Special thanks

As mentioned earlier on, some of us drank and ate at the nearby coffee shop at Changi Village. This page is specially done by us, dedicated to a stall at the coffee shop.

While we were drinking our drinks on a bench, the Makcik who owned the nearby stall (left) spotted us and offered free (masalode, still piping hot) for us. We could not do anything (she refused to make us pay) but to thanked her.

We would like to recommend this stall to the others. That is the least we could do to her now.

Bye Ubin, never change

It was time to go home, and we were in absolute tiredness. We had fun, though; all the tiring bicycle rides, the disaster, and not to forget cleaning Noordin beach.





We were among a few groups of students (and teachers) who managed to reach the jetty first, board on the boat first and reach the jetty at Changi Point first.





The ride back to Changi was not as rocky as the ride from it, but the sky was beginning to darken more and more, a sign that it was going to rain heavily. Luckily for us, it started to rain only after we had reached Changi, where we drank and ate some food at the nearby coffee shop.



Unfortunately for some of my friends, they were caught in the storm while still on the island. The fare for the bumboats that we rode were paid earlier, hence we did not have to pay for it once more. For those who were left on the island and reached at the jetty later than us, they had to pay for their fare themselves though.































It was a real fun on Pulau Ubin. Not only we had to pick up litters from the beach, but we also had the chance to explore the island, got lost on it and experienced disasters on it.





Another video by Khair.


Thank you for reading our blog.

When catastrophe hits - again

On our way back to the jetty, we had to cycle through the hilly path once more. By that time, Khair had left me. Luckily, Nuriman was with me. We realised the clouds were getting darker and darker.

Out of the blue, a friend cycled past, telling us that Tasnim was having a cramp.Worried about his condition, we cycled back to find out. There he was, sitting on the path and rubbing his legs, with some other students. Nuriman passed an ointment and after applying it, Tasnim felt better.

Suddenly, we heard rustling sounds from the treetops. It turned out to be a long branch, about to fall to the ground! Everyone cleared the path. Unfortunately, Mr Azam was not lucky enough.

The branch hit Mr Azam's leg, leaving a scratch.We decided to accompany him before helping him to get to the jetty. Again, Nuriman offered his ointment.

Hopefully he is feeling a lot better now.

This was the branch that fell down.

Noordin Beach, at last!

It was a rather hilly path on the way to the beach, and that exhausted most of us. Nevertheless, we reached it anyway. By the time we reached the beach, many of the students and teachers had started with the cleanup on the beach.

Noordin beach was not as dirty as what we had imagined earlier, but it was not clean either, with plastic stuffs, food packages, drink cans and Styrofoam boards scattered around. It must had been the waves, pushing trash

from Southern Johore, or campers who camped there that had caused this mess. Still, at least we could contribute something to nature. 'Armed' with trash bag and gloves, we started Operation Beach-Cleaning, as I would say.

Wonder what Ashraf was doing with

stick...

Not only that we were exhausted; we were soooo dehydrated because our water supplies were running out. It was noon, a very sunny noon, and we recieved food. Alas, no water was being distributed! Oh, the the agony of being dehydrated!

Seriously, we were all in extreme thirst. To make things worse, the tapwater in the nearby toilet (above) was untreated. Thankfully, a group of our friends manged to return to the site, carrying large bottles of cooling fresh water (Aaaaahhh). After lunch we continued our assignment.


It was half an hour before one o'clock, and many decided to get back to the jetty since the clouds were getting dark.

When catastrophe hits

A number of us went into the wrong path, entering Jalan Endut Senin via Jelutong Bridge instead of Jalan Nordin. We then passed Puaka Bridge and entered Jalan Wat Siam. Approximately at that moment, Muzakir cycled along, calling: "Turn back! That is the wrong direction!"











Totally exhausted, I turned my bike to cycle my way to the right path when its chain went out of its position - again. This time, I fixed it myself.








Alas, as I cycled once more, another tragedy happened: my bag was caught between the front set (the fork) and the front tyre, which resulted a torn bag. Luckily, Khair was beside me, and he allowed me to put my things in his bag. Together, we search for the way out.








Since we were left out, we had to ask passersby if they had seen groups of people wearing the same shirts as us. Finally, we reached Jalan Batu Ubin, where we met some of the others, including Hafizuddin and Azhari. It was a good thing Muzakir came to inform us about us being on the wrong path, because that path was meant for hikers and would not have led us to Noordin Beach, our destination.

