changi parks

Returning on the bumboat from Pulau Ubin Island, Changi Village and the nearby parks beckoned. At the ferry terminal I headed to Changi Point Coastal Walk first. A trail wrapped its way over the shoreline where I was one of only a handful of other hikers. 

Pulau ubin’s sensory trail

The afternoon reached thirty degrees. The humidity was 80%. I walked the three plus kilometres back to the Main Village for an oyster omelette and a much needed coconut water. With shaded paths and a slight breeze, the island may have been a degree cooler than mainland Singapore, but it was still steamy.

pulau ubin’s chek jawa wetlands

The few tourists on the island rented bikes. But when I biked around Taiwan’s Taitung, I had to watch the road, and missed some of the sights. So I hiked to Chex Jawa Wetlands’ boardwalk, and was rewarded with spotting butterflies, but not so lucky to discover a wild boar glaring at me through the forest.

pulau ubin island’s highest point

It was time to hit Pulau Ubin Island’s trails, so I headed towards Puaka Hill first. The paved road was lined with thick forests that had regenerated and hidden old rubber and coffee plantations. Amidst the lush vegetation, the surroundings had a murmuring melody of their own, but what was that far off sound?

pulau ubin island’s kampongs

North of Singapore Island was Pulau Ubin Island on the eastern end of Johore Strait. In 1824 Crawford claimed it as British territory. Rubber tapping ceased in the 1980s and granite was quarried until 1999. By the 1990s fewer than 200 people lived on the island, and only one house held a resemblance of the earlier presence of the British.

Kampong near Kampong Durian, Pulau Ubin Island