Hike over the mountain at Tioman

We had really wanted to see Juara which is on the other side of Tioman, as in its across the mountain to the east of the marina. If not for the wind and swells recently, we would have gone and try anchor Calliste off the beach for a day. Seems like it would be too uncomfortable to stay onboard in these conditions, so I thought the way to see Juara is to be berthed at the marina and walk over…

At beginning of a long windy uphill.

I mean, I do enjoy long distance walking… but the uphill part is abit daunting.. and not knowing much about the mountain road.  Nobody gives a good description of this walk, like how far, how much time would a average person take to hike over. Its completely unknown, except that people have done it to and fro in a day…

Alright, so I am going to go until I cant continue anymore… and I am not carrying any water nor food… travelling light with not even a backpack. Just a phone, RM90 and no ID… … really, I am not a very smart traveller, just the silly ones with the can-do attitude…

Midway, an opening in the forest to look out over the marina and seas.

And I am doing this alone. Me, by myself, up the lonely road across Tioman. Look, no way Doug is gonna make it across… he is just gonna talk me out of it, every step of the way… so if it is to be, it is up to me. And so, here we go.

I am not kidding, this is really tough. Only just turning in at the 1st bend and I am so winded already. Okay, need more mental strength here… talked myself into making the 2nd bend, maybe it wont be so steep after that… opps 3rd bend is just as bad… too early to give up, lets try another 100 steps… gotta rest… really sat down on the alu railings for 2 mins… found that my posture while facing up is not comfy at all, turn around face downhill and stretch legs out front. .. arhhh……

Think zen, deep breaths… now slow down the breaths… ok heart rate under control now… feel better now, ok move on.. Its a beautiful day for a walk, make good use of it. .. and I keep telling myself that I have come to far to give up.. Nope, I didnt think that I made much distance at all, just trying to push myself over the slope, and the next one, and the next one…

First signs of human dwelling on this lonely road

So I started at 0845hrs. The SuperCats (Phil, Gina and Felicity) pass me on their motorbikes at 945hrs. Just about time I was seriously thinking about giving up… I listened for the sound of engine as they disappear around a corner further up, trying to gauge how much more incline there is beyond them.. Hmm… I think its quite close now.. PUSH ON! Even if I have to sit on the ground and rest every 20steps, I am going for it!

Bananas! 20ft of tall grass separates me from that fruit!

I am certainly doing better than those monks doing the 3 steps and flat on belly walk! At least I am making better progress… Another reason to push on. … 1030hrs, finally! A long flat! Ok, it should be easy now. The worst is over! So I thought!

Made it! At last!

Coming up next, steep downhill.. what goes up, must come down. If it was hard going up, you can tell that it be just as hard coming down… This time, my problem was my toes. They hurt from being squished in by the pointy down pressure from the steepness of slopes.. so much so that I had to walk backwards to relieve the pressure… I am at the point, where I will do whatever necessary to finish on the Juara side. I’ll roll if I must, I’ll be there! Keep telling myself that…

1130hrs, finally, signs of human habitats! and human activities… did I tell ya I was so dumb and had no water… These green bananas actually looked really good to me then! .. for the record, it took me almost 3hrs to cross… hit the beach food shacks and drink like theres no tomoro… I was drowning myself with coke!

Phils at Juara

Well, the real attraction for me at Juara is Phils’ new getaway house. And so here I am, refreshed and trekking over the beach pathway to Phils’… there is no road, this is THE way…

A Malay style beachfront chalet

And look, a pretty Malay beachfront chalet. Isnt that cute. Its really small, but has a toilet and 2 double deck bunk beds… no A/C, so I wont bother to ask.

Felicity in her soon to be furnished loft room

Lucky me, low tide. .. so I didnt have to get too wet walking over to Phils. They are now putting in cabinets and furniture. Soon they be ready to party! And nobody throws a party like Phil and family…. so looking forward… to seeing it finished… and the party of course.

