I was sort of excited to blog about the hike in Pulau Ubin today, and blog about the first time I was in Pulau Ubin. But my connection to our wireless network is iffy. I waited a darn long time for the connection to get to the point where my site would actually load. And now that the site's loaded (I have no idea how long it will take to publish this), I'm too tired and sleepy to blog. Effffffff.
I intend for this to be a placeholder just to remind myself that I need to write. I
have to write to commit this memory to the Intarwebs. I realize that creating drafts doesn't work for me. You won't believe how many drafts I have. I've probably forgotten what I wanted to write then so those drafts are just going to have to stay in limbo.
Okay, let's begin.
I showed you pics of my first time in Pulau Ubin, right? If I haven't, well, remind me. I know I showed you guys the video of the wild boar that kept coming closer - turns out it was me who kept going closer to the boar. Hahaha! I realized how idiotic I must have been taking that vid and saying the boar is coming closer when all the while it was me that kept walking closer to it. I must have been on drugs that day. Or it could have been the sun beating down my head, my neck, my arms... affecting my thinking. That day was super sunshiney. I remember walking along the boardwalk and marveling at the breeze and how calm and peaceful it made me feel to sit there and listen to the waves as they crashed against the rocks. Truth be told, I could have kept sitting there forever. But I was with someone who would have probably died of boredom if I sat there till forever. He would either die of boredom or just plain leave. Hahaha! Both prospects didn't sound good to me so I made us get up and continue walking. At least I think it was me who made us continue walking. This is starting to sound like a dream because I know in the past I would have chosen to be left alone than to continue walking in the hot, sweltering sun. Damn the sun. I swear it's my arch enemy. At one point during the walk, we chanced on a quarry. That, I have to say, was beautiful. It was like a lake with clear and still blue waters. Seeing as it was so hot, I considered chucking my clothes and heading straight for the water. Seriously. Never mind that there was a huge red sign saying we're not allowed to set foot in that area. It never happened, don't worry. No one lost their sense of sight because sanity returned and I did not strip. :-) Someday I might. And someday you might read about it here. Eeep. And someday I might lose what little readership I have here. I managed to get out of Pulau Ubin (it's a small island off northeastern Singapore, I think) without getting my skin burned off. I enjoyed the walk very much. Who knew I would even consider walking at noon?! I tell you, I was on drugs.
So today I find myself in Pulau Ubin again. I wasn't sure what made me suggest Pulau Ubin. I'm not even sure why we were going to check out Celestial Resort. That's what we did. The fun started with someone having this very bright idea of getting off at Punggol MRT and taking a bus or cab from there. First let me say that the first time we went to Pulau Ubin, we took separate buses from our places to Changi Village, the meeting place. I'm not sure where Punggol is because I'm just lousy at geography, but I know that first time I was on a bus on the eastern part of town. We decided to meet in Little India today to have a breakfast of masala dhosai, which is always a treat for me. You know, it really surprises me to find myself eating Indian food. Filipinos who have never had real Indian food have absurd preconceptions about it. I remember getting into short discussions with my family about how it's spicy and how it makes you stink so bad. It was that kind of talk that contributed to my prejudice about Indian food. I seriously never thought I would eat it someday. The very idea then would turn my stomach. Okay, now where was I? Good gawd, I hate it when all these thoughts run in my head, wanting to be said. I keep going one way and then the other. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, from Little India we took the train to Punggol station because of someone's "very bright" idea. It turns out Punggol is in some godforsaken area of Singapore where cabs are endangered vehicles. I don't know how many minutes we wasted looking for cabs and hailing ones that would not acknowledge our existence. Never mind the interminably long wait for the bus, which we finally boarded to get to Changi Village. And so we reached Pulau Ubin sometime noon.
Again. I wonder if I'll ever walk this area when it isn't so abominably hot. :-) Hey, it rained sometime in the afternoon, which was okay, but certainly made the flies come out after the downpour. Ugh. Mosquitoes love me and I hate them with all my heart. So... Celestial Resort isn't that far a walk from the jetty. It wasn't spectacular (sorry, no pics), but it's not bad considering the kind of place Pulau Ubin is. We had a late lunch of sambal kangkong and curry chicken. The curry chicken was dry, so unlike the curry chicken I had at Queensway Shopping Center last night - you know, the one I raved that was so good? Hahaha. I know, I must have been really hungry then. I still stand by my word though. I'll just make sure to have that kind of curry chicken when I'm extremely hungry so it will always taste good. Hey, when I say the curry chicken was dry, I didn't mean the chicken meat was dry. It means it wasn't soupy/saucey. It was pretty good. The sambal kangkong was a huge serving, which of course pleased me to no end. The more kangkong, the better, I say. I thought the food was good. I even said that if my favorite place in Kembangan, where I go to get sambal kangkong, ever closed, I would go all this way just to get my sambal kangkong fix. Hehe. Exagg, I know. The food was so good that I finished off the rice - all of it. That's significant because I have been cutting down on rice. We then made our way back to the jetty, but like the last time, we saw something nice - a
hornbill! H says this bird is rarely seen anymore because there's not a lot of them left. H doesn't know why this is so. We actually saw hornbills twice, but the first time I really couldn't make it out. The second occasion was better because I could clearly see its shape and form. It's a beautiful bird. It looks cartoonish - seriously. It really did look like someone drew it out of thin air because its features seem exaggerated - to me, okay? I'm not a bird person so when I saw it clearly for the first time, what came to mind was, "Hey, this is something I would see in cartoons!"
After the walk, I had planned on going to Mustafa to check out some backpacks that I could use for work. But I was too lazy to take the time to walk there when I was already on the train home. Besides, I felt too sticky and uncomfortable - I just wanted to go home. So here I am, typing away thinking this will be a draft and that I would continue writing tomorrow. I guess I wasn't that sleepy. I might as well publish this already and forget about adding anything. Maybe. Hahaha. I have this habit of going back to posts and editing or adding some other things I'd forgotten.