March 26, 2008. This is a day when my legs and ass hurt like no other because of the training that we had for ODAC. Here's the story:
We had initially planned to do some hardcore PT today, because we had FOUR HOURS to spare, which means some crazy lot of things we can do like static exercises, running etc. But no, things do not always go as planned, because there is always ANOTHER PLAN waiting to destroy yours. Yes, Mr. Tan had different plans, and we embarked on a journey to walk for a total of 4 insane hours.
It's funny how I noticed that Singapore had so much flora and fauna that I simply pass by and not take notice of. Only today thanks to Dr. Loo and Mr. Nah did I realize that there was actually such a diverse range of trees and flowers right here in Singapore. Usually when I walk around such places, for me its like, "Oh that's a tree. And that's another tree. And another..." However, today I was able to note some distinguishing features of trees which I never noticed before, that can help me differentiate what used to be Tree No. 1 and Tree No. 2 to their proper names. But back to the nonsense then.
We walked to the Treetop Walk at Macritchie, which sort of reminded me about the similar experience I had with my batchmates during Sec 2 Malaysian Montage, which was an unforgettable experience. Only that this time, it was 472938473294 times more stable than the Malaysian one. Quality issues, I guess. Either that, or they probably thought that leaving their bridge so loosely supported added on to the "authentic" feel, without actually thinking that people could actually fall off. -.-
This time, we actually had enough time to really look around and soak in our surroundings. By the time we reached Bukit Timah hill, the sound of cicadas became so loud it was basically the only thing that we could hear. Apparently, these cicadas only have a few days to weeks to live when they emerge from the ground after living around 12 years underground, and those are actually desperate mating calls before they die. Funny how we were burning cicadas during our March Expedition like as if they were leeches. =X
Walking up the steps towards the summit, I can really see the difference between the treks in Singapore and Malaysia. In Singapore, there are steps created to help you go up the hill, whereas in Malaysia it's all mud and natural steps. The experience is simply different when it is really natural instead of one which is created for you, even if it is just something minor like steps. We reached the summit, and everyone was simply like "WTF?!" because it just came so quickly -.- Sadly speaking, it is the highest hill in Singapore, but yet it didn't really present much of a challenge in conquering it. (maybe because of the man-made steps?) In fact, we went up and down the summit path a total of three times because it simply was no kick lol.
However, afterwards our legs simply burnt, so I basically couldn't really walk properly. Now, I'm still feeling the soreness, which probably won't subside by tomorrow. Tomorrow got PE, and that simply spells two letters. GG.
[sarcasm]Being such a fortunate person to live in Bedok, the ride home from Bukit Timah courtesy of bus 66, was excellent.[/sarcasm]
I joyfully hopped onto the bus while bidding farewell to my friends at the bus stop in Bukit Timah. One and a half hours later, I painfully hopped off the bus while bidding farewell to the sense of touch at my posterior region. My butt effectively went numb for the next half an hour before improving slightly.
Lesson learnt: Long bus rides can be very scary. Be careful. It is advised to keep shifting your sitting position, or else numbness is inevitable.
ivan fed the world.