Nature walks | Kismitoffeebar

Sunday Blues at East Coast Park

Posted on November 3, 2016 by kismitoffeebar

Unlike some of them, K and I don’t have much of weekend rituals. Sometimes, we feel like we should have a ritual, like something that would signal a Saturday for us. Maybe like pancakes in the morning or bisibelebath for lunch? Erm, I don’t know for we clearly have none. Some weekends we like to sleep in until noon and go for brunch, we work sometimes, watch movies, travel, hike, meet friends or just spend the entire day fighting who gets to be what character in a game. It keeps changing. For the last one month, we have been cycling in the East Coast Park(ECP) every Sunday.One of Singapore most popular beaches, ECP is the easiest weekend urban getaway with diverse sporting, dining and recreational opportunities. It is open to people of all age groups. There are several barbecue pits along the beach and one can just have a weekend barbecue and camp along the beach as well.

Really, what we love about the ECP is how it feels like a different place altogether, away from the air conditioned malls, high rise buildings and clean streets of Singapore. It is one of those places that remind us that we are indeed on an island. An island! That is all I wanted to be on when I started reading Famous Five by Enid Blyton. I think George has her own island (tell me if I am wrong!) and I was like, “I want an island of my own!” Well, Singapore is not my island (that I wish it was is another matter), but atleast I am on an island. It is way different from how I pictured an island to be – I imagined sleeping on sand, gathering fruits from the tree and being smart enough to know the right berries from the poisonous ones, where I can take a book to and where I sing songs in harmony with the waves. I can go on and on. But, I digress.

So yes, for the past few weeks we have been spending Sunday mornings at ECP. After snoozing the alarm for like 10 times from 5 AM, we wake up at 6:30, get ready and start off like 7 AM and take a cab to ECP. We start by renting cycles for like a couple of hours. We go all around the park, stop in between to take pictures, complain about having fat butts for tiny seats, race each other (doesn’t look like one given our speeds anyway), sometimes chat or sometimes just cycle away on our own. We also sometimes unknowingly stray into the joggers’ lane and then sheepishly find the nearest way out after stupidly grinning at the joggers. Then, after cycling, we return our cycles, walk along the beach a bit and then go stuff our faces with a continental brunch or Thai food always followed by mango and sticky rice. Always.But don’t mistake the cycling to be the exercise-to-earn-your-calories. Definitely not. We just cycle because well, it feels nice and breezy and somehow makes us forget that we are in a bustling city. We also enjoy watching others take their dogs for walks and then dream about how we will immediately adopt a pet once we move out of the university campus. It just feels wonderful doing this on a Sunday and somehow feels like a befitting end to the week and sets the tone for the next week. Let me show you a sneak peak.

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I don’t know if this can be called a ritual. It is for now and until we find something else, someplace else, this vast blue expanse will be our go-to. If Sunday blues can be like this, we aren’t complaining.

So tell me, do you have a weekend ritual? What do you do?

Therapy is ..

Posted on March 26, 2014 by kismitoffeebar

.. stumbling upon a new beach park when attending a barbeque party; inhaling the lovely smell of roast sweet potatoes and watching the sea through the gaps between the coconut trees, thinking of this beauty called life, feeling inspired to take that one extra step to make one dream a reality; letting the nostalgia of summer holidays by the not-so-clean riverside wash over you because while this cleanliness looks beautiful and pristine, the memories associated with a not-so-clean beach are priceless.

.. sipping on filter coffee, the ever-familiar frothy ice-creamy layer, making the “srrp” sound without a bother because that was how it tasted awesome; tearfully remembering that no matter what, this will always smell of ma and sometimes a bit of corriander when she forgot to wash her hands before serving the coffee in a hurry while packing our lunch boxes. Why doesn’t my coffee come an inch close?

…. weaving paper to make tea coasters because the act of weaving is meditation; the thoughts that cross your mind amaze you and the joy that engulfs you during the process of creation seems to be contagious. It makes you look forward to wash that pile of dishes, even.

…. K satisfying the midnight craving for a nice plum by walking all the way to the refridgerator which is by no means a small feat once you are settled nicely in bed; munching on one plum after the other, marvelling at how God can create something so resplendent and tasty and juicy that opens up warm memories of papa bringing home plum boxes for Chintu and me to devour.

…. celebrating Valentine’s day by watching fighter planes making hearts, feeling dizzy with happiness and wishing that “fighter” planes always did that.

…. making poochkas at home and teasing Chintu endlessly; fighting with K for that last one and realizing that there is one more poochka on the countertop, left behind by mistake and then dashing towards it because there is nothing so tasty as the last one; K winning the race but letting me have half of it because, mushily though, that’s how we roll.

