3 Nov 2024 - Exploring Ruins of a Former Hainan Village (Thomson Nature Park)

Last Sunday, we explored the Rambutan Trail at Thomson Nature Park.  Today, we decided to cover the rest of the trails in the park, namely

- Ruins and Figs Trail

- Stream and Ferns Trail

- Langur Trail

- Macaque Trail

We started with Ruins and Figs Trail, which is on the left from the park entrance.  This is the longest trail in the park and will take you to a total of 9 sites that were once part of the Hainan Village. The conserved ruins showcase building foundations, walls, wells, staircases and the old road network. The terrain is relatively easy with a few gentle inclines.

Lorong Pelita and Jalan Belang were two actual roads which connect the village to the main road in the past.

Around the area we could see bricks with names engraved on them.

We enjoyed walking through the lush forest, with overgrown roots, fallen trees and streams all around us.  The trees on both sides of the trails shielded us from direct sunlight, which made the walk a lot more comfortable.

At one part of the trail, we looked up and saw lots of birds circling above us.  Zoom into the below photo and spot all the black dots in the sky.

Soon, we arrived at a section of the park where aerial roots hang down from the branches and form thickets along the trail.  Google AI suggested that these are The Malayan Banyan (Ficus Microcarpa), to be confirmed.

The key highlight of this walk is of course the remnants of the Hainanese Village.  Some historical facts.

"From 1930s to 1980s, there flourished a charming little settlement in this area - the Hainan Village.  Residents enjoyed its beautiful natural landscape, complete with meandering stream that flowed between twin hillocks whereupon houses and farms were built.  Come 1980s, the residents started moving out due to housing development plans, and the village was eventually covered by secondary forest."

All ruins are out of bounds to visitors.  The following is one of the abandoned houses that we could get the closest to.

It's amazing how quickly things grow in the tropics.  Over the past 40 years, fig-trees have taken over the ruins.

We continued on the trail with more ruins along the way.

These seem to be the abandoned wells used by the villagers in the pasts.

At this point, we decided to take a turn into another 2 trails to lookout for some wildlife.  We took the Langur Trail followed by Macaque Trail.  Following is some wildlife that we saw.

We did not manage to spot the Raffles’ Banded Langur, which is a vulnerable primate species.  Will try again next time.

Finally, we took the Stream and Ferns Trail which will eventually lead us back to the park entrance.

Saw the following log with a smiling animal face, not sure if it's natural or someone trying to be funny.

We then came to a tree whereby its roots have overtaken the path.  Nature is simply amazing.

Had to be extra careful when walking over them.

We saw a few more remnants of the village before completing the entire trails.

Before visiting this park, we would not have thought such ruins exist in Singapore. Personally, we think this kind of local history should be taught in school, instead of studying the history of other countries. :-)