Singapore is known as one of the best places to travel with family, and just this year, Lonely Planet has ranked Singapore as the world's number one country to travel to next year. Why not? Singapore is like traveling the world without leaving the island. When I move here, I was thinking of Singapore only as a major shopping destination for shopaholics. A stopover for travelers to explore its neighboring countries-Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the list goes on. It never crossed my mind that Singapore has a lot to offer for adventure seeker who is in constant search for that off the beaten path. All you need to do is explore.
So I did my fair share of exploring and learned about this island in Singapore-Pulau Ubin. Together with my friends, we endure a long journey to the island. A couple of train ride, a 30-minute bus ride, and another 15-minute boat ride before we could land our foot on Pulau Ubin.
Pulau Ubin is a little island off the north east of Singapore. It is best explored by bike. We don't own one, but a lot of bike rentals are seen in the island. Rates depends on the type of bike you want. If you know where to look, there are packages available that are worth the price.
At the right side of the island, there's this resort that offers bike, kayak, and a relaxing fish spa with only S$20. Unfortunately, the fish spa was closed for maintenance when we went there, so we just settled with kayaking and biking. We started our adventure with an hour of kayaking. We're not allowed to kayak around the island, but only the area covered by the resort. Nonetheless, it was a good warm-up for the long bike ride around the island.
After sharing a great lunch[which my friend cooked], we went off for some exciting bike ride. We pass by this store who sells refreshments and saw they were selling this raw coconut. We can't help ourselves but parked our bikes, sit down in their chair, and excitedly wait for our coconut juice to be served. It was cold and refreshing. A good thing to start and end a bike ride adventure.
It was around 4PM when we finish our ride. Last boat trip to the City from Pulau Ubin is 5PM. So we still have an hour to rest before heading back to the concrete jungle. We went back to the resort to return the bikes and stayed there to rest while waiting for the time to pass. The resort was very quite, which is an advantage for people who wanted to rest and enjoy the tranquility of the island. If you want an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy the serenity of Pulau Ubin, I suggest you go there on weekdays. I heard a lot of people flock to the island on weekends, which just means the island will be crowded.
As we traveled our way back to the City, I realize one thing, Singapore is for everyone. Not just for shopaholics, but also for adventure seekers alike. If you know where to look, you'll definitely learn that Singapore has something great waiting for everyone.