Monday, April 14, 2008

Eastern Park Connector Bike Trip April 2008

Attempt Number One: 8th April 2008, Tuesday
Weather: We got rained on big time.

We had sought shelter at this void deck at Tampines. We waited for quite a while for the rain to stop and both of us were freezing our follicles off.

Our bikes and barang barang.

The wet, sodden bikers. After considering our options of what to do, we decided to turn back around and go back the same way back to East Coast. It was late and the rain had slowed our plans down. We vowed to come back another day!

We had a really slurpilicious dinner at a turkish food place at East Coast, "Kebab Station". This was the Beef Kebab Roll. Heavenly! Juicy and tasty beef, tangy sauce, veg, wrapped in a warm and crisp skin.
This would be the turkish pizza. It's got tomato based sauce mixed with minced meat and eggplant, fresh tomatoes, topped with cheese, yoghurt/sour cream and herbs with pita bread on the side. Oh, how we savoured every drop!

Ok, i got this scrap on my knee because my bike skidded on the edge of the wet road when i was going up a slope. Gem was behind me and he thought i was doing a stunt! (WOT?!) He said that it looked like i was jumping off my bike. This was what happened: I was going up the slope, the wheels skidded and the bike toppled to the right. For fear of being mashed beneath the bike, i jumped off, landed first on my left knee, then palms, did a small roll and landed on me arse. To my surprise, i felt more like an ant/bouncy ball that got thrown off, and not like a heavy potato that i envisioned myself to be more like. HAHA. I landed quite softly, and not with a hard bonk on the ground. I'm guessing it's because it was a controlled fall. Thank God the injuries were really minor! :-)

So, on tuesday, we completed only route G.

Attempt Number Two: 10th April 2008, Thursday
Weather: Really Cloudy. Experienced only a slight drizzle.

Other than falling over, and scowling and grumbling at Gem whenever i did (how 'charming' of me, sigh. my temper is horrendous.) and having "discussions" on safety while cycling, i had a really good time cycling some 30km-40km last week on thursday. We cycled routes A, B, C, D, E and F and the whole stretch of East Coast.

The weather was really cloudy and on the verge of a major downpour, but i believe God really held the rain cos this was our second attempt in the same week to complete the eastern park connector bike route, and we really prayed for the rain to be held at bay. Gem was also an amazing sport. It's not easy being with a fighter cock/chilli padi and remain composed, and he always took effort to take care of me, even when i wasn't very nice to him sometimes.


Us by the beach while having lunch before renting our bikes.

First stop, Bedok Reservoir.

Second stop. Hmm. Can't remember where this was... :-( We had to carry our bikes up and down the overhead bridge stairs. Some bridges had ramps though. Overall, you need some level of endurance and strength to tackle the urban terrain.

The next stop.


This was taken by Gem at Changi, at one tip of Singapore! I really wanted to make a stop here because i was charmed by the fact that it was literally one of the edges that make the perimeter of Singapore. The NTU Cell passed by this point when we were travelling back by bumboat from Pulau Ubin. Played around with picasa to created the saturated colours.

Ha, ok i admit that i love this photo taken by Gem. Could do with some editing.

Oh. This is the Coastal Park Connector, a notoriously LONG straight road that links Changi to East Coast. It's 8km long.

When we got back, we chowed down on some hong kong cafe food which was tasty and nice, but terribly overpriced. Altogether, we left satisfied. Aching, but satisfied. :-)

9 comments:

Love Jam said...

MMMMMMMMMMM! me love turkish food ! watch out for the oil though :P

Lalalo said...

hahha.. cool! the last pic: that was the last bit of our trail that time too, and Den and I were falling behind the rest (i think i fell there, and was tired too...), and we were just commenting that that's where all the couples go pa-tor-ing!cos we saw like this really skimpily dress gal with a guy... haha. so you guys were there huh. ;)

and, i laughed out loud at the "gem thought you were doing a stunt" part. hahahah!!!! :P

Yayy, glad you guys enjoyed yourselves!!!!!!! :D

Anonymous said...

rose in bloom:

which places have u tried?
it's OILY?!!?!?!? OH NO!

lala:

Hm. As far as i know, paktor-ing on that 8km stretch is quite a strange way to have a date... i suppose there's some weird form of privacy there... *cringe*

you fell?!??! why, how come?

hm. i think it's cool when you've finished that crazy stretch cos when you're done, you think bakc and go, WOW!, cos you've covered so much distance, you're STRONG! it's a blessing to be able to do so.

HAHHAHA. yeah right..., i am a closet stuntwoman that he didn't know about!

Lalalo said...

mm, i was too close the left side of the road, i guess. it was a soft thud. I didnt attempt to jump off my bike, though. hahah ;) maybe you should teach me next time. ;)

Anonymous said...

lala:

thank God for soft thuds then. hee.

by the way... my god brother, matthew, is having a little chalet getaway and he told me tt i can invite friends to come over. i'm thinking, if u guys want to, u can come over on the 18th of May (sunday) and then we can all go cycling! :-D

Anonymous said...

18th may? oh my, i am having company interaction day at west coast on 17th may, i think is 1st day of sch holidays. i will be baked like crab i supposed...hohoho....sat i m gg to buy a glass slab cos i broke one at work.so suay this week.haiz...

Germaine said...

awwwwww so sweeeet. i should try this route some day..."tmr tmr i love u tmr"...some how that day seems so far away!partially cos the distance sounds daunting!

Anonymous said...

jo can u act as a counsellor to my cousin? ok kidding la, but seriously i cant stand him anymore. i feel like puking if i speak another word to him. i m this disgusted with him.how can anyone do sth like this? i wont help him this time. i m a ger and his cousin, if i feel so disgusted with him, imagine how his gf, his mum, dad,sis feel?i m furious.and i dont tink i want to talk or meet him anymore. i dun want to be involved with his stupidity. u must be wondering wat he did. wat he did is 2 too much for me to say. i feel so humiliated to tink abt it. i dunno why he can tell me this mistake he did, i think becos i look like the ger he likes. in any case, i do nt know him well. this is it. tipping point, i wont have anything to do with such a arghhhh....person( i feel like saying scum, dirty, person,but he is my cousin, i m ashamed to say)...if anyone can forgive him, it is nt me, it is god.i wont scold him , contrary 2 wat u told me, i will let him melt in his guilt. scolding him will relief his guilt. let him rot.let him regret, let him feel guilty. let him.sad to say, i m beginning to hate him....

Anonymous said...

germaine:

OH WOW! Long time no hear from you! Hope u is doing good at work?

hm. the distance sounds a bit stretched. But when you're on it, and feeling garang enough, it is quite fun! i would say that the starting and stopping (to cross bridges, roads, etc) is more tiring than the cycling itself. :-P

anon:

i hear you gal... and really am heartbroken to hear about his misadventures. if you've cooled down, would u consider just telling him exactly what you think, as his cousin? even if it is just a text message or something.
if no one tells him that he is wrong, how would he change from his ways?
as for his gf, i think she shld give up on him, since he is in love with another girl.