bukit timah: kampong trail

another hiking weekend!

so i was in bukit timah nature reserve last weekend hiking alone. this time, jasmine and rainier joined in. we sort of had a miscommunication and ended up going to bukit timah (again) instead of somewhere else. the good thing is, there is another area to explore here. today we took the kampong trail.

kampong trail - the pink path

kampong is actually derived from a malay word kampung which means village. back in the day, the area was apparently a settlement; a chinese and malay village existed. as we did not deviate from the trail, we did not notice much remnants of any village. 

i find the kampong trail to be more rustic than the ones in bukit timah nature reserve. in the latter, there were a lot of paved paths and staircases. here we walked through more leaves-covered earth and slippery slopes.

it was drizzling most of the day, so the weather was mild and the trail a bit muddy. there were insects though, and i must have unfortunately stepped on a bunch of ants because they kept appearing on my left foot and biting me. on the bright side, because it rained, snails were out. here's one that thankfully rainier noticed and i did not accidentally crush.

slow down: mollusk crossing

the lush jungle was not just all green. we saw some colorful orange blooms from tall trees and blue trumpet vine flowers. i saw a couple of dragonflies, and rainier pointed out to a butterfly with three layers of colors. of course the flying insects were hard to photograph so i didn't even bother.

kampong trail is comprised of a few small, interconnected trails. we passed through pandan trail first, and then we headed to nangka trail. nangka is a malay word for jackfruit, so obviously the trail was full of jackfruit trees. growing up, we had a jackfruit tree in our backyard and i remember my dad would sometimes harvest one, and if it's not ripe enough, it would be cooked with coconut milk and meat. 

from kampong trail there is an option to walk all the way to macritchie reservoir. it would probably be a 2.5 hour walk for us (at best), and since the couple has dinner arrangements at home, we did not have enough time for this. perhaps i will try it next time.

we came across a path full of taro plants. their leaves are huge. hence they are also nicknamed elephant ears. i was telling jasmine of my delusion that perhaps it would be lovely to have someone fan you all day with those giant taro leaves. LOL

to illustrate how big they are, i tried to hide under one. i could definitely scare off some hikers passing by if i was in the mood. 

we encountered a troop of monkeys. i heard that some of these monkeys get aggressive, and people are advised to keep distance. i spotted at least four baby monkeys there, and the moms were giving us that look. we hurried past them. 

after the nangka trail comes the durian loop. i've read somewhere that people actually come here to pick durian during the season. by picking, it meant picking up the fruit that falls from the tree, as apparently the trees grow really tall. i don't like durian - at all - so i don't know what the trees look like. i was rather thankful that the season seem to be over because i did not smell that familiar revolting pungency. i think jasmine was somewhat disappointed though, being the durian-eater that she is. 

to the durian loop.. or to the durian loop?

after the loop comes an option to continue to macritchie reservoir for another 9.2 kilometers or to head back. we headed back as i mentioned that we did not have enough time today. also, it was starting to drizzle, and the ominous black clouds were very intimidating. the path was already quite dark, almost as if we are in a horror film set.

one of the things i was hoping to see were cute mushrooms. we did not see very exciting ones, but here are a few sprouting around the area. 

in total we spent just about an hour and a half on these trails. it was only 5pm then, so we could still do a bit of walk. jasmine was curious about the hindhede nature park which i visited the prior week. we went there to have a look at the hindhede quarry and of course the notorious monkeys.

verdict? i liked this trail better than the cave path at bukit timah nature reserve, and would definitely consider coming back to walk all the way to macritchie next time.