The SinC®dicate Site: 1 Day Trip to Singapore

It was a spontaneous decision made by my colleagues and I to go to Singapore for a day trip particularly for BIKE ASIA 2009 exhibition.

The journey started very early in the morning from KL. After he picked up Donald from Office, Chow came over to my place to pick me up.

We stopped several times along the way and finally we decided to use the "Tuas" link. At first we thought that we got lost on the way to Tuas but after a short while, we saw the immigration signboard.

The first stop at the Malaysian Immigration booth was quick.

Next we stopped our car at one of the Singapore Immigration booths, showed our passports and filled up the arrival card. Then, the immigration officer told us to get the "Autopass" card for around SGD10.00.

Chow drove the car a little bit further in front and went out of the car to grab the pass. As he got back to the car, he told us that the Singaporean officer asked him to reload another SGD10.00 before we return back to Malaysia. The card is valid till year 2013. Since it was a Sunday, we need not pay for ERP charges whenever we pass by the toll gantry. The whole journey in SGD was guided by Chow's ASUS P320 GPS phone. Not bad!

After we dropped Donald(to visit his friend) at Bukit Panjang, we moved forward to Singapore Expo. The parking lot was jammed when we arrived. Chow parked at further hall and we had to walk quite a distance.

Upon arrival at the exhibition hall, I would say the crowd was not that big. We went to the ticketing booth and paid for the entrance fee which is SGD15.00!

As we enter, there were huge booths mainly displaying Italian motorbikes and Bicycles.

We went clock wise starting from the Cannondale booth. Later, we spotted a bicycle using wheel technology similar to the commercial aircraft. It is interesting and the product is from Australia. It's called Street Surfer.

Next, we went further in to see some shocks manufacturer for motorbikes, local Singaporean bicycle shops which sells Fuji bikes and some magazine booths. The exhibition was way under expectation!

Further inside, we could hear some dance music being played. We investigated and found out there was some BMX bike stunts. Few jumpers fell during some group jumps. Very dissapointing when I compared the show to X-games.

Next, I went over to MV Augusta booth to take a look at the Superbikes. Really nice Italian designs being showcased out there! Ducati has superb designs as well. I don't think I can afford these bikes.

Around three quarter way through, we dropped by Selle's booth tried on the Ergonomic grips. They are nice for XC riding but exchange rate did not permit us to buy them - wasted.

One booth which caught my eye on was the Bianchi booth. There, I found a full susser with Ducati Corse label on it. The model is Scrambler 140. The rear suspension design is some what similar to Giant's anthem-x. Correct me if I am wrong, hehe.

Scrambler 140 is a bike with nice geometry and rear suspension setup. Whole bike is SRAM equipped for the drive-train. Next, we also saw Ducati Monster (carbon fibered HT) and Colnago Carbon HT MTB.

I was surprised to see a famous MTB rider named Tinker Juarez. He is very humble and he keeps on planting his famous signature for his Asian friends. Nice bloke!

Once done with the lousy and not entertaining exhibition, we left to hunt for outdoor gear near Beach road with assistance of the GPS phone. First stop was at the Golden Mile complex, full of Thais! It was like in Bangkok city... or maybe worst than that! We quickly left the place. Weird!

Next stop was at the Shaw Leisure Complex where we managed to grab waterproof wallet case costing SGD3.00 each. That's the only thing I bought.

One the way home, we went back to pick up Donald and left Singapore via the Tuas link again. We crossed the border after the customs officer checked our car.

It was raining heavily on the way back and three of us were freezing in the car. Thanks to Chow's powerful air-cond. We took turns to drive until we arrived KL around 10.30pm at night.