SG Unfit Runners Pokemon Hunt: Pearl's Hill

The Pokemon Go Nest change resulted in many lost opportunities [Pikachu :( ] and created new ones. One of the most exciting change occurred on Pearl's Hill whereby a nest of Abra took up residence on a hill in the middle of China Town. With a only a few Abra in our collection, Big Boned Guy and me met for dinner at the nearby food center before venturing our climb up the hill.

This is probably one of the most unpleasant Pokemon hunt we have ever encountered.

Pearl's Hill key feature is perhaps... Steps. Many many flights of steps. On the evening we went, the place was devoid of any wind creating a hot, humid sauna like environment. To top that off, there are mosquitoes... and there was even before the Zika outbreak in Singapore.

However, all these were bearable if we just needed to perch on a bench and start swiping away. For some reason, the Abra spawns along the vertical side of the hill, forcing hunters to move up and down the narrow stairways. Lastly, Abra has a sadistic sense of humor with a very high flee rate. One-third of the Abra escaped our clutches despite using a deadly combination of Razzberries and Great Balls. In order to get a fully evolved Alakazam, we estimated that we will probably need to hang around for 4 hours. 1 hour into the hunt, we are already drenched in sweat in our office attire and attacked by countless mozzies.

Big Fat Guy decided to call it quits and we rush down the hill heading for the nearest drinking hole.

Besides, that lucky bastard already caught an Alakazam on his way home one day and he needed just a few Abra for his Kadabra.

As for me, I am just happy to get out of the mosquito attack zone.

Unless there is a Snorlax nest for the next nest change, I will probably avoid venturing up Pearl's Hill for any Pokemon hunt in the near future. The amount of stairs climbing is extremely bad for the wobbly knees of Unfit Runners.

Advice for other Pokemon Hunters: Bring lots of water and insect repellent. 
 

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SG Unfit Runners Pokemon Hunt: Pikachu Moves House

I went for my usual run at Bedok Reservoir tonight and as usual, I have my Pokeballs well stocked to catch a bunch of Staryu and Horsea and Magikarp. Other than a couple of Dratini which will occasionally grace my regular running spot, there is no rare Pokemon sightings to rave about in the area.

While running, I observed a sharp spike in the number of Scyther around the reservoir. In fact, there is so many of them that I did not bother to throw my Pokeballs at them after the 8th one... Has Bedok Reservoir suddenly became a Scyther nest? In that case, is that a country wide migration of Pokemon?

I recall that one of my friend is visiting the far fetch Changi Village to visit the well documented Pikachu nest over there and true to my suspicion, Pikachu has moved their house. My friend is apparently pretty upset over this and I will probably have to compensate her for her "pain and suffering".

A few more messages to some of my more avid Pokemon hunting friends who are living around the country has further comfirm my theory. The Pokemons have packed their bags and many of them have moved to other places.

This development makes things extremely interesting for the SG Unfit Runners as we travel around Singapore for our weekly Sunday runs. It also means that we can get to encounter vastly different Pokemon, when we travel back to the same spot a few weeks later for our run.

Meanwhile, we will have to go back to our previous hunting spots to check out if these areas are still spawning rare Pokemon.

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SG Unfit Runners Pokemon Hunt: Botanical Gardens

Having a good share of Peking Ducks (Psyduck) and Sashimi (Magikarp) for our Pokemon Hunt at Marina Bay last week, we examined the Singapore map more unexplored places whereby rare Pokemon will pop up. We had two clues based on the articles we have read so far on where to find potential rare Pokemons:

1) Rare Pokemons are often found in Parks

2) Rare Pokemons are often found in places of high historical importance.

The place that immediately popped into our minds is the newly crowned and Singapore only UNESCO World Heritage site, Singapore Botanical Gardens.

We read that that is a huge number of Pokestops and Gyms within the garden compound which makes the probability of the appearance of a rare Pokemon ever more probable. Motivated by the chance to discover a new Pokemon paradise, we decided to switch from our usual weekly Marina Bay running routine to a part of Singapore where we haven't visited in months.

Ah, the beauty of Pokemon Go! Bringing you to explore new places.. again...

Gathering at the Botanical Gardens Mrt, we were greeted by a Gym guarded by a fierce looking Gyarados and caught a Voltorb while doing our stretching and warm up exercise. We are getting real excited here! Previously Voltorb also appeared in Changi village and ECP which both have a large variety of rare Pokemons. With our hopes high and poke balls lock and loaded, we charged into the sweet smelling garden and found...

Voltorb....

And more Voltorbs....

There is a bunch of Psyducks and Magikarps found around the ponds within Botanical Garden and an occasional Squirtle. Other than that, it's just Voltorbs...

Come on! The Universal Studio Singapore boost a Pikachu nest and Botanical Gardens should deserve better! Singapore Tourism Board should write to Niantic to put an Omanyte nest in there!

On the other hand, Botanical Garden is full of Pokestops (50-100??) and 8 Pokegyms and one loop around the Botanical Garden is roughly around 5km. So if you are looking to replenish your Pokeballs and hatch some 5km eggs, Botanical Garden is an ideal place to check out on your journey towards a Pokemon Master!

