Seah Im-Forgotten Reservoir_Japanese Shrine-3

 

From the drainage platform, it was just a few minutes walk to the "Forgotten Reservoir" near Faber Hill road. The size of a swimming pool, it was used for recreation by the British and later on, by the Japanese. Except for the adventurous hikers, not many would come here. As it is, the surrounding nature is already encroaching on the disused pool of water. The reservoir with it's deep emerald colored water looks tranquil and peaceful, broken by our chatter.

Online sources mentioned the locality of the reservoir was shown on old maps since 1905. Thereafter faded from memory and forgotten,

except by subsequent generations of mossies who made this their paradise. Just like bees are attracted to honey, mossie are attracted to stagnant water :)

On this visit, however, I noticed there were lesser mosquitoes around. Maybe due to the publicity, more people are visiting and perhaps there were fogging carried out. I liked the rugged beauty of the reservoir with its concrete drainage system.

If you like to take photos, the best time is to come early in the morning. One can catch a glimpse of the sun peeking behind the branches as in the first photo. The second photo on the top right shows the remnant of a diving platform. The wooden diving board is long rotten and gone. What's left was just the cement steps leading to it. To be able to dive from the bank, the waters must have been quite deep. Again, online sources mentioned the depth of the pool to be around 6.1 metres. 

Soon, the brave hearts were clamouring to move, so onwards to our next destination, which is the Japanese Shrine. Previously, I was unable to locate it because I took the wrong direction. I took the direction to the left of the pool which was wrong. It's not possible or very difficult from this direction. Ended up looking at a deep slope with the cable car tower in the distance. 

The correct way is from the right of the pool, with the diving steps as the landmark. Even though I have searched online and generally knows the way, still it's my first time and I was a bit apprehensive.

But part of the fun of hiking is to find your way to the destination.

Story continues....