Its harder than i thought...

Painful. But fun.

Its amazing how people can make things seem and sound so easy. We hit Batam at about 10, checked into the hotel, then headed for the cable-ski place. Apparantly there was a storm that tore down a small hut earlier this week, so they were doing some cleaning up. We were then taught how to use a kneeboard... which you get on by kneeling and strapping your thighs on. Naturally, me being the sucker i am, i decided to try going first.

Now before i go on, let me describe the cable ski setup. There's a circular cable above that services a series of clamps that pull ropes which cable-skiiers hang on to to get their kick. This is continuously moving at somewhere between jogging and sprinting speed. Doesnt seem fast? Ya thats what we thought.

So, the instructor said, keep your hands to your side, tuck in, clench the muscles for a few seconds while the rope takes in the slack and pulls... and suddenly WHUMPH im face flat in the water. Hmmm. Well he did say that people will fail to do it most of the time. Grrr..... Try again. The laughter was short lived as we all took turns to eat water. I guess the initial embarassment of falling in the water over and over faded quite quickly. Until Edgar managed to get the hang of it... Then we all quickly learned from him. Apparently the initial starting position involves pulling your hands near the tip of the board, much like the posture of a sycophant lying prone in prayer... haha i guess thats what happens when we pray to stay on the board... Eventually we managed to finish the two rounds, turnings and all...

Then once we had our appetite for water whetted on the knee boards, we were shown the real wakeboards... And once again, we all ate water. On the bright side, i managed to be the first one to complete a full round on the wakeboard... haha im guessing its from the experience skateboarding... the heels and toes to turn thing. The feeling of standing on a wakeboard is just so... liberating. The sun in the sky, the wind in your hair, and the feeling that if you let go you are so, so, soooo fucked. Ed had to give up cos his injury was acting up... While Zhongwei and Jack just kept trying... We broke for lunch, which was fried rice with egg and chicken. At that point of time, anything would have looked good. Horror of horrors, while we were eating, we noticed our hands shaking... haha funny. After lunch i gave it a couple more tries, but eventually decided to break as my hands were too pumped to hold the handle properly... and i was aching in a couple of other places too. Took the opportunity to video Zhongwei and Jack and their attempts to master the wakeboard... and their successful tries. Nice one guys!

Headed back to the hotel after that exhauting yet thrilling session. Had dinner at a nice seafood restaurant near the ferry terminal, within the ghost town of waterfront city. Headed back for a few games of bridge (which never seemed so fun before) and then for a little while sat at the bar. Reacquainted myself with the taste of tequila, and remembered why i never took liquor straight up.

Woke up the next day unable to sit up in bed. Yes it was that bad. I guess it took me a very vigorous activity to realise how screwed up my body had become. I recommend a gym session or two before starting on wakeboarding or any similar activity... As of now the aches are still here. Neck, shoulders, stomach, back, and even my ass aches. Aaaargh..... sick shit. But hey, it was fun. Painful but fun.

Frankly theres nothing to Batam... looks like johor or any malaysian state... i wonder whats all the hype about. We drifted around a couple of malls before deciding to head back to the ferry terminal to change our tickets to an earlier timing... The only good thing that happened on the second day was that we found an A&Ws restaurant, and brunched there. Hoo.... the food was good man! So hard to find a nice root beer float nowadays... Went to an arcade,and i indulged myself in an Air Hockey challenge.... haha. Fun, Fun, Fun...

Overall the trip was not bad. Although i would spend less time in Batam city and more on wakeboarding and chilling out in the hotel. Will be going again, definitely. When? God knows.