Cycling at Pulau Ubin, a Natural treasure…
Reading and hearing so many interesting things about Pulau Ubin made it more then a desire to visit it… Pulau Ubin is Singapore’s treasure island… What brings people to Pulau Ubin is mainly biking, hiking, weekend jogging, bird watching, culture, rest and a beautiful of nature… To get at Pulau Ubin means taking a bumboat at Changi Village… The friendly skipper from the small bumboat make the trip when 12 people want to cross… For a small fee of SG$ 2,50 pp we hop on the bumboat for pleasant trip to Pulau Ubin…
About 15 minutes later we dock at the islands small port… The welcome sign is there to greet us… We make our way to the bicycle rentals… The small village is next to the port… Off the pier to the left we go… The small street has several bicycle rental shops, places to eat and drink… With 33*c here its wise to take some drinks with you… My friend and me here for discovering the island by bike… For this trip we want to rent 2 bicycles… There is choice enough, prices vary from sg$2,- to sg$20,-… We find 2 great bikes and with an island map given by the rental and on our way we go…
Our first heading is to the Tanjog Chek Jawa wetlands… Roads on Palau Ubin are very good… Only a few cars and mini busses on this small and heavy forested island… This island has a small community of inhabitants… Pulau Ubin means “Granite Island”. Starting from 1825 the granite quarries provided labor for the early local settlers… Much of this granite was needed for Singapore’s early developments… In the 1970’s the granite quarries were closed… So much for the islands history…
While cycling we take the time to admire the beautiful, surprising nature of this island… Near the road we spot some Kampong houses… The home’s of the islands inhabitants… At road crossings there are open huts for shelter against rain or sun… Also these shelters have an island plan next to it… So you can not get lost… From road we go on the sand track and arrive at the Tanjog Chek Jawa wetlands… There is a bicycle parking place here, as entering the wetlands is only allowed by foot… Different kind of animals live here for instance monkeys, wild pigs, birds, reptiles… There is an info kiosk here and a visitors center…
We start the walking trip at the wetlands trail… We spot a “wishing” well pity it is closed… The path is easy over water and though the mangrove… The mangrove trees impressive to see… Standing with their roots covered in the salt water with high water tide… Exposed to the sun during the low water tide… They have special roots, leaves and fruits adapted to the fluctuating salt water conditions… From this interesting area we make our way to the guest house… Toilets are near the guesthouse and also a vending machine with cooled drinks…
The charming old villa with its beautiful garden is a small museum now… Sometimes we hear the sounds of reptiles running away… They are fast, pity we spot them at last moment… Refreshed after eat and drink and on our way we go… The one way sand trail leads us back to the road… Passing a beautiful blue lake it us to the next point Mamam camp site… A beach, toilets and small path are here… The small path leads to little settlement and a hiking path… At the beach you can see Malaysia at very close distance… remarkable is natures play between land and water…
We make our way via the Noordin campsite to the Bubut Hut… The nature is amazing and beautiful… The photos placed just tell a bit of this treasure island… Cycling between high forest trees then a small bridges across the lakes.. The small bridges contain the water-locks for stability of the water level.. Close near this road are the old quarries that turned into small lakes… Almost at the end of our road we find the old Ketam quarry… Its flooded as the others… Fantastic is that they made a mountain bike path around the quarry… A nice challenge to do for the intermediate leveled mountain biker…
For us its time to go on our way back… We want to be back in the village at 5 pm… At port the bunboats only leave when they are full… So we can expect that we to have to wait a bit…We cycle via Jala Jelutong back to the village and end at the port… On our way pass another beautiful lake… This island keeps surprising me… We bring back bikes to the friendly rental which greets us with a smile… Now it is time for a cool drink in the village…
After the refreshment we head back to port to wait for the shippy… Lucky we can board in few minutes for a pleasant trip back to Changi Villa…
Pulau Ubin info
Admission to the island is free.
There are no opening or closing hours.
Take Mrt to Tanah Merah. Then Bus 2 to Changi Villa Terminal. Exit bus at last stop.
Bumboats to and from Pulau Ubin and public transport on the island operate from sunrise to sunset.
The NParks Information Kiosk is open 8.30am-5pm.
Have a Nice day at Pulau Ubin….!
Enjoy hiking in Singapore on: the Southern Ridges- Part1
Continue hiking in Singapore on: the Southern Ridges- Part2
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