Return to Paradise

Sunday evening, and time to reflect on another busy weekend of coaching and early mornings (I much prefer one to the other - not difficult to guess which) it's time to reflect on more than half my time gone by in Singapore.

It feels very much like I have been here for a lot longer than the two weeks and three days since I flew into the country, and already I feel like I am a local with plenty of knowledge about how things work in this part of the world.

Today has involved relatively the same things as last Sunday. First I coached at West Coast Park this morning with my kids for an hour between 9:30 and 10:30. Thankfully I gained the correct information today, and arrived perfectly on time to set up.

The Japanese baseball players we are usually fighting for space with had moved slightly over into our territory this morning, so I had to take back some land by stretching out into their outfield. This morning I had the privilege of coaching eight children before finishing with a little match.

Doesn't matter how much time you spend coaching, it appears that children of ages 5-6 love to stand around in bunches and basically kick the ball as hard as they can when it comes towards them. Ironically today's session was about finding space, but that seemed to go completely out of the window when they were like bees around honey wherever the ball went.

After the session this morning we caught the bus back to the MRT station at Jurong East and then made our way back to Sembawang. All these early mornings must have taken their toll on me as I almost instantly fell asleep as soon as I managed to get a seat on the train.

A strange phenomenon seemed to take place this afternoon because as soon as we headed back towards Sembawang the rain came pouring down! Thankfully I had my umbrella in my bag so it wasn't required too much on the journey between the train and the apartment.

I had a quick bit of lunch before heading out to Sentosa island where I had spent most of last Sunday. This weekend I was doing my best to play tour guide to one of the other coaches who hadn't seen the place for himself, but was impressed after seeing some of my photos. Despite one visit there I was able to guide him half way around before having to return back to the apartment and allow him to continue exploring the rest of the island.

Miraculously as I started to get close to Sembawang again, it started raining, and this time the umbrella was a little more necessary than it had been on my original visit.

I've had a fairly quiet evening of being on the computer, as I prepare for my final full week in Singapore.

We have a new coach staying with as at the moment, he is also from England, and I am spending this week taking him to sessions and showing him around whenever I get the opportunity.

I remember when I first moved to Korea, and I was very grateful that I had two great (future) friends to show me around, but unfortunately I wasn't awarded that luxury when I first came here and I had to make my own way around.

I have done my best to try and make him feel welcome, and considering this is his first time in Asia then I'm sure he appreciates the slight bit of wisdom that I can impart on him.

Partly due to the language, the culture and basically everything, I think that Asia is perhaps the most difficult part of the world to 'blend' into. I consider myself to be a chameleon when it comes to visiting new places, and I was able to settle in a little easier here due to previous experiences in the continent. But I know it can be tough when you first come over, and I remember thinking "Wow" when I first saw all the bright lights, ridiculous amount of people EVERYWHERE, and strange smells started to waft from food all around.

I understand that perhaps this is a slightly narrow view of the world as I have never been to South America or the Middle-East, but to me, Asian culture is rapidly different in terms of its whole perspective, and I can understand why people might find it difficult to settle here, particularly if they are not in the right situation.  

Of course I am not suggesting that I am some worldly expert on everything, but these are things that I have picked up on my travels and believe to be the case.

This week, school's have returned, so most of our sessions will be taking place in the afternoon once again. 

Hurrah for lie-ins!

I'm not the best, but I am the most persistent. 

Lockout

Apologies to those avid followers of my blog that I haven't posted a message on here in the last couple of days.

The truth is that I could easily post a blog every day/night about what I have been getting up to in Singapore, but half of the stuff really wouldn't be very interesting! I attempt to make sure that this is a good and riveting read for people (even if it isn't always that way!), but the last couple of days have been truly mundane and I thought I would spare all of you the details.

As you can imagine the weather is still extremely warm over in this part of Asia. We had a brief rainstorm yesterday where I actually thought the sky was going to fall in, but after about half an hour or so it calmed and went back to being balmy again.

