Showing posts with label Boon Keng Road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boon Keng Road. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2012

Shines Outdoor Pte Ltd

ABBEY: I've never thought this day would come after my nerve-racking parajump at Sentosa. Groupon offered a 25sgd-voucher for a 2-hour session of wall climbing and height-related-pee-on-your-pants activities. The place is at Shines Outdoors in 1208 Upper Boon Keng Road. Upon arrival we were told to put harness and helmet. Starting the session our host, Ryan, told us to make a high five and saying our name to our group mates. There were 11 of us. This lightened the mood and made our session a friendlier one. He also advised us to stay hydrated. He keeps on telling us that all challenges are by choice. No pressure even you're the only one who did not make it. 

First stop is wall climbing. We were thought of manners for the activity. Always ask if belay is ready and you're about to climb. This is very important as the climber's life literally depends on you. As you belay focus on the climber as well as the rope and your hands. As I watched the first batch of climbers the task seems to be easy. But its not. As I climb, I found it very hard to step on the pieces as some are small. My feet don't have enough room to set in. I also tried to pull my body but its a no-no. The technique is to let your legs do the push and a little pull with your arm. JC and Ryan always checks us if we're ok after every climb.

The next one is what I called a tightrope walk. You must cross with the help of loose ropes suspended above. This is hard as well but I managed to finish it. Don't let your knees shake else you'll fall. The height is about 3-4 storeys.

The last challenge is the leap of faith. In a full-body harness you'll climb a 5-storey post, stand at the top and reach for the trapeze by jumping into it. Yes, just like what the Dark Knight did on that prison. I told Wilma I'll not do it. She told me to do it just like the other guys in the group. And then like in Sentosa, since that's the purpose of being there I took the leap. Climbing the post is not that hard. But as you go up it starts to shake. On top of it you must find a way to stand-up. When I stood up, all I can heard is the countdown of our mentor. 5,4,3,2,1 and then I jumped. I lost my grip in the trapeze though as my hands became slippery. 

The session ended by a group picture and by our mentor saying to eat to replenish our energy. We ate an extra large Domino's Pizza and a bottle of Coke.












WILL: When Abbey and I started this relationship, he confessed that he is a boring person and asked me if I want to do, eat or go somewhere just let him know, but I think he do not expect that I really love extremities of this life. Even his older sister was thankful then because I somewhat thought their lovable brother to go out from his world and taking big giant change from his life.
     I love heights and speed, and wall climbing is one of my dreams to do. Thanks Groupon you offer this kind of activity for less. Instead of $50+ we got this 3 hour session for only $25. We booked and our class was confirmed by Daniel, yesterday 12th of Aug 2012. To protect ourselves from any scratches, they told us to wear pants and shirts, we put our spf 130 sunblock for 1 to 3pm activity. Indeed, the sun's heat is scorching hot. Our group was consisted of 11 participants... 11 cool and positive people plus our host Rayyan Affan, credits to him, there is no dull moment. 
     Okay, first stop wall climbing. When I saw their wall, ha!, easy peasy. But when the guys and Abbey starts to climb and half way they told to their belay that they will go down, gosh, my faith with myself lessened and I asked myself if I really can touch the metal goal or not. Darn, its my turn, I climbed, easy at first few, but when the climbing holds started to be smaller and the humps were on my way, my body told me to stop but the ever supportive team watching and pushing me to go and reached the goal. Even the inner voice told me so, then I am one of the three who got it. 
     Next stop, well this will be the hard one for me, the balancing act. Tsk, I think my cerebellum really don't do its work when I was a child, even at this age, I am easily toppled down. This tight rope is a huge challenge for me. My hands got wet and the rope starts to shake, but Abbey succeeded on this, I cannot let him tie-up the score. After a minutes, score is 2-1. Ha!
     The pole! I am exhausted and dehydrated and some of memberof the team backed-out on this activity, some just go up on the pole but do not have the courage to balance themselves to be on top of this huge log. As usual, Abbey went first, and as I saw the trapeze from pole is quite have a great distance, I second thought about the idea but I am here to embrace all this. So I stood up and climbed the endless pole. When I reached the top, there is a small space for me to put in my feet, and I have a difficulty to step on that piece of wood. As I muster myself, I concentrated then I leaped off to trapeze. Oh my, that jumped seems forever. Haha.
     Thanks Abbey for doing this activity with me, one of my dream was fulfilled by you. Thanks to Shines Outdoor, you can contact them through mail or call them at 68417030. This is a nice activity for team building, located at Upper Boon Keng Road.