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  Today Online 10 Nov 06
 Paradise found ...
But it's so unspoilt and rare that the fewer who know about it, the better
Budget Tai Tai By Tabitha Wang

EVERY time I feel in need of inspiration, I take a nature walk. I don't have to drive down to any of the National Parks Board-designated parks for this because there's a leafy haven almost in my HDB backyard.

Overgrown, with a cracked tarmac road and creepers that brush your face as you walk past, it's an unplanned green spot that has grown without any official help.

This small hill just outside the central business district used to be home to a cluster of black-and-white bungalows, which were demolished in the name of progress. But as the land has not been released for sale yet, the place has been left to grow wild.

It's a breath of fresh air compared to the structured beds of birds-of-paradise plants and crazy-paving paths we're used to. Here, stray cats and dogs roam happily, squirrels chase one another up the tall rainforest trees and kingfishers show up in the occasional flash of blue.

A small sign warns: State Land, Enter At Your Own Risk--but thankfully, the place has not been fenced off like most other such plots.

The nearby residents have been quick to take advantage of that and adopt the spot as their own. Early in the day, the old folk take their morning walks and practise taiqi (a traditional Chinese exercise) in the clearing while in the evenings, mothers carrying their babies take a stroll along the old road that winds through the jungle.

Those who fancy themselves amateur archaeologists can even try their hand at searching for the site of the old bungalows, as I have. Almost everything has been carted away but occasionally, you can still find steps that lead up to nowhere or a section of tiled wall that was once probably part of a toilet.

If you look hard enough, you may even see flowering jasmine shrubs and other ornamental plants that used to make up someone's garden. I once found a rusty road sign with a car hand-painted on it, possibly dating back to the 1960s, but when I went back for a closer look a week later, someone--most likely another nostalgia hunter--had prised it from the ground and carted it away.

If you're wondering why I'm not naming this piece of paradise, it's because I'm worried that if I do, it will soon be taken away from us.

At the moment, it lies forgotten.

But, with property prices soaring in prime areas (where this wild park is located, incidentally), I'm afraid some official will suddenly remember the place and say: "Hey, we're sitting on a goldmine! Let's put it up for tender."

Then the fences will come up, the cranes will move in and the kingfishers and squirrels will die out. Residents will be forced to exercise in "approved" parks with manicured flowerbeds and pre-planned wild-grass areas.

I know the argument: In land-scarce Singapore, no place is sacred.

Sprawling kampungs must make way for condos with more living spaces and even cemeteries have to be dug up so that the living can benefit from the dead.

When the shady slopes behind Orchard MRT station were sold to make way for yet another shopping mall, I mourned along with the maids and construction workers. It used to be my favourite spot to relax after shopping--a quiet oasis from the crazy crowds of Singapore's main shopping street.

Every time I pass the site of the old National Library, I have to avert my eyes. It pains me to see that where the dignified red-brick building once stood, there's now a gaping hole, soon to be a tunnel that will ease the Orchard Road jams.

It's stupid to indulge in nostalgia, people tell me, because we have to be practical about such things. Would you rather we didn't touch these green lungs and watch property prices soar to $5,000 per square foot, beyond the reach of the average Singapore worker, they ask.

I know what I'm asking for doesn't make economic sense but in discarding sentiment altogether, we have to make sure we don't lose our soul.

Yes, sometimes we have to pave paradise to put up a parking lot, but before we do that, we should first be sure there is no other option.

Not enough land? Why not build higher?

It's probably a futile exercise but I plan to do my part--by not revealing the location of my favourite nature walk. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll stay forgotten for at least another 10 years.

Tabitha Wang is no rabid conservationist but, given half a chance, she would love to take a wrecking ball to some monstrosities sprouting on what used to be green and pleasant lands.
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