Adventures of my life: Lost in Ubin

Lost in Ubin

Beginning

I asked a few canoe and oac friends to go pulau ubin for a bike hike. At first everyone decided okay let's go on 20/12/03 Saturday lah then Daming said he was not free. So in the end, I asked the other people not to go and only wenyang and me were enthusiastic enough to go to the island. On the day itself, wenyang woke up late and arrived nearly one and half hour after the meeting time... I decided to go soak up some sun at the nearby park…. When he arrived, we took Bus 2 and during the bus trip wenyang commented about the dark clouds and I ensure him," don't worry the rain won't get us, what evil tidings!" and I really meant it. We happily arrived at the changni jetty...As we got on the boat and was midway in transit, it started drizzling and we got a bit sianz diao... when we arrived at the island, we saw a group of boy brigades.. We went to the nearest food shop as it was still raining, and I mention the word evil tidings.. We had a hearty meal at the shop, with me eating fried rice and it sure tasted real good... Suddenly the rain stopped and our spirit rise! So we proceed to the bike shop to rent the bike, I was lucky and picked a good one immediately but wenyang took a bit longer because most bikes were faulty...finally we are off to our amazing trip in ubin! cycle cycle cycle... very happy lah then we reached noordin beach and see a few people enjoying themselves there... taking photos and couple dating... then as we walk along the beach suddenly got Indians shouting in the sea. Naked some more. They swam to the poles surrounding ubin that prevent illegal immigrants from entering and hang there... like fish ball sticks like that.

Then another Indian on land used a pro video camera to film them... wondering what they are up to... hehe so we walk and walk and came to a dead end, the couple following us give us this diaon look and turn back too... hahaha so we backtrack and continue on our journey....

We travel to the fish farm and a kind hongkong couple told us about the giant craps and prawns that the farmer reared.. So we go see and they were really big like mad! The crab is almost as big as a small dog. Haha then we continue on our journey... So we cycle and cycle and came to orchid garden... there we visit the local zoo with its own boar and peacock and peahen and the songbirds and many other...we are now presented with two routes.. One leading to a village and one leading to a beach...we eventually took the one leading to the beach loh haha and as we walked along the structured beach, we saw the boy brigade.. They were a crappy and disorderly lot.. Lie there like wild beast with their lousy giant bashas(a kind of lousy makeshift tents).... so we passed them and enter the giant hornet land.. Although the hornet looks menacing but I feel ready to slice them into half should they come near me... I told wenyang about how Cheryl had a fall at the curve there last time because of the very steep slope. Anyway, I pushed my bike up as it’s really torturous to cycle all the way up. We took shelter in those little huts located at a distance from each other along the way. There were many people seeking shelter there too… At this point we were still very cheerful because a little rain cannot dampen our high spirits. Hmmm then a foursome of boy brigade ran around and make little circus tricks such as falling together with the bike on one side while standing still.. We were very amused and decided to tail them… At this point of time, wenyang took out his poncho and said we could alternate but I rejected his kind will as I thought it was only a short rain. This proved to be a very costly mistake shortly after. So we followed them after they had left for about two minutes and the rain grew unbearable so we seek shelter once again in a makeshift stand, not hut, and there was already a dog resting there… We disturbed its peace and share his home with him. Then the boy brigade appeared again and we decided not to follow them any longer because they seemed to be heading back to the jetty. We headed in an opposite direction and soon we came into sight of another shelter… It was a drink stand and there were three main groups of people hiding there: One ah moh group consisting of two female ah moh, one male ah moh and one European Indian… the second group is a group of three ah bengz and two ah lians finally the 3rd group seemed to be the locals and were sleeping peacefully, unaware or not caring about the rain at all… so we stood beside the ah moh group and look at the rain like drenched dogs.. Suddenly I observed wenyang rising his senses to spy on the ah moh group and I spy too… Overheard them talking about what big business few billion million.. haiz think too much about money become like this I think… By the way, they were drinking red wine and seem to be enjoying themselves. The Indian seems to be their servant of some sort and keep refilling their cups before they were even half finished. Haha (one mead mose weld remarks bout them dna the dum) Anyway, I don’t like them a single bit and hope we can leave as soon as possible. Soon the ahbeng ahlian group moved off and we prepared to go off too.. Soon we moved off in the opposite direction as them. The rain soaked through my shirt and my shorts and everything lah… I had a very bad feeling that the stuff in my bag is all destroyed by the rain.. But heck care loh so continue… But the cool feeling provided me with a force to keep on going, even though it was starting to get a bit cold… Haiz but I thought wah later go watch band concert can enjoy music liao so exercise a bit also nvm.

