An exhausting day of exercise

Argh - knee cramps and jelly legs - all that exercise I had yesterday.

Woke up rather early in the morning (8am) - well maybe you don't consider it early, but I'm not really used to waking up early (especially since it's a Saturday and also because I don't have school for now). Took a bus to Marine Parade and waited a full half hour for Evon (my cousin) and December (my ex-tuition friend) - and I thought I was going to be real LATE. We went for breakfast at the nearby MacDonald's since none of us had eaten yet, and there ate my first fast-food meal of this year. December was down with the flu, sneezing and sniffling regularly, so he had more of tea than breakfast. Then it was around 10.30am already, so we decided to leave for the nearby underpass connecting Marine Parade to East Coast Park.

I thought they could skate - well, at least cycle. What fun (and "distress") we had from 11am to 2pm. Both initially rented skates at first. Whoops - wrong choice. They ended up struggling to balance and nearly crashed bumfirst into a few passers-by. It was just hilarious (Evon aptly describes a scene where beginner skaters should hang an 'L' plate attached to a cushion on their bum - so that people would know and it wouldn't hurt if you fell). *laughs out loud* There was even a point when December crashed into Evon, and her to me (I nearly fell). It was a tangled mess of bodies. *I was stunned, they were laughing, passers-by were grinning (some nearly crashed into us too)*

Later December changed from skates to bike, but it wasn't of much use. He could go faster (though uncontrollably) with his skates than his bike. I had to hold his bike and ask him to look straight ahead, while he tried to balance with two feet off the ground. Not much use too. I ended up spending the remaining half-hour of my rental trying to cover as much of East Coast Park on my bike as I possibly could (to and fro).

By 2pm, I realised there wasn't enough time for lunch because we had to rush off to central Singapore for the TreeTop Walk. December didn't go because he was not feeling under the weather.

Two and a half hours later...

We arrived at the HSBC TreeTop Walk entrance after a tiring final climb up the steep slope of Bukit Peirce, where the suspension bridge started.

The shaky suspension bridge offered a scenic view but also a tummy-ache for those who had acrophobia (the fear of heights). I took a number of shots while up in the sky.

It was claimed that birds and different types of trees could be seen way up there, but for us non-botanists lacking sharp eyes, all we saw were a few birds flying in the distance, indistinct batches of green and an airplane.

The bridge was a mere 250 metres long (it seemed very short up there) so before we knew it, we were at the end of it. Then came flights after flights of wooden steps and planks after planks of boardwalks. The last time I went with Aaron, we counted 400-500 steps and gave up. You get the idea. No wonder the walk is not recommended for the elderly and young children (old citizens in the pink of health and "hyperactive" are another thing).

We caught many monkeys on our way out, the photo of the cute monkey below is the clearest and best among the ones I took.

Evening fell and after parting ways with our trekking compatriots (people from my current church), Evon and I took a lift to Junction 8 Shopping Centre at Bishan, where we had dinner (a chicken rice set for me and oyster omelette for her). That few plates of chicken, rice and vegetables made my day/stomach happy/full. My day happy and my stomach full. Haha. And so ended the exhausting day of exercise (and this exhausting typing for me).

More pictures of the Walk (and us humans) in the sidebar to the right, if you haven't noticed yet.

Information such as the background, tips and getting-there details of the HSBC TreeTop Walk can be found here.