pEdal ubin!
Saturday, 1st March 2008.
Intro:
Its my first activity with NUS. A trip to cycling trip in Ubin about the place's biodiversity. Mainly, its about common plants and its uses. But the thing I like most about that trip is cycling. It feels so good to be pedaling in an island without traffic cameras, parking woes and gridlock. The recently developed Ketam Mountain Biking Park was a lot of fun.
----
It was 5:30am in the morning and my alarmed jolted me out of my sleep. The weather was cooling, perfect for sleeping on a sat morning. But on that day, I have to drag myself out to meet wx at AMK to take the 6:30am train towards city hall and hop onto green line to tenah merah station. Frankly, I find that it is very dumb to do that because it would be a very very long detour. If it was by car, it would have been a direct route towards Changi Village by TPE.
We thought trains will be pretty empty on a sat morning. But we were so wrong, we had a to stand all the way from city hall to tenah merah! wx entertained herself with a book she borrowed - The Leap Years, while i was leaping in and out of sleep while standing. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the train to arrive at tenah merah and we had to catch bus number '2'. It was then, my stomach was cranky and forced me to take a pit stop
It is by far, one of the longest journeys I've ever made by public transport and still, it wasn't the end after reaching changi village. The last leg of our route required a ride on a wooden bumboat. Yes, the price is still $2 per head. That day, the waves were particularly strong and had the boat rocking dangerously from side to side.
On arrival, we were greeted by bicycle shops. We were late and I didn't have the time to give a thorough check of our bikes. Our next stop - the ubin basketball court. Then, I had to use the toilet again. The nearest one happened to be the one at Pulau Ubin Voluntaar's Hub aka Mparks' office. Apparently, their toilets are restricted to staff and volunteers only and I managed to have 2 employees' permission(while asking them where the toilet was) before I ventured into restricted grounds. Ahh... I was so relieved and thankful... UNTIL when I stepped out of the cubical...
A man in Mparks uniform shouted 'Oie! u can't read the sign ah'
Me 'I've got permission'
Mparks ' who said u can come in'
Me ' that man who just walked out'
Mparks '... can't read the sign?!!!!'
At first, I was so glad that they allowed me to use their toilet but that grumpy old arse changed my opinion of Mparks. Firstly, never assume that nature loving people are also peaceful people.
He drew a picture of a grumpy vegan who holds a hatred for people who eats meat, bought a house made of bio-degradable material, bathes in sea water, loves bitter gourd, believes that global warming will kill us all, talks to his plants in the morning but.... goes to an air-conditioned office for work.
Seriously, does he have to do that? its the only (almost-public)toilet in 500m and he had to do that to me?
- look back for next update -
Intro:
Its my first activity with NUS. A trip to cycling trip in Ubin about the place's biodiversity. Mainly, its about common plants and its uses. But the thing I like most about that trip is cycling. It feels so good to be pedaling in an island without traffic cameras, parking woes and gridlock. The recently developed Ketam Mountain Biking Park was a lot of fun.
----
It was 5:30am in the morning and my alarmed jolted me out of my sleep. The weather was cooling, perfect for sleeping on a sat morning. But on that day, I have to drag myself out to meet wx at AMK to take the 6:30am train towards city hall and hop onto green line to tenah merah station. Frankly, I find that it is very dumb to do that because it would be a very very long detour. If it was by car, it would have been a direct route towards Changi Village by TPE.
We thought trains will be pretty empty on a sat morning. But we were so wrong, we had a to stand all the way from city hall to tenah merah! wx entertained herself with a book she borrowed - The Leap Years, while i was leaping in and out of sleep while standing. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the train to arrive at tenah merah and we had to catch bus number '2'. It was then, my stomach was cranky and forced me to take a pit stop
It is by far, one of the longest journeys I've ever made by public transport and still, it wasn't the end after reaching changi village. The last leg of our route required a ride on a wooden bumboat. Yes, the price is still $2 per head. That day, the waves were particularly strong and had the boat rocking dangerously from side to side.
On arrival, we were greeted by bicycle shops. We were late and I didn't have the time to give a thorough check of our bikes. Our next stop - the ubin basketball court. Then, I had to use the toilet again. The nearest one happened to be the one at Pulau Ubin Voluntaar's Hub aka Mparks' office. Apparently, their toilets are restricted to staff and volunteers only and I managed to have 2 employees' permission(while asking them where the toilet was) before I ventured into restricted grounds. Ahh... I was so relieved and thankful... UNTIL when I stepped out of the cubical...
A man in Mparks uniform shouted 'Oie! u can't read the sign ah'
Me 'I've got permission'
Mparks ' who said u can come in'
Me ' that man who just walked out'
Mparks '... can't read the sign?!!!!'
At first, I was so glad that they allowed me to use their toilet but that grumpy old arse changed my opinion of Mparks. Firstly, never assume that nature loving people are also peaceful people.
He drew a picture of a grumpy vegan who holds a hatred for people who eats meat, bought a house made of bio-degradable material, bathes in sea water, loves bitter gourd, believes that global warming will kill us all, talks to his plants in the morning but.... goes to an air-conditioned office for work.
Seriously, does he have to do that? its the only (almost-public)toilet in 500m and he had to do that to me?
- look back for next update -
posted by leonard at 7:50 AM
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