Life in Asia: A trip to the island of Pulau Ubin

This small island is only a short journey from where I live but far enough to test my skill at the Singapore transport system. It's one thing getting the MRT to the airport everyday, but clearly something different catching a bus to somewhere I have not heard of or been to. My guide as ever is the Lonely Planet and over the years their guidebooks have been quiet good and at least most things are where they say they are. Today was different I'm afraid and the good folks of LP should listen up and amend their guide. There are three ferry terminals in Changi and I visited all of them before finding the one I wanted, and the bus 29 has been taken off the schedule! However once I got there all was well with the world and I boarded the curiously named 'bum boat'. This is a chugging diesel engined boat and several of them ply back and forth between Changi and the island.

The island is 5 miles across by 1 mile wide and is reminiscent of the 1960's Singapore before it was modernised. The resident population of about 100 is swollen by day trippers like me but surprisingly everybody seems to fan out once you leave the main square.

Pulau Ubin has pristen mangrove swamps and several traditionally built kampong stilted houses as well as coffee plantations, quarries, prawn farms, rubber plantations, temples and shrines and an abundance of wildlife from pythons to insect eating plants. So there is much to see!

I rented a rickety bike for S$5 (£2) and it sweaked and creaked as I travelled west following the suggested route in my trusted LP guide. I was soon distracted by an old Chinese Buddhist temple and spent a few moments reflecting on the goodness in life when I was jolted out of my meditation by a taxi knocking over the bike, almost running over it and driving off. So much for goodness in the world, still his negative karma rating will have taken a hit! Bhudda saw the whole incident.

Anyway no damage and I cycled off again down the increasingly pleasant lanes. The main thing to watch for is falling coconuts.

Another diversion to climb up to the highest point of land in the whole of Singapore. It isn't as spectacular as Mont Blanc at sunrise or the Grand Canyon at sunset, but it's there! This is the view from the top: you can see Malaya in the far background. )I hope the Powsers Mountaineering Club appreciate the effort of another peak bagged!).

This is a picture of a butterfly who was also taking in the view:

I spotted a lizard and was wary of pythons but didn't see any.

The LP guide was proving quite good and I was making progress to visit the Wat Suwankiyiwanaram, which is apparently a Thai Buddhist temple with some interesting art work and resident monks. Sadly it has been raised to the ground and is now probably part of another land reclamation programme.

I ventured further in heat and found the German Girl Shrine. This is a bit of an odd story that started after World War 1 when the British troops defeated the Germans and started to round up German citizens. The girl, who is nameless, fell to her death in a quarry. Her body was discovered by Chinese labourers who covered her with sand but then, eventually, buried her properly. The site of the grave was subsequently required for land development so the remains were put in a urn and a small shrine was built where the urn rested. Gradually she became a Taoist symbol and many Chinese believers to this day seek good health and fortune by visiting the shrine. The thing is there are no remains in the urn. The original was stolen a few years ago along with the contents.

On the way back to the ferry I passed the prawn farm;