Pulau Ubin, anyone?

On 24^th September, we made a trip to Pulau Ubin.  It was eons ago when I last step foot on the island.  It was much longer for my hubby.  Back then, it was not that crowded.  Well, not exactly that long ago, maybe 10 years back?  The feeling was really different compared to this time.  Perhaps the scene 10 years ago was a little more rustic.  The jetty at Changi Point was definitely more rustic back then.  Now it is more organized and user-friendly, I would say.  The basement where you take a bumboat is sheltered and well ventilate. 10 years ago, there was no shelter.  The bumboat queue is clearly indicated, that means you really do not have much of a chance of boarding a boat heading for another direction. 

That much said, Pulau Ubin, is pretty much the island I left it 10 years ago.  The public jetty where you alight, the welcome sign at the end of the jetty, and the bustling cluster of bicycle rental shops just a stone’s throw away from the jetty.

What inspired a trip to this island was the show Ubin Boy.  My girl and I used to watch it on our local channel "okto" everyday at 4.30pm.  It’s not showing now, but it was an interesting serial featuring how a city boy, used to all his modern day comforts, had to come to terms with life’s reality.  His Dad had lost his well-paying job and could not afford an overseas trip.  To make up for it, his Dad arranged for an “across the sea” trip to let him stay with his Ah Ma at Pulau Ubin.  Get the picture?  Haha!  The serial featured all the adventures he had there, adjusting to the dirty, smelly and sweaty countryside life and the slightly “sua gu” cousin.  We enjoyed the show really much, and my girl was excited about making the trip. 

When we arrived at the island, me, being one who could not leave myself to chances and tread about the island blindly, headed straight for the information kiosk for a map.  Unfortunately, this was what greeted me at the now empty information kiosk.

I almost freaked out!  I don’t want to roam about the island not knowing where I am heading.  Well, we knew we were heading for the Chek Jawa Wetlands but in which direction?!  Frankly speaking, on hindsight, I am quite happy that we didn’t have a map.  Otherwise we would be busy following the map and missing out on the sights along the route we took.  In fact, the island has proper and very visible signage along the way to Chek Jawa, so you really couldn’t get lost; of course provided silly things like roaming off the main road is averted. 

And so, our family of four made our way to Chek Jawa on foot.  Yes, on foot!  It was hot!  The sun was shining strongly and brightly!  Way too strong and bright, but we took it all.  As we walked further into the island and away from the jetty, images of kampong life in the 70s (as I knew it) appeared before us.  A narrow street flanked by shops on both sides leading to the kampong square. 

Kampong square

Narrow street flanked by shops on side

Sleepy doggies

Dogs lazing around soaking up the morning sun looked just so countryside; a scene my kids rarely get a sight of back in our city home.  In fact, I believe city dwellers like us would be shooing the kids far away lest these dogs offer some rabies-ridden bites!  

Following a route, which I later found is the “Tree Trial Route”, we moved along to Chek Jawa.  This route immediately offers plants that bear fruits common to our daily palate, but we never knew how the trees looked like.  The kids were excited to see the papaya, cocoa, jackfruit, banana and star fruit trees.  Here are shots of the fruits and trees that made us gawked!

Papaya

Cocoa

Jackfruit

Banana

Star fruit

The kids’ spirits were high as we chattered, “oh” and “wah” at all the sights our eyes laid on.  Just slightly after the star fruit tree, the road forked with the one on the left sloping upwards to somewhere.   I reckoned since we were on an adventure, then let’s venture to some “unknown”!  The kids loved the idea, and the hubby, averse to roads sloping upwards, resigned to his fate.  At the end of this short, gentle gradient was this blue house.  It was the house in which the main character in Ubin Boy stayed with his Ah Ma.  Unfortunately, it was locked and fenced away, so we couldn’t peek inside.  The sight of it reminded me of my childhood when I stayed with my grandfather in a kampong, in an old attap house.  This one has a zinc rooftop, a more modern type than my grandfather’s attap rooftop.

We descended the slope (the hubby is happier with descending) and the next house along our route is the Village Head’s house.  In the older days when Pulau Ubin still had residents, this was where, as the name goes, the Village Head used to live.  I read somewhere that the Village Head’s son is now living there, and selling drinks to visitors.  I guess that must be true as we saw this sign and an old gentleman (guess it’s the son) sitting at the front porch.  

There’s the family cat too, which woke up from its beauty sleep and walked over to check out four visitors staring at their house.

This kitty headed straight for the two kids, almost freaking them out!  It was quite a funny sight to see them standing frozen not knowing what to do, but at the same time, a pretty sad thing too as we get too obsessed with the concept of sanitary (I was at the side saying “don’t touch it, it’s dirty!”).  When I was a child, I would have rushed up to this fur ball and hugged it.  But then, I know my Mum would have hollered at me to “throw that ball of ticks away!” just as I had warned my children not have any physical contact with it.  Hehe…  Another set that appeared in Ubin Boy which can still be seen here on Pulau Ubin, is this typical Malay stilt house.  In the story, a Malay girl named Bib, came to stay with her grandfather for the school holidays as her parents were busy at work.  When we got to this house, there was an elderly couple at the premise.  The old lady was sweeping away dry leaves at the backyard, and the elderly man was sheltering himself from the sweltering heat at the side porch.  

