From Heritage to Urbanity - A Photo journey through the Ulu Sembawang Park Connector

Stop 4: The Ulu Sembawang Park Connector

The Entrance

A short bus trip down Mandai Road, and you'll end up at the southern end of the Ulu Sembawang Park Connector. It is a path which runs through the Mandai Forest. Most of the forest has been claimed as a military training area, and the forest has been largely inaccessible until NParks turned this into a park connector. Look out for the rewilding signs around the area, and make sure not to trespass into the military training area when you visit!

                                                                    

You will also find the beginning of the Upper Seletar Reservoir. It is beautiful and smelt like the chemicals you would find in NEWater. It's amazing how clean water flowed from a dam-like area into the natural-looking reservoir. 

                                       

Starting the Trail

You might wonder why NParks made such a decision to create this park connector. Turns out, this forest holds a lot of significance. According to Roots.sg, this forest used to house several kampongs, including one of a Catholic Village which used to be inhabited by Teochew refugees from China. I was really interested as to what this village could have looked like. However, you cannot see the ruins, as this piece of history is now enclosed within the military training area.

                                                                                  Reminders not to trespass the moment you turn in the direction of where that old Catholic Village might have been.

                                                                    The sunrise viewing point. 

Forest of past, present and future.

                                                        Standing at the edge of the hill where the forest drops deep and all you can see are the tree tops.

            Different kinds of trees are grown all over the                forest.

Reaching the end - Woodlands Ave 12 and the Woodlands New Town

The new mosque, the new Woodlands Health Campus, and the concrete flyover.

Back to the concrete jungle.

    

Conclusion

I learnt that as time passed, the needs of the land and people changed. As the past fades away, we try to preserve our heritage by intertwining nature together. I leave with more questions. What are the stories that we want to pass on? Is it truly okay to intertwine the culture of the past and future together in this way?