Pulau Ubin
By Lothar. Filed in Singapore |
It is Wednesday, August 26, and we have breakfast in bed on our last vacation day in Singapore. Actually, I had to get up and walk from our Marina Mandarin Hotel to the Starbuck’s in the adjoining Marina Square Mall. We spend the morning in our mineral water pool and, in the afternoon take a cab to our next hotel at Changi Village near the airport. The Hotel Changi Village is conveniently located across from the ferry terminal and Changi food hawkers. There are black clouds in the sky, just as we leave for the 15 minute boat ride to the island Pulau Ubin. There is no set ferry schedule and the captain only leaves after 12 passengers are waiting. We are only 10 people at the dock, and we have to pay an additional 50 cents each, in order to make up for his loss in income!
As soon as we reach the information booth on the island, a tropical thunderstorm greets us. This island is today, what Singapore used to look like 40 years ago: rural kampongs (villages) and peaceful country life. Now there are bike paths here and we had planned to explore the island nature preserve. No such luck, it continues to rain. The exploration will have to wait until our next stopover in Sinapore, when we will rent a cabin on Pulau Ubin. We take the ferry back and instead check out the neighborhood shops in Changi Village. Our hotel has a rooftop pool and this is where we relax before dinner. It had stopped raining, as soon as we came back to the mainland (Singapore Island). For dinner we had Udong soup in a Japanese restaurant.
Now it is Thursday morning and I am writing from the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Lounge at Changi Airport. Our flight to Shanghai leaves at 8:05AM, the first leg of our journey home!