First person to spot the airplane wins all my possessions when I turn 30 (which may not be much ha. ha.)


Anyway, HOW GORGEOUS IS THIS????



This is the Changi Coastal Park Connector and I swear to God.... it was G for Gorgeous.

I was so happy I had to take a picture right here with Shreeya.



Love this picture of Shreeya btw.

Today is Day 2 of my Grad Trip series. I met Shreeya at Tampines Sunplaza Park at 10am for Shreeya to rent a bike. It's just a 7 minute bike ride from my home, it's that near. Was supposed to meet at 9am but thank god Shreeya decided to change it to 10, otherwise we'd be cycling in the RAIN. I hate the rain, really. It dampens every mood possible. Or exacerbates it, like if I'm angry I'd just be angrier hahaha.

Bike rentals don't come cheap I realised... 3 hours = $12. Every subsequent hour is $3. Whole day rental is $35. I didn't dare to ask Shreeya how much it cost after we were done by 5pm yikes. Well, I could do the math but ignorance is sometimes bliss.

So anyway, we cycled by the Eastern Coastal Loop through park connectors starting from Tampines > Bedok Reservoir > Siglap (which we kinda got lost at) > East Coast Park > Coastal (most beautiful f my life) > Airport Runway (AH!!) > Changi Beach > Loyang > Pasir Ris 


And as you've already seen above...

The Coastal Park Connector was seriously one of the beautifulest places I've ever been in Singapore. It's strange how I live in the East, yet have never explored this part of my crib until today.

The trees, the waters, the tranquility, it really was surreal. I couldn't stop verbally raving about it while I was there.


Pleaseee tell me how beautiful is this???
That was an angler btw.


We then made our way to the Airport Runway. Shreeya's been wanting to explore it for quite some time.



As we made our way there, we were greeted by an expanse of rolling clouds... It's amazing. I forgot I was in Singapore. I remember how I'd always tell myself to look out far and wide when I'm overseas because over here I'd be blocked by HDB all over. But at the runway today, the sky was immensely beautiful and stretched out far and beyond with white fluffy clouds specked all over. I get dreamy when I see rows and rows of clouds...

I kept telling myself, "take it all in right at this moment. take it all in."



The roughly 3km-long stretch of road beside the airport's runway.

It was so cool to see so many planes take off! Shreeya kept saying, "oh another one is gonna take off!!" and I'd be like dude, there's one every minute HAHA. But we were excited to see those planes. It truly is the closest we've ever been without being inside the plane or behind some glass wall at the Airport haha.

The runway was going on and on forever but Shreeya and I had loads to talk about, like how her Dad used to work at the airport and how I've a friend who's crazy about take-off and landing. How nice that we got to talk about these things.

See the boy cycling in the photo above?

He and his friend kept stopping intermittently just to watch the planes take off. It was kinda endearing for some reason...


Sadly, and very very sadly, we won't get a chance to ride along this stretch of road soon.

Why?



See those tiny construction tractors?

They're making way for Changi Airport's brand-new Terminal 4. I just went to google - it's scheduled to open its doors to passengers in 2017. So. We'd have about a year or so before this place be done up. And there will be runway no more.

Sigh. As much as I am proud of my country's economic expansions, which I am mostly supportive of, it's these places and memories that hold meaning to its people. To take them away can be quite... mm what word to use? Well, sad. It's just sad.


Not long after we reached Changi Beach, I was surprised..



TO SEE THIS!!!!!





Is this Bali? Is that Mount Fuji??




WHAT THE HELLLLL... I'd never imagined this to be Singapore!!!!

I'd been to Changi Beach when I was younger, and I certainly don't remember the beach looking this gorgeous what the heck?! Once again, incredibly clean blue waters. White sand. Nice trees. Doesn't this all sound like a beach holiday back at Bali in the summer of '69???

Wake up! Coz this is SG.

I went craaaazy here.



Had to snap a fo-tohhh. I dunno what Shreeya was lookin at or doing bahaha.

Broken Shreeya.
Was tryna do a panorama and I dunno how it turned out like this.
I'm a techno-diot. Tech idiot.



The cycling path we were on.
This was the quietest spot at Changi Beach coz of its inaccessibility by car.
So if you wanna get here, well I suppose the best way is... You just RIDEEEEE (feat. Lana Del Rey)
Or you could walk from the busier area, which is quite a distance. But on bike, it's a breeze.

Also on the bike, time... flies.

I remember we stopped at 12pm when we were at East Coast Park to have lunch. Started again at 1 plus. The next thing I knew, it was 3.30pm. Then 4.30pm. And by 5 plus, I was back home.

The entire day just flew by like that. It was awesome that I had company and someone whom I could share (scenic) views and (political, cultural, social) views with as we cycled haha.

I'm liking this. I'm liking this a lot.

I told my parents, I feel like a retiree. Youngest retiree ever and I wish this could last forever... just exploring places, having a good time with friends and not having a single care or worry in life~ Wow, I could have a load of that ; )

While cycling, I remembered there was a Coastal Settlement cafe nearby. I should try that some time eh?


p/s When I came home, my dad told me that the Sook Ching massacre had occurred on that stretch of beach at Changi that I was raving about. Well, it certainly added a whole lot of depth and history to that place. 66 Chinese men killed by the Japanese during WWII.