Pokemons: Slowpoke, Rhyhorn, Magikarp, Psyduck, Nidoran, Clefairy
Prize catch: 12 Voltorbs

Quotable Quotes:
"Looking for Balls with a face? Head to the Botanical Gardens!" ~ PES E

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5 Top Rare Pokemon Hunting Spots for Unfit Singaporeans

Sick of catching Weedle, Pidgey and Rattata? The SG Unfit Runners certainly did a lot of exploring this week, thanks to the effects of Pokemon Go and we sought out some of the best spots to catch that elusive Pikachu. While we did took some time to walk around, trying to hatch eggs and throwing pokeballs, we prefer to find a nice cafe and chill. In line with the spirit of an Unfit Singaporean, the pokemon locations we have carefully selected have an air-conditioned cafe, Pokestops and a good chance of catching stuff that we can use as bragging rights! Here are our top 5 locations which we have explored, since the launch of Pokemon Go!

Sept 2016 Editor note: The Pokemon has been moving around recently and some of the Pokemon named in the article may have shifted house. Nevertheless, these places are still great hunting ground for rare Pokemon.

East Coast Park Marine Cove

A great place for families with kids, thanks to a huge playground, free parking (as of Aug 2016) and choice of air-conditioned eateries. Parents can keep an eye on the kids running around the playground, while capturing Pokemons and sipping afternoon tea. We love the large variety of Pokemon around the area. Being near to the sea, it has the typical water Pokemon and interestingly, a good variety of electric and ground Pokemon. The best spot with 2 pokestop is at the Burger King area which also houses a gym

Pokemons: Meowth, Magnemite, Cubone, Rhyhorn, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Magikarp, Krabby, Staryu
Prize catch: Hitmon Chan, Rapidash, Pikachu

Changi Village & Beach 

We didn't expect to see much in this quiet village town at the edge of Singapore. Boy, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Pokemon here. We discovered a whole nest of Pikachu at the Changi Beach stretch and when we done catching our fill of the adorable mascot of Pokemon, we chilled out at a small cafe called "A Spoonful of Sugar" for some refreshment. There are two Pokestop at the cafe and the Lure is perpetually on. The staffs are friendly and gave us a breakdown on the types of Pokemon they have caught so far personally. Lot's of electric types Pokemon here which you normally can't find in the hearth-lands.

Changi Village Pokemons: Meowth, Magnemite, Voltrorb, Ponyta, Abra, Drowzee

Changi Beach Pokemons: Pikachu, Sheller, Psyduck, Magikarp, Tentacool

Prize catch: 7 Pikachu (3 escaped!), Magnetron, Electrode, Hitmon Lee

Gardens by the Bay

There has been rumors that the rarest pokemons often spawn at parks and we decided to visit one of the most high profile park in Singapore - Gardens by the Bay. However, the problem with Gardens is that there is a lot walking to be done with almost no air conditioned area except for the Flower Dome. Luckily, after walking around the park chasing after Charmander and Pikachu, we discovered the perfect farming spot at the Mcdonald at the drop off point at the Gardens. Blessed with an abundance of Pokestop, we stayed over 2 hours there swearing never to go out in the hot sun again.


Pokemons: Tentacool, Pikachu, Meowth, Magnemite, Ekan, Growlithe, Diglette

Prize catch: Pikachu, Sand Slash, Primeape

The Cathay

 

Source: Cathay Cineplex

This is the perfect spot for everyone who loves the cute fairy Pokemon which this spot have in abundance. Other than fairy types, there is an abundance of Water types Pokemon making this spot an ideal place to farm for a variety of Pokemon. We stationed ourselves at Starbucks which is in the middle of 3 pokestops with a permanent supply of Lures. We refused to move from this spot and spent the whole evening farming but we had to leave when we ran out of Pokeballs, even with 3 Pokestop replenishing our Pokeballs.

Pokemons: Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Poliwag, Magikarp
Prize catch: 2 Wartortle, Tentacruel

Serangoon Central - Nex

This spot is one of the favorites for Pokemon trainers. With 4 gyms within 1km range and 4 intersecting Pokestops near to the bus interchange side, Nex is swamped with Pokemon trainers during the weekends. The high foot traffic also means that GPS signal is very erratic in the mall, leading to many Pokemon trainers verbally abusing their poor phones. This place is an Eevee spawning ground and for those who are farming for the ideal Vaporeon, this is one of the highly recommended spot. Check out the Anderson Ice-cream store for the perfect teatime Pokemon gathering with your friends.

Pokemon: Venonat, Eevee, Scyther, Exegcute, Bulbasaur, Bellsprout

Prize catch: 10 Eevee, Exeggutor

Want to Check Out: Vivocity, Sentosa, Chinese Gardens

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SG Unfit Runners Pokemon Hunt: Marina Bay

And so the Great Hunt has started.

The SG Unfit Runners gathered once again, determined to capture all the Pokemons set loose by the evil corporation Niantic unleashed a deadly app that turns human into walking zombies. Some heroes choose to walk, bike, hire uber drivers or tie their phone to the fan, but we have chosen to undertake the challenge via running. The journey is long and there are numerous Pokemons ahead for us to conquer and challenge and many of us may not be able to survive the onslaught of Magikarp, Pidgey and Rattata, but we are determined to explore and seek out where the most powerful of Pokemon can be found in Singapore.  For the purpose of today's hunt, Fangtai the Bug Killer, Big Boned Guy the Rat Hunter, and yours truly, PES E the Bird Talker shall explore the newly opened dungeons of Marina Bay. 

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