Advertisement
Published: February 14th 2006
Changi point ferry terminal
The journey started here....the guy in red tshirt is Subha. At the other end is me. Centre is Ma Kun.The day being a holiday and the innate traveller in me urging me to pack up, I signed up for the Pulau Ubin nature trail. I was charged S$12 for the trip excluding food. About Pulau Ubin island, its a beautiful island untouched by human presence and urbanization. A stark contrast to Sentosa, the island is inhabited mostly by old people of the yesteryears, too old to move out of the island to the mainland. The youth have already moved out insearch of greener pastures. Main activities in the island include nature trails and bicycle trails, and ofcourse unguarded beaches.
This time, I wanted to travel alone as I mostly do - this way I get to meet new people and make new friends. I reached the Prince George Park residence at NUS and while waiting met Mr. Subha, another indian nature enthusiast who had come with some classmates of his. After a wait that took ages, finally at around 10:30 am the bus finally came and took us on a 45 min ride to the other side of the country (45 minutes mind this!!!) to the Changi village. We took a brief pause for food at the Changi food
village where I was introduced by Subha to his classmates Ma Kun and others. After food, we regrouped at 12:30 and boarded the ferry at the Changi Point ferry terminal - the so called bumboat (no idea where they got the name from nor what it means!) ride to the Pulau Ubin island. It started raining with me ending up 12.055% wet. The rain coupled with the wide sea all around, the boats made it an exhilarating sight! One should be there to take in the beauty. The bumboat ride cost just S$2 and was included in the package. After reaching the island and a brief pause (maybe the organizer was waiting for a guide) we started on the nature trail. Subha was in a different group and I didnt see him for the rest of the trail. Ma Kun was in my group and we were generally chatting and moving along with the group. The trail was fairly interesting with the guide introducing the people to the vegetation of the island (most of which I have come across.). But the Europeans and mainland chinese found in interesting. I should admit here that I learnt some stuff..But who cares I
The bumboat
The strange bumboat that took us to the Pulau Ubin island. was not interested in the knowledge part. The trail took us around the island, where we got a glimpse of the natural and extensive aquaculture practices (backwater). Also I could see the kampongs - the ancient houses of the Singaporean settlers long back (people still live here).
The trail unexpectedly took a little longer than expected and so, we decided to stay back and not go for the cycle tour, which was a foolish decision. Anyway the next time I go there, which I will, I shall go for the cycle trek. It sort of gives me a wild 'kick' to travel alone....
Then we came back to the ferry terminal and boarded the 'bumboat' which took us back to civilization...Well I meant Singapore mainland. Then I boarded the bus back to school.
The trip was memorable and I met some good frends - Subha, Ma Kun (the cute chinese girl in the pic), Victoria (a pretty brit girl who I almost freaked with my wild conversations) and Henrik (the swede, who I surprisingly realised had the appetite for adventure sports like me!).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.037s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0167s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