There are signs in some of the locations that I have spent time in whilst being here that have warnings about thunder and lightning, but I think they need to amend the sign or make a new one that warns you about wearing flip flops when it has BEEN raining. I almost fell over about five/six times yesterday as I walked to the shop, pretty sure the locals, who were all wearing shoes of course, found it highly entertaining. 

With school holidays still being in effect in Singapore, both Thursday and Friday were relatively quiet days. This morning though it was back to early starts, and setting my alarm clock at uncomfortable times.

One of our regular coaches was away today so I filled in for him at a location called Kembangen which runs four different sessions starting at 8am.

Most of the locations that we do coaching at, thankfully, have a place where we can store all our equipment, but two of them Pebble Bay and Kembangen, both have no storage space due to their 'open field' nature. This means that whenever we travel to either one of these places we have to use our lock-up facility to go and collect things from a storage unit and transport them to the location.

On Thursday's we can manage to squeeze both coaches and all the equipment in a taxi, but for today we had a bit of a strange system.
There were actually five coaches who were working at the sessions today, and three of the guys went straight there due to where they are living.

Me, and my room mate Abdul had to get up at 5am to get ready to head to the lock-up and then unload all the stuff into a taxi ready for transporting to the location at Kembangen.
As we were carrying so much, Abdul went in the taxi leaving me to re-board the train, and then go a few stops further to meet him and the rest of the coaches.

This morning we encountered a slight problem at the lock-up as we noticed that an extra padlock was attached to our storage space. We had the code for one and not the other, and after a quick consultation with James, Abdul found some packaging for three padlocks that had been attached to three different doors around the area.

This was either an elaborate wind-up or a horrendous case of mistaken identity by the owner of the padlocks, and it meant that we were required to deploy force (kicking the door down!) to get into our storage locker.
A few heavily placed kicks here and then eventually saw a panel of the door come off, and after some careful movement, we eventually managed to squeeze all the things we needed out of a small gap that we had made, and then went out separate ways to be re-united at Kembangen.

Compared with some of the other locations that I have coached during my two weeks in Singapore, Kembangen was a relatively straightforward field.
It's right next to the MRT and has a bit of a park next to it which allows the children to play on before or after their session.

I was designated as the 'organiser' of the session, so I basically went round doing the odd jobs like doing the registers, checking things were ok, hanging out trophies, water, sweets and generally being a dogsbody whilst everyone else coached!

It's not a role that I particularly minded doing to be honest, and things seemed to run smoothly, but with the heat, and having got up at an unholy time this morning, I have spent most of the rest of the day feeling pretty tired.

Today's session means I have visited all-bar-one of the soccer schools that we run, and it has been good to see a variety of locations across the island and throughout the age ranges.

Each group of children that you spend time coaching obviously requires a different set of skills, but overall I would have to say that the kids here seem to be well enough trained to listen, follow instructions and act on the things that you have told them.

Singapore seems to be relatively crazy about football, even if the S-League and National team don't live up to the standard of interest there is in the game, but I think there are certainly plenty of opportunities to develop the programs that ESS runs. 

Myself personally I have just enjoyed getting back into coaching, and working around young people again. I have my complaints every now and then about the behaviour of the minority of kids I've ever come across in my life. But with football, if they were choosing to spend their Saturday morning's at lessons then they are obviously pretty interested in improving, and also having fun!

Tomorrow will unfortunately once again be an early morning, when I will be heading off to West Coast Park for my session with 5-6 year olds, but after that I am hoping to spend the day enjoying some freedom and perhaps getting out and doing some sightseeing.

Don't get me wrong. It's a dream vacation. I mean, I load up. I go into space. I get inside the maximum-security nuthouse. Save the President's daughter, if she's not dead already. Get past all the psychos who've just woken up. I'm thrilled that you would think of me.

