Bedok Reservoir: The Loop and the Ropes

Get off the Downtown Line at Bedok Reservoir MRT (DT30), walk 200 metres, and you're at the edge of a flooded sand quarry that now holds drinking water. Bedok Reservoir Park wraps 41.7 hectares round it, and it's free and open 24 hours. The one thing to decide before you arrive is whether you've come to walk, or to climb through the trees over the water and walk afterwards.

Check which Bedok your map has picked. Bedok MRT, on the East-West Line, is the town centre and a different station, and getting between the two means a change at Tampines or a bus. If you're driving, Carpark A has 91 car lots plus 25 for motorcycles, and Carpark B has 83 plus 16. Each has two accessible lots, and parking is charged at both. Cyclists can ride in on the Eastern Coastal Loop of the Park Connector Network. However you come, bring water.

The gravel loop

The loop is 4.3 kilometres of flat gravel with the water beside you the whole way, and it takes about an hour if you stop to look. We'd walk it in the morning, while it's cooler. Look for the floating deck near the bird-singing area. It lets you sit out on the reservoir itself, and it's the best seat in the park.

On weekend mornings, owners hang their songbirds in wooden cages at the bird-singing area, and the singing carries out over the water. Keep an eye on the sky for a white-bellied sea eagle, the heaviest resident bird in the country. You might see one; nobody can promise it. At the other end of the scale is the golden-bellied gerygone, the smallest. White-breasted waterhens work the edges, and if dragonflies are your thing, look for the Crimson Dropwing. Keep the drone in its bag and give the eagle its space.

Forest Adventure

Forest Adventure is Singapore's only treetop obstacle course, at 825 Bedok Reservoir Road by Carpark A, a few minutes' walk along the water from the station. We'd book the Grand Course if everyone is 12 or older and at least 1.45 metres tall. It costs S$48 and takes about two and a half hours, and includes three ziplines over the reservoir, which are the reason to come. Younger climbers can take the Junior Course, S$38 from age 10 and 1.35 metres, for about 75 minutes. The Kids Course is also S$38, from age 5 and 1.1 metres, and lasts about an hour.

Children under 7 on the Kids Course need an accompanying adult aged 14 or older, and the Grand and Junior have accompaniment rules for younger climbers too, so check them for your group when you book. Closed-toe sports shoes are required, so leave the sandals at home. Book a slot before you go. Weekends fill up, and walk-ins get only what's left. The Big Zip is closed until further notice.

The course opens at 9.30am every day. From Tuesday to Friday it runs to 6pm, with the last Grand departure at 3pm and the last Kids and Junior at 4pm. Weekends and public holidays run to 6.30pm, with the last Grand at 4pm. Monday is the short day, 9.30am to 2pm, and the last Grand leaves at noon. If the ziplines wear someone small out, Bedok Town Park next door has a lawn to lie on.

Kayaks on the quarry

PAssion Wave, the People's Association's water-sports arm, rents sit-on-top kayaks from 911 Bedok Reservoir Road. It typically runs Wednesday to Sunday, 9am to 6pm, and closes on Mondays and public holidays. The Bedok outlet lists office hours on Tuesdays too, but those aren't boat hours, so check its OnePA page before you make the trip. Dragon boats and pedal boats share the water.

Beginners last longer on calm quarry water than on the chop off the East Coast, which makes this an easy first paddle. If you only have one morning, we'd still pick the ropes. The kayaks are here five days a week, so they'll keep for a return trip.

Breakfast in Bedok

Eat before the loop or after it. Bedok 85 at 85 Bedok North Street 4 is Fengshan Centre, a hawker centre, which means an open-sided hall of small cooked-food stalls, and most of the people at the next table live nearby. Fu Zhou oyster cake at #01-39 typically runs 8am to 8pm. Sin Bedok North BBQ Chicken Wing at #01-12 typically opens Tuesday to Sunday from about 3pm, which makes this a supper stop as well as a breakfast one. Supper is the meal after dinner, and here it's taken seriously.

Stall hours are the stallholder's call, so treat these as a guide. Bedok 85 is a neighbourhood walk or a short bus from Bedok MRT, rather than from the reservoir station.

Bedok Interchange hawker centre sits under the bus interchange at Bedok MRT, right beside the air-con, so you're in the building the moment you step off the train. For lunch there, arrive before 12.30pm. Wherever you eat, take your tray back to the rack when you're done.

Here's the morning we'd plan. Have breakfast early at the Interchange, and be on the loop by 8.30am while the gravel is still empty. If you've booked Forest Adventure, its 9.30am opening puts you on the ropes as the loop ends. That works on a Monday too, with time to spare before the last Grand at noon. Save Bedok 85 for later in the day, when the wings are on.

Another morning out east

If you've already done the reservoir, Tampines Eco Green is grassland with bird hides, tucked between an expressway and a canal. It's free and open 24 hours, but there's no lighting at night, so be out by 7pm. The rest of Tampines, from the round market to the hawker centre in the town hub, is in our Tampines morning.

East Coast Park has the sea and 13 kilometres of coast, and it deserves a morning of its own. So does Pasir Ris Park, with its mangrove boardwalk.

Before you head back to the train, return to the floating deck and give it 10 more minutes. Sit still long enough and the sea eagle might come over.