It was the day I had awaited since more than a year ago. Gilbert and I talked about cycling at Pulau Ubin but we had never made enough effort to execute the plan. His friend, Jess, scheduled the day with her colleagues from overseas and also invited both of us since she knew we loved trekking and related stuffs, moreover, we were sporting.
I refused to sleep early the night before since there were many blogging stuffs for me to handle, putting aside the development of my new website for the time being. There were so many more things to be done, such as SEO, linking and advertising for all the existing and upcoming websites.
The previous time I went was donkey years ago together with my volleyball gang's school. Even though there was no girl with us, the excitement and tiredness from all the hell non-stop cycling was the fun. This time round, I expected the pace to be much slower and it could be quite boring with any girl for me to tease during the journey.
Gilbert was late. When he confirmed with me that he was at Bishan MRT, I sat down to stone for a while for my weird stomach before going to the toilet for the second time of the morning. In the end, I caught the same train as him at Raffles' Place, however, we were at extreme opposite cabins of the train.
We were late for around fifteen minutes. Jess and her friends were waiting at the jetty. I was surprised to see the changes over the place but it was nice.
The fee for a single trip on the boat was $2.50 each. Travelling on the boat was great for it gave me a carefree feeling. The seven of us went for late breakfast at $4 per plate and can drinks at $1.20 each. After getting a bottle of 100 plus each at $1.50, we rented our bikes at $15s and $10s for full day, and I saw not much difference to the two types of bikes which they claimed were for different genders.
It was not within my expectation to pause soon after we kicked off but it happened. I was quite bored at times at the pace. However, the slopes downward gave me the thrill, especially when I tried braking with the back wheel to give a drifting action whenever there was human barrier in front of me.
In the midst of the trip, I got to see a sweet girl in red but we took the different paths and thus I could only enjoy her back view for a few minutes while we were making decisions. I was expecting to see better sceneries and I was disappointed somehow. Overall, the trip was good but not to my expectation.
We left the island before 3pm and I took bus number 2 back to Tanah Merah MRT station.
On Friday, I woke up early in the morning again. I had only three hours of sleep as my old habit returned to haunt the night, refusing to let me go to bed before it was satisfied with the amount of work I could do.
It was not a good start of the day to face a colleague who seemed to have suffered from PMS. I was taking over Weiming’s class, which I was not familiar with as compared to all the other seven classes. On the bus towards Singapore Flyer, the fun was too short for celebration.
I was very used to seeing ugly students among the angels but the shame of Singapore joining in my group worsened my foul mood. Having twenty-five people squeezing inside a capsule was pathetic. The half an hour stay in the air was the longest thirty minutes I had ever spent.
My lunch was at Popeye at the cost of thirty-five bucks. I joined Joy’s girls at the Esplanade later for a walk. My mind was in a dilemma since I wanted to join the KO students at Marina Barrage and yet, I wanted to reach home by 3pm as to go to the chalet with my brothers. It was not long before the fatigue ruled my head and wiped out my brain. My eyes were closing and my skull was unbalanced. Nevertheless, I had some moments of relaxing periods.
I reached home just in time when my brothers were going off. Since I had not packed my stuffs and that my brain was losing to the gravitational effect, I decided to join them at night even though I could have gotten a free ride by my elder brother’s friend.
I concussed on the mattress and woke up in the evening. After dragging for a long time, I finally started leaving my house in my backpack. My younger brother picked me up near Pasir Ris MRT in the double bicycle but he got the shock of his life when we started moving off. It was difficult to balance. I took the front seat when I went East Coast Park with Wanling long ago and I supposed it was easier to team up with a non-cyclist. Alas, we got used to it and got back to the chalet.
My cross cable was put in good use when we started LAN gaming, joining my younger brother and my laptop together. However, I was very disappointed that there was no wireless internet connection within Costa Sands Resort and thus I could not do my work. My younger brother could plug in his iPhone to access the internet but mine did not work.
At the first hour of Christmas, I was with my buddies at Vivocity, catching the movie “Guards and Assassins”. I had not been to the cinema with them for very long. It was an unusual outing since the guys had their girlfriends along, except for Weitat and me. We split into two groups of four each, on the same row, but separated by around three to four persons.
It was a story about people trying to protect the father of Republic of China, Sun Zhong Shan aka Sunwen. Some people thought that we had to really understand the story so that we could understand the movie, I thought differently. The story was simple, but the plot was definitely good enough to link up all the characters. Fighting scenes were nice. It was one of the nicest Chinese movies ever.
At the start of the movie, someone nearby started snoozing. In the midst of it, Weitat joined in the fun, then I realised the sleepy person could have watched the movie before like Weitat.
After the movie, we proceeded to Ruo Chun at Geylang for dim sum. I reached home at around 5am and the rest of them were definitely later.
In the afternoon, Mingfa came over to fetch me to East Coast Park. We rented bikes and cycled to the beach volleyball court. The sand was lousy but the poles were firm. None of them wanted to dive and I was the only fearless yet stupid one. I played better on sand than indoor court most of the time.
After the short volleyball game, we went further after the Outward bound campus before going back to the bicycle kiosk. We decided to end the day then. Jingkun sent me home and in the midst of the journey, just as I was admiring the dark clouds seemed like dropping, it started pouring very heavily.
