The prelim exams, which I will not elaborate on because I'm sure everyone is sick of them already, have finally ended. After Friday's last paper, I still didn't feel a sense that the whole experience was over. The past 48 hours, however, have completely remedied that. Possible one of the most eventful set of hours in my life. I shall divide the days into a few segments.
Saturday morning - Warm-up:
Supposedly we wanted a batch outing. This never materialised, and I found myself heading for Rwinds quite early.. This part of the last 48 mad hours is actually not mad at all, rather quite featureless.
Saturday afternoon - Rwinds practice:
At Rwinds we actually had a good attendance in all sections... except mine. I wonder where everyone went. Besides The Seventh Night of July and Armenian Dances, we tried a new piece, In the Mood. This piece, suffice to say, rocks, especially my part. Also, I'm finally not the only member of my batch. After prac, I stoned around for a while before heading home to prepare for...
Saturday night - Pre-race pageantry:
Jinjun and I were set to embark on one of the longest and most pointless tests, a 2x40km shuttle run to eat breakfast in Senai Airport
I suppose I should elaborate on what exactly Jinjun and I are up to in the grand scheme of things. On the 21st of December, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra will be playing the Lord of the Rings Symphony (by Howard Shore) in Kuala Lumpur. Jinjun is a fan of the orchestra and I am a fan of the music, so we decided to go to Kuala Lumpur. After deliberating many options including the KTM train overnight, we settled on the following. We would fly from Sultan Ismail Internation Airport in Senai, Johor to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah International Airport in Subang, Kuala Lumpur. The flight from Senai would leave at 8:15, check-in would close at 7:45. We were worried by the tight schedule, so we decided to test it out.
The plan was to do a full dress rehearsal, aiming to make it to Senai by 7:45 on a selected Sunday morning, to accurately represent the conditions faced on the actual day. We selected this particular one to give us more time to adjust.
Jinjun came over at 9pm on Saturday night, last night rather, to spend the time until then, as this would be our plan for the actual event. We spent the whole time playing various computer games, Empire Earth, Renegade, Battle for Middle Earth II and Star Wars Battlefront II. We also did some research on the route, and found that, in essence, to make it to Johor in the time alloted using SBS buses was impossible, as the SBS buses mostly start running at 5:30 or 5:45am. We decided to try to use a bus from my house to get to Queen Street bus terminal to take the Causeway Link bus.
Sunday midnight-early morning - Final preparations
The gaming continued into the wee hours of the morning. I fell asleep at 2am, when Jinjun was still in the Stone Age in his EE game. He woke me up at 5am, after being thrashed by an enemy 2 ages below him with inferior technology and switching games to SWBF2. We then made our preparations, grabbed a quick breafast and left the house for the bus stop, travelling light, me with nothing but my usual gadgets, a camera and a passport.
Sunday Morning - The Amazing Race
Well, it was time for the big race against time. The clock stood at 5:50 when we left, and the bus was predicted to arrive in 5 minutes. The aim was to reach Malaysia by 7:00, and the airport by 7:45.
At 5:53 we were just outside my condo when we saw a bus whizzing past. We assumed this was 48, the bus we needed and the only bus that used that bus stop at the time, besides 135 which was scheduled to arrive later. We deliberated for a while, before boarding a taxi at 6:00. As the taxi headed down the road, a vehicle caught up behind the taxi. The vehicle turned out to be a bus of SBS service 48.
Outside my house
The cab, however, was fast and cheap at $7.00 (we did not pay midnight surcharge, which would have been $3.50. We reached Queen Street bus terminal at 6:20 or so, and rushed to get on board a departing Causeway Link bus, avoiding the touts offering taxi services. The bus would cost $2.40 and departed at 6:25.
Just after boarding the Causeway Link 2
Dawn broke over Singapore as we reached the Woodlands Checkpoint at 6:55 or so. After being held up in line behind a lagger at the departure queue, I shifted queue and promptly went through. We boarded another bus, and were the only ones on board. This bus would take us across the Causeway to the Malaysian immigration checkpoint.
