Our "Deformed" TentIt had been a long time since I upload any post but here is something long and interesting ☺. Well went to ubin with 3 of my classmates (that’s 1/3 of the whole class strength), which was very lucky cos Lynn is able to make it cos the nite before she actually smsed to say she might not make it due to food poisoning. Anyway we met up early @ Tanah Merah MRT (just been voted as WORST toilet of Singapore MRT) and took a bus to Changi Village. (Side note …. I had asked the group to bring a big bag … travel light … so we can buy water and put inside …. But one of them YJ ….really travel LIGHT….. In fact it should be consider super light !!!!! ha ha ha , a small bag … with hmm just some clothes and a loaf of focaccia bread) There was a huge change in that area esp. with the new Jetty and saw they had a boardwalk built in that area on the map (ok ok I know maybe it been there for some time but I neber been to that area for the Lonnnnnnnnnnnnngest time. Anyway the jetty was nice and there even waiting area for passengers waiting on board the bumboat to Pulau Ubin. Oh I forget to mention that the weather was great … gloomy but no rain.
The trip on the bumboat took abt 10 min +/- and very soon we reach the island itself (oh did I mention that it’s YJ’s virgin trip to Ubin) Once touch down, we went to the police post and gave our particulars (this is a recommended for all campers so that the police can inform in case of anything happen. Next we went to rent our bicycles and only to realized that YJ haben been cycling for long time …. And was abit unstable at first …. (Was very proud of her … neber give up and try n try) We left her to practices and me and JS went to recce the Jelutong beach but was quite disappointed by it (thot it will look nicer though) then we went back and realized YJ is done with her practices and we set out for Noordin Beach Campsite. Cos we decided to pitch out tent and then unload some stuff before going to Chew Jawa (coos just the 4 of us but we had a heavy load of food (including 2 cans of curry chicken, 1 can of sausages, 1 can of potato soup, 1 can of tuna, 5 pack of Maggie mee, 1 ice box with 6 can of tiger beer by me, 1 can of curry chicken, 1 can of shark fin soup, 1 can of luncheon meat, 4 pack of Maggie mee, some tibits and his must have 3 in 1 kopi by JS, Lynn had with her tibits and chips and YJ have tibits, cookies and bread.
We spent close to 2 hrs on my 2pid tent (which I throw away after this trip), the wind was very strong and we had a hard time setting up the tent in that kind of condition. On and thanks to “Handyman” JS cos he had a lot of “tools” to make the tent stable, without which the tent would not be stable. Ohh forget to mention again, Noordin Beach was much nicer we were the only campers over that that day and there was this dog there, we gave him the name of Bobby (by JS).
After that we decided to go and explore the “new” Chek Jawa, it had been years since I been there and they have new boardwalk and stuff over there. We decided to take a shortcut based on the map BUT we end up losing our way (took one big round and end up at the same place not to mention that we kena mud along the way, esp Lynn and YJ cos they wear slippers!!! haha got their slippers STUCK in the mud) thus after wasting the time on the wrong road, we “start” to make our way to Chek Jawa …. By the time we reach there was about close to 5pm, We took a look at the House No. 1 which they did a good job on the renovation. And Lynn had claimed that is her house, ha ha. After that we took a walk on the boardwalk which is very windy and nice.It was high tide thus we can’t see any of the nice coral and marine life but we manage to see a few school of small fishes. Oh we took some funny pics as well.
The clear blue skyLand View | Sea View |
Next was the viewing tower … Lynn did not wans to climb it in the first place but was persuaded by JS, which was good cos she did not regret going up … the air is good, view is good and of cos …. Lynn claimed this as her tower again! Next we set off back to the Ubin town. Half way along the way, JS’s bike’s paddle drop so he had to push like skate scooter. We had a “light” din din (with black pepper crab, steam prawns, vege, soup and squids – very “light” indeed) It was close to 7pm + after din din and some grocery and the sky was getting quite dark. So I had my first experience of riding in the dark on Ubin, it was kinda of fun for us yet we were having a bit of mix feeling … cos not sure will our tent stays strong against the strong wind, or will our food be stolen? Lucky for us, all was intact and we set off to shower after unloading (surprising the toilets there is nice n clean so much better then the Tanah Merah MRT’s). Though of cos water is not safe for drinking even bathing but we used it to bath anyway (I wash over with mineral water after that but JS just powder bath after that and the gals commented that we smell nicer then them LOL , welcome to the world of Metrosexual) .
Next we had small talk, some drinks, tibits at the shelter and at ard 11 + we started to cook our supper of all the Maggie + canned food. Chef for the nite was “Chef” JS, not only he cooked for us, he cooked for Bobby as well and some other dogs ☺. After supper, we tok cok, sing song some more till about close to 3 am.I must have been a bit high due to the few cans of Tiger beer ... cos think i talk alot LOL ( sorry for that guys ... too long neber drink and i am not really a alcohol person. There is where we were all tired and decided to go back into the tent and grab some sleep. Think JS was super tired, cos he fall asleep almost str8 away. I had quite a bad nite … cos I think I am too used to soft mattress .. so kept tossing n turning. Time goes quite slow as I keep checking my watch. @ about 3.40am, we heard the dogs outside barking and I just lay still n try to sleep, dun wan to think what is it but YJ sits up and look out, only to see the dog barking then went back to sleep (think she was a bit afraid cos she thot she heard noise nearby) I heard like sound of car and also like got someone open a can of soft drink. We concluded in the morning that it might had been maybe a wild boar that came around that nite (cos Lynn and JS heard and saw something along our way back, near the NPCC camp) and the dogs were barking and not howling…. So maybe they were trying to protect us? ☺
HornBills@ Noordin BeachYJ woke up ard 7am and we went to clean up a bit and decided to wake the rest up but Lynn and JS continued to sleep so both of us decided to continue sleeping …. Soon it started to rain ,,,,, but only for about 30 min … then we decided to cook breakfast. 3 of us went out and left JS was inside sleeping cos can see that he was really tired. Me and Lynn was chef for the morning … soon it started to rain again … and ard 10 we decided to wake JS up cos we need to return the bike b4 12pm if not there be additional charges. We were getting ready to leave when it started to rain again so we hid inside the tent and after a while we tore down the tent and hide at the shelter. It keeps on raining and raining. We decided to set out in the rain at ard close to 1 pm and soon the rain got heavier when we reached the Jetty (lucky the uncle did not charge us extra cos we returned the bike late, btw the uncle was quite helpful, we had free lock, free baskets for the bikes and best did not charge us extra, it the last bicycle stall at the left hand side).
Maybe due to the rain and cos weekdays, we had to wait for close to half an hour to get enough ppl to get the bumboat to leave the Jetty (standard they will only leave when got about 12 pax, unless u wans to pay extra). We had our lunch @ Changi Village , only to realize that my fav. western food stall is no longer there and thew red tea longan's standard dropped!. After that me and JS shared a cab back and YJ n Lynn took bus back.The whole trip was very enjoyable for me and of cos the rest of the guys enjoyed it too and we hope to do this again. Till then …. Hope to have more fun with this bunch !!!