I was on MSN with my cousin the other day when she wished my husband and I a “Happy Anniversary”.  Yes, May 12, 2010, my husband and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary 🙂 And when I told my cousin that, she reckoned that it feels like we’ve been married way longer than that :p  In truth, it does 🙂  That’s because we’ve been together for 8 years and had lived together for 7, give and take a couple of months … so it’s more like our 8th anniversary :p

So last Wednesday, we took off for the day and headed to Pulau Ubin, which meant I didn’t have to go to work too 🙂 Double joy *happy dance*  We packed a lunch, some apples and water and headed towards Changi Village.  For $2.50 per person, you get on a little boat and about 10 or so minutes later you’re on Pula Ubin.

The thing about Pulau Ubin that I really like is how instantaneous it feels like I’ve jumped on a time machine and am taken back in time.  Literally, on the island I feel all of 4 years old and wandering around my Great Grandfather’s kampung home.  The memories are vague, to say the least but when I’m on Pulau Ubin, they squeeze out of the cervices of my mind and make themselves clearer.

So we rented our bikes and headed towards Chek Jawa.  Here’s a word of advice for all those who have been uninitiated into the ways of renting a bike on the island, please check that your bike changes gear properly before heading off too far.  Yes, my dinky little bike was stuck at gear 6.  Gear 6!!  The island is full of slopes going up and down and my bike was stuck at gear 6!!  It felt like I was paddling but the bike wasn’t even moving … so needless to say I had one hell of a work out :p  I was so glad to arrive at Chek Jawa where we could get off our bikes, walk around and encountered some wildlife 🙂

Before we did anything else, we stopped and had our lunch, where Pulau Ubin ants showed me a thing or two about teamwork.  Here’s a stalk of my spinach that fell out of my sandwich.  It was awesome to have the time to watch ants lift the stalk and carry it a whole 2meters away and to think I was all so excited with ants.  After lunch, we were just sitting and talking … I was still exhausted from peddling … in fact, I had fallen asleep for a bit too … when out of nowhere a wild boar appears!!

I’ve lived in Singapore ALL my life and never seen one just wandering around.  I was very excited and so was my husband who has only been living in Singapore for the last 7 years or so.  This was just the tip of the iceberg on Chek Jawa.  On the walk we saw birds … definitely heard some that sang beautifully, schools of fish that seem to move like one body, crabs that seem to be connected together by an invisible string, a monitor lizard wandering in the low tide.  It was a lovely day to be out in nature.  We were worried about the rain but not one drop fell 🙂  We even made some German friends, Lufthansa stewardesses in town for a couple of days.

Then we headed back to catch the evening ferry for an early dinner at our favourite organic Chinatown place.  And yes, I was completely knackered from the insane non-moving bike I had, that I was happy to be sitting on the ferry and just chilling.

Till next time, Pulau Ubin, thanks for a wonderful anniversary.  We enjoyed ourselves so much that we can’t wait to be back.  Next time, with stronger bug spray and a better bike 🙂