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Vol 5 No 2 Aug 98 Copper-throated Sunbird's Nesting Habitat Flowers of the Swamp Ubin Lifestyle Bird Sightings (Mar-May 98) Launch of "A Guide to Sungei Buloh" Commonwealth Regional Youth Seminar Story-telling at Sungei Buloh Earth Day 98 Mangrove Seedling Programme Swarming to the Swamp: Sivasothi's introduction to mangroves		Ubin Lifestyle Follow in How Choon Beng's footsteps as he walks you through the rustic lifestyle of the village people. Taking the bumboat to Pulau Ubin more than transports you across the Serangoon Harbour; the fifteen minutes and $1.50 ride also brings you back in time to an island insulated from the rapid development that overwhelmed Singapore for the last thirty years. Time travel will start the moment you set foot on the bumboats. These timber-hulled vessels are slow, loud and will constantly remind you how rough the waters are today. Still, the journey provides the perfect introduction to what is in store for you on the island. First stop on Ubin is the village centre - a row of simple timber houses where you can obtain your daily sundries, vegetables, a full meal or rented bicycle for the day. Stepping into one of these shops, you will inevitably tread on bare concrete floors ventilated by a slow-turning ceiling fan. Pay for a purchase and your change will be retrieved from a used Milo tin suspended from a pulley overhead—just like the days before the advent of the cash registers. This is by far the busiest part of Ubin; it is a commercial district and social focal point. Here, gossips, headlines and updates are exchanged over a cup of coffee or under the Angsana tree. Before you venture further, do remember to register yourselves at the nearby local police post for safety reasons. Travelling along, you will come across numerous orchards and fish farms. None of these utilise any modern machinery. All chores are performed manually. Every vegetable, fruit and fish is painstakingly cultivated. As the younger folks look to the city for a more comfortable life, the sight of a sun-darkened farmer hunched over the field or pond becomes a rarer sight. Do keep a lookout for these orchards and fish farms. They will give you an insight into the traditional way of farming. Ubin has an extensive granite core and the mining activity has provided many of the local residents with a steady income for the past two decades. Over the years, most of these operations have wound down but the sound of rock blasting which for so long formed part of the daily sounds in Ubin continue to linger in the memory of the islanders. In the abandoned quarry, rainwater is accumulating. The deep quarry and their scars are slowly being transformed into scenic and enchanting lakes. Come visit Pulau Ubin as it beckons you to soak in the beautiful sights and sounds of the place with the village people.
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