It could have been a lazy Sunday. Forcing myself to awaken from my slumber at 6:30am, I was commenting to myself, ”I hope this better be good”. As I drove from my home in Woodlands to the rendezvous point in Jurong West, the gloomy skies along KJE was not much of a help in lifting my spirits. “It’s just going to rain and the event will be cancelled”, I murmured to myself.
As I parked my car and walked solemnly towards the meeting point, I saw a crowd assembled there. A female member of the crowd saw me, turned and started walking towards me. “That’s it there is no turning back now…”, I whispered. When the lady was within earshot range, she broke into a big smile and said, “Hi, I am Dawn, let me guess, you are Ming Yi, right?”. “Err yes.”, I replied. And so this marked the beginning of my journey into the undiscovered part of Singapore, in an event called Rotaract Club (Jurong West) Green Car Rally, an oxymoron at first mention, but indeed a car rally that will bring us to the really green parts of Singapore.
We were soon organized into groups, with each group centered around a driver of a car, given a clue, and off we go. As I was to learn, in this green car rally, we would be given clues that will lead us to interesting places centered in the Lim Chu Kang, and Kranji area. My group’s first clue was to find a place that sells “Lettucino”. Now that got me interested, I have heard of “Tehcino” in Jalan Kayu, but were on earth is this place that sell Lettucino? As we proceed in the general direction of Lim Chu Kang, the gloom of the morning began to dissipate, giving way to bright sunshine, and cheery blue skies. “Think I will enjoy this”, I thought to myself.
As we neared Lim Chu Kang, and not knowing much more about Lettucino than we first started, our calls to the orangnizer, which had earlier started of as a mild asking of favor, began to degenerate into a desperate call for help. The organizers, in their all-merciful nature, finally gave us the name of the place, Aerogreen Technology at 115 Neo Tiew Crescent. As our car approached the place, we saw a myriad of farms, fisheries, and orchards, and I thought to myself, “Wow, so this is rural Singapore, and I didn’t realize it exists. What a city slicker I am.” We found out that Aerogreen Technology is Singapore's first commercial aeroponics farm. Aeroponics, which means growing vegetable in air as opposed to organic soil, enables the growth of temperate vegetables like Butterhead Lettuce, Batavia etc… in equatorial Singapore. And the farm produces 500kg of vegetable a day!
Our other clues lead us to other places like Hays Dairy Farm, which produces goat milk, Jurong Frog Farm, which as the name implies, rears frog for the Singapore market. Not forgetting also Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, our own ecological jewel for migrating birds, and local flora and fauna.
As we rounded up the car rally, we proceeded to our end point in West Coast Park where the winners were awarded prizes, and the losers made to do some forfeit. Although the event was declared over in after the prize presentation, a majority of the group, in the spirit of this newly formed friendship and camaraderie, proceed to a coffee shop in Sembawang for lunch. Well, knowing Singapore better and making new friends, it seems like a Sunday well spent!
-Article contributed by Ong Ming Yi