I can imagine that sun rise over Juara would be so pretty. This house is so perfectly situated to watch sun rise happening in the shade of the rocks and trees. Felicity has the best view, I am jealous

The smaller gardeners quarters

Even the workers that will be hired to maintain this property have a nice hut and a great view. This would be so perfect for me, but I am not one for the service industry …

 Nope, I am going to try get a cab back. Bump into John and Wilma. They walked too, and they were also there to visit with Phil. So we shared the cab fare and it all work out well.. RM90 for 3 of us in a 30 min ride. The driver is going to eat well tonight.

So, at the end of the day…. I got to see Juara, visit Phil and family… and Doug happily settled for the comfort of just seeing the pictures and hearing my story… We shall both be contented.

The new walk from Keppel Marina to Labrador park

At the waterfront walkway infront of Caribean and Reflections

So we have a new Boardwalk across the water, linking us on Calliste @ Keppel Bay Marina to Labrador Park… lets check it out.

Its a nice morning walk.. while its still cool.. across the bridge linking Keppel island to mainland Singapore, then onto the landscaped waterfront walkway along Caribean Condos, onto the waterfront walkway along the soon to be occupied Reflections, onto the boardwalk across a swamp and finally onto Labrador park.

Yup, across the swamp on a broadwalk.

The walk is about 1.5km across everything manmade. Stone slabs floors with embedded lights, designer park benches and dwarf palms. Looks nice and maintained, un-natural and cold…

Looks like a exciting day out for these guys

Labrador park is just a small little park that is really quite nice and more natural. Its more for real people to have fun in. People actually fish, walk and gawk at the flowers and set off on expeditions here.

And off they go.

Such good luck, we see a kayak fishing group preparing and going off. 0800hrs, they are off already. Check out their gear. Seems like they are a group that has finances setup and ready to enjoy off days with a passion. I mean, they do stand out among the locals who are financially well set but have no passion. Think you need a job to keep from going senile and becoming useless? Why not a exciting (yes, it expensive) hobby?

BTW, a group of older folks stopped and gawked at their equipment and energy… and said out loud, “Wonder how much fish they are going to get from all that money and effort.” Obviously, they dont get it.

A walk in the parks

What d’ya do on National day in Singapore…? Us..? We think we’d go for a nice long nature walk.

Looking up at the Henderson Waves bridge

We stay on board Calliste at Keppel on the eve, so that we be a bus ride down to the Henderson waves… it was a interesting looking bridge over Henderson road. We passed under it many times before were always wondering when we would do that walk…

This is a distorted picture of Singapore!

Bus 145 from the front of The Caribean (condo) takes us down to Henderson Waves in 5 mins. Only 4 bus stops away, in the nice early holiday morning… no crowds and no jam at 8am? This is such a refreshing change.

From the busstop, crossed the road and climb that steep uphill steps… I think there are like 50 big steps to the top… <huff> <huff> … I hope this is gonna be worth that effort… I did think that we were pretty well rewarded with this uncommon view Singapore. Greenery, no crowd and no jam on a pretty sunny morning. Looks good and welcoming.. until you see the pictures of common daily life scenes in the real Singapore deal…  Classic camera trick, putting the nicer part of the subject in the foreground exergerate the size of the object while making the residential blocks in the background appear small. Beautiful sunlight adds a great deal to this effect and made this picture more 3D.

The planks that made the bridge

There were a handful of people who, like us, were enjoying a cool morning walk. It was nice to know that not everybody is staying home and playing with phones, computers or watching tv. … well, I might be doing that myself if not for Doug wanting to do a walk.. altho, I always like walking, I just never move myself into doing it more often..  Another camera trick. Using a low camera angle to capture more of the planks to exergerate the distance between me and the next group of walkers, creating a feel of spaciousness…

A nice looking sign...

I like the signs around here, modern looking arty look. Each one must have been quite expensive. .. okie… lets see, how to get to Hort Park… alright, so today we be walking over the Henderson Waves, thru the forest walk over Telok Blangah hill, onto the Alexandra Arch and into Hort Park… there are many little side paths, I hope we be right on track and make it before we get too worn out.

Newer signs after the Waves.

