Walking in Singapore: Rains in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
“Vulnerability is not weakness; it is our most accurate measure of courage.” (Brene Brown)
Walk in the Rains: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve(BTNR) and Rifle Range
We drove out of the condo into the highway, when we noticed the thick clouds looming in the horizon. My first thought was, I did not wear hiking shoes. I had a very flimsy poncho torn in a few places stuffed inside my backpack and luckily a hat to hold the poncho head cover in place. I was not well prepared….for rain.
The others worried too about umbrella, poncho and the rest. Talked about how the weather forecast showed rain only past noon, etc.,etc.
As we drove into the Visitor Center carpark, the drops started their ominous descent on the windscreen. I noticed the drops were big, thick and fell heavily onto the glass. It is not going to be a mild rain….
We were clearly only thinking of the rain and, the steps, terrifying to most, were not occupying our minds anymore. How the fear shifts, how our worries move! One fear to another. One worry to another.
We put on whatever protection we were carrying and started up the slope. The clouds, by the time, lay thick and dark over the treetops. On a sunny day, the slopes of BTNR are shaded but well lit. On this day, the slopes and the steps were dark. The dark pervaded our spirits much as we laughed at our predicament. The drops were increasing in intensity. By the time we finished Taban loop, Kruing path and reached the road leading to the summit, the drops came pelting down.
We could no longer discern the drops. It poured. It flowed.
Determined, we put one step ahead of another and kept climbing up the slope into the hill while most hikers were running down and out of the hill. One of us was particularly uncomfortable in the rain even though she loved the steps and the climb. While another, did not mind the rain so much but was not fond of the climb at all.
Each of us have a hiking personality. Some like the beauty of nature, some like the count. Some like the workout a good climb gives, some like the view the climb leads onto. Some compete while walking, some like the conversation while walking.
Slowly as we finished the trail and reached the cave path, the rain stemmed a bit. We decided to walk out to the catchment area and head to Rifle Range Park.
We were, by then, soaked to our skin. Our shoes were squelching out mud and water as we trudged along the orange path. A few of us were still apprehensive of the puddles but some of us went right through it “How much worse can it get?” The worry makes the fear worse.
The grey clouds kept their promise and it started pouring again as we entered Rifle Range park through the Murnane Entrance. The Banyan trail looked alive with the dry stream overflowing with muddy water.
While I stood in front of it with the water gushing past me, the colour of the water reminded me of Bengal rivers as they reached the sea. Rich in silt, leaving an alluvial soil filled fertile land on either side. As my mind travelled down that lane, the talk around me faded.
The rain faded. The present faded. The foreign land faded…. “Parce que c’était lui parce que c’était moi”
Eating: We ate Nipattu and sipped piping hot Masala Chai of SMM while sitting in the Visitor Center of Rifle Range Park. No better end to a rain-soaked walk.
“Plus est en vous”
