My Little Adventure in Ubin

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There seems to be this "healthy living" trend now in my office building and everyone seems to be going for healthy lifestyle activities such as jogging, cycling, bowling etc of late. So I also volunteered to coordinate a little trip to Pulau Ubin. At first, it was a bit disappointing because only a few could come along but then I later rationalized that Ubin might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Anyway, I had previously blogged about how I was being addicted to retreats and liked being in rustic Changi Village. Little would I imagine that I would be back in Changi Village again so soon. This is one place which really reminds me of Singapore in the olden days. "This place really reminds me of Singapore in the 70s" remarked one of my colleagues just as we were waiting for our other colleagues to come at the Changi Point Ferry Terminal. Soon after, we will be on our way to be transported back into time to Singapore in the 60s; this was just how many have described Ubin to be...



Walkabout in Rustic Changi Village
We arrived at Changi Point Ferry Terminal at 9.30am and while waiting for our other colleagues, we took a little walk around Changi Village and visited The Salvation Army's little thrift store there... a tiny little store filled with people and little knick knacks... we then adjourned to the food centre for a simple breakfast; some mang zhang kueh and chwee kueh, just before the rest of the "expedition team" arrived. Armed with some light snacks, our water bottles, insect repellants and $2 for the ride back in time in hand, we headed for the ferry terminal.

Right into Ubin Town
Our bumboat "bummed" right into Ubin just minutes later and there to greet us was the rhino rock, just by the left side of the jetty. Some said that it looked like a rhino but from how I looked at it, it seemed more like a dog. First stop: the NParks Info Kiosk for the map and some advise on touring the island. The NParks staff was nice enough to guide us through highlighting to us the upslope areas and areas with earth trails. I remember hearing him say "You can finish the whole island on bike in just about 2 hours" and I telling myself "Hmm... not me :)"

Off to rent our bikes and just as we entered town, which was like just a few steps away from the info kiosk, we were soon approached by people trying to get us to rent their bikes... they wouldn't persistent but then just didn't know which stall to go to... all the bikes looked the same... anyway, renting a bike in Ubin is real cheap... you can get a bike for under $10 for a whole day versus $6-8 per hour at East Coast. Just before setting off, the bike rental was nice enough to hand us a hand-drawn map of Ubin, which pales in comparison with the colourful printed map by NParks, but had all the small roads marked out (or at least according to her). Well, she is a nice lady but then thinking back, her bikes are not that good at all, keep having problems with my gear despite being told that these are new bikes.

Tour of Eastern Ubin
We started by heading East back towards the NParks Info Kiosk and also the Police Post. We stopped briefly and prayed for a safe journey. Just as we passed the police post, we see a large banyan tree growing over what was supposed to be a breadmaking oven, believed to be used by a french family to make bread for sale on ubin some 100 years ago. We then entered the sensory trail through a small entrance on our ride and the alluring smell of tonnes and tonnes of pandan leave, growing at waist level, welcomed us as we pushed our bikes through. We also saw a scarecrow here and frankly, this is the first time I came up close and person with a scarecrow. Of course, we took the opportunity for a picture moment with Mr. Scarecrow (not knowing there are more handsome ones up ahead :D). We soon found the Secret Garden which had plants such as mint, tobacco, cotton, laksa leaves etc. This was also where one of my female colleagues screamed when she encountered a couple of monitor lizards near the bamboo shoots. We continued onto Mamam Beach, passing by the Village Headman's house, some Malay houses (one with a gigantic cookie monster) and a closed path to Chek Jawa. Access to Chek Jawa is by booking only and tours are conducted during low tide periods... bookings open every quarter but spaces get snapped up very soon after opening. There was also supposed to be a unqiue pre-war English Cottage called House No. 1 somewhere near but we didn't really find it. According to some accounts on the internet, the Village Headman had an ostrich in his backyard. The ostrich came in a pair to Ubin but after its other half died after eating parts of a bicycle, the suriving ostrich was presented to the headman by the Ubin Resort as a gift. The osctrich has since been taken out from the island during the bird flu endemic as a precautionary measure.

At the end of Mamam beach, the paved road came to an end. After calling on the washrooms, we decided to take the earth trail near Sugei Mamam and passed by the Orchid Garden where there was supposed to be a wild boar and parrots but somehow we missed it again. The earth trails brought us back to the paved trail along Jalan Ubin. By this time, I was struggling with my "defiant" bike and we decided to cycle back to change my bike since my gear was giving me problem and cycling to the rougher terrain in the west with this bike is pure suicidal.

