Discovering Singapore's newest green hub - The HortPark with Alber Adventure

Let me introduce two "firsts". The first is the latest attraction for nature lovers - the opening of HortPark, a seemless nature trail of parks connector of some 23 hectare of green space.

"HortPark is a one-stop gardening hub that brings together gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities under one big canopy in a park setting. It is a knowledge hub for plants and gardening and provides the platform for the industry to share best practices and showcase garden designs, products and services. This 23-hectare regional park in South-Western Singapore is also a park connector, connecting Telok Blangah Hill Park to Kent Ridge Park."

To read more, click here.

The other first is the testing of the fastest power wheelchair currently available here. The German-made Alber Adventure power wheelchair with a top speed of 14kph will blow you away. The Abler is one hell of a dream machine. I had this rare opportunity of riding this uber wheelchair due to the kind courtesy of Mr Cheong of Start-Centre, the person who is responsible for marketing it here. The photos below showed the dual joy of discovering Singapore's latest green lung on the fastest power wheelchair here.

The rather deceptive path leads to a flight of steps with no indication or signage of the imminent danger. There is however a flat path just besides it. From the wheelchair rider's perspective, it appears a slope downwards. I hope the NParks will look into this immediately.

The dangerous view from the other side.
The Alber was a joy to ride on - its excellent suspension coupled with comfortable seat made me feel like I am travelling on business class seat of my beloved Singapore Airlines. It is a continuous climb of slope of some 500 metres or about 10 minutes to reach the top of South Ridge by Alber power wheelchair.

Me and Alber. What an achievement reaching the top of South Ridge, well almost the top. Our journey was hampered by a flight of steps to continue a little further.

Feeling contented of conquering South Ridge without a sweat, I travelled down.
Feeling supremely happy with being in touch with nature, the Alber just made it so much enjoyable like travelling into the heart of Congo.

Outside Fu Lu Shou

Buy a lottery ticket from him and you can be rich!
Ice cream is a welcome treat on a tropical hot weather.
The hot season sees the bountiful harvest of durians which are available almost in every part of Singapore. Together with rambutans and mangoes, they are available for about a month during mid-May to June period.
A mountain of juicy rambutans.

Tango in Bugis

This lovely facade of windows at Bugis Junction had a long history. The verandah on the second floor was the place for the infamous "girlie" bars and saucy parades in the 1960s which were popular with locals as well as British sailors then.
Natural light streams into this airconditioned section which makes it a cool and comfortable place to enjoy your favourite drink and watch the world passes by.
This is a super fresh pure mango puree with chunks of sweet fragrant mangoes. I must have it whenever I am at Bugis Junction. This heavenly concoction "Mango Tango" is from an eatery called Rockery. A decent-sized cup for $3.50. Shiok!

*shiok is a local Singapore slang which means "delicious"!

A tribute to late Ah Meng, icon of Singapore Zoological Gardens

In the shade.
The beautiful orange flowers with my safety flag matched nicely.
His Highness looking contented.
Signing the Condolences Book.

This is my new blog on my photojournal of places in Singapore, travelling in my ferrari. Here is my ferrari aka my motorised wheelchair.

These photos are dedicated to Ah Meng, the orangutan who was the icon of Singapore Zoological Gardens. Her burial took place on 10 February 2008 on a nice hilly top which saw thousands of people, who had fond memories of her, came to pay their last respect.

Thanks for visiting!