Pulau Ubin

Located on the western edge of Pulua Ubin.

1. What is that Mini Pagoda?
   This pagoda is use as a furnace for burning joss paper offering
   The pagoda's original purpose was to house relics and sacred writings. This purpose was popularised due to the efforts of Buddhist missionaries, pilgrims, rulers, and ordinary devotees to seek out, distribute, and extol Buddhist relics

2. Why burn paper?
   According to tradition, the Chinese believe that the deceased have needs similar to those in the natural world. Joss paper is burned at funerals and during important dates thereafter to help the deceased pay off debts, trade for goods and exist comfortably in the spirit world.
   Share stories of interesting things you have seen chinese people burn, like a car? To keep up with the trend, a tesla and the lastest iphone

3. Why joss stick?
   In Chinese tradition, burning joss sticks in temples is a ritual to pray for blessings,
   Story: in singapore, the first person to placed the joss stick in the bowl will get the biggest blessing from the temple (Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple in Waterloo Street) that year, happens every lunar new year.

4. Who is the deity here? (heath, wealth)
   Guan Im ma: Pray for blessing and protection: patron goddess of sailors and fishermen, why a sailor sails to a new land, we will first seek blessing and protection from her, if he survives the voyage, he will built a temple in the new land dedicated to her.
   Tao Pek Kong (Tua Pek Kong is referred as the "God of Prosperity")
   Devotees in Singapore often pray to the Tua Pek Kong in hopes of getting lucky number combinations to strike the lottery (otherwise known as 4D or Toto).
   

• In an effort to combat piracy on the Johor Straits in the early 1850s, the colonial administration encouraged Malay settlers to colonise the island with tax-free land incentives to prevent pirates from using the island as a hideout. Another wave of Malay settlers came in the 1880s from the Kallang River in Singapore to settle around the coastal kampongs such as Noordin, Mamam and Petai. These settlers became fishermen.

• Pulau Ubin’s original name in Malay, Pulau Batu Jubin, means “Granite Stone Island”.3 The island was known for its granite quarries, but these are now inactive and have become scenic viewpoints.

• By 1847, Pulau Ubin was settled by the Chinese who started private quarrying companies on the island to quarry granite and feed the demand for stone as the colony of Singapore expanded.

• In the 1850s, Government quarries were established and convicts were deployed to quarry granite for the construction of Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca (1851), Raffles Lighthouse (1855), the Causeway (1923), Pearl’s Hill Reservoir (1903), Fort Canning (1858), Fort Canning Reservoir (1926), Fort Fullerton Expansion and Singapore Harbour (1913).

• Pulau Ubin had a population of 2,000 to 4,000 people as granite quarrying reached its peak, due largely to the formation of the Housing & Development Board in 1960 that started large-scale housing development projects across Singapore. (granite needed in cement)

• Granite quarrying was once Pulau Ubin's lifeline. At its peak in the 1970s, there were eight quarries and more than 3,000 people living on the island.

• As granite quarries started the number began to decease. There were about 1,000 residents recorded in 1987, 400 in the mid-1990s, 139 in 2001 and only about 30-odd residents left today.

• Now, however, granite can be easily obtained from elsewhere in the region where the labour costs are lower, and so quarrying will soon cease at Ubin.

• There’s still plenty of granite on pulau ubin.

• Story: Pulau Ubin resident Goh Lam Heng, 54, never used to need a watch.
  'Every time I heard a blast, I knew that it was either 11am or 5pm,' said the owner of Sin Lam Huat Eating House and former quarry worker.
  Like Mr Goh, many of the 60 or so residents still left on the island have either worked in the granite quarries or remember the loud daily explosions and flying rocks.

• Flying rocks were another problem. Workers had to take shelter from the blasts in steel cages more than 500m away

• The abandoned quarries at Ubin are now filling up with rainwater and the natural vegetation is recovering around their edges. Fish have somehow appeared in some of them, attracting birds such as herons. There is both fresh water and salt water habitat now.

• Quarry is today a habitat for herons. As part of the habitat enhancement programme, floating wetlands, which will provide nesting and roosting sites, will be installed
  

• There are routes to suit every preference and talent for balancing on a bike. Metalled/tarmac roads reach all major areas for easy access. Off-road routes range from easy trails to challenging ones.

• There are also bicycles for rent to suit every preference. Mountain bikes, tandem bikes, tricycles, even bikes with side carts for babies or really lazy partners. For a little extra you can get a basket attached to your bike for your belongings.

• You can also bring your own bicycle to Ubin. Just pay an additional $3 to the bumboat operator for your bicycle.

