Hitchhiking in Singapore: MacRitchie Reservoir
15th of January, 2025.
I get up at 7 a.m. and slowly I start packing. I also do some stretching and push-ups before leaving. After all, I decide to push my breakfast as further away as possible, by the time I arrive at MacRitchie Reservoir, so I will be OK to walk around there for a few hours.
I am so lucky that Visha Nathan, from India, stop his truck and pick me up. He is a driver for a fresh seafood delivery company, and makes two stops before dropping me off at a strategic spot, from where I can walk to MacRitchie Reservoir. He’s been living and working in Singapore for two years already, and sends money to his family back in India. He tells me that Singapore is a peaceful and safe country, but that people must work hard here in order to earn their living. I would hear that same thing from basically everybody else with whom I talked here in Singapore.
I walk all the way from the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital to the Reservoir. It’s about one hour walking, but there is no way I can hitchhike, as the roads are a mess because of construction.
At the entrance, for my entire surprise, there’s not an actual visitor centre, with some people with whom you can talk and get some info of the place. There are some simple map drawing on the wall, showing about the possible trails you can get, and that’s it. There are bathrooms with showers and drinking water, of course, but I just imagined that such a huge and important area, would’ve been more well looked after.
With a lot of struggle, I manage to leave The Hulk by a small coffee shop around here. That’s because the young man working there wanted to charge me a 7 SD deposit, to be returned to me afterward. What? I am not taking anything from you, like a key or something, I am just asking to leave my backpack outside your shop. Are you people insane? Anyway, after all, he accept it, but not without telling me a lot of excuses like the monkeys will come if I leave it there for too long; or that he cannot be around all the time, etc.
There are about four different options for hiking the park across the forest. The longest one is the yellow track, which leads you all around the reservoir, in a kind of circle, passing by the most visited areas: the Tree Top Walk and Jelutong Tower. I am planing to do this one.
Once you start the trails (they all start from the same point), then you will get a proper and good map, very informative. I suggest you to take the Prunus and Petai Boardwalk (they are connected) at first, as you will either only miss a little bit of walk on the woods, or pass by it if you are coming back this same way. It’s a nice walk near the water, and you will have some nice views of the turquoise waters from time to time. The trail is so awesome because most of the times is just a track into the woods. I love it! It’s true that many times you can hear the loud noise of machinery, as it seems that there’s always some kind of construction going on in Singapore, even all the way here, to a nature reserve. Still, as the forest is deep and large, you still can feel pretty much in nature. I haven’t seen much wild life though, but that could be because of the not so good weather, and recent rain. A good point of these trails is that they are really well marked, with always some informative board after some distance, and some wooden cabins for shelter too.
Half away to the yellow trail (end of others), you get to the Tree Top Walk. I am hoping so much to be for free, as most of this kind of attractions, these higher up walks, are paid in many countries. When we get nearby it, I see a small wooden boot, and I’m certain that’s a ticket boot. But it’s not! It’s just for counting how many people are passing by, and to have some warning signs. Wow! I am so happy! Mostly because it’s a really nice suspension bridge! You have an amazing view of the reservoir, it’s really up high (25 metres), and it’s in a very quiet and peaceful area of the park, so you kind of feel like in heaven here. I know I did, as there was also nobody else for the few minutes I was in here. I wanted to stay longer but for many different reasons I couldn’t. The rain, the long walk back, the fact that I must go back for The Hulk before something happen to her.
But destiny had other plans for me. For whatever mystery reason, I should not finish the yellow trail, and get to see Jelutong Tower. As it starts to rain a few minutes after I leave the Tree Top Walk, I hide in one shelter. My backpack get quite wet though, even though you are slightly protected from the rain by the trees. And I was stupid enough to not bring my rain cover. Here I stay and wait for about one hour. Some heavy rain comes and goes. Why did I say that “destiny” did want me to finish the trail. Well, I have the feeling that, as soon as I made peace with myself and decided not to finish it, but to come back the same way I came, the rain stopped, as the universe was finally giving me permission to carry on. You see, another fact about the yellow trail is that, its second half doesn’t go all across the forest, being through open areas mostly, so if there was to be a drizzle all of sudden, I still could carry on through the forest, and I would not get wet, but in open space, I would get the risk of getting my laptop and other stuff wet in my backpack.
With a heavy heart I come back then. But I am happy that I came and I saw this place.
Now I have the mission to find a family house around here to camp. They are all massive houses, mostly, so I start asking in the smallest one, just in case. I walk around and ask in about 20 different houses. All I get are many different excuses. Some people even says they want to help, but not from their hearts, as they say they want to be good Christians. Some listen to me and after some consideration, deny helping. Some don’t even bother to hear me out. There’s some talk about some burglary which took place around this area not long ago, and that’s appointed as a reason for people not being willing to help. Sure! There’s one bad person out there stealing, and that’s enough for us to close our hearts, and cross our hands towards helping the rest of the world. That’s a great way of living!
