Day Five: August 30th, 2015
We rose relatively early to have breakfast with Ruth and Norm and the kids. We walked through the neighborhood once more and got there in the late morning, verging on early afternoon. We supped on breakfast and enjoyed pleasant, though sometimes screaming, company of family and discussed lunch. We settled on nuts, an apple, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Having lunches made, Ruth called two cabs and we set out for the port that would let us catch a ferry to Pulau Ubin.
There’s Pulau Ubin in the distance.
Pulau Ubin hasn’t felt the touch of recent modernization yet. Not to be confused with a place that hasn’t been modernized at all, such as a nature reserve or pioneer settlement which depicts how life was before such modern pleasantries and all. This place I would relate more akin to being rural Singapore.
For example, drive out into the boonies in America and you’ll see buildings and small towns more in tune with 1950 Pleasantville than modern 2000’s. That is the feel I got from Pulau Ubin.
We rode an independently run ferry across the bay to the island, disembarking at an open air dock and walking into tiny shopping center specifically designed for catering to those visiting the island. An eatery and a 7-11, I believe, as well as what seemed to be half a dozen bike rentals (though it might have all been the same group).
Pulau Ubin Bike Rentals
Us on the ferry on the way to Pulau Ubin.
Shot of a harbor? from the ferry.
Doesn’t it look exotic and as though we’re traveling out of country again?
After a few minutes of discussion with the proprietor of the rental service, Norm procured us six bikes and a ride-along seat for Winnie. We climbed aboard our various vessels and set out into the great beyond. A short ride later we’d passed what looked like a storage facility of some sort and a few other industrial style buildings before getting out of town and into the great beyond… a paved road leading into the island’s interior. We rode for a short while before Ruth noticed that Norm’s rear tire was flat and he turned back to acquire a new bike/tire. We spent a little bit of time slowly riding around a pond of some sort that was just off the road to kill some time while waiting for him to return.
When he did we resumed our ride inland and across the island.
For a while we rode along a paved, barely two lane road. We admired the rustic beauty until a fork in the path led us ‘off road.’ We biked, and pushed the bikes, up a gravel hill and at its peak we came across an untrue and dishonest sign of ‘Slow. Steep hill ahead.’ Which was followed by a sign demanding we ‘Disembark and walk’ our bikes down the hill.
Now, I hadn’t ridden a bike in near a decade, so I was a bit rusty. But the sole reason I didn’t bike all the way up the hill was a chain that kept slipping… so when I say that the hill wasn’t steep and didn’t need to be walked down, I want you to know where I’m coming from.
The hill wasn’t steep.
It didn’t need to be walked down.
Nicole rolled her ankle on a loose rock whilst walking down the rideable hill. Something entirely avoidable had we ignored the dishonest and overly cautious signs. At the base of the hill, we remounted our bikes and rode into the sunset… kind of. We meandered our way back up another hill (made harder by a rolled ankle and having walked down the hill that would have given us speed to get up the next one), and eventually came to a host of bike racks and signs stating ‘no bikes beyond this point.’
We dismounted, set the bikes up, and took pictures of some of the local fauna (a wild pig and its mommy) that thought we might be interesting or have some food on us.
Wild pig. The mother version.
Isn’t she cute?
If you squint just right, you can see the Predator there. Sssshhhh.
The little one.
Wild pigs abound.
We waited for Ruth and Jasper to catch up (and learned Jasper’s chain had come off twice during the last leg of the ride) before continuing on foot. Nicole hobbled along painfully.
We came to another fork in the road where Norm and Ruth decided to have a brief argument over which way to go. I settled it by walking off down the right-hand path, because if you always go right, you can’t ever go wrong. Right? (it also appeared to be the less severe of the two available paths, and I had Nicole’s ankle in mind).
The path took me around to a house that had been built in 1930 and renovated and turned into a pseudo-museum/historical monument with a handful of information boards within. The others followed me after a short time while I was entering the house proper. We meandered around the building for a while and I discovered that I’d managed to lead Ruth and Norm someplace they’d not gone to.
House on the dock
We went out onto a dock behind the house and had lunch out at the end of it. We took a couple photos on the way back through the house, hid from the rain, and made our way back to the fork in the road.
We then went down the untraveled path leading us down to a lookout tower, which we climbed, and then a boardwalk through the jungle and mangrove trees. We oohed and aahed over little critters (mudskippers and crabs). I learned the Chinese word for crab, though… I’ll admit that I’ve already forgotten it :(.
Dock behind the house. We didn’t get rained on.
On a rock behind the house.
There were several signs stating a cemetery was near by, but only here was there any markers.
More grave markers/urns.
View from the top of the observation tower. Courtesy of Nicole.
Yes. We’re above the trees. I was happy to stay dead center of the tower.
Cute Crab!
Can you spot Predator?
Mangroves.
We meandered out to the edge of a boardwalk that was partially closed before turning back and walking back through the mangroves to the bike racks. We reacquired our bikes, strapped in, loaded up, and set out for the port once more. The ride back was slightly better (though a little terrifying for some of our number), as we ignored the ‘get off your bike’ signs in favor for simply riding the brakes back. Jasper’s chain came off only three more times on the way back.
Once we got back to the little ‘town’ at the dock, we returned the bikes, Norm negotiated a refund for Jasper’s, and we walked back down to the dock to board a ferry back to mainland Singapore. After a quick trip through a miniature customs which, to use Norm’s word, ‘added to the feel of getting away to an exotic island,’ we meandered to an eatery that was highly recommended by Norm and Ruth.
It was alright, and even Ruth admitted to it having been better in the past. Following dinner we hailed cabs to return to our respective domiciles after a long day of ‘adventuring.’
Ruth and Winnie rode with Nicole and I and dropped us right at our doorstep. Nicole limped up the stairs and we called it a night after icing and elevating her swollen ankle.
It’s a pity that everything in Singapore involves walking to it given her injury.
Dinner. Just not ours.
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