Recently there is a new hiking area called
Dairy Farm Nature Park which is opened next to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. This new discovery make it easier for older walkers and young children to pause and check out the nature beauty, butterflies, birds and plants.
Unlike the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which has many uphill trails along the way, Dairy Farm Nature Park has flatter trails which is more relax and enjoyable for hikers. There are two carparks within the park where Carpark B near Bukit Timah Express way, has the nearer access (about 15 minutes walk) to the Wallace Education Center.
Along the walk to the Wallace Education Center, you can enjoy the beauty of the nature by looking at these beautiful flowers, plants and trees. Kids will sure to enjoy the walk as they will find many interesting insects such as butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies, beetles and etc.
Outside the Education center, you will find interesting road sign and interesting creatures. We did spot some lizard and monkeys on that day. There is also a Wallace Trail near the Education Center which is about 1Km. This trail cuts through secondary forest and you will find fruit trees such as Durian and Rambutan also you might able to spot some bracket fungi and beetles.
Wallace Education Centre is a former milking shed that has been restored into an information centre that traces the history of the area. They also have interactive information kiosk that has pictures of the biodiversity found in the area.
About 3 minutes away away from the Education Center, you will see a one-storey abandoned old fashioned English garden house which is believed to have been built in the 1920s. Outside the house, you will find a small garden planted with ixora, lantanas and hibiscus which makes it a very popular photo shot area.
After back to Carpark B from the Wallace Education Center, we move on to Carpark A where we start another 30 minutes walk to the Singapore Quarry Trail. As you can see, along the walk we discovered a lot of interesting view, flowers and Rey also spot some Banana Trees.
At the entrance of the Singapore Quarry, there are a lot of Orchid flower planted on the left side of the gate which add extra beauty to the area. This former quarry has been transformed into a wetland where they is a viewing deck with a sheltered area.
Releasing of fish or other animals into the wetland is prohibited as it will disrupt the eco-system. We are also not allow to capture any insects such as butterflies or dragonflies or bird. This place is indeed full of nature peace and you can see that it's such a beautiful place to indulge in. So do try to squeeze out some of your time from your busy schedule and take a walk along these trail to enjoy the beauty of the Nature Park.
LongHouse located at the busy street of Upper Thomson Road where it is very hard to find a park lot during lunch/dinner peak hours. Recently, they have an open air car park that one street before the food centre which can accommodate more parking spaces for foodies to enjoy their favourite food.
There are about more than 10 stalls in the Longhouse food center, ranging from Chinese, Korean, Malay and etc. Most of the people are attracted to the famous Bugis Chicken Rice, Char Kway Teow and Pisang Goreng. And you can hardly find a place during the lunch crowd timing.
There are too many choices of food to be choose from. So after much discussion, we settle for these few dishes below. While ordering the Fried Oyster Omelette - 蚝煎 and Char Kway Teow, Mum happen to spot one of her friend helping around at the stall. In this case, we have extra ingredients in our orders :p Look at the fat and juicy oysters that are being wrapped in layers of omelette, isn't this taste great despite of all the fats content :) We all love this dish ad it is not as oily compare to some other stalls and the omelette is nicely done with a golden and crispy texture.
The Char Kway Teow is of average standard, as we find that it is still lack of something which brings out that special flavour which compare to some of those famous Char Kway Teow stalls around Singapore. From the photo, you can see that the rice noodles is being fried together with some dark sauce, with the adding of beansprouts, spring onion, egg and some cockles. While some of other stalls, might have prawns, fish cakes, choy sum or Chinese sausage and etc....
Apart from the oily stuffs, we also ordered one pot of the double-boiled soup which is the "Du Zhong Ji Tang - 杜仲炖鸡汤" because I was attracted by the stunning soup photos on the menu. But to our disappointment, this soup does not taste as what we expected before of the ingredients they add. Mum and I both feel that the soup taste kind of odd with the adding of pepper and Chinese parsley. As these two ingredients actually mask up the herbal taste of the soup.
Lastly, after a nice and comfort meal. We decided to order a few of these to settle our sweet tooth. Since this is my favourite snacks/finger food, I cannot resists the temperation and buy more than half a dozen of different items on the shell. As you can see, the outer skin is so nicely fried with a golden and crispy layer which makes you crave for more after your first bite.
