We fell in love with the place immediately because it reminded us of our holiday in Thailand where we could sit on comfy deck chairs on the beach, drink beer and eat chicken wings while watching the sunset.

We ended up spending the entire afternoon doing just that at Watercross, in between kayaking and a little bit of swimming. At the end of the day, we both agreed that it was one of the nicest and most relaxing days we have ever had in Singapore.

We told our friends about it and made plans to spend another afternoon doing the same thing.

Last week, a group of us went back there in anticipation of another wonderful afternoon. Though the kayaks and cafe were still there, the deck chairs by the beach were gone. We spoke to the owners of the place, only to be told that the National Parks Board had forbidden them to put out the deck chairs. And if they were to lay out the deck chairs again, they would be slapped with a fine.

We were so disappointed because we thought that finally there's a place in Singapore we could go to that was unique and chill out without having to travel all the way to Sentosa. It was a great concept and it gave us a feeling of being on a holiday without really leaving the country.

It doesn't make sense to us at all. Why did the National Parks Board ban them from doing that? As far as we could see, the deck chairs did not pose any danger to anyone, nor were they eyesores in any way. In fact, they made the area look nice and cosy and provided us east-dwellers a place to hang out and relax after a hard week's work.

Can someone please explain why National Parks took this away from us?

Kane Hill