South West Monsoon weather features according to NEA.

Showers and thunderstorms occurs between predawn and midday.

Intense thunderstorms or squals that last for less than 30 minutes.

Smoke haze is common.

The piglets are still there although their baby stripes are gone.

The rain shelter at Chek Jawa Coastal Walk is one our favorite spot for a lazy afternoon. Here, you can do some bird watching or plane spotting as they land against prevailing monsoon winds.

A white bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) clutching its prey.

Qantas A380 Flight QF10 from London coming to land at Changi Airport

For romance of sea travels, the sight of ships steaming straight towards us guided by Chek Jawa land beacons must be an inspiring sight!

3G connection may be spotty in other parts of Ubin but its good here.

Its dark by the time we headed back. A rare sight of a large scorpion, its size compared to a folded note.

Updated June 2011.

Beautiful sunny day walk

Meditative walk through ‘Orchid Farm’ at Sg. Marman.

You can start by renting bicycles to give you an idea where are the places you like to visit on foot. Alternatively, stick to vehicle trails if you are new to Pulau Ubin and walking all the way to Chek Jawa. The trip (and back) takes about 7 kilometres which can be tiring as many found out. Instead, cover half of it by taking van taxis and walking for the other half. There are Npark rain shelters along the way to take rest stops.

Another walking route is follow the “Discovery trail” that lead behind police coast guard station, continue further north, taking a rest at Murai hut and exploring the surrounding Malay Kampong, then turning back and returning directly to Ubin village.

It may be quiet which is welcomed for some but unsettling for others. Pulau Ubin is safe with frequent police patrols and the villagers watching over. There are plenty of visitors in the morning and early afternoons although the crowds thin considerably toward late afternoons. This is when one is rewarded with sights of shy animals or hear full throated and melodious bird calls. But it not akin to visiting the zoo and being disappointed when you did not encounter any. Besides, it is far more enjoyable walk than Macritchie trails along Island country club (SICC) which is a dead zone due to frequent insect fumigation for comfort of their members.

Some people are spooked when they stumbled into gravestones. In the not so distant past Pulau Ubin is inhabited with more than 1,000 residents, many of who were Boyanese (or Baweanese) from Indonesia. Chek Jawa were so named because of their Javanese origins. It is common to have family grave plots although there are larger Chinese and Muslim cemetery plots in Ubin. Thankfully, the authorities are leaving them untouched to keep the island’s historical roots intact.

On the other hand, the authorities seem to be in a hurry to change names of old landmarks. Pulau Ubin is in danger of being smothered into another botanical garden by Nparks in its misguided efforts, with carpet grass on both sides of the road, instead of the riot of beautiful plants growing wild which visitors from afar come to see. Tree plaque are erected but limited (so far) to common trees like banana, oil palm with their Latin names. A short description would be more useful.

Type “rustic pulau ubin” in google search and one will find that it is most popular description for visitors. Tourist development of the island should proceed preserving its charms. Its disappointing to see jarring signs popping up like “private property” over scenic quarry lakes and advertising banners promoting $10 seafood, snorkeling over pristine coral reefs (there aren’t any) and fish spas with non native fishes.

Make sure you check NEA website on water quality before you swim in local waters or look out for this sign. I had a very bad ear infection in Koh Samui after dipping my head in a still water pond so its important to check if the waters is clean enough if you are planning to snorkel in it.

Kg Sungi (Sungai) Durian cemetery named for a few family grave plots

You may buy drinks along the way but do bring a small bottle of plain water as there are no drink stalls (or toilets) for 2 kms towards Chek Jawa. There are vending machines but the visitor counter was out of coins when I was there the last time. Although cases of malaria and dengue fever are almost unheard of in Pulau Ubin, do use mosquito repellents to keep biting insects at bay and for children comfort. Disposable plastic raincoats are useful which are sold at the village. Get some snacks also as one gets hungry soon enough.

