to enter the temple (despite the ongoing rain).