Riding on our bicycles

Most of us decided to go to Noordin Beach on bicycle, while some went there by foot. Coincidentally, most of the bicycle rental shop was located near the jetty. Rental price may vary; I rented one for four dollars - which was the only amount of money that I had.

Khair on his bicycle.

I was ready to hit the road - I mean, track - when the chains of my bike went out of its position. I decided that I need to change this one with a 'better' one, putting the blame on the first bicycle altogether because it was spoilt.



For a moment, I thought Khair had left me alone at the shop, when he appeared out of the blue. It turned out that he returned to search for me. From that moment, we moved together - at a different pace; he was always in front of me, way too far.




Tua Pek Kong Temple


















First, we - among the others - cycled at Jalan Ubin, where we passed by a scenic water body, a prawn pond it may be (below) . Then, we went up to Jalan Batu Ubin, where we could see Pekan Quarry behind fences.









































We continued cycling, not realising that we were going on the wrong direction. We entered Jalan Endut Senin. The road that would not lead us to Noordin Beach at all!


One of the many kampong houses left.

Left alone (Khair's story)

At the beginning of our way to Nordin Beach, I was riding my bike with Irfan. Suddenly his bike encountered a problem at its chains, so he returned to the bicycle rent shop to get it fixes while I moved on. When I looked behind, Irfan was GONE!!

So I stopped the bike and waited for him. I hate waiting for so long! I asked my friends who were passing by,"Have you seen Irfan?" They replied,"NO!" It was a long way back already. Nonetheless, I went back to look for him. There he was, at the bicycle rent shop. He had just exchanged his bike with another one. Without wasting anymore time, we continued to move on.

On the way back to the jetty, I had the sudden urge to cycle faster than before. So I left Irfan and few of my friends behind. After the separation, I stop for a while and waited for them to catch up, but there were no sign of them. I continued my way to the jetty. I saw all my classmates were not there and not knowing what to do. Luckily my friend Fatin came. He said of going back to carry some injured person. So I decided to follow him as there was nothing to do except waiting for my friends. Furthermore, I had to do some work out and I felt energetic.

After a while, I saw Irfan and friends passing by but I still continued to follow Fatin as I heard Teacther Azam was injured. Then I saw Hafizuddin and friends. I stopped and decided to joined them. Then, I saw Fatin went back to the jetty with Teacher Azam at the back sit. Hafizuddin tought that there was another injured person, a student, and he went to find the student with me cycling behind. On the contrary, we found out that there were no injured student after asking around the student passing by. So we headed back to the jetty. That was an adventure for me. I met Irfan and friends upon arriving and bought a bottle of mineral water. We rested and talked about this trip. It saw fun!!!

From Changi to Ubin

At approximately 9:00a.m, most of us had reached Changi Point Ferry Terminal, whereby the bumboats were waiting to bring us to Pulau Ubin. We were all excited.

Now, a bumboat is a small boat used to ferry supplies to ships moored away from the shore. Originally referring to a scavenger's boat, the name comes from the combination of the Dutch word for a canoe- "boomschuit" ("boom" meaning "tree"), and "boat".In Singapore the term "bumboat" is applied to small boats used to take tourists on short tours.

We left the terminal, which is at Changi Creek.It was a good thing that neither me nor Khair suffered from sea-sickness, even when the boat rocked up and down due to the waves. After a ten-minute ride, we finally reached Pulau Ubin's jetty.

Wonder what Khair was smiling at....

Pulau Ubin is one of the many places in Singapore that still have much of the wonders of nature, with mangroves, reef flats, forests, rivers and sandy beaches on one island. One of the most renowned sites on the boomerang-shaped island is Chek Jawa, an area said to contain a rich marine biodiversity, which we did not go there because we lack of time at the end of the day, unfortunately. Plus, we were all exhausted.

A video taken by Khair

For a start

It all started when Mr Azam, our respected English teacher, had earlier decided to bring his upper Secondary and Pre-U students on a trip to Pulau Ubin (Hooray!!) for our latest blog project. I, Irfan Jumadi, had paired up with Khair for this exciting project. We would be going there on the 18th of March 2010.


We would be doing a bit of a clean-up at one of the island's beaches, Noordin Beach that is, and that was supposed to be the main objective in our bog.




We were supposed to reach school before 7:45 a.m, which was the proposed timing for us to leave for Changi Point Jetty. We students were not the only ones going there; some other academic teachers (Mdm Samaniah, Mr Fathul, etc.) also joined in for this field trip.


We went there by bus, which we rode at 8:10 a.m. It was a slightly 1-hour journey, and there was nothing we could do on the bus except for phototaking for the blog.


Here are some pictures that we took on the bus.