Towards Northern Ubin
Once at the town, we struggled abit whether we should settle down for lunch but the group decided we will proceed on to visit the northern part of Ubin where Noordin Beach lie; we wanted to cycle past some of the sluice gates. We however, took the wrong turn and turned back down towards the town, passing Pekan Quarry, turning out to the gravel path to Jelutong Campsite before rejoining back the paved road near the site of the old community centre. By this time, some of us were famished and we decided to just stop and take lunch.

Makan!
We took lunch at Ubin First Stop Restaurant with a temple behind it and looking the wayang stage in the town. The Ubin First Stop Restaurant is housed in the building where the Maternity and Child Health Clinic which was closed in 1987 when the number of residents dwindled as quarrying operations stopped. Here you can find interesting specialities including wild boar meat, which I was quite shocked to find. The first and last time I had wild boar meat was in my cell groups' cycling trip to Pengerang. Lunch there was superb and we had mixed seafood soup, sambal kangkong, black pepper beef and steamed prawns. The chilli sauce was a hit with all of us and we loved the sambal in the sambal kangkong... the prawn was also very fresh and firm... really makes the prawns we have in mainland look like kid's stuff. The total bill came up to $11 per pax... Delicious, cheap and satisfying.

Something that really impressed me was how friendly the people of Ubin were. Not only were they friendly to visitors, they also did business amicably and the lady from the other stall opposite the road can even come over to ask us if we wanted coconut juice. With all the cycling, someone soon had a sugar craving and wanted ice kachang. Can't find, so we tried to ask whether is there ice cream, the lady boss pointed to the store opposite the road and we went to ask but ice cream was sold out, so we settled for cut fruits... So there we are, sitting in the restaurant after a satisfying meal, eating cut fruits with friendly dogs surrounding you, expecting some "donation" of leftovers... oh, a word of advise, do not feed the dogs or else you will soon find yourself surrounded by the dog's friends and friends' friends... Though the dogs were a friendly bunch, we soon had the lady boss coming to our rescue. All she did was just clapped her hands and the dogs just seemed to know what to do and dispersed.

Tour of Western Ubin
It was already 2 by the time we finished lunch and we decided to finish the west part of the island and visit the German Girl's Shrine just before we call it a day. The western part of the island is a little challenging. Just after passing the sluice gate, we came to the sides of Ubin Quarry where we were treated to a tranquil view of the quarry. There were even benches placed there for you to take a breather and enjoy the view.

Ubin Quarry

By this time, the sky was getting a bit cranky and it was getting darker, so we decided to pressed on to the Shrine. We cycled past the MCC Resort and came to a fork road, with the right road leading to the Thai temple and the left road leading to gravel path to the German Girl's Shrine. According to legends, the shrine is supposed to hold the remains of a German girl who died in 1914 while running away fomr the British who came to take over the plantation. She fell off a steep cliff and her body was found the next day covered in ants. She was buried at the beach where she was found but villagers keep seeing her ghost. So her remains were moved to a nearby Chinese Shrine and kept in an urn. It seems that her remains were looted and the urn remains.

Just as we were leaving from the Shrine, we noticed some cyclist ahead of us and decided to go check out up ahead. The path came to an end but with a nice view of a "wall of trees" with a gap in the middle. This, I suppose is the Ketam Channel and through the gap we can see some buildings on the other side. Took some photos and we quickly made our way back to town.

Ketam Channel

Thanksgiving for a Blessed Trip
All in all, it was a wonderful day out to Ubin and although it threatened to rain at a point in time, it did not even rained. We were blessed with fine weather and it is also a good thing noone was injured during the trip. Remember someone telling me that at least someone will get injured whenever there are trips to Ubin. This was also the first time I had to pray in a group... was "volunteered" to pray for the group before cycling begins and also to say grace... well at least a good start considering I am still so shy about praying in groups.

Once we reached mainland, my colleague, who had the sugar craving, immediately rushed to this ice-cream uncle and bought ice-cream. Just before leaving, we rewarded ourselves to cold drinks, rojak and char tau kway.

Was real exhausted by the time I reached home and just fell on my bed and slept through the evening. Seems like my colleague is quite on about the next trip going over to Pengerang but that is a whole 20km of cycling on road... not very confident even though I have been there before :)