Camping In Singapore, Pasir Ris Park

Camping In Singapore was a new milestone for us.

2D1N at Pasir Ris Park, and the packing activities started one night before.
As first timers, we did not want to forget something, so we brought everything out except the sink :p

Our camping barang barang. Besides the camping equipment, we packed in SPORTs too. Bikes, skateboard and soccer 🙂

Camping site secured, goods unloaded. We got two bikes and a skateboard for our supply runs (water and snacks).

Do a quick sweep for debris or broken glass, ensure you are not under coconut tree’s kill-zone!

Before we venture further, you need to register your camping interest at Nparks website (and get the AXS receipt) beforehand. Registration is free.

Once you arrive in designated “Area 1”, and identify your choice spot, proceed to setup camp.

1)Pull the four corner

2) Slide in the rods diagonally, more hands work faster.

3) The rods-intersection at the top (roof) will meet at 90 degrees, ensure a good knot so tent will not deform. We hold all four corners and bend the rods towards the ground (ready to be hammered in).

4) Knock the pins into the ground (with mallet or shoe) to secure the four corners. It can be windy and we do not want our tent to fly away.

5) Tata, our camping tent completed! The final step is to cover our roof with a “rain fly” shelter (blue colour), in case it rains.

We took 30 min to setup our camp and 15 min to pump the air beds.

Camping In Singapore

Time for some fun sports activities. Add Kites, swimming or hammock for more options. Waterbombs anyone? We spotted some otters too.

Meanwhile, Daddy took a short nap on his comfy sofa 🙂
I jokingly told the kids we had to rotate sentry duty.

Our camping furniture, the 4-legged seat is much more comfortable than the tripod seat. Mosquito coil and headlamp is a must, get an overhead lamp (30W should be bright enough) which can provide illumination from the roof.

Handphone’s flash light might be too glaring.

Our 8 men tent is spacious for our whole family. Enough legroom for 1.8m Daddy too 🙂
We would recommend a layer of tarmac for additional cushioning against rough floor, and perhaps protection against small rain. Have a small mat in front of entrance so kids will not bring sand into the tent.

Airbed is a must (not optional) if you are no longer a teenager, or unless you like the sensation of pricky mimosa or pebbles along your spine!

Toilet and shower facilities. We are in Singapore, so a lot of our creature comforts are readily available, including 4G, food and sanitation.

No wonder some say camping in Singapore is Glamping (Glamour + camp) hee hee.

Our zhi char (煮炒) dinner, delicious chicken wings to sweeten our virgin camping experience.

Surprisingly, the humble Maggi was the highlight for our camping trip. We did not BBQ this round, so a mini “campfire” with army-style mesh-tins got the kids excited!

Yummy Maggi and hotdogs, kids are glutton, blame it on all the nice food 🙂

Hope they do not assume all camping experience are always so “luxurious”, I will only pack sardines and jam+ bread for them next time.

大舅 visited us and brought durian supper haha, muffins from our lunch.

 

YEAH, our camp experience was a major success, securing 90% satisfaction from 5 out of 6 campers. (Shall not let you know who is less enthusiastic about outdoor camping)

Most of us love the GREAT Outdoor and Freedom!

No3 Yee still wish to zen out the morning chill.

Packing up, Pasir Ris Park is still very quiet, with the occasional joggers and cyclists.

 

Thumbs up for our camping experience,  I hope there will be many more “staycations” soon.

Video (Youtube link) : Teamwork 分工合作, we get everything done faster

Additional tips for Camping In Singapore :

– Number 1 rule, do not litter.
– Number 2, do not eat or fart inside the tent

– You can grab most of your camping needs at Decathlon, Beach Road or Winning.

– Camping cost (estimated): $125 8man camp, x1 Airbed $25, Pump $13

– If camping at Pasir Ris Park Area 1, nearest carpark is “Car Park A”  (GPS 1.379728, 103.959770). Car park rate 2230 to 0630 maximum $4, $0.50 per half hour other timings.

– Bring a trolley to cart your heavy baggage and equipment along

– Our staycation was too warm overnight, perhaps we should face the tent-opening towards the sea for additional breeze. Add 3 to 4 usb fans to ventilate the tent.

– This might be common sense, pitch in daylight and under shade. It will be challenging in low light to find the strings, hooks and alignment.

– #CommonSenseToo, ensure tent-opening facing away from BBQ fumes

– Go easy on the tent’s zip and anti-insect mesh, kids might pull too hard and jam the zippers

– Organise the Tent interior, food, toys, beds so everyone know where to find their stuffs. We would recommend phones and chargers to be kept in those waterproof 10l duffel bag (in case in rains at night)

– For security reason, adults should sleep nearest to tent entrance. In case someone goes to the wrong tent or kids sleep-walk or someone thought your bikes are OFO or Obike.