Ladybugs

The lie-ins didn't last long this week as this morning I had to be up bright and breezy to go to a match with one of the teams that we have been coaching.

Myself and another guy from England have been working with a girl's football team at a secondary school during our stay in Singapore, and today they were playing a friendly match against a team from a junior college.

Had to leave the house 'nice' and early, and it was still depressingly dark outside when we arrived at the MRT Station. We weren't actually having to travel that far on the metro network, but we did have to change twice and use three different lines (there's only four available!) The college we were playing at was in a place called Kovan which is just down the road from Serangoon which is the location that the college is named after.

Funnily enough, despite being told we had to be at the location for 7:45am, the team didn't arrive until 8:30am so we were panicing slightly that we were in the wrong place. Turns out we were mis-informed (that seems to be happening a lot these days!)

I had volunteered to referee the game whilst the other coach would prepare the team, sort the substitutions out and do the warm-up, I definitely think he got the better end of the deal.
Although I haven't spent many an hour playing, watching and talking about football, officiating my favourite sport is not something I have endured a great deal of time being involved in.

I'm not one to berate officials when I am playing as from the few times when I have had to do it, usually in kids games as well, I've found if very difficult! Referees have my sympathy (most of the time!) Thankfully I wasn't needing to make too many decisions during the game although there were a few handballs that I let both teams get away with.

Pretty sure that I did more running than either of the two teams put together, and after being up so early in the morning I was well and truly tired. The girls lost the game 4-2, but to say they were 0-4 down at the start of the second half they did really well to come back and at least claim some pride against a team who were are least two years older than them.

Heading back on the MRT I think I must have dozed off and woke up just in time to get of the train in the right place, but after a shower and some dinner I felt a lot more refreshed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the computer looking at and drawing up some session plans that I had managed to 'borrow' from various sources, and then this evening I was out again to actually play football myself this time.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I had been in touch with a team of expatriate players who play fixtures in and around the area. I'd been in contact with the manager a few days ago and he had mentioned that they were training this evening between 8-10pm at a Futsal Centre in Woodlands which is very close to Sembawang.

Needless to say it was an enjoyable experience having not played for such a long time, and despite the heat I actually felt OK, a bit sweaty, but the two hours run around did me some good I reckon.Was nice to get out into the fresh air and actually kick the ball around after spending so much of my time here, either instructing people on how to play football or watching it at S-League games.

Seems strange that it is now two weeks since I left England to head to Singapore. Which also means that I am halfway through my time here. In some ways it has gone remarkably fast, but in others it has also gone quite slowly.

So far most of it has been an enjoyable experience. I am loving being immersed in a new and vastly different culture, it makes a change to constantly be too hot rather than too cold, and it's a nice change being in a foreign country where the locals speak the same language as me! I can definitely say when I return to England that my time in Singapore was well spent regardless of the outcome of whether I end up staying here long-term or not.

I have learned so much whilst being back in Asia, and I would definitely consider spending some time in Singapore again in the future!

No, he's not a stranger. He's just strange. 

Goal!

Having spent the last couple of days being forced to get out of bed early, it was nice to be able to have a lie in this morning!

I certainly made the most of the spare time making up for three early mornings in a row but reading for a little while (something I haven't done enough of this trip) and then eventually dragging myself into the shower at about 11:15. Let's be honest, if it wasn't for coming to Singapore, that's what I would have been doing with myself everyday anyway!!!!

After refreshing myself with yet another cold shower (.... got tricked this morning because when I went to wash my face the water was hot, but when I got in the shower, it was back to being freezing again!) I spent some time on the computer doing a few tasks that had been requested of me.

Finally got round to going to the post office too, to get some stamps for the postcards that I've had written for about a week. It cost me $5.00 (£2.50) for ten stamps, which is about what you pay for a single stamp in England these days! Those will be winging their way to you via the efficient Singapore postal service!

