Transformation from Old Rubber Plantation to Health Centre

The story of the transformation of an old rubber plantation to become the existing Aenon Health Care is a phenomenon one.

Any first timer to this place which is tucked in undulating terrain and away from city centre would find the location challenging, especially from the feasibility of construction work. Beside the hilly terrain, the prevalence of extensive massive boulders spread over the whole area would render levelling of the site uneconomical.  Yet, the ability of the developer of Aenon to build all the buildings without removing any of these massive boulders is just incredible.

Sunrise in days of good weather is an awesome sight.

The huge boulder at the back reminds me of
"Ayers Rock" in Australia!

The designer and builder were rather ingenious and they managed to incorporate some of these huge boulders into becoming part of the building structures without the need of removing them.

This area has an unusually high concentration of baya weaver. I recalled first seeing these birds in Cape Town in South Africa in May 2013 (Read here). These birds are easily recognized by their hanging retort-shaped nests woven from strands of reeds and grass. Typical nest designs seen here are: one has two openings at the base while the other has extended cylindrical-shaped narrow entrance at the base to deter potential predators. It is said that nests are made by males to attract the female partners.

Freshly made green nest to attract potential female partner.

Each morning when we did our morning walk, we saw an old Chinese couple tapping rubber in the adjacent estate.

Much of the land is now planted with fruit trees and durian trees. Rubber plantations are likely to slowly disappear especially with the shortage of rubber tapers.