|
|
| travellers'
view of ubin Ubin: an antidote to sterile Singapore? What do visitors find uniquely Singapore? From these excerpts, it appears that Pulau Ubin is a delightful surprise to some visitors. And that it softens Singapore's image as a sterile destination no different from other major cities. Here's some excerpts... "A life less ordinary: The first thing you notice when you set foot on Ubin soil is the tranquillity and unspoilt nature that is so predominant on the island... Dave and I went to Ubin to fly kites and ended up doing a lot more. We left the island with apprehension of the hustle and bustle that was to greet us once again on the mainland". from No Visas Required by Brian Randall Francis on the Things Asian website: a brief introduction with photos and travel tips. "I had to pinch myself really, to think that here, in the perfect "global city-state" where almost nothing stays that isn't spanking new or made to look that way, I was edging my way out on a rickety timber plankwalk, along a pier of chaffed pontoons to a floating fisher's house, of the oldest rarest kind". from Pulau Ubin-Singapore's Island Getaway by Tom Cockrem on the Things Asian website: a brief introduction with photos. "For three months, Buddhist monk Phrakru Panna Dhamvithes walked south from his native Phattalung province in southern Thailand in search of a spiritual haven where he could build a temple and meditate. In May 1986, he finally found his piece of paradise in a somewhat unusual place - Singapore. He has been there ever since. Phraku Panna's new home is not among the shopping malls and high rise buildings on Orchard Road, but among the mangroves and thick forests of Pulau Ubin. It is not difficult to see why he settled on Pulau Ubin .... Singapore still has a soul and it can be found on Pulau Ubin." from Pulau Ubin abode for Thai monk by Colum Murphy, Bangkok Post, July 3, 2003: about a Buddhist monk who made his home on Ubin and Ubin in general "Looking for an escape from the concrete jungle of Singapore, I ended up on Pulau Ubin...We only wondered how long it will take before also this small tropical area will fall to the claws of expanding Singapore" from the Travel Adventures website by Boris Kester: photos and descriptions of a trip to Ubin "Since the understanding of the very unique Straits Culture was a subject I had set forth to study this was a unique possibility to have a look at the "Old Singapore" - now completely disappeared from the main island ... Maybe nothing to be excited about for you who happen to live in places like this, but for me - a piece of heaven." from Visit to Pulau Ubin by Jan-Erik Nilsson and antique Chinese porcelain collector on Gotheborg.com: lots of photos. "On 22 June 03, my friend CS and I set off for Pulau Ubin with great zeal. .. I spoke to one of the passengers on the bumboat, an Indonesian gentleman, who told me he just had a baby girl. By tradition, they would either bury the placenta or dispose it in the sea. I was glad to share his experience for the latter, watching him dump a little urn into the waves. What an interesting start for a great day of adventure..." from Vagabond's website: photos and captions of an outing to Ubin with interesting encounters. "A bowl of fresh air and change on Singapore's second largest island ... There are more interesting things to visit in Singapore but this island is as far from the modern sterilized city as you could go... Feel like in a different country & forget about the modern life" from the passplanet website: a quirky description of Ubin. "Who would have thought the small island of Pulau Ubin, a 10-minute boat ride from Changi Beach, could also be Singapore? ... This village atmosphere will not be here forever ... Singaporeans believe the Government has development plans for the island, so visit while you can." from By the Back Door by Judith Elen, an article in The Australian on 12 Jun 04 "Singapore is a cultural potpourri that leaves the unsuspecting visitor dazzled. A happy collision of opposites, the antiseptically clean inner city is never far from rainforests, unique night safaris, or a bumboat's ride from Changi jetty... Best-kept secret: Pulau Ubin island between Singapore and Malaysia, with its narrow streets and original buildings is a great picture of how the city looked 30-40 years ago." from The best of Singapore by Anita Lišková & Todd Shaw on The Prague Tribune. The island of Pulau Ubin is something of an anomaly in modern day Singapore ... it was this air of disregard that attracted me to Ubin and led me to a series of monthly visits over a two year period (1995 and 1996) ...It was the juxtaposition of these two elements--nature and man's mark on it--that kept drawing me back to the island over those two years ... For me, on Pulau Ubin, the footprints of nature and man co-exist with equal beauty. from Ubin: Beauty of the Discards on Jon Morgan's website "I'd only been on Pulau Ubin for an hour, and already I was beginning to see why it holds such an attraction to nature-starved Singaporeans. From Singapore's hustle and bustle, Ubin's somnolence is immediately refreshing. Stopping my bike at a roadside stall, I'm greeted by locals with animated tales of encounters with long-tusked wild boars and Malaysian tigers prowling farmyards in the moonlight." from Tiger's Tale Story & Photos by Philip Gostelow on the McEdit website: brief story about a visit to Ubin. "My favorite island getaway has to be Ubin. Located off the northeast tip of Singapore, Pulau Ubin remains the only place in Singapore where you can find life as it used to be before urban development ... I expect that within the next 20 years we'll see poor Ubin burdened with boxy housing estates and the hideous trappings of urban sprawl. And when they eventually extend the MRT out to the island, it's curtains for this place. See it while you can." from the Frommers' website "Of stark contrast to the spanking newness of Singapore... Pulau Batu Ubin or Granite Stone Island, is beset with a rustic charm of a kampong (village). The island... has somehow escaped the almost maniacal orderliness of the main island." from Pulau Ubin - The surviving past of Singapore Bicycling across the Granite Stone Island By Shveta Grover Chicago Business Online, March 10, 2003 |