…. play-doh. Everytime I walk into Popular or Toys-R-Us, I walk out with a box of play-doh. The colours, the texture, the fact that it is so pliable and can make anything from anywhere draws me to them each time. Why, even the little jars are so pretty! What can make it better? A pair of little hands that share your enchantment.

— lying on the grass, savouring the tactile sensation that puts the best couch to shame; watching the big sea and the small waves and ripples that make it, realizing all over again how life is in its small moments; watching a couple getting cozy and feeling shy; singing along in gay abandon with K, falling in love with how music binds us together at so many levels; cherishing the Sunday evening and looking forward to a nice Monday.

and

….. knowing and feeling secure in the knowledge that this list is endless.

Labrador National Park (Project National Parks/ Reserves and Project Brunch, Singapore)

Posted on April 24, 2013 by kismitoffeebar

A few weeks back, K and I went to the Labrador National Park. We have taken it upon ourselves to visit every national park/reserve there is in Singapore and trek every trail as long as we are here. If you haven’t noticed, there is a page I created for this in my header as Project National Park/ Reserve of Singapore.

K and I are also huge fans of brunches. It also just falls in line with our love for excessive and obnoxiously long hours of sleep over weekends. Why I say obnoxious is because, we sleep so late into the day at times that we need all day brunches in Singapore. Yes, we sometimes break our fast at 3 P.M. And then I was like, “Hey! Let’s do this. Let’s go to all brunch places.”. Nobody would need coaxing because with waffles the colour of gold and pancakes that melt in your mouth and egg benedicts that mean sunrise in your world, nobody would want to miss brunches here. Hence, Project Brunch.

It was just nice that we got to kill two birds with one stone when we went to Labrador National Park. We first devoured nature and then promptly settled for something more human except that the food was ambrosial.

Saying that the weather was amazing will be an understatement. Though a bit humid owing to the beachy locale, we loved being there truly. Spotting random turtles on our way was a bigger plus. If you are here, then I would highly recommend these walks. And honestly, this is what I love about Singapore; not those big malls, though I like them a fair bit too.

We spotted a beautiful cafe (Can you believe I missed the name?) and immediately wanted to try their brunch. It started raining pretty heavily and we could not have found a better place to sit and savour the food. A place where the rain and breeze ever so gently caress your love for life, peals of laughter from a nearby table where girlfriends are meeting up for a surprise birthday party and egg scrambled. And K, ofcourse.

Honestly, I could do with 4 day weekends.

Straight from the sketchbook – 2

Posted on March 18, 2013 by kismitoffeebar

I don’t know what it is about butterlies that makes them so beautiful – their bright myriad hues, the way they move so gracefully from flower to flower and sit daintily on a petal or their delicateness.

But above all this, the most beautiful aspect of a butterfly is its metamorphosis. The evolution of a butterfly is just so beautiful – a metaphor for so many events in life. So many stories have been weaved around this and they are always a pleasure to listen to.

I see so many butterflies near my workplace and around home. Such an inspiration. I think this lovely creature will steal a lot of attention on my Moleskine.

Oh, and did you know butterflies were called flutter-bys? Makes more sense that way. Some spoonerism, that. There is another word for the process by which words undergo change over a period of time. I just cannot seem to get it off the tip of my tongue. Please help? 🙂

My Singapore – Ginger Garden

Posted on November 14, 2012 by kismitoffeebar

Heylo all,

Hope you all had a fabulous Diwali! And here’s wishing you many many more 🙂

Singapore has such lovely and amazing national parks and nature walks and tree-top walks that I am beginning to love Singapore immensely. It is hard not to fall in love with this place that pampers you to no limits. Starting from the humongous libraries that smell heavenly to the awesome stationery to amazing people to breathtakingly beautiful and beautifully maintained nature – what can go wrong with such a blend of awesomeness?

The National Parks Board does one amazing job and I cannot praise them enough. See for yourself here and you will know what am drooling about.

I realized that I have never mentioned much about the treks and nature walks that K and I do here. A few weeks back we had been to the Ginger Garden at Singapore Botanical Gardens . It was a very normal trail, more of a walk but I spotted a diaspora of leaves, flowers and lovely dense greenery. Leaving you with ~~some~~ many shots.

I can’t even tell you how mesmerized I was. This was definitely not my first nature walk and yet it is amazing how every single time I walk, I spot atleast 4-5 new varieties of leaves! Some of them have patterns that resemble little leaves on a big leaf. Beautiful, isn’t it?

It was such a peaceful feeling to watch this little one curling away her hair to glory and walking so carefree on the vast greenery, feeling at home and yet in her own world! I fell in love with her curls and her happy face. Oh, and that pair of innocent feet!

What a walk that was! 🙂