It was one of those days where I'd gotten back early to the 'hood but because didn't feel like going back home straightaway decided it better that I take a wander in the neighborhood elsewhere.
At first I wasn't sure where I ought to go.
Should I, for instance, go along Jalan Ismail and then turn into Lengkong Tiga and see where else my feet would lead me?
Or should I stay on this path along Jalan Eunos and then turn into Jalan Daud before going along and further beyond?
I really didn't know.
So to Google Maps I went, and almost right away decided that there was more than enough time for me to take a longer walk, make a larger round, and visit Bedok Reservoir on the other side of the expressway.
Getting to the slip road from the bus stop between Jalan Awang and Jalan Ismail meant walking along a path that I had been walking nearly every day for a couple of weeks now.
What's interesting though was that I'd never quite seen the path look the way it did this late afternoon- gloriously illuminated in the sunshine.
It might have been the light.
It might have been the atmosphere.
But all at once I found myself taking special notice of things which I hadn't noticed before- like how the light cast symmetrical shadows over the granite ground, like how the houses on the street away from the path shone in the sunshine, and how in the many interim parks the foliage of trees and shrubs brightened their green.
There're a good number of interim parks along this stretch.
How many there are exactly I don't know- I don't count- but there's the Jalan Ismail Interim Park, there's the Jalan Awang Interim Park and there's the Jalan Daud Interim Park.
Out of these three, I'm probably most familiar with the last one.
It's got a fascinating array of trees which, when planted together, remind me somewhat of evergreen firs- kind of incongruent with the tropical climate that we have here- and which give off a sort of cool, wintry grey vibe.
I dont' suppose it's got anything to do with the fact that it's at the entrance of the slip road, but, then again, who knows?
There just might be.
But there was no time to stop this afternoon, however, and from this spot near the Jalan Daud Interim Park, I crossed the zebra crossing and entered under the PIE expressway.
Over on the other side, a short path led me to a small plant nursery- the Eco Scape Garden Center, actually- which sits quietly by the side of the road behind the bus stop.
Then, not too far after that, a right I made, and turned into the stretch that was Bedok Reservoir Road.
I'm beginning to find this road rather interesting.
Not so much about the road itself- urban planning has made a road nothing more than just a road, but now that I'm seeing these pictures, it won't surprise me that Bedok Reservoir Road be like one of those roads which have been there a long time, and which, if you follow along, will unveil and reveal themselves to you.
There was no time for me to do the entire stretch this evening (I'll have to do it on Daffy one day) but let's just say I got quite interested in the way this area was laid out.
First of all there was space.
Not the sort of space that we sense in certain suburban districts, but the sort of space that you find in mature housing estates where the pavements are wider, the width of roads are also wider, and whatever's on the opposite side seems much further than what it really might be.
That being said, it might have been the traffic.
Or the lack of it.
I was a little surprised to find the roads so quiet, because in my head, Bedok Reservoir Road is one of those roads that works as a thoroughfare, connecting you from one end of Eunos Link to parts of Kaki Bukit to the parts in between all the trees, along the reservoir proper, and all the way up to Tampines Avenue 1, Pasir Ris and Changi.
Maybe there'll come a time where I'll do this route on Daffy up to Tampines and IKEA.
But for today I took in the sights around me, like the interesting juxtaposition of housing board flats on one side, the terraced houses, and the condominiums on the other.
I'm not sure if it was deliberate.
Or why this side of Bedok Reservoir Road was planned this way.
But there she was, with her space, her blocks of flats, her traffic lights, and her shops sitting snug amongst housing blocks of two distinctive designs.
Somewhere along the way I passed by a large fenced up field that had flags fluttering in the breeze, a large Chinese temple at the far end, and then after that, there were more housing blocks- painted blue and white, a row of neighborhood shops- provision, coffee shop and the like, stretched out under the void deck.
And then there was a school, with a huge drain running alongside.