I've done my best to avoid Western food wherever possible whilst being in this country so far, but today I couldn't resist and went into McDonalds! I guess this doesn't really count as being a typical "foreigner" as this was after I had already eaten my lunch, and I needed to finish it off by getting a McFlurry.

It's surprising to me how long it has taken me to get an ice cream since coming to Singapore as it is perhaps my most favourite food in the whole wide world! I must definitely increase my ice cream consumption! Perhaps that's why I have been feeling so tired these days!

This evening we got the chance to go and watch an S-League game between two local teams in the top division of Singaporean football. I say top division loosely, as from my previous experience with the game last week, there aren't any Singaporean Lionel Messi's coming through at the moment!

The two teams playing were Gomback United and Young Lions; the 9th and 10th best teams in the country on current league positions. Young Lions are a team made up of players under the age of 21, and it showed in the early stages as they seemed a touch nervous to be playing against slightly more experienced opponents.

Before the match, James introduced me to the owner, head coach and team manager of Gomback United so I had a rooting interest in them winning the game. They didn't disappoint with a slightly dodgy 1-0 win that didn't do much to entertain us, but at least it was an opportunity to get out of the house!

The first game that I went to see last Thursday was of a much higher standard, though I can't complain too much as the tickets were complementary!

Tomorrow it will be back to coaching (well refereeing for me) and then onto training with a team of expatriates in the evening. I haven't yet decided whether I will be coach or player coach!

The only one who can tell me I'm not good enough is you. And even then I may not agree with you. 

Think Like a Man

Today hasn't been a terribly exciting day (they can't all be, even when you're abroad!) but it's given me a good opportunity to reflect on some of the things that I have seen and learned whilst I have been here.

Schools in Singapore are on holiday this week so we were out coaching early this morning.
Rather than running from September to July (a little bit strange in the first place) schools run from the beginning of the year, January to December. I'm not entirely sure of the format, but I would presume that their long holidays are towards Christmas instead of ours which take up the whole of August.

We're usually working at a secondary school coaching girls football on a Monday afternoon, but we had been asked to go down in the morning this week instead.
Even though they were off school, the girls were encouraged to come in and do their football session as they have a tournament coming up in a few weeks that they are attempting to prepare for.

As far as ladies football goes, I have had very little involvement in it. I can say that I did watch the 2011 World Cup Final, but aside from that the game doesn't interest me almost half as much as the male equivalent (go ahead, make a sexist presumption!)
Part of the reason is that there is very little opportunity to become involved in female football back home in England, although I do remember coaching a few sessions to year tens and elevens when I was in sixth form, but that was about it.

I went and coached the girls team on my first week in Singapore, but didn't go back last week so it was nice to return today. The one benefit to coaching girls over boys is the fact that they actually listen and attempt to follow the advice you're giving them (ah, see, not to sexist now am I?!) Unfortunately boys have a tendency (not to generalize) to be of the opinion that they already know anything anyway.
When you ask the girls to follow instruction, they usually do it, and often things they do are without prompts.

We only had twelve turn up this morning (last time we had 23), but we still had a good session and finished with a little game which was good fun.

Although I felt rather lifeless when I woke up this morning, I was feeling slightly more motivated by the time it came to the afternoon. I personally blame it on the heat, but it probably has to do with the time I go to bed, and also how much I am consuming in terms of food and water.

Asian food, as I discovered in Korea, isn't the most filling at the best of times, and in Singapore that seems to be replicated. Often times I find myself wishing I'd have asked for an extra portion or had an opportunity to get a desert with every meal!
Sometimes it's not too bad as a dinner containing rice or noodles (as 99.9% of meals do) can be quite filling if there's a decent amount of meat to go with them. Being a bit of a vegetable dodger, perhaps its my own fault.

The temperature does play a major factor though. I must have sweated here more than ever in my life before. It's so warm on some occasions that it really motivates you to do nothing. I'm all for a bit of warmth, but stifling heat which makes you feel dizzy and sick is probably a bit much.
I'm doing my best to drink as much water as possible, but it's a big pain whenever I go out having to take a litre bottle of water for me.