I caught a little nap after taking my flu syrup. It was quite a nervous preparation since I did not know the exact arrangement of the night cycling trip. Bus 196 took ages to arrive and I was cursing SBS for the indication of “13 minutes” waiting time on the board at the bus-stop.
A well dressed up collar shirt man boarded the bus and sat beside me at Lao Pa sat and I felt like kicking him for his body smelt of liquor and that he added as if his body was huge. My initiate plan to rest in the journey failed all because of him moving about and having his long sleeve shirt slicing my skin on the arm.
Anyway, I was surprised to reach the destination on time despite all the factors that stalled my time. I was so shocked that nobody else was at the meeting point, carpark C4, except for many unfamiliar faces. Luckily, some of them were wearing the school’s shirts. I took a walk further down to make sure I was at the correct location and twenty minutes later, I returned to see a few familiar faces.
Weiming arrived before Faris and I realised there were only three of us. The kids were divided into four groups and appointed leaders did most of the controlling.
At the beginning of the trip
Since there got to be two persons on the vehicle and that I did not have a civilian driving license, Faris and Weiming had to be the drivers. I was left alone to cycle by myself. I could have joined the groups randomly to have a clearer picture of the entire situation or tease them around, but since Faris placed the responsibility of being the sweeper at the most back to ensure that we would not lose anyone by the end of the event, I was all by myself.
The stoppages since beginning of the trip caused yawning. The thing I hated most was the “yaya papaya” attitude from some of them who were from another department – banking. I regretted joining in the trip when I could have used the time to work on my websites instead, or at least, surf net at home.
Alex joined us when we reached the runway and we actually sped up a bit on the long stretch of path. Our pace was in fact still quite slow that I could not feel any stress on the legs’ muscle. When we reached Changi Village, everyone simply dumped their bicycles by the side of the hawker centre and I volunteered to stay behind to look after everything.
More than an hour later, we decided to move on further to the Old Changi Hospital but at the start of the expedition, there were too many casualties that we had to halt the plan. The cramping of legs and the breaking of a bicycle chain caused the problems. Worst still, there was a girl who fell more than five times throughout the trip and luckily there was a small personal bicycle in exchange for her rented one. It took us some time to clear up the mess and begin on the journey back. This time round, since the small lorry was already occupied with the casualties, Faris and Weiming took a bicycle each while Alex became the chauffeur.
The entire trip would not be so memorable without the rain which started to hit us at the Changi Beach. We had to put on poncho before reaching the runway as the rain started to pierce through the air. Alex did a good job by distributing them at a road junction and I was impressed by his responsibility.
The pace on the return trip seemed to be much faster. Visibility was a great issue to me for my spectacle was almost wet by the huge rain. As my shoes started to get wet, I felt so irritated and it reminded me of the army days. In the mid of the runway, Jiaquan stopped due to stress probably from cycling in the huge rain. His body was weak and thus we had to accompany him. We contacted Alex and pushed our bicycles to the nearest small shelter, the last of the third shelter along the path.
The thin plastic poncho could not help much to resist the coldness and my Ripcurl singlet was probably a wrong choice of top to wear in the weather. We realised the rain would not stop and thus we continued after some time and to begin on the journey in our almost frozen bodies made it seem like it was impossible to carry on. The entire bicycle was shaking because my body was shivering in the numbness, too cold to talk. If only we did not pause at all, our body could have provided enough heat to resist part of the coldness.
At the end of the runway, we chose to move on the road since it could be faster and Alex drove the lorry with hassle light on behind us to ensure our safety until we reached East Coast Park again.
The stress level was definitely high under the never-seem-to-stop rain. However, it was probably the only chance to challenge our limits together. That was probably the best gift of the entire trip. I was certain that others would be envious of my struggle together with both Weiming and Faris because we could probably not find many better men than them in this world.
As we reached the destination, we were glad to see everyone back in a piece. We started to return the bicycles to the exact spot and everyone was too anxious to leave, such that in the end we were the only ones keeping account of the bicycles.
Faris first sent Azyan back to Bedok North and then the rest of the guys to Bukit Panjang. I realised I could have gotten home much earlier if I were to take bus 196 in my wet shoes but it was good to accompany Faris who did not catch a wink as well and had to drive. He was yawning and trying to keep himself awake, but insisted to send the kids back home even though he was in a rush to return the lorry. In the end, he dropped me at Jurong East MRT before making a turn back to the school.
It could be a much better trip if the convoy was smaller or having a bigger lorry and that more adults were present to control the problematic kids, especially from the banking side.
I had a two-hour nap but not a continuous one as my younger brother tried to trample on the mattress in the middle.
Cough syrup really tastes disgusting. I have to take it again since there is still infection which is causing a little breathing difficulty whenever I try to breathe in hard.
I’m not very sure of my feeling now since I know it will going to be fun later but my health status is low. What makes things worse is that my mum is leaving Singapore tomorrow morning before I can get home, and there will be problem with my meals again.
The struggle to stay up at around 1am to finish up my work caused me the day. I lay on the bed for a few minutes and I was never sleepy again. I tried to sleep at 4am but could not doze off. At first it was squeezing on the bed with my younger brother and mum. Then I shifted over to my elder brother’s side, which was much more comfortable but it did not help. I got up at 6.30am finally, deciding not to waste any time again, began to do some work.
I left for Bukit Batok after 8am. Kelly was waiting there for Mingfa and me. After Mingfa arrived at 9am, we went up to Mr Khin’s house. His wife showed us great hospitality again. After some discussion and taking of photos, we left.
