Labrador Nature Reserve

Last weekend R and I went to Labrador Nature Reserve. It's a seaside park, with parkland by the beach, a small hill covered in untouched jungle, and a number of sites from Singapore's World War Two experience (like tunnels and a fort used by the British during their brief and disastrous defense of the island).

I was especially looking forward to exploring the rocky cliff/coastline, as it's the only place in Singapore with such an area in its natural state. (The rest has been converted to landfill, shipping facilities, and the like.) But this has been closed to the public for "safety reasons". Very typical of Singapore. People complain a lot about the American "nanny state" but in actual fact Americans are quite cavalier about allowing people the ability to do potentially dangerous things.

The park isn't bad, having some nice walking opportunities, a very large sand pit (which R thoroughly enjoyed), and a good ocean view. But in general it's been so manicured and landscaped and safety-proved that I didn't find it an especially great experience. We will probably go back, just because it's near our house, but it's definitely not worth a special visit.

View from the top of the hill

R likes the view (and the container ships)

Studying ships: good shot of the hair!

Listening to the cicadas and birds (70 species here)

R found somebody's toys and put them to good use

Good shot of the hiking outfit. She's very casual (usually I dress her up a little more)

Coastal walk area

Apparently this used to be a natural beach teeming with fish, 30 years ago

Some landscaping has been done since then!