Today we have a big day ahead of us. We are heading to Palau Ubin – the last village of Singapore. This is a little island off the coast of Singapore.
Our guide Keith has been texting this week to make sure we know where we are going and how we get there.
The Parkroyal is next to Chinatown station which is on the Downtown Line which runs all the way to the airport. Keith gave us directions to use public transport to get to the starting point at Changi Village pier. The trip was about 1:15 and we managed to connect pretty smoothly to the bus from the MRT. The bus we had to get was the 2 bus which actually stops outside our hotel – Keith said that it takes another half an hour.
There was another couple joining us today. Sandy and Allen were from NZ and were coming on the tour while transiting between flights from Europe to Auckland.
The tour started with a bumboat ride from Changi Village to Pulau Ubin, where you disembark and go to hire your bike (If you’ve chosen the cycle over the walking option). Pulau Ubin is still a quiet little island which has resisted development, although most residents are only using the island as holiday homes now. The island is the home to macaques and wild boar.
The rides are pretty easy, although I am not good with downhill sections as I keep thinking that I am going to fall off. Neither of us have ridden a bike for a while.
We rode to the Chek Jawa Wetlands which is a small national park that consist of mangroves and coral and seagrass sections. The wetlands is home to the Oriental Pied Hornbill, however in recent weeks there has been a very rare White Crested Hornbill spotted which has brough a lot of birdwatchers to the island.
We walked the 1.6km boardwalk and as we were walking sharp eyed Stu spotter a Oriental Pied Hornbill floating above us (I promise the picture below has a hornbill in it) and a couple of monitor lizards. We also saw some crab species including a tree climbing crab.
The macaques here are pretty bold as one tourist learnt when she left her two bags in the basket on her bike.
As part of the tour you visit a fruit orchard and a traditional house, the house was closed for some unknown reason but walking through the orchard was nice. From here we rode to another lookout where you have Singapore on the left and Malaysia on the right. On the way Stu spotted a White Belly Sea Eagle gliding on the thermals. The lookout is above an old granite quarry which has filled with rain water.
When we got back from Pulau Ubin we had lunch at the Changi Village Hawker Centre which is famous for its Nasi Lemak. It was very delicious! We then headed back to the motel to clean up and head back out to do some shopping and have a cocktail at the Fullerton – mine was called a Pink Panther.
davstuholidays 