Mingfa accompanied me to the Burger King. It was the first time I took their breakfast, which tasted alright. I saw a girl who looked like Sergeant Kim but even though we were just nearby, I did not try to greet her for she might not remember me and moreover she was with a guy.
I dropped Huiying a SMS since the previous time she blamed me for not telling her I was near her place. As I was telling her about cycling at ECP, she told me she did not know my friends. I replied her that she had met them during my chalet and she almost made me vomit blood by asking me why I opened a chalet again. I gave up.
Mingfa and I left at 11am. After reaching home, I began to blog for the previous day while messaging more people. Kwang Han suddenly flew us aeroplane and decided not to join us anymore.
I took bus 196 to ECP and met Gilbert and Rueben right at the bus-stop. We went to the MacDonald’s and by then, Andrew had arrived. He was a storeman at the secure store previously, who I got to know better during my ROC trip. I got to chat a lot with him before going back into the restaurant. By then, Jesslin had arrived and the five of us set off together.
With Andrew. Reuben at the back.
Purchasing drinks at the jetty
Children sitting on tree trunk; aeroplane; Gilberto hiding behind Reuben for shade; photography
Andrew the professional cyclist
We went to the two nearest bicycle kiosks but business was so good that they were almost empty. We had to move further down towards the east and got ourselves a $7 bike each for two hours duration, except for Andrew who had cycled there from his house. His cycling skill was impressive even though he was a PES E guy who had undergone a heart operation during my ORD period.
Meeting up at 2pm was a good choice for the park was much more crowded than in the morning and babes were all over the place. It was very refreshing to the eyes and body as we sweated out throughout the journey. At least, I felt good that I was exercising to improve the condition of my knees.
Jesslin, Gilberto's secretary
Gilberto
Group photo, courtesy of the bicycle seat, thanks for holding on the camera!
Cool?
We proceeded till the Changi Safra Chalet before making a U-turn. In between, we had a number of breaks as well. We had real group photo-taking near the chalet.
Cute doggy
Drenching thirst at the food centre
Andrew, Rueben and I were leading the way as Gilbert displayed his weakness again. I halted the two cyclists at the food centre to get some fresh coconut drinks and after a while, Jesslin finally arrived with Gilbert who did not look at the left. We could only manage to Gilbert but Jesslin was way beyond our shouts.
As we were nearer to the central, the roads were very congested but it gave us the fun. There were times we tried to overtaking big groups, little kids blocked the way with sudden stops, and I could play well with braking.
Gilberto was so happy that he could make it back
My favourite bicycle kiosk - it was almost empty inside when we were returning the bikes
The crowd
Cute girls bladding
Drinking outside 7-11 store
Gilberto's free show
Tunnel.. they didn't want to stop and I had to take it fast
Andrew left after we returned the bike. We strolled to Parkway Parade and Gilbert was disappointed that the rest of them wanted to go home immediately. I took bus 196 with Rueben and finally started dozing off on the bus. Gilbert SMSed me, saying that he felt he had lost his weight just by such short distance of cycling and that he could eat more food at night to celebrate for it.
Upon reaching home, there were satays waiting for me and I could not stop eating. The satisfaction was great. I continued with my work until I started dozing off during late evening. My mum and younger brother started packing the house again.
Mike told me he was going to find an office space the week after but I did not want to give myself too high hopes for the moment. We had some discussions again and I worked till late as usual. I was waked up by Kelly to get CPF statement from Kaven and then I went back to sleep as usual.
I woke up late and my mum called home to check if I was hungry a not and I answered “no” for I thought she have important thing to do but would be home soon. Eventually, she came home at 3am and I really regretted it. I had just finished two slices of breads and thus had no appetite for the packet rice by then.
I went to find Kaven at 4pm. This time, I cycled in my singlet into the crowded business district. Even though it was such a short distance, I was dead beat upon reaching there. After giving back his bank loan papers and collecting his CPF statement, I took the route at Ah Moy Street home. Just after passing by the food centre, a driver of a parked car opened the door when I was so near. Luckily I performed stun by braking and twisting the bicycle to the right side, managed to continue the journey without stopping for a second. I was basically keeping to the left since the lane was small and the car owner should really look behind before opening the door.
After reaching home, I rested to wait for my sweat to dry up before taking my bath. Then, I remembered I had forgotten to finish up my lunch again but luckily the food did not turn bad. I spent the afternoon editing my websites as usual and had half an hour game of Condition Zero. I dozed off eventually for around half an hour but the loud sound from the other room woke me up many times for my younger brother had returned home from camp and was watching movie.
Into evening, I gave up sleeping and continued with my work. I called into the room but the volume of the loud noise was not lowered that I had to go and close the door, feeling so irritated. I tried to read up on a website recommended by Mike but I was distracted with other work and that reading was a torture to me.
At night, Kelly called me regarding Kaven’s stuffs and we had some chat. She told me I should not stay too close to my clients such that I would be placed in difficult position like when Kaven’s mum requested me to push the appointment earlier I could not reject her immediately.
At the same time, Suimin messaged me again to ask me for an English song. I seemed to be pierced somehow and felt so sad. It was almost every time she contacted me, she was simply asking me to help her with all sorts of things. Apart from I was not into any English song, I was very clueless about where to find them.
