Live Your Dreams @ Pulau Ubin

30 April 2005

Pulau Ubin is the 3rd largest offshore island of Singapore. Pulau Ubin is the last rural district, where villagers still live in traditional kampongs.

Since I became madly obsessed with "SINGAPORE STREET DIRECTORY", I have long wished to visit Pulau Ubin. Numerous news reports of Pulau Ubin as a tropical paradise and nostalgic retreat makes me want to visit the island even more...

1st Trip to Ubin (30 April 2000)
Finally, after much anticipation, I get to visit Pulau Ubin on 30.4.00, a cycling trip organized by my cousin-in-law for his 35th birthday...

After a 10mins bumboat ride from Changi Village, the 7 of us landed on Pulau Ubin Jetty... Upon arrival, we were greeted by Pulau Ubin Village, a rustic village centre that serves as the commercial centre of Pulau Ubin. Being the focal point of the rustic island, Pulau Ubin Village is very much self-contained, with its cluster of old-style grocery shops, kopitiams, seafood restaurants and bicycle rental shops. The village also houses a Tua Pek Kong Temple with its huge and unique wayang stage, a basketball court, a police post, an information kiosk and some wooden houses.

Time seems to stop here, as the village looks like a photo of a 1960s kampong as seen in my history textbooks... I really like those old grocery stores, which brings back my childhood memories. It is a pity that we did not have the chance to eat in one of those seafood restaurants...

Pulau Ubin Machor Temple
A group of uncles promoted their taxi hiring service to us. These uncles would drive us to 1 of the many attractions that are more isolated and off the main tracks. We hired a taxi van to the Machor Temple (妈祖庙), which is located on the southwestern coast of the island. Its prime waterfront location offers a panoramic view of the up-and-coming Sengkang and Punggol Towns across Serangoon Harbour. During our visit, we were informed that the Machor Temple is preparing for relocation to its new temple at Rivervale in Sengkang... This is pretty sad, because its current location is really beautiful and tranquil.

Cycling @ Pulau Ubin
Returning to Pulau Ubin Village, each of us rented a mountain bike and embarked on our cycling adventure...

The charm of Pulau Ubin lies in its rural settings with its kampong houses, deserted plantation, disused granite quarry and abandoned fish and prawn farms. With very minimal memories of my early childhood days living in Tampines Kampong, I get a clearer picture of kampong life while cycling. The lust greenery and wild chickens roaming the streets do bring back lost innocence of the old kampong days...

After cycling for quite some time, we took a much-needed break at Pulau Ubin Village, buying drinks and snacks from the old-style provision shops there. Having enough rest, we decided to continue cycling. However, shortly after we started cycling, it started raining and we had to retreat back to the village for shelter... The rain gradually gets heavier and was later accompanied with a "mini sand storm". The strong sea breeze blew across the sandy bay, carrying the sand along with it and hit us with a strong impact. It is very painful to be hitted by sand and we (along with other visitors) had to use various hilarious methods to cover our faces and exposed body surfaces from the sand. Although painful, it is still a rare and interesting experience to encounter such a "mini sand storm". Once the rain stopped, we continued cycling to explore the island...

Live Your Dreams @ Ubin Lagoon Resort
The most unforgettable experience that day would be exploring Ubin Lagoon Resort with my cousin and cousin-in-law (30 April 2000 happens to be its pre-opening open house)... Besides offering the standard chalets, barbecue pits, conference centre and sport courts, the resort also has its trademark lagoon, a private seaside beach and its unique Adventure Training Centre...

By just strolling through Ubin Lagoon Resort, I can already feel the calm, tranquil and relaxing atmosphere, which is absolutely perfect to waste away any lazy afternoon... After walking for some time along the lagoon, we visited one of the double-storey chalet, which is opened for viewing as a showroom. I was truly amazed with its cosy and homely furnishings. For the double-storey chalet, the first storey comprises the living room, a small pantry that leads to an open garden, a bedroom and a toilet, while the second storey houses another bedroom and a toilet. For the single-storey chalet, everything is at the first storey. Besides viewing the chalet, the three of us did some washing up in the toilet to clean away the sands.

Before leaving the resort, I took a copy of the promotional booklet at the lobby and I still cherish this book till now... The beautiful scenery of lagoon and the vast field of lalang set against the orange coloured sky is still deeply engraved in my heart...


"Live Your Dreams" Ubin Lagoon Resort promotional booklet

Mumy falling down from her bike
Another memorable experience of that day would be Mumy falling down from her bike twice on the island...

The first accident happened at Jelutong area, where mumy fell into a patch of tall grass. Cycling fast ahead, my brother and I stopped to take a look behind us and saw my cousin-in-law struggling to pull something from the grass. This was quite a comical move, because we though he was pulling some grass for my auntie, who likes flowers. It becomes a greater joke after knowing that he is actually trying to pull Mumy up from the grass...

The second accident happened at a bend near the village. Witnessed by Papa, Papa said that 2 aunties had already fallen off from their bikes. Upon seeing this, Mumy started panicking, which makes her lost control of her bike and became the 3rd victim on site. Mumy suffered some scratches and bleeding on her knees, but fortunately nothing serious...

After cycling for a day, we returned to Singapore to celebrate my cousin-in-law birthday...

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