A couple of months ago I made my first visit (after many years) to MacRitchie Reservoir that sits on the south side of the Central Catchment Area.
A couple of weeks later I made my first visit (also after many years) to another reservoir north of MacRitchie that in fact comprises of two reservoirs sitting side by side in the middle of the same catchment area.
Upper Peirce and Lower Peirce lie on a west-east direction where north of Lower Peirce is Thomson Nature Park, south is Windsor Nature Park, and where parts of Singapore Island Country Club, SICC Millennium Golf Course and Bukit Kajang Service Reservoir are nestled in between.
I had thought of going to Upper Peirce.
It seemed more interesting.
But a quick check on the NParks website showed me that I'd have to go on this very long, very winding road just to get to the Upper Peirce Viewpoint, so I decided to reserve it for cycling season and settled on Lower Peirce instead.
I went to the reservoir with no expectations.
Meaning that I didn't know what the place was like, I didn't know where the route would take me, and I didn't know what I would see.
It's always safer for a first timer to take the easiest route, so that's what I did, entering the Reserve from the Casuarina Entrance.
A short climb up a staircase and I came out onto a boardwalk which I soon realized meandered through some of the most amazing natural foliage that on this island I had ever seen.
You know how there are times when you stumble upon a place that gives you different vibes from what you have seen before, or have been used to?
That's what the forest of Lower Peirce was like.
See, I've been to several parks and nature reserves on our island- Southern Ridges and Imbiah included- but may I say that the atmosphere of the forests here were somewhat a little different from what I'd seen elsewhere?
It's very hard for me to describe how the place was like.
I don't have the words for it.
But shall we just say that the plants, the trees, and the little stream winding its way through the foliage made me feel like this forested world had been around, and had been left untouched for a very, very long time?
It was in the air.
It was in the atmosphere.
And it would have felt more magical had I not had to hear excited chatter from the visitors that walked past.
Apologies, but some of them were really noisy.
It wasn't a very long walk.- a total of 45 minutes, I estimate- and which would have been shorter had I not kept stopping to take pictures.
Some parts along the boardwalk looked out to the reservoir.
And eventually I came out to the reservoir itself.
Here the atmosphere changed.
Maybe it were the gentle rippling waters of the reservoir.
Maybe it were the trees (in strategic positions) that enabled visitors to place a mat beneath their canopies, lie down, and throw their gaze at the sky.
 |
I don't' really know.
It just was more crowded, more lively.
There were the joggers, the walkers and the cyclists.
There were the families with young children strolling about.
Then there were the middle aged and the elderly couples out on their evening strolls.
I saw kids on rented bicycles daring each other to attract the attention of a macaque who had made its way up a tree.
And I saw dogs big and small on leash taking walks with their family.
It was a very peaceful sight.
I don't think I'll be going back there for a while but maybe one day- just for a lark- I'll enter Lower Peirce from this entrance where the carpark is, or I might just make my way along Upper Thomson Road and head towards Upper Peirce Reservoir instead.