• Pro tip for bike rental, get the lightest branded bike like Giant. Do not get the heavier newer looking bikes

• Located approximately 3km, or a scenic 15-minute ride westwards, Ketam Mountain Bike Park features a 10km-long trail that snakes around the fringes of the disused Ketam Quarry on the island. Opened for riding in in May 2008, it was the first bike park to be built to International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) standards. In addition to race-grade features, the trail was also designed as a conservation area for the area’s natural flora and fauna. Keep your eyes peeled and you’d be able to spot many bird species rarely sighted on mainland Singapore.

• Comprising marked Blue Square trails, Black Diamond and Double Black Diamond segments, the riding at Ketam will challenge even the most seasoned riders with its combination of technical climbs and rock-littered descents

• On the evening of 7 February, 1942, during World War II, the Japanese Army occupied Pulau Ubin; and the next day, began a heavy bombardment on Changi itself.

• The Changi fortress artillery replied with great intensity but with little effect, destroying only rubber trees on the island. Despite these actions the Japanese had no real intentions of landing in the east. It was a tactic merely to distract the British.

• That night the enemy made their assault across the narrowest part of the Johore Strait, and the standby defenders of Changi had to stand idle, while the Japanese rapidly breezed through, and gained a stranglehold on the western part of Singapore island.

• Outward Bound Singapore, the site of camps and outdoor adventures for generations of Singaporeans, is getting another campus on rustic Coney Island. The new campus, announced by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat during his Budget speech on March 24, will cost about $250 million and be ready in 2020.

• Outdoor adventure education for all will be expanded, said Mr Heng, to help youth develop a sense of adventure, resilience and a readiness to challenge themselves to be their best. (all students will get to go, at the moment, only School nominated student leaders for the five-day A Leader's Journey Programme for leadership development.)

• Outward bound origin: help train young sailors.

• Holt had noticed that during WW2, many young seamen were dying as they were not equipped to deal with harsh physical conditions.

• The name Outward Bound was chosen as it is a nautical term for a ship leaving the harbour for a journey.

• Singapore: In 1967, Dr Goh Keng Swee suggested establishing an Outward Bound School in the newly independent Singapore, to provide education, leadership and character training for Singaporeans. On Feb 17, 1968, the first OBS course began.

• Share personal stories if you have. many students first time on a kayak was on their OBS expedition.

• OBS was initially set up for boys only, to prepare them for NS

• Stories : “I shared a kayak with a good friend. She had her period but had never tried tampons before. The instructors gave her some OB tampons (without applicator, must use finger to shove it in!) and she couldn't do it. So she went kayaking with a pad. At the end of the trip, I was sitting in several inches of pink water. I felt so bad for her! Luckily I'm not so easily grossed out, so no big deal for me.”

• Story: “A student put toothpaste into the rice when she was just suppose to coat the bottom of the pot. We had disgusting mint rice for dinner that night.”

• Sleep beneath the stars by pitching your tent at any of the three camping sites: Jelutong and Mamam. Jelutong is situated closest to the village and faces the mainland, while Mamam is further north of the island. Both locations have toilet facilities nearby, however, Jelutong is the only spot that is equipped to accommodate a campfire. Note that the water available at both campsites is not safe to drink, so you'll need to boil it or bring bottles of your own.

• A permit would be required. Please apply through this form at least 2 weeks in advance.

• Our favourite of the lot though, is the Endut Senin Campsite, which rests by a lake, with white-as-snow sand that you can pitch your tents on. A pavilion lies just metres away if you need to escape from any sudden thunderstorms, and there’s a large and clean restroom nearby, stocked with toilet paper.

• Endut Senin campsite is part of the abandoned Celestial Resort Pulau Ubin, reviews of the resort on tripadvisor was pretty shit, probably why it closed down

• We used the abandoned Chalet to take shelter when its storming.

• Wei Tuo Fa Gong Temple (韦陀法宫) is located on a hill in western Pulau Ubin. Established in the 1950s, the temple has developed from a private residential house to the public temple that it is today.

• The temple’s beginnings can be traced back to the 1950s, when Madam Ong’s parents-in-law started to take in some quarry workers as tenants. It was believed that the family was making offering to a big rock which was regarded as an embodiment of Datuk Gong, a native local spirit. The family home also had an altar, and the tenants would pray to the gods there. The Wei Tuo Fa Gong Temple thus grew out of a private residential place of worship.

  At around the same time, an explosion at a granite quarry caused a large piece of rock to crash into the family home. Fortunately, no one was injured. The rock was then painted a golden colour and set up at its present site as an object of worship. The temple was believed to have been formally established after the accident.

• The Wei Tuo Fa Gong Temple features a rich religious diversity. Despite being a Buddhist temple, it houses shrines that are dedicated to different gods such as Datuk Gong hillside spirits and Hindu gods. There is even a Tibetan pagoda. The interreligious elements make Wei Tuo Fa Gong Temple a place of worship for many different devotees.

• When we ran out of water and had no money, the temple gave us water for free.