Clad in an oversized floral shirt, a comfortable pair of black pants and with a large red-and-white scarf bearing the words SINGAPORE wrapped neatly around his head, the Tourist, with his passport and street maps in hand, had been all set and ready, to see the sights and sounds of Coney Island, in Singapore – on this windy and breezy Easter Sunday.

So early this morning, he headed towards the Punggol “Domestic Airport” to board his “flight” to Coney Island… only to bump straight into a running group just about to begin their Easter Sunday run.

The Tourist joins the fun run

The Tourist had been quite confused. What had happened to the airport that he had heard so much about? Wasn’t this the year 2100, where you could simply hop into a jet plane and travel easily from one part of Singapore to another?

On further inspection, The Tourist had noticed that the group had comprised of runners dressed in colourful running attire, and they started running at about 7.15am in the morning.

But he soon realised that he had company, in that not everyone was dressed like they were ready to run – for instance, there was a monkey which had come to mingle with the group too! Intrigued, the Tourist decided to stay on and find out more. Perhaps the monkey was also lost and confused, just like he had been.

Route started from the Punggol MRT Station

The route for the interesting run, which was organised by the Gei Gei Runners, had started from the Punggol MRT station and Punggol Waterway Point, towards the Punggol Park. Then we headed in through the “East Gate” of Coney Island and ran for about 1km before U-turning and returning via the same route in which we had come.

Overall it had been an interesting and fun run, mostly on park connectors with a small portion of it comprising of flat trails and some little stones. But still it was relatively easy for running.

Nevertheless, the scenery had been very beautiful and charming – to the point that I wish I had stopped for longer, to take more photos!

Coney Island’s rustic charm never fails to impress me

I think that my favourite part of the actual running was the Coney Island bit – the rustic charm of the island never fails to impress me, even though I have by now, visited the island a few times. It just always feels very natural and a great way to get close to the true, rustic charm of Mother Earth.

At the same time, the cool breeze throughout the 9.66km route, had prevented me from feeling the heat. The sky also seemed to be pretty cloudy this morning so this had helped as well.

Lots of refreshments after the run

And after the run, as with the tradition for all Gei Gei running club events, there was plenty of refreshments ranging from isotonic drinks to cookies, cakes and watermelons. So this meant that we would not feel hungry or thirsty after running.

As for The Lost Tourist and his newfound Monkey companion, I noticed that they were both hanging around, and gamely posing for photos together with some of the runners after the event had concluded.

It certainly seemed like they were the centre of attention come the end of the run as everyone had now begun crowding them for photo opportunities… but I can only hope that they had managed to find their “flight”, eventually!

New Year’s Coney Island Run with Running Department

Coney Island Trail Run comes to Singapore 

Relax @ Coney Island Park Singapore