:: Pulau Ubin - Chek Jawa::

Sunday, February 28, 2010 @ 4:13 AM

Soon soon soon!~
Very very soon!~

It has been really long since I last went Pulau Ubin. So I decided to seize the chance to go there and best of all, it's for stargazing! :D Together with Joshua and Edmund, three of us made our way to Changi Point Ferry Terminal to take a bumboat to the island.


We waited quite sometime to board the boat because the boat will only depart when there are twelve passengers. $2.50 per passenger. So what if there's not enough passengers even though one have waited for very long? The rest of the passengers have to divide the rest of the cost and pay more. We paid like $3 because we only have 10 passengers in total.


Anyway, we were on our way to Pulau Ubin!! And I freaking hate boat rides... I have friggin' motion sickness, sea sickness or whatever you call it :( So I kept my eyes closed through out the journey there. Lucky for me... it was a pretty short trip.


Yay! We have reached the lovely island of Pulau Ubin! The place is really rural. Trees everywhere. Just nothingness. Few shops here and there selling food and renting bicycles. Don't even have street lamps at the side of the walkway. We went to check the map and decide where to set camp. I noticed that there are a couple of quarries in Ubin! :D We went to the Jelutong campsite to set camp beside some ITE camp. Moo will be joining us later after his book out, which is at night.

The shocking thing was I messaged JinPeng to ask where are all the astro people; and found out that they are only coming to Ubin the next day! Somehow the dates got mixed up and blehx, stuff happens. Oh well, just the four of us (I couldn't find anyone who would be interested in stargazing and overnighting T.T~ and also, I'm the only girl there!! xD) and no telescopes to play with. We secured the tent with rocks and smothered our skin with sunblock + insect repellent before heading off to explore the island. Quarries here we come!!!~


Following the really ambiguous map, we found Pekan Quarry, which is the nearest quarry from our campsite. Next, we decided to make our way to the Ubin Quarry, which is much much further away. It was kinda far to walk and all you see is trees, trees, trees and maybe some small houses at the sides. Nothing much. Anyway, when we reached the Ubin Quarry, we found out that it actually belongs to Republic Polytechnic! xD! And it's all fenced up :( So we started walking back to our campsite before it gets dark.

One moment it was still bright and the next moment, it was dark! Dx It was pretty freaky to walk in the dark, especially when there's no street lamps and the trees were blocking out the remaining lights :\ But we managed to reach our tent just fine :P Now time to settle dinner... It was nearly 8pm. We walked to the shops near the jetty and found out they were all closed! We settled for cup noodles from a mama shop and we bought candles as well because three of us have forgotten to bring torchlight! Not that I have one anyway :X


Yay! Moo finally reached Pulau Ubin! He had to pay the full price of $30 for the bumboat ride because there's no other people who wanted to go there so late in the night. And he's our lifesaver! He brought torchlight, mosquito coil and light sticks! :D I think the only thing I brought that is useful was my lighter! (look at my horse~)


We headed back to our tent. I felt so much better with the lights from the light sticks and torchlight. Moo didn't like the spot we chose so we moved our tent to the place he camped last time. And woah, it was so much better! Away from all the noise the ITE students were making, a small forestation in front to block the lights from the mainland and a lovely view above us with no obstruction of tree branches. We placed the tent under the pavilion at the back and laid out the groundsheets in the front.

It's time to stargaze! Lucky for us, there were not much of clouds :D And the stars were so much brighter at Ubin! It was really pretty!!! I could see the stars really clearly. Argh, I couldn't describe it very well but one thing for sure. IT WAS AWESOME! Nothing much to type about here... Just stargazing, snacking on chips, sleeping, playing NDS ;) Edmund slept the most there and then followed by me :X Anyway, at dawn we were greeted by a hornbill!! It was totally cool!♥♥♥



Moo suggested that we should take a bicycle trip to the eastern part of Ubin, Chek Jawa. Since I have never been to Chek Jawa, I readily agreed to it xD But I'm not very sure about the bicycle part... I'm not very good at riding on uneven ground... Scared!! T_T~ Rented our bicycles and off we go!~ (Time was around 9am then)


Before setting off for Chek Jawa, Moo took to us the secret garden of Pulau Ubin. It is like a larger scale of the ecogarden in Science Centre! I love such places. They are truly wonderful!
Next we took a route to a dead end with a really nice view of the sea. I hate it when we have to go on paths with swamps or water catchment areas at the side. I got real scared that I might lose control of the bicycle and plummet into the depths of the watery grave :\ And also, the real steep up slope and down slope paths... I think I spent most of the time pushing the bicycle than riding on it Dx


Ahem, and we soon reached Chek Jawa. Erm, not really soon... We took an hour to get there! xD Anyway, Chek Jawa is consist of the Coastal Boardwalk, Mangrove Boardwalk, the Jejawi viewing tower and the Tudor-style cottage.

First, we went to the Coastal Boardwalk which is built along Chek Jawa’s coastline. The sea breeze there was strong! And I didn't really like the sea smell there, probably it was enhanced by the huge amount of seaweed there. We didn't really get to see much of the wildlife there due to the fact the tide had already risen by the time we got there :( But more and more of seaweed and seagrass xD! The only wildlife we saw there were little crabs :X!

At the Mangrove Boardwalk, we saw lots of mangrove trees with their pencil-like roots sticking out of the soil and Nipah trees with their huge fruits as well. There are lots of strange volcano-shaped mounds at the base of the mangrove trees. Those were made by yours truly, the mud lobsters! Didn't get to see them though... Joshua mentioned that they were nocturnal xD


Nearing the end of the Mangrove Boardwalk, we climbed the 8 flights of stairs of the Jejawi viewing tower. Why do we always have to climb up stairs?? T_T~ At the top of the tower, we could see a beautiful panoramic view of Chek Jawa. We were like standing high above all the trees! The breeze up there was real wonderful but not for the scorching sun T_T~

We walked back to the visitor centre to purchase drinks from the vending machine. Rested for a while and then went to the Tudor-style cottage, also known as “House No. 1". The outlook of the cottage was a real treat! So pretty~ Good place for photoshoot :X But the interior only held dusty exhibits of wildlife specimens :( And the backdoor of the cottage leads to a jetty! :)


Our exploration of Chek Jawa was completed! Time to cycle back and return the bicycles~ We took a different route back and went pass Balai Quarry. At one point during the trip back, I was pushing the bicycle down slope and I lost my balance and fell down on my butt! :\ Those pointy rocks really hurt! T_T~

With that, we took the bumboat back to Singapore, ate at one of those Tampines malls and went home to our beds. Well, that's for me :X And of course, that was after I washed up :\ Don't be lame! xD


The 2 days 1 night experience at Pulau Ubin really rocks! I totally enjoyed it! Although we were still in the regions of Singapore. It totally didn't feel like Singapore at all, without all the hustle and bustle of the city life. It felt like we were overseas to another country. Well, literally we did go overseas... but we didn't use our passport! So not counted :P I hope to have more of these outings! Hopefully with more of my friends, going in a much bigger group! :3

Labels: astronomy, excursion, exercise, GV friends, info, overnight, overseas, RP friends, stargazing

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