After touring the wetlands at Chek Jawa, we made our way out to the information kiosk. Right behind the information kiosk is the visitor centre also known as house no. 1 Pulau Ubin.
According to one account, it was built in the 1930s by the then Chief Surveyor, Langdon Williams, as a holiday retreat. You can read more from source.
House No. 1 is believed to be Singapore’s only remaining authentic Tudor-style house with a fireplace. Its uniqueness fits in nicely with its new function as a visitor centre. Fireplace is useless in Singapore cause we dont have winter. The fireplace can double up as a BBQ pit hahaha. I believe upstairs are where the bedrooms are. It has its very own jetty, I doubt it was being used anymore. Back of the house, I love to have such house with a view of the sea and a private jetty. :) Surrounding the house are lots of fruit trees and coconut trees. Can be quite errie to stay in the only house in this part of the island. For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch Blog.
I think this is the only one and only high structure in Pulau Ubin, an observatory tower at Chek Tower. It is about 7 storey high and no way I am climbing up there hahaha. I just stand under some shades of those beautiful palms. Looking up the tower. I send my nephew up and had him to take photos of the surrounding from the top of the tower. From the top of the tower, the sight of forests around us. Another part of the view from the tower, is the sea. I think the far end is Malaysia. Hahaha smart of my nephew to take photo of those at the bottom of the tower. No I was not among those people, remember, I was under those leaves of the palms (very well camouflaged lol)
After all the excitement with the marine life we saw earlier, we were fascinated by these mangroves. There were like a forest of them. Mangrove trees are adapted to being covered in seawater at high tide and to grow in soft mud. The new boardwalk into the mangroves bring us closer to these trees as well as the marvellous Nipah palms. We saw so many nipah plams or what we locals called them attap chee. We used to eat these in our Ice Kachang (local dessert). Overripe fruits fall to the ground. Wild animals on this island are able to find plentiful of fruits in the forests so the more we should not feed the wild animals.
We took the van from the Jetty to Chek Jawa. It cost us S$2 per person one way and the driver will collect only when he comes and fetch us back to the jetty. He gave us a name card and to call him when we wanted to return after finishing visiting Chek Jawa. The van will move only when there are twelve passengers but we are a group of seven, he still take us.
You cant cheat him cause he can see you if you leave Pulau Ubin cause the vans parked just next to the jetty hahaha. If you cycled, you have to park your bikes outside the gate so as to protect the marine life and beach. It is just a short walk from the gate to the information kiosk. Do remember to spray insect repellant cause most of the places are mostly left untouched and lots of greenery and wooded. You might encounter some wild boars and monkeys but please do not feed them as they are wild.
There are plenty of food for them in the forests for them to fend for themselves.
Originally there were plans to reclaim Chek Jawa but it was saved by some nature loving group. Some nature-loving members of the public found and helped save a beautiful beach on Pulau Ubin called Chek Jawa. Their efforts led to a rare policy U-turn in Singapore.It was by chance that botanist Joseph Lai, 41, stumbled on the lagoon and sand bars of Tanjung Chek Jawa in January. He was acting as a volunteer guide for some students from Raffles Girls' School, who were exploring the coastal forests in the area. They just happened to be there when the tide was low, and he remembers that the richness of the marine habitat left him 'speechless with wonder'. You can read more from source. On reaching the information kiosk, you can collect map and brochures. Behind the kiosk is a house which I will tell you more about it later. The house is now a visitor centre. Follow the map and you can come across a boardwalk or a bridge above the water. The boardwalk was built so as to protect the beach and marine life on the beach during low tide. You can walk on the bridge above the beach anytime without registering but if you choose to walk on the beach during low tide, you need to register online and most of the time it is full.
They have limit the number of people on the beach to protect the marine life in there. But we still can see some marine life from the bridge during low tide. Too bad when I was there, the tide is not low enough otherwise I can see some crabs even without stepping on the beach. I zoom on the another part of the beach from the bridge where I was standing. I saw several mud skippers on the lower part of the beach. We were so excited hahaha. Can you spot the mud skippers in the above photo (circled). Saw many crabs further down the boardwalk. Some are hiding in the holes. Please do not capture or collect anything from the beach cause when you take the bumboat back to mainland Singapore, your bag have to go through the scanning machine at the ferry terminal at Changi Point. Anyway, I believe the marine creatures wont live long even if you capture them, they can only survive on sea water and not fresh water.
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Before touring the island, we decided to pray at the Tua Pek Kong Chinese Temple. It is a taoist temple and been around for a long time. Worshippers praying for good luck, good health and for their wishes to come true. The opera stage has been around since the sixties and most of the time, the stage is empty and used only during religious festivals. An incense burner next to the temple.