Caught in heavy thunderstorms

Although Nparks have erected fences and barriers, it is safe enough to venture off beaten paths. Most of Pulau Ubin jungles were once rubber plantations, the rubber trees extensive creeping roots keep bekular or dense thickets from forming impenetrable barriers.

For bushwacking, a machete would be useful for crossing fallen trees (its easy to be disorientated if one walks around them) but knives are frown upon as some consider Pulau Ubin as just another city park where sights of jungle knives may cause alarm to the public. Make sure you bring along a compass even if you have a GPS with you. Do not ford deeper into sticky mud and get caught in returning tide.

If you are a student group leader, do ensure your group put away glow sticks and tree markers into trash bags instead of leaving them behind and allowing harmful tree fungi to take root. Alternatively you may use toilet rolls as trail markers which disintegrate harmlessly.

Trail marker left behind and forgotten

KP Tan has been to Ubin for the last 20 years and knows the island very well. Drop your comments if you wish to contact him as your volunteer guide.

Here is a travel distance table to other parts of Ubin for your convenience.

Update: 21 Mar 2011

Direction signposts with distance are now erected at major junctions which makes easier to get around Pulau Ubin. You may print out a detailed map of Pulau Ubin as free maps are no longer given out.

Sunset at equatorial Singapore is around 7pm so give yourself plenty of daylight time to walk back to Ubin jetty before it gets too dark or to catch the last ferry. Bring a flashlight just in case and jot down emergency numbers from here. Go back the same way from the path you took. Ignore Nparks traffic directions as they are meant for vehicles plus you have to walk up and down 3 slopes.

12 seconds video

These lizards used to be commonly seen in Ubin. When startled, they climb up to the nearest tree. Their natural predators are dogs so make sure your pets are leashed.

These lizards are not prolific breeders, their numbers declining, being easily trapped by poachers, who include “snake head biters” commandos who like to show their prowess biting off heads of live snakes.

If you are a student and being entertained by one, remember that wild animals are protected in Ubin. Tell your instructor that you have already seen how its done and set the creature free instead of eating it. There is cautionary story of a SAF army commando who is a Ubin regular. Happens about 14 years ago. He subsequently died of blood poisoning after drinking wild reptiles blood. Monitor lizards are scavengers and carrion eaters. They swim about eating dead carcasses and are known to burrow into freshly dug graves and eating the dead bodies, which are traditionally wrapped in shrouds only and buried in shallow depths. Malaysians regard them as filthy animals. Its a bad idea to catch wild ones for pets and endanger your family members.

Jungle survival course training in Pulau Ubin.
Jungle survival training are usually conducted by armed forces for individuals who are selected for their top physical condition and mental endurance, in order to conduct dangerous missions, learning to escape and avoid capture. They are not being taught to ordinary soldiers for a number of reasons.

For rainforest people who spend their entire lives in the jungle, finding enough food is a big challenge. The scarcity of animals on the forest floor resulted in very little meat in their diet. Yet many of such survival courses including TV reality like Man vs. Wild teaches the fun part of trapping of small animals for food. To survive in jungles is a perilous undertaking as no jungles around the world are the same. There are poisonous plants, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, mosquitoes that brings malaria and dengue, parasitic worms, bacteria causing dysentery or leptospirosis from rat urine which causes organ failures. It takes an entire lifetime for forest people to survive in their environment. Such 3 days courses create false sense of confidence that leads to tragedies and deaths.

Parents should consider carefully before allowing their children to go for exotic courses for the sake of gaining precious extracurricular and leadership points in the hope of gaining admissions to prestigious institutions, undergoing 3 days of gruel-ling programs which young bodies and minds are not conditioned for as in this tragic story which 2 schoolgirls drowned in Pulau Ubin more than 10 years ago.

Singapore CDC, Nparks, school principals please take note. Here is an actual experience related by a trainee while in Ubin.

