This little well known island, on the upper east side of Singapore is a proper trip back down what Singapore might have been like, before there were fast cars, fancy speed boats, condos or fancy luxury brands. With an area of 1020 hectares, Pulau Ubin is scattered with long term residents, who have lived through the modern ages of what Singapore is today. A true escape from city life.
GETTING THERE:Head to Changi Village , find the Subway restaurant, and opposite is a big car park and there you will find Changi Point Ferry Terminal. Bingo! the rest is common sense!
HISTORY: “Pulau Ubin, literally means Tile Island, according to the Malay and Indonesian dictionaries, where ‘ubin ‘ means tile. It was also known as Pulau Batu Ubin ( Granite Tile Island ) to the local Malays and “Chieo Suar” ( Stone Hill ) to the older Chinese generation in Fukien dialect. In the early 20th Century, the granite were quarried supplying to the building industry, in the form of blocks , slabs and tiles for floors and walls. The original causeway from Singapore to Malaysia was built in 1923, using the granite from Pulau Ubin.” (http://www.pulauubin.com.sg/)
THINGS TO DO: Cycle, Kayak, Fishing
COSTS: What I loved about doing something different on this little island was that all it cost was $4.50 (It costs one way $2.50 per passenger and $2.00 per bicycle.) to take the ride over on the bum boats with my bike. Of course if you don’t have a bike, they rent out many on the island S$5.00 to S$15.00 per day, which is the best way to travel around and check out the different tracks! Another option is to rent a kayak and go for a paddle!
For an alternative experience but costs roughly S$60 +++ Check out http://ubinkayak.com that gives you a good idea of the costs and time taken to kayak in the mangroves.
Tip 1: Go early! I was on the island before 9am, rode for 2 hours and was out by 1130am, by which time all the tourists started to flood the docks and drink/food stalls. Don’t go for the tandem bikes, unless one of you really can’t ride. We passed by many cyclists struggling on some of the hills and tracks!
The ride itself, on the easy track, had plenty of hills and some of the down hills were pretty fast and exciting with sweeping corners, but watch out for other keen adventurous mountain bikers jumping and hopping over bridges at double time speed!
The island itself had lovely quarries, with stalks, lazing around looking nonchalant. There were also plenty of Mangroves with remnants of past inhabitants.
Tip 2: Bring Mosquito repellent and spray the hell out of the bottle. I don’t think the mosquito statistics extends from Singapore to Ubin, so DON’T stand around any longer than 10minutes, and if so, be prepared to be a tasty blood buffet!
It’s hard to get lost, but be share to bring your own water be it in a bottle or water pack, if you decided to travel to the furthest corners. Most of the drink stalls are at the jetty area , with a few random stall like Ah Ma Drink stall and an authentic old auntie even comes out to chop up some coconuts for your liking! My fellow cyclists stopped off and had a quick plate of mee rebus before leaving.
One thing is for sure though; I will be back again, in the near future, setting out to conquer those harder track.