– Families might like to camp within 10 minutes walk to toilets, in case you need the loo at 3am

– Bring your camping permit with you, in case Police spot checks.
– Standby socks and pants or spare blanket in case weather turns cold

– Light sleeper bring ear plugs along. We were entertained by Aloha’s Karaoke till 2am and overly friendly (and loud neighbours) who were fishing till 3am!

– Wake up earlier the next day (like 5.45am) to catch a glorious sunrise

** Camping and hiking list for your reference.

Items to bring for camping
Items to bring for camping

 

First timers will struggle to setup a tent, it is not intuitive for me and there are no user manual.  You might take up to 60 minutes for first setup.

We had to hone our pitching skills at a Sengkang knoll before we went LIVE at Pasir Ris :p

Camping gear Singapore
Camping gear Singapore

Camping In Singapore had not cross our mind earlier, until we saw Tan family’s camping village! (read here and their helpful FAQs here). Hope to join them one day 🙂

– Pop by our first camping experience at White Sands shopping mall here
– More photos uploaded on Facebook album
– Instagram itinerary hashtag #skbCamping

Camping In Singapore is a FUN experience for our whole family. We would like to try camping at East Coast Park or Sentosa (available during 2017 Mar holidays) next.

 

Try water bomb during your next camping Fun water episode here 🙂

High Achievers Holiday Camps

During the Nov and Dec school holidays, High Achievers (HA) will organise camps to toughen up the kiddos. Daddy, together with Winston and Carolyn, was invited to trial High Achievers‘ D.A.R.E outdoor campsite at Jalan Bahtera (also known as Sarimbun scout campsite).

Through outdoor activities like kayaking, wall climbing, and even campfire. HA hopes to build up confidence, independence, resiliency and leadership skills into the young ones.

To quote from High Achievers :
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Make the best of your school holidays with the High Achievers’ D.A.R.E. (Do, Apply, Reflect, Excel) Camps. Based on the renowned experiential learning method of Do, Reflect & Apply and combined with the best of outdoor education, participants achieve Resilience, Concentration, Confidence and Life Skills.

The challengers today might not be so “young” anymore, but we are eager to relieve our childhood dreams explore what the kids will be experiencing during their camps.

With the wall facing us, we have to set our own Goal. Joe emphasis the importance of setting goals before we embark on our journeys. With a Goal in mind, we know our purpose, we persevere, and we motivate ourselves to reach higher peaks.

Under the guidance of our instructors (Nicholas, Algin and Joe, first photo black-polos from left to right), we take the first vertical stride. The wall is 18m (seven storeys) high, but when you are dangling halfway and looking down, it definitely feels much higher !

Mistakes are fine, it is more important to pick ourselves up and learn from the experience.

It is harder to discuss milestones with younger kids, so experienced instructors will bring the message across from another perspective. Example if students face difficulty with homework, instructors will provide clues on how students can better cope with their homework.

Did Daddy mention some of the grips are purposely loosen, which makes it almost impossible to grip! We are forced to navigate another path.

Instructors will shout instructions from below, “Aim for the orange rock on your right!”, “Lift your left leg higher!”. YES, Daddy heard them, and know where he wanted to reach, but somehow, the limbs refuse to coordinate !

After the climb, we have a debrief and participants are encouraged to narrate their own experience. In short :
– Daddy had an initial path (plan), but things did not work out.
– It is normal to encounter delays and detours.
– Thanks to friends encouragement and our own perseverance, we can still achieve our objective.

From the drawings, our instructors can tell us about our strong and weak points, and how we can improve our character.

We get to tour around the camp facility. Do not expect any creature comfort like aircon or hot shower :p

They call this the PlayPen, but Daddy is sure it will not be so Fun when you are stuck up there. We have to work as a two-man team to haul each other to the top, then overcome the obstacles in midair.

The three challengers decided unanimously to skip PlayPen, so that future participants will not get any spoiler-alerts :p

Daddy chided Wen Wei and Wen Kang for not trying hard enough at their Bedok rock wall adventure. Today, Daddy almost could not reach his first objective ooops. Daddy is guilty of giving too little credits to the kids.

We are sure your kids will fare better than us, and the various camps schedules are available at High Achievers’ website.

Different criteria for different age groups.

If you have more questions, do contact High Achievers :
– Web http://www.highachievers.com.sg
– Facebook http://www.facebook.com/camphighachievers
– Direct 6254 0747

..otherwise click for more climbing photos at our fanpage.

We would like to take this opportunity to thanks the team from High Achievers for DARing us, and SomeKindOfWonderful for the event coordination.

..ps..
From now till end 30Sep, take a photo of yourself on High Achievers’ 3D obstacle floor image at the following shopping centres (Northpoint, Bedok Point, or Yew Tee Point) and stand to win a camp package worth $850.