Family Friendly
SINGAPORE By Jessica Palmer
Singapore Doesn’t Brag About Being Family Friendly, It Shows You ...
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t shows you with clean public restrooms and kid sized toilets and sinks. It shows you with a clockwork public transport system, clean streets and free attractions. From the taxi driver who didn’t want to charge us because my husband bonded with him over rugby, to the bag stealing monkeys on a little time-warped island ten minutes off the coast, Singapore turned out to be absolutely fantastic! Families will find it comforting to know that SafeAround, a website that assesses risk levels in more than 100 countries and cities worldwide, lists Singapore as the fifth safest country in the world. To compare, Australia comes in at No. 12 and the U.S. comes in at No. 49.
Go Back in Time on Pulau Ubin Island “Mum look, that monkey has a bag!” yelled my son. Sure enough, the little long-tailed macaque monkey sitting in the middle of the dirt road was up to his shoulder rummaging around in the bag. Not a fancy one, but the reusable fabric kind you get from the supermarket. I suspect that someone had put the bag down fully expecting their lunch to be waiting for them upon return. I couldn’t help myself. I started laughing. He didn’t look in the slightest bit guilty that he had just been caught red-handed stealing.
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Top: Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay. Right: Chek Jawa Boardwalk on Pulau Ubin Island. Photos: Jessica Palmer
We were on the island of Pulau Ubin, and despite being only a ten-minute boat trip from the Singapore mainland, it’s nothing like modern Singapore. Pulau Ubin is best described as rustic, although many will tell you it’s reminiscent of Singapore’s Kampong (village) life six decades earlier. The most popular activity for visitors on Pulau Ubin Island is to hire a pushbike and spend an enjoyable morning exploring the islands back roads. Like many others before us, we headed to Chek Jawa wetlands to experience nature at its best. Here you can take a stroll over two different wooden boardwalks, one of which weaves through the mangroves and the other which heads out over the ocean where at low tide, the marine life can be viewed underfoot. Expect to see monkeys, lizards, birds, and all sorts of weird and wonderful wildlife. Also, don’t believe anyone who tells you it’s a ‘flat’ ride to Chek Jawa. It’s not!