Anyway monitor lizar do taste good. confrim nicer than chicken esp those farm bred ones we eat nowadays. Choose the ~0.5m long ones. Smack bugger on the head until tongue drop out sideways… hang on fence or pole, slit the skin from throat down to tail with a razor…and just peel it off like piece of clothing until the claw area and chop if off. All their fats are concentrated in one area at the belly (yellow lump). Just pull it off and the rest are all lean meat. Serious! If you are in the jungle and there is no cooking oil, just melt this fat back and stir fry the chopped up lean meat from the rest of the body. Throw away the head and neck. Jungle cooking, make do with what u can find lor..pandan leaves, chilli or even small fruits. Above was really what me and some buddies did during jungle survival @ Ubin many moons ago.

Source

Update: 7 Sept 2010.
Since the post was put up this site got hits from people searching for information on buying clouded monitor lizards as pets or as parts (gallbladder). It is illegal in Singapore to buy or trade in exotic snakes and reptiles. All AVA need is to catch the traders who will turn in their customers for lighter sentencing.

We took late boat to Ubin on Saturday (May 8, 2010). At 9pm there were people going fishing or camping on weekends. The van driver was contacted ahead to pick us on arrival.

We headed to Chek Jawa to camp at Punai Hut. The spaced rows of rubber trees nearby would give the camera unobstructed view and allow us to learn its functions. This time, I am hoping to get pictures of wild boars and if lucky, get pictures of mixed domesticated/wild breeds. These have short legs and look closer to pot bellied pigs. If we are extremely lucky, we may capture pictures of an albino or white haired boar which some villagers claimed to have seen.

Unfortunately, it rained heavily earlier and air is dense with humidity which carried noisy sounds from jets taking off from Changi Airport three km away. Most animals including boars tend to be less active on wet weather.

We only managed to catch pictures of ourselves with the trail cam. It was just as well as the camera was angled too high.

Initial impressions. Despite being an expensive Reconyx trail camera, its main failings is narrow point of view, cumbersome size and lack of picture preview. Such cameras are not ready for prime time and expensive at more US$600 considering the lack of local sales support.

Our night is not wasted however. We met young campers trail walking with laser pointers looking for glow-in-the-dark mushrooms and fireflies. There is always something interesting to do in Ubin.

Soon it was dawn and the jungle is alive with bird calls especially of Ubin jungle fowl with its distinctive choked crowings. Chek Jawa is open from 8.30am to 6pm but you can talk to the caretaker for permission to visit earlier. Took pictures of the famous English bungalow House No. 1 which is restored and converted into a visitor centre. Chek Jawa is worth a visit for its coastal view and organized walk on its mudflats. Entrance is free for now.

The first visitors started arriving from 9am. This time there were about 50 retired ladies on a field trip organized by Sembawang Community Club. One lady was a nurse midwife who was stationed for a 2 years in Ubin in the early 60s. There is a dispensary at Ubin village now converted into a restaurant (Ubin First Stop). She recounted the number of babies she delivered during her time when Ubin numbered more than 2000 residents then.

The pictures here are taken by Mr. Moh. Mr. Moh and his wife have lived in Ubin for the last sixty years. Together they operate van taxis services on the island and we are one of their regular customers. Early this year Mr. Moh asked for my help to get him a digital camera. I got him a low cost Nikon camera.

As it turns out, Mr. Moh pictures were beautiful, especially morning scenes while waiting for the first arriving customers. Sometimes there will be large ships crossing the narrow Johore straits under cloudy blue skies which make wonderful postcard pictures. Below are pictures Mr. Moh have taken. Click on them to enlarge.

Cruise liner along Johore Straits

Sunrise over Ubin

Wooden jetty in soft morning light

Shore birds flying

Curious monkey at Chek Jawa

No so shy boar at Chek Jawa

Mr. Moh van taxi rates are reasonable. You can also arrange bookings for early pickups or night trips. His mobile number is 97317629.