Lost

We arrived at the Thai temple and the rain was really big…. We left our bikes out there in the rain and sprinted into the shelter of the temple and see how it all turns out after a while. It was already 1545 by then and I told wenyang we should be heading back if we want to make it to the concert on time… In the meantime, we slack abit and look around.. There were three local dogs at the temple and two of them were limping.. How weird… maybe other dogs or wat attacked them. Looking at the, I felt very much relieved that I am a human after all. To play safe I decided to ask the local Thai man for his counsel on which way to take… the man said,”turn right, yes right hehehe…” so we turn right and I realize I never took this path before in my oac life but heck lah sure can find another path out one so we very stubborn and we continue lah, by then we had already left the main tar road and were traveling on those smaller dirt path. Soon, we came to a junction and instead of backtracking we took another risk hoping we can find our way out through the small path… so we turn and turn at a lot of junctions… There were many mud path and the rain turned them into mud pools, there were many mudskippers and in spite of our trouble, we stopped to observe them.. But the harsh truth strikes us all too soon as we came to the first dead end of the many others to come. It was a lonely beach at a particular end of the island (I cannot tell whether we were at the northern western eastern of southern part) We started laughing as we realize we are stupid to come to such an isolated place loh… basically there were no settlements nearby except for a offshore kelong.. anyway we enjoyed the serene and tranquil scenery for a bit and shouted at the top of our lungs… I guessed both of us were thinking:”aiyah, sure can find way out one..” haha what foolishness! So we backtracked and got splashed by mud water another time as we rode through the mud pool…By this time, I feel a bit worried that I might not be able to find my way out after all… but I was not afraid as I have the number of the pulau ubin police post in my hand phone.. And once again we came to a Y-junction and anyhow choose the path to take again loh … then another second prominent place we came to in our misadventure was a hilly region and wenyang asked me,” tanjianliang you sure this lead to the way out?” I laughed and looked up seeing a hill maybe as tall as thirty storey buildings with a base of a few kilometers across… wah never in many trips to ubin have I seen such a big hill.. and I replied,” hmmm, yah orh haha let’s turn back…” many times we did that and always end up in many other strange places, but one of them turned out to be OBS camp 1 gate with a mailbox there.. Menacing barbed wire protected the place and any hopes of getting help from OBS staff were immediately dashed.. The rain proved itself to be a double edged sword as it became a major spirit dampening factor now and coldness seeped into our bones. Visibility was starting to get low as the raindrops gathered on the eye lenses and water vapour condensed on it also… so we left the OBS gate and went through dunno how many junctions… Suddenly, a rather large wild boar attempted to run cross the path way and when it spotted us, it ran back to its hiding place… I shouted to wenyang excitedly about the wild boar because he never see one in the wild before and much to my amusement, he told me he thought he saw a car… hahaha

Climax

We passed a settlement of some sort and our spirit raised again as we thought there is finally someone who can help us but alas, there were not a single soul there only numerous small plants inside the fenced up settlements. But anyway we continue in the hope of finding help lah…

In the end, the path became unrecognizable i.e. no people had came to this part of the island recently and we had to tread our path carefully…it was extremely slippery as the ground was a mud path and the rain has turned them into slides, so I crouched down and slide, couldn’t risk injuries even more now… Due to my desperation I threw the bike down the slope, as it was hard to balance with it. We came to another beach at this point of time; there was an unspoken understanding that walking along the beach would be the most probable way out liao…

