It's Good Friday and the weather is too good to stay at home. Actually the weather is not really that good, but we were lucky enough to stay clear of the heavy rainfall while we were in Pulau Ubin as well as back in Singapore. Feeling blessed.
We arrived at the Changi Point Ferry Terminal to take the bumboat to Pulau Ubin. My memory of the Changi Ferry Terminal is still the old one that only goes to Pulau Ubin. Now they also provide bumboat ride to Pengerang, Malaysia (people go there for the seafood restaurant).
The bumboat to Pulau Ubin hasn't changed at all, it's still smells like engine oil with the loud engine noise playing in the background. Sometime if the boat goes too fast, you may even get some salty water splashed on your face. Cheap thrill. The price has increased from the previous $2.00 per pax per ride to $2.50 per pax per ride though. The bumboat ride takes about 10 minutes.
When we arrived at Pulau Ubin, it was so crowded with cyclist and the floor is still wet from the morning rain so it's quite meaningless to cycle. I told my parents I wanted to visit Chek Jawa instead since we've never been there before. So I casually approached a group of uncles sitting at the shelter and asked them how to go to Chek Jawa. We were so lucky to ask the right group as one of the uncles is actually a van driver and could drive us to Chek Jawa. I must say the van ride is quite exciting. One, this uncle is already 81 years old so I'm quite worried of his eyesights. Two, most of the roads are so bumpy and narrow and it's only one way. Three, there's so many cyclist and we are so near to them due to the narrow road. I was quite worried but my fear was unnecessary. This Uncle is really experience!
A little escape from the urban life in mainland Singapore.
Finally, we arrived at Chek Jawa Wetlands.
This looks like a giant beansprout, doesn't it? I got the urge to remove the top black cap just like how I would remove it from the beansprouts.
Mangroves. It's high tide now so it's quite hard to see creatures that can easily be seen during low tide.
Look at the tree roots in the background!
Is this a type of stingray? I don't know also but looks like they are mating.
Mud lobsters spotted. They were everywhere inside the holes in the mud. It's quite easy to spot them.
Attap Chee comes from this.
And then we went up to the seven-storey high (20m) Jejawi Tower to get a bird's eye view of the place. This tower is named after the native tree (Malayan Banyan) that grows just beside the tower. There is a limit to the number of people that can be on top at a time. Also, slight vibrations can be felt when people climb up the stairs.
As we reached the end of the Chek Jawa trail, we came back to the bicycle parking area near Chek Jawa and we saw many wild boars in the forest. At first we were afraid as to whether they will attack us or not, but they didn't. One big wild boar eventually dash out from their hiding area in the forest to where the bicycles were parked and it tried to pull a plastic bag that was hanging on the handle of the bicycle. The next moment, a loud thump was heard and many small wild boars emerged out of their hiding place too. What first come to our mind was that the big wild boar was squashed under the bicycle but we were wrong! The big wild boar has managed to take down the plastic bag and there was some food inside.
They were happily eating away food that was left behind on the bicycles. They even torn open a packet of potato chips and started eating them. First time I witness this. Check out the 15 second InstaVideo I took of the wild boars at http://instagram.com/p/m6-12BOMdu/ The younger wild boars actually looks quite cute with stripes on their body.
A photo with Uncle Chin, the 81 years old driver who got us to and fro safely. On the return trip, another family share the van with us. They told us that they saw one wild dog eating the baby boar. Gross! They walked from Pulau Ubin to Chek Jawa and took about 2 hours and was too tired to walk back. Luckily they flag down our van. Cost $12 each ride.
Going back to mainland Singapore. I think I will go again when it's low tide so that I can see more interesting creatures. With this, I end my post. Thanks for reading!
