The weather forecast for today indicated partly cloudy but it turned out to be sunny with a bright clear sky. With such a nice morning, John Wong our guest leader, led us to explore an interesting greenery area located somewhere between Clementi Ave 4 and Sunset Way. We were told that this site is actually part of the old Malaysia Railway Line (Jurong Line) but has been disused for more than 20 years. The railway track is still there and from a distance, it looks like it is operational. Someone even asked “Is it safe to shoot here?”.
On both sides of the railway track, there are full of grasses, plants as well as wild fruits and flowers. The wild flowers attracted quite a no. of butterflies and bees. Unfortunately, they hardly perch for a long period and it was really difficult to capture them in pixels. Hence, some of us concentrated on photographing flowers instead.
We saw some fruit trees too such as mango and Jambu (Rose Apple). The mangoes were very small but the Jambus, although not as big and red as those found in Malaysia or Taiwan, they certainly looked good enough to be eaten! One of us couldn’t resist the temptation and tasted one of them. It was surprising sweet and juicy!
(Delicious Jambus)
Even a stink bug was attracted to it and tried to suck some of its juices!
A few ventured further up on the left hand side of the railway track. Darren spotted a crab spider there perching on a frond filled with nice marking and pattern. An interesting and enjoyable view!
At about 9 am, John led us to the right hand side of the railway track. There is a old bridge not too far away. Our target was to reach the other end of the bridge where there are some green vegetation to be explored.
(An old bridge)
However, from near, the bridge looked a little scary and dangerous to cross and there was a "DANGER KEEP OUT" sign to warn people from crossing over.
(Danger! don't cross!)
As it is better to be safe than sorry, we took a detour by walking carefully down a slope and used a pedestrian bridge nearby. It was quite a distance but no one was complaining as all of us knew that safety comes first.
(Walking down a slope)
Other subjects spotted in this outing include a large changeable lizard, praying mantis, mating cotton bugs, ants, ladybird, tussock moth, damselflies, dragonfly, jumping spiders, a rare cicada and many more.
After a few hours of shooting, we finally called it a day and went to a nearby coffee shop at Blk 308 for lunch and chit-chat. Some members had left earlier due to other commitments but those who stayed behind were rewarded with a nice group photo to bring back as a memory of this relaxing and enjoyable outing.
(Endy, Sadiran, Ong, Kyaw Htay, Joe Tan, Flor, Doris, Phoebe, Sonia, Xingjing, Joe Kellard)
Please click the following links to see some of the images taken at this outing:
Participants (22) - John Wong (Guest Leader), Darren Chng, Endy Tan, Allan Lee, Sharon S. Lim, Phoebe Leong, Kyaw Htay, Yeo Tang Lim, Tan Teck Nam, Loy Xingjian, Ong Lim Sim, Flor J. Joe Tan, Sadiran Samikon, Sonia Zou, Danny, Eugene, Leonard, Joe Kellard, Doris Ng, Mohammad KaramiNejad Ranjbar & Anthony Quek (Coordinator)
