Where the Banded Langurs live

We did not expect to see the very rare Raffles' banded langurs, but then Barry looked up and saw these butts in the tree!

In Singapore, we have 3 known types of monkeys. First, the common long-tailed macaque, which we've featured regularly. While cute, they are often considered a nuisance (like raccoons). The other two types are endangered and very rare, with an estimated 60 of each left in Singapore.

These guys are not only super cute, but they're extra jungle jumping agile!

We were not well-equipped to take pictures of monkeys swinging above our heads in the sunlight.

Singapore has done some work on the conservation of this endangered species, including creating monkey jungle bridges over the road.

Check out those tail muscles!

We found the langurs by climbing the secret jungle stairs,

Past the firmly embedded old bottle tree,

And nearby the African Tulip trees which, although beautiful, are yet another invasive species!

Afterwards we celebrated by using a traditional jungle stove. There's even a sign that shows you how to use it, and explains that Barry's possible ancestors, the Wong family, lived here.

We even found the jungle wok, which is the same vintage as the one Barry's living ancestors use!

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A House Inside a Tree, in a Gas Park with Otters

We don't really have seasons here, but the otters have had babies, so it must be spring!

They are in constant frolic, so these are the best pictures you get in the evening, giving them their space.

Lobster shows that he can frolic while also ensuring social distancing.

We've met a few unusual creatures lately, like these happy eyebrow Buddha ear-puff folk.

And of course these people celebrating birthdays with home-painted masks, which are the latest fashion.

I recently learnt that the park near us is the history Gasworks area. This means that a big vat of piped gas was made from coal here. Pretty gas park, right?

There's a huge banyan tree there. Shown with Barry for perspective.

When you get closer to this tree, there's a bit more to see!

It's not easy to tell, here is an outline of a concrete house!

This is a house inside of a tree! Roots and creaky noises galore! We'd never noticed it before, despite walking by it regularly, ~1km from our house.

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Juxtaposition

Well, Chinese New Year is over and, like us, these little guys ate too much and regret it. Meanwhile, the local temple god is mansplaining how easy it is to get a 17-pack of abs like his.

We sought comfort from Aunty Bighead.

Barry has kicked off another pandemic hobby (#8), which may not optimize road safety.

It works like this. You get an old picture:

And then you recreate it. Notice the similarities?

Ok, one more old one for good measure.

Here's the mosque in our neighbourhood. It was cool to notice that several streets were actually narrowed over time.

'

Not here. Looks like North Victoria street sheared off this shophouse.

Chinatown at Sago street. Barry sees lots of similarities, but I can only confirm from the Sri Miriamman temple.

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Tunnels, Tracks, Tombs and Tree Roots

Let's see what's through this tunnel!

Well, the train tracks aren't very functional anymore, but the tree roots are cool. @Lucilleyd20bnw says it should look like this: scary!

The hiking here is a bit challenging, and I was happy to not break my ankle (See Barry for perspective).

Here's a pretty little bracken curl.

Here's a pretty hand-sized spider, conveniently located at face height.

There's intense competition as leaves and stems grow through other leaves.

But there's enough sunlight for all.

The jungle also houses old gravestones.

Gravestones, old bottles and pots throughout our jungles. Malayan Brewery hasn't existed since 1990.

We hiked to an old water reservoir/swimming pool from the early 1900s, abandoned since WW2.

Most dead Japanese soldiers from WW2 were buried in the cemeteries. Komoto Ekasa-san, however, who died from overwork at age 47, somehow earned a special forest spot. No one knows why he was special, but he would probably advise us to care for our work/life balance.

Did you say WW2? How about some more bunker tunnels?

This one adds nice elements of enclosed spaces, extreme heat, bugs and bats to the regular perils of war.

Time to look at flowers. Through the dense jungle there's a clearing, with cane reed (

Cheilocostus speciosus), which I like because it sometimes grows strange finger sub-flowers.

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