The whole place seemed to be composed of mud and no solid ground and we were slugging around most of the time… there was also this perimeter in the sea to keep out illegal immigrants at this part of the island so I reckoned it must be the mid northwestern part of ubin. There was a kelong out in the sea and a police coast guard boat was also there… There was also a gate for some unknown purposes and it was opened. So I tried to shouting to get the attention of the coast guard but to no avail… so I held on to the side of the gates and got to the edge of the shore to get nearer to the boat then I jumped and wave my arms frantically … but also no use… the mud at this part of the clearing was even more squismish and I sunk knee deep into the black sludge… I thought the coast guard was sleeping or what and decided not to waste time liao.. so I tried to call the pulau ubin police and much to my dismay and wenyang’s dismay my phone was soaked and gave up on me at this critical period. Luckily, Wenyang’s phone was still okay… wenyang took out his jacket and I held it as a shelter as he tried to call the police so that the phone would be safe. The reception was terrible. Maybe wenyang was a little jumpy at that moment or he was feeling frustrated at not being able to find our way out. But the policeman who attended to us did really sound like he couldn't care less. In fact, he sounded like he was bored and if we got swallowed up by some wild animal it didn't really matter to him because he's there in his office enjoying the air-con. The connection went dead after a while. (excerpt from wenyang) Wenyang decided to give another try with the coast guard… but expectably the coast guard ignored us… haiz, wat a good example of jian si bu jiu and inflexibility… how can Singapore progress if everyone so thick head.. And a few fishing speedboats passed by and we shouted until our voice became hoarse.. and they just sped past happily… so we decided to walk along the beach lah since it seemed highly possible that we can get out through this method and I shouted,” yeah salvation!!!” so with our bikes, we walked wearily along the perimeter, this is possible as the tide was rising and our legs were mostly in the seawater…. We were a miserable and wretched lot as it was the vast sea on our left and the impermeable forest on our right… The starting part of this leg of the journey was kind to us but soon it all turned into a nightmare as the route became one that is composed entirely of those soft light brownish mud and we sink down with every step we took and the bicycles sunk into the mud too and we had to pull ourselves as well as the bikes out… Wah liew dare not imagine what slimy creatures dwelled inside the mud during that time… but luckily the path returned to its kind form again… After traveling for about three furlongs from the gate just now, we reached the end of our journey and at this point I was really very sianz liao because we have to walk all the way back the mud path again-- we reached a bay that measured at least 100 metres at its widest part!!! Wah liew , there’s no way we can continue walking along the beach as it was more mangrove swamp and even more mud and snakes … so we decided to call the police again, luckily the reception is better now and we managed to get through… wenyang spoke to the police and from his tone I can tell that the policeman is not being serious… haha and they got our location all mixed up.. we were at a bay but the policeman thought we were at a quarry and gave us some very “good” directions… like follow the mud paths and mud pools… the whole ubin is like that lah… and the damned rain still don’t stop… I couldn’t stop cursing sia… we also tried shouting to the two kelongs that were near the beach but the only ones that answered us were the dogs… “woof woof woof” wenyang recorded the policeman’s directions on his notebook and I didn’t dare to pour cold water on him because there directions were wrong and the ink has soaked away… haha but anyway I was starting to feel like Frodo and Sam in Mordor.. So we had to backtracked through the light brown mud and even wade in the sea on our way back as the tide is rising fast… it was quite demoralizing especially since the rain which won’t stop…

