Little Guilin
Last Updated on 5 August 2020
Bukit Batok Town Park is home to arguably the largest and most beautiful of all the granite quarries in Singapore.
Little wonder that it is more commonly known as “Little Guilin”, due to its resemblance to the magnificent karst rocky landscape of Guilin, China.
Having been prepped by all the hype we have heard from various sources, we decided one morning to see it for ourselves. After all, seeing is believing.
As we approached the entrance pathway to Bukit Batok Town Park…
…we were, however, ill-prepared for the sight that we were about to behold.
We were expecting something of the magnitude of the Bukit Timah quarries…
…but were instead faced with a seemingly endless quarry pool stretching beyond what our eye could see.
A stone pathway curving along the edge of the quarry pool provided us with a safe and picturesque way to scale the entire length and admire the quarry from various angles.
If we got tired of walking, snug little hobbit holes provided convenient rest stops for us to sprawl out and appreciate the view without moving a muscle.
Of the many fortunate creatures who get to enjoy this marvellous masterpiece of nature everyday is the monitor lizard, who leads an enviable life dipping in and out of the cool quarry waters all day long.
Another lucky bum is the Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta), whose idea of a normal day is to lay prone on a log and laze by the reflective quarry pool.
Sometimes caught slinking about is the Common Sun Skink (Eutropis multifasciata), who enjoys basking in the sun and showing off his colourful scales.
A lush grassy bank at the end of the trail serves as a suitable platform for conducting a range of outdoor activities. We might even be inspired to lay out a mat and indulge in a spot of meditation by the calm quarry waters.
At the far end of the pool bank, an inviting trail seems to beckon us to enter.
As much as we would have liked to follow the trail and dive into the thick vegetation, we decided that this perhaps would be an adventure best saved for another day.
The hike along the Bukit Batok Town Park trail is short and easily covered as part of a longer extended trip from Bukit Batok Nature Park.
If coming from Bukit Batok Nature Park, it will be an easy hike along the friendly park connectors, starting with the Hillview Park Connector along Bukit Batok East Avenue 2, which then connects to the Bukit Batok East Park Connector that runs along Bukit Batok East Avenue 5 and leads us to Little Guilin.
