To Ubin with Sam and Yves

This trip to Ubin was delayed for like 1 plus yrs! First coined up when we were all still colleagues. Yesterday finally had the chance. Yeah dun ask why it took us soooo long just for a simple trip like this. Hah.
Planned to wake up early so I can join Yves and his bros for brunch at Changi Village. Yeah I did wake up at 8am. Lazed around till 9! Before rushing out the house, Sam sms me to pick him up at Kembangan MRT. Fortunately dun have to go to his place. I always get lost inside that neighbourhood. Even the complicated joo chiat/onan/carpmael area opposite is easier to navigate. Maybe it's cos I used to hang around that area every weekend during poly days. Later when I sent him back in the evening, I notice the shortcut to exit is through Jln Yasin which is the Holyyyy GYM's place. Hahah...

As usual, I have the role of the tour guide whenever Ubin is concerned. Seriously I should start charging my services already ;P...then maybe I can afford the D700 I crave ....but then again... neh....where's the fun in that? Something I like does not mean I should own it. Rented a bicycle each and brought them round the island. Sam wanted more off road experience so I brought them into the more "west side" of the island. No problem navigating this part as it is still relatively unchanged. But the same can't be said for the rest of the island. Nparks is seriously changing the landscape every few months.

Too bad for them, there's not much random wildlife to be spotted on this trip. Even the oriental pied hornbill was napping. Only spotted one of them but too late to show it to the rest. Normally they can be commonly seen near the village. The common Malayan water monitor was also missing out their favourite hot sunny weather. Only a juvenile was basking on the road. There should be tons of them in this sort of conditions. Not to disappoint this group, I brought them to a wild boar hot spot where I found 2 of them nicely camouflaging in the secondary forest. Nothing was to be seen at CJ either due to the high tide, so just went there for a walk walk. Earlier in the morning, Hang Chong found a mud lobster at the CJ coastal cleanup. Wah Lau... I have been trying to find that elusive creature for years. I was invited to this event earlier but turned it down cos I already have this super duper procrastinated date to coincidentally the same island. So close yet so far. But it is weird for this creature to be seen during the day.

One thing to note: Almost every group I brought in for cycling was confirmed to have some cockster doing some stunts or freewheeling down a slope with disastrous results. Fortunately this group knows their stuff. Those zai enuf knows when to speed or not, while those not zai one knows how to erm....take their time. So no cycling drama this time round except for the PRC(yes, they are now flooding this island too!! Prob scared all the animals into hiding and drove the mud lobster insane and appear in daylight!)collision with one of Yves's bros.

Yves's slippers gave up halfway up Ubin's tallest ridge. Had to use parts of nature that we can find on the spot to make an impromptu temporary repair..

Sam spotted a "bug". It's a cicada molt. Quite a nice and complete specimen. Wanted to bring it back as a souvenir but dunno how to make it crush-proof so left it there.

Unwritten rule of a compulsory group shot at the summit.

Stopped for rest at one of the waterfront. Became a rock throwing/stone skipping competition for the fun of it. Guys will be guys...

Yves becoming inspirational....and will be a target of the rock throwing if he poses any longer.

Not satisfied with a fleeting view of wild pigs in the forest, I brought them to this farm where we see.......a Wild Boar ordering beer over a counter....ok crap.

"I wanna a heineken.. not that tiger crap u got over here!"
Lured by a biscuit the owner was feeding it with. Nice chance for a snapshot.
Here's what the uncle told me about it: "It was brought into this enclosure since more than 10 yrs ago when it was only like 8 kg. It was then bitten and injured by dogs".

So my group gets to see both wild and domesticated pig. It kinda reminded me of the Wei Wei(priscilla) the pig which died back in 2004. I din even get the chance to meet this somewhat famous resident of CJ in my earlier trips.