So we got back at the muddy clearing where we shouted at the coast guard… and backtracked our way back to the settlement where no one dwells. And the policeman then gave wenyang a lot more wrong directions lah so we end up no where… by then it was already six plus and we were no where near being rescued.. So we got back on our bikes and make haste before the night falls and the curtain of darkness became the another major enemy after the rain… there were many up slopes and I was amazed by wenyang’s strength as he cycled up them effortlessly while I walked up haha… all my strength was already gone. We came to a clearing and the policeman gave wenyang another sets of wrong direction… luckily wenyang remembered the OBS gate which is a rather prominent landmark and we finally were able to coordinate our positions with the police.. By then it was six past, and darkness drawn on us.. The police didn’t seem interested in coming to rescue us… So we told them we had hypothermia and a lot of bad tidings… The police just have to operate by a set of protocols.. I.E. only send out a patrol car if the lost people are in danger or it is already very dark…. So due to the latter and also the former, the police reluctantly sent out a jeep to rescue us… So wenyang and I hid under the cover of the jacket which is a very precious tool to us during that time… we talked some nonsensical stuff and cursed the police and the coast guard…by then it was already pitch dark and we could not see the path at all haha finally salvation reached us when two blinding headlights shone on us like the rays of hope from the heavenly gates! By then it was already 1940 hrs, the policeman told us that if we cannot get the bike up we have to cycle behind them…. Luckily we managed to push and force the bikes into the rear of the jeep. We climbed into the jeep at last feeling very relieved and cold. The return trip to the habited area of the island took about twenty minutes… In the meantime, we were informed that we are the first to get lost this year.. Hahaha that’s how qiang we were…. But all this doesn’t matter anymore as we did not have to spend the night in the rain and in total darkness on ubin… cannot imagine what would have happened if wenyang’s phone was spoilt too… haha

Home sweet home

After noting down our particulars, we thanked the police profusely and headed to the jetty.. There was a boat which was about to leave.. It was booked by a old man lah so we asked him can let us get in and he says,” No, I booked this boat liao..” haiz.. I felt like sending him into the sea… what a selfish old worm! We talked with a local lady for a while and she told us we’ve to wait long long for the boatman to come back from dinner.. So we had to pay another boatman twenty dollars to take both us to the mainland…the coldness was unbearable and our hands were purple and white… Finally we reached the mainland and ate some really solid food and regain some of our energy immediately… But I still feel very weak and cold… While on the MRT, we got many stares and occasionally a grin in our directions haha… Home suddenly seemed to be a wonderful place after this….




