ulu sembawang park connector

while driving along mandai road on sunday, i was excited on seeing a new signboard announcing the ulu sembawang park connector. i have been wanting to re-explore this area for sometime but i could not because it is a protected area - a military training area. according to my blogger friend chun see, wild boars have been sighted in this area. protected or not, during the durian season, it is not uncommon to see trespassers in this area. i recall enjoying my visits to this farming area back in the 70s. i wanted to see if there were still some vestiges of the past.

my first attempt to walk the trail failed because i had driven there and i could not find a parking space. the nearest parking space was 1km away and my walking kaki was not up to it - walking the extra 1km that day. the next day, i took a public bus (service 171) that stops near the entrance to the park connector. the first part of the track was the old road that led to the ulu sembawang village. there are some farms on the right side of the track. i think these farms are part of the mandai agrotechnology park where the access to them is via lorong lada hitam.




from the mandai road entrance, it is some 4.8km to the admiralty park, the one next to the republic polytechnic. however, some sections of the connector at woodlands avenue 12 are still under construction. from admiralty park, you can make your way to the woodlands waterfront and the two other parks in woodlands.

besides other flora, the nparks have planted lantanas by the side of the track and their beautiful flowers are attracting lots of butterflies. i am learning to identify butterflies and if i am not wrong, this one belongs to the crow species.


i ended my walk at the point where there is a road crossing to woodlands avenue 12 and from there i backtracked to mandai road. again, the same story - i did not meet any other walker along the route but i did come across two cyclists.

so, did i manage to see remnants of the ulu sembawang village? the tracks or roads that served the village are still around and i think the soldiers are making use of them. however, i did not venture far enough for me to see old structures like abnadoned buildings and so on.