Complete Guide to North Eastern Riverine Loop at Punggol

Date of visit: 09.08.13 & 18.08.13

On National Day, le hubby and me started our "adventure" at around 2.30pm walked and jogged till gaw damn 5.30pm  --____--|||  3hrs in total and we made it alive!

North Eastern Riverine Loop, is lesser-known, rustic side of Singapore.
This place is for you if you are:
* a runner
* a cyclist
* a nature lover
* a photographer
or simply need a breather away from the bizz and buzz of city.

Imagine from https://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/

Most pics were taken on 9 Aug 13.  We went back to cover some areas which we left out on 18 Aug 13 in order to complete this blog post.  It sure took me a lot of effort to compile so that it makes sense to whoever is reading and it's also a valuable entry as a personal diary.

Before I start to flood this blog post with beautiful pics (really beautiful to me, not sure if any readers will appreciate), here's the outline of the route we took:

* Park vehicle at Riviera LRT (PE4)
* Took a ride to Damai LRT (PE7)
* Starting point at Waterway (very quiet and remote, but very beautiful like our MBS)
* Walked through Punggol Park Connector (where Marina Country Club is)
* Walked through Punggol Point Park (where you can see beach and JB!)
* Walked through Punggol Promenade Nature Walk (the long stretch of red path was endless)
* Reached Lorong Halus Wetland (Fighter Aircraft viewing spot with pond of water lilies)
* Ended at Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk (at last)

Let's go!!!

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Here's me all geared up and slapped on with sunblock.

The sun was in holiday mood too, it didn't shine full blast after the rain, so my skin was saved from turning dark.

Here's some personal tips if you are going for full or partial North Eastern Riverine Loop:

DOs-

* Dressed comfortably and lightly;

* Wear cushioned shoes (on 18 Aug, I wore slippers cos' we didn't really walk)

* Protect yourself from the sun with sunblocks, caps etc... brollies CMI though, they obstruct views giving additional "burden";

* A water bottle;

* A small towel, tissue papers are useless if you sweat a lot;

* Go to the toilet whenever you see one, if you wait till urgent, then you'll have to do it in the bushes, heehee...

DON'Ts-

* Carry too much cash, certain routes are very remote and quiet (which I will highlight);

* Carry a few litres of water, there are water points, so don't add on any unnecessary weight;

* Scare the birds or pluck the flowers, lolxx....

END POINT - Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk

(Riviera LRT PE4)

We had planned our ending point, so need to park our vehicle here first.

Parking wasn't a problem in the afternoon.

Very quiet Rivieria LRT.

Pic taken from the LRT platform where you could see the car park as it's being blocked by a row of florist in front.

A lot of construction's going on around Damai LRT station.

STARTING POINT - Punggol Waterway
(Damai LRT PE7)

Punggol Waterway

It's a quiet park since not much residential around.

Kelong Bridge - Punggol Waterway

The length of the Waterway is 4.2km.

TOILET & WATER POINT #1

Advanture Bridge - Punggol Waterway

Water play area for kids.

The public toilet became a refuge shelter when the rain came.

Thank goodness it stopped after 15mins.

Heading to Heartwave Wall.  From this point onwards, we hardly see any souls as if we owned the park.  The place was so serene that made me felt so light and relaxed.  But keep safe, be alert as there were a few banglas lurking around.

Heartwave Wall - Punggol Waterway

The wall claddings were natural sand stones, rustic looking yet elegant.

Raining again?!?

Nope, I call them rain drops curtain ^^

As you can see, more flats are being built.

Didn't expect to see a huge wall of robots lolxx.....

I stood there to show how big the wall is, so please ignore my rounded tummy.

TOILET & WATER POINT #2
Jewel Bridge - Punggol Waterway

So clean and white, heehee.... cos' there's literally no human traffic.

Sunset Strip, that's the name of that "ball".

Pic taken while standing inside Sunset Strip.

Yellow mimosa!  I thought they are only in pink!

And there's a plot of them!

Only a few joggers or cyclists went pass us, the place doesn't feel like Singapore.

The flowers......sooooooooooooo...... prrrrrrrrrrretty!!

Ended Punggol Waterway heading towards Punggol Promenade with a Park Connector.

PUNGGOL PARK CONNECTOR

TOILET & WATER POINT #3
Marina Country Club (MCC)

This building is a wharf for speed boats which is part of MCC

These pics in MCC were taken on the 18 Aug.

We saw human, at last.

Now, I am going bring you inside MCC for a quick tour.

One of the pier.

Gills Fishing Pond.

If my memory didn't fail, it's open 24hrs a day!

Fishes caught can be brought over to Channel Sam to BBQ.

For details call them at 9121 7577, www.facebook.com/gills.fishing

Here's Channel Sam, BBQ out-door casual dinning.

Walk further down is a seafood restaurant.

They have many tanks of live seafood.

