Day trip to Pulau Ubin

Me, wifey along with fox2mike, hyacie, coolbanno and Rujuta took off for a day long trip to Pulau Ubin, the island off Singapore, and a preserved reserve. I had checked out Leone's blog on how to get to Pulau, but Fox2Mike had a better route in mind - turns out taking 29 from Tampines MRT will get us closer to the Ferry Terminal than taking 9 from Simei. Hence we followed that and he was right - 29 from Tampines is a better idea. You can also take Bus No. 2 from Tanah Merah Interchange.



The short, 10 minute ferry ride from Changi Ferry Terminal to Pulau Ubin was quite fun, specially since you have do it in rundown bumboat with pretty much nothing for safety. It costs it S$2.5 for a one way ticket per person.




Once you have reached there, the next fun thing would you be cycling (or biking to those who are used to that word.) You can get the bicycles at Pulau Ubin for a day rental of anything between S$2 - S$20. I got myself a "Giant" bicycle with 21 gears for $8. After everybody else got theirs', we were off.



We cycled to Chek Jawa Wetlands. Its a relaxing ride with lots and lots of greenery to be seen. The ride itself is fun with a little bit of tarred road, a bit of rough ride with both downward and upward slopes, sometime quite steep.



One at the wetlands, things to do include climbing up a tall observatory and spend a few minutes taking in the air, snapping a few photos, check out the sea from that height and of course do some planespotting - quite a few flights can be seen approaching landing at Changi.



Once you are done with the observatory, walk around and enjoy the boardwalk, checking out some sea vegetation and animals. When we were there, we had lots and lots of wind blowing at us and it was quite a pleasant experience.



Once we were done with it, we rode back our way back to the center of the town (where we started cycling) for lunch. We stopped at Ubin first stop, where my seafood loving friends grabbed crabs, while me, Nidhi and Fox2Mike feasted on Plain rice with veggies and veggie fried rice. You can order Beer if you like.



After a heavy lunch and some much needed rest, we cycled around a bit when we located this secluded spot where some there was nobody else and it was facing the sea. After hanging out there for a while, we headed back to Changi Ferry Terminal. While we wanted to hang out at the Changi beach for a while, we were all too tired and so we all decided to split and head back home.



If you are not used to cycling or physical activity, be ready to face some skin-rashes and cramps, as happened to me and wifey. If you are not careful, you can pass out in the train on your way back, as it happened to hyacie!



All in all, a day full of fun worth spending a weekend day and quite a good break from all the aircon and shopping arcades in Singapore. All the photos from my camera can be found here.

Comments

Deepak said…
I hadn't imagined Singapore would have a preserved reserve. How big is the island?

Seems like you had fun
Shreeni said…
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulau_Ubin) its about 10.2 sq kms. For the fact that Singapore is quite small, it has incredible variety of experiences to be had. More of that in a separate blog. :-)
Leone Fabre said…
Great post and thanks for sharing your fun day .... we have also tried bus # 2 to get to Changi ... but always good to have a variety of ways to get to and from a place.

Last Saturday we went to Pulau Semakau ... which was also fabulous. Singapore has much to offer ... we just have to find them all. :-)

http://leonefabre.blogspot.com/2009/07/pulau-semakau-intertidal-walk.html

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