adventure near the open seas
2 Comments Published by carinasuyin | Tuesday, July 12, 2005 | 11:28 PM.
a visit to the ECP for supper today brought back memories of a crazy adventure two years ago... here is the long-winded account written in an e-mail to dear super-G-lau...
p/s: there's no old war bunkers along the ECP lah, Joshi!! it's built on reclaimed land...
....................
sunday, july 6 2003
It all started out quite innocently enough... me and a bunch of friends decided to go lepak at the East Coast Park recreational area, Singapore's answer to Port Dickson, but of course, with much more public friendly amenities, proper skating/cycling, jogging paths, lots of beach esplanade pubs/bowling alley, pool/snooker centre, BBQ pits, gazebos, exercise equipments in sand boxed areas, the lack of huge commercialised resorts/hotels hogging up the beach front and what not...
We went there after lab at about 9pm... had dinner at Komala's which is the Indian vegetarian equivalent of McDonald's, had some masala, poori beriyani, chapati and lassi. Then we decided to go roller blading and cycling since we haven't been exactly sporty over the last few decades haha... It was dark, I couldn't see any beach, only the sounds of waves coming ashore on a high tide cycle. But the park was teeming with people... a lot of young people camping along the beach but many families and couples too...
We went to a skate/bike rental shop which opens till 1am... got a couple of bikes and blades. I chosed to blade first together with Hari, Yvonne, and Saurabh while Jigyasa (fondly known as Jiggs) and Joshi went cycling.So while Hari and Saurabh practiced falling down, me and Yvonne went along the skating path...chasing after the two on bikes... Jiggs, me and Yvonne locked our wallets and bags in a locker provided by the shop, we only took some money and Jiggs her phone...
After getting tired of all the cycling and skating and falling down, we took a rest by hanging out at the seashore... the breeze was warm and it was super windy... we traversed the shoreline and stopped at every old war sea bunker to chit chat and play spin the bottle... before we knew it, it was 2am in the morning... the park was still bustling with activities though... so we headed back to the shop to get our belongings.
Alas to our horror, the shop is closed and the lockers were moved into the shop already!! We had earlier thought that the lockers would be left outside just like the ones next to the public showers and other shops.... Arrrrrrrghhhhhhhh.....
We weighed our options... we could go back and come back again tomorrow to take the stuff. Problem was, our house keys were inside the bags. Waking up our other housemate was like waking a piece of wood... neither me nor Yvonne could remember her handphone or the house phone numbers too (arrghhhhhhh!!!) the guys offered to let us stay overnight at their place but that'll mean still having to travel one hour to the other side of the island and then drag ourselves back here. So what the heck, we decided to stay up and wait till the shop reopens at hopefully 8 or 9 am...
So there we go... 5-6 hours countdown... since we were not sleepy yet, we went and laid by the beach... the beach is quite landai... lotsa poky grassy knolls before the sandy part... so just nice (but still poky)to lie down and look at the cloudy skies so bright you can't see any stars. On the horizon were oil and cargo tankers all lined up and lit up... spoilers for the skies... the sea breeze was salty and warm... we just laid there and sang songs, talk and joked rubbish, laughed till our faces were tear-stained and huddled together next to Joshi (our big-sized papa bear) for warmth... Hari and Yvonne were already shivering after about an hour...
We moved to find a more sheltered place from the sea breeze so that the two of them could sleep a bit properly as they were really cold and drowsy. We settled by a sand box with lotsa gym-like equipments... the two promptly went to sleep on two tekan tubi/bangkit tubi wooden platforms while the 4 of us chatted away the night. Funny, i was only clad with spagetti strap singlet and jeans and yet I felt warm and nice... not even sleepy yet... the 4 of us aged 23, 24 were all like kiddoes, swinging on the monkey ladder, being gymnast wannabes on the parallel bars and balance beam...
Finally fatigue and the pain in the butt (really one, from all that falling down) translated into sleepiness and growling tummies... I really can imagine this must be how homeless ppl feel... to have to keep changing places to sleep and find warmth and yet block out the feeling of aches and hunger... In the end, Joshi and I decided to go find a 7-11 for coffee and some food. We came back with lotsa yummies and the rest were all gone... it was 4 plus in the morning. There were still several families with little kids in tow walking leisurely around the park and serious joggers/ exercisers doing their stuff... (what's wrong with these people?????)
