Originally posted by Shadus
yupz, tht's the 'long gao' in hougang
/me kok kok kok Shadus (just trying to light the fuse ah??
)
How many times do I have to repeat myself???
In SG naming convention, places that have the word Sungei (Malay for River) ARE rivers. Besides, ALL the canals (your so called 'long gao') have vertical walls with metal/steel ladders while the rivers ALL have slopping river banks (for those portions that are re-enforced with concrete).
Sungei Serangoon (note the spelling) is a river that leads out to Serangoon Harbour area (yes,
Pulau Ubin is just behind Coney Island which is at the mouth of Sungei Serangoon)
Pictured in your photos is probably at the end of Upper Serangoon Road (which has just been extended).
The portion just opposite of the Hougang Avenue 7 side (Pungol park is not exactly beside Sungei Serangoon, but there is a stream flowing in called Sungei Pinang which incidentally leads to where you show in your photos), is Tampines farm area.
On my side (Hougang), there is a nice wide path beside the river bank with distance markings for joggers. Lots of people come here during evenings to jog. On the other side of the river bank, there is quite a substantial population of Herons, Egrets, Common Terns and Crows. Pigeons can be seen on Hougang side as well.. but just not in large numbers.
The Serangoon Secondary School side is further to the left (and to the right of the location in the photos) and the bird population there is slightly lesser as the mud bank there is lesser. However, judging from your photos, the portion near the end of Upper Serangoon is another now newly accessible area for us to see the bird population on the other side of the river.
Photo opportunities wise, you are going to be disappointed if you are hoping to take photos of the Herons and Egrets with anything less than 400mm (even that I found still lacking, a 2x TC would probably help me get frame filling shots). This is because, these birds mostly stay on the other side of the bank. However, there are plenty of common terns, crows and pigeons flying on both sides of the banks. It is especially fascinating to see the terns diving into the river to grab food before flying up again.
If you are into people and landscapes, there's plently of joggers and strollers, there is also some pretty nice long reflective river shots to be had especially during the magic light hours in the evening.
And one other thing, it is the mudflat and the eco-life in the river that sustains the birds living on the opposite side of the river bank. In the past, the river stench is particularly bad on some mornings but eversince the ENV announced that they are going to dredge the river, the smell seems to have gone. I just hope that this doesn't remove the eco-life that resides there, otherwise, the birds may just go somewhere else.