Singapore: Bukit Timah

Tags: Asia, Country High Points, Hiking, Mountains, Singapore

Bukit Timah was definitely not the main reason for visiting Singapore, but of course I could not help but climb the highest hill, a 164 meters jungle-top, when I was in Singapore anyway.

On the second day in Singapore we take a taxi from Little India and 20 minutes later we arrive at the visitor center at the foot of Bukit Timah. We pay only 11 Singapore Dollar, confirming that taxis are quite cheap for a modern country like Singapore. At the visitor center they give us a map for free, and shortly after we start to walk. The temperature almost give us a heat stroke, so do the humidity, but the uphills are thankfully short, very short.

We arrive the top after 15-20 minutes of slow-paced walking. Surprisingly we have the entire top for ourselves, so we easily can get our photo and proof of "been there done that". Afterwards we walk down along a different trail, so we can get some variation in this jungle. We suddenly see a snake about 60 inches long crossing the trail. Emily refuses to walk any further, and she wants to turn around immediately. But the snake eventually disappears and I persuade Emily to continue.

Back at the visitor center again, we are almost assaulted by some monkeys, probably because they see/smell that I carry a banana in the side pocket of my backpack. Feeding the monkeys are strictly prohibited in Singapore (big fines!), but when they start to get very aggressive, I have no other choice but to throw the banana to them. Back at the main road we find out that it is better to return to the city with a bus. There are plenty of city buses passing by, and we choose bus no 170 which drops us off at Little India for the cheap price of 1.5 Singapore dollars. In the evening we celebrate the successful ascent with a better Indian meal and a large bottle of Tiger beer, Singapore's premium beer.

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