The time I usually need a drink most is when I'm out coaching, or when I come back. The only problem is, Singapore is pretty strict on people eating and drinking on the nice clean MRT that they have banned people doing both. So when you want a drink, which is sold in convenience shops inside the station, you can't actually drink them or have to go back out so that you can enjoy your beverage before getting on the train. Not the most convenient set-up if I'm honest!

It's obviously difficult being in a different culture, and slightly unfamiliar surroundings, but I think I am doing pretty well considering the challenges I am facing.

After getting back today I have spent most of my time on the computer sorting out a few things. I thought I'd save some more exploring for a day when I actually have more time to get out and do things.
Really enjoyed my trip to Sentosa yesterday and I would love to go back there one afternoon to the beach.

Definitely also planning going back to the Central Business District to admire all the skyscrapers there, and also to the Marina Bay area one evening so that I can see what I will be missing out on when the Singapore Grand Prix takes place in a couple of weeks time.

"What do you call the three rings of marriage? Engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering."

The Island

Waking up for another early Sunday morning coaching session, I could already tell that the weather was going to be extremely warm today.

Once again I'd slept with the A/C on and paid for the luxury when walking into a red hot kitchen. The windows tend to get left open over night to let some "fresh" air in, but usually this means that as soon as you walk in there in the morning, the temperature is already overwhelming.

I'm doubt very much that the number of people staying in James' appartement helps matters, but with Singaporean accomodation falling in line with other Asian-style housing, there's barely enough space to swing a cat anyway.

Thankfully the heat was useful for one thing as it allowed me to have dry clothes to wake up to this morning. Washing machines here only work on cold cycles, so they probably don't clean tremendously well anyway, but the stuff I hung out late last night was bone dry by the time I was done in the shower this morning.

Today for the first time since coming here I ran my first solo coaching session as everyone else was otherwise engaged. I was heading to the same location as last Sunday, West Coast Park, and with a bag full of equipment I headed out to catch the MRT at about 7.00am.

There was a sense that something wasn't quite right today as I headed off in the first light of day, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I had to ride the North-South line to its termination point before swapping to the East-West line and heading to a stop called Clementi.

I got a few strange looks on the train, as you usually would carrying a bag full of footballs and plastic piping (makeshift goalposts) but I arrived at Clementi and headed for a taxi to take me to the correct location.

Once I was at the park it was very empty, deserted almost, and there seemed to be a strange mist all over the field. After setting up at about 8:20 I sat and waited until 8:40 when I was told the session would start.

It got to about 8:45am and still nobody had showed. Picked up my phone to ring James to find out what was going on and he told me that he had mis-spoken when he said 8:40 and actually meant 9:30 so I was left to sit waiting for 45 minutes until anyone showed up!

At least I had realised what didn't seem quite right about things, and it made sense later when the baseball players who were on either side of us last weekend showed up at about 9:15 to start setting up.

Today's session had a couple more kids in than last week with one trialist joining us, and two other kids who I hadn't seen the previous week returning from their holiday's.

I managed to get finished and tidied up by about 11am and saught out a taxi to return me to the MRT. Luckily there are usually people getting dropped off at West Coast Park so it means I don't have to go through the issues of flagging one down.

Unfortunately the driver's navigational sense was about as good as mine, and he drove me the wrong way, before realising his mistake and then correcting it by only charging me $5 which is about how much it should have cost.

The process of catching and communicating a taxi is relatively easy here due to the standard of English. Doesn't mean they won't get confuused and go the wrong way though.

I got back to Sembawang at about 12, and headed into the shower before going to get some dinner.

I had decided to experience another busy afternoon today, by heading in the sane direction as I had done yesterday.

Thie meant re-boarding the MRT and heading in the direction of Harbour Front.

