Riding Bicycle at East Coast Park / 去东海岸公园骑车

上星期六，在朋友素的提议下，我们去东海岸骑车。我们首先去了位于加冷地铁站旁的东北饺子王吃饭，我们点了酱骨头，五彩拉皮，西芹百合和一盘饺子，总共花了39元。素介绍说这里给一支吸管，可以把将骨头里面的骨髓系出来，看着她吸得津津有味的样子，我也跃跃欲试，无奈怎么也吸不出，只好放弃了。
我们每人花了六元，可以从4：30pm骑到6：30pm。我因为没有运动鞋，就穿了普通的高跟拖鞋，上下车多有些不便，再加上我很久不骑了（最近一次骑车是在大约去年一月，都一年多了），再加上他们车的式样是梁很高，我无法上去，无奈想让他们换一辆，可他们说这已经是最低的了，唯一能做的就是把座位调低，这样即使遇到困难，双脚可随时触地，便不会觉得害怕了，不便的是脚伸不开，所以感觉有点累。骑了一阵子后，我终于找到了点感觉，平衡能力好多了。一路上看到好多家庭在那边野餐，露营，好不快乐；也有好多像我们这样踏车嬉戏，最令我羡慕的是那些滑旱冰的人，只见他们一群群，一边滑，一边还用手机上网，聊天，简直酷毙了。我也想试一试，但素说摔一跤会很疼，建议这次还是放弃，嗯，下次有机会一定要试试。
骑了一会，感觉又热又渴，路过麦当劳，素提议去买个冰淇淋来解解渴，因为她不知道我喜欢什么口味，所以他叫我去买，她留下来看车子，当我买好后，惊险的一幕发生了，我居然找不到回去的路了，我在路口转来转去，融化了的冰淇淋顺着我的手流了下来，我不禁感到有些害怕，还好这是素找到了我，素开玩笑的说这到底是怎么一回事啊？只有一点点路啊！（潜台词：就来5岁的孩子也不该有问题呀）嗯，等俺买了iPhone4以后就告别路痴啦。骑完车后，我们又徒步走完了剩下的部分，景色还真是不错，在最尾端是一个刚翻新不久的熟食中心，以卖烧烤海鲜为主，味道极为诱人，价格也不高，可惜我们吃得太撑了，下次一定要来试试。
从那里我们走去勿洛地铁站，用她的GPS导航系统，那上指示应该过马路，但我们却找不到可以过的地方，正在这时看到一群老外，我们猜想他们也应该是去地铁站的，所以就尾随在他们后边，果然走了不久便看见了地下通道，正在我们佩服那些人厉害的时候，当我们一上去便发现那些人都不见了，通道的重点竟是一扇小门，需要刷卡才能进，这时我们才恍然大悟，原来那些老外都是这座公寓的居民。还好素反应比较快，她说我们该朝门的反方向走，地铁站就坐落在离熟食中心2公里的地方。悼词我们也结束了我们一天愉快的探险，下次再见！

Last Sat, my friend 素 proposed to go bike riding at East Coast Park. First we went to 东北饺子王 to have our meal. We ordered 酱骨头(braised pork bone), 五彩拉皮, 西芹百合 (fried celery and lily) and一盘饺子 (boiled dumpling). The meal cost $39. 素said the best part of酱骨头 was sucking the marrow of the bone by a straw. Seeing her eat with great interest, I was also eager to give it a try. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t. So finally I gave up.

We rented bikes from 4:30pm to 6:30pm by paying S$6. It was very difficult for me to get on and off the bike because I haven’t ridden a bike for more than a year, and my shoes were not sports shoes, but high heel shoes. There were times I almost lost my balance, but luckily I did not fall. The bike was too high for me. However, the bike owner said it was already the smallest they had. So he suggested to lower the seat so that if there was an emergency, my feet could touch the ground. After lowering the seat, I could balance a lot better, but that caused another problem. I got tired more easily because I couldn’t stretch my legs properly. Nevertheless, I still had great fun! While we were riding, we saw many families there barbequeing, camping etc. There were also other people riding their bicycles. What fascinated me the most was the roller skating. Several of them were surfing the internet with their iPhone, chatting and laughing while skating. It was so cool! Though I wanted to try it, 素said it would really hurt if you fell. So she suggested to get someone to coach her first before she could come back to teach me.

