Morning Stroll Along The Railway Line

We were in serious luck with the weather today. The steady drizzle stopped in time for us to begin our morning stroll along a portion of the now-defunct KTM Railway line running through the north to the south of the island. At 27°C at 8am, it was encouragingly cool. A breeze stirred strong. The humidity didn't get to us till much later when the sun decided to blast its merciless heat overhead.

There were plenty of walkers who took advantage of the morning cool as well. I was surprised to see people saying good morning as we passed. Naturally, we bade them a good day in return. It's an odd sort of friendliness atypical of Singaporeans. I'd proffer to label it as a strange sense of 'camaraderie' among the walkers.

It was with much adventurous bravado when we heeded the advice of 2 older (sane-looking) men who swore that the fruit from the wild flower at the side is edible. They even ate one! They said this was what they used to eat as kids as these plants were plentiful then. But they had to fight the birds to get to the sweet fruit. They advised that said fruit at this stage would be a little sour, and would be sweet when it ripens and turns yellow. So we tried too. Kekekkeke. After peeling away the green hairy bits, there's a round shell, and once we pried that open, the insides look exactly like a tiny version of pomegranate, with seeds inside, but green in color. It wasn't too sour. Almost refreshing. Well, clearly, we haven't been poisoned. :)

NB: Girlfriend has dug up the name of this plant from our fabulous National Parks data. It's Passiflora foetida L, otherwise known as Running Pop, Love-in-a-mist, Wild Water Lemon and (my fav!) Stinking Passionflower!

We didn't do the 'green' part of the route. We did an easy walk along the more urban portion from Commonwealth to Holland Road. As you can see, we didn't even bother with track shoes. Not a good idea really, but we did fine with Vibrams and sports sandals. We didn't even need mosquito repellent. Heh. However, we wouldn't advise this sort of footwear if you're doing the Sungei Kadut route where wetlands and plenty of green abound.

So much information has been gleaned from the fb group "We Support The Green Corridor" for the railway walk. Even more impressive is the unselfish sharing of the maps done up by CY Leong. Currently, there're 8 maps breaking up the railway line into sectors of short strolls with a per-sector average of 2km to 3km. We really appreciate the detailed information on the most accessible points of entry and exit along the route, as well as the photography points, flora and fauna to look out for. We even saw the mentioned roadkill that was there on 3 July when CY Leong did that map! The remains are still plastered on the tracks today.

I'm most pleased that the train has finally stopped in Singapore. I've never taken this train to Malaysia at all. While I understand the history and heritage it represents, to me, there's no nostalgia to reminisce about. It has always been a sore point between our governments, and frankly, I was relieved and happy to note that the long-standing dispute has reached a compromise, but am a little skeptical about its eventual resolution in the land parcel swap.

Good to know that the main building of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station will be kept as a heritage building. It's beautiful, and we need more of these buildings around instead of another souless glass and concrete urban monolith. Pieces of the railway tracks will be torn up in the name of re-development. That's fine. But what I'd like to see, is some semblance of sanity in the mad push for cosmopolitanism. I'd like to see portions of the railway track preserved as a green corridor.