A walk to remember

Since Chup wrote about our trip to Sungei Buloh, I thought for completeness sake, I should also mention about our Treetop Walk at Mac Ritchie Reservoir.

Something I meant to do for a while but have been putting it off...

On 5 Nov 06, Chup, Brother Sharx and myself decided to give the much talked about "Treetop Walk" a try.

If you refer to the attached map, we parked our car at Location 1. We then started walking along the trail towards the location of the Hanging Bridge - that's where the treetop walk is. It was a 4.8km trail to reach the Bridge. If you add the walk-through of the bridge and the journey back to the carpark, all in all, it would add up to around a whopping 10km. Nothing for marathon and long distance runners but this is certainly a scary distance to me. Then I thought it can't be that bad. If I can roller blade 10km, I should be able to walk 10km. I was later proven to be very wrong :@

I must say our walk is not completely monotonous.

We came across some interesting sights along the way.

We took a photo with some sky high bamboos, a boy with the most-innovative-hat-of-the-year, and zillions of migrating ants (just like my scary encounter)





It seems like I have walked forever but I was still nowhere near the Bridge. I huffed and puffed, and still I was not there... I was trailing far behind Chup and Bro who were blessed with much longer legs :(

But there was no turning back. I have reached a point of no return.




So we walked from Location 1 ==> 2 ==> 3 (where the Hanging Bridge is)



2 hours later we were finally at the starting point of the Bridge. Imagine walking 5km to walk a bridge that can be completed in 2 minutes! There was nothing much to see along the bridge. Just foliage, that's about it. No matter how long you try to admire the leaves patterns and examine the branches network, you won't need more than 5 minutes.




We later spent another 10 minutes at the end of the bridge where Chup did a water colour, Sharx took a nap and me left my mark on the floor board.




Don't worry, I wasn't leaving a permanent mark. It was just water colour. So now you see it, soon you won't :)






Later, I reluctantly started walking again. From Location 3 ==> 4 and back to Location 2.

Here at the crossroads, I announced my plan to my walking partners that I won't be able to make it back to Location 1 and will walk to Location 5 instead. From there, I would then flag a cab to bring me back to Location 1, where our car was parked.

My plan was not well received. Especially by Chup. He even refused to give my cab money :(

Chup said I didn't keep my word and was a QUITTER. But my legs could go on no more. I really couldn't imagine walking another 5km! So I stuck with my plan, thinking I should be able to beg some men to lend me $10 for my cab ride.

Bro Sharx later relented and decided to accompany me. Chup too later. And so we didn't walk the full 10km. We probably only did 7 or 8km. And if you ask me, the Hanging Bridge was quite an anti climax to me. I expected so much more but it offered so much less. If you really must take a look, I highly suggest you park at Location 5. Your whole journey would then be down to a comfortable 5km walk.

As we were walking out to the main road, we made a shocking discovery.

We witnessed the remains of a baby monitor lizard (about 40cm in length) which was brutally 'murdered'. The person who did it was really sick! He should be reborn as a monitor lizard in his next life and be given the same treatment! From my CSI observation, I could see that he dropped 3 rocks on the lizard. First one missed the subject. 2nd one hit the tail. And the final blow hit the lizard right on its head, paralysing it immediately. The lizard must have died a slow painful death... How could anyone be so cruel??











...the one who is really enjoying all the nature walks