Nancy’s Big Adventure

I spent the day on the island of Pulau Ubin, the last ‘kampung’ (village) in Singapore.  Ubin is a great day trip spent walking or pedaling on rustic roads and hiking shady trails and checking out secluded beaches.

The only way to get to Pulau Ubin from the main island of Singapore is a 15-minute bumboat ride from the Changi Village jetty at the affordable cost of $2.  In order for his trip to be worth his while, the boatman will not leave until there is a minimum of 12 passengers. Fortunately, we did not have to wait for long before we had the right number.

The best way to get around is on a bicycle, which you can rent for $2/day from the shops as you get off the jetty. One of the current popular tourist attractions on the island is Tanjung Chek Jawa. A previous coral reef about 5,000 years ago, Chek Jawa can be said to be virtually unspoilt, with a variety of marine wildlife comparable to other islands, such as sea hares (large molluscs), sea squirts. octopuses, starfishes, sand dollars, a variety of fishes, sea sponges, cuttlefishes, and sea slugs.

The people who live on Ubin are friendly and unassuming. Time appears to have frozen (for a while) here, even though it’s just a few minutes away from the city.  My goal for the day was to do nothing, absolutely nothing, until I have to return to the airport for my (very early) morning flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand.  And I succeeded.

Please google Pulau Ubin if you get a chance. Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 7:45 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.