The Notice

Saw this at the notice board:

The court that the sun shines from dawn till dusk; the court that was built there five years ago; the court that I started to frequent only one year ago; the court where I made friends with so many neighbours young and old; the court where I played bball with x-students from my school and gossiped about the teachers; the court where I played bball with current student; is walking into the history book.

Kinda sad, but I don't think anyone will send in a petition. Guess we'll have to shift to other places and compete with other people for a court to play in...

Ubin Trip 2

Yesterday went Pulau Ubin for the second time in as many weeks. This time with a gang of youngsters. Initially had wanted to get my tutee to go, too bad his parents don't allow.

I guess it was an eye-opening trip for my basketballing friends, being their first time on the off-shore island. Compared to cycling at ECP, this is definitely a much more interesting place to cycle, without having to stay in path and compete with so many cyclists for space to cycle in.

Even though the main purpose was to cycle, we made Chek Jawa Wetlands the first stop. The tide was high, so actually it wasn't a good time to go in, however, we are somehow quite lucky as two families of wild pigs were on an outing to the wetlands as well.

wild pigs behind the information counter at Chek Jawa

Apart from the wild pigs, we also managed to see a monitor lizard and caught a glimpse of an eagle soaring in the sky.

After leaving Chek Jawa, we headed to find scenic places like the Mamam Campsite and the different quarries on the island. Just before lunch we went into Ketam Bike Park and played at the bike obstacle course for a while, before going back to a restaurant near the jetty to have lunch.

Scenery of the quarry ponds

Having taken our break, we cycled into the sensory trail for a relaxing ride before heading back into the bike park. This time, we went into one of the diamond course (intermediate) thinking that it would only be for the 400m stated on the board. Little did we know that this would end us up riding around the whole of Ubin quarry, consisting of many diamond and double diamond routes.

The seemingly endless trail of rocky route, steep upslope and downslope, winding trails and mosquitoes really tried our determination. And with the bikes taking turns to give us problems, it was slightly demoralizing. LOL!! Thank to another group of bikey who help to tighten the wheel of one of our bikes that we managed to get out of the trail sooner.

Finally after some wash-up, we were on our way home. The good thing about going out with a neighbour is simple, it wouldn't be a boring trip home, hehe.. But I guess we were all tired and found ourselves sleeping for most of the journey back.

**Aftermath of the trip: A dozen mosquito bites on each of us and break from basketball for the rest of the week..

It's a small small island

Yesterday, while meeting up with a few colleagues to go Pulau Ubin, I noticed a group of Scouts also meeting up at CCK MRT seemingly packed and ready for a camp. They left on the train earlier as I was still waiting for another late comer.

When we finally set off, I was told we have to wait at Tiong Bahru station for another colleague, zzz, another late comer...

When we alight at Tenah Merah MRT, and got to the bus stop, and there's the same group of Scouts, and boarded the same bus headed for the same destination.