Saturday, November 15, 2008

foreigners appreciate our amenities and facilities



the impression i get lately when i move around singapore is that foreigners, especially the foreign workers, seem to appreciate the amenities and facilities that we have more than the local people. when i go to the parks and the beaches, i meet quite a number of anglers or walkers, who sounded like mainland chinese, taking advantage of the things we have to offer.

at lower seletar reservoir fishing jetty, i could discern two groups of anglers. one group comprising the younger set appears to be locals but the other group of older folks included some foreign workers.

the foreigners are quick to source out the bargain places as well as those places which the local take for granted. at sheng siong and ntuc supermarkets, you are more likely to bump into foreigners than at cold storage or isetan (not counting the japanese expatriates).

lower seletar reservoir has a jetty specially built for fishing enthusiasts. it is also a nice spot to watch the mrt trains on the elevated tracks. this is one place where you can see trains approaching from opposite directions and seeming to meet at a certain point.

it is not as popular a venue for water sports as macritchie and bedok reservoirs. only two or three institutions make use of the facilities here for their sea sports training. one of them is the republic which uses the grounds here for their dragon-boat training.

the last time i visited this place, certain parts were chokeful of hydrilla. looks like the national park people have done a good job; there is no trace of any of those plants in the water. the npb (national park board) is also continually upgrading their parks and improvement at the lower seletar reservoir will come in the form of a family bay area soon.

2 comments:

Lam Chun See said...

I have seen Bangladesh workers casting fishing nets in the Kallang River near Braddel Road.

BTW, short form for National Parks Board is not NPB but Nparks. NPB stands for National Productivity Board, even though it has changed its name to Spring Spore.

yg said...

over at sungai cina in admiralty park, i have also seen two bangladeshi or indian workers laying a net right across the river.
thanks for the correction. i assume it is 'npb' because each time i want to get to the nparks homepage, i will google for 'npb' and it leads me to the page.