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Sunday, June 6, 2010
2nd nite cycling - a test of endurance
Where : Singapore Place : East Coast Park - Nicoll Highway - Padang - Boat Quay - Tiong Bahru Plaza - Cluny Rd - Kheam Hock Rd - Lornie Rd - McRitchie Reservoir - Thomson Rd - Orchard Rd - Spore Flyers - Indoor Stadium - East Coast Park When : 3rd June 2010 This is the 2nd nite cycling i had but the first in 2010 and many more to come =D Route planning solely done by F2 who promised the route that we'll be taking to be interesting and a test on individual cyclist's endurance level. Since i'm not so familiar with the "shortest" route to take us around, so i'll be doing the recruiting, promoting and informing interested participants. And so, one month before the date was chosen...discussion between me and F2 was regularly conducted. It wasn't a formal discussion tho bcos we have plenty of time in hand. Like it was mentioned earlier, route planning was done by F2 solely and he even reccee the route on foot to gauge the estimated cycling time. There will be two groups; first group are those staying in the East or for those who do not own a bike. And the second group were those staying in the West and own a bike. There's only 7 of us that owns a bike, thus those joining the first group is expected to be a large number. All were informed to assembled by 2030hrs at East Coast Area C4 to rent a bike. Bike rental ranging from $8-12/person for an overnite rental. As usual...there's always latecomers. But as late a person could be, i can't tolerate when one called up to say that he is still at home and looking at my watch its 1955hrs!!! And mind u...he stayed in the West of Singapore. How to reach East Coast when all that he plan was to reach East Coast by bus!!!! To cut story short and to cool my anger...we move off from East Coast at 2130hrs. There were a total of 18 of us. Whoa...thats a big number! I lost track of time as to what time my group meet the West side peepz. There were 5 of them from the West side. Before we proceed to Tiong Bahru Plaza for supper, two of the 18 decided to head back to East Coast as they were too tired. We bid farewell to Reen and Alan, and head for supper. After supper...cycle to McRitchie. But...its not that simple. We have to cycle pass a Chinese cemetery at Kheam Hock Road. It was spooky at first, but as we cycle pass..its ok though. From the cemetery towards McRitchie was the best route cos it was all the way down slope. Heheeee.... By the time we reached McRitchie it was 4am. Rested around less than 45mins. The West Side geng left first and the rest remained resting. Some took a nap, while others chit chat. So many, me included do not wanna take the same route back cos remember from the cemetary was all the way down slope...if its the same route..Gosh...wouldn't it be all the way up-slope? Hahahaa.... And so, we took a different route back...passing tru Orchard Road, Marina Bay Sands and at F1 track. The sunrise was super captivating, that was when we are on the bridge behind Kallang Stadium. We reached East Coast at 7.45am. Those who stayed far, went home first. Left with few of us who need to wait til 9am to return the rented bicyles.On an overall...it was a super tiring..a test of endurance. Really! Would another trip be organised again?? Of course! (: Labels: cycling, local, macritchie, nights, rambling
++ quoth nessie at 10:39 PM Back to Top | Home Thursday, June 4, 2009
Fastest recorded McRitchie hike ever!
