One for the road...: September 2012

Living on the little island of Singapore has been great...but sometimes you want to stretch your legs and get away from it all...what to do? Hop around some of the littler islands around Singapore, of course! I was quite surprised at how different each island is and the different activities each has to offer. Needless to say, we will be visiting all of these again...often! What nice weekend day trips we have right on our doorstep!

Palau Ubin
Located off the North Eastern end of Singapore, it has an area of 1020 hectares. Its core geological make up is granite over five smaller islands, interspersed by low lying mangroves
and the tidal rivers.

Here is some interesting information I found about some of the history of this tiny island:
Pulau Ubin, literally means Tile Island, according to the Malay and Indonesian dictionaries, where 'ubin ' means tile. It was also known as Pulau Batu Ubin ( Granite Tile Island ) to the local Malays and "Chieo Suar" ( Stone Hill ) to the older Chinese generation in Fukien dialect. In the early 20th Century, the granite were quarried supplying to the building industry, in the form of blocks , slabs and tiles for floors and walls. The original causeway from Singapore to Malaysia was built in 1923, using the granite from Pulau Ubin.

Thankfully the mining of granite stopped in the 1960's and those defunct quarries became lakes and its vicinity colonised by vegetation into secondary jungles.This island is all about bike riding. And it isn't easy...full of hills and rocky paths, it burns a lot of calories, but is scenic and fun along the way. We have done this a couple times now and still aren't tired of it. After a long, hot, exhausting day of bike riding, chilling down with a cold coconut is the best way to end the day.

Ferry boats...leave from Changi and drop passengers off at Palau Ubin Island.

Love it when I get the "good" seat! ;)

Coconut before and after a bike ride...yes please!!

Old graveyard on the island.

Fisherman....catching Shrimp

Bright island house with basket of coconuts....of course!

Currently, there are less than 45 families living in Pulau Ubin.

View from viewing platform.

This is a mud condo for crabs!

The water walk through Chek Jawa

Chek Jawa is made up of 6 interdependent ecosystems, its Coastal Hill Forest, the Mangrove Forest, its Rocky Shore, the Sandy Shore and Sand Bar , the Seagrass in the Lagoon and the Coral Rubble . Within each of the above ecosystems there is an abundance of natural living creatures, rare plants, and birds, local and migratory birds.

On this day we saw a jellyfish in the water

Beautiful place to ride a bike.

Wild boar on the island!

Ok...maybe more than just one coconut after the biking! ;)

Chilled coconuts...perfect!

Lazarus Island and Saint John's Island

Now these were my favourite islands...due to the beaches! I plan on taking a long day here...with picnic foods, drinks and a beach towel (hint, hint Fint...birthday!). I had high hopes...bathing suite and snorkel and fins in hand and I was not disappointed.

Everything is bring your own, as this island is completely undeveloped. No stores or restaurants....it is the perfect remedy for when one feels a little temporally overdosed on Glamorous Singapore.

Ferry ride out.

Coast Guard

Exotic and beautiful tropical flowers....amazing to see in person!

Very cool tree...amazing root system.

Silly, silly hen!

Jogging/Sunbathing/Swimming...perfect day!

...and snorkelling! So fun!

Kusu Island

"Turtle Island"...though on this visit we didn't get to see any turtles. It is a quiet and peaceful place with a nice bbq area...decked out with grills and all. And the beaches seemed quite nice...though (as you will see by the photos below) I was already exhausted by the time we made it here and fell fast asleep on my beach towel!

Kusu Island is located 5.6 km south-west of Singapore. A Chinese Temple and a Malay Keramat ("shrine") attracts thousands of multi-religious pilgrims annually, especially on the 9th lunar month. Original it was named Pulau Sakijang Pelepah, and was sometimes known as Pulo Tambakul, Goa Island or Peak Island.