the beauty of nature

even as nature ages, its beauty endures

came across this leafless tree near the venus drive car-park, one of the starting points for the hsbc treetop walk.

roadside fruit trees of lim chu kang (1)

there are at least 15 varieties of fruit trees planted by the ava (agri-food and veterinary authority of singapore) along the many roads - most of them are actually called lanes - in lim chu kang. if you are not familiar with that area, you can end up going in circles because of the many lanes.

the miracle fruit trees are found mostly on both sides of neo tiew lane 2, where the soon-to-be-opened farm-stay chalets are located. the fruit is also known as magic berry because after eating this fruit, sour or bitter food will taste sweet. i have yet to see any of the trees bear fruit.

there are not many kedongdong trees and these are usually grown interspersed with the other fruit trees. you can find a few along neo tiew crescent, the road that leads to the sungei buloh wetland reserve. i used to be able to buy the fruit from bangkit market on weekends and from sheng siong supermarket on some occasions. in my kampong days, we called them buah long long.

the sour soup trees in lim chu kang are mostly planted along one of the side roads off lim chu kang lane 3. like most of the fruit on the trees in lim chu kang, they hardly get a chance to reach full maturity. once they reach the near ripe stage, some kiasu will quickly pluck it for his own safe keeping.

mangosteen trees take about 9 to 10 years to bear fruit, so most of the trees at lim chu kang are about that old. the ones that have started bearing fruit are found along neo tiew crescent and lim chu kang lane 9. by mangosteen standard, they are considered young. incidentally, there is one outside the visitors' centre at bukit timah nature reserve which is older and much taller. the older mangosteen trees tend to produce more fruit. a mature tree can bear a few thousand mangosteens.

i first came across nutmeg trees when i visited penang in the 70s. so, i was quite excited when i came across them at the lim chu kang area. like the kedongdong, there are not many of them and they are also interspersed among the jambu mawar trees along neo tiew road and among the duku langsat trees along lim chu kang lane 6.

what building was here?

what was the building that was here before it had to be demolished to make way for the expansion of the national museum of singapore?

drama centre; formerly known as the cultural centre

surely, most people can still remember because it happened less than a decade ago.

the original building was built in 1955 and was known by a different name. it was officially opened by the late mr david marshall.

different stages of the tacca chantrieri flowers

the tacca chantrieri (black bat flower) at bukit batok nature park. the last time i saw flowers on the plants was in february this year. i think this plant likes some shade but plenty of moisture. it thrives where there is good circulation of air. the plant and its flowers seemed to wither during a period when there was no rain but they were soon revitalised when the rain came.

i came upon the same plants along the marang trail, near to the exit to harbourfront. some of them were also with flowers.

in malaysia, they call it the devil's flower.

kite running

when a kite is cut loose, it becomes a free item and it is fair for everyone and anyone to gain possession of it. some kites can be carried by the wind for long distances before they come to a abrupt halt either on a tree top, a roof top, the compound of a house or on the ground. sometimes you do get kites which are like godsend, dropping right in front of you.

there seems to be a lot of thrills in going after a drifting kite, so much so that these people - children and some grown ups - throw caution to the wind. they are so focussed on getting their hands on the kite that they seem to be oblivious to the things around them. they dash across the road, in front of oncoming traffic, risking their lives for the 5 or 10-cent kite.

the eyes of kite runners are so fixed on the loose kite that they do not seem to see or care what is ahead of them. i have seen people injuring themselves falling into drains in the process of kite running. at the jewish cemetery near my home, they will step on the grave and get on top of the tomb just to reach for their prize.

some carry long bamboo poles - those which their mothers use for hanging clothes to dry. some carry twigs and broken branches, an extension which will enable them to reach the string or the kite before the other kite chasers.

sometimes, the scene can turn ugly when more than one person lay claim to getting hold of the kite. when this happens, more often than not, one of them will damage the kite so that nobody can have it.

for those who do not relish the rush and fight for the kite, they can always look for the trailing string that is attached to the kite. sometimes, this string can be quite long and if you can get hold of it, you can take possession of the kite before it ends in the hands of the mob.

(the kite runner is a novel by afghan writer khaled hosseini. it was adapted into a film by the same name in 2007.)