Saturday, June 03, 2006
to pulau ubin!
today marks the first time i've ever set foot upon the island of pulau ubin, tt 1.5 day obs experience in 2003 nonwithstanding. i met ben, chiang liang and jason at tampines mrt, and we took a cab down to changi village for brunch, then we took the bumboat across the water to pulau ubin.
the sun was shining somewhat terrible today. terrible terrible. it was so fucking hot. we sat on the backs of the boats in the sun where it was more fun coz it was open air and we were privy to the cool sea breeze and the splash of the ocean at our backs.
upon reaching the ubin jetty, we got off to rent our bikes. of course, this is the second time i'm riding a bike after 12 years of non-experience, the incident in tofino nonwithstanding, so there is naturally a large amount of anxiety and apprehension as i try to get onto my bike and to avoid the swarms of buay zi dong people insistent on blocking my pathway, altho i have to understand tt they don't know tt i lack the ability to siam things in my way, animate or inanimate.
we cycle for about an hour to two hours around ubin, looking for the protected wetlands (this is at least what the sign says) of chek jawa. in the mean time, we go up and down a couple of slopes, at which point i am forced more than once to get off my bike and push it because my directional control upslope leaves too much to be desired, i run through a few rocks and tree branches and my butt gets more than its fair share of jolts and abrasions, and though i did not cause any accident i did get a small event happen to me at one of the beaches.
tt was ben, cl and jason's first smoke break. and inspite of ben's warning me not to walk out onto the rocks on the water, i insisted, and promptly slipped and in putting my hands out in support, very nicely cut my thumb in 3 places, resulting in a massive amount of bleeding for a tiny wound. once again. i think my thumb has too much blood. i didn't even realise it was bleeding until ben spotted a long bloody line on my arm and wondered where tt came from. before my great bloody cut, he's also spoilt his slipper and fallen off his bike, scrapping the skin off his knee and above his toe.
so we cycled back to get 5 plasters - 3 for me and 1 for him, and 1 more just in case.
besides tt, we were also the unhappy prey of the giant commando mozzies of ubin. as i type, i still itch. even my face itches. it's bad enough tt the heat was so stupefying tt i was sweating buckets upon buckets, we'd gotten bitten by the commando mozzies all over our arms and legs and we'd try to ignore the itch... but after a while there is only so much you can tolerate. ARGH.
anyway we did manage to make it to chek jawa with me in more or less one piece, except tt it had been closed off to the public for some reason or other. so at this beach near chek jawa with the large rocks and the mangrove and all tt, we set down our bikes and decided to do some exploring.
if the shoes i'd been wearing had been slightly wet when i'd fallen, my lovely romp through the sea water to get to this large area of flat rock a nice and somewhat inaccessible distance away from the path got them completely soaked. we all walked through the shallow water, splashing through seaweed and little mudskippers, crabs and fish, and disgusting water insects, to make our way to this flat area of rock to relac for a while.
of course, they took more smoke breaks, and i attempted to languish in the burning sun. i think it worked coz right now i look like a lobster. but anyway, ben and cl were playing with each other; ben got cl wetter than he would have liked, and cl ended up going for a swim. ben stopped ji siaoing him only after he cut the underside of another toe on another rock, thus using up plaster #5.
around 3.30pm, we finally decided tt it was time to go coz the tide was coming in. walked back through the water, which was higher now and got the lower part of my berms wet, and made our way back to our bikes. halfway cycling up some slope, the gears on ben's bike came off and spoilt. and inspite of his many repeated attempts to repair his bike and set the gears right, all efforts were unfortunately, futile. so our return journey involved all of us walking our bikes back upslope and on straight roads, and getting onto our bikes only for the downslope where there would be no need to pedal. i also learnt tt cigarette smoke helped keep the mozzies away, but unfortunately it's not a good enough reason to take it up.
we had a chance to sit around and drink iced tea and get slightly cooled down by the jetty after returning our bikes, and cl got entertained. somewhat. and here's 2 for the road.
before we leave.
unglam, i know. but we're all hot, sweaty, tired and totally mozzie-bitten. and don't forget injured too. hee hee.
so it's back to the jetty and the bumboat to find our way back to civilisation as we know it, i get my wireless router from tampines, and we take the mrt to lavender where we have dinner at beach road - the old army market. i have beef ball noodles with extra chilli and ah-balling. but ok ok... i will still have ah-balling one more time with you girls. in any case i need to go back to the army market to get my new bag.
and after tt, it's time to go home. so tt marks the end of my day today. haha. damn i'm still scratching... but it's an experience.
