Bishan Park

At 62 hectares, Bishan Park, with its ponds and bridges, colourful shrubs and lush greenery, is one of the largest and most popular parks in Singapore. Divided by Marymount Road into two plots, Pond Gardens (formerly Bishan Park 1) and River Plains (formerly Bishan Park 2), the park caters to park users of all ages. Some interesting features include three exciting playgrounds, a community garden, a vantage point on a hill that gives one a landmark view of the park, and a Riverside Gallery. One of the highlights of the park is the stretch of Kallang River that used to run in a concrete canal but is now a naturalised, meandering river teeming with life. The result of a joint collaboration between NParks and PUB, under the latter's Active, Beautiful and Clean Waters Programme; this river brings park users closer to the water to enjoy its beauty and serenity, and to appreciate the flora and fauna that flourish in the park because of the waterway. It may be of interest to visitors to note that the transformation of the canal into a river involved a series of bioengineering techniques and the use of a combination of natural materials such as vegetation and rocks. Civil engineering techniques were also used to stabilise the slope and control soil erosion. The water quality in the ponds and river is maintained, without the use of chemicals, by a cleansing biotope located in Pond Gardens. It consists of carefully selected plants which filter out pollutants while absorbing nutrients from the water.