Bukit Batok Town Park
Bukit Batok Town Park: Most Interesting Things
Bukit Batok Town Park, often known as Little Guilin or Xiao Guilin among the locals, resembles Guilin in China, featuring a granite boulder set within a lake.
Two dome-shaped shelters provide a spectacular view of the peaceful lake. The big lake gets set against a stunning backdrop of towering rock cliffs. You can wander along the lake’s edges because the park gets planted. Photographers and wedding couples frequent Bukit Batok Town Park.
Meta Description
Bukit Batok Town Park, with its neighbouring Bukit Batok Nature Park, covers 77 hectares in the Bukit Batok planning area.
History
Bukit Batok Town Park, along with its neighbouring Bukit Batok Nature Park, covers 77 hectares in the Bukit Batok planning area – including the subzones Bukit Gombak, Hong Kah, Brickworks, and Hillview. The park used to be a granite quarry for harvesting Gombak norite, a type of norite. The sound of quarrying activity gave the area its name, Bukit Batok, which means “coughing hills.”
When granite had to be taken below sea level, posing harm to the area’s ecosystem, the government shut down the quarries at Bukit Batok – and made plans to buy granite from Indonesia instead. As a result, the quarry got abandoned, and rainwater gradually filled it up, turning it into a miniature lake.
The Basics
A little background about the Bukit Batok neighbourhood: Bukit means “hill” in Malay, and Bukit Panjang, Bukit Timah, and Bukit Gombak are all located in the west of Singapore, which is a relatively hilly location. In street names, “Bukit” is typically shortened to “Bt.”
Bukit Batok gets considered to mean “coughing hills” because “Batok” means “cough” in Malay, a reference to the harsh granite blasting sounds of the past, speculated that the cold air in the area caused people to become unwell and – cough an improbable idea, in my opinion.
Housing and Development Board
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) planned to fill the quarry and construct a road over it in 1984. The HDB, however, decided to transform the quarry into a park after noticing that it had jagged granite outcrops and a contrasting backdrop of green hills that gave it the best appearance.
They also added granite blocks to the retaining walls, footpaths, lights, and seats, to beautify the area and increase accessibility. Locals dubbed the park “Little Guilin” or “Xiao Guilin” because the granite formations resembled those in Guilin, China’s Guangxi Province.
For workout fanatics, this is a popular natural spot
Bukit Batok Town Park is now popular jogging, dog-walking, and Instagramming destination. It is likely due to its proximity to Bukit Gombak MRT and the strange rock formation right over the lake, which eliminates the need for a long trip only to take a few pretty pictures.
The Hillview Park Connector can get used to expanding – the length of the route if you’re a hiker. Little Guilin gets connected to Bukit Batok Nature Park, about a 20-minute walk away.
Bukit Gombak Trail
The Bukit Gombak Trail, part of Little Guilin Park, was developed in 1999 through the National Parks Board’s Adopt-A-Park Scheme in collaboration with the former Sembawang-Hong Kah Community Development Council and the Bukit Gombak Community Club Youth Executive Committee. It was a nature walk through the park with directional signs at spots.
