Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin is what Singapore looked like before Singapore looked like Singapore. A ten-minute ride in a wooden bumboat from Changi lands you on an island of unpaved tracks, wooden kampong houses, abandoned granite quarries filled with green water and a few dozen residents. Bicycles are the way to get around and are hired at the jetty. The highlight for most is Chek Jawa, a wetland at the eastern tip where six ecosystems, mangrove, seagrass, sandbar, coral rubble, rocky shore and coastal forest, meet in one small area; a boardwalk loops through it and a viewing tower rises above the canopy. Wild boar are common and unbothered, monitor lizards cross the tracks, and hornbills have returned to the island. There are no shopping malls and, in most places, no phone signal worth the name.

History

The name means Granite Island, and John Crawfurd claimed it for the British on 4 August 1825; Chinese quarry companies worked its granite from 1847, and its stone went into the Singapore-Johor Causeway. The population peaked at 2000 to 4000 in the 1970s and fell below 200 by 2001, and plans to reclaim Chek Jawa made public in 2001 were shelved after a volunteer survey of its wildlife (Wikipedia, Pulau Ubin).

The landscape

• Chek Jawa wetlands - the boardwalk loop through six habitats and the canopy viewing tower.
• The granite quarries - flooded former workings, now still green lakes.
• Cycling the tracks - hire at the jetty and ride the dirt roads across the island.
• Kampong houses - the last village architecture of its kind in Singapore.

When to go

Go early. Boats start in the morning, the heat is brutal by midday and afternoon thunderstorms arrive on schedule. Low tide is the right time for Chek Jawa, when the seagrass and sandbar are exposed.

Good to know

Bumboats leave only when twelve passengers have gathered, so quiet mornings involve waiting, and the last boat back is not late; missing it is a real problem. There is minimal shade on the tracks, few shops, and the toilets are basic. Bicycle quality varies enormously, so check the brakes before setting off.

Nearby

Changi Village and its hawker centre are at the mainland jetty; Changi Beach runs along the coast.

Key facts