Thursday, February 16, 2012

Garden Connector ; A Photo Blog

One of the high points of Singapore is that even in very ordinary locations, you might come across a spot, which is staggeringly beautiful. The narrow sea channel between Malaysia and Singapore is called ‘Selat Johar’. There is a storm drain canal, built to carry the storm waters to ‘Selat Johar’. A beautiful walkway with mettle surface, has been laid on the embankment of this canal. A leisurely walk along this walkway, takes one straight to the sea channel. 

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Thick tropical rain forest, with some trees as tall as sixty to seventy feet, could be seen on one side of this road. This makes this entire area staggeringly beautiful.

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I take my daily morning walks on this walkway. Earlier, when I was staying in California, I used to take my daily walks along a picturesque street, lined with maple trees and had always considered that street (particularly in fall time) to be the most beautiful path on which I have ever walked. Yet beauty of this  garden connector (as it is called here), in some ways, certainly surpasses that of maple street. This connector walkway has been laid along a side of the floodwater canal.

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On the other side of this canal, sheer majesty of a tropical rainforest gives me company all along. 

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The tall trees and the thick grasses create certain kind of mystic air and as the dawn breaks, water vapours  gently rise up from the rain sodden and moist forest, enveloping it in a foggy blanket, which further accentuates the mystic aura. 

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Beautiful flowering trees and shrubs have been planted on both sides of this walkway, giving the look of a garden path to this way. Few weeks back, I noticed many ‘Bottle Brush’ trees in full bloom with bright yellow flowers.I also notice along the way, many varieties of Acacias and Crotons with their multicoloured leaves.
Behind these shrubs, lush green grass grows on sloping land forming a nice backdrop. At few places, spiders lay out their white fluffy webs on the moist grass hoping for a meal. The webs shine and glisten in the early morning sunlight. 

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The walkway is serenely quiet except for chirpings of all kinds of birds as a backstage musical score. Sometimes, battalions of birds start it at the same time to reach a crescendo, creating a virtual cacophony, which usually lasts for a few moments, later returning the walkway to normal calm.

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The calm sometimes gets disturbed with huffing and puffing of an odd jogger or when a bicycler whizzes past you. 

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After a distance, the walkway turns sharply to the right. Not far from here, the land breaks and a clear open view of the sea channel with details of Malaysian coast emerge before my eyes.

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This sight of the sea always brings a sense of freedom to my mind. 

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However, this is the point of return for me and I stop and turn back. A feeling of contented satisfaction lingers in my mind.

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