Peh messaged me so coincidentally to complain about MaxOnline. The network was slow for these few days but at least I was able to connect to MSN and other websites. Perhaps, it could be problems with my own computer or even the router and thus I did not know what to reply to him.
This moment when I was so pissed off with my half done work, and had to settle some money (my most sensitive hatred) problems with Kaven in the MSN and Kelly over the phone, while being unable to find the song for Suimin and did not know how to reply Peh, I seemed to be massacred.
Afterwards, I got more irritated when I was unable to do my work efficiently for the wait for everything to finish loading was long. It was so bad that I nodded my head a few times. Then, I started uninstalling Yahoo Messenger and running all the system clean up programs.
I had to believe I was unable to concentrate with the MSN opened, even though very few people had bothered to message me or reply my messages anymore; the more than two hundreds and fifty of contacts seemed to be decoration except when my need was required. In future I might consider not switching it on.
Huimin was the most sporting person who would always pose for pictures
Starting the fire
Spying the Sai family
Still waiting for food
Arrival of his previous one
Playing game
Still playing...
The girls
They weren't smiling at Shujian's quietness
Eating the fried rice
[Sunday, 31 December, 2006]
After the long cycling
My pretty and gorgeous princess
It's all about Huimin
Pig does her work
Fenghui doing work by keeping the bicycles
After the early morning cycling, queuing up for bathing was a problem when there were only two bathrooms for over ten people.
Caught in action - Bianhong and Pamela
Stolen bed
The junior guys were up in their room playing wrestling that caused noises. Huimin and Pamela came into the seniors’ room to squeeze into our queen size bed together with Bianhong and Junrong. All of them except Junrong wanted to chat but ended up dozing off. Bianhong started making lots of noises and even tossed around, and thus I decided to leave the room and slept on the sofas.
Around two hours later, I tried to wake Bianhong up for his work but it was helpless. After some time, I saw a space on the bed and quickly hopped onto it. However, princess came in to ask me out with the rest getting ready to return the bicycles. All of them left soon and I was the only one waiting for Pamela who claimed that her butts were so pain that she could not cycle at all. After mocking at her for Junrong was riding her throughout the trip to East Coast Park that she should be perfectly alright, I asked her to wait Bianhong up to do it in her place. Nevertheless, Bianhong could not be waked up. I tried to cycle with one hand while holding to her bicycle but my skill was not up to it. Alas, I walked down with her but halfway, I decided to cycle over first before walking back to help her push her bicycle.
Upon my second arrival outside the bicycle shop with Pamela, everyone had bought their breakfasts and was ready to leave. I felt they were lacking of a leader who could account for everyone and thus would not neglect anyone. However, it was so sweet that the junior guys waited for both of us to get our breakfasts before returning. I bought “Shui Guo” to share with the “sleeping beauty” Bianhong while Pamela got a piece of small pancake.
After breakfast, most of them were off to bed except for Pamela, Junrong and Bianhong who wanted to catch a movie at Tampiness. They asked me along but the long lonely journey on bus 29 the night before was giving me a phobia. So, I continued my wonder sleep finally on the comfortable bed.
Preparation for the great work
Working?
Washing
Terrorizing the can
Cooking
Luncheon meat
Chicken wings
Afternoon, I woke up to see some of them preparing food. They cooked the plain rice and used it for frying fried rice immediately. The opening of the luncheon meat can was a hassle for nobody knew how to use the can opener. Yuting started using the chopper and made a mess out of the can. With similar experiences while helping my mum in the past, I was able to solve their problems.
Khong Wee, Shujian and Huimin were doing most of the work at kitchen and I joined in later to stir the fried rice, giving up my job as photographer. I supposed it was my only advantage that I was stupid to continue stirring the rice even when I was tired. There was lots of rice and the worst thing was that nobody knew how much ingredients to add and Shujian poured in little salt and sour each time; there was even second round of addition of eggs. Basically, I stirred for very long.
After the kitchen was cleared, everyone was like clearing away from it, leaving mess around. I was very disappointed to hear comments like “The cleaning up should be left for others” and “So they just left like that?”. I did not mind washing up everything but the corn on my wrist was at a bad condition already.
Huimin did the washing up of the kitchen and I stayed there to get ready to render any help. In the end, when I carried the wok over to the sink, it appeared that I was fooled to do the finishing job, which was so silly. Scrubbing off the burnt eggs from the wok was difficult and since the knife did not belong to anyone of us, I risked losing its sharpness by using it to scrub the food off. Then, princess’ parents arrived and saw me in my awkward task.
Huimin was the most sporting person who would always pose for pictures
Starting the fire
Spying the Sai family
Still waiting for food
Everyone pushed Shujian to start the fire while he was anxiety waiting for the arrival of Wileen. I knew the importance of taking down memories and therefore I did not want to dirty my hands. They seriously made a mess out of the charcoals but with the aids of solid fuel, it did not matter at all. I was quite worried about the usage of solid fuel for the poison and hence I did not use them despite bringing over to my birthday chalet, but somehow it was the best way to get the fire started.
Arrival of his previous one
The best entertainment was the waiting for Wileen’s arrival. We called out to Shujian for any cab passing by. It was funny to see him appear panic. Perhaps, I was more excited than him as I held the camera to prepare for any action as soon as possible. Upon she stepped out of the cab, I gave a snap but too bad Shujian was moving his head. He did not cherish his chance to behave like a gentleman to offer her drinks. I was not sure about their relationship after so many years but it would really be so devoted of him if he really liked her for so long.
