+0@Ubin ™
Saturday morning, woke up very early, at 7am. Feeling excited for an island trip outing.
There are 5 of us. Apart from visiting the island, the purpose of the trip is photo shooting. One of us is the Model of the Day, 3 photographers and 1 assistant (that's me!).
From my house to Changi Village Jetty is about 45mins. Arrived and parked the car at the open space parking area. One thing no good is parking system is using coupon and not EPS. So, you will need to estimate what time to be back. At last, we displayed 8pcs hourly coupon, which is until 5pm.
Then, we took the seat at the waiting area. We departed at 9am.
The boat will depart when there is 12pax. Else, you will need to wait. I read from forum/site that the boat fare is SGD2. However, maybe they just increased to SGD2.50. The traveling took about 8mins on the boat to arrive at Ubin Jetty. Wow.. So near only. Haha.. I was thinking at least 15mins or half an hour far. Anyway, weather is just nice. Sun is up.
A group photo taken on arrival, on the jetty entrance.
Once entering the Ubin small town, you can see a information kiosk, where you can get a free copy of Ubin map. Then, there is an area of taxi (vans) that waiting for you to approach them. Walk a little further, you will see few bike rental shops with a BIG BIG $2 board. I was wondering whether it is so cheap or not. After enquiring, the $2 is for children bicycle only. For adult, it varies from Sgd6-10, depends on the type and age of the bike.
At last, we rented fully suspension bike, which costs $8 per bike. First time riding a fully suspension bike, I found it very comfortable. Just like a car with good suspension. Even the road is not so even/flat, you won't feel it too much.
We ride to Chek Jawa, which is at the east side of the island. Luckily we chose fully suspension, the road to Chek Jawa is up and down, steep slope, rocky path. So tiring. We all regretted to rent bike. Haha. But, is a good experience. However, before reaching Chek Jawa, the sky started to turn dark. Wind brought a lot of big clouds. Luckily, we managed to ride until the stopping point where we need to park the bike and walk into the Chek Jawa area, which is only 190m away. The stopping point is Punai Hut. Once we parked the bike, it started to rain. Very heavily. We took rest at the hut while waiting for rain to stop.
A note that I wrote on the phone during this time:
"Now is 1024. Raining heavily. We stop at Punai hut, waiting for rain to stop. We are just 190m away from Chek Jawa Wetlands. Forecast is so accurate today. Sigh..."
Not sure how long we have waited. Finally we are able to move forward. We first arrived the information kiosk, briefed us on the wetlands and some precautions. Then, rain started heavy again. Waited for ~10mins, a lot of mosquitoes. Then, we walked toward the viewing jetty. There is restroom and a house showing some creatures that can be found at Chek Jawa.
Once looking at the house, 3 photographers started their jobs (taking out their gears).
And the assistant also cannot resist to pose for a few pictures, because of the nice background and view. Haha.
At the first glance to the house, a very strong feel of England/European designed house.
Rain never stop. Continuing drizzling rain. Cooling but still prefer sun. And..And..and each of us never care of the weather of either sunny or rainy day, cameras still on the photographers hand and never stop snapping.. On each and every unique corner of the house.
Inside the house, there are a lot of information that you can find related to Chek Jawa, for example the species that you can find in the sea.
There is a Viewing Jetty for you to walk about 150m from the house.
Then we go to another point which is about 1km of boardwalk (mangrove and coastal loop). Was raining still, and all of us are quite tired. We just continue to walk until the other end, just to finish the coastal loop viewing on the mangrove trees, some plants that are planted on swamp, lobster crab habitat (if you are lucky to spot any crawling on the mud), and also Jejawi Tower (in which we have been told by the officer at the information kiosk that the tower is closed due to raining).
Back to the boardwalk loop, in fact we came at the wrong time. The BEST time to arrive on this coastal loop is during low tide. This is because you will be able to see a lot of wonders underneath the track. This is what I found from mangrove.nus.sg.edu website."The list of wonders in Chek Jawa is incredible—stick insects, Flying Dragons, Oriental Pied Hornbills, junglefowls, wild boars, otters, Seashore Nutmeg Trees, Sea Anemones, Seahorses, nudibranchs, sea cucumbers, Cow Fishes, octopuses, stingrays, starfishes, decorator crabs, shellfishes, sea grasses, seaweed, and sponges, etc."
Wah~~~ Unfortunately, I was there at high tide, and was not able to see anything. :[
Next time will plan for a trip to reach Chek Jawa during its low tide. Sure I can see something that others never saw. Haha...
After Chek Jawa, we cycled back to the town near the jetty to take our lunch. There are few restaurants that offered variety seafoods. After cycling from Chek Jawa to the town, all of us were exhausted, tired, and hungry. And all of us agreed to go leave island after lunch. Haha. We were really too tired of continuing the Ubin island journey.
However, all of us are very satisfy and happy for the trip. And 'enjoyed' the most the cycling part. Haha.. We swear to take taxi for our next visit to Chek Jawa. Cycling there is really a challenging task, but very good for exercising. :D
Taken a few photos to add in some meaningful quotes, and dedicated to you. :)
