13 Apr 2025 - The Pink Full Moon behind the Clouds

Tonight's full moon, also known as the "Pink Moon", is a "micromoon" as it will be further away from Earth than usual.  While it is called the "Pink Moon," it won't actually appear pink. The name comes from the pink flowers that bloom in early spring. Following photos are taken by iPhone 14 Pro.

13 Apr 2025 - Sunday morning walk at Bedok Reservoir Park

We drove to Bedok Reservoir Park for our weekend morning walk today.  I drove past Bedok Reservoir almost every day while sending Javier to school but today was my first time stepping into the park.

Soon after entering Bedok Reservoir Park from carpark A, we came to a pavilion, originally built to house the Berlin Wall.  Right now, the pavilion showcases some fashion collection created by Temasek Polytechnic (TP) School of Design students, who invite visitors to pause, reflect and rediscover the beauty of sustainable fashion.  These talented young designers are inspired to challenge conventional norms with purpose-driven designs and embrace their responsibility to adopt innovative eco-practices. 

Bedok Reservoir is a reservoir in the eastern part of Singapore, to the north of Bedok. The reservoir has a surface area of 880,000 m2, and a capacity of 12.8 million m3. The mean depth of the reservoir is 9 m, with a maximum depth of 18.2 m. The shoreline length is 4.3 km.  There is a fishing deck nearby.

Bedok Reservoir opened up their Canoe Polo Court in 2024.  We saw few groups of youngsters rowing Dragonboats in the middle of the reservoir.

Next, we walked to PAssion Wave @ Bedok Reservoir, which offers many recreational water sports training and activity.

The Bedok Reservoir Park was developed around the reservoir. The park is equipped with a jogging track, a children's playground, fitness stations and open fields.

Bedok Reservoir Park is also home to Forest Adventure, the largest tree top adventure park in Singapore. It comprises series of 69 obstacles at height and 4 giant zip lines over the water.

Across the reservoir is HomeTeamNS Bedok Reservoir Clubhouse.

A visit to a park is never complete without seeing wildlife.  Had some hide-and-seek time with a squirrel.  Our walk today took about an hour.

Below video captures some of the interesting sightings throughout our walk in the park.

6 Apr 2025 - Morning Walk at Coney Island Park

Our Sunday morning walk today is at Coney Island Park.  The last time we visited Coney Island was ten years ago.  How time flies!  You may read that blog here.

There are two entrances to Coney Island Park.  We entered via the East gate the last time so this time, we decided to enter from the West gate.

A bit of history here.  Formerly known as Pulau Serangoon (English: Serangoon Island), the island was once owned by entrepreneur siblings Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par when they bought it on 7 Oct 1936. An Indian businessman, Ghulam Mahmood, took over the island on 4 Apr 1950 with the intention of turning the island into a resort modelled after the amusement area at Coney Island, New York.  However, the path was never realised.  On 21 Nov 1972, Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) purchased the island to develop for recreation purposes.

Managed by the National Parks Board, the 81 hectares nature park is home to a wide variety of habitats, including coastal forests, grasslands and mangroves.

Below is one of the island’s bird-watching hides to observe birds and wildlife up close without alarming them. More than 80 species of resident and migratory birds have been spotted at Coney Island Park thanks to its different habitats.

From the centre of the island, we turned out to the Coney Island Park Connector along the Serangoon Reservoir.  

We had a great view of Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) campus from across the reservoir.

Other than hikers, we saw many visitors cycling in the park. The park’s rustic terrain makes cycling bumpy at times, but it’s still a breezy and enjoyable experience that won’t take up too much time. Cycle along the 2.5km Coney Island Park Connector, with the occasional pretty promenade view of Serangoon Reservoir.

From the park entrance, we had a clear view of Johor Port.

There is no car park on Coney Island.  As such, we parked our car at Punggol Point, next to Punggol Settlement.  There is a small man-made pond where pigeons and terrapins live in harmony.

1 Apr 2025 - Hop onto ChatGPT's Ghibli Bandwagon

Recently, many people seem to be trying out ChatGPT’s new image-generation tool which transform a photo into images based on the hand-drawn style of the famed Japanese animation outfit, Studio Ghibli.  The trend has gone viral globally, with even the White House in the US posted on X an anime image of a weeping alleged felon being handcuffed by an immigration officer before her deportation.  I decided to try it for the first time and below is the result.

Following is the original photo.