Singapore forum

Ive never spent more than 3 days at a time in Singapore so cant say much but a friend of mine lived there for a few years and told me a little.

About 25% on singapores' land area is forest and nature reserves - all reserves are easy to get to with buses. She said for an unusual 'trek' you can do the Southern Ridges Walk which is something like 9km of man made walkways and 4 large parks, in the hills and pockets of forest/jungle but also parts of the city interjecting she said its quite surreal at times - can be a very interesting and relaxing way to spend 4+ hours (if you take it easy) without leaving the city. I found this on it http://wikitravel.org/en/Southern_Ridges_Walk

I know you can get to Bintan in Indonesia by ferry (about 50-60 minute trip) its in the Riua Islands, its kind of built up though, and quite upmarket most of the time but also alot of cheaper places to stay around the group of islands. She used to spend week/2 week breaks there from the city.

Its very easy by bus or train to go into peninsular malaysia, only takes 5 hours to reach all Kuala Lumpur, so its all very accessible.

places within Singapore other than those 3 in the Travelfish feature: WildSingapore
(there are more, but sealed off within huge military training areas, including many of the fishing, camping & durian-picking spots my parents' generation used to enjoy).

if you are into biodiversity, consider:
Chek Jawa (on Pulau Ubin) - see here & here
Reef Walk (depends on low tide timings) - see here

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve mentioned in the feature - the trails that diverge from the main route to the summit are quieter & more interesting (e.g. marked in green on this map.

Southern Ridges mentioned in #2 - see here; for background on (mostly WW2-related) history see here & here

for Malaysia, apart from Cameron Highlands there's also Fraser's Hill (birdwatching & walking trails), Endau Rompin National Park & Taman Negara.