Hello again, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve...

Just when I thought our nature walk today wasn't going to push through, I received a message from Mr. Lim that he was about to leave his house.

Thankfully, our destination this morning was at my side of the island. That gave me just enough time to shower and travel to Beauty World Plaza (seriously, that's the name!) where Mr. Lim and I agreed to meet.

After enjoying my $3.30 only(!!!) breakkie of nasi lemak, Mr. Lim and I started our walk to our nature park for today.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve will always be my favourite nature reserve in the island. (Well, that one and Sungei Buloh... and Pulau Ubin. LOL!)

Three years ago, I joined my friend Francis in a walk at Bukit Timah. Mr. Lim joined us and that would be the start of a good friendship.

I found our walk today so damn easy leh! Haha! Compared to the first time I climbed Bukit Timah (and it's not even high at all), today was definitely not tiring.

After an hour of walking, I was surprised to see that we already reached the summit. So fast! Haha!

There were quite a lot of people who went on a nature walk this morning. I thought it was really great to see families, friends, buddies waking up early to be surrounded by Mother Nature.

Seriously, my favourite part of the island is not the Orchard area. Neither is it the CBD. My favourite would always be the "green" side of the island.

When the artist Chen Wen Hsi moved to Singapore from China, he recreated that love for nature and the environment which he had when he was still living in China. So he always painted egrets, herons and gibbons (in fact, he even owned a few as pets!).

I guess it's similar to me. I always say that the beauty of the Philippines is outside of Manila. I was born, raised and I have lived in Manila all my life before working overseas but I don't feel any attachment to the place (except maybe for my university). What I have always loved about the Philippines is the countryside. I am always happiest when I am away from the city and I am in the provinces. Seriously, I think I'm a city boy with the heart of a promdi. Hehe!

Sure, I love Makati. I love certain parts of Manila. I agree that it was once such a beautiful city. But my heart will always belong to the rural areas. Hehe!

That's why I really love the nature parks of Singapore. It's somewhat a reminder of the countryside.

From Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, we walked over to the nearby hawker centre where I had another awesome lunch and dessert for just $5!!! Insanely cheap. Really good.

Afterwards we parted ways as I have to go get some rest for a long evening ahead (RKGreg's party) while Mr. Lim has his own dinner to attend.

Great start of the short weekend!