The need for me to travel for work seems to have intensified in the recent months and last week,  I was required to fly back to Singapore for a 2.5 days work conference on an almost last minute notice. 

This time round, it was strictly business with no personal time for family or friends, as my entire stay in Singapore was committed to a full-on workshop. I pretty much zipped-in and out of Singapore by taking the first flight in and the last flight out so that I could be home for the weekend with the kids.

We had a rather interesting first day though, where the session was broken up into a download session in the morning and the afternoon was planned for a team “outspiration” activity that was not confined to an office building or a conference room. Instead, we were taken on a mini-trip to an island called Pulau Ubin – a 15 minute bum-boat ride from Changi Jetty, as our Singaporean host wanted to expose participants from the different offices in the region to a rustic, an almost forgotten part of Singapore that isn’t so often explored.

When I was told about where we were going, I realised that it has been ages and ages ago since I stepped foot on the island. I must have been no more than 14 or 15 years old and I have only been there once in my lifetime. While the idea sounded interesting, I wasn’t too keen on the fact that we were going to have to so some trekking and cycling around the island. I thought that physical exertion was the last thing I wanted to do during a summit. Besides, I can’t even remember the last time I cycled(must have been at least 10 years!) and wondered if I am still capable of handling a bike! I went along with an open-mind despite feeling a little skeptical about the whole thing.

For the unaware, Pulau Ubin which literally means “Granite Island”, is a small island of 10.19 km² situated in the northeast of Singapore. It is essentially the last untouched, kampong (village) area that still exists today with about a hundred villagers living in it. Concrete skyscrapers and buildings are scare, if not non-existent, but the island is instead  filled with lots of flora, fauna and the wonders of nature. One can explore the island by renting a bike and/or trek to the boardwalk. Camping is also allowed. (More information on Pulau Ubin can be found here and here)

Explored the island by bikes we did and  despite the long hiatus of no cycling, I still have not lost the skills to ride a bike. That and the fact that I must have cycled for more than 5 km –  I have to say that I surprised myself on that front.

We spent about 3-4 hours in that little island cycling about and exploring the boardwalk. It was tiring, and by the end of it, I could feel the strain on my butt and my thighs. We had a casualty where one of our guys rode too fast down a steep, graveled slope and went flying off the bike – he was in front of me and I saw him lost control before he flew like superman. We left the island at about 6.30 pm – just in time to catch the last bum-boat back to the mainland and right on time to break fast for some of us where we were presented with a feast of a typical Singaporean seafood dinner.

Not surprisingly, my body ached like hell the next day, but I would be lying if I said that I did not like that little adventure. It was an interesting team bonding session, and even for a native Singaporean like me, it was nice to be able to re-experience a small part of Singapore that isn’t ventured regularly. Besides, I am now able to convince myself that although I am not very good at it, I can still ride a bike and that with cycling, once you have the skills, you can never lose it.

It was quite a unique and memorable experience.