Scooters in Labrador Park

Jonathan got a push scooter, and was eager to set off with the kids.

I followed behind down the Boardwalk carrying the snacks and water. Every so often they took a break and waited for me to catch up. It's the first time I feel like I've gotten a walk in by myself in Singapore. Occasionally one of the kids would hang back and talk with me, but soon they'd zip back ahead to be with the other scooter.

We headed up Berlayer Creek following along through the Mangrove where the creek meets the ocean. The walkways are wide and wooden, and slightly raised off the ground. We spotted a Plantain Squirrel with it's feather-like tail.

We were momentarily lost at the Labrador MRT station before figuring out how to cross the road to head back into Labrador Park. Passing Car Park 1 and Car Part 2 we found a new restaurant that appears to be all patio to try another day. It's beside where all the Red Jungle Fowl, the wild progenitor of  the domestic chicken, hang about under the trees. Ms.I screams "Chicken!" each time we pass one.

Back in the park we found a spot to refill our water bottles and bought more drinks to share. Ms.E picked Sparkling Apple, which I thought tasted like cider, and Ms.C got her favorite Peach Ice Tea.

Ms.E realized we were close to the playground so we took a break there. It has a covered pavilion with some seats to rest. The playground has a sand floor, a large climbing structure, and everyone's favorite - a maze. Jonathan and I studied a group of leaf-cutter ants in the flower stalks as the kids played. I think they were Weaver Ants. They use larval silk to weave leaves together to make nests in trees.

These ants were in large flowering bushes beside the covered pavilion. The leaves had an almost transparent spider-web-esq-mesh where the leaves had been eaten away; I think that was the silk. Although, it could have been part of the leaf from being eaten down. I think the ants were carrying pieces of the inside of the leaf away, although I wondered if it was larva at first.

The park is pretty jungly, but there's a nice breeze from the water. You can hear the cicadas calling. We haven't been into the most forested part of this park yet. But here are some of the trees we've notice. The root structures on the first ones below are very different than. I've ever seen before. The roots start a few feet above the ground and and very narrow but wide.

The orange flowered trees below are Yellow Saraca Trees. The flowers grow out of old wood, so the flowers grow right from the trunk of the trees.

The park ends down at a long pier, called the Labrador Jetty. People are usually fishing here. It used to be used in conjunction with an oil refinery which is gone now. The beach is closed for conservation efforts here, but it's very pretty to look at.

Our park adventure took us almost 4 hours in the hottest part of the day. We skipped nap time entirely. We followed the "Berlayer Creek Boardwalk" (The dotted line at the bottom), then took the Labrador Villa Road to Port Road to Carpark C, then followed the smaller brown trails form "Port Cullis" to the Jetty (the T in the water), then we followed the path along the water all the way around the park back to the dotted line at the bottom and then took the dotted path towards "Refections". It's about another 20 minutes from there back home.  

Ms.E amazingly used her scooter for 3 hours. I spent the last hour pushing her on the scooter as she balanced with 2 feet until she was too tired for even that, then she got a shoulder ride. She was too tired to even hold her head up at the end.