Third day

Its 5:30 in the morning, still dark, street lights yet to go out. Joggers passes by and the roads are empty but the MRT station is not! Some people begin their work as early as 5:00 am. We were going to travel from one end of the MRT station (North East) to the other end (South West) which is about 20 km apart. And this time we decided to be away from the city life and explore the greenery of the nature. It was hike to the 'Henderson wave bridge' through 'Mount Faber park'. Going by the name, I thought it to be some kind of bridge from where we see some wave created on some sea shore and something like that, but wait untill what I saw in reality (I was totally astonished).  After reaching the Harbour front MRT station, first thing that we did was  put in some energy, yet again discovering new local delicacies. It was a treat early in the morning (I never had so much varieties for breakfast).

Colorful breakfast before the walk.

The best time to visit this place is either early in the morning or towards the end of the day as in the afternoon, the sun could be quite harsh. 'Mount Faber park' is one of the oldest parks in Singapore and taking a walk there was like dreaming and walking. You just loose yourself to the atmosphere that you are in. It was very quiet and calm. All you can hear is the sound of your footsteps and the chirping of the birds (If the other walkers or joggers are not so near to you). All the walkways are paved amidst the trees. So, it looked like an undisturbed nature with a fraction of modernization. 

Mount Faber Park map and the paved walkways.

The higher you walk, the more spectacular view of the cities and its beautiful beaches you see.We took some time to admire the city structures including the condominium from the nature's side. 'Faber Peak' is the highest point of the Faber Park from where people can take a direct ride to the 'Sentosa Island' via a cable car. If you take the cable car, you would definitely miss the Henderson Wave bridge. So, we being the first time visitor, didn't want to miss it but we sure did see a model of a cable car on the way.

Enjoying the view.

Now comes the 'Henderson Wave bridge', 36 meters above the ground. Contradictory to my thoughts earlier, neither there was a sea, nor a wave created by it. It was the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore and shaped like the undulating waves of the sea. This architectural wonder is 274 m long and 8 m wide (source:google) giving a beautiful platform for people to workout, rest, meditate and enjoy its beauty. The bridge was also attached with LED lights which I suppose the night view was even better. The view from the bridge was amazing too. Felt like I was on top of the tallest tree present there.

YES! way to the Henderson Wave bridge.

So happy that we reached there. :)

Nice place to sit, rest and even meditate.

After spending a pretty good amount of time on the bridge, we bade farewell to this amazing place. Moving forward through the forest walk, the trees were so different from what we see back in our country (obviously because these were tropical trees).We could even know their names as they had a nameplate or something like a display board in-front of it with few descriptions about them. The path that we were walking on was raised to a certain feet above the ground.Usually we observe trees from its bottom to top, but here, we observed it from top to bottom (though not completely from the top).  Well that was a whole new experience and felt like we were walking with the trees, shoulder to shoulder.

 Raised walking trail behind.

We had a quick juice break before entering the 'Hortpark'. All these places (Henderson wave bridge, Mount faber park, forest walk and some more other parks) are nearby, we can say that they are sort of connected. Ok,so the 'Hortpark' is a dream land for the garden lovers. It was such a nice and lovely place to be in with all those beautiful flowers, fruit trees and even vegetables. They had their name plates and interestingly there was a barcode reader on those nameplates using which we can learn more about the plants. That was something new to me. You can also find a small play ground for kids and towards the end, there was a green house with so many colorful and pretty flowers. So my impression was that though the park was huge, it was very well managed (thumbs up!).

To Hortpark :)

One of the name plate with the barcode.

Great place to take a quick snap.

This was the end of our Park journey. Now we were heading to the dream destination of many people- the 'Sentosa Island'. We were like being transported from the mountain to the plain (two completely different places). I had heard a lot about the beaches but never been to one, so this was it. I was so excited. Well, 'Sentosa' is basically a man made island, a wonder land full of exciting things to do. For me, it was like entering into a different world, world of dreams where you have beautiful beaches, luxury hotels, a casino, even a golf coast and all those things that you can think of.
We entered the island by a mono rail from the Harbour front MRT. There was a huge crowd waiting to hop in the mono rail as it was weekend and we too waited patiently for our turn. Our first stop was the beaches. There are three beaches: Palawan, Siloso and the Tanjong beach and after examining all of them, we settled in the Palawan beach. That was our perfect spot.

On the crystal sand.

Can see cargo ships far away

Until now, I used to wonder as to why the sand doesn't get dusty when the wind blows (especially in the movies)? well,that was because the beach sand are coarser than what we usually see near the rivers and they looked like mini crystals. Even the sea water, I mean, we know that sea water are supposed to be salty but I didn't know that it could be that salty! It was like drinking a cup of water with a fist full of salt in it. So, anyone planning to go and have a dip in the sea water for the first time like me, make sure to keep your mouth closed. It was quite overwhelming for me being the first time but I did not miss the fun. There are restaurants and bars too to refresh and relax away from the sand. But we had bought some packed foods of our own. It was a great time relaxing under the tree, eating and enjoying the beautiful sea view (can see few cargo ships far away too).

Reached there after drinking quite a lot of salt water.

Relaxing on the sand.

They also have a free 'open train' like vehicle moving around the beaches. It moves quite slowly describing the places. So you can hop in and enjoy the views without having to walk in the scorching sun. After having enough of the sand and the sea, we were back on our moving mode. We greeted the Merlion again-'Sentosa Merlion'. One thing  I can say is that these places were never short of people. There were people everywhere! And whatever we saw along our way were simply amazing. A quick stop at the Starbucks to regain our energy.
One of the wonders of this island is the 'Universal Studio', a theme park with many attractions with about 24 ride and various shows. You need obviously more than a day to enjoy most of it. Did I also say that this island has a casino too? Yes, it does and the closest that we got to it was till its entrance. I mean come on, we need to be loaded to get in, just Kidding!

The famous  Universal Studio giant globe.

That's how a casino looks from outside.

Under the candy tree and at the bus stop.

To exit from this exciting island, you get a free bus ride to the nearest MRT, so thoughtful of them. But the great way to end the day was the delicious dinner together with Rima and her family. So thankful to all of them :). So this was my third day in the beautiful city 'Singapore'.

Delicious dinner with the beautiful family.