Bottle Tree Park

It was a gathering of old classmates I haven't had in years, and the venue picked by Amy had been ideal for many of us. Not only was it the first visit for those staying at the other end of the island, for those like me who brought kids along, we had something to keep the kids busy with - at least for a while.

Picture of a Bottle Tree taken by my friend, Jenni.

With urbanization, Singapore is left with close to zero natural places for children to play in (or any at all!). Tucked at a corner of Yishun, the kids get to enjoy lokang fishing. 'Lokang' means drain in Malay. Village children used to catch fishes in the drains. I was a village kid, but I never did lokang fishing. Perhaps my male cousins did.

We went there a couple of times for family dinner, and were not prepared for the kids to get wet. SW and CH couldn't believe I brought them there prepared with extra clothes and towels this time. It was awesome watching them and the other kids having fun!

I was amazed to learn that this park was started by 3 friends who spent more than S$100,000 buying 6 rare trees and other exotic plants from Australia in 2004.

It was also the first time we brought any live fish home. I did not believe the fish would survive a few days in such a tiny box, and I really wasn't prepare to keep them as pets. The kids were disappointed, but they witnessed the smallest one dying. That same evening, we set them free at a nearby Park.