Playing game
Still playing...
The girls
They weren't smiling at Shujian's quietness
Eating the fried rice
They began playing a card game which required fast reaction and I did not join in for I was holding the camera again and was glad that I managed to record down the ending of the game. I supposed it would be very good memorial for all of them.
The bicycles (was just testing the lighting without flash).
It's so tiring to bend down for her.
What's up? I don't know.
Pretty photographer at work.
But she's fierce!
Full of love.
A peek into the air port through the gate of the emergency exit.
The fit ones.
Group picture.
In the second day of the chalet, we were still at Changi Coast Road. There was a pause where we rested our legs and butts while viewing the aeroplanes and taking pictures. We did not stop for long before continuing with the journey where I had my island wide driving after passing my SAF class 4 test.
Bianhong said he would be the last man in the convoy but it ended up that he always cycled in front and thus I became the angel most of the time. At times when I overtook them, I always looked back to see if Junrong could keep up with us for he was carrying Pamela with him.
After that, we turned into East Coast Park in the cooling weather and after passing the holiday resort, my cold feet started to cramp. I regretted not wearing shoes. I managed to continue the journey with the hurting toe so amazingly until I swung my camera too hard that the unlocked battery cover came loose.
The whitened Huimin and her charm.
Resting at the jetty.
The scenery.
Admiring her own work.
The travelling.
Bianhong stopped by to wait for me and both of us soon raced up to catch the rest. We stopped at a jetty. At around the food centre, Yuting and princess went in separate route from the rest and I followed them. It was fun bullying them and taking pictures.
The bicycle flagged for the cab and both Pamela and Bianhong were kidnapped.
Bianhong was waiting for us in front and then the four of us finally reached the MacDonald’s to meet up with the rest. Then, Bianhong and I went to grab some bites. We were in the counter where the prettiest staff was at and we were so indecisive. Finally, I bought a filet-o-fish meal despite my throat discomfort. Gin Seng was the best guy this time as he went outside to count the number of bicycles and I could rest my mind with that.
The shagged faces.
Before we set off, Bianhong decided to take a cab and Pamela joined in and they managed to slot one of the bicycles into the back of the cab. There was a nearby place showing the current soccer match of Arsenal versus Sheffield United and the guys except John stayed behind. So, there left Junrong, Fenghui, John, Yuting, Huimin, princess and I travelling back.
Before I almost fell, off balanced on the bicycle and took this picture accidentally.
Return trip. All these were dangerously taken when I was cycling on one hand.
Fenghui was the fittest girl and she could easily lead the way with Junrong, whereas the other girls were dead beat. Along the way, I tried to motivate them to persist on. When I told Huimin we would be leaving her behind all by herself and she smartly replied, “你们舍得吗？” and I was quite lost. Then, I tried it on Yuting before the end of the East Coast Park and then I gradually increased my speed to maintain a distance with her and it seemed to work.
Up the higher ground near SAF Ferry Terminal.
The great one pushed the bicycle on the slope near Netheravon Road.
Towards Changi Coast Road, I was never as energetic as before and thus did not stand up as often to rest my butts. In the end, my butts were painful like the rest of them. I still continued to crap around and cycled by some of their sides whenever the road was cleared. Eventually Junrong, Fenghui and John were gone after the road. Then, I started to feel pressured for the safety of the remaining three girls was in my hands. Whenever we passed by those night owls along the Changi Beach Road, I stayed very alert and listened for whistles of those desperadoes, which was heard earlier at East Coast Park.
Right after work at Kovan, I searched through my map for bus 72 after being “fooled” by the cake shop assistants that I could board it just outside the MRT station. It was a long way down to Tampiness Road and finally after a big mosque, I found the exact bus-stop. I found the route so familiar until I realised I had driven through them before but this bus 72 was travelling slower than my 3-tonner (maximum speed of 50km/h); even the semen carrier (maximum speed of 40km/h) had overtaken the bus easily at the clear and straight road.
After the long journey to the Tampiness interchange, I bought some food at the crowded food court and went off to wait for bus 29 at the interchange. The bus journey was as long as half an hour and eventually I followed through my map again and alighted at the first bus-stop at Netheravon Road. I called Bianhong and he told me all of them were at Pasir Ris.
Waiting at the first stop at Netheravon Road alone where the red ant crawled onto my hand and dropped into my dinner.
A sudden dejection filled my entire body. The sweat that I lost throughout the rushing journey proved me silly. I wondered why none of them would at least send me an SMS before they left the place for it was basic courtesy that I had spoken over phone to Bianhong and Junrong that I was on the way there already. I felt so left out and I knew my inexistence would definitely not matter much to anyone of them.
Alone, I sat on the bus-stop’s bench and took out my dinner but realising it could never fill my famished mind. Numerous bus 29 passed by to mock at me, together with passers-by who looked so amazed that I was all alone in the darkness. At least, the ants kept me occupied. Minutes passed by with strangers asking me for directions and finally I decided I should use the time wisely to walk around instead of feeding the mosquitoes and finally I got to the chalet and waited outside.
One plus hour upon my arrival, the junior guys were back in their bicycles. There was nothing much I could do when I realised the guys knew nothing about my earlier call to inform them I was on the way already.
At the chalet finally.
I was resting upstairs when Bianhong came in to give me a fright. I went down with him later and started to tease Pamela who was the last in the convoy on their returning trip. It was boring at first until they decided to go out for supper. Since they did not get an extra bicycle for me, Junrong had to become Pamela’s chauffer.
