I Walked Across Singapore!

There used to be a north/south bound railroad in Singapore that stretched 26 kilometers from Kepple Bay to Woodlands. Most of the tracks have been removed but a path has been preserved and is now called the Green Corridor or the Greenway. There is a lot of internet info on the wonderful web site www.thegreencorridor.org

As you know, I am known as Singapore Kitty and I regularly sneak out of my parents condo to explore the "Red Dot." Early one morning I jumped off a bus in the Kepple Bay Area at a fenced in, beautiful building that had four huge, marvelous statues in front of it. At one time this had been the main train station. The four statues depict commerce, agriculture, industry, and transportation. I walked around the building and saw the original boarding deck where I could imagine lots of people once started their journey across Singapore and on into Malaysia. As there is no longer an active train, there was nothing for me to sneak on to and ride so I just started walking along the trackless path to see where it would lead me.

As I walked along the path I ran into a few joggers, walkers, and bikers but not many. It was mostly a peaceful nature stroll lined with lots of greenery and wildlife. I spotted some small snakes, monitor lizards, monkeys, birds (my favorite was a bright blue King Fisher), butterflies and colorful dragon flies.



After a while I came up to the abandoned Bukit Timah station. It was fenced in to keep people out but the old sign was still up. There was also some track in place that had not been removed.    
  

Next stop was a cast iron bridge which crossed  Bukit Timah-Dunearn Road. Some track remains here as well.

I was starting to get tired and all four of my paws were really hurting, but I was determined to make it all the way to the end of the path. As I continued on I passed a couple of canals and bridges.

Suddenly I saw a huge grey building on my right. I recognized it as the Woodlands immigration building. I had accidentally gone through it several months ago on another of my adventures. I knew I had to be getting close to the end of the path.

Sure enough, in front of me were huge no trespassing signs and further ahead I could see the remains of the last train station on the Singapore side before arriving in Malaysia.

What a great day I had and what an accomplishment! I'll bet I am the only cat to walk across Singapore! When I finally got home I was exhausted, thirsty and starving.  I think my parents knew something was up since they had to fill my water and food bowls up twice that night!

How did I end up in a foreign country?

As I have outlined in the past, I am an adventurous kitty that sneaks out of my condo and slips on to busses to take trips all around Singapore. I never know where I am going but I always end up jumping off at some new and interesting place.This time was certainly no exception.
The bus I rode off on was very crowded so I hid under one of the seats near the back of the bus. I overheard some of the passengers checking with each other to ensure they had their passports with them. I didn't worry because kitties don't have passports and I figured this was just idle chit-chat. After riding a while the bus started to cross a bridge over a body of water and suddenly came to a stop in the middle of the bridge. Everyone got off. I saw some guys in uniform (not military or police officers) milling around the bus so I was afraid to get off. All of a sudden one of the uniformed guys got on and asked the driver to see his documents. After he was satisfied the driver had all the proper documentation the inspector told the driver to drive on for a few hundred yards.
The inspector got off and another one in a slightly different looking uniform got on and checked the drivers documents again. After he was satisfied that everything was in order he got off the bus and the driver turned the vehicle around. A whole lot of passengers started to get on the bus going back the way we came from so I took the opportunity to jump off and figure out what was going on. It turns out the passengers were going through customs and immigration in Malaysia! Since I realized I was now in another country I figured I would take a stroll around and see the sights.

The Johor Strait separates Singapore from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I am told lots of folks live in Malaysia but commute to Singapore every day to work because the cost of housing is so much cheaper in Malaysia. Johor Bahru is going through an attempt at modernizing so I saw some very old buildings intermixed with newer shopping malls.

I met a cat named Patches who is a black and white kitty but he is very lazy and did not want to show me around so I was on my own.
The view across the strait is beautiful. From the seawall you can see the immigration and customs building and the Woodlands section of Singapore. I still couldn't believe I ended up in another country! I was having fun but I was a little scared. I decided I needed to retrace my steps and get back home as quickly as possible. If my parents found out what I had been up to they would be worried to death. I was able to evade the customs and immigration officials and uneventfully made it back to my comfy condo.
This trip was exhilarating but exhausting. I think I'll stay in Singapore when I venture out on my next adventures.    
        

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