If you are lucky you may come across a brood of chicks following its parents. The chicks are vulnerable to natural predators including monitor lizards, monkeys and wild pigs. Wild pigs would churn up jungle floor for earthworms, removing undergrowth and giving the fowls less place to hide. There are worrisome signs as some Ubin villagers notice their numbers are declining.

My concerns turn to elation when I saw 17 adults, male and female while walking along coastal walk at Chek Jawa. Chek Jawa is now a secured area and is closed after 6.30 pm. Thanks Nparks for keeping them safe from poachers.

I used to get detailed pictures of Chek Jawa. Then one day, its gone, just blurred out. Conspiracy theories filled my head. Maybe the secretive government made a request as there is a Navy port nearby.

With the new update of Google Earth, you can slide back to earlier satellite imagery(Jul, 2004).

Edit 24 Feb 2009. Google earth satellite updated imagery can be off as much as 30 metres making cartography more challenging. I find Dec 2003/Apr 2004 to be more accurate. Download the KML files and see for yourself.

Here is a screen grab of Chek Jawa during low tide. You can see how extensive it is and why its worth protecting and for future generations to enjoy.

You cannot see it clearly with the later satellite imagery (Feb, 2005). It was taken during hazy conditions and during high tide.

Update: 21 Mar 2011

Direction signposts with distance are now erected at major junctions which makes easier to get around Pulau Ubin.

There are basically 4 main directions. East, West, and two separate directions towards north.

West
The West ends at Kekek Quarry (4km by road/track from Ubin jetty), where ‘Thai temple’ once stood. This important landmark is now lost forever except for the road named after it – Jalan Wat Siam. The distance is longest and is best visited on wheels. There is a vehicle barrier at the end of the road but adventurous cyclists are still able to cycle up further. Some would swim at Kekek quarry to cool off. But it’s considered illegal trespass. The long downhill slope next to the Chinese cemetery (now renamed “coffee hill” probably see the most nasty bike falls so be careful.

The German girl shrine is also located west within Ketam mountain bike park, with its cycling trails graded by level of difficulties, although it is not safe to take them at face value.

Also, one should stop midway at ‘y u so like dat’ for drinks and a scenic view of Ubin Quarry. Puaka hill is nearby which is worth climbing to the top.

Picture below. Thai monk sitting in front of his demolished temple.

East
The path East ends at Chek Jawa (4 km by road from Ubin jetty). First timers should go there first especially when tides are at their lowest. You can also sign up for Chek Jawa tours organized by Naked Hermit Crabs.

You will be passing the Malay kampung on the way to Chek Jawa. Worth stopping for refreshments and a relaxing view. There is a gaggle of hornbills that make their appearance around 5pm.

North (Marman beach)

Marman beach is further up north from the Malay kampung. It used to be scenic until ugly fences were put as border barriers. From there, you can follow the river bank towards “Orchid Farm”, taking a shortcut by going through the rubber plantation and back to the Malay kampung.

Marman beach

North (Noordin beach)

The other trip north (3.2km by road from Ubin jetty) ends at Noordin beach. The trip requires some steep cycling which already caused some nasty accidents. Probably not worth going as the view at the beach itself is also marred by fences. Its popular among anglers and campers however. On Saturday nights you can hear dangdut music blaring away from the Malaysian side. Mosquitoes can be a nuisance due to nearby mangroves. A spooky place. Was referred as Noordin kampong on old maps. Used to have a Muslim cemetery nearby.

Old map of Noordin beach(1000 metre scale)

NPCC campsite is also located at Noordin Beach. Its also probably the most environmental unfriendly place in Ubin. Its all built up with its own concrete parade square. Its floodlights are turned on the whole night, disrupting roosting birds. The camp is fogged regularly for mosquitoes, exterminating other insects and affecting its natural predators. There is a lightning detector that runs loud warnings on an endless loops. It should seriously consider relocating back to the mainland.

Click on the map below to enlarge.