The way to the corridor was just an unassuming left turn from the covered foot path 300m from the King Albert Park station when you walk towards Upper Bukit Timah side. You'd know you're there when you see the iron bridge that goes overhead on the road - clearly it hadn't been used for a long time and was kept for aesthetic reasons (that, or they were hoping to shoot a scene for some medieval movie). It was muddy when we visited after an afternoon of rain, and some parts of the path are under restoration. It's not long that we saw the sign for the old Bukit Timah railway station.
Bukit Timah Railway Station opened in 1907 and was used more as transport for goods and commodities to other stations rather than for passengers. After a historic land-swapping agreement between Malaysia and Singapore resulting in closure of the KTM-owned (Malaysia) train stations in the city state, the rail tracks have been removed and the area was reopened to the public in 2011 as a park - with just a few meters of the steel tracks and the station building.
This area is part of a project called Rail Corridor: a 24-km walking path that connects the old train stations from Tanjong Pagar all the way up northwest to Woodlands. This particular stretch is Rail Corridor Central and NPARKS boast of it being the most lush and diverse landscape in the trail. Indeed, lots of trees line up the path along with thick bushes and a swamp where bugs and insects abound. Lots of nests rest atop the tall trees and you can hear the birds chirping - or more like mothers nagging their children to come home - as dusk sets in. We've seen some wild chickens too.
Further up we saw an open field and during our first visit there were kids cycling and playing about. When we came back, we were surprised that it was deserted even though there were a lot of people in the path - none of them ventured into the field. We brought a football with us because my son wanted some play time with papa. Even though walking through the juvenile forest was actually very nice and relaxing, I also enjoyed just sitting by the field watching the boys. It reminded me a lot of the field called Sunken Garden in the University where I studied back in the day. For our third trip back, we tried to do a photo shoot but my six-year old darling's photography skills aren't quite remarkable yet, so my husband ended up tormented trying to keep his balance on a slope while carrying me. Poor guy.
When my husband goes to the trail on his own he'd go for a run, and he said it leads all the way to Holland Road. But when we walk we make a U-turn at the fork in Holland Link and go walk back through Blackmore Drive on our way home. For our latest visit, I was so excited when I saw a couple of big birds fly by and we sort of stalked them - turns out they have a nest in a really tall tree right smack in the residential area in Old Holland Road. The birds turned out to be oriental pied hornbills - really majestic creatures! There were 3 of them and they didn't seem to mind the crowd forming about trying to take photos of them.
The Circuit Breaker (our version of community quarantine) in Singapore has been extended until 1st of June so we'd probably make a few more trips down the corridor until then. Hoping to see more exciting wildlife in the next visits.
