Actually, we wanted to go for hiking at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Instead, we discovered many people walking up a not-so-obvious slope taking pictures. Our curiosity kicked in and we followed suit and headed up as well.
Mei mei wanted to try walking up the slope. She went down and up again, this time round using the slope.
The moment we reached the top, we found a railway track. Smarties were having some fun time here on the track before we moved on further.
Frankly speaking, we’ve never taken this path before. We didn’t know what’s ahead but we were all curious. I asked smarties if they wanted to take the risk to find out what’s ahead or they wanted to head back to where we are familiar with.
Smarties chose to have their curiosity uncovered but with some rules set.
Rule no. 1: if we see something strange, we have to run.
Rule no. 2: if we see wild animals like tigers, lions, snakes, etc, we have to run.
Rule no. 3: if we feel something weird, we have to run.
So, basically, no matter what, we just run!
Mei mei started skipping happily along the way while…
Gor gor was busy checking out plants and stones and whatever he could find along the way.
They love mimosa and there were a lot in that area. Whoever found mimosa, they would call out to each other and started touching the leaves with their sticks. The leaves will close up whenever it is being touched or shaken. The full name for it is Mimosa Pudica. The word Pudica is a Latin word meaning “shy, bashful or shrinking”. Now we know how this name came about.
Gor gor wanted to find out how the flower of a mimosa plant looks like and he kept a close look out for it while we were hiking. Lo and behold, he found it along the way! He was so excited to see it.
Smarties also noticed the different colours of the leaves found on the ground and started exploring and asking questions about it. I felt like a walking google dictionary throughout the hike. There are many reasons why leaves turn colour. It can be due to soil conditions, weather conditions, environmental conditions, etc. Guess we will have a lesson on why leaves change colour very soon in order to answer them!
They also found some plants with seeds in it and it was all dried up.
Walking further we found a small log with some white fungus on it. It looked really cute. Mei mei started counting the number of “mushrooms” on the log before she moved on.
We found a bridge and smarties wondering what’s up there. There weren’t any stairs but we found a slope beside it.
We went up and found the “abandoned bridge” filled with grasses and leaves.
There weren’t any paved footpath or any other kind of pavement near the bridge. We had to walk among the tall grasses and bushes to find our way out as we didn’t want to walk down the slope that we came up from.
There were many discoveries along the way and smarties were enjoying loads. It is a fun learning experience out of the classroom and home. It is, even more, fun when you get to exposed to new things or opportunities that you have never expected.
Looking at how they get engaged to the surroundings and environments and how their interest developed while we are out and about. Not forgetting, we can keep fit too. A really worthy trip indeed!