Visit #1: 19 June, Friday

On 19 June, Friday, we went to Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin by ferry at 9am. It was a partly cloudy day and the sun was just rising above the horizon.

Our group members (From left to right): Phyllis, Si Ting, Kai Xin, Megan, Ryan

When we got off the ferry, we realised that the coast was filled with litter. It made the water dark and murky and it ruined the beautiful landscape.

As we entered Pulau Ubin, we noticed that there were many stray dogs.

We rented bicycles and cycled along the uneven terrains of Pulau Ubin to get to Chek Jawa. When we arrived at Chek Jawa, we parked our bicycles and entered the gates.

Upon entering Chek Jawa, we looked into the undergrowth of the coastal forest and saw a family of wild boars and a random chicken.

As we walked around Chek Jawa, we would hear sounds of branches breaking, as if something was falling from the trees, resulting in loud thuds on the ground. We soon realised that the loud thuds were due to durians falling on the ground. We made our way to the boardwalk and observed more litter along the way.

As we were looking for corals, it dawned upon us that it was impossible as the tide was already too high, unless Moses was here to part the 'Red Sea'.

We moved on to the mangrove boardwalk and saw tiny crabs with white pincers as well as brown crabs that camouflaged in the sand.

We were trying very hard to look for more organisms in the mud, and something suddenly stirred..

We saw a puny, ugly, slimy, alien-ish-looking creature, which turned out to be a mud-skipper. We were quite disappointed because we expected the mud-skipper to be slightly bigger but I guess that's nature for us and nature is beautiful.

Beautiful Mudskipper

Phyllis exclaimed, "Oh my gosh guys, look over here!" while pointing at a moving creature. Amidst the mountains of mud, we saw something reflective and it turned out to be a lobster the size of Ryan's shoe.

We saw tiny button-like white mushrooms that stood out in the mud and they looked really cute and tasty. Phyllis asked, "这个可以吃的吗? (Is it edible?)". But we remembered that mushrooms that grow in the wild are usually poisonous. We learnt that cute things are always dangerous and therefore it would be unwise to eat such a cute little mushroom.

As the weather became hotter, we decided that it was time to go. We walked back to collect our bicycles. On the way back, we saw one of the staff from National Park carrying a durian. He then told us that a durian fell on one of the bicycles at the bicycle parking area. It turned out to be Kai Xin’s bicycle.

We also saw a troop of monkeys stealing durians tied to the bicycles. Monkeys are very smart animals. They managed to destroy the string around the durian and even managed to pry open the durian without the use of any tools, and they got their reward! Although we do feel sorry for the affected bicycles, durians and people.

As we were on our way back, Kai Xin fell down her bike and injured her toes.. BOTH toes.

*shudders*

Megan and Si Ting cycled on while traumatized Kai Xin decided not to cycle and walk back. Phyllis and Ryan accompanied Kai Xin. In the end, Ryan pushed both bicycles so that Kai Xin could walk with more ease. Such a gentleman!

While Megan and Si Ting were at the pavilion waiting for the wounded child. We saw what looked like a stick on the wall - which didn’t make sense. Si Ting exclaimed with realization, “OMG Megan, it’s a stick insect!”. And Megan was like, woaahh.

After 1 hour in the ridiculously hot weather, we arrived at Pulau Ubin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we ended the day with fresh coconut :)