2013, 26/27 january

when friends gather, all hell breaks loose 

once upon a time, 35 friends/families/colleagues and 16 bicycles met at tanah merah ferry terminal. they wanted to take the earliest ferry out to bintan, to go to a kelong. 

@ tmft

after a 2 hour ferry ride through pretty calm seas, they finally reached bintan. but they had to clear the immigration first. and because they were chatting so excitedly and making so much noise, the immigration officers told them to ‘keep quiet!’. nobody had ever been asked by any immigration to ‘keep quiet’. so, they were properly chastised.

@ immigration

eventually, they cleared immigration. the families/colleagues boarded vans for a relaxed ride to the kelong. the friends lined up their bicycles outside the immigration, all ready for a challenging ride.

outside immigration

but before they could get started, one of the bicycle’s chain broke. luckily, there was a support van. the support van whisked the  stricken bicycle to a shop to get it fixed. the rest rode their bicycles there.

fixing dar bike

because the bicycle took a while to be fixed and the friends were feeling hungry, they bought and ate durians while waiting.

showing off durians

eating durians

energetic after eating durians

after the bicycle was fixed, the real cycling began. the temporary fix from the durians didnt last long. so, the friends were mighty glad to have a break, after climbing four very very steep slopes.

take 5

we made it!

after a brief break, they were on the road again!

spirits recovered!

moving off!

gotta go

the weather was hot hot hot. and they were hungry hungry hungry. but they pressed on. just after passing a huge chinese temple, they stopped for some bananas. the bananas helped to stave off hunger pangs.

on the road

revived again after some bananas

having cycled for 31km or so, they reached a coffeeshop just before a metal frame bridge. this would be their  last resting stop before they hit the final stretch to the kelong. here, they topped up on sugary drinks, beers, otah, coffee and other stuff.

the road took a detour

the last coffeeshop

making otah

taking a break

resting and laughing

after another 7km of cycling on relatively flat road, they finally reached their destination. ocean bay kelong.

ocean bay

entrance to kelong