					Adventures of my life: Lost in Ubin Lost in Ubin Beginning I asked a few canoe and oac friends to go pulau ubin for a bike hike. At first everyone decided okay let's go on 20/12/03 Saturday lah then Daming said he was not free. So in the end, I asked the other people not to go and only wenyang and me were enthusiastic enough to go to the island. On the day itself, wenyang woke up late and arrived nearly one and half hour after the meeting time... I decided to go soak up some sun at the nearby park…. When he arrived, we took Bus 2 and during the bus trip wenyang commented about the dark clouds and I ensure him," don't worry the rain won't get us, what evil tidings!" and I really meant it. We happily arrived at the changni jetty...As we got on the boat and was midway in transit, it started drizzling and we got a bit sianz diao... when we arrived at the island, we saw a group of boy brigades.. We went to the nearest food shop as it was still raining, and I mention the word evil tidings.. We had a hearty meal at the shop, with me eating fried rice and it sure tasted real good... Suddenly the rain stopped and our spirit rise! So we proceed to the bike shop to rent the bike, I was lucky and picked a good one immediately but wenyang took a bit longer because most bikes were faulty...finally we are off to our amazing trip in ubin! cycle cycle cycle... very happy lah then we reached noordin beach and see a few people enjoying themselves there... taking photos and couple dating... then as we walk along the beach suddenly got Indians shouting in the sea. Naked some more. They swam to the poles surrounding ubin that prevent illegal immigrants from entering and hang there... like fish ball sticks like that. Then another Indian on land used a pro video camera to film them... wondering what they are up to... hehe so we walk and walk and came to a dead end, the couple following us give us this diaon look and turn back too... hahaha so we backtrack and continue on our journey.... We travel to the fish farm and a kind hongkong couple told us about the giant craps and prawns that the farmer reared.. So we go see and they were really big like mad! The crab is almost as big as a small dog. Haha then we continue on our journey... So we cycle and cycle and came to orchid garden... there we visit the local zoo with its own boar and peacock and peahen and the songbirds and many other...we are now presented with two routes.. One leading to a village and one leading to a beach...we eventually took the one leading to the beach loh haha and as we walked along the structured beach, we saw the boy brigade.. They were a crappy and disorderly lot.. Lie there like wild beast with their lousy giant bashas(a kind of lousy makeshift tents).... so we passed them and enter the giant hornet land.. Although the hornet looks menacing but I feel ready to slice them into half should they come near me... I told wenyang about how Cheryl had a fall at the curve there last time because of the very steep slope. Anyway, I pushed my bike up as it’s really torturous to cycle all the way up. We took shelter in those little huts located at a distance from each other along the way. There were many people seeking shelter there too… At this point we were still very cheerful because a little rain cannot dampen our high spirits. Hmmm then a foursome of boy brigade ran around and make little circus tricks such as falling together with the bike on one side while standing still.. We were very amused and decided to tail them… At this point of time, wenyang took out his poncho and said we could alternate but I rejected his kind will as I thought it was only a short rain. This proved to be a very costly mistake shortly after. So we followed them after they had left for about two minutes and the rain grew unbearable so we seek shelter once again in a makeshift stand, not hut, and there was already a dog resting there… We disturbed its peace and share his home with him. Then the boy brigade appeared again and we decided not to follow them any longer because they seemed to be heading back to the jetty. We headed in an opposite direction and soon we came into sight of another shelter… It was a drink stand and there were three main groups of people hiding there: One ah moh group consisting of two female ah moh, one male ah moh and one European Indian… the second group is a group of three ah bengz and two ah lians finally the 3rd group seemed to be the locals and were sleeping peacefully, unaware or not caring about the rain at all… so we stood beside the ah moh group and look at the rain like drenched dogs.. Suddenly I observed wenyang rising his senses to spy on the ah moh group and I spy too… Overheard them talking about what big business few billion million.. haiz think too much about money become like this I think… By the way, they were drinking red wine and seem to be enjoying themselves. The Indian seems to be their servant of some sort and keep refilling their cups before they were even half finished. Haha (one mead mose weld remarks bout them dna the dum) Anyway, I don’t like them a single bit and hope we can leave as soon as possible. Soon the ahbeng ahlian group moved off and we prepared to go off too.. Soon we moved off in the opposite direction as them. The rain soaked through my shirt and my shorts and everything lah… I had a very bad feeling that the stuff in my bag is all destroyed by the rain.. But heck care loh so continue… But the cool feeling provided me with a force to keep on going, even though it was starting to get a bit cold… Haiz but I thought wah later go watch band concert can enjoy music liao so exercise a bit also nvm. Lost We arrived at the Thai temple and the rain was really big…. We left our bikes out there in the rain and sprinted into the