Jiggs and Saurabh appeared from nowhere and told us `We've moved the invalids into the clearing next to the trees, they were too cold'... I suddenly felt all excited... wahhh... really a la the Lord of the Rings... it's like we've found Merry and Pippin and they are with Treebeard and trees... so we followed them to almost the carpark area where lots of huge trees sheltered a grassy clearing... so cool!! There;s something about a park at night/early morning that's lit with suffused orange street lamps and a tinge of moonlight that awakens the adventurous yearnings...
Yvonne and Hari really looked feverish... I had a sudden fear that they may have caught pneumonia or something... so we quickly gave them food and tried to get them to wake up and go jalan-jalan and gather some warmth or energy. Hari took happily to the food but Yvonne could not manage to eat anything... so in the end we gave up and laid down sprawled in a circle with them both... the grass was nice, a bit dewy but nice... not as poky as the ones on the beach. In fact, it was warm and cosy...
I was worried for myself... here I am all perky, energetic and excited when all around me were sleepy heads, worn out patience and stiff bodies... Maybe I'm having a fever and already delusional.... this is really crazy, i thought... i need my camera, i thought some more... wouldn't it be cool to climb the tree and take a picture of this moment from above? super cool.... then the several curious stares from passer-by taichi exponents and old folk joggers jolted me into reality... we must have made a funny sight... but who cares.... when one lies on the grass with only the skies above framed by trees, at 4 something in the morning... why would one care what others think of 6 jeans-clad youngsters sleeping on the grass?
Saurabh and Hari left for home as they were feeling a bit sickish... they had their wallets with them anyway... so we bade farewell and now there were only 4 on the grass. I was almost swept of to dreamland when suddenly Joshi woke me up to go to the beach and watch sunrise... Yippeee... an invitation too good to pass over, all fatigue left me and I was jumping up and down waking Jiggs and Yvonne.
We went to the same grassy knoll by the mini pier... i could see the lovely change of hues in the skies. the sun was rising on our left... some of the ships lining the horizon had moved, many little tugboats/service boats were zipping along the bigger boats like morrasses cleaning slime of sharks/whales...
in a matter of minutes, the skies changed from dark prussian bluish to purple to streaks of pinkish orangish... so nice... i loved the skies above the horizon... it was like you took a fat brush and coloured the skies with pink, orange and light blue, wide long smudges... then you take water and just wash them off the canvas to have a faded blended look. Then you take some cotton balls and stuck them onto the colours... let the cotton balls soak up some colour and mesh them a little... i suddenly thought that God must have had lotsa fun creating the Earth... if only got rainbow, then i can sing the kermit song out loud ahahahah...
We couldn't see the sun directly, blocked by the left side of the coast, but the changing hues sufficed... The skies cleared, I think I see Venus (blue colour mah) and Joshi claimed another bright thingie in the heavens was Jupiter (yeahhhh right, i dunno lah, doubt it)... hehe.... and slowly we could see the beach.... ewww... not so nice as the ones back home, definitely don't wanna swim coz like PD, very the oily looking.... Yvonne and Jigggs were asleep again, both in foetal positions... goose pimples were like so obvious on Yvonne... scary man... hope the sun comes out quickly so she can get some warmth.
I sat there thinking nothing, speaking nothing and just grinning.... then suddenly one big golden retriever appeared out of nowhere with his middle-aged lady owner... it was as if the dog was walking the lady ahahaha.... i went hallooooo doggieee... and the dog stopped. It ran towards me and i just sat there with open arms like you know, this is how you greet dogs ahahahhaha
The beautiful dog just went straight into my arms, almost knocking me over! Next thing I know, i have dog saliva all over my jeans and shoulders and a huge fuzzy fella in my face... sooooo cun!!! So i played with Jack (the dog's name), a bit of wrestling and basically lotsa baby praises from me kiah kiah..the dog must have been very flattered coz he was very warm with me and the lady complimented that I'm a natural with doggies... Finally, they both left.... sighhh.... such a wonderful doggie....
Joshi and the rest had already woken up by the time the dog lunged at me and were just sitting there waiting for me to finish manja-ing the dog hehe... We walked towards the shop. It was 7 and still the shutters were down and no signs of the owner anywhere.... Aiyohhhhh we all thought. We sat down by a bench at the beach opposite the shop and all 4 took the express train to Zzzz-Land.
We were jolted awake at about 8am when cries of `Hey, it's open, it's open already' came from Joshi. Woohooo, the uncle who owns the shop was busy arranging the signboards.... we went and got our stuff and took a cab home pronto...
Once home this morning, I took a long shower, dumped all the sand/grass filled clothes into the washing machine and went to bed... slept all the way from 10am till 7pm.
