Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Frills and Trills of Being Lost

Ever experienced the hybrid emotions that mixes all your senses while driving?

Adding in also the aftermath effects of consuming oysters that weren't fresh the previous night.

Not the adrenaline rush of G-force sinking you into your seat or whatnot.

Well, I did. All in a day,
in the land they call ..

Singapore.

It all started with a not-so brilliant idea of my brother suggesting me to drive him to Swissotel Merchant Court early at 4.30am. That means, drive him there, drop him and drive home alone.

And of course being the rational and sensible me, I denied his offer at first. Proving my stand that I'd rather be on bed than squeezing my way through with the swarm of noisy, irritating bikes and my ignorance in road directions.

See, that's what reasonable people does. Nothing special in any way.

Not so this time. Mr. Sensible has been poisoned with UHU Glue by Mr. Challenger.

So anyway, Alan's idea turned into a brilliant idea and I accepted the challenge to battle it out with the roads in Singapore.

A quick list on the tools needed before hand.

1. Google Map.
2. Street Directory.
3. A car that looks fierce.
4. Sufficient Petrol.
5. A mouth that speaks.
6. Time.
7. No tummy ache.
8. A PSP to keep you happy.

I was well equipped ..
except for no.7 ..

singapore
A map for reference.

Route A (back to JB)
Eu Tong Sen Road-> Hill Street -> Stamford Road -> Fort Canning Road -> Scotts Road -> Stevens Road -> Whitley Road -> PIE -> BKE -> JB

Alright. Guess what? I didn't turn into Stamford Road.
Yea, laugh all you want and that's not all.
I went on straight.

All the way to Beach road and stopped at Bussorah Street (near Plaza Singapura) to plan for route B. By this time my stomach was killing me.


Route B
Crawford Street -> Lavender -> Balestier -Moulmein Road -> Thomson Road -> Whitley Road -> PIE -> BKE -> JB

I made it to Moulmein Road but somehow ended up going back to City area. Passing by Orchard, Somerset and Dhoby Ghaut heading to Marina Square. I passed by Suntec City Mall, Pan Pacific Hotel, Marina Mandarin Singapore, Esplanade and stopped right at The Singapore Flyer which is still under construction. This time to plan for route C.


Route C
Stamford Road -> Orchard Road -> Penang Road -> Somerset -> Orchard Link - Bideford Road -> Clemenceau Avenue -> Newton Circus -> BKE -> PIE -> JB

Once I made it to Orchard Link, I decided to merge it with route A which links to Scotts Road -> Stevens Road -> Whitley Road -> PIE -> BKE -> JB.

I made it back at last with my stomach still killing me and there was a jam going back to JB. This time, the PSP came in handy. I had plans to park in a hotel to take a crap but I just didn't. I don't know why. Every time I made it to a hotel, a bus stops me from turning into the car park.

Finally, I've conquered mostly the City area and a little bit of its outskirts.

I'm glad I didn't take the easy way out through CTE. That would make it so much less fun.

I say this was more of a trip to explore Singapore and sad truth is that, Singapore is really quite small. The road changes so quickly, all the turnings are very near.

YEAHH !! I WON !
sort of.

Cheers !

3 comments:

Victor said...

woah!! BRAVO!!!!

Malaria Max said...

WOAH. o.O

fennielyn said...

omg, this sounds totally like what my mom would do IF the directions were left to me. :O Which once agains proves the fact why I REFUSE to learn how to drive. pah. Good on you though! ;)