If there's one great lesson I've learnt when I'm out and about on Daffy, it is that plans change all the time, and you can either make the best use of it and have fun, or you can grumble, complain, get angry and waste precious time lamenting away.
I prefer having fun.
Even though I think I'm entitled to a bit of grumbly lamentations to my Co-Rider when I'm hungry, and whose suggestion made me get stuck on an overhead bridge in the middle of the IKEA Tampines area with no place to eat.
See, we'd originally planned to bike to Changi Village via Simpang Bedok and the Changi-Selarang route. We got to Simpang Bedok from Upper East Coast Road, no problem there, but at the intersection after Simpang Bedok, it was suggested we switch destinations to the Giant and IKEA Tampines area instead.
So we made a left and went onwards, going past Changi General Hospital, then a long, long road, and then finally near Tampines Hub. How exactly we made our way to IKEA and Giant, I don't know, but suddenly I found myself in the wide, open space of Tampines North where new flats were still being built and where there was a Reebonz.
Now, I don't usually get grumpy when plans change, but having all the way towards Tampines North and finding myself in the friggin' middle of nowhere, and being unusually hungry, hey, I'm human like that.
But thankfully the mood doesn't last long and so between Downtown East and Elias Mall, we chose the latter, which was nearer, and which, we were sure, would have some place to eat.
Off we went, turning here and there, before finding ourselves on a somewhat familiar road near Pasir Ris Wafer Park and Pasir Ris Farmway 1. Straight on, one more quick turn, and we were heading up the hill to where Elias Mall is.
I've never been here before, and maybe because the Mall is such a quiet, peaceful, suburban mall that I've always associated it with the nearby Pasir Ris Park. But it has its distinct charms- like the welcoming scent of durian, little shops, and hairdressing salons. We had dinner at a Mr. TEH TARIK, where I got one salted egg chicken with rice (it looked really appetising!) and the Co-Rider got black pepper beef. :) No pictures, I was hungry!
Dinner over, breather over, we decided on the Tampines route back to the East side, this time in the opposite direction, where I think we made quite a number of turns here and there- I don't know, I was following all the way- before heading up the Pasir Ris Flyover (a hill!!), into Tampines Avenue 8, Bedok Reservoir Road, and finally Eunos and Still Road.