Wow...what a super cun 12 hours...
p/s: there's no old war bunkers along the ECP lah, Joshi!! it's built on reclaimed land...
....................
sunday, july 6 2003
It all started out quite innocently enough... me and a bunch of friends decided to go lepak at the East Coast Park recreational area, Singapore's answer to Port Dickson, but of course, with much more public friendly amenities, proper skating/cycling, jogging paths, lots of beach esplanade pubs/bowling alley, pool/snooker centre, BBQ pits, gazebos, exercise equipments in sand boxed areas, the lack of huge commercialised resorts/hotels hogging up the beach front and what not...
We went there after lab at about 9pm... had dinner at Komala's which is the Indian vegetarian equivalent of McDonald's, had some masala, poori beriyani, chapati and lassi. Then we decided to go roller blading and cycling since we haven't been exactly sporty over the last few decades haha... It was dark, I couldn't see any beach, only the sounds of waves coming ashore on a high tide cycle. But the park was teeming with people... a lot of young people camping along the beach but many families and couples too...
We went to a skate/bike rental shop which opens till 1am... got a couple of bikes and blades. I chosed to blade first together with Hari, Yvonne, and Saurabh while Jigyasa (fondly known as Jiggs) and Joshi went cycling.So while Hari and Saurabh practiced falling down, me and Yvonne went along the skating path...chasing after the two on bikes... Jiggs, me and Yvonne locked our wallets and bags in a locker provided by the shop, we only took some money and Jiggs her phone...
After getting tired of all the cycling and skating and falling down, we took a rest by hanging out at the seashore... the breeze was warm and it was super windy... we traversed the shoreline and stopped at every old war sea bunker to chit chat and play spin the bottle... before we knew it, it was 2am in the morning... the park was still bustling with activities though... so we headed back to the shop to get our belongings.
Alas to our horror, the shop is closed and the lockers were moved into the shop already!! We had earlier thought that the lockers would be left outside just like the ones next to the public showers and other shops.... Arrrrrrrghhhhhhhh.....
We weighed our options... we could go back and come back again tomorrow to take the stuff. Problem was, our house keys were inside the bags. Waking up our other housemate was like waking a piece of wood... neither me nor Yvonne could remember her handphone or the house phone numbers too (arrghhhhhhh!!!) the guys offered to let us stay overnight at their place but that'll mean still having to travel one hour to the other side of the island and then drag ourselves back here. So what the heck, we decided to stay up and wait till the shop reopens at hopefully 8 or 9 am...
So there we go... 5-6 hours countdown... since we were not sleepy yet, we went and laid by the beach... the beach is quite landai... lotsa poky grassy knolls before the sandy part... so just nice (but still poky)to lie down and look at the cloudy skies so bright you can't see any stars. On the horizon were oil and cargo tankers all lined up and lit up... spoilers for the skies... the sea breeze was salty and warm... we just laid there and sang songs, talk and joked rubbish, laughed till our faces were tear-stained and huddled together next to Joshi (our big-sized papa bear) for warmth... Hari and Yvonne were already shivering after about an hour...
We moved to find a more sheltered place from the sea breeze so that the two of them could sleep a bit properly as they were really cold and drowsy. We settled by a sand box with lotsa gym-like equipments... the two promptly went to sleep on two tekan tubi/bangkit tubi wooden platforms while the 4 of us chatted away the night. Funny, i was only clad with spagetti strap singlet and jeans and yet I felt warm and nice... not even sleepy yet... the 4 of us aged 23, 24 were all like kiddoes, swinging on the monkey ladder, being gymnast wannabes on the parallel bars and balance beam...
Finally fatigue and the pain in the butt (really one, from all that falling down) translated into sleepiness and growling tummies... I really can imagine this must be how homeless ppl feel... to have to keep changing places to sleep and find warmth and yet block out the feeling of aches and hunger... In the end, Joshi and I decided to go find a 7-11 for coffee and some food. We came back with lotsa yummies and the rest were all gone... it was 4 plus in the morning. There were still several families with little kids in tow walking leisurely around the park and serious joggers/ exercisers doing their stuff... (what's wrong with these people?????)
Jiggs and Saurabh appeared from nowhere and told us `We've moved the invalids into the clearing next to the trees, they were too cold'... I suddenly felt all excited... wahhh... really a la the Lord of the Rings... it's like we've found Merry and Pippin and they are with Treebeard and trees... so we followed them to almost the carpark area where lots of huge trees sheltered a grassy clearing... so cool!! There;s something about a park at night/early morning that's lit with suffused orange street lamps and a tinge of moonlight that awakens the adventurous yearnings...
