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Palau Ubin, "Ubin Island", makes a nice day trip. To get there, you board a rustic bumboat at the Changi village pier. |
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Palau Ubin, "Ubin Island", makes a nice day trip. To get there, you board a rustic bumboat at the Changi village pier. |
 On the way to Palau Ubin, the bumboat threads
its way through the Kelongs, or fishing platforms, in the Straits of Johor
between Singapore and Malaysia. These fishing platforms use a series of
stakes and nets to form a permanent underwater wall, positioned so as to
channel fish into a central holding net beneath the hut. The number of Kelongs
has dwindled to below thirty, as large commercial fishing boats deplete
the fish population. |
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Palau Ubin, in comparison with the main island of Singapore, is refreshingly rural. The whole island is quite small, so you rent bicycles and just peddle around. For me its very hot of course, even in shorts and t-shirt, yet I saw some blokes in jeans with bikes having no gears, cranking up and down the hills without a drop of perspiration. Wow. |
| We spotted hornbills eating, or rather devouring, a ripe papaya off the tree in someones yard. Also in some mud puddles and along the shore we discovered fish that walk on land. They are definitely small fish, but they use the front fins and tail to walk and even jump around on dry land and mud. |  |
