The Green Corridor

A habitat away

By gent

October 12^th, 2013

Separation

The Green Corridor is a connection of many green spaces linking the Bukit Timah rainforests through to the Kranji wetlands. This is about 24km running largely between and through Singapore’s signature sectors of high-rise housings. Preserved by the government largely by efforts from local volunteers, this grassland away from the urban city really can’t be a better metaphor for what Singapore wants to be known as - a garden city.

At the site pictured here at Bukit Timah used to stand a railway station along train tracks that run between the Malaysian Peninsula and Singapore. Since the separation of the two nations in 1965, the land had belonged to Malaysia until in 2010 when they agreed to share ownership of something other than water and, let’s face it, their respective citizens. I was born in Ipoh, Malaysia in the state of Perak and have been a citizen here since I can remember. And if you ever have a chance to visit this country and needed a haircut, you’re more likely to meet a Malaysian hairstylist than with crime.

Grit

The people may have called for the preservation of such an historic site, but I guess history is to stay as is. Of course, it being a train station with no more trains to service anymore probably is why there’s no need to keep up its appearance. How it’s not yet been converted into a hipster café serving artisan coffee and all-day breakfasts is beyond me though.

Such a pity Exposure doesn’t yet have a sarcasm font style.

Walking through the compound, you can perhaps imagine what it was like in the olden days when this place was filled with life, but all that’s left now is derelict and dying and a pair of toddler’s shoes on the tracks.

BABY SHOES

They were.. there.

I’m just going to leave them alone.

LIFE

So we move on through this rainforest and see the residents around who truly enjoy this. Many are expats who ride mountain bikes and have dogs they run with. A norm in many foreign countries with plenty of nature, you’ll forgive us city-dwellers for finding this more refreshing than you’d think. I did document our diminishing lands for mountain biking in a previous post though.

dat drain tho

Further in, you’ll discover this dam thing.

It was pretty peculiar to see this drainage system and though I haven’t found out where or what it serves to be, here are some pictures for scale.

THEM CURVES

Mmm.

I just really appreciated how this slope here curved. I don’t know about buildings and construction but this is just a little bit of beauty that I think is pretty interesting.

Things come to ends

A distance away from the water depository mentioned earlier is an opening into what I assume is makeshift shelter for migrant workers.

Also, really creepy graffiti under a bridge where I took shelter myself from the rain.

By this time, it’d been 3 hours since I started and I was beat. Between the downpour and the ominous signs, I’m still glad we have the Green Corridor in this increasingly metallic city-state where Gardens by the Bay - a humongous constructed scientific experiment of a tourist attraction - is considered the blooming glory and symbol of Singapore’s ambitions.