Yvonne and Hari really looked feverish... I had a sudden fear that they may have caught pneumonia or something... so we quickly gave them food and tried to get them to wake up and go jalan-jalan and gather some warmth or energy. Hari took happily to the food but Yvonne could not manage to eat anything... so in the end we gave up and laid down sprawled in a circle with them both... the grass was nice, a bit dewy but nice... not as poky as the ones on the beach. In fact, it was warm and cosy...
I was worried for myself... here I am all perky, energetic and excited when all around me were sleepy heads, worn out patience and stiff bodies... Maybe I'm having a fever and already delusional.... this is really crazy, i thought... i need my camera, i thought some more... wouldn't it be cool to climb the tree and take a picture of this moment from above? super cool.... then the several curious stares from passer-by taichi exponents and old folk joggers jolted me into reality... we must have made a funny sight... but who cares.... when one lies on the grass with only the skies above framed by trees, at 4 something in the morning... why would one care what others think of 6 jeans-clad youngsters sleeping on the grass?
Saurabh and Hari left for home as they were feeling a bit sickish... they had their wallets with them anyway... so we bade farewell and now there were only 4 on the grass. I was almost swept of to dreamland when suddenly Joshi woke me up to go to the beach and watch sunrise... Yippeee... an invitation too good to pass over, all fatigue left me and I was jumping up and down waking Jiggs and Yvonne.
We went to the same grassy knoll by the mini pier... i could see the lovely change of hues in the skies. the sun was rising on our left... some of the ships lining the horizon had moved, many little tugboats/service boats were zipping along the bigger boats like morrasses cleaning slime of sharks/whales...
in a matter of minutes, the skies changed from dark prussian bluish to purple to streaks of pinkish orangish... so nice... i loved the skies above the horizon... it was like you took a fat brush and coloured the skies with pink, orange and light blue, wide long smudges... then you take water and just wash them off the canvas to have a faded blended look. Then you take some cotton balls and stuck them onto the colours... let the cotton balls soak up some colour and mesh them a little... i suddenly thought that God must have had lotsa fun creating the Earth... if only got rainbow, then i can sing the kermit song out loud ahahahah...
We couldn't see the sun directly, blocked by the left side of the coast, but the changing hues sufficed... The skies cleared, I think I see Venus (blue colour mah) and Joshi claimed another bright thingie in the heavens was Jupiter (yeahhhh right, i dunno lah, doubt it)... hehe.... and slowly we could see the beach.... ewww... not so nice as the ones back home, definitely don't wanna swim coz like PD, very the oily looking.... Yvonne and Jigggs were asleep again, both in foetal positions... goose pimples were like so obvious on Yvonne... scary man... hope the sun comes out quickly so she can get some warmth.
I sat there thinking nothing, speaking nothing and just grinning.... then suddenly one big golden retriever appeared out of nowhere with his middle-aged lady owner... it was as if the dog was walking the lady ahahaha.... i went hallooooo doggieee... and the dog stopped. It ran towards me and i just sat there with open arms like you know, this is how you greet dogs ahahahhaha
The beautiful dog just went straight into my arms, almost knocking me over! Next thing I know, i have dog saliva all over my jeans and shoulders and a huge fuzzy fella in my face... sooooo cun!!! So i played with Jack (the dog's name), a bit of wrestling and basically lotsa baby praises from me kiah kiah..the dog must have been very flattered coz he was very warm with me and the lady complimented that I'm a natural with doggies... Finally, they both left.... sighhh.... such a wonderful doggie....
Joshi and the rest had already woken up by the time the dog lunged at me and were just sitting there waiting for me to finish manja-ing the dog hehe... We walked towards the shop. It was 7 and still the shutters were down and no signs of the owner anywhere.... Aiyohhhhh we all thought. We sat down by a bench at the beach opposite the shop and all 4 took the express train to Zzzz-Land.
We were jolted awake at about 8am when cries of `Hey, it's open, it's open already' came from Joshi. Woohooo, the uncle who owns the shop was busy arranging the signboards.... we went and got our stuff and took a cab home pronto...
Once home this morning, I took a long shower, dumped all the sand/grass filled clothes into the washing machine and went to bed... slept all the way from 10am till 7pm.
Wow...what a super cun 12 hours...
who is super-g-lau?
urm where is the part where everyone gets drunk and takes their clothes off?