Oooh, tired tired tired. Since today was my day off, I decided to make a little expedition on scooter to Little Guilin, in Bukit Batok Town Park. I’ve passed it by a couple of times, but never actually been there. So today was a good combination of exploring a new place, riding my scooter, as well as scouting out the park connector network.

My expedition buddy and I set off along Cheong Chin Nam Road, then turned into Old Jurong Road and had a lovely time coasting downhill through Bukit Batok Nature Park, where the Japanese WWII memorial is located. After this we set off through the neighbourhood, and a little boy standing behind me at the traffic light admired my scooter aloud to his mother. It’s kinda telling that the only positive comments I receive from the public come from kids.

While we were still moving through the neighbourhood (my buddy following behind on a bike), it started to rain. It didn’t bother us much until it got heavier, following which we took refuge at a bus stop while I checked the route again on my Nokia Maps. I love this app, I do. It’s free and it works, what more could I want?

After confirming our route, we went on, the rain having fortuitously lightened to a light sprinkling. Eventually we got within sight of the park connector that I had been aiming for. Unfortunately, we were on the opposite side of the road, and we only found a crossing when we were actually at Little Guilin itself.

After a journey of about 5km, because we took a bit of a detour through Bukit Batok Street 21, we had reached the former mine/quarry that had filled up with water to form a lake. You decide if it’s really pretty. It’s just something novel for me to look at.

The main view from the entrance

The most arresting former mining face

The quieter end, which I suspect attracts courting couples after dark.

We took the park connector back. For the most part, it was a lot more fun than taking sidewalks, firstly because it’s so wiiiiiiiide and there’s so much space, and secondly because the surface is smooth. Makes for awesome gliding.

The downhill bit on Jalan Jurong Kechil was also fun – I coasted all the way from the bus stop in front of the German School, to the next bus stop. Wheeee!

My legs got a good workout from pushing uphill – I got this thing for exercise, after all, but I don’t think I’m getting much cardio. A runner can go faster than me, after all. But I don’t want to run, I want to gliiiiiiiiiiiiiiide with the wind in my hair.

Dammit I wish I could scoot 10km for the StanChart event instead. Wide open roads, no traffic, no drain grilles, no cracks in the pavement or rough gravelly surfaces – it’s a dream! Sigh.

Oh yeah – today I braved the testosterone-filled atmosphere of the bike shop, and bought a tiny little white LED blinkie light for $17. It’s very small and is more to improve visibility than to actually illuminate my path. The shop ran out of bells, so I went around the corner to a bicycle and motor shop run by some uncles, and picked out a $5 bell. My expedition buddy said I need to ring while I’m still farther away, and not when I’m 2 steps behind them. I am a n00b! I have lots to learn.

So I almost didn’t make my maiden Xootr commute today.

In the morning, I discovered my necklace missing. Since it’s imbued with great sentimental, as well as monetary value, I spent time looking for it and missed my regular bus. As well as the “late” one 15 minutes later. I suppose I could have run for it, but I was carrying a scooter, facing the loss of my jewellery and I just didn’t have the drive.

So I took a cab to work instead. Couldn’t afford to be late, because we were having a meeting and the late fine is 10 bucks. Taxi fare was only $7.80. So much for making a mixed-mode commute to work.

The Xootr drew comments from my boss, who thought it was a bike. The colleague sitting next to me hadn’t even noticed it sitting quietly under my table.

Come going-home time, I decided to forgo the bus entirely and scoot all the way. I walked to Chancery Lane, because the pavement leading from the office to the residential area is ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS, and began my adventure there.

I didn’t go very fast, because of the many dips in the pavement to accommodate house entrances. I went on the road for a little bit, enjoying the freedom, but it wasn’t to last. My whole riding philosophy is safety over speed, so I walked and pushed at intersections in order to avoid getting hit by cars.

I started my journey at about 8.20pm, and arrived home at 10pm. Google Earth tells me that the distance I travelled is around 8.6 kilometres, so I didn’t go much faster than a pedestrian, actually, assuming that pedestrians have a constant speed of 5km/hour. I’m pretty impressed by my distance travelled, actually.

Along the way I did have some ugly moments. Almost tripped over the scooter deck while crossing the road, some dude who went ‘whoa’ in my face near Coronation Plaza when I was doing  my best not to wipe out into the grass verge, another weird dude who overtook me running, then I overtook hin, then he overtook me back, still running – whatever, man. Safety, not speed. I think I’ll need a bell or something, though – some people can’t hear my soft little voice saying “excuse me”. Oh, and a Hwa Chong JC boy who couldn’t see me coming and didn’t make way until I was 2 inches in front of him. Stupid kid, just because you’re all out in a group during orientation doesn’t make the sidewalk yours. He probably thought I was like 14 years old or something.

To be fair, I made some mistakes too. I cut a little too close to some pedestrians, and I learned that it’s sometimes not worth it to ride past a bus stop, because space is so limited. And also, rough pavement is worse than cracks, because a crack will bump you but rough pavement will jiggle your arms so badly it feels as though they’re being vibrated out of their sockets.

All in all, not a bad first ride – there were good moments when the pavement was wide, smooth and clear, and I got some good gliding out of one push. But I don’t think I’ll do that route again. It’s not worth the effort, frankly, because of the sheer number of pavement dips and traffic lights, as well as unfriendly pavement conditions. I don’t mind the time spent, because Fridays I get off a bit earlier, I’m not working the next day, and this counts towards my exercise quota.

Tomorrow I’ll see about using the park connectors to get to Little Guilin and take a gander at the place. Meanwhile I’ll have to scout for an alternative route to get home from work, entirely by scooter.

Oh yeah, I found my necklace after all. Phew!