"Let's go for a run."
We had just landed in Singapore after a red-eye flight that mostly comprised booze and bakchodi (because what else can you expect if you bundle over a hundred lawyers into an Airbus A380). I had slept for possibly only 60 to 90 minutes the entire night, and waves of exhaustion were washing over me now.
But my friend had other plans. (For the purpose of this blog post, I will call him "caballo oscuro" because that's what he is calling himself these days, inspired as he is by Born to Run).
Caballo had recently graduated from the Couch to 5K programme and his latest ambition was to run 5Ks in 50 different destinations, so that he could create a blog about it. It was imperative for him to squeeze in a run in Singapore for his blog.
Our schedule was pre-decided and extremely tight. We were ushered to the hotel from Changi Airport, where we were expected to shower and eat breakfast before Universal Studios opened for the day. After spending the day in Universal Studios, we were to board a cruise liner, where other social engagements followed. And now Caballo wanted to find a place to run immediately upon checking into the hotel.
We checked in and I looked outside the window of my room, and discovered that this hotel had the most glorious pool. There was the Singapore equivalent of the London Eye, inviting deck chairs and fountains! Plus it wasn't ridiculously tiny, the way hotel pools usually are.
Although I had been talked into committing to run with Caballo, after looking at this pool, I wanted to change my pre-breakfast plan altogether! The water looked so inviting, plus the humidity outside was about 300%. Only an idiot would want to run in such conditions.
But I am a woman of my word, so I allowed myself to be dragged out for this run. I want to recount every little detail of this run, but I must be honest - in that utterly sleep-deprived state, I was a zombie, and I must resign myself to the fact that I don't remember as much of the run as I would like to (I had meant to document the run immediately upon our arrival back in Delhi, but I never got around to it, and it has been months now). Still, I will do my best. Because as hazy as the details are now, it was a memorable run.
Caballo and I set foot outside our hotel and crossed the road, immediately reaching a runnable promenade.
This was the first time I had run outside of India. The experience was quite different from the roads and parks of Delhi. I guess you could say this was Singapore's version of a park, and like everything else in Singapore, it looked extremely sanitized and...manufactured. Caballo and I were running phone-less so we don't have any photos to show for this run (including sweaty selfies in that sapping weather). But here are some photos from the internet of where we ran:
When you run in Delhi, you usually hear some birds chirping or some cars moving or people talking. Most parks are packed with small cliques of runners or walkers. One of the parks I run in in Delhi has some regulars who greet each other with "Hari Om" every time they see each other. In Singapore, you run in silence. Being used to running in chaotic and noisy conditions, this felt pretty weird.
Caballo can correct my memory if I'm wrong, but we only encountered a very small handful of runners during our entire 5K run. We just about made eye contact with their stony faces, and I recall Caballo's observation about runners always making eye contact with each other in unwritten solidarity. We saw signs that prohibited various things (because let's face it - we were in Singapore, the mecca of fines and punishment, after, well, the country with Mecca itself) such as the feeding of fish (or was it ducks?) in the water.
We saw a family that had come out to kayak on their inflatable kayaks. I immediately felt pretty envious of not having similar opportunities in Delhi. We have defiled the only water body we have; any kayaking we do will be in a parallel universe.
We saw a lady with a very rigorous stretching routine. We passed her by while running the first half of our 5k, and then again after taking a u-turn from our halfway point, and there she was, still stretching!
The other thing that made this run kind of eerie was the views we were looking at. Tall buildings, concrete and glass. And some buildings that would fit right into Futurama. This building, in particular, was really messing with my brain (which was already on the blink given the lack of sleep and onslaught of humidity), and we could see it from every point in those five kilometres we ran.
Now let me come to the highlight of this running experience. As we crossed the road back to our hotel after our run, our faces and clothes dripping with sweat, we were welcomed by a member of the hotel staff right outside the hotel gate, holding out wet towels! He was probably giving them out to everybody, but I somehow convinced myself that this was a special perk for those bleary-eyed patrons of the hotel who chose to torture themselves by heading out into the Singapore Sauna to run five kilometres immediately after a six-hour flight.
That wet towel was very special! I could really get used to somebody handing me a wet towel every time I came back from a run in murderously oppressive conditions (and now I'm talking about you, Delhi!).
