Cycling at Pulau Ubin

Went cycling with Slug at Pulau Ubin after school. Felt apprehensive as it seemed like unfamiliar territory to me, having been there only once (and that was more than a decade ago). Had lunch at Changi Village, before making our way to the Changi Jetty for a ferry ride over. Stupid rule states that the ferry will only move if there are 12 passengers to fill it up, and we waited for quite some time for that to happen. The ferry uncle jokingly suggested we could pay for 12 persons' seats if we wanted an immediate ride there, and continued to drawl, "政府教我们要向钱看". Wow, even the ferry uncle has foresight.

Setting off for Ubin

We rented two rickety bicycles at $7 each, and paddled away in excitement. We headed east towards Chek Jawa, and rode on smooth tarred roads flanked by tall grasses and trees on both sides. The journey became treacherous when the smooth roads gave way to rocky mud tracks and long arduous slopes. It was such a chore to have to get off the bicycle and push it up the slopes, and it was terrifying riding down the slopes fearing that the rocks embedded in the ground could knock my bike off its course.

Bicycle rental shop

Cycling down the lonely road

Inquisitive monkey

We reached the Chek Jawa area, parked our bikes at the entrance and proceeded to walk along the mangrove trail. Saw many oil palm trees, dead leaves, crabs burrowing into the muddy ground and disgusting oil slicks along the way. We also visited the Chek Jawa visitor centre where preserved specimens of creatures (like starfishes, anemones, shells etc) that can be found in the ecosystem are displayed. Had thought of walking on the mangrove swamp bed and exploring the creatures, but a personal guide (and prior booking, and a hefty $60, and low tide) is needed.

Chek Jawa visitor centre

Start of the mangrove trail

Climbed up the observation tower and enjoyed a bird's eye view of the surroundings: water, trees and more trees.

Observation tower

Looking far from the observation tower

Cute little critter

Resting at a shelter along the trail

Was swatting mosquitoes and shading my face from the glaring afternoon sun along the way. More mangrove forest awaited us, and the pencil roots and prop roots anchored firmly in the waterlogged soil greatly appealed to me. Ordered Slug to take proper pictures of those roots and trees (for use in teaching!), to which he could not understand why I would want pictures of roots.

Prop roots

After the mangrove trail, we attempted the coastal trail as well (added up to 1.1km of walking!). The boardwalk extended out to the sea, where you can view the marine creatures from at low tide.

Walking along the coastal trail

Slug trying to take a professional-looking picture

Inspecting the map

Did not see much as it was high tide, and decided to return to the 'town' centre for some refreshments.

Chilling out with Coca-Cola

At the modest coffeeshop

Friendly stray mutt

Another pro shot by Slug

Resumed cycling, this time heading west, and stopped by an unattended temple to offer some prayers. We unanimously agreed that our favourite Chinese god is the Earth God, whom I think will look cute.

Temple hidden in the quiet greenery

Paddled on for a few metres, before stopping by a quarry and marvelling at the clear reflections in the water.

Quarry

Stopped by another swamp where Slug tried to lure the alligator fishes to the surface by spitting into the water. Passed by a chalet compound and decided to turn back because we had to return our bicycles at 6pm.

Chalets

Cheeky hand-painted signboard

After returning the bicycles, we had dinner at a tze char restaurant there. Thought it would be cheaper than the prices on the mainland, but was wrong. And warning: pictures can be deceiving. What looks like fluffy and light yellow calamari in the menu turned out to be shrivelled, rock-hard brown calamari in reality.

Seafood restaurant

Honey prawns and chicken in mango sauce

Fried calamari and sliced fish with tofu soup

Dinner was really enjoyable, and after that, returned to the mainland reluctantly with aching hips and thighs, a layer of sweat on the skin and odour emanating from our bodies.

A Day at Lakeside

Took a stroll at Lakeside in the late afternoon with Slug. As we were walking along the footpath flanked by tall grasses on both sides, I stumbled over a curly 'twig' which I realised to my horror was a headless snake carcass. I picked it up using a twig and took it over to a pavillion to examine it further.

