The old jetty at Changi Point, where bumboats used to pick up and discharge passengers to and from Pulau Ubin. The jetty has since been demolished and replaced by a new ferry terminal in 2005.
Bumboats awaiting passengers bound for Pulau Ubin. Each bumboat is licensed to carry just 12 passengers, the boatman and an assistant, though the boats were constructed to carry double that number of people.
The walkway to the bumboat at the new ferry terminal. The back (stern) of the boat comes right up and in line with the edge of the jetty, making boarding and alighting from the bumboats safe and easy.
This photo was taken more than a decade ago with a film camera and shows a causeway that was used by lorries to transport granite from the base of the quarry to road level. When the quarry ceased operations, rainwater accumulated on both sides of the causeway to form man-made lakes. Today, the water level has risen to submerge the causeway completely, merging what were two lakes into one.
One of the beaches on Pulau Ubin. The red roofed ferry terminal can be seen in the distance.
The shoreline fronting the main street of the village centre.
The concrete ferry terminal at Pulau Ubin, protruding out to sea
One of the seven quarry lakes on Pulau Ubin. Each of the quarry lakes was formed when granite (ubin in malay) was quarried from the island for road and building construction, primarily on mainland Singapore.
These left gapping holes on the island, some of which were as much as 100 metres deep. The Pulau Ubin mountain biking trail was built around this lake. Photo taken during a rainy day.
A view of another part of the same lake.
This lake is the nearest viewable lake to the village centre, and the only one provided with a sort of viewing gallery. This lake is one of the primary breeding grounds for great egrets on the island.
Nesting egrets, on the far end of one of the quarry lakes.
This shot was taken from the highest point on Pulau Ubin. Beyond the lake is a prawn farm (since ceased operations), the Straits of Singapore and Johore in the distance.
A view of the Ubin bridge from the highest point on the island. Pulau Ubin is actually composed of two separate islands, joined by the man-made bridge in this photo.
One of the last remaining farm houses on Pulau Ubin. The island was once home to as many as 7,000 families. Most of them have been resettled on mainland Singapore, leaving less than 50 families living on the Pulau Ubin today (Sept 2008).
The village centre, and the focal point of village life in its hey day
The unit on the left is a coffee shop cum seafood restaurant. The bicycle rental shop is on the right. Shot taken at 9.00pm from the ferry jetty.
A natural rock formation a short distance from the beach fronting the police station. Some of us regular visitors dub it Neptune's bed.
Insects: A millipede perched on a vine.
Insects (forgot what these are called) feeding on a bud of a ladies' finger plant/
Another insect on some wild berries.
I was just about to take a photo of the flower when a bumble bee landed on it. A really lucky shot.
Bee gathering nectar.
Another nectar gatherer.
There are probably more varieties of spiders on Pulau Ubin than I care for.
Some kind of grasshopper? This one was barely a centimeter long.
Fruit flies. I wonder what they were doing on the thorn.
Creepy crawlie at work
A pair of weaver ants.
There are lots of dragonflies on Pulau Ubin, in various hues and colours.
A blue dragonfly.
Another dragonfly, ...
... and yet another.
Another dragonfly.
A nest of wasps. As soon as this shot was taken, one of wasps made a beeline for me and stung me on the hand. Good job it was only one wasp, and not the whole colony.
A wasp feeding on the discarded rind of a grape. Better the grape than my hand.
A palm-sized spider common to Pulau Ubin.
This is another variety of the same species of spider, with a black thorax and orange coloured legs.
Once plentiful on mainland Singapore, I had to go to Pulau Ubin to spot this grasshopper.
I used to call this 'Daddy Long Legs' in my younger days.
Butterfly at rest.
Another butterfly.
This insect seems to like nesting in the dried seed pod of this tree.
Now, what is this beauty called .....
Beetles doing their best to contribute to their population.
Scorpions are fairly common on Pulau Ubin, but are usually found in the night.
This tiny insect resting on my pants is commonly called the sand lion, though it is barely 0.5cm long. it is usually found on sandy beaches where it borrows into the sand, and hides at the base of a conical depression, waiting for ants to fall in for its dinner.
Birds: A little heron.
A great heron. These birds are awfully shy. This bird was about 100 metres away, yet I had to hide to take this shot with a telephoto lens.
A mat jambol playing tarzan.
An oriental pied hornbill.
A pair of oriental pied hotnbills.
An Oriole. Commonly called a yellow myna.
A nesting starling.
