Saturday 13 October 2012

A typical Saturday

Now that YK is in the army, weekends have become even more precious. Instead of resting at home, he prefers to be out taking photos. This is the only time of the week he gets to do what he enjoys.
 
Today, we took the bumboat to our favourite haunt, Pulau Ubin. The island was surprisingly quiet with just a handful of cyclists. I think it has something to do with the school examinations. Well, we like it this way.
 
Since Pulau Ubin has been earmarked for redevelopment by the Singapore Government, most of the villagers have been resettled into the mainland. There are few remaining ones who choose to stay until redevelopment begins. They are the lucky ones. I would love to have a house here.

We walked towards the spice garden trail today but it was closed for upgrading. Along the way, we saw these big passion fruits grown by one of the residents.
 
After hitting the deadend, we turned and walk towards the main road. We prefer to explore the island on foot and had to tell the numerous bike shops lining the road that we have no interest in renting bikes.
 
Pulau Ubin reminds me of the village I grew up in. Life here is idyllic. The dogs run freely and lead such a happy life. This female dog was sitting quietly at the top of the steps until her male friend came along to ask her out to play.
The residents grow all kinds of fruit trees in their backyard. It's durian season and the trees are heavily laden with fruits.
Our favourite area is the old prawn pond where coconut trees, colourful water lilies and pure white lotus flowers sway in the breeze.
 SK was enjoying the tranquility when a handsome black dog came running towards the pond.
 A smaller female dog with brown, black and white markings like that of a beagle, was following closely behind.
 It turned out that the black dog was thirsty and he led his friend to the pond for a drink.
 Satiated, he ran towards the swamp and jumped in for a swim. The female friend followed suit but could not catch up with the strong swimmer.
 She hesitated and decided to swim back to shore.
She ran along the shore to meet her friend at the other end of the swamp. They make such a sweet couple.
 
These are the things that make Pulau Ubin endearing. I wish the Government would leave it untouched. If possible, I would like to live in this house overlooking the trees and lotus plants. Of course, this is wishful thinking.
 While it is nice being close to nature, it also means living amongst insects, snakes and lizards. 
  We came across this croton plant (which hardly blooms) that's bursting with pretty flowers.
Before we leave the island, we always stop for refreshing cold coconut at our favourite shop by the jetty. Sometimes we eat at Ubin seafood restaurant but today YK wanted me to try the food at Penang Kitchen at Coronation Road. So we came back to mainland and drove through heavy rain to eat Penang food.
 
Penang Kitchen is the place to go to if you miss authentic Penang food. The fruit salad here is very nice, thanks to the thick and gooey rojak paste.
 The prawn noodle soup is rich and full of prawn flavour.
 The Penang fried kuey teow here is a winner.
 The chendol is rich and coconutty. I tasted a hint of coffee in the gula melaka syrup which makes this sinful dessert tastier than most of the chendol I have eaten.
 

10 comments:

Petunia Lee said...

I loved the part about the 2 dogs and I liked how gently someone held the praying mantis.

Open Kitchen Concept said...

I love Penang food!

Amel said...

What a lovely weekend spent with your boys! :-D LOVE the atmosphere and the photos as well as the food pics!

Wen-ai said...

Pulau Ubin is dog paradise... such a carefree life! But do you think the residents on the island feed these dogs?

Blur Ting said...

Wen-ai - Yes, they do. In fact, the dogs are well loved and taken care of by the residents.

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