The carcass was in a bad shape: the skin was split open but still intact and glossy, the bones were protruding underneath, the head seemed to have been ripped off, and it gave out a stench akin to that of preserved salted fish. We were disgusted with the smell, but I was mesmerized by the intactness of the snake skin.

The curly headless snake carcass

Sharp bones protruding from underneath the skin

Slug and I were discussing animatedly about why there are snakes in a park when an auntie seated near us overheard our discussion and asked us curiously what we were talking about. We showed her the snake carcass, expecting her to shriek, but to our surprise, she calmly said, "Okay lah, snakes are very common in a park" and then went on to say "有草的地方就有蛇". We gave out a very loud "Orrhhh" and Slug cheekily quipped "有树的地方就有鸟". I continued with "有水的地方就有鱼" and happily ended the poem with "有路 的地方就有人". Slug and I immediately sniggered at our lameness, and the auntie shook her head and walked away.

Ended the evening with a lovely tze char dinner.

Cereal prawn, 'three cup' chicken and yam ring

Fun in Geography class

Teacher made us pose for a picture with flower-shaped name tags.

I love Geography!

Night Out with Ah Tan

Had fun with Ah Tan and friends at Boiler Room and Powerhouse.

Could have included WD.

Chinese New Year Day 10

Went to 4th Aunt's house for the last CNY gathering of the year. 4th Aunt cooked a 'buffet' for us and Mum made some ondeh-ondeh to contribute. Ah Sir and I followed 4th Aunt and Kar Cheng to the void deck to watch them feed and administer medicine (purportedly self-concocted by Henglip, a medical trainee at NUS) to the stray cats at the void deck, and after that, we returned to have dinner with our other cousins.

1st Aunt nagging at Brandon to finish up his meal

Henglip coaxing Gordon to open his mouth

After dinner, we slacked around in Kar Cheng's bedroom and uncovered his stash of sleazy FHM magazines (to which 6th Aunt was shaking her head disapprovingly and asking herself why the women in the mags are dressed so scantily). Finally, someone started the gambling session!

Their house pet, a very obese and timid cat

So all of us were seated around the table in the stuffy kitchen and waiting in anticipation for winnings to roll in. Haoling bought a bundle of childhood snacks like the durian corn puffs and Combos (those pizza-themed rolls with cheesy filled centres). I was again nibbling away the crust and saving the cheesy centre for the last, and incorrigible Ah Sir again snatched it away and gobbled it up! Some generous cousins brought along bottles of wine, and I was delighted to help myself to Jacob's Creek Sparkling Rose although they found the carbonated wine weird and off-putting. Nevertheless, gambling and alcohol go well together.

There was a new addition to the gambling table: some sexy aunty (4th Aunt's friend, I think) in a tube dress with blue shimmery eyeshadow and a hairstyle similar to mine (eeks!). Very foxy for her age.

Sexy Aunty at the back

ALL snacking on a delectable pack of cards

2nd Aunt failed to supervise ALL as he continued to devour the spades and diamonds

I grew restless after all that wine and started the Tickle-the-chin stunt. It has always been a dream to do that to fearsome 1st Aunt, amd today I did it! And she did not even yell my head off! Stupid Wee was my filming accomplice, and she kept egging me on to irritate others.

We were so reluctant to leave, but we ended the night with a group shot. Spastic Kar Cheng included.

Cycling Trip

Went cycling at ECP with Ah Sir today. Felt the need to shake off the post-CNY cellulite off my thighs.

We had tea at Crystal Jade in Ngee Ann City, and I was absolutely delighted with their hot lemon honey. They gave a generous serving of honey, which I happily ate it on its own. I could not resist sucking the lemon slices dry after that. Ah Sir was fascinated and disgusted at the same time.

Don't they look like bicycle wheels now?

Moved on to ECP after that, rented two cheap-looking bikes (at $5 for two hours, plus a free bottle of mineral water) and cycled away. Stopped by a public toilet and I accidentally saw a man bathing buck naked at the open-air shower area which is supposed to be meant for swimmers taking a brief shower before dipping into the sea, definitely not for hardcore bathing! I was fascinated and disgusted at the same time.

