If you thought the 7am start of the previous ride was early, then you would be even more impressed by the 6:25am start for the breakfast ride the next day. Even more impressive was the fact that Steve, today’s riding partner, got up and started riding even earlier. Today we were going to ride through East Coast Park to visit the newish Terminal 4 at Changi Airport for breakfast.

There are at least two good things about starting so early. First, it is cooler (Strava said it was 27c with 88% humidity). Second, there is less traffic. This means we can ride faster and on relatively empty roads. You’ll see on Strava that we fanged it through the business and financial district. We didn’t stop for any photos but I do recall my surprise of hearing roosters in the financial district.

If you are inclined to ride 52km for breakfast in Singapore then you could consider this route on Strava. NParks Eastern Coastal Loop also heavily features the East Cost Park.

To get to East Coast Park we made our way through Marina Bay and across the barrage. NParks has themed East Coast Park as “Recreation for All”, this park has something for everyone. It has inclusive gardens for all ages and abilities, facilities for cable skiing, Singapore’s tallest outdoor play feature, an Xtreme Skate Park, facilities for inline skating and cycling, and so much more. Our first stop was near Six Pipes Jetty Beach. Steve’s cute little drone was here to take some footage of us!

Just look closely how many container ships there are out on the horizon!

We visited Changi T4 for breakfast. This is the “budget terminal” which began operations in October 2017. T4 aims to serve a larger community of passengers, ensuring that our passengers can travel with ease of mind with greater travel options. T4 boasts environmentally friendly design elements with optimal use of natural lighting and energy management systems. In 2018, T4 won the Prix Versailles Architectural Award for South Asia and the Pacific as a testament to its state-of-the-art design.

I could have taken some more phots – but I was clearly focussed on getting some breakfast into to me. We visited a Kopitiam for a breakfast set, with soft boiled eggs, toast and coffee. I certainly found it enjoyable filling me up after 25km of riding!

In my haste to get to breakfast, I neglected to tell you about the Jurassic Mile along the bike path. Jurassic Mile is Singapore’s newest and largest permanent outdoor display of life-sized dinosaurs. More than 20 different pre-historic creatures from nine different species stretch over 1-kilometre of the cycling and jogging path. Expect to see carnivorous and herbivorous species, defensive dinosaurs, as well as those that fly. The tallest dinosaur stands at almost 5 meters high! 

I didn’t take phots here either – but you can look at some at this article by The Straits Times.

On the return trip, I took some nice photos near the Marina Bay Area before heading back Tiong Bahru.

Thank you Steve for being such a great riding partner and for making our visit to Singapore very memorable! Hope to ride with you again sometime soon.

On my return to Tiong Bahru, I rewarded myself with a cold brew coffee and apple pastry from Glass Roasters in Tiong Bahru. My ‘local’ coffee roaster produces the perfect cold brew for the hot and humid climate of Singapore!

Some of you may know that, I like Japan. Japan is well represented in Singapore. I visited Takashimaya Department Store, ate lunch at Nakajima Suisan, bought books at Kinokuniya, and had afternoon tea at TWG Tea (I have never experienced such a BIG tea menu).

Mary joined me at TWG Tea. We then headed towards the UNESCO listed Singapore Botanic Gardens for an afternoon [3.5km] stroll! Wow, those gardens are amazing. We concluded our walk with a dinner in the gardens at The Halia (Malay for ginger – which makes sense because it is in the ginger garden). It was pretty active this night because there seemed to be a “halal” speed dating in the event space! The food, nevertheless, was good.

I finished the night by looking for craft beer. Tiong Bahru did not disappoint. I found a small local bar, Canjob Taproom and proceeded to drink some beer and eat spicy popcorn chicken as I contemplated all that I had done, and what was left to be done.