Place : McRitchie Reservoir When : 4th-June-09  Where could Sporean usually go for group gathering or catching up with old friends? Dine. Shop. Movies. Me? khehe....i'll opt for nature walk. Hiking. Cycling. So, today im hiking with OBL and Amy! We have not been seeing each other for more than three years after one after another got posted out from our first posting. I have intially wanted to go Ubin again, but not all three of us know how to cycle, so i planned for a hiking trip instead.  Took Time-Off today cos im working the noon shift. Weather isn't promising to start the day. It has been a wet night and in the early morning. But still i'm thinking positively and prayed that it'll stop raining. It did. Alhamdulillah.... Had breakfast at Novena Square and we set to hike. Started hiking at 11.20am. And i must say that this is the fastest recorded McRitchie hike that i ever had. We ended the hike at 1405hrs!!! Amazing stamina that Amy and OBL had! No resting and no slow walk!! Wohooo.....  The day ended with me buying all the overdue items that i need to purchase; my tripod and original Canon batt. Got them at last! Peace..... y(@.@)y As the day approaching to an end, SK sms me and asked for a confirmation whether i'll be meeting her this Saturday. Okie...since no plan has been made, i'm ON. SK : We meeting this Sat? Where you plan to go? Me : Shall we watch "Monsters vs Aliens"? I heard its funny! SK : Hooray, watch movie. Where you wanna watch? Khehe...its so funny when SK said "hooray, watch movie". Hahahaa.... I think each time my friend ask me out and ask for a suggestion where to go. My answer most probably be McRitchie...Bt Timah...Ubin...? wakhahaa.... Sorry dear friends...maybe you ladies/guys should not ask me for suggestion. But instead tell me where u peepz wanna meet up k? *wink*wink*  Labels: hiking, local, macritchie, rambling
++ quoth nessie at 10:04 PM Back to Top | Home Thursday, May 7, 2009
McRitchie-McRitchie Hike
Place : McRitchie Reservoir Start Point : McRitchie End Point : McRitchie When : 2-May-09  It has been quite often that i hike in McRitchie that hiking in a pair these days doesn't bothers me at all. Where in the past i would hike in a group of more than 4 person (min), now...two to go. kheheee.... Okie...so i set to hike again. This is the umpteen times i hike but the first time i hike taking along with me my DSLR.                         Even tho today's hike is done after my nite shift duty, I don't feel tired at all. Heeee.... Labels: hiking, local, macritchie, rambling, treetop
++ quoth nessie at 11:43 PM Back to Top | Home Saturday, August 9, 2008
Ghostly encounter in Bukit Timah
Where : McRitchie Reservoir & Bukit Timah When : Jan 2008 I have hiked in McRitchie several times now, and have taken different trail. But the most memorable one that I had was during one of the night hike. Like always, i would ask around at my workplace who is interested to join for the hiking trip. And as always, initial number was big, but when the actual day arrives, the number of hikers drop. But I still proceed with the night walk. This time its only four of us : three ladies and a guy. So to say, what I am writing now is my second night walk. Starting point is McRitchie entering via Venus Drive and exiting via Bukit Timah. As usual our night hiking would start when the sun set. That day we entered Venus Drive during dusk (it was Maghrib - refers to Muslim prayer time where usu this time we are advisable by the elders to stay indoors). Usually if i enter or exit via Venus Drive, it wasn't so misty or gloomy, but that day it was. Well, probably it was dusk anyway. I try to put it off as my imagination and anyway its not Thursday nite. So we walk in McRitchie and as per normal, stopped at Jelutong Tower to enjoy the star gazing and the night breeze. It was a wonderful feeling esp when the sun is out. Spend roughly one hour or so at Jelutong and we proceed with our night hike. All decided to exit via Bukit Timah so that we can have supper before heading back home. Bukit Timah was more like a walk rather than hike cos we decided that since it has been raining in the morning that day, we better not take the forest route cos during rainy days high chances of fallen trees and we might have difficulties hurdling it over due to shortage of torchlight that we have that day. We exit McRitchie via Rifle Range Road and started to walk towards Bukit Timah.  