TRIP TO PULAU UBIN (28 JUNE 2009)

Pulau Ubin (which means "Granite Island" in Bahasa Melayu) is an island to the north-east coast of Singapore. Years ago, granite quarries, plunging 30 to 40 metres deep into the ground, used to operate on the island, but the whole island has since been acquired by the government and is now state land. Since then, the government has stepped in to improve the infrastructure on the island, but it's still relatively undeveloped compared to the rest of Singapore. It's probably the only place in Singapore where one can readily sample "kampong life".


Grandma Nancy's brother, Granduncle Alvin, visits Ubin regularly and he told Grandma Nancy about the bumper crop of durians on the island this season. All of us thought picking durians in the wild would be a fruitful way of spending a Sunday.

Our plan was to get to the island in the morning, bike around in search of durian trees, pick durians to our hearts' content, have lunch on the island, then return home to enjoy seed after seed of bittersweet durian. But of course... things never really go according to grand plans, do they?

We were supposed to be on the island bright and early, but as it turned out, the allure of sleep kept our plans at bay. We got up late, and by the time we arrived at Changi Village to catch the bumboat to Ubin, there were no carpark lots left at Changi Village! We had to wait a really long time for a lot to free up.

When we got to the jetty, we saw many groups of people returning from Ubin with gunny sacks filled with durians. "Leave some for us!", we almost yelled in panic. Well, the early bird catches the worm, they say.

The bumboat ticket to Ubin cost S$2.50 each one-way. The ride to Ubin only took about 15 mins.
Once we arrived at Ubin, we were greeted by the sight of a leathery old man selling his pickings for the day, whetting our appetite to pick our own. But first up, lunch.


Daddy steered us to a restaurant, where he'd been before. We ordered mee goreng, fried Hokkien mee, fried beehoon, steamed crab, sambal sotong, chilli mussels, leatherjacket fish in black bean sauce, fried chicken and sambal kangkong. Everyone heaped praises on the mee goreng and fried chicken. Only Daddy stayed silent. He had had a peek of the kitchen whilst looking for the toilet, and had seen sewage in an exposed drain flowing right through the kitchen. That pretty much killed his appetite. Fortunately, none of us fell sick after the meal.


After lunch, we hired bikes from a random shop in the village. Grandpa Eddy and Grandma Nancy shared a tandem bike. Ah Gong and Ah Ma were supposed to share a second tandem bike, but Ah Gong had great difficulty keeping his balance with Ah Ma on the bike! Daddy had to take Ah Ma as his pillion in the end. Much to Daddy's dismay as he had to suffer her nags in stereo the whole journey... Ah Gong, on the other hand, was very glad to have a bike all to himself. Mommy took me on her bike, and Ning Che Che took Su Ann on hers.

None of us knew where the durian trees were, so Grandpa Eddy rang Granduncle Alvin for directions. Granduncle Alvin tried his best to give us directions, but it was way too difficult for Grandpa Eddy to ride a tandem bike and receive directions on the phone at the same time. Grandpa Eddy gave up on receiving directions after a while. We would just have to sniff the air for the signature, pungent fragrance of the durian fruit, and keep a lookout for the trees as we rode.

We passed abandonned granite quarries, a mangrove swamp, a boy who caught a stone fish, coconut trees, rambutan trees, jackfruit trees, but we just didn't spot any durian trees!

Grandpa Eddy and Grandma Nancy had been struggling to keep up with the group, so when the rest of us got to the top of a slope, we stopped by the side of the road to wait for them. It was then that both my grandmothers fell!!! Grandpa Eddy had trouble cycling up the slope, so Grandma Nancy pushed their bike up the slope instead. She somehow managed to lose her balance whilst pushing the bike and fell, with the bike landing on top of her. Her elbow got scratched up pretty badly. Then, Ah Ma got off her bike to have a look-see. She too somehow managed to lose her balance and tumbled onto a bush. Poor bush!


After their falls, the enthusiasm of both my grandmothers to look for durians waned. Ah Ma kept using Su Ann and me as excuses to get the group to turn back. She kept going on and on about the heat, about how Su Ann and I shouldn't be under the sun for so long, blah blah, until Daddy couldn't take the nagging anymore and decided to steer the group back to the village. The truth was Su Ann and I were comfortable and we were really enjoying the ride. I was looking forward to going to one of the beaches on the island as well, but I would now have to give that a miss.

I was feeling rather disappointed when Ning Che Che caught sight of a durian tree and signalled to our group to stop. The tree was actually pretty close to where we started our ride. Both my grandmothers eagerly scoured the forest floor for fallen durians, but the "early birds" had picked the area clean, except for... one fruit which had been obscured by leaves. Grandma Nancy spotted that one and proudly held it up like a nugget of gold! Finally, we had one and we returned to the village triumphant!

After returning our bikes, the tribe descended on the village's only provision shop. To celebrate her find, Grandma Nancy ordered a round of icy cold coconuts for everyone. She also bought some rambutans from the shopkeeper, and got them to split open the durian for us. Each of the adults took a seed, and they said it was "very shiok"!

On the way back to the jetty, we stopped for mee rebus at a little coffee shop. Ubin was a lovely adventure for all of us. We will certainly return for more.