Take a Noticing Walk: Ep 2. Seletar Aerospace Park.

And how we discovered a little-known nature boardwalk.

Of the handful of times we've been to Seletar Aerospace Park, we never explored the area beyond dining at the popular restaurants.

Seletar Aerospace park is home to quite a number of popular F&B outlets, like Wildseed Cafe and Wheeler's estate.

We usually go there for brunch or to meet up with friends for a few drinks in the evening.

Never have we actually taken a walk around the supposed "park".

As correctly mentioned (nagged) by my wife, it's been awhile since I've taken her out for a nice brunch there. So today, I offered to take her to Wildseed Café. In return, she was to take a noticing walk with me.

She said yes :)

Lunch at Wildseed Cafe.

To be very honest, this popular café just doesn't suit my vibe. It's crowded, full of young folks going there for the selfies, and not a place I'd associate with relaxing.

Observing the folks there (an occupational curse), the place seemed more like a go-there, dress up to look cool, snap a few pictures and take selfies kind of place. On the other hand, I prefer places that are quiet and, frankly, less pretentious.

I have to admit though, the food is pretty darn decent. I had a wagyu steak pie ($14) and my wife had an expensive piece of bread toast (French toast $16).

Now that the food was done with, we could go on our noticing walk.

So without further ado, here's some things we noticed today at Seletar Aerospace Park.

1) The perfect outdoor seating for a nice sunburn.

Well, to be fair, it was two in the afternoon when we went there. I wonder whether it'll be a good place to go watch the sunset, hmmm. On that note, it's rare to get a clear view of the horizon in Singapore.

2) The Aerospace theme.

I don't know if I was blind before, but I never noticed all the aerospace themed structures in the park. It's an aerospace park, duh. Here's a seating area that combines to form an aeroplane looking over the big field in the previous picture.

3) This playground that's meant to be an airport.

This playground is like the ultimate dream for children. It looks crazy fun. Can you see a little air-traffic control center that children can climb up into and slide their way down? Crazy!

Here's a picture of my wife and our fur-kid Mandu.

4) Raise your hands if you've played this game as a child.

I'll PayNow ten cents to the first person who can name this game in the comments. Even without the moving pieces, I can imagine the kids coming up with their own games to play with the coloured spots.

5) Even the benches shaped like aeroplanes.

Yep! They certainly put in effort building this palce.

6) Shelters shaped like gliders.

Cool beans huh? Okay, that's enough of the aeropspace themes already! I promise.

7) I lied. Here's a few pieces of wood shaped like a (gasp) aeroplane.

Okay, okay. That's really enough. Don't close the page and leave me!

8) Curious and beautiful little abandoned houses.

Do people live in these charming olden houses? Why are there "no trespassing" signs everywhere?

9) Furniture from way back when.

This is the the Singapura Aerospace park, which I believe is now a Chow-Chow pet cafe. Wish I could have a set of these furniture in my garden (if I'll ever have one) too.

10) This right-angled tree.

What a funny way to grow. Why is this the only tree that decided to grow this way? Hmmmm. Nature.

11) Stumbling upon the Hampstead Wetlands Park.

Now this is something we never knew existed. Let's take a walk.

12) It starts with a little Boardwalk.

It's not very long but there's a nice bit of it that goes under some shady trees. It actually looks rather new. When was this built, I wonder.

13) Then a tranquil wetland opens up before us.

I'm a sucker for water lilies. This was simply beautiful. There wasn't anybody else other than us too.

14) You can even spot turtles having a swim.

Can you see a little daddy turtle and a baby turtle next to it? The turtles were actually sun-bathing on a piece of wood, but they all dived in as we came closer. Scaredy-cats.

15) And here's us our two dogs enjoying peace and quiet in a little spot.

Seems like even Soba our Shiba Inu is starting to enjoy noticing. Just look at her. Wait, what am I talking about, dogs know how to take a noticing walk much better than we do.

Until next time.

And that's it for episode two. I hope you get a chance to try out a noticing walk too. Let your eyes take in whatever it finds naturally beautiful and remember to keep your mind in the present!