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

Kauntan and the South China Sea

Photo courtesy: Sidelong — Wikimedia Commons

Moving south to Kuala Lumpur, we only spent a day in this exciting city. I liked the mix of Chinese, Malay and South Indian in a modern Asian city, but I’d have to reserve that experience for another time.