Sembawang Hot Spring Park

There is a hot spring nestled in a quiet corner of Singapore. The Sembawang Hot Spring Park, was officially opened on the fourth of January this year. It is the only natural hot spring in Singapore.

Although I have heard of it often enough, I didn’t realized that it has been around since 1909. However, it was only known as the Sembawang Hot Spring then. Last year, the authorities decided to develop the place into a 1.1 hectre park. Subsequently, they named it the Sembawang Hot Spring Park.

What is a hot spring and how does a hot spring comes about? A hot spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater that rises from the Earth’s crust. The resulting high pressure causes the water to seep upwards through cracks, forcing itself out of the ground as a spring.

Some people believe that Natural spring waters have health benefits, especially for skin conditions, as well as aliments like rheumatism and arthritis. Local rheumatologists conceded that hydrotherapy is an accepted treatment that can be helpful for mild forms of rheumatism or muscle strain, but they, along with dermatologists, remain skeptical of claims about the alternative healing of the natural spring water.

I only learned of the history of the spring when I visited the park, and saw the sign board. Click on the picture for the full history.

The hot spring should gain more popularity after the development. Visitors can now enjoy the park as well as the hot spring. The rustic charm of the park will attract the rural and suburban families to discover and explore.

Apparently, during its peak, up to 300 people visited the hot spring daily. I suspect the reason the figure is not higher was because the spring was not easily accessible. There was no direct public transport to take visitors there – still isn’t. Visitors had to walk about ten minutes from the nearest bus stop. There is also no car park for cars, due, most likely, to the lack of space.

The well can be seen locked inside a red-brick enclosure with a steel gate.

This is the main water collection area. There are wooden tubs provided at the spring. Visitors can use them to collect water and proceed to any of the shelters, or anywhere in the park for that matter, to dip their feet in the water for some hydrotherapy. Some visitors brought their own containers, and wash cloth.

Some visitors brought eggs and containers and proceed to cook the eggs with the spring water. Apparently, it takes about thirty minutes to cook hard boiled eggs – that is, leaving the eggs in the container under the running tap for thirty minutes. For soft boiled eggs, it takes about fifteen to twenty minutes.

This is the foot bath area. Visitors can scoop the hot water from here, or sit comfortably on the benches and dip their feet in the water.

Besides the hot spring, the other attractions of the Sembawang Hot Spring Park are :- it’s rustic charm, the fruit orchard, the flowers and plants. Since the park is very new, most of the plants are recently planted. Some of them looked like they have not settled into the new environment.

The flowering plants of yesteryear.

The edible kampung plants

The fruit orchards

Before the development, visitors brought their own chairs, pails and tubs. Some of them donated them to the park after using them. There was a makeshift shed, and a caretaker was employed to take care of the place to maintain its overall cleanliness, but there was no toilet on location.

With the redevelopment, there is now a small cafeteria, and also toilet facilities. The park is open between 7 am and 7 pm daily, free-of-charge. According to the caretaker, the best time to go there, if you want to avoid the crowd, is midday on a weekday.