Showing posts with label Office Towers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Office Towers. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Singapore : Knight Riders In The Lion City

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                          AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures                       
Singapore : Knight Riders In The Lion City
Night Reflections Of Marina Sands Hotel & the Greenhouse.
Singapore City : 26th April 2013
Duo Ride - Carmen Street>Mounbatten Road>Nicole Highway>Republic Avenue>Raffles Avenue>Lau Pa Sat>Super Trees Park>Marina Barrage>Tanjung Rhu>Mounbatten Road>Carmen Street
Distance covered : approx. 28.02 km.
Time : 9:45 pm - 1:30 am
Time Taken : approx. 3 hrs. 45 mins. (including stops for supper, photo shoots, etc.)

Route Recommendations :
1. A portion of the ride was along busy Singapore streets, so do light up yourselves and your bicycles. 
2. Ride by the Singapore old Central Business District to view the many office towers well lit at night.
3. Taking street food supper at Lau Pa Sat  one can view the everyday Singaporean in their relaxed mood.
4. The Marina Barrage at night is a must. From here, one has a scenic view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, the Greenhouse and the Singapore Flyer with their beauty reflected by the waters of Marina Bay.


PRE-RIDE

In the morning, I rode my Brompton over to the 1-Utama Transportation Hub for my ride with the Five Stars bus down to Singapore. My C-bag almost full to the brim with luggage for three nights.
I folded my Brompton and put it into an Ikea Dimpa Bag (see Bagging My Brompton) before putting it into the bus hold. The bus will be stopping at the Golden Mile Complex; the return fare is RM150 and estimated time of travel 6 hours.
Arriving in Singapore, I took a bus from the Golden Mile Complex to the Siglap area, where I unfolded my bike and rode to my cousin's place (that's where I will be staying for two nights) at Carmen Street.
My cousin was a very warm host, even cooking dinner for me. After dinner, her husband Thomas took me on a night bike tour of Singapore City, the Lion City.
Woooohoooooo! Riding time!


 THE RIDE

Cycling Route : Siglap>Republic Avenue>Lau Pat Sat>Marina Barrage>Siglap
The two of us will ride from the Siglap suburbs down to Republic Avenue then onwards to Lau Pa Sat for supper. We will return via the Marina Barrage back to Siglap.
We started off at around 9:45 pm and headed out towards East Coast Road. Thomas here keeping a watchful eye on me to make sure that I don't get lost.
At Katong, passing by the 112 Katong Mall.
On the Merdeka Bridge overlooking Marina Bay and the Singapore Flyer.
Riding into Republic Boulevard, we passed by the foot of the Singapore Flyer.
And then the Theaters On The Bay.
The Marina Bay Sands Hotel would normally look like a ship on top of the buildings. But viewed form the bottom up, it looked like a zeppelin balloon moored to the top of the buildings.
We moved on to Shenton Way, the former Central Business District of Singapore. The DBS (Development Bank of Singapore) Building standing tall & strong.
Well, time for a break & some eats; and where better than at Lau Pa Sat.
"Lau Pa Sat" in Hokkein literally means "Old Market". The old market here has been refurbished with up-market boutique style shops & eateries.
But at night, it is the streets on a couple of sides that come to live with food stalls, and open air dining on the streets.
We ordered some Roti Prata (in Malaysia it's called Roti Chanai) from this stall. The food is made there and then.
Thomas went to the drinks stall to get some iced milked tea. Yes, in Singapore the drinks stall are semi-self-serviced, one has to bring the drinks back to one's table.
Over here, I could not help but admire the full moon peeping through the clouds.
Finished with supper, we rode to the Marina Barrage  From there the view of the Marina Bay is really panoramic.

 More views from the Barrage (Gardens side) :-
Office towers.

Closer view of Marina Bay Sands Hotel, the Singapore Flyer and the Theaters On The Bay.
Close-up of the Singapore Flyer and the Theaters On The Bay.