I did manage to squeeze in a few laps in that beautiful pool after this run - an experience that really lived up to expectations. I ultimately had to compromise on breakfast somewhat because we were running so behind schedule, thanks to this endorphin-dictated madness. I'm not sure how I managed to get through the rest of the day on so little sleep (including riding some very frightening rollercoasters in Universal Studio) but I think Tiger draught beer really helped. The next couple of nights were spent on a massive cruise liner, from which there are no highlights to report except that it was just more booze and bakchodi.
Caballo and I had a very small window between our return to the mainland and catching our next red-eye flight back. Luckily we had done our research on renting cycles beforehand. As soon as we could, we got to East Coast Park and rented a couple of cycles and proceeded to go for a short ride (if only our timetable permitted more).
East Coast Park is a pretty fantastic place with something for everybody to do. You could choose to sit by the beach, or barbecue some food, or run or cycle, or skate, or use some outdoor gym equipment. I wonder how long it will be before we can expect such places in Delhi. Or maybe the carcinogenic air will catch up long before such a dream can become reality.
There is a dedicated running/cycling track running the entire length of the park, which is several kilometres long. It's possible to cycle from East Coast Park to the airport and watch planes take off. But Caballo and I went in the other direction, almost reaching the vicinity of Marina Bay, where we had run 3 days ago.
We had just landed in Singapore after a red-eye flight that mostly comprised booze and bakchodi (because what else can you expect if you bundle over a hundred lawyers into an Airbus A380). I had slept for possibly only 60 to 90 minutes the entire night, and waves of exhaustion were washing over me now.
But my friend had other plans. (For the purpose of this blog post, I will call him "caballo oscuro" because that's what he is calling himself these days, inspired as he is by Born to Run).
Caballo had recently graduated from the Couch to 5K programme and his latest ambition was to run 5Ks in 50 different destinations, so that he could create a blog about it. It was imperative for him to squeeze in a run in Singapore for his blog.
Our schedule was pre-decided and extremely tight. We were ushered to the hotel from Changi Airport, where we were expected to shower and eat breakfast before Universal Studios opened for the day. After spending the day in Universal Studios, we were to board a cruise liner, where other social engagements followed. And now Caballo wanted to find a place to run immediately upon checking into the hotel.
We checked in and I looked outside the window of my room, and discovered that this hotel had the most glorious pool. There was the Singapore equivalent of the London Eye, inviting deck chairs and fountains! Plus it wasn't ridiculously tiny, the way hotel pools usually are.
But I am a woman of my word, so I allowed myself to be dragged out for this run. I want to recount every little detail of this run, but I must be honest - in that utterly sleep-deprived state, I was a zombie, and I must resign myself to the fact that I don't remember as much of the run as I would like to (I had meant to document the run immediately upon our arrival back in Delhi, but I never got around to it, and it has been months now). Still, I will do my best. Because as hazy as the details are now, it was a memorable run.
Caballo and I set foot outside our hotel and crossed the road, immediately reaching a runnable promenade.
This was the first time I had run outside of India. The experience was quite different from the roads and parks of Delhi. I guess you could say this was Singapore's version of a park, and like everything else in Singapore, it looked extremely sanitized and...manufactured. Caballo and I were running phone-less so we don't have any photos to show for this run (including sweaty selfies in that sapping weather). But here are some photos from the internet of where we ran:
When you run in Delhi, you usually hear some birds chirping or some cars moving or people talking. Most parks are packed with small cliques of runners or walkers. One of the parks I run in in Delhi has some regulars who greet each other with "Hari Om" every time they see each other. In Singapore, you run in silence. Being used to running in chaotic and noisy conditions, this felt pretty weird.
Caballo can correct my memory if I'm wrong, but we only encountered a very small handful of runners during our entire 5K run. We just about made eye contact with their stony faces, and I recall Caballo's observation about runners always making eye contact with each other in unwritten solidarity. We saw signs that prohibited various things (because let's face it - we were in Singapore, the mecca of fines and punishment, after, well, the country with Mecca itself) such as the feeding of fish (or was it ducks?) in the water.
We saw a family that had come out to kayak on their inflatable kayaks. I immediately felt pretty envious of not having similar opportunities in Delhi. We have defiled the only water body we have; any kayaking we do will be in a parallel universe.
