Rediscovering Ubin

Having gotten very sick of my office at Ubi, I decided to have a change of scenery and cycle with Cloud, Yokes and Huishan at Ubin instead.


en route to departure hall

It turned out to be quite a good day for cycling.

For one thing , the sun was out nice and bright. However, it being a public holiday, there was understandably a crowd at the ferry terminal where we were supposed to take a bum boat to Ubin itself. For a one way trip to Ubin, it costs $2 , which I think is quite worth it because I love being in open-air boats. The feeling is totally different from taking the dreaded Penguin to Tekong though both boats are going towards similar pulaus. Trust me on this one.

The first thing that greets you when you touch down in Ubin is this long jetty which you got to walk down. Upon reaching the end of the jetty you will see the narrow bustling street of Ubin along which you can get your refreshments and bikes from. I am still quite amazed that mini vans and cars can drive through the narrow streets at all with all the human traffic, bicycles and what not.


License plates starting with 'PU'

After getting our bikes(which comes with a very pro looking handle bar) and a map just in case, we proceeded to explore the island on our own. Once the main street is out of sight, the traffic thins and one can easy see the rustic charm that attracts visitors like us to the island.


At the Quarry


Shan at a nice wide open space.

If you noticed, in previous photo the top two edges are darkened. Something very weird is happening to my camera.


Group shot at the same place

Now this shot was done with my camera balanced precariously(OK, I'm exaggerating. It was actually quite stable) on the seat of one of the bicycles but I think it turned out quite well.

There was a short period of freak rain when it suddenly just drizzled and poured not long after. We got a little drenched but found shelter quickly. After the rain had stopped, we returned our bikes and got ourselves some coconuts.


Coconuts Kenny Sia would be proud of!

So that you know, if you feel like a coconut and have a choice between the locally grown ones and Thai ones, take the Thai ones without hesitation . Though priced similarly, the Thai coconut trumps the locally produced one hands down - in sweetness of the coconut juice, juiciness of the flesh and overall shiokness in general(the entire Thai coconut is refrigerated whereas you add ice to local one.)

One of the more interesting shops I saw there was this shop along the main street set up by two conservation societies both of which I can't ,for the life of me, remember the names of.


Quote of the day

The shop is so good they even give you a bird watching group with an innovative name to join.


TM
The Bird Brains

Bird Brain friend: Hey! Would you like to join us for bird watching this coming Saturday?

Me: Who's us?

Bird Brain Friend: The Bird Brains lor.

Me: -_-"

They also sell a wide variety of souvenirs in the shop . What caught my eye was this interesting notebook made of what else - real elephant poo. I reckon they love their elephants a little too much.


Made with real poo!

And it doesn't come cheap too. I cannot imagine myself writing on this paper.Ever.

Having visited the shop and feeling a little hungry(not at all because of the elephant poo paper) we bum-boated back to Singapore and made a beeline for Changi Village where we enjoyed an eclectic spread of wonderful hawker fare. Behold the following pictures!


Chicken Chop horfun : Die die must try!

Or so Makansutra proclaims. Shan thinks only the chicken chop is good. I tried it before and seriously, it didn't live up to my expectations. That said though, the dish is somehow so popular almost everyone in the queue ordered that. Shan even had to field questions regarding where she bought it from. Such is the power of effective marketing.

So what did I order?


Winner of best food award: Wanton mee

It may a little less popular but hey, it won an award too OK. At least comparatively, I found it better than the Chicken Chop horfun but maybe it's just me. I really like the fact that the stallholders include both fried and boiled wantons and as can be seen, they are quite generous with them.

The food stall Shan and I got from actually has a competing stall selling almost the exactly same dishes beside it. Like our stall, the competition also proudly displays it's accolades from Zaobao , Channel U and the like. Somehow I think their signboards are made by the same company too.

Cloud got himself a plate of famed Changi V Nasi Lemak from the stall with the longest queue no less.


Changi V Nasi Lemak

The queue was so long, by the time Cloud got back, Shan and I were almost done eating. Yokes got herself a bowl of Bak Chor Mee and unfortunately I did not get a picture of it. I thought it looked quite good though.

A plate of fried carrot cake and fruits later, Rong Chen joined us with his Bryani. Polishing his plate off, they went to Orchard to collect the Board game called Settlers from Orchard while I went shopping at TM.

Suffice to say, I didn't get anything. It sucks to be poor.