We went to Changi Village’s hawker centre and since I had my dinner very late, I did not order anything. I wanted to volunteer to look after the bicycles at outside so that the rest of them could just enjoy their supper peacefully but Bianhong dragged me inside. So, Bianhong and I were sitting nearest to the bicycle and later had a little crap with the drinks stall auntie.
Outfield.
Huimin and Junrong.
Bianhong looking at Fenghui and Pamela.
Junrong riding Pamela.
Through the night.
Huimin.
The honeymoon continued.
Fixing the bicycle.
After that, we started cycling through the Changi Beach Park and then along the Changi Coast Road where Shujian caused Khong Wee’s fall.
It was Christmas Day finally and I was preparing to deliver the present over to Vivi when she sounded very sleepy. I tried to keep her awake but instead, I lost a lot of time doing that, which was a mistake. I had not cycled for so long since after my operation and this time with the new tyres, I used less strength than before to do the same amount of job.
It was a challenge against myself. I reached her place near 1am and gave her more than thirty calls which she did not pick up. I got so disappointed because usually her friends could easily wake her up when they wanted to chat with her over the phone. Standing at the corridor, I had so much doubt that I could take good care of her.
I made the wasted trip there and I was not sure how my mum felt about it. At least I had proven that my left leg was capable of paddling though it might still not be able to withstand jumping. It was quite an unlucky morning for when I got to Yan Kit Road, the roti prata was sold out. I decided to go home empty-handed and the chain came off. For the first time I fixed it back but got my hands so dirty.
It was a boring day ahead. She had organised a party at her house since her parents did not allow her to go out to celebrate. I seriously did not understand what grudges her parents bear with me but from what she told me, I could not go even though I was not very interested as well.
It was till night time when I decided to deliver her present over, her friends were leaving. Since she told me her dad was sending them to the MRT station, I decided to stop by Outram Park MRT station. It was raining but I decided to proceed on. After waiting for quite some time, I called her to check for her location and realised her dad was sending her friends to Woodlands MRT instead. In the rain, I cycled straight to her house and luckily her brother came to the living room and I quietly caught his attention to pass him the present without letting her mum know.
After that, her brother and I started to bluff her that the present was given by her brother and she believed it. Since the day before she had received some chocolate with “I love you” label inside, she insisted that present was from me. No matter how I explained and swear that I was not so stupid to make her grow fat, she refused to believe me.
In the end, I realised her group of friends who went to her house was actually friends introduced by a smoker cum playboy who tried to break us months ago. The disappointment was so heartbreaking. Then, she was busy entertaining that playboy for she did not invite him over due to a conflict between him and another guy.
Alas, I concluded that she was so naïve to easily believe other people and yet she always had doubts in me. Another disappointment was that she would never ever keep her promise to stay away from people whom I disliked.
There were always problems somehow with the cycling trips to her house. It was either the undetected deflated tyres or the unknown jammed gear; each time it made me paddled so much harder.
It was her sister’s birthday, who ordered a chocolate ice-cream cake to fit her taste, and yet her mum insisted her go for tuition to miss out the celebration. Even though her tutor’s house was near her house, I promised to fetch her.
To cycle there was of course an idea to save cost; taking two trips of buses actually cost a lot when it was so frequent. It took me less than twenty minutes to cycle over and the idea of exercising was good for someone like me who did not had much chances to work out.
I was glad at least she was happy to see me. The time I spent on each single trip was actually longer than the time I could get to see her but it definitely worth it.
There were unlimited reasons why I would want to waste so much time; I could not explain. She did not insist me to fetch her or just send her to any place but her love just made me put in all my willingness.
Needless to say, there were so many sweet things she had done, which had caused my insanity.
Although my knees condition had more or less improved a little, I still felt as weak as ever.
Being exhausted at the MMI Physiotherapy centre with the gym in the afternoon, yet I took up the challenge of cycling to meet her again that night. Because it was the traditional month of the good brothers coming out from hell, I saw a need to escort her. Besides, I might not be able to do it anymore once her tutor’s sprained leg turned better and the tuition place changed to her house.
It was not something great because all guys held the responsibilities to not only ensure their girls’ safety but to also eliminate any insecurity feeling they could have. There was too little that I could give, except my truest and determined effort to protect her both physically and mentally.
I only remembered to bring an umbrella along for her in case it would rain and totally forgotten about bringing a small towel to wipe off my sweat. The biggest problem was the bicycle, which was already producing noises since I last cycled but I did not get my elder brother to solve the problem, probably by spraying some oil to remove the rust.
The travelling time was longer than usual when I was strengthless to paddle. The friction somewhere at the centre of the wheels made it harder of course and the sound was embarrassing me whenever I passed by the bus-stops.
It was no doubt a satisfactory trip to see her hiding her smiles.
That night, for as long as more than half a year or probably more, I applied muscle rub cream on my legs for the first time. Though it was enough to cease some of the pains, my incapability dropped my position in the next day’s HLS run.
It was not the first time I cycled to her neighbourhood. In my maximum constant speed, I could reach there in around ten minutes, but it was never as simple as before I suffered from my injuries.