Dawn over the Straits of Johor
Me and Jinjun on Causeway Link 1
We passed through immigration after a while, exiting at 7:10 or so. We were immediately set upon by taxi touts. We had intended to take the bus, but given the time we decided on the taxi. After I withdrew some ringgit for usage, we took a local taxi, and paid a fraction of what the taxi touts charged, 35 ringgit as opposed to 60
The taxi took us to Senai Airport via the North-South Expressway, and the feel of the expressway and the surrounding signs and countryside was reminiscent of the rural stretches of the magnificent American interstates.
Malaysia
On the road
We reached Senai Airport at almost exactly 7:45. This was not a good sign, as the main airport was quite far from the temporary arrival and departure taxi stands/bus stands/car park due to refurbishing works. As such we decided to fork out the midnight surcharge on the Singapore side to get to the bus earlier on the day itself.
Sign outside Senai Airport
Sunrise over Senai
Sunday Late Morning - Senai Airport and the road home
Senai Airport is small, but it is decent and clean, and some of the facilities, especially the rest rooms, which are as good as the ones in Terminal 3 in Changi Airport. We took a break for breakfast at MarryBrowns, a fast food restaurant you can't find in Singapore. The only aircraft I spotted were a 4-engined propellor plane and the tail of a Boeing 727. The TV there was playing a documentary I was interested in, about the Japanese World War II battleship Yamato.
Sinks in the airport, reminiscent of The Cathay
The two main (and probably only, until Firefly launches their flights) players here
Uniquely Singapore in a JB airport... seems Senai is trying to promote itself as an alternate gateway to Singapore... It's not working though
A quad propellor and a 727 in the distance
The garden outside the airport
Me ordering breakfast
Marrybrowns restaurant
Swing chairs
Not a very conventional breakfast
The tiling on the floor
Advertisements on the new airport
Likewise
Jinjun at Senai
Jinjun loves Senai
A picture of the new terminal at Senai
The taxi/bus stop
After breakfast we headed out and back for Singapore. We missed the shuttle bus that would take us there, and rather than wait an hour for the next one, we bought a taxi ticket for the ride back, at 40 ringgit. The taxi ride back took slightly longer, probably a result of using local highways and roads instead of the NSE, but overall it was still ok.
Various pictures of Malaysia which I am too lazy to caption will follow
Jinjun
Reminds me of the USA
Life is a Highway scene from Cars. Also, this is a rural area so the benefits of power cables overground are?
Colonial architecture is a hallmark of KTM's Johor Bahru and Singapore railway stations
We were dropped off, however, at the wrong bus terminal, which served local buses instead of Singapore-Johor Bahru services. We took a walk to a shopping mall to get some extra ringgit from an ATM as well as ask directions to the terminal. Outside the shopping mall we saw an interesting moth.
A temple
Jinjun outside Plaza Kotaraya
The 2 of us outside the plaza
Reminds me of Centerpoint in Orchard
The giant Atlas moth
And again
Jinjun in JB
The grand prize in some random competition
MBJB lamp post
A KFC in Johor Bahru Convention Centre
JBCC
Random shops
Thought this was an airline
A random carpark
The flag of Johor
Jinjun staring down the road
To Singapore
Read it back to front, it makes more sense
We reached the terminal, intending to take the direct Causeway Link bus. However, the bus never showed up, and after 10 minutes decided to use the SBS bus 160. At immigration, we again attempted to board the direct Causeway Link bus to Queen Street, but we had no small change (the fare for the two of us was RM5 while all i had were 10s). So we had no choice but to take the dear SBS bus 170 back to Woodlands, and subsequently to Bukit Timah, where we switched to 48 near Nanyang Primary School to return home, passing the bus terminal where we started on the way.
Is this Singapore or Malaysia?
Malaysia uses yellow, Singapore uses blue
Jinjun stoning
Another SBS bus
Jinjun on the bus, which we had to ourselves
Again
I realise I haven't seen BP in Singapore in a while
On the other hand I have seen a lot of Shell
KTMB
We took this photo as proof we went to Malaysia
Outside the checkpoint
Singapore's lifeline, the pipes, across the causeway
Futuristic Woodlands Checkpoint, which the new Johor checkpoint looks like
Back home
Some parts of Singapore look like Malaysia
The Railway Mall in Bukit Timah
And again, near the famous Iron Bridge
Jinjun
Preparations for next Sunday's race and the other events are coming up to completion
The Singapore Flyer
The bus stop looks like a millipede, Jinjun says
Sunday Afternoon - A brief respite.
