We sailed to Ubin island or Pulau Ubin, rented a couple of bikes and went around the island. My friend Neo had "voluntered" to show me around as he knew the island intricately from several visits over the years. This meant we kinda went a little off track here and there to find some hidden gems, but it also cost me several mosquito and ant bites, but I guess if you play with jungle and mangroves you get stung :)
Pulau Ubin is full of old stone queries now flooded with water making some impressive lakes on the island. At the high vantage points you could even see over to Malaysia and it was quite a contrast looking to the south seeing almost a wall of residential towers filling the horizon and then looking north and seeing nothing but jungle.
I want to say a special thanks to my biking buddy Neo for putting up with my obsession for going up hill all the time, he put up a good fight, but in the end I think I wore him down a little or maybe it was the sun that was streaking down from a blue sky!
Funny story about the above picture. Standing on an elevated platform 15 meters above the mangroves, we wanted to take a picture and I heard a family speaking danish so I asked them for a photo. While taking the photo they recognise my name on the shirt that I traded with Neo back in 2012 and funnily enough their family name was also Hammer :) To top it off they live in the same city that I normally work in so that was quite a coincidence!
Coming back from the island there was of course a reward for our hard work
Going out there I accidentially ended up in a fancy executive taxi as nobody else seemed to be able to find their way to the "suburbs" of Singapore so I rolled up in style jumping out of my Chrysler wearing knickers and T-shirt :)
The next day I hung out with the guys playing some games and of course had even more interesting food. This time it was bak kut teh a very popular pork ribs soup with assorted side dishes. This stuff is so good they have dedicated restaurants for it!
After lunch we went to a gaming place called Titan Games where the whole crowd was gathered, Nico, Neo, Dawei, Lee, Lam, ... And a very friendly and well travelled bloke named Akhter with like 4 different passports so I gave up figuring out if he was currently a citizen of Singapore, UK or Australia :) After games we went out for dinner, this time quite spicy indian food, including the fish that killed Steve Irvin, formerly known as stingray. Eating in Singapore sometimes makes you feel like you are part of the tv show The Big Bang Theory where every day is dedicated to a very specific regional cuisine!
The morning after I was up early as I wanted to take a walk along the southern ridge overlooking Sentosa Island and which takes you across some creative footpath bridges and through treetops on walkways elevated high above the ground. I needed to complete this walk before meeting up with Lam at 2 pm for a very special and most generous gift of a one night stay at the Marina Bay Sands hotel, complimentary of Team Singapore!
But as always no pain no gain so I ventured out in the already baking sun and started to climb mount Faber, taking me up on the ridge and to the gondola station servicing visitors going to and from Sentosa island.
Coming back I checked out of "beary good hostel", grapped my backpack and headed for downtown Singapore and the Marina Bay area. The area around Marina Bay is covered by towering skyscrapers, funky looking buildings of various sizes and a floating football field. But they all fade in comparison to the Marina Bay Sands hotel that consists of three towers more than 50 stories high and on top of that they have put an elevated skypark that houses the famous infinity pool, approximately 200 meters above the ground! It is in other words simply breathtaking and mind blowing.
After a quick bag drop it was of course straight to the top to have a look at the view..
The pool is made to give the impression of swimming basically at the edge of the building and it is quite effective!
As the sun sets on Marina Bay the entire area turns into a light show resembling a spaceport from a science fiction movie.
I strolled through it all on my way to dinner..
Getting back down to earth for a minute I thought it would be nice with a bit of european cuisine for a change and what better than an old favorite from the bavarian kitchen, Prosst!
Having been to Munich a couple of times I was fearing that the Paulaner Brauhaus would not live up to the high standards set there but the interior and the food was quite authentic and so was the german tuba music playing in the background, just the way we like it :)
Coming back to the hotel I went and investigated some huge odd glowing trees I had spotted from my balcony. This was a bit like walking into the movie Avatar and you half expected a couple of 3 meter tall blue indians to come out and greet you!
After this I simply collapsed in my room as Im sure you dear reader are about to as well if you have stayed with me so far.
Some long days and nights in Singapore now gives way for another island adventure in the Phillipines where I look forward to doing scuba diving at the many beautiful reefs, sipping drinks on white sandy beaches, swim with sharks and possibly do a bit of surfing!
A million thanks to everyone I met in Singapore, you made it an unforgettable visit and I hope to one day be able to repay your heartfelt hospitality!
Hope we have been good host to you and that you enjoy the rest of your long holiday. See you in August!
SvarSlet