Pulau Ubin

The other place we loved to visit in Singapore was Pulau Ubin which is an island off the NE coast of Singapore. To get there as we did this morning you turn up at a small ferry station - which used to be a hut next to a rickety jetty but is now a 'proper' terminal - and sit on benches in what is now the departure lounge until 12 people are there and then one of the ferry men springs into action and loads you onto a small boat for the half mile crossing to the island. This means that it can take quite a while. This morning we arrived to find empty benches and it was half an hour before 12 had turned up - but on the return we were off in 2 minutes. As there are about 15 boats the boatmen cannot do more than a couple of return trips a day and seem to spend most of the day chatting....

Ubin was slated for government development as part of the masterplan which would have turned one of the last wilderness areas of Singapore into a housing estate and destroyed valuable marine habitat but the Nature Society of which we were part campaigned against it and in an almost unprecedented decision the government kept it as a nature reserve against the economic advice. This decision was made just before we left and as we walked around the island there were signs of new life amongst the local Malay population with houses which were redown being refurbished. In the area of the mudflats there were walkways and an observation tower - and a brand new nature centre - wonderful and so an uplifting day. The highspot for Jean apart from the island itself were the rubber trees - it is the season when the seeds fall and they do so with a minor explosion as the pods break open and the seeds fall to the ground.

The taxi driver who took us there was one of the local philosophers and told us of the importance of holding hands and keeping love alive even as you get older ....

A chance in the evening to catch up with Jerry and Jolene from the church and their children - they had refurbished an apartment close to where we used to live and had stayed with us in Tewin last year so were keen to have us back. (Photos: boats to Ubin, rubber seeds, redshank, Jolen and Jerry, Emma and Megan....)