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MacRitchie Reservoir Park Treetop Walk

Here’s one thing that will definitely help you in losing weight: weight loss buddies. And I’ve got four new ones!

Two Saturdays ago found me meeting up with my friends Mildred and Tinay and Tinay’s friend Maida so we could go hiking in MacRitchie Reservoir Park. I had no idea that it would turn out to be a five-hour long trek! It was extremely exhausting but the equivalent of around 1,200 calories! Wow, right? So we wanna do it again! 😀

But I’m getting ahead of myself again, as usual. Let’s start from the beginning.

We met up in Bishan for breakfast. I had my favorite hotcakes in McDonald’s then we bought lunch and drinks before taking the MRT to Marymount station. We couldn’t figure out where to ride the bus that was supposed to get us to MacRitchie, so we rode a cab instead, and it cost around 6 bucks.

When we walked in, the first thing I noticed was a cafe. There was a monkey on the floor and while I was getting my camera out to take a picture of it, it suddenly bolted on top of the nearest table and snatched the girl’s coconut drink, much to her and my shock. Beware of monkeys, people. You have been warned.

We meandered on and found some cute signs, like this:

Pleased to meet you, Maida!

Farther along down the trail towards the treetop walk, I fell in love with the view. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining. Thank goodness I remembered to bring spray-on sunscreen. Despite spraying it on twice, though, I still got a tan line when I took off my watch. Well at least I didn’t get sun burned.

Dred sitting on a bench

Modeling my monopod. LOL.

Group shot taken with – you guessed it, my monopod!
As usual a passerby looked on with curiosity at my gadget.

I wonder how heavy that kayak is. 😮

That guy was carrying a kayak because you can rent kayaks and ride it on the water nearby. Look!

Dred wanted to take a ride and we initially agreed to go with her before we found out that it would take ages to get to the treetop walk.
I really couldn’t get enough of the breathtaking view, though. The greenness of the water reminded of the pellucid green waters of Phi Phi, which I had fallen in love with last year.

I was seriously tempted to take a dip!

We finally reached the start of the forest path but just as we were about to go in, Maida started screaming. Turns out the monkeys had seen her holding a plastic bag filled with our lunch, and were advancing towards her. We shooed them away and decided to go back a ways to eat our lunch before heading into the forest walk. I was still full from breakfast, but I had no choice but to stuff my barbeque chicken balls into my mouth. 

Here I am showing my almost-all-purple ensemble

The entrance to the forest path

A-hiking we will go

This is my favorite shot – the sun peeking through the forest canopy

The treetop walk was 4.4 km away. Each half kilometer was marked with a marker like this. It says 10 km because it’s facing the other way LOL.

We encountered a lot of people jogging along the way, and there was even one cute guy who greeted Dred with, “Hi, Geek!” (because of her shirt) and who explained that he was retracing his steps because he was looking for his lost sunglasses. I wonder if he ever found it? 
We were supposed to stay quiet so as not to disturb the forest and startle the animals, but we needed to distract ourselves from how tired we were, so we played the continue-the-song-with-another-song game. I know, you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? Nevermind.
Finally, after what seemed like forever and a day, we reached the Ranger Station, where there was a water fountain and I refilled my water bottle. AHHHH! (You know, like the Coke commercial.)

I was super happy to see this sign! Just 0.3 km more! Yayness! 😀 😀 😀

But it turns out that final 0.3 km was all uphill and we walked as if in slow motion. Tinay even complained, “Why does this last 0.3 km feel a lot more difficult than the last 4.1 km we just walked??” 

Song for this portion: “For me, it’s getting steep”

But finally finally finally, we reached the top and we walked down some stairs and saw this:

There was a guy manning that booth and we asked him to take our pic on the other side. He obliged.

So this was the famous treetop walk! It’s a hanging bridge and though I’m deathly afraid of heights, I didn’t feel that scared because the barricade on each side was pretty high (unlike certain other hanging bridges I’ve crossed in my hometown). When I saw the view as I walked, I understood how it got its name. 

Treetops… treetops everywhere!

But when we got to the other side and thought that was the end of it, we were wrong. So dead wrong. I almost wanted to cry when I saw these stairs.

There were hundreds more steps to climb and afterwards, still much ground to cover. My legs were literally shaking as I walked and I was sorely tempted to just lie down on the ground and go to sleep forever.
Then finally, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel parking lot near a clearing, and when I saw it, I quickly kicked off my shoes and sat down on the grass like this:
I’m soooo exhausted! 🙁

And just our luck, after we had rested a bit and I had put on my shoes, and we were wondering how on earth to leave the place, a cab arrived to drop off some people and we flagged it to take us to Bishan MRT station, where we proceeded to guzzle down ice cold shakes. AHHHHH! (Once again, like the Coke commercial.)

While it was super tiring, though, I have to admit that it was really enjoyable. I love going to new places and trying out new things, and so, Dear Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, see you soon! Challenge accepted! 😀

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4 Comments

  1. That song game sounds fun- but definitely one I'd be loud, laughing and disturbing animals 🙂 Wish I had some fun workout buddies too!

  2. Looks like a beautiful place to hike. In Sedona,Arizona hiking is a serious thing and they really preserve the land,animals and plants to the best of their ability, so I totally get it 🙂

  3. Right, you do love to hike! I think hiking is the most fun exercise because it doesn't require as much effort as running or whatever and you get to enjoy the view!

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