Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin.

Looking back across the water to Changi Beach.

This is one of the secrets of Singapore that most tourists probably don’t get to see. It is an island just off the coast at the Northern end of Changi Beach. It has not been developed like the rest of Singapore. At one time it had Rubber tree and coconut Plantations. It is a Granite Island and at one time was quarried for Granite. These Quarries have been filled with water and at present are no longer in operation. Lately there has been talk of restarting one of these quarries back up again. This was brought on by problems with getting sand and Ganite out of Indonesia recently. We had hear that this is a lovely place to spend a day riding bikes through jungle and getting close to some wild life. There are some people living on the island but they are mostly living in shacks in the jungle, some with no power. The contours are flat low lying swampy areas with rolling hills of granite. Ruth and I decided it would be great to visit during one of our Monday/ Tuesday weekends and that we needed to do this before the quarry opened up again. So recently on a Tuesday we set off.

The Main Street Of Pulau Ubin

When you arrive on the island the first thought that hits you is how laid back and peaceful it is. The main street has a number of bike shops, a few restaurants selling a range of food and drinks. There is a conservation centre and a police station. We checked out the visitor information centre and collected a good map of the island. My excitement levels rose higher when I read that there were wild boars on the island. The officer told me he had seen some wild pigs that morning. He gave us some directions of which way to head to see a range of the wildlife. Next stop was the bike shops, we got to the first one and found ourselves sitting on mountain bikes, for $8.00 we did not have to get them back until 6:00 pm that night. I suggested that if we weren’t back by then they may need to come and find us. The woman at the shop said they would wait until after breakfast???
Finally we set off on our adventure. There were a number of birds we had not seen before. Lots of thick lush vegetation. One of the highlights was stopping to investigate crashing sounds in the bush and being entertained by wild monkeys feeding in the palm trees. As we rode off from this spot having to slow down for the grumpy one who was crossing the road.

Ruth enjoying the challenge of riding in the jungle.

We spent quite a few hours biking around exploring the island. We arrived back at the main street about 3:00pm by which time we had both had enough cycling and were ready for a bite to eat. We went to the First Stop which was a delightful eating house. We had a beer and a lime juice which was just superb. We followed these with sweet and sour pork and green ginger chicken with fried rice. It was a feast that kept us going for the rest of the day. Everything at Pulau Ubin moves at more relaxed pace and I would recommend as a great place to spend a day when you need to unwind. It was neat to get out and ride without having to worry about the traffic. We timed it right because as we left the island on the bumboat the clouds were growing darker. On the beach at Changi we watched a thunder storm engulf the island.

There is not much chance of getting too lost, there are lots of maps.

At the moment Singapore seems to have a spectacular thunderstorm most afternoons. We have become accustomed to getting up to a bright fine morning and having the clouds roll in during the afternoon. This is followed by a heavy down pour after an hour or two this rolls off and it fines up to become a hot evening. When it rains it pelts down with gigantic drops of rain.

The Bumboats leaving Changi Village.

Vietnam Holiday

Vietnam Holiday.

Amazing amount of rubbish on the streets in this street taken during our Meekong tour.

We have been back at work following our trip to Vietnam for over a month of now, time seems to flying by and I have thought a lot about our Vietnam trip, it was such a neat adventure.

Typical busy street in Ho Chi Minh City, 5 million motorbikes seem to ride around nonstop.

We flew into Ho Chi Minh City which was once called Saigon, what an interesting place, it was an absolute mad house. We arrived in the middle of the day and had a great view of the city flying in.....not many high rises and very spread out...all we could see were skinny shacks, which we assumed were rows upon rows of houses. As we drove into the hotel in the taxi we found out that they were indeed houses! They are about 3 metres wide...and 12 metres long. (we have since found out they are taxed on how wide their land is) In most cases the front doors open onto the street like a garage does. They ride motor scooters in and park them in their lounges. The next thing we couldn't get over was the number of motorbikes, there are 5 million motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City I am sure all of them were out riding the whole time we were there. They were driving on the other side of the road to New Zealand. Intersections were a nightmare even with traffic lights. Bikes seem to come from every angle and anywhere! Cars and buses too. I am not sure if there are any real road rules they just seem to avoid each other.