Further along, we rode to the Super Trees Park at the Gardens By The Bay.
One of the entrance to the park is a psychedelic lit corridor.
Blue-violet Super Trees with the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the background.
Red Super Trees with the Singapore Flyer in the background.
The AhPek Biker Brompton among the Blue-violet Super Trees.
A red Super Tree with the green house behind. I wonder what these super trees function as? Are they vents for heat from air-conditioning equipment for the green houses?
We rode onto the Barrage itself, the rows of lights here making it look like an airport landing strip. Intermittently space out on the left are "fingers" viewing platforms.
Somehow, from here the water of the Marina Bay seem calmer, and the reflections of the Marina Greenhouse onto the bay was superbly distinct.
Reflections of the Singapore Flyer onto Marina Bay.
Reflections of the Benjamin Shears Bridge onto the Marina Bay  the lighting effect making them seems like disjointed platforms.
A closer look at the reflections of the Benjamin Shears Bridge.

 With that we made our way to Mounbatten Road and rode home. It is close to 1:30 am in the morning. Time does fly when one is having fun, thanks to Thomas.

 Good night!
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You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Singapore 2013 / Knight Riders In The Lion City
If you like this, view my other blogs at Jotaro's Blog
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Putrajaya : Beautiful Bridges Ride

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Putrajaya / The Beautiful Bridges Ride
                          AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures                       
Putrajaya - The Beautiful Bridges Ride
Putrajaya Core Island & Vincinity - 24th January 2013
Medium-size Group Ride : Taman Seri Empangan>Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC)>Putrajaya Core Island>Precint 9>Putrajaya Lake Side and back.
Distance covered : 25.49 km.
Time : 8:00 am to 11:30 am          |          Level: Easy
Time Taken : 3hrs. 30 mins. (including stops for breakfast, photos, & waiting out the rain)


PRE-RIDE

Nash & Irene.
Irene, relatively a newbie, has matured fast in the biking circles and was organizing a ride.
She called it Putrajaya Tour de 8, we will be riding around Putrajaya to view it's beautiful bridges - EIGHT of them!
Irene's Original Planned Cycling Route Map (the stars indicate the bridges that we will visit, except that star at Precint 9 - that's our breakfast noms.
Initially she had planned for the ride to be along the main roads, but due to a clash with a public event on that day, she changed it to riding along the Lakeside - EVEN BETTER!
On that morning we met at the Taman Empangan Carpark, it's just below the Putrajaya International Convention Centre. It's called the Taman Empangan because it's where the dam of the Putrajaya Lake is located.
Irene was most surprised by the turn-out; 28 of us all in. Well, Irene is a cheerful and active person and the ride itself will also be scenic as part of it will be along the cycling lanes of the Lakeside.
Across the lake connected by the Seri Gemilang Bridge can be seen the beautiful office towers at Dataran Gemilang.
Just at the Taman Empangan is Bridge No.1 of our Tour de 8, it's an arched suspension bridge. I don't know the name of the bridge and call it the Butterfly Bridge as it looks like the wings of a butterfly.

THE RIDE

 

Starting from Taman Empangan we will ride to Precint 9 for breakfast and then back to the Core Island to start a lake side ride loop starting from near the Putrajaya Mosque.

In the dark clouded morning, we rolled of at about 8:00 am.
Riding pass the PICC, it looked downwards onto us with the many international flags flying full mast there.
And we were soon at Bridge No.2 - the Seri Gemilang Bridge.
The Seri Gemilang is a bottom-supported arch bridge with four towers at it's corners.
Nash & Yong Sin giving the thumbs up for the ride.
These stately towers are there to add beauty to the bridge, and I doubt if it serves any structural purpose.
This bridge is designed to have a stately look, even the lamp-post bases have crafted motifs.
The wrought metal balusters separating the road from the pedestrian walkway have that rich  brassy looks with stylized rose motifs.
Further along, we reached the Dataran Gemilang, it's the southern end of the Central Boulevard of Putrajaya's Core Island.
Here there are four government office towers. They have a stark modern design as compared to the other offices (which we will pass by later) further along the Boulevard.

