It was my third time actually riding a bicycle considering the fact that I've just learned like a month back before Christmas at ECP. All the way from the night before to the minute I got on the bicycle that afternoon, I was praying hard that I'll really not get terribly injured during this bike trip. Despite the fear, I really wanted to go because I wanted to show boyrfriend that I wasn't some 'xiao jie' that was afraid of dirt and hardships. Haha. By the way, I think I really proved my point right to him that day. :)
We started off going on the normal track which was a tarred road with occasional up hills, down hills, motor cyclists and mini vans invading the pathway. I thought that if the entire bike trial was going to continue like this, it was going to be quite easy for me. But I thought too soon. The guys, being the guys that they were, decided to make a turn into a terrain that had a sign "Do not enter, no thru road". I became a little apprehensive and true enough the sandy road with muddy paths and huge rocks scared the shit out of me! Imagine being surrounded by trees with sharp twigs poking at you plus it was a down hill track so I kinda screamed "Save me, Help me!" like 3/4 of the way. I remembered my ass hurting towards the end of the terrain too, and not forgetting that there were a lot of stray dogs suddenly appearing out of no where which caused me to E-Break upteem times. Finally we reached a small jetty area and it was SO muddy that my shoes kept slipping on the pedal and my bike got stuck several times too. I ended up pushing my bike till we got to a less muddy terrain. There was barricade at the end of the trail but we managed to cross over it, yes I know. So dangerous right?
We took a few rest stops at small kampong houses along the way that had vending machines with ice cold drinks. Those up hills are NO JOKE I tell you. With a mixture of those down hill terrains (in my words: close-to-death-flying-out-of-bike terrains) and tarred track, we stopped at a small farm owned by this ah pek. He was famous for rearing the wild boar which was damn fat and black! And also a few rabbits, hungry rabbits I would say because we fed them grass and they seemed very hungry, either that or just greedy. I wonder if they kill and eat the rabbits themselves since I don't see how they get their meals.
By mid afternoon, I was getting really dehydrated and tired. Dear was nice enough to wait for me the entire time, till the point where we were the last couple. Along the way, we lost the rest of the group and it got worst because my low blood symptom decided to act up when I used my last drop of energy to ride up a very steep up slope. A detour and A WHOLE LOT of perseverance finally allowed us another pit stop we finally met up with his friends! There, we took about a 20 minutes rest before walking on the board walk to Chek Jawa. While resting, the afternoon got more exciting when a group of mischievous monkeys decided to attack the goreng pisang in my bicycle basket. Dear had bought an extra one and thought he could have it for tea when he's hungry along the way, but little did we think that the monkeys were so smart they smelled the fried banana from a far. It knocked down my bike and with it's tiny fingers (with fingernails) and sharp teeth, it ate the fried banana while snickering away. It was my first time witnessing a monkey steal and eat, wish I had it on video but I was so amazed I didn't take out my camera, Dear says I shouldn't do anything to provoke it too.
The only time I was able to take lots of pictures was were when we parked our bikes and walk along the board walk to Chek Jawa.
Can you spot the tiny baby crabs and mud-skippers?
Wetlands and dry trees. Amazing right? I never knew Singapore had wetlands like these.
It was HOT! So I needed my shades badly while Dear had his on the whole trip. :D
More Nature... We stumbled upon some rocky area and the guys decided to pose & take pictures like in an MTV.
It was windy but sunny so it wasn't that bad. See the group of tiny people behind us? They were with tour group and were wearing knee high rubber boots so they were allowed to go explore the wetlands below us. Cool huh?
By the time we finished exploring the board walk, it was close to sunset. The ride back to the town center was definitely faster because there were no more rest stops except for stopping by a lake where the boys decided to practice skipping rocks and a rock throwing competition as well. Luckily, it was only a 20 minute ride back on the tarred track road. And to end the bike trip, the-not-so-little-boys had a mini bicycle race before we had dinner. It was a rewarding dinner because all of us were hungry and by that time it was already 6pm. Delicious 'zhi char' dinner at the Ubin town center consists of Mee Goreng, Xiao bai chai, Fried spicy mango chicken, Calamari, Fried prawn you tiao and lots of liquids! I wasn't as hungry as I was thirsty so I doubled up on green tea and 100 plus while Dear had beer with the guys.
By the time we got back to the Changi Jetty, it was about 7 odd pm and the girls were too sticky and exhausted to walk, we just wanted head home and jump into an ice cold shower. The guys managed to shop at the fishing shops at Changi V while the girls planted themselves on the benches, already feeling half dead. Dear and I got home at about 9pm and we had a nice hot shower. Still feeling dehydrated from all the sun and sweat, his maid was nice enough to prepare a huge fruit platter for us. I totally felt like a human again, feeling clean but so shagged out! My Dear applied zambuk on the cuts, bruises and mosquito bites on my legs that night while I fed him fruits from a huge fruit platter. He said he was proud of me that day and if I could ride in Ubin and managed to come home in one piece, I'll be able to ride anywhere else in Singapore! But of course, I'll never be able to do it if it wasn't for him :)
By the time we got back to the Changi Jetty, it was about 7 odd pm and the girls were too sticky and exhausted to walk, we just wanted head home and jump into an ice cold shower. The guys managed to shop at the fishing shops at Changi V while the girls planted themselves on the benches, already feeling half dead. Dear and I got home at about 9pm and we had a nice hot shower. Still feeling dehydrated from all the sun and sweat, his maid was nice enough to prepare a huge fruit platter for us. I totally felt like a human again, feeling clean but so shagged out! My Dear applied zambuk on the cuts, bruises and mosquito bites on my legs that night while I fed him fruits from a huge fruit platter. He said he was proud of me that day and if I could ride in Ubin and managed to come home in one piece, I'll be able to ride anywhere else in Singapore! But of course, I'll never be able to do it if it wasn't for him :)