After about 1 hour of riding, we both felt hot and thirsty. 素proposed to buy ice cream at McDonald. Since she was not sure what flavor I would like, she suggested that she would take care of the bikes and I go to buy ice cream. When I came back, I found myself lost. She was totally out of sight and the place looked a bit unfamiliar. I was standing there for a while, looking at the ice cream melting down my hands, I felt so helpless. Finally she found me. “What happened to you? How could you get lost? That shop is only a few meters away….” I could imagine what she was thinking “Hey, even a 5 year old kid would not get lost.” Haha, no problem, I wouldn’t have such an issue after buying an iPhone which will be soon. After returning the bikes, we walked and chatted the rest of the track. At the end of the track was a newly ungraded hawker centre which mainly sold seafood BBQ. It smelled so fascinating and was not expensive. It was definitely worth trying! Unfortunately we were so full at the time that we couldn’t even think of eating any more, but we agreed to come back next time to try it.

From there we walked to Bedok MRT Station. According to 素’s GPS we should cross the road, but we couldn’t find any zebra crossing or overhead bridge. Then we saw some foreigners walking in front of us. We guessed that they might also be going to the station, so we decided to tail after them. We saw an underpass not long after that. While we were admiring how these foreigners could even find their way better than us, we lost them once we were out of the pass. At the end of the pass there was a small gate, but in order to go in, you needed a pass. Only then did we realized that those foreigners must be residents of the condo. 素figured out that we should walk away from that gate which was proved to be correct. Finally we reached the station after a 2km walk and that marked the end of our one day adventure. See you next time!

Pasir Ris Park / Pasir Ris公园

昨天，突然收到了香寄来的照片，勾起了我对这段往事的回忆。具体已记不起是哪一天了，只记得那是在今年新年之前，香约我去Pasir Ris公园骑车。说实在的，我在新加坡那么久，可还真不知有那么一个公园的存在，反而是香比较厉害，这已经是她第二次去了。我们先在地铁站旁的购物中心里吃了点午餐，然后就乘车去公园，哇，还不近呢。
这公园很大，骑了很久，总算是基本都到齐了，景色蛮不错，还提供烧烤台，满有度假村的风格，不远处是一间新开张的海鲜小食馆，价格不算贵，味道也还可以，服务嘛，麻麻的。我们叫了一个螃蟹米粉，一个清炒芦笋，已经忘记是多少钱了，应该是每人不超过三十块吧。吃到一半，香发现米粉中有一根头发，她生气地叫来了服务生，“这头发显然不是我们的，我的头发是黄色的，她的是卷的。”但服务生还是耸耸肩，表示没办法。“如果这事发生在日本，整餐就免费啦。”
没办法啊，这里是新加坡嘛。

Yesterday, I saw the photos posted by 香on Facebook. It reminded me of the time we spent together at Pasir Ris Park. I can’t remember the date except that it was roughly before the Chinese New Year. She suggested that we could go there to ride our bicycles. It’s seems a shame that I have lived here for such a long time without ever knowing that there was such a place. For 香, this is already her second time of visiting. First, we had our lunch at the shopping mall near the MRT station, then took a feeder bus to go there. It’s still quite some distance.
The park is really huge. We spent a few hours there. It was beautiful seaside with coconut trees. There were also many barbeque pits also. It had the feeling of a holiday resort. There was a seafood restaurant there. The prices were not very expensive and the taste was not bad. As for the service, well… you know what I mean, this is Singapore. We ordered a crab bee hoon and some fried asparagus. I can’t remember how much exactly. I believe it should have been less than S$30/person. Half way through eating, 香found a hair inside our bowl. She called the waitress over, “This is not ours, as mine is yellow color and hers is the curly hair.” The waitress shrugged her shoulders, said nothing except sorry and walked away. 香 was not happy. “If this happened in Japan, the meal would be free.”
Well, what to do? As I mentioned above, this is in Singapore.

