most bike friendly cities

sunset way

jurong industrial estate towards jurong hill

teban garden

In search of wild places in Singapore

NOT very far from Seletar Airport lies a large, empty patch of land.

Grass grows sparsely in tufts on the uneven ground. Creepers spread out their arms here and there, like starfish on a seabed.

Every few minutes or so, a truck laden with construction materials zooms past - but other than that, the air is thick with silence.

This piece of reclaimed land, about a third the size of Sentosa, cannot be found near 'civilisation' - the majority of Singapore's land that is blanketed with Housing Board flats, office buildings, schools and more.

It is land that will eventually be developed.

But for now, Pulau Punggol Barat lies largely bare in its beauty. At night, couples who drive there via Seletar North Link find spots to cuddle; some people arrive with fishing rods and other equipment; others come with their friends to chit-chat.

This peaceful hideout, away from the roughly 700 sq m concrete jungle that is Singapore, is seen by many as 'untouched nature' at its most pristine.

It is not going to stay this way for long though - and neither are other places, for example the nearby lalang fields at Punggol Point, previously a relatively undeveloped part of Singapore.

The fields were cordoned off months ago for development into a suburban waterfront town - soon to be another modern, man-made part of Singapore.

Quite a number bemoan the loss. The fields used to be the haunts of photographers, those who love fishing, and even ordinary Singaporeans who enjoy a respite from the hectic grind of life.

'It was the only place where I could enjoy some peace and serenity,' said digital media planner Chen Wei Li, 26, who used to visit the fields every Sunday. He shot a photo documentary of the fields then, before 'they were completely torn apart'.

With such places vanishing into the pages of history, nature buffs worry that we will, in the end, have little left besides man-made parks and nature reserves.

As environmentalist Ria Tan, 50, who runs nature website WildSingapore, puts it: 'Singapore is in danger of becoming a giant concrete island city with straight line contours, under a bubble of air-conditioning. Any bits of nature are found only in artificial zoos or manicured parks.'

She says it is important for Singaporeans to go out, see, document and share places with others, even if by just posting photos on social media website Facebook.

'Singapore's wild natural places can play a strong role in developing Singaporeans with soul. The kind of bonding that happens in a wild natural place can't quite be duplicated in an artificial environment,' she says. (Full details from which this quote was taken: How our wild places can build a stronger Singapore).

Jessica Yeo, 23, is a sub-editor with The Straits Times. She spent four months trekking around Singapore trying to find idyllic countryside vistas with few buildings in the horizon. She did the project earlier this year as an assignment for an advanced photojournalism course at Nanyang Technological University's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, which she graduated from this year.

by Jessica Yeo Straits Times 27 Nov 10; via wildsingaporenews

The Potteries Thinkbelt Study 1964 by Cedric Price

Mr. Brown likes to bike

Oh you ride bicycle ah? No money buy car, issit?

These days, as cycling journalist, Carlton Reid points out, there seems to be a lot of press coverage of the "bike boom" caused by higher petrol prices. As if riding is something you do if you are too poor to afford a car and rising petrol prices.
Even the Straits Times recently ran a story about people turning to other modes of transport like buses and bicycles because of the fuel hike (er, the Straits Times article kept saying the dude rides a Strida folding bike, but the photos were of a Brompton leh).
And today, there was a Reuters piece featured in the Straits Times, entitled "U.S. cities promote bicycling as gas prices soar".
Not that I am unhappy to see bicycles being mentioned in mainstream media, but like Carlton Reid says, surely this bicycling thing is not only about economics and petrol prices. I started cycling not because of car prices, or petrol prices, or even the environment. I did it because it was fun. I continue to do it, more than ever, because it is fun.
Saving money and the environment, and getting healthier — all just icing on the cake.
It got so fun for me that I went from riding to work daily, to riding to the MRT for longer distances, to riding all the bloody way to my destinations.
Was it to save those few dollars on the MRT? Nah. I just enjoyed the longer rides because the rides to work were no longer far enough. Tak shiok.
It got so fun that I sold the damn car which was getting to be a pain to maintain. It just made no sense, economic or otherwise, to have a car I just drove to work every day, only to be parked there for 8 to 12 hours a day (which I paid season parking for), and then driving it home.
I wouldn't say I am car-free, as I still sometimes drive a shared car on weekends. But I am certainly less dependent on it. I am car-light.
Sure it is convenient to have aircon, some music in the car, as I inch my way through gridlock. But it is certainly no fun. And it is not always the fastest way to get around either.
I am no environmentalist, or health nut, or bicycle athlete. Just a regular bloke who enjoys riding and decided to make it my primary means of transport.
And who is not bothered as much any more, when the pump prices go up, or when parking prices go up, or when another ERP gantry goes up.
And who is seeing, hearing and smelling my country like never before, all because I got out of the cage of my car, and onto my 2 wheels.
Because it was fun.
Found at: http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2008/06/oh-you-ride-bic.html