Day Trip to Pulau Ubin

                I’ll start with a little background. Palau Ubin is the largest offshore island in Singapore, ahead of the famous Sentosa island. While Sentosa is a tourist paradise complete with beaches, indoor skydiving, golf courses, Universal Studios and more,  Pulau Ubin is not very developed with only a few restaurants, a few houses and biking trails through the jungle wilderness.

                Our day began with a taxi ride over to the west coast then a $2 ride on a bumboat over to the island. We rented some bikes for the day and made our way to Chek Jawa. Chek Jawa is an area of the island that is composed of 6 interdependent ecosystems with a exceptional variety of animals and plants. In recent years, a boardwalk and viewing tower have been constructed so visitors can get closer to the spectacular nature site.

Bumboat that we rode over to the island

My friends and I arriving at Pulau Ubin

Our bikes for the day

Perfectly blue lake on Pulau Ubin

"fish spa"

                After visiting Chek Jawa, we biked back into “town” for a seafood lunch. Sitting right next to the ocean, we enjoyed some prawns, noodles and fried rice. The trip ended with a visit to the fish spa. This “spa” involves submerging your feet in a pool of water with fish nibbling at them to exfoliate.  It’s really strange, but it does work. Our outing ended with a ferry ride, bus ride, train ride and second bus ride back to campus.

                This is one of the things I love about Singapore; despite being a bustling city, there are areas of beautiful nature preserved and open to the public. Some of these include nature reserves, parks and the botanical gardens.

~Kelly