shelter of the temple and see how it all turns out after a while. It was already 1545 by then and I told wenyang we should be heading back if we want to make it to the concert on time… In the meantime, we slack abit and look around.. There were three local dogs at the temple and two of them were limping.. How weird… maybe other dogs or wat attacked them. Looking at the, I felt very much relieved that I am a human after all. To play safe I decided to ask the local Thai man for his counsel on which way to take… the man said,”turn right, yes right hehehe…” so we turn right and I realize I never took this path before in my oac life but heck lah sure can find another path out one so we very stubborn and we continue lah, by then we had already left the main tar road and were traveling on those smaller dirt path. Soon, we came to a junction and instead of backtracking we took another risk hoping we can find our way out through the small path… so we turn and turn at a lot of junctions… There were many mud path and the rain turned them into mud pools, there were many mudskippers and in spite of our trouble, we stopped to observe them.. But the harsh truth strikes us all too soon as we came to the first dead end of the many others to come. It was a lonely beach at a particular end of the island (I cannot tell whether we were at the northern western eastern of southern part) We started laughing as we realize we are stupid to come to such an isolated place loh… basically there were no settlements nearby except for a offshore kelong.. anyway we enjoyed the serene and tranquil scenery for a bit and shouted at the top of our lungs… I guessed both of us were thinking:”aiyah, sure can find way out one..” haha what foolishness! So we backtracked and got splashed by mud water another time as we rode through the mud pool…By this time, I feel a bit worried that I might not be able to find my way out after all… but I was not afraid as I have the number of the pulau ubin police post in my hand phone.. And once again we came to a Y-junction and anyhow choose the path to take again loh … then another second prominent place we came to in our misadventure was a hilly region and wenyang asked me,” tanjianliang you sure this lead to the way out?” I laughed and looked up seeing a hill maybe as tall as thirty storey buildings with a base of a few kilometers across… wah never in many trips to ubin have I seen such a big hill.. and I replied,” hmmm, yah orh haha let’s turn back…” many times we did that and always end up in many other strange places, but one of them turned out to be OBS camp 1 gate with a mailbox there.. Menacing barbed wire protected the place and any hopes of getting help from OBS staff were immediately dashed.. The rain proved itself to be a double edged sword as it became a major spirit dampening factor now and coldness seeped into our bones. Visibility was starting to get low as the raindrops gathered on the eye lenses and water vapour condensed on it also… so we left the OBS gate and went through dunno how many junctions… Suddenly, a rather large wild boar attempted to run cross the path way and when it spotted us, it ran back to its hiding place… I shouted to wenyang excitedly about the wild boar because he never see one in the wild before and much to my amusement, he told me he thought he saw a car… hahaha Climax We passed a settlement of some sort and our spirit raised again as we thought there is finally someone who can help us but alas, there were not a single soul there only numerous small plants inside the fenced up settlements. But anyway we continue in the hope of finding help lah… In the end, the path became unrecognizable i.e. no people had came to this part of the island recently and we had to tread our path carefully…it was extremely slippery as the ground was a mud path and the rain has turned them into slides, so I crouched down and slide, couldn’t risk injuries even more now… Due to my desperation I threw the bike down the slope, as it was hard to balance with it. We came to another beach at this point of time; there was an unspoken understanding that walking along the beach would be the most probable way out liao… The whole place seemed to be composed of mud and no solid ground and we were slugging around most of the time… there was also this perimeter in the sea to keep out illegal immigrants at this part of the island so I reckoned it must be the mid northwestern part of ubin. There was a kelong out in the sea and a police coast guard boat was also there… There was also a gate for some unknown purposes and it was opened. So I tried to shouting to get the attention of the coast guard but to no avail… so I held on to the side of the gates and got to the edge of the shore to get nearer to the boat then I jumped and wave my arms frantically … but also no use… the mud at this part of the clearing was even more squismish and I sunk knee deep into the black sludge… I thought the coast guard was sleeping or what and decided not to waste time liao.. so I tried to call the pulau ubin police and much to my dismay and wenyang’s dismay my phone was soaked and gave up on me at this critical period. Luckily, Wenyang’s phone was still okay… wenyang took out his jacket and I held it as a shelter as he tried to call the police so that the phone would be safe. The reception was terrible. Maybe wenyang was a little jumpy at that moment or he was feeling frustrated at not being able to find our way out. But the policeman who attended to us did really sound like he couldn't care less. In fact, he sounded like he was bored and if we got swallowed up by some wild animal it didn't really matter to him because he's there in his office enjoying the air-con. The connection went dead after a while. (excerpt from wenyang) Wenyang