Stilt house

When I was clicking my camera away, I was in full view of the two elderly.  I’d love to be more discrete but hey, we were really out in the open!  No trees for me to hide behind!  Half the time, I was so worried that the old lady would come brandishing her broom at me!  But, I guess they are used to curious visitors snapping their cameras away, so I was intact and safe.

By this time, the heat had really built up from the cheery Monsieur Sun, and the novelty of the trip was silently creeping away.  The kids, especially the Tiny Man, were heating up and tired.  Look at him, all the telltale signs of some whining cooking up in the Tiny Man’s head.

We were almost half way to Chek Jawa, and frankly, I was pretty impressed with their willingness to walk so far.  And so, using lots of distraction by pointing out the surrounding and a healthy pinch of cajoling, we moved on, now trudging, no longer walking briskly.  For me, I could not resist snapping more pictures of the scenery, especially this one, where the peaceful surrounding offered some cleansing to the mind, despite a rapidly building irritation in the form of a whiny Tiny Man. 

As he sulked, complained and trudged along, which inevitably sent the lava in me boiling, a timely distraction appeared!  It was an orange cockroach.  Saw it scuttled towards the leave trying to hide!  The little creature must be thinking:"I don’t see the humans, there’s no danger!"

This cockroach looked orange, but I think it is 
probably anaemic from living in darkness.

About 30 minutes after this point, we finally arrived at Chek Jawa Wetlands.  We did not sign up for any walks, but ventured on our own following the boardwalk.  It wasn’t too difficult; in fact, it was idiot proof.  There are two boardwalks, Mangrove Boardwalk and Coastal Boardwalk, and these two join up at a juncture.  We chose the direction of Mangrove Boardwalk.

First stop for us was to climb up the Jejawi Tower.  The view at the top was fantastic!  It was calming to see the sea of green underneath you, though rather unnerving for those not accustomed to heights. 

We rested for a while at the viewing tower.  Tiny Man’s mood improved a little with the view.  Not wanting him to descend into another sulking spell, we left the tower and continued with our boardwalk.  Along the way, we spotted some interesting plants and creatures that got the kids pretty excited.  There were the attap palm, the one that produces chewy attap chee in our ice-kacang and chendol.  

Palm attap

We saw mangrove dwelling crabs too.  

Can you see me?

One of the signs mentioned that we could spot mangrove lobster and I told my girl to open her eyes wide to keep a lookout for the lobster.  This was what she did!

Why do children like to take you literally 
when you least expect it?

Unfortunately, we could not find any lobster despite the "widened" eyes but we saw more crabs and tons of mud-skippers at the Seagrass Lagoon.  From the Mangrove Boardwalk we moved onto the Coastal Boardwalk after clearing the Seagrass Lagoon stretch.  Over here, the heat was quite unbearable as we were really walking along the coastline, on top of the sea.  The seawater reflected the strong sunlight, making the rays bounce into our exposed skin.  And it was here that the whining mode set in on the Tiny Man again.  We could not turn back to end the walk, as it would be quite a walk back.  So the only sensible thing to do would be to move on.  Actually, not just the little guy but everyone’s tired.  We had been walking for the past 1.5 hours since we left the jetty!  As if to protest against this unnecessary amount of pounding on the feet, hubby’s sole gave way!  

The little unexpected things in life...

We finished up the rest of the boardwalk in silence, Tiny Man probably cooking up a storm of whines in his head.  Along the way, I suggested to hubby to consider taking the van back to the jetty.  Actually, the island has vans for rental (much like taxis) but we were not sure of the charges (heard it’s negotiable).  So back at the visitor centre at the entrance to the wetland, we spotted a van just emptying its passengers.  Walked up to the driver and asked how much.  What I heard shocked me so much that I burst out laughing!  $10 per person for a ride back to the jetty!  We have four, so that means $40!  Nope, we decided to walk, thank you very much sir!  Poor kids, sweet kids!  They did not protest (though the Tiny Man sighed and sulked) when we broke the news to them that we will be … continuing with our walk! 

To reward them for their fantastic performance, I told the kids that we’d have coconuts once we get back to the kampong square.  And this was their reaction.  Apparently, the hubby felt inspired too!

In total, this walk took us roughly 3 hours round trip from the jetty.  It was quite an achievement, considering the heat and their age.  I am used to walking long distances but the kids are not.  This trip gave me the opportunity to see the physical resilience my young ones have.  It was really heartening to feel their satisfaction and relief when we finally reached the kampong square.  The walk gave the kids three hours to test my patience.   Reflecting on the trip as I write this, I think it gave me precious time to bond with them in a more relaxed way.  I couldn’t have been too patient with them at home when I am perpetually caught up with housework, executing activities like fetching the kids, coaching them in their homework and prepare meals, all in clockwork manner.  

We had coconut as promised; that perked them up a lot.  And as it was threatening to rain (funny how cheery the sun was as we slogged along the path to Chek Jawa and back), we hastened to board the next bumboat back to mainland Singapore.

A final shot, a tired sweetheart, a happily revived Tiny Man.

Will the kids do this again? I am not sure, but the next time we visit, we’ll try cycling.  And kids, there are slopes, up and down.  So be warned!