...then a crocodile crossed the trail

[Big Guy]

I just came back from a 2 week business trip in Asia. The first week I was in Tokyo where I borrowed one of our engineers' bike. It was a commuter bike with a basket in the front but was enough to say that I was on the bike. Riding in a city like Tokyo is an experience. You ride on the sidewalk most of the time. At rush hour, it is a great practice for the track stand. when you ride on the street, in general the drivers are courteous to the bikers. It's a great way to see the city.

Saturday I flew to Singapore. Singapore is a very small country of about 4 million people on an island about 20 miles long. Our engineer in Singapore knew I love biking, so he took me to Palau Ubin, a small island of the main island. There we rented 2 beaten up mountain bikes ($2 per day). The trails are mostly asphalt and a few dirt sections. The highest point on the island is about 120 ft. It is tropical climat, so it's hot and humid. All along the island, there are some stands where you can stop and get some refreshments like fresh coconuts.

The vegetation is very lush with palm trees and flowers, it's what you expect of a tropical island. We first saw some a large wild boar with about 10 baby in tow. We then got to an abandonned quarry with crystal clear water. It was crowling with fish and we saw 5 larger turtles swimming around. As we sat on a rock looking at this, a 3 foot lizard walked about 2 yards from us. It was like watching Jurassic Park...

On our way back to the ferry, we had to use the bikes bad brakes as a 7 ft crocodile crossed the road right in front of us.

[Evel Knievel]

We need photos !

[ocrider]

thats realy cool, ive been to Tokyo to. I wasnt realy into biking though when i went there. I saw some mountain bikiers in Kamakura.

[Big Guy]

Here are some pictures I took. I only had 3 pictures left. and of course, I used them before I saw any animals...

Murphy's law...

[Evel Knievel]

Nice . Thanx for the pics.

[jinks]

nice shots. I just got back from Taiwan a couple weeks ago. I was itching to go mountain biking, and wished I had my fixie to hit up the Taipei streets too. One saturday morning my wife pointed out several people loading up their cars with some real mountain bikes. If I wasn't with my wife and kids walking to breakfast, I would've begged them with my broken Chinese to take me along. I was tempted to ditch the family even so, hehe. If I ever go to Singapore again (I've got some family there) I'll have to make sure to bring my mtb gear!!

What is that - an index shifter for the front derailuer and a grip shift for the rear???

[Big Guy]

Wow, you have a good eye. The bike was a real P.O.S. I should have rented a hard tail, this thing was bobbing so much, I almost got sea-sick

Some lube would also have been good, the shifting was painful. The mismatched shifters were the least of the bike's problems.

I would have expected a lot more for a $2 per day rental...

But, I was out biking, got a fun story to tell, can't ask for more

[jinks]

LOL that's hilarious. I guess the bike was part of the experience!

[LBmtb]

Haha, that's too cool.