Green parrots on Pulau Ubin. The colony has multiplied substantially in recent years, and can now be seen (and heard) in Changi Village as well.
Another green parrot.
A pair of cockatoos. More evident in Changi village, but also seen on Pulau Ubin
An infant owl. This one was too young to fly, and would just perch on his branch watching us pesky humans. Mama Owl was close at hand, though, in case we humans got too close to her precious one for comfort.
A jungle rooster sporting a punky look. It was captured and kept as a pet by a villager, and confiscated by the authorities at the height of the Bird Flu scare.
The first woodpecker I have ever seen!
Another victim of the Bird Flu. Another pet of villagers.
Meet Jack the wild boar. Jack was captured by a villager when it was a little piglet, several years ago. Jack was raised and originally destined for the dinner table, but his life was spared by the villager who developed a soft spot for him. He became too accustomed to people and too dependent on people for his sustainance. He would return to the villager each time he was released back to the wild.
This is Priscilla, another wild boar that was raised as a pet by another villager. Priscilla was released when the villager was relocated to mainland Singapore. Having lived with people for a number of years, Priscilla displayed no inhibitions approaching people for handouts, etc. Unfortunately, Priscilla met her end when she approached the wrong people once too often.
Me giving Priscilla a pat, after stuffing her with rambutans. I think she enjoyed being patted as much as she enjoyed the rambutans.
Ubin is home to a small colony of monkeys, which are mainly located in less inhabited parts of the island. This one decided to make the village centre its home.
Reptiles: Common iguana in heat.
A common iguana. Apparently not in heat.
A colourful rainbow-banded grass snake.
Another shot of the grass snake.
Fruits: Brinjal
Cocoa fruit
Custard Apple
A pair of young pomeloes.
A regular sized guava, once widely found Throughout Singapore. Now a rarity.
Sour plums, usually salted, preserved and sold as 'kiam kana'.
Mulberries. Once fairly common on mainland Singapore, new hardly to be seen.
A pair of passion fruits, ....
... and its flower.
Wild berries
Figs.
Wild durians. There are lots of durian trees on the island, which were planted by its inhabitants and abandoned when they relocated to the mainland.
If you are thinking of collecting the fallen fruit, be warned that cobras and swamp vipers are plentiful in the forested areas of the island.
Flowers: This is a variation of the Butterfly Pea (Clitoria Ternatea) with multiple petals, something like a rose. The regular Butterfly Pea usually has a single large petal, with a number of much smaller petals gathered at the base of the flower.
Don't know the name of this flower, ....
..... or this.
A red lily.
This is probably a weed, but it is pretty, isn't it?
Magnolia flower.
Not sure what this fairly common plant is called, but this was the first time I saw it flower.
A variety of the hibiscus flower
Don't remember what this is called either.
Fruit of the 'attap chee' plant, .....
This was the tallest tree on the island with a keramat at its foot. The keramat and tree caught fire in 2005 and were destroyed completely.
A Vietnam Rose blossom.
Just took a fancy to this little bud and photographed it for the heck of it.
A coffee plant, with coffee fruit/seeds ready for harvesting.
This is the flower of the coffee plant, ....
and its fruit.
This is the flower of the 'kang kong' vegetable.
The flower of the cucumber plant.
Young cucumbers.
Lemom Grass.
This rare sight is a mushroom, and was as large as half a loaf of bread. Someone grabbed and literally ran off with it as soon as I turned my back after photographing it. I hope he knows what he is doing. Not all mushrooms are edible, you know
Common Skink
Monitor lizard. One of two varieties that were once common on the island. The population is much reduced today.
Hermit Crab at the Chek Jawa mud flats.
Once in a while, the villagers get to feast on oysters found encrusted on on logs that happen to drift in their direction.
One of the species of crabs ar Chek Jawa.
A long necked tortoise, probably released by worshipers at the quarry lake behind the former Thai Temple.
Sea anemone
Marine snail
Mud skipper.
Another mud skipper, ...
... and yet another trying its hand at acrobatics.
This thunder crab is not edible.
Swamp crab in a trap, ...
... being bound and destined for the dinner table.
The walkway at Check Jawa, ...
... which stretches along the shoreline, ...
... into the forested areas of the mud flats, ...
... and into the interior.
The viewing tower straddling the walkway.
The former holiday bungalow of Lee Kong Chian.
A view of the bungalow from the jetty fronting the property.
A parting short of the Pulau Ubin Jetty as we head home.
