Dayang Adventure: DAY 1

Day one wasn't much actually.
Zedong and I got to the dive shop at around 0810.
Waited for the rest to come while we packed our diving gear.
As soon as everyone arrived and we were ready to move, we loaded everything on the
a van and we're on our way.

Passed the custom an arrived at Johor at around 11am.
We stopped for and early lunch at 1120.
The place we had lunch was interesting.
The food were laid out buffet style.
We took what ever we wanted to eat, and after we sit down, the waiter will come over and write
us the bill according to what we have taken.
Wonder how they actually charge...
I ate alot as this would be the last meal before we arrive at Dayang for dinner.

After lunch the van then took us all the way to Mersing without stopping.
Much of the road was just straight down all the way to the horizon.
The journey wasn't really comfortable when though the van actually has a TV for us to watch.
It was really packed as we have lots of equipment with us.
When we finally arrived at Mersing after the near 2 hour journey on the van(as usual, zedong had motion sickness and he slept through the journey),
we couldn't wait to get of as our butts were aching.

When we arrived at Mersing, the boat was already waiting for us so we boarded immediately.
The boat ride lasted nearly 6 hours and was really bumpy due to strong winds and choppy waters.
The boat wasn't really big so we couldn't go fast also due to the water condition and the fact that we are going against wind.
As the waters got more and more choppy as we got out into the open sea, the boat ride seem more like a roller coaster ride. haha..
I sat on the side of the boat, enjoying the wind and I could see clearly how much the boat was tilting.
Sometimes a little scary. But fun!
I stay on the out side of the cabin almost the time,
when the wind blowing salt water at me and later drying it off,
by the end of the journey, I was literally covered in salt.Haha...
Some of us slept a bit during the journey, it's just so long.When I got up, there was white line of salt running from my neck all the way down my right arm. lol...
Zedong slept through the journey after staying awake for the first 40mins to 1 hour after taking his motion sickness pills.
I tried to take a nap but couldn't really fall asleep with the the occasional splashes of water and the boat shaking so violently.
But because some of us were not sleeping, we saw dolphins as we were nearing Dayang!
Though sadly, they were too far for my camera to take any clear pictures of them.
But I took pictures of the beautiful sunset behind us. haha...

When we finally arrived at Dayang, it was already 8pm.
Unload our stuff, checked into our dorms and snacked while waiting for dinner.
After dinner we chilled and had a little guitar/song session before we called it a day.

That's pretty much for Day1~

Going trekking tml!!

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...

Finally went for my Kayaking 1 Star

Yeah!!
Almost 8 years of kayaking, and even doing KI for camps,
I finally got my one star!
On the 8th, the day right after my 5 camp streak ended on the 7th, 12 hours of kayak course!
lol....
I was quite tiring because I haven't got enough rest yet.
Nearly fell asleep a few times when the coach was explaining the theory behind certian things we need to do.
But the course was fun!
Out of 21 of us, 19 were trainers, roughly half from innotrek and half from trekkers.
As expected, many of us all very hyper and crazy. Lol..

The course was conducted by innotrek and since most of us are trainers, the course was modified and a little extras were thrown in. Things like observing current, familiarization of the waters and surrounding at Sarimbun/Jbac/Christine camp and slightly more rescue techniques.
It is to allow us to facilitate better in future, though many of the things some of us already learnt through experience.

We also cover ideal places to raft-up during high and low tide, dangers of drifting and capsizing near the fish farm.
Last activity to let's us practise rescue, the coach got all 21 of us to capsize and timed how long we need to get everyone back on the the kayak.
We took only 17mins plus. whahaha....
The practise was to let us know how to do rescue in an event where we ourselves capsize with our campers or when we go kayaking alone with a friend and bought of us capsize. It's roughly the same as when I do rescue in the water. hahah..

Company wants to push us up to level 1 coach.
Probably going for 2 star end of this month or early August.
Then Level 1 Coach course will be at the end of August, but it's only for selected trainers...
I WANT!! This way, even if I can't do full camp when school starts. I can at least do KI.

To East Coast Park and BACK! 70km! WOOT!

I shall write about my cycling trip to East Coast Park. My FIRST time there on my bike!

Woot! 29 MAy 2008, Thursday, what a sunny day!
Met a fellow instructor, Jerome, at the junction infrom of 10 Mile Junction Shopping Centre. The trip was only comfirm the night before. Destination? As far as we can go! lols...
Because it's not very long after my knees surgery, only 8 or 9 months after op for my left knee and merely 4 months for my right knee! I wasn't confident of going all the way down to East Coast. But we made it! Need to get used to my cleats again too. Nearly fall and crash a few times during the trip. Lucky I'm still in one piece. ^_^

The route:
We went down Bukit Timah road(man, this is the hardest part of the route...lotsa up and down slopes), all the way pass HCI and NJC to Adams road then to Newton Circle(that junction was messy!). Took a short toilet break at a SPC petrol kisok and carried on down to bugis. Where we went to Blue Reef Scuba for a visit, I bumpped into a JC classmate from first 3 months, he was there for the recruitment into Trekkers. We stayed and chat with the senior trainers for a while before going off again. There's going to be a trip this August in the NPD week. Diving, trekking and abseil of NATURAL CLIFF!!! OMG! I WANT TO GO!!
Anyway, back to the cycling route....
We passed through Geylang(the traffic here is messy too...and Jerome that crazy guy kept leading me, weaving in and out of traffic.) where we had TAO-HUAY BREAK! LOL... the Tao-Huay was nice..
After that we contined all the way to East Coast Park. Found out that cycling on the over head bridge to cross over to East Coast Park from the park connector comes with a $1000 fine! OMG...Jerome's friend got it once before!
At East Coast Park we went to check out kayaking spots and rates. Only to realise that there's no longer kayak rental available at ECP. Sad. BUT, NO WORRIES! Those you won't get the beautiful view of the sea, there nearest play for people staying in the east would be Bedok Reserviour. There, like the old Kayak Kiosk at ECP, you od not need to be a member nor do you need at least 1 Star certification. Rental is open to everyone and it's open-deck kayak. So it's very safe, if you capsize, you'll just fall off the kayak. No worries of being trapped under.
Jerome ran into his campers from St. Patricks at ECP, they were blading there.
Was actually thinking of going over to Bedok Reseriour to check things out...but I'm TIRED! Already covered 30-40Km and we still have the return journey to consider. So, next time~

The Return journey:
We basically took the same route back, but didn't stop by Blue Reef Scuba again. Also didn't stop for toilet break! I wanted to try going all the way back to Choa Cku Kang without stopping. Haha... but still we stopped at a bike shop along Bukit Timah road to take a look. Cools bikes in there...
The tirp back was tiring! Especially the up slopes on Bukit Timah road(nearing CCK)! I was too tired to speed up after slowing down again, so I decided to speed all they way back to 10Mile Junction after I gained speed form a down slope. LOL...SHAG~
Finally got back to 10Mile Junction. I waited for Jerome, he didn't speed all the way back like I did.
Jerome got a 1.5 liter bottle of H2O at Seng Siong, we sat outside Seng Siong and shared the drink. Chat a bit. Then when home seperately. I still had 1 slope to go up at Teck Whye...T_T. But still manage to make it back home....
Now I have to clean and wax my bike....the spokes of my front rims are risky. zzzz.....
Cleaning was tedious! But the bike needs maintainance...haha....
The trip was tiring...BUT FUN! SHIOK!

Next target: Changi Village!

Any cyclist out there wanna cycle?? lol..