Its Saturday morning. We woke up early by 8AM and got ready for the day trip to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (BTNR). It was a fairly sunny morning with occasional light breezes. We reached BTNR by 10.30AM. My first impression of the place was "WOW!". There was a Visitor Center's Exhibition Hall, which we skipped. I heard that there are some interesting glass displays of products that could be made of plants found in the reserves and specimens of different types of leaves and flowers. As none of us were interested in these details we straight away took the map of the place and started exploring.
There was a steep road ahead and lot of tall trees right from the entrance. When we saw the map we could see Blue, Yellow, Red an Green lines. Each line has some distance and the longest was around 1.8KM. We were a bit disappointed with such a short distance of trekking. So decided to go through the longest way possible by crossing these lines here and there. The highest point of Singapore is here at BTNR and the height is just a meager 164mts.
At around 11AM we started off the trek through a mud road through tall trees on either side and steps going down. We were a little worried about the rain. The temperature was warm and climate was humid. As soon as we started the walk everybody was sweating because of the humidity. We started on the path- South View Path. The first thing I saw was, of course, lots and lots of trees which looked almost the same to me. I had absolutely no clue to the different species of the trees. All I noticed were that they come in all different heights and colors and thickness.
After a while the air was refreshing and I could feel light breezes every now and then but the sweating did not stop. The feel of the tropical rain forest has been very much provided here. I had the serene feeling and felt at ease away from all the busy world. As we trekked further using the steps that have been carved out for hikers, guys wanted to stop every now and then as they were feeling tired because of the trek. I was feeling at ease because of the 5KM walk that I am doing everyday.
We saw different kinds of trees and the leaves. There were also plants that grew on other trees or structures such as railings and hedges something like creepers. We could also see the leaf litter on the ground near those majestic trees. We could also see some small waterfalls during the trek. Besides observing the trees around us, the ground I could also see that the ground was in different colors. I could see soil dark color and yellow in color which might have its own reasons for that coloring.
We also saw some fallen tree trunks which we thought might have been kept artificially by BTNR to have the look of the forest. We were also hearing the continuous buzz in the back ground which we were not sure whether it was natural or a tape going on. The walk through the forest took around 2 hours in total. There were some tough routes in the reserve which had many steps to climb. As usual we took so many pictures in this trek also.
At last as we came down and had some water and posed for some pics. We took some pics of the monkeys that were around. At around 2.30 we took a taxi back home. The hike certainly reinvigorated me and though the paths are rocky, I found the trip an interesting and enriching experience that I could share with my friends. However, I feel that the trip was too rushed as my friends were very much tired. May be some other time I shall go for a longer route.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Weekend at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Weekend Wake Boarding at ECP
The long awaited wake boarding finally fulfilled. The first weekend when I met Surya in Singapore long back in first quarter of the year, we discussed about going for Wake Boarding. we've been talking since and trying to plan everything smoothly. But nothing worked out till last weekend. Me, Surya, Nagaraj, Vidyadhar and Srinivas planned for the wake boarding and started off to ECP. On the way we thought it wasn't that sunny, but by the time we reached ECP the sun was at his best. It has become a hot scorching day by then.
As we went near to the place I was excited to see the people going around the artificially made setup for this. I saw people falling into the water very often. I was just wondering if I could actually make it. But then I decided I had to try wakeboarding when I have got this opportunity. wake boarding is S$42/hr on the weekends. Here it is not the typical wakeboarding that I have seen on television. Here we are not pulled by a boat, instead, a mechanical line pulls us around a small lake. Before we enter the lake we will be trained a little bit. We must navigate through special booeys given to us. We were not told how to navigate while switching the towers.
The first time I made it just one turn and then sank while switching towers, because it momentarily looses tension! Now I understood how we have to navigate while changing the towers. The second time I made a full round but at the end the rope was released by the personnel there as there was someone in the way of the track. The third time I did almost 3/4th turn but tried something different and sank then.
After wakeboarding, we went for a drink and late lunch at around 4PM. We went to Long Beach Restaurant and had some vegetarian, chicken and some sea food. Later we took some pictures at the beach.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Weekend Trip to Sentosa
Weekend started off well on Friday itself with all the friends coming home. We cooked food, had some drinks, saw movies and then slept late at night. Next day morning we had plans to go to Sentosa. At around 10.30 we all woke up and everybody was feeling the hangover and were actually not in a mood to go anywhere. After lot of discussion there were many new plans popping up. After all the negotiations we started off to Sentosa at around 2PM.
We took the MRT from Lake Side and reached Harbour Front. From there we started off to Sentosa. At Sentosa we stepped down the train at Beach station. We were clear of what we were going to do today in Sentosa. From the beach station we walked till Palawan Beach and wanted to spend time there. We bought some beers to start with.
Meanwhile Surya bought a Frisbee to play. Once we saw the Frisbee everybody was in a mood to play. I was having bad headache since morning and hence did not enter the waters. While the guys were playing in the water with the Frisbee I started clicking some pictures. I tried some Black and White pictures also. I was busy taking pictures of the beach people and the folks with me.
After sometime we took the second round of beers and got rejuvenated. The whole weekend was sponsored by me with regards to my match for marriage. It was till 6 that we played and then everybody went to get fresh. Meanwhile I took a small nap to soothe my headache. At around 6.30 we took some snacks and beer and waited till 8 for Ganesh to join us for dinner. We later went to Samundar restaurant to have dinner. We had heavy dinner and started back home at around 9.30 in the night.
Overall the day was really really nice away from all tensions and doing nothing all the day. I was very much relaxed with this short trip to Sentosa. The beach was looking good, the crowd here was good with lot of families with kids were enjoying the serenity of the beach, the food at the Indian restaurant was good and over all of this I was with my friends for the whole day just spending the time in playing around.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Singapore Grand Prix - Day 2
Last night I was very tired, but still as I was excited about the qualifying session I woke up early. When I woke up my eardrums were still hurting because of the last nights action. As the Day 2 is the F1 qualifying session which was scheduled at 10PM, I thought I shall meanwhile cover the other races and then shall be ready for the qualifying session.
After a quick brunch, I was off to the race tracks again. I saw the races which involved the GTs like Aston Martins and Porsche's. Today I felt the exhaust notes from these cars were loud, but are a bit easier on my ears. From the walkabout ticket holders I heard that they can hear the sound from 1.5KM away. So, you can imagine what the experience is like hearing a whole group of them, highly modified ones, revving their engines simultaneously just 5m away from me.
Today it was a day of sweltering heat. With in fifteen minutes of reaching the track, I was drenched in my own perspiration. Meanwhile today I also heard the songs at the stage near the pit stop grandstand. By the time I finished taking pics of some of the cars in the practice session, Surya and Nagaraj called me from the Walk About area. I thought I shall survey some areas which I still haven't seen. So I left the grandstand and went to the walk about with them.
So I have seen the main F1 practice session walking through the walk about area in the huge crowd present there cheering for their heroes. I would say this was definitely a truly international event. In the grandstand and While wandering around, I have noticed fans from Brazil, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Korea, Japan, China and many many more countries. The most common thing observed for Aussie fans was they all were seemingly drunk.
But the only thing we missed doing the walk about was, I was not really sure who got the pole position. At the same time I was a bit bored today watching the same cars going so fast before you and there is nothing much you can actually capture. Later after coming back home I heard that Felipe Massa from the Ferrari team would be starting on pole the next day, he clocked the best timing of 1m44.801s.
