The ZOO at night, un-Singaporean shopping, The Bay Run and Yen Nee’s Wedding Photos

On Friday, it was Freddy’s birthday. Ben and Jon needed to inspect the set-ups at the zoo for Saturday’s Family Day.  We therefore decided that we would cycle there.  Freddy, Ben an I left from Ben’s apartment and were met by Jon soon after we arrived at the Zoo – only a 13 km ride, but some traffic and two long hills.

The Zoo was closed, but we had special permission to go in.  Ironic that my first visit here is this way.  I have been to the Night Safari (and really like it) but never the Zoo itself.  I did not get to see any animals, other than the dark silhouette of two baboons.  However, I was able to realize that the setting is very nice, and that there seem to be no cages between the visitors and the animals.  We were driven around in an electric buggy by two security guards, who made sure we stayed out of trouble.

After the inspection, Yen Nee and Marilynn joined us with a special birthday cake for Freddy.

They also had durian – my friends were surprised when I did not hesitate to have a piece.  I am glad that I can still surprise them some times.

Here is a photo of the whole group who was there:

Yen Nee (more about her later), Pierre, Freddy, Ben, Marilyn and Jonathan. 

On Saturday, I needed to do some shopping.  I have never been a good shopper.  Usually, it is “go-in-get-what-u-need-and-get-out”.  This goes totally against the ‘national sport’ here in Singapore – shopping centers, and there are many of those, are usually packed on Saturdays and Sundays, and not really empty the rest of the time with people doing a lot more looking than they are buying.  None the less, I bought a pair of dress trousers, a new weather station and the latest Harry Potter’s book all in less than one hour, including the bus rides to and from Orchard Road.

On Sunday was the annual SAFRA Shears Bridge Run and Army Half Marathon, also this year called the “Bay Run” as the end was on the new floating stage in Marina Bay.  I was signed up for the 12km run, as I did not feel ready yet for a ½ marathon.  This is a popular run and there were thousands of people at the start at 7AM.  Ben and Jonathan were doing the ½ marathon and had left at 5:30AM.  The start was delayed 15 minutes as the VIP (one of the local members of Parliament) was not there to give the start… I will never get used to the local’s flexibility with time.

Here is a picture of the start.  You can try to find me somewher close to the stage.  I am wearing a red shirt and a bow-tie.

Very soon after the start, the route gets on to the East Coast Parkway (ECP) and crosses the bridge for which the race is named.  When you drive over this bridge in a car, it does not feel like much, and in less than one minute, it is all over.  When running, it is a whole different story!  I do not like climbs when I am running.  And this is a major climb.  The bridge has more than 25 m of clearance underneath; the climb seems to go on forever.  Reaching the top, I was totally spent, and still had more than 8 km to go.  The downhill portion allowed me to recover a little, but not as much as I was hoping.  The rest of the race was a struggle.  Immediately after the exit from ECP on Fort Road, we rejoined the route of the ½ marathon, and the crowd on the street increased significantly, with a lot of people just walking.  Only 3 km to go and I am not going to give up.  The finish is through the new stadium at the marina (I took some nice Fireworks shots from there last week) and onto the new stage.  Done! The time is not very good, about 10 minutes slower than I was hoping, but I did it (the results are out and I am 85th out of 229 Men Veterans – you can read all about the race on www.safra.sg).  The exit is back through the stadium, unfortunately, where the crowd and the heat makes it almost unbearable!  My shoes are “sqwishing” at every step from the accumulation of sweat from my legs! Even though the temperature was not very high, the humidity was, which made this a tough run. No photos, yet, but I will try to add some later when they are available.

Last week, there were fireworks here.  The stage is just huge as you can see here:

The stands can sit up to 27000 spectators! Here is one of the pictures I took last year, from Shears Bridge

and one from this year – sitting down

It is unfortunate that the smoke from the fireworks hides significantly the skyline of Singapore.

My day was not finished yet!

At 10AM, I joined the rest of Papillion for a Photo Shoot.  Yen Nee had asked us if she could take some of her wedding photos with the team on a Dragon Boat – we enthusiastically agreed and immediately embarked on a massive planning effort.  Vincent negotiated with his friends at the SDBA to get us a brand new boat, with a golden drum; Ben looked for the best locations and tried desperately to find a date when most of us could make it.  And today is the day.

We need to launch the boat ourselves and than row all the way to the Oasis Bridge, where there are steps that can be negotiated with a wedding dress.  For the special occasion, I am actually wearing my black bow-tie with our normal rowing uniform (I wore the bow-tie for the run as well, and got some very interesting looks from other runners – I am hoping that there will be some good photos too).  As we arrive by water, the bride and groom were coming by land.  For a little over one hour, we rowed in circles with the wedding couple at the front, in the middle and at the back of the boat; with Yen Nee amongst the boys and her husband with the girls and many other combinations.  Other dragon boat teams practicing around us were clapping and sending their best wishes as well. We are now famous.  A local photographer happened to be there and posted two photos on STOMP (http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/viewPost5084.aspx) 

Here is one of them, in case you do not want to go hunting…

new HawkerCenter and have excellent white fish noodle soup with milk, and a beer of course.

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