Bukit Batok Nature Park

East is blue and west is green. That's how I always thought about Singapore.

My personal observation (though not justifiable with statistical data) is that the west (in fact north west) part of Singapore is much greener and has a lot more natural parks (and forests). On the east of Singapore are the nice beaches - reclaimed or not - all the way from Changi in the north to Marina Bay and Sentosa in the south. Yes, west has its own beach, the West Coast Park - however I think it is more of a park and less of a beach (as the water is somewhat muddy).

And of course in the centre of Singapore we have the "green lungs of Singapore" which is evident from the Google satellite maps.

Bukit Batok Nature Park, which I frequently visit, is one of the nice parks in the west. There is a "lake", a garden, children’s play area, resting areas, walking tracks and some hill climbing tracks. The "lake" is an old disused quarry - but the word "lake" always seems to improve neighbouring property prices - so like most, I also call it as a "lake". The steep hills surrounding the lake create unique bio diversity. There are only very few animals - mostly monkeys - but there are a lots of fish and other creatures like tortoise in and around the lake.

The foot paths of these hill climbing tracks, partially destroyed in the last year's rain, are now newly laid out.

This park is very popular on late evenings, especially on weekends with hundreds of joggers, climbers and walkers and lots of children.

Through the climbing track originating in the park one can reach the top at a place formerly called as Syonan Chureito, which once had a Japanese Shinto shrine and war memorial. Today nothing of the shrine remains, except 121 concrete steps that once led to the shrine. The Mediacorp transmission tower occupies the site of the shrine. On the steps now there is also a plaque named Bukit Batok Memorial, explaining the details of the Japanese occupation of Singapore.

From various points of this track, one can enjoy a good view of the lake and at the end, from the steps of the Bukit Batok Memorial there is also a unique view of the Singapore city centre and CBD which is probably 20 kilometres away.

Also nearby is a area filled with coconut trees, which stands out!

Through Park Connector Networks, this park is connected to Bukit Batok Town Park as well as Bukit Timah Hill Reserve.