Gardens by the Bay
We visited Gardens by the Bay once again but to explore the Cloud Forest and Flower dome. Luckily we discovered that students can purchase a year long membership to visit the cloud forest, flower dome, and the Supertree Grove for only a one time fee of 22 SGD. So with that, we first went to the Flower dome, which had various types of plants ranging from fruits and herbs, to cactuses and succulents as well as beautiful flowers and huge trees. It was interesting being in the herb section of the dome because of the various smells we could recognize while walking around. Other than the plants, there were these huge wooden or branch like sculptures made to look like animals which were also cool to look at. Then we went to the Cloud Forest and right when we entered, there was a huge waterfall, and it was so nice to look at because of all the plants around it. Further in the building, we continued to see more plants and were able to go up an elevator that led to a walkway very high up and see the garden from below.
MacRitchie Reservoir
This is my second hike in Singapore! We planned to go here to see the treetop walkway bridge which would have been a nice place to take pictures at but, unfortunately because the weather has been rainy lately it was closed. But that didn't mean that the rest of the hike was unpleasant. It took us about 2.5 hours to walk 10.75 km and the terrain was mainly trees and uneven walkways but occasionally we would walk on manmade pathways. We also encountered some monkeys and some of us were scared to walk past them because my friend had shared that someone she hiked with last time had a monkey run after her and try to take her bag. So getting near the monkeys we were a bit wary but, they didn't do anything to us and honestly looked cute especially the baby monkeys!
Pulau Ubin
Pulau (meaning "island" in Malay) Ubin is one of many islands that are accessible from Singapore and like Lazarus island it takes a ferry ride to get to. From Changi Point ferry terminal, there were quite a few small boats in operation that could fit 12 people at a time and only cost 4 sgd to ride. The ferry took about 15 minutes and once on the island there were a few small shops and food stalls. The narrow street was crowded with locals and tourists many of which came to the island to walk or cycle around. All six of us rented bikes for the day to explore parts of the island, and I was eager to ride a bike again since its been a couple of years since the last time I rode one! I did struggle a bit when familiarizing myself with the skills it takes to balance and peddle because I did fall a couple of times and my bottom and legs were not used to the discomfort. Also most of the bikes were very rusty and old so it was harder to go on unpaved paths and ride uphill. Along the trail we did see a lot of monkeys as well as wild boars and dogs. We also had to park our bikes to the side for a bit to walk a trail that led us along the shore of the island and it was really nice to look out onto the water and we even got to see everything at a higher view. Apart from the severe discomfort I had from riding a bike again, I'm glad I got to experience the island that way and I ended up biking again later that night so the practice was much needed!
Bizventure
This event was hosted by NUS's Business club and it was a night cycling activity that started at 10 pm at Changi Beach Park and we would ride through East Coast Park to then end at Marina Bay sands. Depending on the speed and how many breaks each team took, the event could end between 3 am to 6 am. From Changi it was a group of five of us and we cycled at a pretty fast pace. I have to say the bikes that we rented that night were much better and easier to use compared to what I had earlier at Pulau Ubin. My bottom did still hurt but not so much where I couldn't carry on. At about 3am, and reaching East Coast Park we stopped at a Hong Kong style restaurant to eat some food. To my surprise the restaurant was pretty crowded and even during cycling I noticed many people still out camping, exercising or just chilling. But, after eating we continued our journey and along the way I showed everyone a fun ramp I discovered previously and we each took turns going over. After that we just kept going and by 4 am we made it to Marina Bay Sands! The journey in total was 38km and it was a incredible experience to be out at night.
