Thursday, July 2, 2009

HELLO HELLO ORANGE!

I AM SUPER HIGH TODAY!
Me and erning have finally embarked on our journey to bukit timah railway station!

Its quite interesting to see why the railway track leading from woodlands should divide into 3 tracks at the station then join back again when it heads off towards tanjong pagar. Sadly, we cannot find the track that leads to the abandoned one at clementi. And the rundown and miserably small railway station fell short to our expectations:( Nevertheless, we had a great time! Feels great to be walking on the railway track and in the desolated little jungle:P We even saw and felt the train come and go past! Woohoo!! The "too-toot" sound and the comforting and chivalrous gust of wind blowing against our faces as it drove past...

After we left the railway, erning suggested going to vivo. So we waited at the bustop at kap for 61. It was a long wait. In the end, we alighted at alexanda road instead of vivo-.- thanks to ms li erning ah. So then we began our second phase of exploration.
This time we walked even more. 3 hrs. Oh man i nearly starved to death. But it was worth it!! We started off at the metal walkway at alexandra road. That was still alright. The weather's great, the scenery's fantastic, just that when i looked down, i can feel my legs shake.
We were deceived by the signboard! It says 2.6km walk to mount faber but it felt more like a 20km walk. BUt at least with the help of the map plus our superb sense of direction, we didnt lose our way! Hehe:D Plus along the way, we chatted and sang(abit), so the time passed quite quickly.

The highlight was when we spotted this really grand-looking building hidden behind a couple of trees and bushes. Although the sign says "NO ENTRY", like erning said, to satisfy our curiousity is more important than abiding the law, so we walked right in.

The first thing we saw was a large empty space, with 4 British-style lampposts in the middle. Seems to be like a carpark in front of the building..then as we got closer, there is a couple of steps leading up to a platform(i.e. e shape of a semi-circle). Looking down from the slightly raised platform and back at the large empty plot of concrete ground in front of us, we realise that it must be an assembly area of a school!
At the two ends of the platform are two flights of staircases, positioned at right angles such that our view of the building above is blocked by the huge brick wall by the staircase. The entrance to the staircases are sealed with big green plastic boards, with wire gauzes, in addition to a few smaller boards on the outside to cover up the little gap at the bottom. A new-looking triangular signboard above us says: "Area under live supervision on CCTV".
I turned to look at my dear friend. She was in deep thoughts by then, her eyes brimming with excitement. A chill went down my spine. Finally both of us came to an agreement. So we decided to enter.

Cautiously, we removed the white boards on the outside, revealing a 50cm by 50cm hole at the bottom corner of the blocked stairway. Erning says that it is for the watchdogs to go through and its definitely big enough for us to squeeze through. So we crawled in, making minimal noise. By the time both of us got through safely, my heart was beating furiously. OMG IT SERIOUSLY FELT LIKE A DETECTIVE STORYBOOK ADVENTURE! Looking out for each other, we climbed up the stairs with our knees and bodies slightly bent. We couldnt find the CCTVs!

Yet another empty space with a huge 3 storey building in the background loomed ahead of us. The tiles on the floor is different from the ones below.It is more expensive looking, with a shiny grey and smooth surface. To our left is a small and old little office, which i figure out is probably their security check counter. To our right is a grand looking balcony, with pink flowers blooming! And at the extreme right was a patch of unweeded grass and a small little statue in the middle. Its a really serene sight.
We continued walking around the side of the building. The doors at the first storey are sealed. Up at the second floor is what seem like an auditorium, not exactly huge, but decent enough to hold at least a hundred people. Looking further up, I observed a small corridor and probably a number of classrooms at the side.
So that confirmed our suspicion. This place has to be British school compound constructed way back in the 1950s!! THe exterior of the building, with its clear long transparent glass windows and the simple classic white and brown strokes bordering the corners and borders of the building tells us that it definitely has to be owned by the westerners! COOL!
After 10minutes of inspection around the place, we decided that it was time to go! When we were about to descend the stairs, i spotted two CCTV cameras directly in front of us.
HHEEHE. But good thing we managed to left before any security guards came to catch us!:D

So both of us reluctantly left the abandoned compound. WHEW! WHAT A DISCOVERY!
We then continued on our journey towards mount faber, taking a few stops in between. One particular stop to note is this very long bridge(e Henderson waves) made up of many many long wooden planks. We saw a couple taking wedding shoots there. SO COOL!
I felt really near the sky! The sky was a clear blue cushioned by white fluffy clouds:) it was a great sight!

From there, it was a long and steep walk up to mount faber. A couple of cyclists cycled past us. HAHA.. some of them lagged behind, looking really exhausted. HEHE. My energy level was equally low at that time. ONCE AGAIN, THANKS TO ERNING'S GREAT IDEA. After almost 30minute of walking, we finally passed by the JEWEL BOX. YAY!! WE HAVE REACHED OUR DESTINATION! Sat at a bench to look at the cable cars go by one by one from mount faber, to world trade centre, all the way to sentosa.

Then we began on the last bit of our journey. This time was downhill by the Marang Trail. WOOTS! FINALLY WE ARE GOING DOWN! After what seems like eternity, we reached the bottom! OMG!!! YAYY!! Our legs were like jelly already.

Immediately walked to the hawker centre and makan. My gastric juices were already digesting part of my stomach away! OH MANs! SEE lar erning, i got gastric pain coz of u!!:P

After makan, walked to vivo( our supposed destination). Only spent less than an hour there. We were at the national geographic looking at travel guidebooks, paintings etc. Spent 20minutes looking at the huge Atlas book. YEP! WE shall travel together in the future. TO MANY MANY PLACES! :DDD

Finally, when we got on bus 97. We looked through all the photos we took for the day and we both know that we are so gonna miss 2/7/09! IT was a superb, fantastic, GREAT GREAT DAY WITH ERNING! <3333

I hope to embark on more of such adventures in the future. Oh man! THIS IS MY DREAM ISNT IT? TO BE AN EXPLORER..HEHe! MAY IT TURN INTO REALITY!

P.s. im going to cook up a meal for my family!(i hope i still rmb how to cook!)
SO goodbye!!

loves,
cjiam

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jiamin=) out
@ |Thursday, July 02, 2009|