Pulau Ubin

The small island has a very intriguing myth attached to it.
"An elephant, a frog and a pig once had a contest for who could swim to the straits of johor (the water body separating malaysia and singapore. They failed to do so. They formed islands instead. The elephant and the pig made pulau ubin whereas the frog made a small island close to ubin."
Ubin is the second national park, I've heard of, in Singapore, there's the Bukit timah Natural Reserve (which btw is one of the only two natural reserves in the middle of a city. The other is in Brazil.) It is green, wet and wild. Getting there is fun though, a small ferry ride from Changi Village jetty on a bumboat takes you to Ubin in 15 minutes. It is the cheapest bumboat ride I've heard of in Sgp- the other that takes you over the Singapore river costs $10 more. this one was for an affordable $2. Reach Ubin and get yourself a bicycle or walk- walk through the scary green forest to see the views of quarries which I perceive are enclosed water bodies. I did my reading before heading to Ubin, so knew about the wetland sanctuary- Chek Java. It is definitely the high point of Ubin because of the splendid views it provides. Malaysia is just on the other side, across the straits of Johor. It was a rough weather day and hence the high tide which had covered a lot of the shore habitats but i managed to get a glimpse of some of them and also got a splendid pic of the wetland (which shall be put up soon). I managed to see the Red Jungle Fowl but not the white-bellied fish eagle. The rain seemed to have driven them to shelter.
The sounds from the forest on my way back gave me jitters because now there were growls which were definitely not that of the fowl. I was praying all along my way back that the famed bats had not woken up yet. The sight of the jetty made me breathe again.
Changi Village is a lazy rich place for it was one of those few places in Singapore where I saw bungalows. I wanted to visit the sailing club but the rain, wet shoes and socks were a put off especially in the air conditioned bus. So, I decided against it and headed homewards.