What a memorable weekend !

Its about 5:15 in the morning here in Singapore and I am to go the lab at 9:30 in the morning, not having slept at all so far, and a sleep of about 4 hrs. yesterday night, but even after a very taxing day with more than 13 kms. of walking, I can't really sleep without having written an account of two of the most memorable days I have had - yesterday and today !

It all started off with a simple plan to visit the Singapore Science Centre to see some shows like Thunderbolt and Tesla coils at work - symbols of some of the great achievements of man in technology. But it was not to be ! Thanks to my absent mindedness in catching a bus on the wrong side of the road, I ended up realizing that I can't reach the place in time for the shows and hence started to think of alternative plans. For some time, I was undecided and in fact, at some point of time thought that I should come back home and maybe do some work which I had planned to complete over the weekend. But then, I felt the weekend was worth something more than that and hence decided to pay a visit to the Chinese Gardens, which are located very much in the city, and somehow I hadn't been able to find time to go there before. I was there in the gardens at around 12 noon. That place is just awesome - I loved it ! Big flat lawns, very graceful Pagodas, one of the finest Bonsai gardens probably around - the first one I have come across - great looking lakes in between, it has it all. It was a wonderful trip, walking along the roads in the garden and crossing arch bridges over the water every now and then. I also happened to vist the "Live Turtle and Tortoise Exhibition", which is a part of the garden, and is the largest collection of its kind in the world - but surprisingly, is hardly heard about as a tourist attraction in this place where every small thing they have to offer is put up as a place for tourists to visit. It was a nice opportunity for me to get some photographs of the natural beauty around, and I managed to get some decent pics of the place. So, it was around 3 in the afternoon, after 3 hours in the garden, taking the walk around the whole place that I decided to go back as I had not eaten anything for breakfast in the morning ! I came back home at around 4 after a lunch and then started playing around with photos and doing some work simultaneously.

In the evening, after Varun returned, a bit later than what we had decided, we left for the East Coast which he had heard is a nice place to spend an evening and have dinner. We were quite late and didn't know the exact route to get there, so it was not before 9 that we could find ourselves at the place we wanted to go. That place was quite a sight - it is a skater's paradise, with skating rinks for beginners and more than half of the people around moving about on 8 wheels ! There are even some shops where one can rent a pair of skates on an hourly basis - seeing the people skating there has made me more enthusiastic about it and I feel I should resume skating once I get back to IIT this semester. So, we had a dinner comprising of the traditional "Nasi Lemak" rice and the local "Satay" which is one dish I have really liked - its something like sheek kabab where you have chicken or any meat of your choice on a stick and grilled to perfection. It is eaten with a very typical peanut gravy, and the combination is really tasty. After dinner we decided to just spend time on the coast where we found a good place to just lie down on what is a very narrow beach, but it was very lively at that hour. People come there and spend the evening and night on weekends at the barbeques that have been set up there in tents and it is actually a very nice and relaxed place, slightly away from the city. Finally it was the realization that we have to catch the last bus back home that set us moving from there and we headed towards the bus stop. We managed to get the last bus as planned at around midnight hour from the Marine Parade Drive as it is called and after a rather long bus ride, reached home at about 1 in the morning. There was a match - Germany vs. Portugal yesterday, but we ditched it and after some work on my laptop, slept at around 4 in the morning.

Today was a day dedicated completely to Nature - the best it has got to offer ! We were to go to MacRitchie reservoir park - a well kept rainforest with nice trails constructed to take us right into the heart of the forest and have a glimpse of sheer natural beauty. It has been kept more or less undisturbed other than the essential construction at places and of course, a stunning suspension bridge right in the middle of the forest, to get a splendid bird's eye view of the whole forest, surrounding the reservoir, which is one of the most important source of water for the whole of Singapore. We started off with our journey into the forest from the reservoir, walking along it and then decided to take one of the best routes on offer - the Tree Top Walk as it is called, which took us through the suspension bridge and the Jelutong tower. So, the whole path was something like this : Through the Prunus Trail, continuing on the MacRitchie nature trail, then the tree top walk and on the way back, we came across the Jelutong tower, which also provided a great view ... and in fact, I got quite a decent 360 degree panoramic image of the whole forest from the top of the tower. After passing the tower, we again reached the reservoir and kept walking along it, taking the Jering and Chemperai trails. It was a great walk along the huge reservoir, which provided wonderful scenes at many places. And it was all so perfect, that we couldn't possibly come up with such a nice trip even with many days of planning ! Just as we started descending to get back to the reservoir park entrance, it started drizzling and just added to the beauty of the place. So, as we would have it, whats the fun of being in a rainforest without rains ! We could experience the canopies in the rainforest, where we could see it raining around us, but the path beneath the tall trees was very dry and void of any direct impact of the rain. So, we were on time as per our plan and after a walk of more than 13 kilometers in about 5 hours, we were back at the entrance of the park at around 5 p.m. and almost exhausted, headed straight back home. Back home, me and Varun tried to put our pics of the day together and come up with a nice collection as a memory of the great trip that we had and was almost 10 in the night by the time we managed to get a decent movie comprising the best pics we managed to get during the day.

Then each of us slept for a while and then went to the club house of Gillman heights, where a big screen had been put up for the matches of the world cup. And well, it was great to see many people in there even at 2 in the night, getting ready to witness the culmination of the world's biggest football event. It was not the most expected setting for the final, with Italy playing France, no Brazil, no Germany ! And the start was amazing ... with a penalty being awarded to the French team in the 5th minute of the game, which the great Zinadine Zidane managed to get in to the goal in the cheekiest way possible ! But thats all it takes - it was France 1, Italy 0. Not for long though, as Italy scored their equalizer in just the 19th minute with Materazzi getting a fantastic header into the goal, beating the defenders and Barthez. It was all set then - 1 each, and we had a game on, with Italy really pushing hard and looking in total control of the game. But as it happened, there was no goal scored in the rest of the time, and the game went into extra time, with France having the upper hand slightly, as they seemed to be in better control towards the end of the second half. The first half of extra time was also not very eventful, with nothing much happening. The game really took off in the second half of the extra time - with Zidane getting in a fantastic header in the perfect direction, and the Italian goalkeeper Buffon had to leap high into the air to make a great save and keep Italy's hopes in World Cup '06 alive ! Then there was this most disgraceful event and the most unexpected thing you can ever have on a football field - Zinadine Zidane hitting his head into Materazzi's chest and being taken off the field with a red card - and what a sad sad way to put an end to a glorious career of one of the game's most celebrated players. Finally, France ended up on the losing side, losing out 5-3 in the penalty shoot-outs and the Italian men were the heroes of the night ! I don't follow the game really, in fact, I watch the matches once every four years, during the world cup ! But whatever little I have watched, it doesn't come to me as a surprise that this is one game that millions of people all across the globe "worship" - sport is the thing where you can really feel the triumphant spirits of man - there is absolutely no other thing in the world that can give you that level of happiness and joy and glory as sports can - be it only for the few moments possibly !

After witnessing all the celebrations the Italians had to offer, came back home ... and couldn't help writing all this down, before going to bed to get a well deserved sleep of about 3 hours before heading to the lab in the morning ! Just as I prepare to go to bed, I get a glimpse of the sun peeping out from the horizon and overlooking the busy Ayer Rajah Expressway from the balcony of my apts. in Gillman heights, I see the morning traffic already starting to build up ... its a monday morning and time to get back to work for everyone in this busy place !

Signing off,
6:48 a.m.,
Monday, 10th July, 2006.