Thanks to Covid, there is a shift in my lifestyle. I am loving my morning walks lately - exploring little corners of my homeland bit by bit whenever I can. Last week, I took a 3 hours walk from home to explore Sengkang Riverside Park - Sengkang Floating Wetland, continuing my way along Punggol Park Connector by foot, passing by Kampung Lorong Buangkokbefore making my way home. Did not expect to walk so much but covered about 8km at a leisure pace.
I should have gone out a little earlier as the sun getting really hot by 9am. Nevertheless, I was lucky to catch the cloudy sky and it cast a gorgeous reflection on the waters.
Sengkang Floating Wetland - Singapore's first man-made floating island sits in the heart of Punggol Reservoir. It is a project under PUB's Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme to provide a natural habitat for fishes and birds, beautifies the landscape and improve the water quality in the reservoir.
Visitors who took a walk on the Broadwalk will not miss out the Mega-sized Mangosteen shelter and sliced oranges. It provides seamless connection between the Anchorvale Community Club, Sengkang Sports Complex and Sengkang Riverside Park.
Apart from enjoying a scenic view of the landscape, we get an up-close observation of the ecosystem and its wildlife.
Monitor Lizard
The wetland which is about half the size of a football field is home to a variety of aquatic plants. Rainwater is collected and filtered naturally through its aquatic plants which keeps the waters clean
Scenic walk along the Broadwalk
My personal favourite spot of the wetland
Video walkthrough of Sengkang Floating Wetland
Across the Broadwalk is a lush greenery with tropical fruit trees. The 21-hectare Sengkang Riverside Park is one of the four parks located on the North Eastern Rivervine Loop of the Park Connector Network. The rest of the parks are Punggol Point Park, Punggol Park and Punggol Waterway Park.
A huge lawn at the center with installation of seats (probably temporary installation)
Moving on, I exit the floating wetland and took a walk along Punggol Park Connector
By now, the morning sun is really very hot and I took shelter underneath the bridge for awhile. Surprisingly, I get a nice view of the Floating Wetland.
Punggol Park Connector - Parts of the North Eastern Rivervine Loop. 80% of the route brings visitors alongside gleaming coastlines and waterways and hence its name. The total route of the loop is 26km! I covered about 1/5 of the route by foot in the morning!
Beautiful view along the waterway
From HDB to private estates. This stretch somehow reminds me of the stretch along Malacca River.
Continuing my walk down and I am thankful of the greenery to give me some shade.
Towards the end of Punggol Park Connector, I found myself at a familiar spot - Kampung Lorong Buangkok!
Menbaka Fire Ramenkicks off with a bang when it was opened in November 2020 - long queues were seen crawling on its opening special 1 for 1 promo. Our boy is a die-hard ramen fan and hence we decided to wait till the heat is down before making our trip down to experience the fire ramen.
Located at Level 5, Cineleisure Orchard, it is tucked at the corner upon exiting from the lift lobby. We were among the first few in line and customers of the day.
While waiting, we check out the menu which is very simple and concise. Only 3 main ramens to choose - Tonkotsu Fire Ramen, Shoyu Fire Ramen and Vegetarian Fire Ramen
You can pick your add-on - sides & salad and drinks.
Our queue number
Our orders - Note the different colour tags.
Nice window view and dining ambiance. We did not pick the window seats thinking that it may be too hot later.
What I like about Menbaka is we do not have to worry about taking videos or photos cos the staff does the job for us! Upon seated at the counter, one of our phones will be collected, mounted on the stand at the back of the counter to video the fire show. We only need to sit back and relax.
Diners will be given a protective apron. You will be provided with safety information and advise to keep your hands behind your backs. Group photo taken by the staff
Menbaka 'Fire' Show!
At Menbaka, their ramen is set ablaze to bring out the flavour and aroma of the green onions (LOTS OF IT!). If you love green onions, this is definitely tempting!
We were led back to our dining seat where the staff serve us our bowls. The aroma is still strong and the broth is very fragrant. Every sip has that fiery aroma and it lingers in your mouth for a very long time.
Our boy says the shoyu bowl has a rich, umami flavour (which I am not very sure what that means) :) The texture of the noodles also felt different which is really chewy and nice. For me, I really love the negi (green onions)
Vegetarian Ramen's broth is slightly lighter in taste but still awesome. It does not comes with any meat hence the add-ons complete my meal with Chasu and butter corn. I must mention we love the sweetness of the butter corn!
While dining, we were also admiring the fire show again from afar.