We saw a lady with a very rigorous stretching routine. We passed her by while running the first half of our 5k, and then again after taking a u-turn from our halfway point, and there she was, still stretching!
The other thing that made this run kind of eerie was the views we were looking at. Tall buildings, concrete and glass. And some buildings that would fit right into Futurama. This building, in particular, was really messing with my brain (which was already on the blink given the lack of sleep and onslaught of humidity), and we could see it from every point in those five kilometres we ran.
Marina Bay Sands: This building is exactly what it looks like - a giant boat atop three giant pillars.
Marina Bay Sands: an aerial view.
Now let me come to the highlight of this running experience. As we crossed the road back to our hotel after our run, our faces and clothes dripping with sweat, we were welcomed by a member of the hotel staff right outside the hotel gate, holding out wet towels! He was probably giving them out to everybody, but I somehow convinced myself that this was a special perk for those bleary-eyed patrons of the hotel who chose to torture themselves by heading out into the Singapore Sauna to run five kilometres immediately after a six-hour flight.
That wet towel was very special! I could really get used to somebody handing me a wet towel every time I came back from a run in murderously oppressive conditions (and now I'm talking about you, Delhi!).
I did manage to squeeze in a few laps in that beautiful pool after this run - an experience that really lived up to expectations. I ultimately had to compromise on breakfast somewhat because we were running so behind schedule, thanks to this endorphin-dictated madness. I'm not sure how I managed to get through the rest of the day on so little sleep (including riding some very frightening rollercoasters in Universal Studio) but I think Tiger draught beer really helped. The next couple of nights were spent on a massive cruise liner, from which there are no highlights to report except that it was just more booze and bakchodi.
Caballo and I had a very small window between our return to the mainland and catching our next red-eye flight back. Luckily we had done our research on renting cycles beforehand. As soon as we could, we got to East Coast Park and rented a couple of cycles and proceeded to go for a short ride (if only our timetable permitted more).
East Coast Park is a pretty fantastic place with something for everybody to do. You could choose to sit by the beach, or barbecue some food, or run or cycle, or skate, or use some outdoor gym equipment. I wonder how long it will be before we can expect such places in Delhi. Or maybe the carcinogenic air will catch up long before such a dream can become reality.
There is a dedicated running/cycling track running the entire length of the park, which is several kilometres long. It's possible to cycle from East Coast Park to the airport and watch planes take off. But Caballo and I went in the other direction, almost reaching the vicinity of Marina Bay, where we had run 3 days ago.
Rented cycles in East Coast Park
During our time in East Coast Park, and even later, when we were out on the roads of Singapore fairly late at night before our flight, Caballo and I noticed that Singapore is full of runners. But the expressions on their faces didn't seem to suggest that this was an activity that they were particularly enjoying. Caballo even remarked, "they are running as if their lives depended on it." Indeed, I was reminded of a movie I had watched a few years ago (In Time) where time was money and people were always running to things and places, because their lives did, in fact, depend on it. Observing runners on the roads of Singapore felt like watching robots running because they simply had to (or were programmed to), not because they wanted to.
Caballo and I agreed that Singapore was not a place that either of us would be coming back to anytime soon. I had last visited Singapore when I was seven years old, and in the twenty something years since then, it had lost the charm it held for me back then (but then again, seven year olds are pretty excitable, and one of the reasons I had loved Singapore then was because of the vast number of swimming pools it had). It seemed somewhat sterile and lacking in character now, in my adult view. But at least Caballo and I were going back with the satisfaction of knowing that we had experienced a little more of Singapore than many others who we had come with.
Fortified with some delicious crab after our ride, Caballo and I headed to catch our flight. Thanks to our evening ride, we slept pretty well this time.
***
Epilogue
It has now been over six months since our trip to Singapore, and Caballo's blog on running 5Ks in fifty different destinations has still not materialized. This is not to say that he hasn't been managing the runs - because he has now run in the UK, France, Finland, Germany and the Czech Republic (I'm probably forgetting a couple of countries - but I'd rather shorten the list than turn a deeper shade of green). But he hasn't quite lived up to his promise of documenting them. In fact, he has reduced these runs to a lazy hash tag on Instagram. So here I am, doing my bit. And wishing Caballo good luck, because he runs his first half marathon in Bangalore this Sunday!
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