HAPPY NEY YEAR

It might be Valentines Day in the West but we live in the East now and the big celebration this time is the Lunar New Year. Imagine houses decorated for Christmas and you have an idea of the decoration around some houses here in Singapore. It's the Year of the Tiger and many Chinese families have been sweeping out the 'old' and getting ready for the prosperous 'new'.  Many Chinese families will visit extended family and have celebrations eating and drinking together.

With this in mind, Pit and I thought it would be the best time to take a visit to Pulau Ubin - there wont be so many crowds. In fact, most other visitors we saw today on the outskirt island were Indian. We packed a small day pack and went to the bus stop just before 10am to go to the Changi Point Ferry Terminal to catch a bumboat. And after 15 minutes on the water, we were transports 40 years back in time. At least, that's the tag line the operator of the island, the Singaporean National Parks, would like us to believe. While the island is indeed full of natural (restored) beauty, you can't help hear the rumble of international jet liners overhead, or see the huge container ships a little further out in open water.

Nonetheless, Pit and I had a wonderful outing. Our first stop - the restaurant for an early lunch of sweet and sour chicken and veggies. Next stop, bicycle rental for the best mode of transport. With our 2 wheeler underneath us, we were able to scoot to the coastal boardwalk to put our 2 feet to work. Unfortunately, it was high tide, so the critters of the seagrass lagoon and mangrove were not visible. Since we couldn't see seagras, we did the next best thing and snacked on seaweed. Then we took a quick peak at the Visitor Centre before scooting off further down the island for a view of the North shore. Not that impressive due to the anti-alien fence preventing Malaysians from illegally entering Singapore. To get from the North shore back to the ferry jetty, we had to take a small track through the forest where Pit spotted some wild Red Junglefowl. Pit was tired of sitting on the back of the bicycle, I don't know why, since I was doing all of pedaling. Regardless, it was getting late in the afternoon and it didn't hurt to head home to the pool.

We never made it to the pool because after disembarking from the bumboat, Pit suggested we go to the beach at Changi Village for a swim. And we did just that. The water was warm and more enjoyable to stay under the waves than to feel the cool, late afternoon breeze. Our appetites were fired up so we headed to the food market for a seafood bonanza of clams, mussels, Gong Gong (or Pearl Conch) and coconut drinks. For dessert, we found a chestnut roaster serving up the perfect chestnut treat on a "cool" 28 degree C New Year day! What a fun day! and Pit would like me to write that we saw Fiddler Crabs and that it was "Too much walking!"

Despite the fatigue, when we got home and heard the drums of a Lion Dance in the neighbourhood, we jumped on the bike again to catch a glimpse of the good luck lion to scare away the bad spirits in our lives. We decided to continue the celebration ourselves with some sparklers when we got back home. Happy New Year!