Forest Treetop Adventure!

mah lordie... how did we end up here!?

this morning after semi-finalising random housing situations for INSEAD one of my friends suggested we all get together, meet up, and go to this

http://www.forestadventure.com.sg/

if you know me at all, the slightest hint of stuff like this and i'm in in in!

so first off we had to get there. this place is located in a reservoir - of which there are several in singapore. so we end up on a trek with a cabbie trying to explain to him where we want to go EXCEPT we got one crucial piece of information wrong: the name of the reservoir.

we kept telling the cabbie to go to bedok reservoir park IN macritchie reservoir which is in a completely different place.

the issue is that macritchie has treetop walks - and is located in "midtown"
and bedok has forest adventure (ON treetops) - and is located "east" on the island

needless to say we missed our 1pm appointment while driving back and forth through singapore BUT SOMEHOW (not on purpose) we convinced the cabbie he made the mistake and so our 20-30 minute cab ride only cost us 5 bucks (a 2 minute ride). i now feel bad, reflecting on it... sorry uncle! (what we all call cab drivers in singapore - affection/respect/singlish mixture)


regardless we finally get to bedok and on the way, the new cabbie engages us in lots of interesting discussions around how great the singaporean gov't is for looking out for its own people - the point being that they built their own reservoirs when water was restricted by neighboring countries that thought they could use the scarcity of water in negotiating matters in their favor with singaporeans.

go singapore!

we get to the spot
and the adventure starts!

4 courses
up ladders
onto trees
wearing harnesses
always RED ON - i.e. attaching the safety harness to a red wire on each treetop

and the fun! it was quite rigorous. jumping from one tree to another or walking across floating planks - sometimes i wondered if this would get me one step closer to shaolin :P

and we even ended up "adopting" a 12 year old because her dad sprained his ankle on the first zip line.

OH yeah! after every course you were high above the mountaintops castles made of cloud there sits wonder... oops. sorry that was a song moment.

sorry - after every course you are high up on treetops and you ZIPLINE down to the next stop OVER the reservoir! It is quite something. It isn't like you're necessarily over the reservoir for TOO long but it is easily 10-12 meters off the ground and for a good 30 seconds (or longer) that you zipline - which, on a zipline is quite a while, honestly.

yes, this is what it looks like.

Anyhow, this girl's dad injured his foot & she was quite keen on continuing but did not want to go alone - and was not allowed to as she was only 12... so my friends and i adopted her on our journey through the next 3 sites across the treetops and i have to say - she put us to shame! she was able to do the courses with a lot less energy (at least that's what it looked like) and minimal guidance.

I did, however, become UBER protective as we had basically taken on the responsibility of her safety and fun on a pretty rigorous obstacle course. I tried to be careful not to suffocate her with questions and instructions - basically I would watch but not say anything unless I saw her forget something very specific. Otherwise I let her figure it out and let her enjoy the trail the way she wanted to enjoy it. But man oh man was THAT a workout too! Seriously!

I can only imagine what it is like to be a parent. JESUS. This was just for 2hrs........

Mad respect Yo. Especially to all the parents of girls. Coz us boys get in trouble, break some bones, and get up and run around (sorry to be 'stereotypical' but i'm really just talking about myself in this instance i guess)... girls got all kinds of things you gots to thinks bout YO.

Sorry for gangsta speak. Influence of my current surroundings.

Anyhow, back to treetops - it was funs of ton! and the other thing too. Highly recommend it in a group of good friends (as tensions do rise especially when you're lost in a taxi on the way to the place getting late for your appt thinking it might all be for nothing - oh and when your muscles are cramping up with the random strenuous activities including muscles you wouldn't one any normal day exercise).

Do it!

ouch...