There were numerous reasons for me to go in regardless of my tiredness. Apparently I needed to exercise to build up the muscle around my injured knees, but it was more for granting her wish to hug me hours ago when her neighbour rushed into the lift to interrupt us; it was just a sudden short meeting at Redhill to send her home. I had more concern in mind as it was the lunar seventh month when souls were said to be released and that I might not have chance to send her home from tuition since her mum asked her tutor to go to her house in future.
This night, I filled my stomach fully with the packet rice and pizzas. I specially took a towel along to wipe off my sweat before they could stink my shirt. I reached there fast as usual and waited near the provision shop where she would definitely pass by.
In the midst of my anxiety for a surprise, a few uncles were gathering around the letterbox. It took me a while to guess they were from the community and wanted to open up the notice box at the top. They seemed unable to reach the top and I hesitated for a while (fearing that I might make a fool out of myself) before approaching them.
The uncle nearest to me was straightforward and acknowledged my help immediately, watching me get up to sit on the letterbox without any effort. The lock almost embarrassed me; it was built so near the wall that it was so difficult to twist the key. Alas, I did it and impressed all of them and I greatly enjoyed their appreciation when I respectfully assured them of my sincerity. One of them, a Malay guy, thumbed up for me as they were leaving the place and I believed it was a morale booster to show my capability and how others appreciate me after being degraded in the army.
The notice board was a stupid design since the residents would not look at the notices when they were put up so high on the wall. Besides, there was even an article which was for year 2004, such that I presumed they had not updated the board for long.
I began to get worried when Vivi did not call me after ten. The wind was strong and the sky was turning reddish, I did not even know if I would be making a wasted trip down. I wanted so much to at least SMS her but it could arouse her suspicious. Luckily, she called me immediately when her tuition ended and thus released my worries.
I acted as if I was waken up by her from my sleep and when she told me to call her back using my house phone as usual, I told her to give me some time. I ambushed at the opposite exit at the lobby but she did not seem surprised to see me.
It was not a very good idea to cycle there since I had to take care of it and that I could not hold her hands during the stroll to her house, but a least it saved me from lots of walk and some transportation fee. Moreover, it allowed me to stay out later if I wanted to and of course, act as physiotherapy session.
We had a little wait downstairs for there were people using the lifts. The night was fair indeed, for my effort was kindly paid off.
One thing weird about cycling is that my arms are aching more than my legs now.
It was the first time I cycled alone over such a long distance on the roads – from Tanjong Pagar to Strathmore Avenue. The last time I took a ride on my brother’s mountain bike was when I was in secondary school, travelling only from Tanjong Pagar to Spottiswoode Park.
To begin off, the bicycle was left untouched for quite long that both the tyres had already deflated. My elder brother was so nice to help me with the preparation but realised the air plump was spoilt. Then, he told me I could already push it to the petrol station at the other side of the International Plaza, which I could get them done for free.
I did as told, but took a long time to find it for its location was actually quite bad that it was the first time in my life I ever saw them though I stayed so near. The Indian guy was quite busy that he told me to do it myself. So, I helplessly took the tube and stood like a fool there until he came over when business was finally down. This night I learned something new.
After all the rushing, I was already quite tired. My legs were very tiring since beginning and I never knew how I managed to complete the journey. Good for me the bike had good suspension that I bounced my butts on purpose.
Luckily there were fewer vehicles than in the day, but enough to obstruct me. It was a very good experience. Somehow, my driving experience told me how dangerous and irritating it was for cyclists to be on the road.
I was at a loss when I needed to make right turns; I did not know if I should move to the right side like when I was driving 3-tonner or remain on the left since cycling was pathetic slow.
I became weaker after taking some alcohol and for more than twice I almost hit the curbs by less than a centimetre’s distance. I managed to survive till home afterall.
I guessed my arms were aching because of the heavy weight of the bicycle that I needed to use more strength to keep it straight.
Saturday, 11 March, 2006, a full day of events rounded up my day.
It began with Fredrick waking me up for the cycling outing at ECP (East Coast Park). I did not really want to go since the past few days were tough for me and that I was very lack of sleep; but I never wanted to disappoint them.
At least they dragged so long that I was given time to slack. I hopped on the bus 196 at Cantonment Road to join them. Then, the few of us inclusive of Ivan, Rueben, Rehan, Fredrick and his girlfriend began with breakfast at the MacDonald’s.
Outings would never be missing of girls-watching when I was around. The few of us crapped about a group of people with an only lucky guy. One of the girls with bandaged ankle was quite pleasant looking, not so mesmerizing, but enough for us to play stalking.
We sped up and slowed down in order to account for everyone. We saw big tortoise near the pavement, we passed by the spot where Sam fell to bleed, we paused at the entrance to Changi Safra Resort, then we were stopped by some rangers who claimed that there was a huge bee hive nearby.
We ended up at the East Coast Lagoon food centre to replenish our thirst. The one dollar big packet of coconut juice was an icy medicine to dehydration. Somehow, I could not finish it.
We set on to a race with Rehan who suddenly sped up so fast that I could not catch up with him. We reached the other end of ECP before turning back to return the bicycle. We camped at the MacDonald's after that and saw two future chiobus with their parents - both Ivan and I were very impressed because they seemed to be only in primary school.
Next destination was the IT fair at Suntec City. The crowd almost got us truck at some places. The Nintendo girls were in white again, some like the previous time I went. This time, there was an X-Box girl dressed up like an animated girl. One weird thing was that the pretty salesgirls were only lookable in some angles.
