We had the most awesome day trip today – to Pulau Ubin, a small island eight kilometers long, just off the northeastern shore of Singapore, close to Changi Airport. We’d been planning to go there for a long time, and some earlier plans to go there were aborted due to weather, or people falling ill, but today we finally went. Good thing too – the weather was not too hot, breezy, partially cloudy, perfect for an outing.
We left the house by about 9:00, got there at 9:30, got on the boat, and headed out. I felt great – we were cutting away from the shore, the sun was strong, the wind, the water spraying, boat activity, planes flying overhead, a dynamic Singapore and not the drone-filled business that you normally experience. Great!
Arrived in Pulau Ubin, grooved on the cool coastline, the interesting old village shops, and got a map of the place. Â The weather was great! We jumped on the bikes and got going along the roads. The jungle was great and beautiful. The village houses were picturesque and lovely. We made a few friends among the people we saw regularly at the various spots we went to, and the mood was fun. At one point we found “the path less travelled” and went along and found a strange beach with lots of garbage washed onto shore, but also some interesting sea creatures – crabs, hermit crabs, sea slugs. Went out to walk into this interesting intertidal area that has a mangrove forest, an observation tower, and a coastal boardwalk. Great setup – going to Pulau Ubin felt like a replacement for going to Bali. Saw so much interesting vegetation, saw mudskippers, saw a monitor lizard, saw a huge spider catch a fly in its web and eat it (ewwwwww!!!). Since we were close to Changi Airport, we took lots of pictures of planes landing. At the end of the trip, Zen was pretty tired, so we only spent four hours riding around. We returned our bicycles and went to drink beer and eat some yummy local snacks at a seaside restaurant with a great view of the main Singapore island and great sea breezes. We observed some of the people we’d seen around the island that day in their relaxed eating state, including the older couple that had commented on the spiders when we were there, the teenage girl with no neck, and a few others. What a great experience!
Headed back to Changi Village in the “Jesus is the answer” boat. When we arrived at Pulau Ubin we had to pass through security, which seemed odd for a domestic transfer, but the hired security told us that they’re x-raying baggage to look for weapons, like kris swords, that are brought into Singapore from Malaysia. The security guards had a cat, so we were joking that it was a security cat. Took a cab back to Bukit Timah, and chilled out. I did blog stuff, swam, hung out, we had dinner and watched Fantastic Mister Fox. Â Heh heh… Fantastic.
Helped Zen today write a blog post about the interesting things that he’s experienced recently – visitors from the US, friends from Taiwan coming over (two separate visits), a school Fun Day, the Monkey Game, missed flights, clownfish, the Fantastic Mister Fox, and – of course – the visit to Pulau Ubin.
- cialis best place to buy
Goin' Pulau Ubin way
No Fighting!
Naoko posing with 747
Muddy mudskipper snacking on a shrimp
Oh Lonesome Tree
On the Boardwalk, with 747 (Part 1)
On the Boardwalk, with 747 (Part 2)
Mr Monitor Lizard having a sun-bath on the forest path
Pointing at Mr Monitor Lizard having a sun-bath on the forest path
Help me, I'm falling...
This is the beautiful spot where Zen told us he was soooo sleeeepy...
Fish pond
The "Jesus Is The Answer" bum boat, going back to the main island
Zen in command