Pulau Ubin

Sunday, 06/19/2011, Patrick, Gitt, Nicole and I ventured to Pulau Ubin for some mounting biking fun. Pulau Ubin is a small island off of Singapore which is basically a nature reserve with a few temples and locals living without electric. The treck to Pulau Ubin was a bit long-we had to travel the entire lenth of the EW MRT line, then take bus 89 to the Changi Ferry Terminal, then finally take a short ferry ride to the island. Unfortunately, we didn’t get started until about Noon, so we only had a ½ day there, but it was definitely my favorite activity that we’ve done in Singapore thus far.

Right as you get off the ferry, there is a small street with lots of corrogated metal bike rental shops and a few restaurants—it really seemed like a 3rd world Country in comparison to Singapore. After renting bikes, we heading off in the direction of the Check Java Wetlands. As we walk along the boardwalk in the wetlands we came across many species of crabs, saw mangrove trees, and climbed up the Jyawi Viewing tower to get an amazing view of the island. The Wetland board walk then merged into the coastal walk—which had more spectacular views and the Jawa Visitor center, which was a 1930s quaint little cottage.

From the Jawa Visitor center, we road on some of the Island’s biking trails and came across some wild bore and a group of monkeys—great for photo ops . As we continued riding throughout the day, we came across a corrogated metal village selling cold drinks and the remains of a granite quarry (apparantely Ubin means granite). The last thing we saw just before we had to return the bikes was the Pulau Ubin Fo Shast Ting Da Bo Dong Temple—this was the first buddist temple we got to walk around in so we made some offerings and lit incents.

After returning the bikes, we were quite hungry from the days worth of riding so we decided to eat at one of the Local restaurants. Gitt and I shared an order of Chili Crab—it’s one of the things that I’ve been wanting to try since I got here and I have to say it totally lived up to the hype. The photos of me below will justify how much I enjoyed the Chili Crab.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been in Singapore for a little over a week now. I’ve really enjoyed myself so far and I am so thankful I was given this opportunity to travel and research here.