16th July. Cable Ski at BATAM!!!! WOOT!

Woot!
Went to Batam for cable ski with Zedong and Lesh(a fellow instructor from trekkers).
Lesh's the one that organized the trip.
I'd probably be organizing one myself soon.
This is going to be a photo intensive post.
Haven't recover from the sprain ankle I got from the MJC camp actually.
But went for the trip anyway, I don't regret!
It's was fun!!!
Compared to SKi360 at East Coast, I think Cable Ski park at Batam is much more worth it.
Why?

Rates:
Ski360: $115 for 8 hours on weekdays.
Cable Ski park at Batam: $97 for the whole day(will reach the place at around 10am Sg time. Can Ski till 7pm Sg time), plus, the $97 includes the ferry tickets, tax and lunch!
So much more value for money. The Ski park is much bigger at Batam too!
You can also experience much more at Batam. I'll talk about it later in the post.

We met at 8am at Habourfront Centre Mac. Waited for everyone to gather, Lesh handed us our boarding passes and we took the ferry to Batam at around 9.20am.


Here we are, on the ferry going to Batam. Great Whether!!

Arriving at the place!!!
Some pictures of the place. Nice right!?
So much bigger than Ski360.
The place is also very relaxing.
If you still cant ski, go on a we day like us. You'll have almost the whole place to yourselves and you can ski till you drop.
No long waits!

There were monkeys at the the gate!!
Kept by the person running the place!!

Day beds!

Pool table!!!

It was a weekday and few people were there, so we can even do the Batam jump, or some call it the Batam Fear Factor---climb up the cable tower and jump down!

Scary. But fun. It's also really an experience for me as an instructor.
Very often in camps we tell campers to overcome their fears when doing high elements like abseiling, challenge pole and zip line.
However, sometimes it's hard for us to understand their fears because we've done it so many times. We trust the equipment and we've forgotten what the fear is like.
Jumping of that tower with no safety other than the water below was nerve wrecking. But I told myself, it's a chance to experience the fear. I have to overcome my fears too.
I was a chance for me to experience what campers feel.
Will try to upload vids of the jump. haha...


Lesh hanging on cos he didn't dare to just jump down. LOL!!
Posing with the knee board!
I did 360 spin with the knee board! weee...
will try to upload the video.
Yes, we are chilling. Can?

Me and Zedong trying the wake board.
The photos look cool.
But seconds after then picture were taken, we fell. haha...
I held on to the handle too tightly when my board went into the water. Though I pull myself out. Instead it got ripped out of my hands. Skin got torn.
First aid given was, clean with alcohol swipes, which was super painful, then tape it so that it doesn't rub against the handle. Yes, scotch-tape! First layer is up-side-down so that it doesn't stick on my dropping skin. 2nd lays was to wrap around and secure it. This way I can carry on playing! Kinda crazy, but it was only 2pm, we had 5 more hours!
Though, before going for it again, I decided to take a break on the day beds. The music was playing and the wind was good. Some of us, including me, even fell asleep!
The place is just so relaxing. The music played comes from our own Ipods.
You can just bring your Mp3 player there and play it there. So you can listen to anything you want. The sound system's pretty good too.
If you go with a bunch of friends on a weekday like we did, it's almost like you have the whole place to yourselves. There's not many other people.
Really a good place to chill out.
After we got enough rest(sleep), we went to try wake boarding again. And the handle got ripped out again. This time the dropping skin plus more skin and the tape all came off together.
Pain!
But this time it's almost time to go back already.
Wanted to stop, but suddenly realised I haven got a picture taken of me in action.
I.e., standing on the wake board in water.
So, went on with that injured left hand anyway.
haha...
That photo up there of me on the wake board was taken after my hand became like what you see below.

After that it was time to go and they shut off the motor for the cable ski.
But guess what?! That's not the end.
One of the workers there climbed up the tower and tie one of the ski handles to the top, so we can play...er...Swinging Tarzan?
haha....He let us climb up the tower half-way, grab the handle, swing and drop into the water.
Was really fun!
No pics for that, only vid. will try to upload.

Aside from skiing, I also learnt how to ride a bike there(should have taken a photo)! haha...
The place was big, so if we fall far from the launching point, there a motorbike to pick us up and ride us back. That's actually the most dangerous part about the trip. Because you will be riding with no protection. No helmet, no shoes. Only your shorts, PFD and your board. lol...
Plus, it's kinda off-road and they ride pretty fast(I dunno how fast cos there isn't even a speed0meter for me to look at!!).

To end this, the trip was really fun. Most of the people working at the ski park are actually pro or semi-pro wake boarders. We even got to watch free show! One of them did lot of stunts for us. He competed in one of the competitions in Singapore and actually got 2nd place. He's really good.
Not only did we have fun skiing, we got free show. haha...
Going to organise another trip there myself....

Will try to up load the vids asap.

P.s.: Btw, just got my sport climbing lvl 1 today. wahahha...