Passing by a large pool meant for cableskiing

It felt good to cycle and have the breeze ruffling my hair. We stopped by Bedok Jetty and watched the uncles fish. We could not believe they actually went all out with rods and baits just to catch little kunning no bigger than the size of our palms. It was cruel of them to leave those poor kunning, their mouths laced with blood, thrashing about on the ground. Some of them even left those smaller fishes behind, which was such wasteful and indiscriminate killing! It was a sight not meant for the soft-hearted.

Anglers fishing at the jetty

What a blast!

Dark and deserted cycling track

We got hungry and cycled towards the hawker centre for dinner. We soon realised our bikes were such a burden. When we pushed our bikes into the hawker centre premises, the satay uncle told us to leave them outside on the grassy field. However, we feared that they might get stolen, so we walked to another entrance and took the bikes along with us. One irritating boy saw us and mumbled to himself "No bikes allowed". I knew that he was directing that message towards us, but we just ignored him. We did not even walk further in before a Bangla cleaner told us rudely to leave our bikes outside. Oh no, discriminated by the young and the old alike!

We gave up, and chose a table next to the grassy field. We had a delicious dinner or fried prawn mee, barbequed chicken wings and satay (we refused to buy satay from those pushy and rude BLACK society uncles). I topped off the dinner with a refreshing iced cocktail dessert!

Glistening nata de coco and fruit cubes

Just as I was about to finish the dessert, the bike shop assistant called and rushed us to return the bikes as soon as possible. We sped back to the shop and managed to reach there just before it closed at 9pm. We were charged another $2.50 each for exceeding the rental time by 30 minutes.

What a fruitful day spent working out and then feasting to compensate for the calories lost.

Chinese New Year Day 3

Off to 2nd Aunt's house today, but before that, went with Ah Ma, 4uth Aunt and Uncle, and Henglip to Ah Ma's brother's house. Was indignant to learn that Ah Ma's brother is an old and shameless two-timer.

Moved on to 2nd Gim's house next, which was just opposite of 2nd Aunt's block. Was feeling hungry, so pigged out on her home-made cheng tng (which had my favourite sago balls and dried longans!), soon kueh, organic cashew nuts, seaweed sheets and mulberry juice. Another spastic look from my cousin Kar Cheng.

Enjoying my cheng tng

Then it was slacking (and snacking) around in the living room, with the older folks engaging in some bitching sessions, 2nd Gim showing off Ah Bee's graduation photos, and 4th Aunt playing around with a German Shepherd stuffed toy.

4th Aunt felt she would look chic if she carried the German Shepherd around in her tote bag (a la Paris Hilton)

Everyone watching in amusement as 4th Aunt petted the non-living dog

We then moved on to 2nd Aunt's house, helped Ah Sir set up her comp, watched ALL bathe and gambled for a few rounds, before making our way to Gim Tim for our yu sheng dinner (courtesy of a very generous 2nd Gim). As usual, we sat at our 'kiddie' table (with Ah Ping, Weibing, ALL, Ah Sir, Wee, Kar Cheng, Henglip, Ah Xian, Haoling, Ah Hao and me) and waited impatiently for dinner to start. The first dish, yu sheng, arrived (no abalone slices this year), and everyone was standing and poised with their chopsticks between their fingers, ready to fling ('toss' is too mild a word to be used) the yu sheng contents out of the plate. We were supposed to say aloud auspicious 4-character Chinese wishes as we flung the yu sheng bits, but stupid Kar Cheng was reciting some nonsensical curses instead.

Up went the turnip strips and golden crackers (and down they landed onto the table)

Howling in laughter at Kar Cheng's idiocy

Shark's fins soup was the next dish, and just like last year, Ah Ping and I insisted on our portions not to contain any of those gross bean sprouts. Ah Sir absolutely abhorred the cruel practice of extracting the fins from the sharks, but Wee and I were more than happy to covet her bowl of the delicious broth. What followed was herbal chicken (which became a messy heap of meat strands and bones within minutes), steamed fish in soya sauce (Wee and I would always be the last scavengers picking the flesh off the bones clean), stir-fried veggies with scallops and cuttlefish (which was really good), broccoli with tau pok stuffed with oysters and fa cai, fried (or rather, charred) rice wrapped in lotus leaf, and lastly, the evergreen favourite yam paste (which came in disappointingly small portions).