We didnt bring any drinks, altho I thought that we learned from our walk over at Sentosa that we really should… but my research shows that there were vending machines all over these parks… fingers crossed… and viola, vending machines were exactly as marked  on the map and were all working and had all the selection! The power of consumerism! Somebody must have realized that its good money to sell drinks to thirsty dehydrated people in a park!. .. Broken or out of supply machines = no sales = no money! Altho… you gotta BRING YOUR OWN COINS!

Walking amongst the tips of the trees...

Ok… we kinda follow the signs, walking thru some car parking areas and then winding up that the forest trail bridge. This has a very unnatural feel about it… hmmm…

The fastest way down is to roll...

Well, there’s an escape route if you need. .. Leads you to the real forest trail… eee… real soil, real dead leaves and real creepy crawlies… not for me..

The real resident of Telok Blangah hill

We kinda like it that, after the steep climb up the steps, it was downhill all the way. Easy 4km walk.. We made it to Hort Park in less than 2hrs, plus stopping in quite a few spots for pictures. I spent quite abit of time with this family of primates…

A mohawk baby! How cute!

And then some interesting trees along the way… check out the durians. … somebody been into them tho.. some of them are just shells

Not my fav fruit...

The walkway itself wasnt that great to look at, but it was nice and convenient for familys with elderly and children to also enjoy the park. I would think its alot harder to round up kids to do this walk in the real forest… dun u think? 

Alexandra Arch. .. getting quite sick of steel and alu by now

Eventually, we got to the Alexandra Arch. … I like the Henderson Waves bridge much better.. The arch is quite not as impressive… IMO. Right off the Arch is Hort Park. Alright, we made it there.

Very untropical plants thriving at the hort park

Hort Park is short for “Horticulture” Park. I think the purpose of this place is to show how plants can be in our living spaces and adding to our enjoyment of our homes. A little too landscaped for my liking… very fake kinda feeling… but it was nicely maintained, not sure if I had the same resources to maintain my place like this tho. .. u see, thats the reality.

dusty purple green and yellow trims

Adding to my collection of pretty plants! I like plants with big leaves and high contrast colors.

The real green camo!

Am thinking that some of these might be nice in my new place.. can I manage? But there are some plants that might be easy to care for.. sure I would like some big green camo leafy plants at home…

Not quite what I had in mind...

Enuf walking for today. Its good that we didnt have to walk back over our route… there are buses outside Hort Park that would bring us right back to The Carribean/Keppel … I think this public transport -> walk -> public transport arrangment is not bad. No complains from me…

Walking over to the touristy Sentosa

Its been a while since our last walking adventure.. this time we are going to … <yawn> .. Sentosa. Most locals that I know are not interested in going there, and some have never been there.. well, its the same with Ubin, BT hill and even East Coast Park!

Bridge over from Vivo to Sentosa

Now that we spend alot of our weekends at Calliste, which is berthed at the island across the channel to Sentosa.. (see Keppel?), we see alot that all is happening across that waterway… (fireworks) stuff and music going on every night, we thought it might to good to check out our neighbour.

Thats my footfeets on the composite planks of the broadwalk

On a very fine day… 7am. .. nice and cool… we start out from Keppel, drove Drax over to Seah Im hawker and got ourselves 2 packs carrot cake at only $2 each, then over to the free parking over at St James power station. We have our walking shoes on, backpacks, cameras and take out carrot cakes…  we are ready to walk. .. should have gotten a drink too…

Sheltered path to Sentosa..

There are many ways to get to Sentosa ( check out www.sentosa.com.sg ), but we wanna try walking over the newly completed broadwalk from Vivo to Sentosa…

Here we are, at the beginning of the walk… 3 paths to choose. The sheltered walkway, or the sheltered conveyor beltway, or the open air waterfront walk…? For sure we choose the open walk! BTW, the broadwalk is free!

Hangout and chill with the wired musicians. CooL!

This broadwalk is kinda like a great hang out place, wide open space and nobody around yet.. we found plenty of benches lining the walk. We plonked down on 1 just before the entrance to Sentosa to enjoy our carrot cakes in this cool morning. We were pretty happy that nobody was up and about to disrupt the quiet and peace of this waterfront sitting area.

R we too early?

Near to our bench were some wired musicians! I think they are CooL! … I am sure this place will be totally different by night.

