HHHHEEEELLLLLLLLOOOOOO!
I am extremely tired and worn out from where Dad and I went to today. Yup, since you've seen this title, I went to the extreme east of Singapore. The coast of Changi East is uninhabited ant the beaches are pristine, althought eh water may be slightly murky. In any case, it is by far the BEST PLACE TO SHELL in Singapore but there's a catch, you would need to find your way in first. So, as people wo have never entered this region before, we decided to follow google maps to enter the forest. I would have to repeat that we did not expect the trail in to contain swamps, huge lallangs, prickly creepers, and anything that you will never expect. In summary, the entrance to the coast was to BASH THROUGH THE FOREST. (We did eventually find an easier way to exit but by then it was too late.) So in any case, here is the whole recap of what happened today...
So here it is. We begin by parking the car at the SAF Yacht Club. According to google maps, we were supposed to follow along the army training camp for a short distance and then later turn right. This is the scene when we first enter the forest. There is a huge expanse of tall grass. This does not look like singapore but it is. It was about 9,30a.m. when the photo was taken.
This is the forest. Doesn't this remind you of like a scene in some WuXia movie or like one on vampires or something. Further down, we would hit a Casurina forest, indicative if the coast.
We detoured around and somehow or rather ended up in a large expanse of lallang. At this point I would like to say that it is rare to find any grass in Singapore that is taller than your ankle but these guys were TALLER THAN ME! (Btw, I am 170cm tall :P )
Initially, we saw this patch of sea lettuce and thought that the coas was not far away... We were hell wrong. It was actually a swamp land in which while trying to navigate across, I fell in and lost my glasses... Luckily Ah Pa found it after 15 minutes.. :)
And all of a sudden, this huge Attacus Atlas Moth just flew from the Lallang beside me. The Atlas Moth is the moth with the world's largest wingspan and its silk can be woven into clothes. In Singapore, it is rare due to habitat loss. This is the second time i've seen such a creature...
The canal. Apparently, this place is restricted but we could see tons of fishes in the water, mostly Mizambique tilapia i guess.
Nice red flowers.
And eventually, after bashing through all the way, we finally reach the coast. See? It is empty... I guess there is no place in Singapore by which you can be left aone except in your room or somewhere which requires 2 hours of hiking before reaching it.
And since now is the start of Summer (well, technically) we have the flowers blooming along the coast. Beautiful. The morning glory was still in bloom when we reached the place.
A scallop shell. There were tons of them littering the shore....
Ah Ha! A frog shell and flat clam!
And here you have 2 variegate fig shells! We eventually found like 20 of them...
The sand wall, I guess its colonised by birds. :)
Precious finds of the day: 2 Orange Ornate Olives, Oliva iridans :) One from me and one from Ah Pa. :)
Purple Diphos Shell, Diphos sanguin, 西施舌紫云蛤科 in Chinese. these guy look different from those I got from Kuching 2 years ago.
Here is the whole day's haul. It is one pail full but most of it are the Figs and Dog Conches (Gong Gong)...
A Marbled Scallop,
Laevichlamys squamosa I think...
Moon Snails! I found like half a bucket of them lying on the shore. The species here are the Lined Moon, Powisianus Moon and Calf Moon
A Japanese Bonnet Shell, Phalium bisulcatum. I found this species in Kuching too.
Donax Sp. I call them butterfly shells but they are actually surf clams. There were millions o them and a few live ones too! I would have collected more if those pesky sandflies did not bother me so much...
And finally, a Sunburst Carrier Shell! I have never had any of these in my collection and this will be my first! :)
