Ubin

A note on camping at Pulau Ubin beaches. Sandflies are common there. Its stuffy to seal yourself in the tent to escape from biting insects. The acrid smoke from mosquito coils also ruin the tent fabric as the smells and smoky grease stick permanently to it. Camping away from beaches also bring surprises. Once we camped by Kekek quarry and woke up to find giant monitor lizards tearing at food we left outside.

Essential tools
You should always bring along good flashlights with spare batteries and a Swiss army knife with built-in can opener with you.

This way you only need to get essentials from the village provision shop to camp overnight. Here is a short checklist.

For extra comfort, here is an added checklist for your next camping trip which you can buy at Changi Village.

With these, you get hot food, hot drinks and warmth for the night.

The aluminum tray holds the charcoal embers which you can douse with water for safe disposal. You can move it closer to you for added warmth later on. Never place them on wooden tables or boardwalks floor. It will burn through. Nparks is forced to erect uncomfortable cement tables and benches because of such thoughtless act by campers.
For food. Try bread with charcoal grilled luncheon meat which is delicious and easy to prepare. Make sure food are secured beyond reach of foraging animals before you sleep or go on a hike. Rubbish should not be left lying around for the same reason. Tie them in bags and hang them high on branches if the rubbish bin is full.

Preparing charcoal fire

Light a single piece of fire-starter (the locals call it Tamat) and place it at the base. Tamat takes a while to burn out so one or 2 is enough. It is also sooty so make sure it is burnt out completely before grilling food.

Stack long pieces of charcoals leaning against each other over the fire starter. Done correctly, the charcoals will combust into flames without fanning. Spread the burning charcoals and let the flames die out. The embers is sufficient to grill food.

Turn often to ensure food are not burnt. Wear a headlamp to see better and check if the food is ready.

Chef blow torch

Another tool we find useful is a chef blow torch (picture above). A better alternative than camp gaz stove (picture below). It is compact and the gas refill last a long time and replacements are easily available. You can boil water within minutes or use it to stop invading ants or clear your bed area of creepy crawlies. You can buy the blow torch at shops selling kitchen aids or at hardware shops. Get the original Japanese iwatani brand which cost about S$40.

Air Mattress vs Hammocks

Sleeping outdoors can be a challenge. Hard sleeping surface makes one turn about in discomfort. I bought a Therm-a-Rest air mattress to improve sleeping comfort. This air mattress is too expensive, bulky and takes too long to deflate. Foraging ants is another problem while sleeping on ground.

A high quality hammock like The Eagles Nest SingleNest Hammocks is able to bear loads up to 180 kilos. A generous safety margin is needed as the whole system is subjected to uneven weight stress. Like most hammocks sold, they don’t come with suspension ropes which needs to be just as strong. You’ll need about 4 meters lengths at each ends. For this I bought military grade 1″ tubular webbings to wrap around trees without strangling or damaging them. To create a quick release system, I bought 2 pairs of suspension rings from a ship hardware shop in Sungei road. Do watch youtube videos and read camping forums on how to set hammocks correctly and safely.

You can buy Eagles Nest Hammocks and tubular webbings locally from Sheares Marketing.

Jelutong Campsite.

Jelutong campsite is located a few hundred metres next to Ubin village facing the bright lights of Singapore. Although convenient and recommended by Nparks, it takes one further away from enjoying the fun of frontier adventurism which Ubin is famous for. Do camp at Noordin or Marman beach and leave Jelutong camp for kids and those who are scared of darkness.

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Tags: camping, camping checklist, jelutong, monitor lizard, mosquito coil repellent, sandfly, swiss army knife