Pulau Ubin Trip

"Look, a mermaid's fan!" Uncle Joe showed me the seaweed.  I touched it and it felt like jelly.  We were at Pulau Ubin with our friends Keith and Karl.  It was my first time there and I was so excited!

Mermaid's fan

We took a bumboat to get to Pulau Ubin.  The bumboat is a very special boat because it has tires at the front of the boat, the sides and at the back.  If the boat bumps into anything, it won't break because the tires are bouncy and it would just bounce off anything.

On the bumboat

When we got off the bumboat, Uncle Joe led us to some rock pools.  That's where we saw the mermaid's fan.  We spotted lots of fiddler crabs.  They have a big claw and a small claw.  The small claw is used to feed itself and the big claw is used for fighting.  There were also little tiny prawns in the rock pools.

After that, we went to a provision shop which sells almost everything.  There were drinks, durians and everything you find in a supermarket.  Uncle Joe bought a gassy apple drink and he asked, "Who wants to open the bottle with this bottle opener?"  I shouted, "Me!!!"  The first time I tried, I didn't manage to open it.  But the second time, I managed to get it opened.  Uncle Joe also let us try the gassy apple drink.  It was super gassy!

Later on, we took a taxi van.  It looked like our old school bus.  It didn't really look like a taxi.  We went to a quarry where we saw herons and egrets.  There were very few of them at first but after a few minutes, we saw a group of them flying together.  Then we got back into the taxi and drove through a forest.  Uncle Joe told us to look out for wild boars but unfortunately there were none.

Taxi van

After a while, we arrived at Chek Jawa.  Uncle Joe picked up some rubber tree seed husks and he said, "Hey, we can make a toy out of these."  He turned one half of the husk the opposite way and fastened them together.  Then Uncle Joe held the toy with two fingers, took a deep breath, blew the hollow side of the husk and it spun.

Blowing the spinning toy

Then we strolled on the boardwalk and looked out for mud lobsters, mudskippers and fiddler crabs.  I was tired but I still kept a close look out for the mudskippers because I like them.

After a long walk, Uncle Kenneth spotted a big mudskipper with tiny arms and it looked like a slug.  I only caught a glimpse of it because it scampered away.  I also spotted a few fiddler crabs fighting with each other and it looked like they only had a big claw and no body.  

Then we saw some people with a lot of rubbish, tires, ropes, and  big oil drums.  They were clearing rubbish from the sea.  After some time, I spotted some mudskippers hopping here and there.  Suddenly, a man shouted to Uncle Joe that there was a mud lobster.  "Bring it to us!" Uncle Joe said.  It looked like a regular lobster to me.

Mudskipper suntanning on a tree

Mud lobster

When we got out of Chek Jawa, we went to a kampung house where we saw lots and lots of dogs and a parrot that could say "hello" and "goodbye".  I was a little bit scared of the dogs.  I thought the kampung house was a nice place to stay in.  It is interesting how they cook using firewood and that they use a ladder instead of stairs to get to the second floor.

At the kampung house

Firewood used for cooking

Finally we went for lunch.  We ate at a seafood restaurant.  We had fish, mussels, sweet potato leaves, prawns, etc.  I thought the fish was tough.  We saw bags of water hanging down above the tables.  The water bags reflect light to scare away houseflies.

At the restaurant

After lunch, we took a bumboat back to Changi.  We said goodbye to our friends, Kong Kong and Uncle Joe.  And that was my trip to Pulau Ubin.