29 September 2008

The end of the hike

It was another few kilometres of hard walking. 3:12 pm.

There were a lot of signposts warning people not to feed monkeys but from my observation, the signs didn't deter anyone.

Monkeys. There were a lot of idiots in cars feeding monkeys.

We walked along Old Upper Thomson Road and finally Upper Thomson Road where we caught a cab. 3:30 pm. Well, this had been a most fruitful journey. As Tony had said, it was worth it but we were not going to do this again. We had traversed through what I thought was Singapore's most difficult terrain, from west to east, in terrain which had seen no humans, at least I thought so. Unspoilt nature of sorts.

There was pressure on my toenails despite having cut short. My shoulders were aching and Tony and I were feverish somewhat from the extreme heat. Covered jungles and canopies? Well, not here. However, I had not suffered a single scratch. My legs were good to go for kilometres more. Just slight tiredness in the legs at best, the legs had held up well despite the stamping of the undergrowth. Shoulders and frame, that was another matter altogether.

WOO HOO! What an adventure!
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

it was fun indeed, not so much when i was cursing and swearing at ferns.

typical human wave assault. each fern didn't have thorns or deadly defenses, but they were extremely effectively when bunched together...

anyway i escaped relatively unharmed save for a few bruises on my shins and sore shoulders and feet.

glad that shyue chou was there on the hike, he took on quite a lot of the fern bashing, i felt that i had run out of steam before he did. defintely due to a lack of sleep, and mostly fitness.

also another thing that we were reminded of this time, besides the god awful truth about 'clearings', was the tendency to over-estimate the distance travelled in closed terrain. however with a good head on our shoulders and often playing safe, at least we did not overshoot our objectives or landmarks and risk getting lost.

not that you could get seriously lost in a small patch of green, but it did ensure we didn't spend any more time than necessary in those conditions.

looking back, totally enjoyable!

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Thank goodness that the ferns didn't have thorns of any sort. Otherwise, I shudder to think how we might have managed our way out. There would not have been a solution. Even then, bashing through the ferns was not an easy solution. We had no choice.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

I had a small bruise on my knee.

Sore shoulders! That definitely describes it.


I still cannot imagine how you managed with so little sleep the night before. It must have been hell out there with the heat.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

You're right about us overestimating the distance. I had almost thought that we had over shot the four or five water tanks but the clearings was an indication that we had barely made much distance. Remember when we were discussing it then? And we referred to the photos and we were aghast as to how little distance we had made? At least, like you said, a good head and we were clear-minded despite the heat and tiredness. We were realistic and we knew roughly where we were. And we were noting the contours of the terrain. The upslope and all that?

We were fooled by a few ravines once or twice?

Anonymous said...

Beauty World? No wonder I felt an ominous gloom set over my area. You entered my ghetto!

Not enough of NS, do you have? After finishing your reservice, you old fogey still want more?

P.S. Did anyone feed you?

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Hobo-Brat, I knew it! You live in the trees with your fellows there!

NS! EEEEK! That sucks big time. Regimentation and all that. Tiring stuff.

Have you not ventured into the woods nearby?

No, they were too busy feeding you actually.

Anonymous said...

I'm reading your posts on hiking in central catchment 7 years on and they are still captivating.

I have done similar hikes but usually head in the north east instead. The big difference is there is alot of vegetation with sharp thorns in that area, making bashing a very tedious job.

Many mysteries hidden in our forest, including this from another blogger:

http://joyloh.com/blog/?p=6094