Exploring Ubin Island In Singapore

I love going to see stuff that most people don’t do. When in Singapore, most people head off to see the obvious shiny stuff – the Marina Bay Sands, shopping on Orchard Road, Day trips to Universal Studios and while there absolutely nowt wrong with those things, one experience I definitely recommend when in Singapore is taking a trip to Ubin Island (referred to as Pulau Ubin) and spending some time cycling around and exploring the island in more details.

HOW TO GET TO UBIN ISLAND

Catch a ferry from the Changi Point Ferry Terminal. They call them ferries but they’re actually bumboats.

The journey is only about 10 mins long and costs around SGD $2.50.

ONCE YOU GET TO UBIN ISLAND

Rent a bicycle. They cost $5 for a mountain bike – get those.

You can also haggle apparently to get cheaper prices but seeing as that price is for the whole day – just pay it and get started with your adventure.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT UBIN ISLAND

1.) Get some water and snacks for your backpack which you should take while cycling. Their are shops when you arrive on the island but these get sparse as you cycle around

2.) Don’t cycle on your own. Get at least one other person with you. It’s not that you can’t do it on your own but it’s just a precaution

3.) Make note of the numbers for emergency services. Just in case – though technically, you should already have these details whenever you arrive in any new country

4.) Wear comfy cycling shoes. I cycled all day in flip flops! Far from the best choice and thought they were okay, by the end of the day, those flip flops had fallen apart.

5.) Do not play with the dogs on the island. They’re not playful dogs like you might be used to. They won’t bother you one bit but if you try to touch them, they might misunderstand what you’re doing and bite you.

6.) Speaking of dogs, there are monkeys, pigs and other wildlife on the island. They’re okay but they’re technically still wild animals so try not to treat them like you would domestic animals. This being said, there were some wild pigs we came across that actually stopped to be fed by the visitors and even the piglets looked longingly at your snacks.

7.) Stay on the trail. Don’t go wandering off.

8.) Take some anti-mosquito spray with you. You’ll need this to avoid getting bitten by any bugs on the island.

When we arrived, we took a quick spin on our bikes to get used to the island

Had some lunch and somehow ended up at this beach resort where we promptly lost half of our crew who wanted to sip cocktails by the beach while we left to explore the rest of the island.

We came across some rather busy monkey which were busy knocking durian fruits out of the trees and sharing the spoils of their fruit picking.

We arrived at the mangrove and decided to lock our bikes and explore this on foot.

We came across this rather large monitor lizard! It was like 4 feet (122cm) long!

Found a group of these little crabs with odd body proportions doing a weird synchronised dance here. There were loads of them and they’re about 1 inch across!

We headed off to a rather tall outpost where you could see across the island! The view was pretty fantastic from up here!

We went back to exploring the island…

These are the pigs I was telling your about. They were after snacks and weren’t shy about it.

There are loads of these pools of water everywhere. I think they were quarries to start with and left to return to a natural stage (which is actually quite pretty and makes for a picturesque scene).