We walked around as Fredrick was finding his RAM for his camera. I was looking for XD card but it could not be found in all the booths that sold the memory cards. I was interested in the price of a webcam which was less than twenty bucks but could not get to see the model before we left.
Next mission was our lunch and the final destination was set at Carls Junior. As I was not trained to take expensive food, such that I did not know how to appreciate them, the meal set was a waste of money.
I set off alone to Kovan MRT in the late afternoon. The down pouring rain caught me off guarded. It was terrifying like typhoon, soaking everyone badly under the huge bus shelter. I met up with Yongming as we wet to look for Lynn together.
The rest arrived one after another in pairs. It kind of resembled a socializing function, of a more formal one. The most popular question was to ask about how was the army’s life.
As expected, the weekends were hectic; instead of getting more rest, I shagged myself out even more.
Last Friday was the Signal forty years anniversary parade and luckily we could leave at eight plus in the night, unlike trainees and regulars. However, hours of time was wasted at the beginning of the weekends.
Saturday morning, I pushed myself to wake up for the outing at ECP (East Coast Park). After messaging everyone, I predicted almost all of them would be late since none replied me. I was five minutes early at the MacDonalds' and then I occupied one of the cubicles inside the toilet.
I received messages from some of them claiming that they would be late. Since Raymond and Sam did not reply my previous message, I called them directly and realised they were still asleep. Kailin arrived the earliest, followed by Kian Wee. Next were Gilbert and Bryan who had miscommunication on meeting up. I was surprised when Sam arrived as I thought he would be sleeping all the way since he had already overslept.
As to apologise, Gilbert insisted in treating Kailin and I to breakfast before we began our day of excitements. I was glad Kailin could mix around very well with them, as each of them was so funny and gentlemanly and indeed my worthy and heavenly blessed best friends in camp.
We rented the six bikes at the price of thirty bucks. We rode towards the chalets' side, sometimes in great speed while sometimes paddling like tortoises. It was Bryan's idea to join two bikes together by having a holding another person's handler with the nearer hand. We fell off to the side when our speeds were of a greater difference. I did not realise there was some cuts underneath my socks as there was no pain at first. Basically, Bryan was totally fine but I felt a knock at the underneath side of my arm.
Soon, Sam took up the challenge of doing the same stun. It was a few seconds' time when they started to fall apart again. Sam hurt his legs badly with the cuts and it was bloody. I took the chance to play around with my camera. We had a long rest before we went to the Safra chalet to get some medication for his legs. Bryan became a nurse for the day.
It took us around forty minutes to cycle back to the bicycle shop and I was already expecting to be late since before heading back. We spent two hours instead of the given one and a half hour but luckily the shop keeper did not demand us to pay extra money. Sam left first for his Japanese lesson.
The rest of us went to Parkway Parade shopping centre to wait for Raymond who was late again even though he stayed so near. We went to the Ichiban sushi restaurant and I had problems selecting the food since I rarely took Japanese food. In the end, I ordered Udong Sushi set, which was not very nice as I did not really know how to appreciate it. Lunch was supposedly on Raymond for being extremely late but we forked out ten bucks each except for Kailin whom he refused to collect from.
After that, Raymond left for his church, which surprised me as I was expecting him to be free the whole day. We went to the arcade and had a very exciting game there. After that, we spent quite some time at Giant. Bryan upgraded his gym equipment inventory in the first storey.
It was around five when we were leaving. It was too early for Gilbert to go to the airport to fetch his brother but it was better to join us on the way to Paya Lebar MRT. He refused. Sitting alone at the bus-stop like a lost kid, he made us feel bad.
I had a big problem deciding whether to go home to get changed first before meeting Sam as it was getting late. He called me and we met up at Raffles' Place MRT and then he accompanied me home. After bathing, we went to Marina Square's food court for dinner.
I told him to get his food first since he complained hungry. Then I went to the Chinese stall to get chicken cutlet with fried rice. The uncle kept repeating his words, vowing to return the money if the food was not nice, which was quite irritating. Anyway, I took a long time to get back and Sam was waiting for me. I was shocked by how well-mannered he could be. Anyway, my rice was quite tasteless. He treated me drinks and then we shared a popian.
Tickets were fast selling and it was full house before we reached the ticket booth. It was difficult to contact Raymond and he refused to say what he was doing. In the end, we went to Suntec City and managed to buy the tickets at the left side of the first row for the show Munich. Raymond was late.
Sam and I regretted watching it that night as we could have gotten tickets for the next week. I had big problem staying focused even though the show was very nice. The lack of sleep combined with my eyes irritation made me doze off so many times. It was extremely tiring to watch the show at that angle as well. Raymond seemed to give up waking me at the last hour.
It was a three hours show and I woke up to give some cursing as I could have finished watching it if it was not such a long one. Anyway, I missed my last train, but I was not worried at all since I could have walked home. In the end, I took bus 145 home.
It was really a good day, with the companion of friends - really good friends.
I've finally received my SAFRA membership card on this Monday. It's right after a year of my enlistment date.
I wish it has come earlier. The facilities inside the clubs especially the Mount Faber one excite me. My main interest is the swimming pool.
As for the courtesy of my knee injuries, it isn't appropriate for me to do exercise which requires big impact on the ground. I assume cycling and swimming can strengthen the muscle and at the same time cause less strain.
One day, I'll be ready for a regular swim or cycle exercise every week. There's when I can put aside everything and go out by myself.