decided to give another try with the coast guard… but expectably the coast guard ignored us… haiz, wat a good example of jian si bu jiu and inflexibility… how can Singapore progress if everyone so thick head.. And a few fishing speedboats passed by and we shouted until our voice became hoarse.. and they just sped past happily… so we decided to walk along the beach lah since it seemed highly possible that we can get out through this method and I shouted,” yeah salvation!!!” so with our bikes, we walked wearily along the perimeter, this is possible as the tide was rising and our legs were mostly in the seawater…. We were a miserable and wretched lot as it was the vast sea on our left and the impermeable forest on our right… The starting part of this leg of the journey was kind to us but soon it all turned into a nightmare as the route became one that is composed entirely of those soft light brownish mud and we sink down with every step we took and the bicycles sunk into the mud too and we had to pull ourselves as well as the bikes out… Wah liew dare not imagine what slimy creatures dwelled inside the mud during that time… but luckily the path returned to its kind form again… After traveling for about three furlongs from the gate just now, we reached the end of our journey and at this point I was really very sianz liao because we have to walk all the way back the mud path again-- we reached a bay that measured at least 100 metres at its widest part!!! Wah liew , there’s no way we can continue walking along the beach as it was more mangrove swamp and even more mud and snakes … so we decided to call the police again, luckily the reception is better now and we managed to get through… wenyang spoke to the police and from his tone I can tell that the policeman is not being serious… haha and they got our location all mixed up.. we were at a bay but the policeman thought we were at a quarry and gave us some very “good” directions… like follow the mud paths and mud pools… the whole ubin is like that lah… and the damned rain still don’t stop… I couldn’t stop cursing sia… we also tried shouting to the two kelongs that were near the beach but the only ones that answered us were the dogs… “woof woof woof” wenyang recorded the policeman’s directions on his notebook and I didn’t dare to pour cold water on him because there directions were wrong and the ink has soaked away… haha but anyway I was starting to feel like Frodo and Sam in Mordor.. So we had to backtracked through the light brown mud and even wade in the sea on our way back as the tide is rising fast… it was quite demoralizing especially since the rain which won’t stop… So we got back at the muddy clearing where we shouted at the coast guard… and backtracked our way back to the settlement where no one dwells. And the policeman then gave wenyang a lot more wrong directions lah so we end up no where… by then it was already six plus and we were no where near being rescued.. So we got back on our bikes and make haste before the night falls and the curtain of darkness became the another major enemy after the rain… there were many up slopes and I was amazed by wenyang’s strength as he cycled up them effortlessly while I walked up haha… all my strength was already gone. We came to a clearing and the policeman gave wenyang another sets of wrong direction… luckily wenyang remembered the OBS gate which is a rather prominent landmark and we finally were able to coordinate our positions with the police.. By then it was six past, and darkness drawn on us.. The police didn’t seem interested in coming to rescue us… So we told them we had hypothermia and a lot of bad tidings… The police just have to operate by a set of protocols.. I.E. only send out a patrol car if the lost people are in danger or it is already very dark…. So due to the latter and also the former, the police reluctantly sent out a jeep to rescue us… So wenyang and I hid under the cover of the jacket which is a very precious tool to us during that time… we talked some nonsensical stuff and cursed the police and the coast guard…by then it was already pitch dark and we could not see the path at all haha finally salvation reached us when two blinding headlights shone on us like the rays of hope from the heavenly gates! By then it was already 1940 hrs, the policeman told us that if we cannot get the bike up we have to cycle behind them…. Luckily we managed to push and force the bikes into the rear of the jeep. We climbed into the jeep at last feeling very relieved and cold. The return trip to the habited area of the island took about twenty minutes… In the meantime, we were informed that we are the first to get lost this year.. Hahaha that’s how qiang we were…. But all this doesn’t matter anymore as we did not have to spend the night in the rain and in total darkness on ubin… cannot imagine what would have happened if wenyang’s phone was spoilt too… haha Home sweet home After noting down our particulars, we thanked the police profusely and headed to the jetty.. There was a boat which was about to leave.. It was booked by a old man lah so we asked him can let us get in and he says,” No, I booked this boat liao..” haiz.. I felt like sending him into the sea… what a selfish old worm! We talked with a local lady for a while and she told us we’ve to wait long long for the boatman to come back from dinner.. So we had to pay another boatman twenty dollars to take both us to the mainland…the coldness was unbearable and our hands were purple and white… Finally we reached the mainland and ate some really solid food and regain some of our energy immediately… But I still feel very weak and cold… While on the MRT, we got many stares and occasionally a grin in our directions haha… Home suddenly seemed to be a wonderful place after this….