On easter sunday, i went with my caregroup to batam. So 6 of us met at harbour front early in the morning to take a ferry there. I think we went batam... or was it bintan... or was it bali... i just know its some island off singapore... is it malaysia... or is it indonesia... anyway, we went there to learn wakeboarding! Yes i know... im so adventurous... i cant believe it myself. In fact reality only hit me when the instructor started explaining what do to prepare yourself before the cable pulls you off the shore. I was having the "omg what am i doing here" moment.

So as we gathered around for a safety briefing, i was like so depress... More than half the people there were caucasians. Like people with nice color hair, chiselled face, mesmerizing blue eyes and lean muscular defined bodies... So so depressing. But thank god everyone had to wear life jackets. I quickly chose a black one which gave a slimming effect so i didn't feel so out of place. I seriously need to exercise and diet... How am i suppose to compete with the guys when i head to newyork...

Anyway back to the story. We started easy. We did the knee boarding which means we knelt and held on to the cable with our dear lives as it pulled us for 800m around this fresh water lake. Aaa at least thats what they told us it was... it looked a bit dodgy but i decided to pretend i was in a clear blue water like those found in the beaches of maldives. And i got to say, it was exhilarating! So so fun! Besides the fact that my neck was aching the whole time, it was so fun to be skiing on the surface of the water. Anyway after 2 rounds 3 around the lake, we felt as if we conquered mount kinabulu so we decided to go for the next level which is wakeboarding. Little did we know, wakeboarding was a mount everest!

I have no idea how those who wakeboarding do it. They have absolutely no difficulty in starting off while the beginners kept being thrown off the boards. After trying for god knows how many times, i still could not glide across the water... my arms were aching and i was developing a bad case of blisters. My blisters finally burst and i decided to give up as they were bleeding quite badly. Not to mention i drank alot of the 'fresh water' from the lake, and i swore i ate one of those small little ikan bilis fishes swimming in the lake. Yes... there are fishes in the lake... I know this because i felt something weird went down my throat and look into the water to see a school of small ikan bilis swimming pass me...

So of the 6 of us who went, only matthew could wakeboard at the end. But that's because he already knew how to in the beginning! While the rest of us could barely stay 25 metres on the board...

I have to say i really did enjoy myself. We were telling each other that this is a once in a lifetime experience. For me, i don't think it is. In fact, i plan to head down to east coast sometime next month to attempt to wakeboard. Anyone interested to try this "once in a lifetime experience" can join me. Hopefully those blisters will heal fast...
Signing out - 3/24/2008 04:05:00 PM

On easter sunday, i went with my caregroup to batam. So 6 of us met at harbour front early in the morning to take a ferry there. I think we went batam... or was it bintan... or was it bali... i just know its some island off singapore... is it malaysia... or is it indonesia... anyway, we went there to learn wakeboarding! Yes i know... im so adventurous... i cant believe it myself. In fact reality only hit me when the instructor started explaining what do to prepare yourself before the cable pulls you off the shore. I was having the "omg what am i doing here" moment.

So as we gathered around for a safety briefing, i was like so depress... More than half the people there were caucasians. Like people with nice color hair, chiselled face, mesmerizing blue eyes and lean muscular defined bodies... So so depressing. But thank god everyone had to wear life jackets. I quickly chose a black one which gave a slimming effect so i didn't feel so out of place. I seriously need to exercise and diet... How am i suppose to compete with the guys when i head to newyork...

Anyway back to the story. We started easy. We did the knee boarding which means we knelt and held on to the cable with our dear lives as it pulled us for 800m around this fresh water lake. Aaa at least thats what they told us it was... it looked a bit dodgy but i decided to pretend i was in a clear blue water like those found in the beaches of maldives. And i got to say, it was exhilarating! So so fun! Besides the fact that my neck was aching the whole time, it was so fun to be skiing on the surface of the water. Anyway after 2 rounds 3 around the lake, we felt as if we conquered mount kinabulu so we decided to go for the next level which is wakeboarding. Little did we know, wakeboarding was a mount everest!

I have no idea how those who wakeboarding do it. They have absolutely no difficulty in starting off while the beginners kept being thrown off the boards. After trying for god knows how many times, i still could not glide across the water... my arms were aching and i was developing a bad case of blisters. My blisters finally burst and i decided to give up as they were bleeding quite badly. Not to mention i drank alot of the 'fresh water' from the lake, and i swore i ate one of those small little ikan bilis fishes swimming in the lake. Yes... there are fishes in the lake... I know this because i felt something weird went down my throat and look into the water to see a school of small ikan bilis swimming pass me...

So of the 6 of us who went, only matthew could wakeboard at the end. But that's because he already knew how to in the beginning! While the rest of us could barely stay 25 metres on the board...

I have to say i really did enjoy myself. We were telling each other that this is a once in a lifetime experience. For me, i don't think it is. In fact, i plan to head down to east coast sometime next month to attempt to wakeboard. Anyone interested to try this "once in a lifetime experience" can join me. Hopefully those blisters will heal fast...