Pulau Ubin (Singapore)

Pulau Ubin is a small island off the Northeast coast of Singapore. It boasts neither the most stimulating nor interesting of Singapore’s fauna or flora. However, it does shelter Singapore’s last remaining villages and preserves, for the most part, a way of life typical of the 1950’s. Somehow I doubt the island supported a half dozen bike rental shops and a fleet of passenger bumboats before the eco-tourism movement took off.

For me this island is a small slice of paradise: few people, minimal technology, dense forests, and an ever present orchestra of birds, cicadas, and crashing waves. Of course, the boy (around 12) that rented us our bikes did ask for our mobile number and looked a little shocked when we told him we didn’t have one. Nevertheless, it was bliss to bike around the island’s trails, swim off its deserted beach, and meander through its “Secret Garden” full of spice plants and fruit trees.