I wasn't going in seach of angry monkeys today though and was instead heading towards Sentosa which is a small island south of Singapore.

Sentosa is a weird hybrid of Aisa, Europe and North America.

It is home to most of the attractions in Singapore including, several impressive resorts, sandy beaches and plenty to do.

The way to get into Sentosa is varied. One option is to travel by cable car which I saw many peiple doing yesterday. The simpest option is to travel via monorail from the Vivo Shopping centre inside the MRT station.

The third, and option choicen by me however, was a tiring one with the heat beating down at full effect.

I selected to cross a structure called the Sentosa Walkway which runs between the island and the mainland.

Much of the walkway is undercover, but considering was doing my best to get out and take photos I was sufferinf rather badly from the prolonged exposure to the sun's rays.

Eventually I arrived at Sentosa, and had to pay $1 to enter through a turnstyle. I imagine this was still cheaper than paying for a cable car or the monorail though.

I was immediately impressed by the island's layout. Sentosa is often known as the Resort Island, and it lived up to its name with plenty to walk round, see and do in almsot every square inch.

I started off by picking up a map and deciding to head around the map's highlights by doing in a circle going to my left.

Most of the experiences that Sentosa has to offer are unsurprisingly expensive, but if you had a pocketful of cash burning a hole in your pocket then I would definitely suggest some of the activities I discovered were available.

There are a number of impressive hotels on the island, all of which I'd imagine cost a pretty penny, and whether this was deliberate or not, you get a Las Vegas-type feel from them with expensive shops, museums and even casinos on offer.

The island is split up into six different sections, each one named after some of the attractions that are posessed within.

The first notable thing you come to is Universal Studios Singapore. Having visited the 'original' version, I would have been interested to see what the 'remix' had to offer, but the best I got was a couple of photos and a walk around the shop.

From a distance you can see some of the rollercoasters that appear to be containing within, but I would also be fascinated to see how much space the park actually covers considering to large size of its bigger brother.

Once you walk past Universal you come to an impressive looking hotel which guides you to the 'Lake of Dreams', a rather swanky fountain which is situated in front of it.

Walking up there, the path splits in two. I decided to take the route to the left before going straight on and I was rewarded with the view of a spectacular expanded version of the Merlion - perhaps Singapore's most famous landmark. Once again you could pay to go inside the structure to a look out point, but I just viewed from a distance and headed up a hill which directed you towards an observation tower, a ski lift and a luge racing track.

I descended back down the hill after taking a few photos, and soon I came across a rather large run of mosaic structures which were working together to form a rather impressive waterfall.

Once you got to the bottom of there, you had reached the first of Sentosa's two beach locations. Siloso Beach is the more commonly visited of the two on the island (the other, Palawan, requiring an extra journey around to the left of Siloso).

Although I didn't venture into the beach, it seemed like it was a hip and happening place with plenty to attract the attention of a visitor. I walked along the beachfront where there were plenty of people enjoy themselves in the sea, whilst the more sensible people were shading under a tree sunbathing. Siloso stretched on almost the entire width of Sentosa so it took me a while to walk along it before I reached the end. 

At this point I decided to head back to the boardwalk rather than venture up into Siloso Point which is also the location of the Underwater World Aquarium. Perhaps I will go back there another day.

Walking back along the boardwalk and reflecting on my day, I enjoyed Sentosa immensely. Even though it is a part of Singapore it has the feeling of an entirely different location. It still contains the intrigue that the rest of the country offered me, but it this island really did have the feeling of a giant theme park.

There's plenty to see and do there, and I can see why it is so frequently visited by people who come over to Singapore. I headed back to my apartment sadly leaving the island paradise behind, and hoping that one day I would be able to enjoy Sentosa to it's fullest. 

Just cause people wanna eat the burger doesn't mean they wanna meet the cow. 

View From the Top

Weekends in Singapore have come to mean one thing..... Early Mornings!

