TnT's Workout Blog

The picture is form yesterday's walk in Singapore Science Park II. We tried to find an easy access to Haw Par Villa, but did not succeed. It is just surprising how difficult foot access to some seemingly easily accessible places is.

We take park connectors all the way back to East Coast Park. Some of the connectors make nice and smooth rides, some are just pure hell. Especially, near the MRT stations bike lanes are full of pedestrians. Even if there are separate lanes for bicyclists and pedestrians, the bicyclists are obliged to give way to pedestrians on bike lanes. I don't get it! Pedestrians should be fined for walking on the bike lanes.

Other obstacles on the bike lanes are overpasses on which the bikes have to be hauled up and down the stairs, or buildings --- yes, the park connectors run through HDB complexes in some places. And then there are highway exits in which taxis make really nasty cuts in front of bicycles. We are fortunate and make it back home in one piece.

There are even more campers in the East Coast Park today on the CNY eve. Today does not see much sunshine, and in the afternoon we have the first rain shower in several weeks. I wonder what the campers in the park did? Rushed to their tents for cover?

We start riding from home about 8:30am. We ride through the business district to the Marina Bay area, which is not too crowded this early in the morning. The Marina Promenade takes us all the way to the Stadium Waterfront. We manouver ourselves around the Indoor Stadium and finally to the East Coast Park.

We are not the only park users today. The holiday season has inspired people to come together to bbq and camp, and also introduce themselves to new hobbies, such as tandem bicycle riding and roller-skating. It is a nerve-breaking 10+ kilometers ride among couples and kids that have hard time holding their balance, have no sense of direction, and obviously have a lot of fun in total oblivion of other trail users.

We stop at Carl's Jr. for lunch. We continue North on the Coastal Park Connector which, compared to the East Coast Park, is peaceful despite running on the edge of the Changi airport. Changi Beach Park again is full of CNY celebrators.

The bumboat ride is short in time and distance, but misapprehending the scale of the island, we spend slightly longer trying to find the Ubin Lodge, our overnight accommodation on the island. The room description promises all kind of fancy things such as a tv set, a deluxe super single divan mattress separated by side table, and a mahjong table, but fails to mention that the room does not come with linens and towels --- they are not available for rent either. The description does not say anything about the toilet or bathroom, but the access to them we have checked by calling beforehand. Luckily, we took the travel towels with us just to swipe the excess sweat when riding, not for bath towels. By the way, we do not see the mahjong table. The room is shabby and unclean; the bathroom is especially unwelcoming.

We spend a couple of hours exploring the island walking, sharing the road again with erratic riders. Besides few eating establishments, the main business on the island is to rent bicycles to tourists and sell them cold drinks along the way as they explore the island. We also do have some coconut juice the locals enjoy (Tomi does not particularly like it). When back in the village we stop at the only eating place that is open yet, Cheong Liam Yuen. We have a table next to a rowdy British group, and have some mee goreng and ginger chicken, and a couple of bottles of Tiger for appetizers. Tiger beer is served with ice. The evening is young, so we go back to the lodge to shower and change.

Then we are back in town (village) again. We tour the whole place and it seems that Cheong Liam Yuen is the only place that is serving food tonight. We order black pepper crab, seafood fried rice, kai lan, and steamed grouper for dinner. The treat costs us 68 dollars, but is worth every cent. Food is really well prepared, delicious, and nicely displayed.

We take the shortest route to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which is the Clementi Road -- a very busy six lane street even at ten o'clock on this Sunday morning. When in the reserve, we apparently ride the mnt bike trail to the wrong direction for a couple of kilometers, since we just want to access entry point to the trail that leads north (Gangsa track), instead of riding the whole 6-kilometer loop we did a couple of weeks ago. This causes some grunts from other trail users, even if there are no clear signs where we start that the trail is strictly one-way. In general, other people we meet on the trail are really friendly, and everyone says hello or good morning!

The Gangsa track is easy and less heavily used. It is a nice ride in the lush rainforest and under some largest green leaves we have ever seen. We also pass some nice plantations where local people grow veggies and flowers.

Once out of the woods, the rest of the ride is nightmarish. We take some busy streets back, and even ride a km or two on the Pan Island Expressway (PIE). We stop for a lunch at Upper Thompson Road: we have mee goreng and beef hor fun in a small neighborhood establishment, and a couple of mugs of lime juice each :) When closer to home, we find some tranquil residential areas with rather plush and posh houses.

The bird park is like a zoo, but only with birds. Singapore also has a Zoo with a noteworthy (or at least most advertized) attraction, Night Safari. We have not had a chance to visit the place yet.

In the bird park we first see some penguins (or actually tons of them), then storks, cranes, herons, and flamingos. We also spot a couple of black swans, an iguana, and an stupendously stupid looking ostrich. I can't help but he reminds me of Purple and Brown.

We continue our tour with some birds of prey (e.g., world's largest eagle), hornbills and toucans, and loris. We finish by viewing some owls, kingfishers, and amazingly camouflaged scarlet ibises.

Tomi had found earlier this funny Bloomington sign in a sign shop at Anchorpoint shopping mall.