Island Immortal

To my surprise, a couple of friends told me yesterday that they have never set foot on Ubin.

A fact, I thought, supremely strange since this little island is a mere 10 minutes away by bumboat. And I always believed space and rural charm starved Singaporeans would jump at the opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of the urbanized labyrinths our Housing Estates have become.

Well I guess not.

But in a way, I am happy if Ubin remains yet undiscovered for a few. Because I live in constant fear (ok I exaggerate about the constant fear) that its unique unkempt roughness would be lost once the Powers-that-be decide to turn it into another Agro-tainment facility. For those in the know, many of our farms on the mainland need to go commercial in order to remain viable. And by this I mean opening swish bistros and even having mini live-in resorts on site.

So every time I set foot on Ubin, I say a little prayer in thanks that the old ramshackle jetty shops are still there, the Wayang stage is left standing, there are pebble-strewn roads bordered by overgrown lallang, the disused Prawn farms look like scenes right out from napalmed Apocalypse Now and Auntie still sells coconuts from under a coconut tree at Noordin Beach.

It doesn't matter that they now have an artificially raised Boardwalk at Chek Jawa. Its for the good of the lovely Jade-green Seagrass and other colorful denizens of this previously neglected Inter-tidal treasure trove.

Every month or so, I find that there is a need to re-connect with Ubin. It keeps me at peace for some reason. 3-4 hours just biking around and taking pictures is cathartic for a soul that, perhaps, spends too much time zipping around a landscape of concrete and conceit.

I hope Ubin always remains stuck this way in time.

An Island Immortal.