Hanging out on the broadwalk is free, walking is free too… entrance to Sentosa is $1… Nothing is totally free, but at least this fee is not exhorbitant… :)

Welcome to Sentosa?

The counter just before the turnstiles are not for collecting entrance fee.. so its no problem even if we were too early. .. since we are not interested in Universal Studio rides or some bundled packages for doing touristy things on the island… but if you are interested, then take note of the opening hrs.

This is proof, that God loves ya.

For going to the island at “ungodly” hrs, this is how it works. Tap your eazylink card at the MRT gate look alike thing, walk thru the turnstiles and viola! You’re in!

10 steps into the island… I am not too thrilled by the nice, but very fake landscape. I mean its the 1st thing that I saw and its like making me wonder if this is really Singapore. I mean, shouldnt we be entering a clearing in a tropical rainforest? … Kinda like a sign, that warn me upfront rightaway, that everything I see here is fake.

Fighting equipment against fire-breathing dragons.

So true… the next thing to greet the walk in tourist is a fake cliff and fake cave…. Its so fake that stones can burn! …. I mean, who the freaking mind thought about installing a sprinkler system and fire extinguisher in a cave!?

Hey wait… I think I got it nailed. This is proof that God love us since the days of the cavemen. He put in the water sprinkler system so that the cavemen wont burn down they ”residence”, and he even gave them fire fighting equipment for fending off the fire breathing dragons!

Oh wow! So tantalising!

So what else is new? Candies growing out of trees! Oh wow, when do you get to harvest them! Well these candies are so big! You cant miss it. .. it might just drop and knock you out cold…  at least a very severe headache!

Old familiar brands at RWS

How about some regular sustenance… Great… at least theres some cheap food around.. altho, the shop looks a million dollars..

BTW, notice the gaudy environment… yucks. .. flooring that dun go with walls and roof that looks cheap…. tsk tsk tsk…

Phony chapel look?

Okay, next, walking by the casino entrance… we feel so watched… we are obviously not gonna try to enter… in flipflops and shorts… comeon now, give me a break…

Funky escalator ride. Cheap thrills.

The walkway between the hotels and the casino is also very fake and definately very distracting… I guess the budget didnt allow the designers to come up with something more classy and soothing… In this phony chapel, everybody gets chased by the marblely lights that sweeps the ground… I felt like a curse has been laid upon us… “thou shall lose more money…” ….. fortunately, we are not even dressed to the occasion and will not be paying the super crazy discriminatory $100 per SGrean! I refuse to pay even $1! Its pure discrimination! RWS and GOV, you cant even beg me or bribe me to pay this stupid fee! … sorry… have to rant!

 Final picture of the day… a crazy escalator ride… very noisy and very glaring bright visuals… These days, people dont enjoy silent environment… Around here, people dun talk much. .. and they dun relax… this complex doesnt allow any real rest… I think its got something to do with fengshui… or curse? “… You zoombies are gonna to lose! Big time! ….” …. I think I hear alot of that echoing around the recesses of my brain…. … Not a enjoyable walk today… sigh… wont do it again.

Day 3 and 4 around Tekek, Tioman

Day 3 0900, opps the day kinda started late and its almost too warm to start walking… it took abit more energy to get us started on the walking thing, but I am glad we did go.

Flight into Tioman

We are walking North towards the marine park, checking out the villages along the way. We were walking along the airstrip when the Berjaya flight into Tioman was coming in. Got this pretty good picture of the plane.. and then my trusty Nikon L20 died… sigh… we’ll count on Dougs’ L21 from now.

Map of tioman

Newly constructed waterfront walkway.. a sign of the village getting more touristy. Modern homes were being constructed and lots of sewerage systems and piping were laying around… not so rustic anymore eh..

Lots of trees line the waterfront. We try to walk under shade where we can. .. So we got to the marine park and its free entry and free to swim. Life jacket and snorkels are for rent but hanging out with the fishes is free. Okay we are coming back tomoro with our own gear.

Gina preparing for party on Supercat

Back to Calliste for lunch and nap. Its too hot for anything else. Snooze up and be ready for the next party at Supercat.