Freaking big groupa gave me that astonished look when it saw me and all I could thought of were different methods of cooking it lolxx....

Just behind was another seafood restaurant.

Behind the empty ponds were parking of speed boats.

There is also a Spa.

Sakura Charcoal Grill & Steamboat

We ate here!  Please wait for my separate blog review!

There's free shuttle transport from Seng Kang MRT for this ulu place.

Managed to catch a pic of the bus.

Leave MCC and continue our journey...

We were looking at JB across.  Our handphone signal changed to Malaysia's line -___-

Many such sign-boards along the Park Connector.

Owner of fishing rod no where seen.............. very remote place.

We saw a huge snail right in the middle of the pavement.

Le hubby give it a "lift" to the other side of the grass patch which we presumed that's where it wanted to go.

We were afraid that some cyclist would just ran over it.

Someone chained their baby pram here lolxx....

It looked clean and quite new, hur hur....

Yay!

Punggol Promenade

Where we see crowds of people again :)

People normally stroll dogs, these 2 guys stroll toy cars lolxx...

TOILET & WATER POINT #4
Punggol Point Walk (1.2km) - Punggol Promenade

This viewing deck is great for photography, below are some pics I took from here.

Left view from the deck., which shows Punggol Point Walk.

Right view from the deck.

Front view.

Someone's back from the sea.

There's a police post under the viewing deck.

Some people were fishing.........

.............  while a few were going to board the boat to Outward Bound Singapore (Pulau Ubin).

Like the sky with that patch of cloud.

Just across Punggol Point Park, there were some cute looking houses which we recky on 18 Aug 13.

One and only bus here.

This is Punggol Ranch's office.

Behind me were lots of parking space.

I was jumping around pestering hubby to take photos and he went -___-|||

There's pony ride here!

Walked into Cowboy Mart and see what's interesting.

These little houses turned out to be chalets for rental.

The chalets looked cute but not safe I feel, just weird to me.

Weird looking tree.

And....... there's a stable here!

This is Cowboy Mart, I suppose.  Selling hot Milo/Tea/Coffee at S$1.00 only!

So here's the starting point of the pony ride.

There's a snack bar and a Indian restaurant.

If you need a leak ;)

Moving on, we were heading to Punggol Promenade Nature Walk (2.4km)

I was slow cos' taking pics ok, but it's a worth it.  It was pure to joy to look through these photos again and again....

We were alone again, nobody around us.  Opposite is Pulau Serangoon aka Coney Island.

The red soil path was endless.

There were more and more paddles of water as we walked.

The lush of greens and waterway was just.......... awwwwwwwwwwwwwww....

Show anybody some of these pics and no one can tell it's part of Singapore.

We need to reach Lorong Halus Wetland by 6pm to watch the Fighter Aircrafts fly over but we had no idea how far we were away from there.  Time was running out.

Hubby:  You better walk faster else we won't get to the Wetland in time and we'll miss the planes.

Me:  Can't even see the Wetland from here, this time die liao lah.

Hubby:  (walked very fast, ignoring me.)

Me:  If we miss the planes will you divorce me?

Hubby:  haahaahaaa..... why you so exaggerating one..... haahaahaaa.....

Me:  But you won't talk to me for one week right?

Hubby:  You say leh?

Me:  Oh........... (I picked up my butt and ran all the way)

I run alone leaving that man to watch over me from behind, I knew he would catch up with me eventually.

Finally saw this water dam.  We saw it very very tiny from Lorong Halus Wetland the other time.

I dare not stop and continued to ran.

I was so relieved to see this bridge which leads to Lorong Halus Wetland!!  We made it in time!  Le hubby wouldn't divorce me, waahaaahaa!!!!

As expected, he caught up with me in a few minutes.

Me:  Wow, you are fast, I didn't wait too long for you.

Hubby:  You ran like a snail, it only takes 2 big steps to catch up with you.

Me:  --_______--|||  (Ffffffffff........ he annoyed the hell out of me!!!  urrrg......)

Anyway, we are back at Punggol Riverside Walk!

My dirty legs after the run.

TOILET & WATER POINT #5

Lorong Halus Wetland

We made it in time to watch the Fighter Aircrafts flying very low just above our heads at 45 degrees turn.

TOILET & WATER POINT #6

Punggol Riverside Walk (1.3km)

For more pictures and details of Lorong Halus and Punggol Promenade Riverside click HERE.

The other direction of Punggol Park Connector leads to Sengkang Riverside Park, which you may read about it HERE.

With that, I proudly declare that we had covered 70% of North Eastern Riverine Loop ^_^

The other missing 30% were half of Punggol Waterway, Sungei Serangoon, Serangoon and Buangkok Park Connectors which there aren't much high-lights, except maybe the Punggol Park near Hougang.

You may like to download the map from HERE.

Any other nice place to trek, please drop me a comment ^^

Thank you very much for reading!