The south west monsoon arrived, just in time when the grass were dying and trees began to shed leaves from lack of rain. Visitors levels fell, making it longer for the bumboats to fill up and leave. Avoid visiting Ubin late in the afternoon or leaving late at night unless you are prepared to wait or share the expense of chartering the whole boat.
Here is a typical wet day in pictures.
Weather turn ominous on way to Ubin.
Scouts roughing out in Ubin island.
Wet Girl guides
They say the must thing to do before you die is to take a Star Ferry ride in Hong Kong. I would also recommend Ubin bumboats to the list. These wooden boats are made to last a lifetime. The craftsmen making them are no more and good timbers are increasing hard to find. Ask any foreign tourist, he will tell you the experience is different compared to going in a fibreglass or steel hull boat. You know you are going for an adventure. The bumboats define Ubin for what it is for many of us. A rustic getaway where our cares and work stress are cast away.
The term possibly derives from the Dutch boomboat, a broad-beamed fishing boat, it first appears in England in 1685 under which scavenging boats attending ships in the Thames were employed to remove ‘filth’ from ships, and also to carry vegetables for sale on board (further links).
No bumboats are built alike. I would stand at the stern feeling the fresh air and getting great angles for snapshots. The paints are all weather worn making them ideal subjects.
Still there are folks who write to the press and complain about them being ‘accidents’ waiting for happen. What isn’t then? Your fancy new car is also a deadly projectile. Boats do sink but these bumboats aren’t exactly submarines. With human factor, even modern boats like Ms Estonia took down 852 lives. They clamor for ‘modern’ ferry service like the one that stopped plying to Sentosa. Who wants to wait for hourly scheduled service needed to fill up such unwieldy boats. Those familiar with Kusu islands remember the snaking queues waiting for ferries.
After ferrying thousands and thousands of passengers, these MPA annually certified boats have no mishaps for the last 10 years. Maintain water vigilance, if need be leave your babies and toddlers with your in-laws and come to Ubin to recapture your childhood as adults. Ubin cannot be redeveloped for everyone without destroying its character which many people find so charming. It cannot be remade like another sterile chinatown or non-starters like Tang village or Haw Par amusement park. Nor does it need expensive life support like Sentosa island. In Ubin, school kids get genuine chance to enjoy outdoors fun and camping in an island with a safe home shore without burning a large hole in their parents’ pockets.
Picture below. Ex-member of parliament Ho Kah Leong painting Ubin fast disappearing scenes (year 2000)..
Click here for panorama view of Ubin Jetty
Here is Ubin on Googlemaps.
Going there by bus(bus guide). Bus numbers 2, 29, 59, 109 will take you there. Stop at the terminus.
Take a bumboat ferry, it costs $2.50 per person. The boat departs when there are 12 passengers or when the boat get chartered for $30 when there are not enough passengers.
There is no last ferry service. The boatmen stops ferrying when the crowds thin down. On weekends, the crowds thin out from 4pm onwards going to Ubin and from 8pm returning from Ubin so expect to pay more by sharing and chartering if you are impatient. You may be stranded in Ubin if the boatmen has gone home so don’t hang around too late.
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