Day 3 1900hrs, we are on board supercat and were introduced to the 14 very fun Filipino employees of Berjaya Resort. The party has began! Once again, Phil and Gina, spoiling us with great food, drinks and entertainment. This was a Filipino themed Easter Monday night. The Berjaya crew had to work on Sunday, so party had to be on Monday… but hey, this is island life! Anyday can be party day!

Dawn at the marine park..

We retire to Calliste at about midnight… the party is still on, the band is still singing and the girls are still dancing… but we were pooped!

Day 4 0720hrs, we are out and on our way to the Marine park. This time, Doug is going snorkeling and I will be snacking and lazing around. Its only a 2km walk, which should take only 24mins at normal walking pace.

Snorkel and fins on

We were there at 0800. Its dawn at the marine park, the sun is behind the mountains and its nice and cool. The fishes are just waking up to welcome us. We like it that we have the whole place to ourselves.

That strange big fish in the aquarium

I am not a water person… really.. I try not to get wet… I am sure Doug will enjoy swimming in the aquarium… and I will enjoy watching the strange “big fish”..

Crabbie

So while I was there… check out the other creatures around here. A good looking crab with pinches still intact.

Oyster wall art

A wall of oysters! Look at the purple lip. .. its only at the edges of the shell.

After 1hr of soaking, I got Doug out.. before he gets too pruny… and yes yes, I had a earful of whats going on down below..

The day was still cool, so we walked over to Air Batang.. just over the hill from the Marine park. A short 10 min trail and viola, we’re there. A nice little resort and restaurant. Just looking around. A little more rustic than Tekek, a little more relaxed around here.

Sunsets are usually quite nice after warm days

1200hrs, we’re back on Calliste. Another flak out hot afternoon, save for some cooking for our small dinner party tonight.

17o0hrs, time for a little stroll around town. Visit captain Kirk and his table of beer downing friends. Ordered our booze. To be delivered on Thurs.. our last day in Tioman. ..

1900hrs, time for our private little dinner party on board Calliste. Our long time friends from Sebana, now here at Tioman. A simple Chinese home fare kinda meal. We have so much to catch up on. .. and so we yakyakyak.

<… continue… again later..>

We love CNY!

Its a 4 days stretch of time off! And we have plenty on our list to do. This year, we are rushing to get Calliste ready to sail. Have a dateline for sending mast and parts to anodizing, then bottom paint repair at Marina Yachts Services… then there is my scheduled wisdom tooth extraction on V-day… and then more!

Beginning the walk. Entering from Marang trail.

But all work and no play makes Doug a dull boy. So I feel we need just a little diversion from it all.. and here we are at Keppel Bay marina, within walking distance of afew National parks on the island, we really have no excuse to not explore our neighbourhood.

Its not very happening around here.

Remember, we did the Labrador park last year and we enjoyed it alot. I hope that we will get to do more walking in more parks this year. Starting with the Marang walk to Faber Hill park…

Getting up there.

Its only about 120m above sea level.. very short climb up and viola! Lets see, 15mins! That was nothing. .. very easy climb.

Fortunately its only 15mins up.. I find that nature can get boring when its stretched too long… :p .. I am not a tropical forest kinda person…

City view from Faber Hill

Give me manicured lawns and flowers and I be there all day taking pictures! .. and sadly, there is none up at Faber Hill. Well, so I contend my desire to see a park by getting the view…

Cable car running between Faber hill and Sentosa

Its a cool and bright morning. Quite clear day and great for photos…. wait, I notice that view of the city is quite clear, but the view off south is not so good… hazy… hmm… I wonder why.. .. a hint.. where are Singapore oil fineries?

Nice stairway. Only meant for looking nice, not meant for use.

So here we are, on CNY, enjoying our early morning at the park… enjoying our view… but not for long… … suddenly found ourselves amongst 2 busloads of tourist! Swamped, feel crowded and they squeal!! OMG! I hate squealing people! Cant seem to get away from them! Not even on Faber hill.

Final pix. A nicely designed well built stairway at the cable car station. Access restricted. Sigh… I am lost for words… I guess I am dissappointed … I might be better off cooking a feast than doing this… maybe…