But not all is lost, as I sit in a bus stop to rest and cry a little bit, I meet a lovely girl from China, who starts talking to me. I am a bit distraught but as I know it’s not her fault, I swallow my sadness and start chatting with her. Her name is Wanchun Ni, and she’s 27, just like me when I started travelling. She has tried to travel and stayed in hostels before, even though it was not very successful for her. She tells me that this is her dream though, she wants to travel the world and do something like what I am doing. I try to motivate her a little bit, and give her some tips and suggestions. She seems happy and excited about our meeting, and I really hope she manage to find her way of travelling around the world.
I try one more house, where an Indian family leaves, and for my surprise they also refuse to help me. I guess “guest is not God” here in Singapore, only in India. Right after that, I am finally saved by two angels: Ilane and Wilson. I actually saw them walking, before asking in the Indian house, but I was afraid that they would feel frightened by me, as many people do, so I decided to not disturb them. But as they walk around the block, they saw me and ask me what was I looking for. I told them – help.
As I explain everything to them quickly, they exchange two words between each other and then Ilane says: “Come!” So I start following them. As we walk, I tell them a little bit more about me, and they are quite surprised. We arrive to their home, a house just beside one which the man sitting outside totally ignored me when I tried to talk to him. I didn’t ask in Ilane and Wilson’s house simply because the gate is a bit away from the entrance to the house, and I feel it’s always better when people can see me right away, without needing to come outside from their homes.
Outside there’s some toys and children things, and Ilane tells me they belong to her grandchildren. Their son lives here with his wife and kids, as he only got married recently; their other children already moved away. I meet their son, a very nice young man, and their helper, a young lady from Myanmar. Ilane tells me I can take a bath if I want. Middle time, the lady from Myanmar makes me a vegetarian noodle soup with eggs. It’s already a lot of food, and yummy, but Ilane and Wilson keep on spoiling me, so they bring me some watermelon, seaweed crisps, cheese, and a red velvet cake. Everything is delicious and I am super fool afterwards.
We can finally sit and talk. I tell them a little about my life and travels, and they tell me about theirs. They are such lovely people, and I feel great around them. They have this beautiful energy and heart, and I am so happy and grateful that we met. They both smile all the time, and I cannot believe when they tell me they are actually 77 and 79 years old. And even though, they are both still practicing medicine, as they are both doctors.
Then I ask if they can tell me about Singapore history, and wow! What a lesson I got! They both tell me about how Singapore became a country and to this stage where it’s now. I am happy to know that at least somewhere in this world, a country notice that, to be successful and give your people a proper living, you must focus in education, and that’s what Singapore did, back in 1965, when got its independence from Malaysia. That’s why also they chose to have English as a mandatory language to the people of Singapore, just as their mother tongue, no matter which one was. In Singapore you get mostly the three same nations you have in Malaysia: Malays, Chinese and Indians, with the difference that, as the power and wealthy of the country grew, you have nowadays many other foreigners coming to live here. The country is suffering with the property speculation, as it happened back in the days, when people realized they could simply sell their homes, as the government opted for make the people the owners, in order to ensure that they would take good care of the proprieties. And that’s why it’s so expensive to buy any property in Singapore nowadays, and many people are struggling with the increase of everything’s prices too. Ilane and Wilson tell me that the areas where people still own land and have their houses is really small, mostly when it compared to the massive HDB (Housing and Developing Board) areas.
As it’s after 22.00 hours already, and we all are tired and must get up early tomorrow morning, we must go to sleep. I could spend the whole night talking with this absolutely delightful couple! The plan is that tomorrow morning, before going to work, Wilson will drop me off at the Botanical Gardens. I was a bit uncertain if I would pass by it, or going back to Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve straightaway. But as the gardens are on the way to Wilson’s work, I take that as a sign, and decide to go. And I am so happy I did!
In all their kindness and generosity, Ilane and Wilson don’t let me camp outside, and invite me to stay in their living room tonight. It’s great for me, as it will most likely rain at night as well.
Next morning, after successfully managing to do my stretching again, I have a delicious breakfast with pastry, red velvet and coffee. I chat a bit more with Ilane, as she tells me about the many other things she loves to do, apart from her practicing. She also love cooking and paintings, just like me, but she also does service with her church, helping people who need some counseling and guidance.
Before I leave with Wilson, Ilane packs me some fruits, cheese and another yummy chocolate pastry. I am all good for lunch! We take a photo and Wilson makes a pray for us. Ilane also blesses me before we say our last goodbye. I remember what she said last night to me, something which I think I never heard from Christians before. She said that they believe that when some guests come to them, is because god sent them their way. She also tells me that she fells that I have a purpose for my after travels, that my future farm will serve a bigger purpose than only feeding me.
10 Years Around the World 