[Jorg] It was 6.45 last Sunday morning when my handphone started to vibrate. The message was from Ben Jr.: 'How is the weather over on your side?' I wasn't sure which side he was on but I texted him back, 'Overcast and dry.' In other words, perfect hiking weather.

We left home, picked up Jay Jr, Ming Guo, Austin and Aston along the way, and reached MacRichie Revervoir just after 8. The parking lot there was filling up with guys, and we just chose the cutest group - this must be MAWers!

After the 30+ participants had all arrived, we distributed the colour bands that played no role at all (apart from adding some colour to our costumes), and gave a short intro: 'Look where you step, don't get bitten by snakes or crocodiles, don't litter, let the joggers pass.'

And off we went, in a big group of guys that - like an elastic band - streched over half a mile at times and then retracted again at resting points. As a handful of ICs we had distributed ourselves evenly amongst the group to make sure nobody got lost or hurt.

Soon the sun came out and our bodies started glistening in the morning light - behind me I heard the chatter of dozens of conversations, interrupted by short appreciative silences when a particularly cute topless jogger passed our group. We balanced over pipes, watched the monkeys, were not too impressed by the caves and somewhere in the back people saw a poisonous red-head snake slither away.

Every hour we rested and refreshed ourselves with water and snacks (at the last resting point even some home made egg-majo from Ming Guo), then re-grouped and off we went again - the pace actually faster than during the recce (maybe because this time we knew where we were going).

So after 3 over hours and lots of up and down and after what felt like a million of stairs in Bukit Timah reserve (no more step classes for this week), we finally reached the summit of Bukit Timah Hill. When we took the group picture by the summit stone, someone had to lie in front of the meter-indicator: 162 meters high was just too embarrassing...that's all?

So after IC Ben Jr declared the official part of the hike over, our weather booking was no longer valid and it started raining heavily while we were on our last 15 minutes back to the entry and condo. Some guys just braved the rain as they were but I was surprised how many pulled a dainty umbrella out of their rugged outdoor-gear backpack... So gay! And so practical!

Down by the guard house and shop we took shelter from the rain (together with the monkeys) and bought some drinks - ANY EXCUSE for a certain IC to go into the shop time and time again just to talk to the cute attendant...

After that it was makan time and we had fun chatting about our adventure over duck rice and soja milk. Everybody made their way home then - it was a bit too wet to accept Austin's kind offer to use their pool. Next time...

Oh, and next time...how about a hike at night?