It was such a long road Some roads are dimly lit but at some stretch, it was very very dark except lights coming from the nearby building. There was this one part of the road where we need to walk up a slope and when i looked up, i keep seeing a silhouette of a huge dark figure at the end of the road with a red light near it. But as i walked towards it, the silhouette disappear. Btw, we have to walk pass a bend road and there was this blind spot mirror. A friend of mine suddenly halt us, and said "wait", and she was staring at the blind spot mirror. I immediately knows that she saw something. So i dragged her to move on. My fren didn't say anything cos we four had made an agreement earlier that shud anyone of us saw, smelt or heard anything during the hike; don't ask around or say anything. All sighting and encounters shall only be discussed when we meet at work the next day. This is to avoid anyone getting scared unnecessarily and/or spoilt the mood to finish for the night walk. Okie...so we continue to walk on the road. And as we walked I have started to feel eerie esp when the four of us run out of topic to talk and we go silent. To overcome that feeling, we talked and talked and laughed and laughed; just to break the silence and quietness of the surrounding. Soon, we came to a map and two of us was looking at it and deciding where shud we head for. I was looking around and my other girl friend was sitting down on the ground tying her shoelace. When i turned around towards the two who was looking at the map, i saw pontianak standing behind one of my fren who was looking at the map (his back was facing the pontianak). i was shocked and don't know what to do. Then, either I was stupid or I was brave...i asked my friend "so where are we going? Walk inside (forest route) or outside (road)?". And we started to talk about the way out from the map direction. I then realised that the pontianak wasn't behind my friend anymore. But at the corner of my eyes, I could see that "she" have shifted into the forest area cos I saw the whitish image of it there. After we are done with the discussion and was making our way, one of my friend keep turning back and looking into the forest area. I knew that she was looking for the pontianak. Let her keep looking, im not turning my head back man! Our next remaining walk in Bukit Timah, i don't feel comfortable at all. And we somehow missed our exit point and ended up elsewhere. We are so sure that we took the correct and usual path, but mysteriously that night we lost our way and took the wrong exit. Luckily if we exit the wrong point, we can always walk down towards the main road and ends up at the MAKAN place! We had our supper like nothing happen at all just a moment ago. Only God knows how scared I was then. Anyway, when we met at work the next day..that's when all out to share and compare experiences. And yes, all four of us saw that pontianak. Its not our imagination. Earlier i told you at one point of time one of my friend stopped us in front of the blind spot mirror right? She said she saw five person instead of four in the mirror. Twice she looked at it, and twice she saw five figures there. If you ask me now or anytime; night hiking again? My answer : Of course! When? Labels: local, macritchie, rambling
++ quoth nessie at 11:12 AM Back to Top | Home Monday, August 4, 2008
HSBC TreeTop Walk
Where : McRitchie Reservoir Place : HSBC Treetop Walk When : 2007 It has been almost one year now that i last visited the HSBC Treetop Walk. Do i missed the walk there? Of course. Even tho in 2007 I have walked the canopy walk few times, i never grew tired of it. Anyway, since im rather free now i just wanna write a short article on my hiking trip to the TreeTop Walk.  McRitchie Reservoir I have heard of the treetop canopy walk constructed in McRitche when it was first open in July 2004, but didnt make a trip there coz I've never hike before and had no friend who love nature walk as much as i do. So, finally when a friend mentioned about going hiking in McRitchie back then in 2007, i'm so excited to go. I didn't know what to bring, what to expect during the hike. So i did little homework and surf the net to get some tips. It turn out that McRitchie terrain is not difficult at all. A group of nine of us gathered for the hike. In the group, there's two who have had hike in McRitchie before, so that muster some confidence in me shud we encounter any mishap, at least someone knows what to do. For a first timer, i must say that it wasn't difficult or challenging to walk up those slopes and walk on those nature trails. But walking on the canopy walk is rather scary esp those who's afraid of height.  HSBC TreeTop Walk The walkway is at 25m above the ground. It is a one-way traffic system on the Tree Top Walk. That is, visitors can only enter from the Bukit Peirce entrance (via Peirce Track). Walking towards Bukit Kalang, visitors will exit along the Petaling Trail. This system is to allow visitors a more enjoyable visit. The walkway is narrow and the number of people that can be on the walkway at the same time is limited to 30 persons. NParks rangers will also on hand at the site to assist visitors. The TreeTop Walk is open from : Tue to Fri: 9am-5pm Sat, Sun and Public Holidays: 8.30am-5pm. Closed on Mondays except public holidays for maintenance and research. Admission is free. Labels: hiking, local, macritchie, rambling, treetop
++ quoth nessie at 12:35 AM
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