Saturday 28 Sep 2013: I finally found someone to journey with me on bicycle to the Serangoon/Tampines area. My friend Ray was right on time at 7.15 am to help me load two bikes on the car rack. I took the Kallang/ Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) and exited at Upper Serangoon Road and was soon at the Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) at 8.15 am. Ray and I went inside the church to say our prayers, while there were several people preparing for a wedding mass.
 |
| Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
This church has a long history and could be traced to an old chapel (1901) for Teochew farmers and fishermen. This church founded many educational institutions like Holy Innocents High, Hai Sing Girls High and the Montfort Primary and Secondary Schools. This parish also nurtured the most catholic priests for the archdiocese. Among the many activities of this church was the Soup Kitchen "Mathew 25" which provided daily breakfast and lunch for the poor, 6 days a week.
At 9 am we started to ride on the Serangoon Park Connector (PC) which runs along Sungei Serangoon towards the Halus bridge - there were many cyclists and joggers on a Saturday morning - a good sign that people were spending time in healthy activities. It was quite a long way to our next destination - the Church of Divine Mercy at Pasir Ris St 72 . The Divine Mercy Church was the most recent Catholic Church built in 2009 to serve the growing population in Pasir Ris.
 |
| Church of Divine Mercy |
 |
| Church of Divine Mercy |
 |
| Church of Divine Mercy @ Pasir Ris |
I was very much impressed with the ease of access to the church - no need to climb steps or take the lift - vehicle drop off point was right on the foyer and entrance to the church. The message of Divine Mercy is the
ABC: A - Ask for His Mercy. B - Be Merciful. C - Complete Trust in Jesus. We were told by a friendly lady that the priests were away and a wedding would commence in an hour's time so Ray and I went in to say our prayers, before pushing off for the Church of the Holy Trinity in Tampines. We rode on Pasir Ris Drive one for a long way before we reached the Tampines PC from there it was a breeze riding below the MRT tracks overhead all the way to the Sun Plaza Park and Tampines Mall. A short way from the shopping mall we soon reached Tampines Ave 2 - where the Holy Trinity Church stood right in front of the PC.
 |
| Holy Trinity Church |
 |
| Holy Trinity Church |
The Holy Trinity Church was built in 1988 for $8 million - it has the largest congregation of 10,000 among the 31 catholic churches in Singapore and was the first to have air-conditioning. We parked our bicycles and went inside the church for some quiet moments. I remembered that when the church was first opened, it prided itself for having the first waterfall inside a church. I soon realised that the Garden of Eden at the Altar was no more - the waterfall was gone and the birds in the garden had flown after the renovation. Outside the church we met some friendly parishioners(Roy and David) who were helping to clean the church, and when they found out that Ray and I were from the parish of St Theresa they recalled the tremendous enthusiasm of Fr Paul Tay who had been Parish priest of both churches. Roy told us that Fr Paul was very dedicated to the church he had supervised in the building, the fund raising and ensuring the vibrancy of the church. He said that he would be meeting Fr Paul the week after. It was 11 am and our stomachs were screaming for food so we stopped at the Food Centre near Tampines Ave 5 for a meal - It was a large food court and it looked as though all the residents of Tampines were there. We managed to find a breezy seat and settled down to order our food - Nasi Padang for me while Ray took something lighter - Bean curd. We then took off on our bikes back to Nativity Church in Upper Serangoon Road where my car was parked.
 |
| Jimmy, Roy, Ray and David at Holy Trinity Church |
We back tracked on the way we came and stopped at Pasir Ris Town Park where there was a large group of Saturday morning fishing enthusiasts. These fishermen paid about $30 per fishing rod to try their luck in the fishing pond. We saw two men hauling in their catch. Then we saw a rush for a fishing spot across where we stood - the reason being the owner of the fishing pond was replenishing new stock of fishes into the pond. We rode on and Ray decided to ride through
 |
| Fishing Pond |
 |
| Ray's New Friend |
Pasir Ris Park, this I thought was a really refreshing change rather than riding among the HDB housing. We stopped to rest and took in the view of the sea and the canoeing activities . Ray found a new friend in Pollyanna - a huge white parrot with the owner taking her pet on a bicycle ride. After a short rest we rode out of the park to the main road and found the Halus Bridge which eventually led us back to the Nativity church - it was already 1 pm - My legs were aching while Ray said his were okay, he thought it was an enjoyable long Faith outing on bicycle.
 |
| Pasir Ris Park |
 |
| Pasir Ris Park |