Stir-fried veggies with scallops and squid

Sweet photo of Haoling, me, Wee, Ah Ping and Kar Cheng

Can't get enough of this (especially the crunchy corn bits)!

We had a joyous time recollecting memories of our childhood years and laughing hysterically about them. We recalled: how I nearly drowned Wee at the Big Splash; Ah Gim bringing Ah Sir, Kar Cheng and Wee to the zoo; how we went on our path of destruction every CNY by burning bundles of fire sparklers and causing the corridor along Ah Ma's house to be shrouded in a toxic haze; how I was so naturally black that they would mock me 'Bangali'; how Henglip was so afraid of ghosts yet we would still terrorise him with horror stories during our annual chalets; 4th Aunt, Ah Ma and Mum would bring Wee, Kar Cheng, Henglip, Ah Xian and me to the market where we would eat roti prata with sugar and spend our little pocket money on stickers and 明星偶像卡; Wee's collection of Dragonball comics, Nintendo games and her self-drawn comics at Ah Ma's house; Ah Xian's and my joint birthday parties where we and our only guests, Kar Cheng and Henglip, would be wearing colourful masks and blowing on whistles from our party packs; how the mischievous Ah Bee, Henglip and me would always vex our mothers because we would always be running all over the place and doing stupid things, and there was once where we were chasing one another with pepper at a wedding banquet and playing with the heavy double doors which clamped Henglip's fingers; playing 老鹰抓小鸡 with Ah Gim always as the mother hen; Henglip's lavish 1st birthday party; playing 'Alligator' at the playground downstairs; how 4pm was the 'freedom' time when Mum would bring Ah Xian, Henglip and me to the playground everyday; how the school field in BTPS (Kar Cheng's, Wee's and my primary school) was rumoured to be a cemetery just because there were patches of red soil and chicken drumstick bones buried there; our childhood pal 猪灯笼, whom we never fail to mention; how Hao Ling used to bear-hug Ah Ping and go around falling in love with Ah Bee and Henglip; and MANY more. In short, I was really glad to have grown up with these wacky people as my cousins.

After dinner, it was back to 2nd Aunt's house for more gambling. Ah Guang, having disappeared from the annual gambling sessions for the past few years, finally revisited this family tradition today by being the dealer for a few rounds of Blackjack. However, we could see that his gambling abilities have deteriorated after years of not exercising them and he incurred heavy losses, much to our delight. He quickly excused himself, saying that he had to go over to 2nd Gim's house, but he never came back.

2nd Aunt stocked up on a variety of New Year goodies, and I particularly loved the honey walnuts and the home-made seaweed rolls. I would love to nibble away the popiah skin and then save the seaweed sheet underneath for the last, but Ah Sir shocked me by snatching away that seaweed sheet from me and gobbling it up. She even dared to declare that she would rather eat the seaweed itself than the whole seaweed roll.

Haoling shared with us her Bobdog candy sticks, shaped like cigarettes and so reminiscent of our childhood days. There Henglip and Haoling were, sucking on those sticks, and the older folks actually thought that they were smoking and scolded them.

Two lost youths puffing away

At one point, someone distributed 2nd Aunt's photo albums around which somehow distracted us from the gambling. Photos of an adolescent Ah Sir was a riot with us, especially Henglip, because we felt that she had an intellectually-disabled look. There was one picture which showed her wearing a hat, to which Henglip said she looked like a leukemia patient and that really cracked us up.

We gambled till midnight, and then left for home reluctantly. Post-festive blues set in and I was looking out of the car window gloomily on the way home in 4th Aunt's car. Wee was crazy to make her parents fetch her to Ah Ma's house just to take a Bee Cheng Hiang paper bag from 1st Uncle.

Sigh, till next Chinese New Year then.

Ah Sir, do you have any more honey walnuts left?