The Road Safety Department - I hope they have considered the welfare of us cyclist.
More cycling lanes, more cycling lanes!
Here we made a left turn, heading towards Jalan Tengku Abdul Rahman, which will bring us closer to the lakeside.
Here along the lake edge we had a peep of Bridge No.3.
Hey! But something is wrong here. The bridge don't seem to connect to land.
Well, it's the monorail bridge that has been built in preparation for the future monorail system of Putrajaya.
The Agricutlural Ministry Building.
My apologies for the many photos of buildings, bridges, etc. here, but then I am so taken in by their beauty.
We are riding along Jalan Tengku Abdul Rahman now, the Insolvency Department Building is on our right.
I am not sure what problems they solve, but their building do have beautiful lattice panels.
Up in the sky, could be seen paratroopers.
Hey! Don't jump - all problems can be solved!
Actually they were part of the other event being held here.
We turned into Jalan Wawasan, riding across Bridge No.4 - the Seri Wawasan Bridge.
It will take us away from the Core Island to Precint 9, where we will be having breakfast.
The Seri Wawasan is a single-mast, cantilevered, cable-stayed bridge.
Like a mighty sword pointing skywards, its single mast is where all the action is, it literally holds the whole bridge together.
The mast is solidly anchored to the river bank below the bridge.
On the landward side, two raking arches and cables pull back the mast, like a fisherman pulling back on his fishing rod.
On the bridge-ward side, thick cables fray out from the mast to hold up the bridge deck.
The Seri Wawasan is a modern looking bridge, aptly named as Wawasan means vision in Bahasa Malaysia. It's a bridge symbolic of Malaysia's vision for the future.
Well, enough of this techno-gibberish, let's get back to riding.
We are now away from the Core Island, riding at Precint 8.
At Precint 9, we made a quick U-turn & was at our eats destination.
Having rode about 8 km. many of our stomachs were growling.
Our Makan-makan destination, Restoran Darussalam which serves Penang Nasi Kandar amongst other things.
From the smiles of our co-riders, this must be a long awaited stop.
The Nasi Kandar, although probably good, would have been to heavy for continued cycling. Instead, many of us had the Nasi Lemak.
Or the Roti Kosong with iced Milo. The roti kosong is a basic meal, just plain roti with nothing inside (no eggs or onions). There is this joke about a politician who is similar to this roti, nothing inside.
I had this fried mee/keow teow, it was good but very spicy hot!
Luckily, I had this ice Nescafe to cool down my burning mouth.
This shop must be doing thriving business, the roti dough could be seen mass-produce and lined up for cooking.
Eats over, Irene was ready to lead and continue the ride.
Nash up to his usual antics, posed in this Gangnam look.
Is our buddy SK there at the back vomiting away, not being able to take this? Haha!
Aaaand.... we are heading back to the Core Island.
The Core Island again? Aren't we repeating, but then there is a reason for that.
Here, John (in green) is seen with his young daughter Natalie (in blue), it so nice to ride with family.
Back at the Seri Wawasan bridge, the sun is shining through.
Nash, the "Strong Man" lifting his bicycyle with the bridge mast towering over him.
This bridge is really beautiful one, even at night as can be seen in this photo I took during the Putrajaya Interpark Ride (see blog).
Back at the Core Island we took a ramp down and was onto the lakeside cycling lanes.

From here there is a great view of the Putra Mosque and the Prime Minister's Office.
We took a group photo here.
Riding on these cycling lanes is enjoyable as they are three lined and for the most parts they are next to the lakes. And it loops round the perimeter of the Core Island.
There are even nice shades, where one can rest and take in the view of the place.
Like this view of Bridge No.3, the MRT suspension bridge. Behind it is Bridge No.5, the Seri Saujana Bridge, which we will reach later.
The biking lane will also take us pass some other nice structures like the Alaf Baru (Millineum Monument)...
... and the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque.


Bridge No.5 - the Seri Saujana Bridge.
This is an interesting bridge of a composite design - part double-masted cable-stayed bridge and part arch suspension bridge.
One of the giant masts that holds up the bridge. The blue cables anchors the mast to the land, while the white cables holds up the bridge.
Nice lattice framework of the arch.
It started to rain, luckily for us the bridge gave us shade from the rain.
After the rain, part of the group decided to call it a day while the rest continue on the lakeside ride.
With the ride over, we drove to Sinki Restaurant for lunch.
Lunch was a delicious spread of large honeyed prawns, steamed chicken, stewed pig trotters and deep fried grouper in spicy bean paste sauce. YummY!
(for more on our lunch see YummY! - Seafood @ Sinki Restaurant)
Although we did not get to view all the bridges as planned; it had been a good ride of beautiful bridges, nice buildings and scenic lakeside views.
Thanks Irene.
If you like this, view my other blogs at Jotaro's Blog
(comments most welcomed below. if you like this pls share via facebook or twitter)
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