After returning home, we just decided to unwind, playing games, going over pictures and talking on MSN. Lunch was at the Eurasian Association's buffet, which was good as usual. My gym session in the afternoon was light enough that I didn't completely die out. Earlier, Jinjun got the idea to go cycling, and Paul decided to come too, and he appeared soon after my gym session ended. We slacked around for a while after that before leaving for East Coast Park.
Sunday Evening - Unforseen circumstance.
The events that transpired show the importance of hindsight to some extent.
Now, Paul doesn't know how to cycle, and previously shied away from learning. Today we managed to persuade him to come along, and took the underpass route past the chalets to grab the bikes. We selected a tandem bike, a rather high one with green colouring, and a blue standard bike.
Prior to today, I hadn't cycled in more than a year, maybe even two years. It was really refreshing to hit the road again and feel the wind in my face, although I was initially unstable with the tandem bike. We passed by all my favourite sections of the track, and some new stuff that never existed the last time I passed through. There was a sandcastle fest going on too, including some fantastic castles and a gargantuan complex. Feeling confident, me and Jinjun exchanged a high five. On hindsight this was stupid, but for now, it went fine.
We reached Changi Airport around 45 minutes in. After failing to spot more than a bunch of random A320s like Silkair and Jetstar, a Cathay Pacific 747-467(not sure F or BCF or pax), an Emirates 777-3DHER and a couple of Singapore Airlines 777-212ERs, I turned my attention to the coast, where we took some pictures.
The ocean during sunset was quite nice, and I heightened my own experience by listening to And Then The Ocean Glows. That piece has the nice effect of compounding any ocean vista, even if the vista is punctuated by supertankers, and accentuating it to completion.
On the way back, we let Paul cycle on his own, after helping him to balance. He was unsteady at first, but learnt fast and soon could hold his own. We let him take the single bike, with Jinjun riding behind me on the tandem. On hindsight this was a very good thing to do.
After paying a visit to Bedok Jetty, Paul switched to the tandem seat of the tandem, as we needed to return the bikes and Paul didn't feel up to it, while Jinjun wanted to ride. We set off for the bike shop at full speed. Feeling confident again, we decided to give each other another set of high 5s. On hindsight, this was a bad mistake.
Jinjun, in the process of the high 5, hit a groove, lost control and crashed. The tubes supplying air to the front brakes broke off, causing pneumatic pressure to drop and the brakes to fail. In worse shape was Jinjun, who came out with some minor injuries, injuries that, at the time, prevented him from cycling. I stayed behind as Jinjun and Paul went to the restrooms to wash off his wounds, and tried unsuccessfully to fix the brakes.
Jinjun's original plan was to jog back, since he was unable to cycle. However we decided that (thankfully) since Paul knew how to cycle now, he would take the single bike back, which would be no mean feat given its lack of brakes and the conditions of the track (dark, winding, crowded). I went on ahead with Jinjun on the tandem bike. We were worried about Paul but we couldn't see him, eventually losing him in the mix of people in the park.
Fortunately, all's well that ends well. We managed to return both bikes safely (Paul only crashed three times into bushes with no consequences), and Jinjun managed to dress his wounds with antiseptic. We eventually parted after dinner and a good laugh at various videos, like Darth Vader: The Musical, They're Taking The Hobbits to Isengard and How Is Babby Formed. Also talkingcock.com proved to be greatly humourous with their article on the Malaysian Political Oscars.
Today, and yesterday by extension, was great, the minor cycling incident aside. I found it a good way to relieve the pent up examination feelings from the prelims. Having my own batch at Rwinds is always good, and it's great to see the band take shape. As for my little escapade with Jinjun over the border, mission was a partial success in that we did not make it in time, but we did find means to compensate and bring us there with time to spare. Aside from that, the past two days have given me good opportinities to bond with Jinjun, and Paul to some extent, and I appreciate their friendship greatly.
I doubt I can survive another couple of days like this in the near future, but then again, I'd love to do it again.
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