Kranji countryside

visitor center Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

bird watching

beautiful mangrove swamps

babies on the boardwalk

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cool cafe

listening to a call to prayer from across the Straits of Johor.

O had a rare Monday off and we took advantage of an early start to check out the Kranji Countryside on the far western edge of Singapore just across from Malaysia. M was demanding a visit to Jurong Bird Park, so we decided on the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in hopes we might see a bird. It was a weird drive, past auto chop shops, some sort of submarine vessel graveyard, and crumbling old barracks. We had little idea what to expect, little food, and M was not impressed. The parking lot did not give much away there was a map with an "i" and a coffee cup, but I was not too hopeful. To my surprise it was an excellent visitor center, I love an excellent visitor center ! And the small cafe, was not only in operation but had a lovely veranda over looking, a pond full of monitor lizards. There were monitors everywhere. Crashing about in the water, sunning on rocks, it was wild. Indeed, the whole reserve felt very wild. To my surprise we saw many birds and many more monitors. The mangrove swamps were lush and beautiful, teeming with vegetation. We headed back to the small cafe for a dreadful but scenic lunch - and then found a whole different boardwalk/and impressive mangrove swamp through another exit of the visitor center. There was slight drizzle and we had the swamp to ourselves as call to prayer drifted across the water from Malaysia.