10/10/2015, Saturday
Today, I went for a walking trail from Punggol Waterway to Coney Island (which was previously known as Palau Serangoon Island). I went with a group of volunteers from Punggol North Community Services Centre. It was the opening day for the public to visit Coney Island too and it was opened by the Guest of Honour, Mr Khaw Boon Wan. We walked past the Serangoon dam and saw some wild otters swimming in the waters. Then we continued onto island, there were free fruits given by the national parks staffs too. The road into the island was with stones and muddy.
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| Wild Otter having breakfast |
A little history of the island, the Aw brothers of Haw Par Villa accquired Pulau Serangoon and bulit a holiday villa in the 1930s. But the villa was damaged during the World War II (it was still hidden in the island). Later in 1951, an indian businessman Ghulam Mahmood renamed the island to Coney Island and planned to convert the island into a resort and amusement par. But his plan was not realized after he was fined for corruption. Later in 1972, our Singapore Government reclaimed the island back and developed it into a recreation site under Punggol 21 plan. And in 2011, Sungei Serangoon was converted into the 17th freshwater reservoir and because of this, it was connected to the island, Punggol and Pasir Ris.
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| Battleship? |
After we reached the East Entrance of the island, we walked around the island where the national parks volunteers had setup 5 stations to explain some of the plants, trees, birds, fishes and the history of the island. At one of the stations, the volunteers were explaining on horseshoe crabs and hermit crabs and lightning crabs. Interestingly, lightning crabs are so called due to if you ever got bitten by it, it will never let go of your finger until there is a lightning. As for horseshoe crabs, they are being hunted because of their blue bloods. Their bloods are previous as it is used to help humans in medical purposes. They have been staying around long before the dinosaurs time. Now they are getting extinct due to all the hunting. The volunteer told us it wasn't exactly from the crab family, they are more to spiders because of their legs.
There are alot of trees there and there are areas to enjoy the breeze from the sea. Opposite, you can see Pulau Ubin island too. You can also cycle around the island, but there is no electricity and water there. The toilet uses rainwater, meaning if there is rain, there will be water...hohoho...and did i mentioned? There is only one toilet available in the whole island. There may be boars around in the island too, if you are lucky enough to see one there. If more lucky enough, maybe you can see the single Brahman bull roaming around. I found a giant log which looked like a giant turtle from far. I ended my walk when i reached Punggol Settlement, where i took a bus back to Punggol interchange.
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| Horseshoe Crab |
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| Does it look like a giant turtle? |
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| Road on the island |
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| Bird Hide |
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| Pulau Ubin |
But i find there are more to explore on the island, maybe some hidden spots..heheee...Will go back another time but maybe with a bike...hahahaa....As there is no electricity in the park, there is an opening timing from 7 am to 7 pm daily. So make sure you arrive there early and leave before 7 pm. Hahaha...one thing i didn't expected, was that i found myself in the photograph published in The Sunday Times the next day. Luckily i wasn't doing anything funny there.
