I love it when family and friends stay with us whilst they are in Singapore but quite often they come for a very short period of time as they are often on their way to or from another destination like Australia or new Zealand. With only limited time visitors tend to all want to see Singapore's most famous sights; the Gardens by The Bay, Marina Bay Sands and Chinatown and amazing those these places are, after 4 years of living here I have visited them numerous times!
So it was wonderful when great friends of ours came to stay for a whole week. This gave us plenty of time to not only see the major sights but then some less visited places. They also wanted to see the more natural side of Singapore, so whilst Papa T and DN went sailing with our friends at Changi Sailing Club, KN and I took a visit to Pulau Ubin, a small Singapore island that is one of the last truly rural areas left in Singapore.
We went to Changi Point Ferry Terminal and caught the next 'bumboat', a small rustic looking boat that takes 10-12 passengers on the 15 minute trip across the busy stretch of water between the mainland and the island,
At only $3 per person the boat trip seems a bargain and the sense of relaxation on leaving the modern world behind you intensifies the closer you get to Ubin
Once across we walked a short distance through the 'village' where many stores compete to rent bikes to the day visitors. I headed for my favourite stall, where we chose ourselves a bike and then cycled it around the small open area testing that its brakes and gears actually worked (not always the case with all the bikes on offer)
Then we were off, following the trails around the island. There are only a few National Parks service vehicles allowed on the island so with car free roads it's a joy cycling along, through the jungle and along the sunlit open areas
After a short cycle we turned down a small track which I can't recall spotting on previous trips around Ubin, there were flags on either side of the track, they seemed to be inviting us on. We arrived at Fo Shan Ting Da Bo Gong Temple
A little further on we came to a shrine with prayer wheels nearby and a canopy of prayer flags
Hundreds of prayer flags fluttered from the shrine and across a small bridge that took us to the main temple
Here was a large statue of a seated Buddha
We left the temple and cycled on continuing our exploring and soon came to another temple, this time it was a Hokkien temple
with a fierce tiger guarding an incense bowl in a domed grotto
and even more tiger statues in another grotto
At the back of the shrine were figures of Fu, Lu and Shou, known as the Three Star Gods and popular as lucky symbols and wealth deities
Cycling on we followed a track heading uphill and came to a lovely viewpoint above a lake formed after quarrying of granite stone which was used for make concrete and in land reclamation, we could see several eagles flying high above
Back down the hill and on flatter terrain and having cycled for a couple of hours we were by now very hot, sweaty and thirsty and happily saw this enticing sign "OH JEH YEH YOU SO LIKE THAT BUY A DRINK LA Thanks"
Many enterprising residents of Pulau Ubin sell drinks and sometimes ice cream from their homes, without mains electricity generators are used to power any electrical appliances including fridges and fans
Once he had served us this elderly gentleman went back to his task of trimming what looked a bit like dandelion roots, he didn't speak any english but when I looked curious and asked if these roots were ginseng, he nodded and repeated ginseng
He had trays of these roots drying in the sun
Rested and refreshed we carried on to the eastern side of the island where the Chek Jawa wetland area meets the sea. Here a large boardwalk has been built where at low tide the mudflats are exposed along with the weird and wonderful wildlife that lives in the mudflats (see previous blog -Chek Jawa Wetlands- Pulau Ubin May 2015)
This time the tide was high so we couldn't see any amazing emerald green carpet anemones, but we enjoyed the sea view
Coming inland are the mangroves
and Nipah palms with their large fruiting heads. The seeds inside are used in local desserts as jelly like sweets
There's lots of wildlife on Pulau Ubin and we had seen plenty of squirrels, kingfishers and Macaque monkeys but it wasn't until we were near the mangrove wetland area that we caught a glimpse of a hornbill
and sniffing around for any food left in bikes were a couple of wild boar
After several hours we had explored a large part of the island and were pretty tired so headed back to the village where we had a delicious but very late lunch at the local seafood cafe overlooking the jetty
It feels like you have stepped back in time when you land on Pulau Ubin, it's nature rich land and tranquility is a welcome antidote to living in one of the world's busiest cities and my friend was delighted to see a completely different side to Singapore and one that not many visitors get to see
