Southerners in Singapore: Pulua Ubin

Thanksgiving weekend was spent at birthday parties and lacrosse practice and a little time at Universal Studios on the Friday after Thanksgiving since it was not a Singapore holiday and the crowds were light. Then on Sunday we took the Ferry over to Puala Ubin, another Singapore island that is just northeast of our island.

It is a very small island that has some bicycle rentals huts on it and some small restaurants and stores on it and then trails around the island to go exploring on. We went with the MacDonald family who are good friends of ours. Their three children, Caitlyn, Keila and James line up well with Caitlyn one of Ella's closest friends and Keila and James in 4th grade with Sumner and all of our kids get along well.

Although we technically own bicycles here in Singapore that we sent over on our sea cargo shipment before we had even found a condo, we can't really use them at all since we aren't in an area where we can safely bike and we don't have a car to transport them to someplace where we could safely bike. In essence, we need to sell them but I just haven't gotten it together enough to get good pictures of them, list them in the classifieds and sell them. 2015 will be the time for that!

As a result, we rented bikes once we arrived on Pulua Ubin which was an interesting process - very subjective and loose and some of the bikes were certainly a little better than others. After negotiating a price for the day ($70 for all 5 bikes) we rode off without ever signing anything or even leaving our name. Made it about a mile before Henry's chain fell off so had to return and exchange it for another bike. By the end of our day trip, at least a couple other chains had fallen off and had to be repaired on the fly to get us back to the beginning. Still, the bikes were comfortable and easy to use.

So the two families - all 10 of us - set off the explore the island, heading first to the boardwalks that let you walk out onto the beach area some and over some of the coastal marshes. Then we headed around some other trails before stopping for lunch at a somewhat suspect looking local outdoor restaurant. After consuming lots of chili crab and shrimp, we then headed to an area described as a terrain park. It was lots of hills and trails in the grass and rocks. A tricky ride at times but enjoyed by most everyone and definitely challenged us in areas.

A ferry ride home late afternoon found everyone tired but laughing. The word "ferry" itself is a loose description since we just hopped on to these wooden boats that were pulling in and out of this dock without any words exchanged and you only hoped that a) it wouldn't sink and b) that it was going where you wanted to go. Not the safest thing in the world but we made it back safely. A fun end to our Thanksgiving break.