Pulau Ubin Excurtion/乌敏岛远足

10月27日星期一，这天是新加坡的公共假期Deepavali，与友人香约好一起去乌敏岛。香在东京出生并长大，从未见过这样的原始森林，我也有7，8年没来这里了，偶尔来这里走走也是满有趣的。
12点半左右我们在丹那美拉地铁站碰头，然后乘坐2路公共汽车至终点站樟宜村。在那里的一间海鲜馆吃了午餐，然后坐船到了乌敏岛。
到了乌敏岛后，我们各自租了一辆自行车，5块钱直到6点。由于好多年没骑了，又加上乌敏岛地势不平，忽高忽低，没骑多久，就在一个上坡处摔倒了，到没摔痛，只是摔脏了裤子。骑了一阵子，便下起了瓢泼大雨，没办法，只好到一个亭子里躲雨。和我们一起躲雨的还有6条狗儿，这是我第一次与狗儿做近距离接触，它们都很和善，一点不具攻击性，香兴奋得喂起狗来，狗儿们虽然争先恐后，但也互相礼让，刹是有趣。

等到雨差不多停了，我们决定继续我们的探险。这时我发现我的自行车已倒在地上，我学着香的样子，也拿出一张面巾纸准备擦拭，这时旁边一位帅哥，示意我停下来，他拿出一块白色的布，然后帮我擦起车来。他的同伴男友们开始嘲笑他，让他要电话号码等等。他不好意思地揭示说是他弄到这辆车的，然后那些人又说继续呀，要不要去海里吧不洗一洗继续擦。结果他还真去了，那些人又说没想到这家伙还真去呢。我倒觉得如果是我弄到了别人的车，我也会帮人想办法，但怎么说来这是个不错的人，否则完全可以否认，因为我根本就没注意到我的车是怎么倒的，我从始至终没朝那个方向看过，要保持沉默太容易了。也正因此，我会记住他。

Oct 27th is our public holiday, Deeparvali. My friend 香 and I decided to go to Ubin Island. 香 was born and grew up in Tokyo. She had never seen a tropical jungle before. I haven't been there for about 7 or 8 years. It was enjoyable to again visit Ubin Island. We met at Tanah Merah MRT station about 12:30pm. Then we took bus No. 2 all the way to the terminal station -- Changi Villiage. We had our lunch at a seafood restaurant there, then went onto the island by a bumboat.
We both rented a bicycle after we arrived. It cost $5 until 6pm. It was a bit challenging since, I had stopped riding bicycle for many years and besides the landscape was uneven, hilly and not flat. Not long after we started, at one hill slope, I couldn't make it and fell. I was not hurt, only my pants got dirty. After a while, a torrential rain started. Fortunately, we quickly found a pavilion to shelter us. There were 6 dogs there as well. This was my first time to be so close to dogs (I am scared of dogs). Luckily, they were very kind and not at all aggressive. 香 was so excited, she started feeding them with her fried seafood rice bought from that restaurant. Though they were all eager for the food, they still kept their manners. It's indeed very interesting.
When the rain became just a sprinkle, we decided to continue our adventure. At this time, I found my bicycle had falling down and so did 香's. She took out one piece of tissue paper and started wiping her bicycle, and I also took out a piece and did the same. A handsome boy stopped me. He took out a piece of white cloth, and helped me to clean it. His fellow friends started laughing at him by saying why not ask for her phone number. He explained shyly that it was him who made that bike fall. Then they pressured him to go to the sea to wash his cloth and continue to clean it, which he really did. They were surprised and said that fellow really went for it. For me, if I were the one who made other people's bike fall, I'd also try to help. But anyway, He was a nice guy. He admitted he made my bicycle fall. He could have denied it but, he did not. I did not know what happen to my bike at all. It's very easy just to keep quiet, which he did not do. For that reason, I'll remember him.