the only thing is tt i can't get the goddamn wireless router to work. or at least, to get my computer to register the damn thing. tmd.
now playing: hotel costes - cafe de flor
the sun was shining somewhat terrible today. terrible terrible. it was so fucking hot. we sat on the backs of the boats in the sun where it was more fun coz it was open air and we were privy to the cool sea breeze and the splash of the ocean at our backs.
upon reaching the ubin jetty, we got off to rent our bikes. of course, this is the second time i'm riding a bike after 12 years of non-experience, the incident in tofino nonwithstanding, so there is naturally a large amount of anxiety and apprehension as i try to get onto my bike and to avoid the swarms of buay zi dong people insistent on blocking my pathway, altho i have to understand tt they don't know tt i lack the ability to siam things in my way, animate or inanimate.
we cycle for about an hour to two hours around ubin, looking for the protected wetlands (this is at least what the sign says) of chek jawa. in the mean time, we go up and down a couple of slopes, at which point i am forced more than once to get off my bike and push it because my directional control upslope leaves too much to be desired, i run through a few rocks and tree branches and my butt gets more than its fair share of jolts and abrasions, and though i did not cause any accident i did get a small event happen to me at one of the beaches.
tt was ben, cl and jason's first smoke break. and inspite of ben's warning me not to walk out onto the rocks on the water, i insisted, and promptly slipped and in putting my hands out in support, very nicely cut my thumb in 3 places, resulting in a massive amount of bleeding for a tiny wound. once again. i think my thumb has too much blood. i didn't even realise it was bleeding until ben spotted a long bloody line on my arm and wondered where tt came from. before my great bloody cut, he's also spoilt his slipper and fallen off his bike, scrapping the skin off his knee and above his toe.
so we cycled back to get 5 plasters - 3 for me and 1 for him, and 1 more just in case.
besides tt, we were also the unhappy prey of the giant commando mozzies of ubin. as i type, i still itch. even my face itches. it's bad enough tt the heat was so stupefying tt i was sweating buckets upon buckets, we'd gotten bitten by the commando mozzies all over our arms and legs and we'd try to ignore the itch... but after a while there is only so much you can tolerate. ARGH.
anyway we did manage to make it to chek jawa with me in more or less one piece, except tt it had been closed off to the public for some reason or other. so at this beach near chek jawa with the large rocks and the mangrove and all tt, we set down our bikes and decided to do some exploring.
if the shoes i'd been wearing had been slightly wet when i'd fallen, my lovely romp through the sea water to get to this large area of flat rock a nice and somewhat inaccessible distance away from the path got them completely soaked. we all walked through the shallow water, splashing through seaweed and little mudskippers, crabs and fish, and disgusting water insects, to make our way to this flat area of rock to relac for a while.
of course, they took more smoke breaks, and i attempted to languish in the burning sun. i think it worked coz right now i look like a lobster. but anyway, ben and cl were playing with each other; ben got cl wetter than he would have liked, and cl ended up going for a swim. ben stopped ji siaoing him only after he cut the underside of another toe on another rock, thus using up plaster #5.
around 3.30pm, we finally decided tt it was time to go coz the tide was coming in. walked back through the water, which was higher now and got the lower part of my berms wet, and made our way back to our bikes. halfway cycling up some slope, the gears on ben's bike came off and spoilt. and inspite of his many repeated attempts to repair his bike and set the gears right, all efforts were unfortunately, futile. so our return journey involved all of us walking our bikes back upslope and on straight roads, and getting onto our bikes only for the downslope where there would be no need to pedal. i also learnt tt cigarette smoke helped keep the mozzies away, but unfortunately it's not a good enough reason to take it up.
we had a chance to sit around and drink iced tea and get slightly cooled down by the jetty after returning our bikes, and cl got entertained. somewhat. and here's 2 for the road.
before we leave.
unglam, i know. but we're all hot, sweaty, tired and totally mozzie-bitten. and don't forget injured too. hee hee.
so it's back to the jetty and the bumboat to find our way back to civilisation as we know it, i get my wireless router from tampines, and we take the mrt to lavender where we have dinner at beach road - the old army market. i have beef ball noodles with extra chilli and ah-balling. but ok ok... i will still have ah-balling one more time with you girls. in any case i need to go back to the army market to get my new bag.
and after tt, it's time to go home. so tt marks the end of my day today. haha. damn i'm still scratching... but it's an experience.
the only thing is tt i can't get the goddamn wireless router to work. or at least, to get my computer to register the damn thing. tmd.
# posted by Kitana @ 6/03/2006 10:19:00 PM 