We booked into our hotel and then stood outside and watched the bikes going past the front of the hotel! The hotel guy suggested we get a taxi to meet up with the others, we had friends who were staying at another hotel, as he didn't want us walking and crossing the street! You risk your life crossing those streets. The trick is once you step onto the road you don’t stop you just keep walking until you get to the other side. The traffic will avoid you if you stop it confuses the drivers???? We were also cautious of people who might bag snatch so were constantly on guard, apparently they follow you for a bit when they get the chance they use Stanley knives to slice the straps of your bags. We did have a couple of shady characters follow us but they didn’t get the chance to do anything. Crossing the road became a fun challenge once we plucked up the courage to give it a go.

Family going about their daily business on the Meekong.

The next day was an early start to travel 3 hours to the Meekong Delta. We were in a group of 5 in a van and with our own personal driver who supposedly spoke English. Well, yes he could speak but he couldn't understand questions, no matter how we phrased them. We boarded a boat and were driven past a floating market, they advertise what they have for sale by tying a sample onto a tall pole on the bow of their boats. Many of the people live and work on their boats all of the time. They wash and bathe in the river. All along the banks are an assortment of buildings and houses. We called into a small village on the edge of the river where they made coconut sweets, rice lollies, rice paper and many other crafts. Rice wine is the local drink, they spice it up by placing it into a jar with snakes. This they call snake wine, we were told it makes the women more beautiful and the men much stronger. We were offered a sample from a freshly brewed batch. Inside the jar were indeed cobra snakes, scorpians, and even a dead bird complete with feathers??? I declined the opportunity. This was a fascinating place to see but we were often accosted by children trying to sell there wares. Everything was very cheap and the atmosphere was much more relaxed than in the city. We continued on our trip along the river stopping for lunch at a lovely little garden place where they had an enormous pet python! Right beside the toilets! Then it was back into the boat to find the van and a three hour drive back to our hotel.

Schools out, these secondary students leave school for the day, notice their beautiful white uniforms.



The next day we flew to Danang and took a taxi to a small town called Hoi An which is a delightful beach side place. It was a key port on the ancient silk trade route. A key tourist attraction here is the Japanese bridge built around 1300. We had managed to book into a resort for some lovely r and r. It was an awesome place to stay. 100 metres from the sea and the resort had a lovely pool which we frequented throughout our stay. Food and drinks were cheap. Across the road from the resort was a tailor who made me a suit with two trousers, three shirts and a tie for $ 113.00. Ruth had a number of skirts and clothes made to fit as well. One of the day trips we did out of Hoi An was on a bus to a My Son...These are the ruins of some Cham temples said to have been built around the 1300s. It was a very hot day but we did have fun, this was an organized tour so we were given quite a lot of information about the area. I understand that a fair proportion of the ruins can be attributed to heavy bombing by the Americans during the American war. In Vietnam it is referred to as the American war. There were some pretty big holes in the ground where some of the bombs had landed.

Temple on Marble Mountain

Another interesting day we visited Marble Mountain and had a swim on China Beach. Marble Mountain is an area where there is a Buddhist temple and many shrines carved into the Marble actually inside caves on this mountain. This was amazing as some of the Buddha statues were very big! From the mountain you overlook China Beach this is where the Americans landed at the start of the war. It stretches along for quite a few kms, it is not all that different to Papamoa beach, except of course for the standard of housing. This beach was lovely but the hawkers (people with just what you need) were forever hassling us to spend money. I think it had something to do with us being the only Western people to be seen. We had a swim and lunch but the highlight for me here were the round boats that the local fishermen use. They are about 2 metres in diameter and they stand up in them using a single oar to navigate them through the surf.

Vietnamese Round boat, they actually fish from these !

We loved our holiday in Vietnam and learned a few valuable lessons. The lasting impression I have of Vietnam, is of the poverty that is visible everywhere but that the people are still largely happy and very friendly. Already we are planning to return to explore the Northern parts of the Country.