Since my days as a student, these have become something of the norm (as for any regular person), but I don't think there is any time that I could go to bed, wake up at 6am and feel OK. I'm pretty sure even if I had twelve hours sleep (which I definitely didn't have), I'd still be tired!

Waking up early in the morning in Singapore is also more arduous because of the heat. We usually sleep with the air conditioning on which means our bedroom is nice and warm. This doesn't apply to the living room or kitchen however and walking into them so early in the morning when it's already getting warm is uncomfortable!

I dragged myself out of bed, still bleary-eyed and left to catch the MRT at 7:00am. We were headed back to Nexus International School this morning for two coaching sessions. One with children aged between 5-6 and another with kids aged between 7-10.

It's funny how all across the world children seem to share similar characteristics. Something I noticed today was how half the kids are in a little world of their own, till the ball hits them or goes near them and then they wake up! I understand a/ they're young, concentration levels aren't at a max, and b/ it's hot and I'm not too sure I'd fancy running about too much either.

We cut our session short today because of the sun, and the fact that so many kids were looking particularly red faced and sweaty. Never mind them, I was getting a bit of a sweat on just standing there! I almost completely drank my litre bottle of water after our session had finished! The reason our sessions begin so early in the morning is because of the weather. The sun obviously is extremely warm at mid-day so we attempt to get finished before then so it's not too hard on the kids.
The younger ones particularly need to get a drink every two seconds, but then again that was the same when I was working at school's in England where it was a quarter of the temperature!

After heading home from work I quickly jumped in the shower and decided to go exploring again. Although I was due to spend a couple of weeks in Indonesia during my stay, I have been asked to stay in Singapore for the entire duration of my visit, so this has allowed me a greater amount of time to explore the city.

I though that seeing as I attempted to go there last week, but failed miserably I would head up to Mount Faber for a spectacular view out over Singapore.
Once again I had to board the MRT and head south, all the way to the further point until I reached a station called Harbor View.

If you remember on my last visit to the station I had to employ my umbrella almost straight out of the gate and instead decided to enjoy a little bit of window shopping therapy. To get to Mount Faber (not actually a mountain, just the title of anything over 100m in height in Asian countries) I had to exit the MRT head away from Sentosa Island and look for the road leading up the track.

There is a cable car which runs from Mt. Faber all the way up to the southern island of Sentosa, so I followed the cables as far as I could. Originally I was following a group of people who were also headed in the same direction, but they seemed to draw a blank on where we were going to I pursued another route and came across some directions pointing to Mt Faber.

What was also a little disturbing was a sign which was at the entry to the trail I was about to climb up that stated the presence of monkeys. Now I wasn't expecting every monkey I came across to be as friendly as Abu from Aladdin, but was slightly concerned as this was the second sign I had read that warned me not to 'cross' the monkeys.

Being brave, and almost wanting to see exactly what would happen if I came across one, I headed up a relatively steep trail to the top of the path. At the summit I was treated to an excellent view out over Singapore, and as is often the way with vertical viewpoints, the higher up you get, the better the view.
The country is known as a relatively low lying land based area, but this view from 100+ meters up was excellent for seeing the skyscrapers of the city against the urban jungle that I was currently in. Following the path of the cable cars you could see across into the island of Sentosa which is the home of Universal Studios and several sandy beaches. 

I walked up as high as I could go, eventually reaching a place called the Jewel Box. This is basically the cable car station, which as you can see, has some strange affiliation with the Angry Birds franchise. There's quite an extautionate fee to ride across to Sentosa, so I just decided to look from a distance, and take some decent photos whilst I was up there.

After some time spent people watching in a swanky restaurant I made my way down to the bottom of the hill (no sign of monkeys, although a snake on the path did scare the hell out of me!) and headed back towards Sembawang.

Check out all the pictures I took today at the bottom of the page! :)

You peaked too soon. You're was what we call a "peak too sooner".