OFF THE BEATEN PATH THE BEATEN OFF 76 Smile May 2019 076-086 FEATURE 2 - SINGAPORE KF KG.indd 76 10/4/19 7:14 PM Off the mainland When people talk about Singapore, they’re usually referring to its main island, also known as Pulau Ujong. Yet, there is much more to the city-state than this land mass: more than 60 surrounding islands reflect its history of industry, warfare, occupation and folklore BY JONATHAN EVANS PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK TEO May 2019 Smile 77 076-086 FEATURE 2 - SINGAPORE KF KG.indd 77 10/4/19 7:16 PM OFF THE BEATEN PATH THE BEATEN OFF 1 ingapore might be main island of Pulau Ujong. What’s Though long championed as a city many things, but a more, these islands, both natural escape, Pulau Ubin is still underrated: bastion of geographical and artificial, serve up some of the This unspoiled, authentic rustic idyll diversity is not one country’s most rewarding, scenic is not merely a window into a fading of them. Sure, like and affordable day trips, not to world, but a living, breathing mini- many cities, there’s a mention a serious dose of history. In universe where life goes on much as it Little India and a Chinatown, heritage this bicentennial year, marking two did in the days before independence. Sbuildings and skyscrapers, public centuries since Sir Stamford Raffles In the modest village surrounding the parks and business hubs. But for all the transformed the fate of this city, here’s jetty, past a row of stores renting out swoonsome destination architecture a guide to some of Singapore’s most bicycles to day-trippers — and before in the Downtown Core, its suburban overlooked and underappreciated the Fo Shan Ting Da Bo Gong Temple development is underpinned by island experiences. and popular Season Live Seafood an undeniable homogeneity. This restaurant — drop by the Cheong Lian is a heartland of neatly manicured Pulau Ubin Yuen coffee shop. In this vintage café, flatness, HDB towers and cookie- the walls are bedecked with fascinating cutter malls, whether you happen to Old-town nostalgia monochrome time capsules of the be in its northernmost towns such as As Singapore develops at a breakneck island in the 1960s, when the Bin Kiang Yishun or HarbourFront in the south. pace, ushering forth wave after wave School still operated here, before the Though many visitors — and of pristine ultramodernity, there’s one population gradually began flocking to even some residents — don’t realize place within its national boundaries fast-developing Pulau Ujong. it, there’s an easy antidote to the where construction sites and cranes From here you can lose yourself uniformity of Singapore’s streetscapes remain happily absent, and the vintage amid an array of circuitous eastbound readily available to anyone willing landscapes of mid-century kampung routes leading toward the Chek to step off the ever-expanding (village) life are reliably intact. Jawa Wetlands. Along shaded paths 78 Smile May 2019 076-086 FEATURE 2 - SINGAPORE KF KG.indd 78 10/4/19 7:16 PM 3 2 4 5 with names like Jalan Durian, you’ll pass quintessentially tropical palm- fringed ponds, an orchard, abandoned These islands, both natural and quarries, cemeteries, wild-boar- inhabited woodland, an observation artificial, serve up some of the tower and the multicolored Malay houses of a tiny settlement. Quite country’s most rewarding, scenic apart from its aesthetic qualities, Ubin and affordable day trips acts both as a nature reserve and a conservation area: fearless monkeys cluster around trees, monitor lizards moodily patrol the forest and rare birds At Chek Jawa, a circular boardwalk Pulau Serangoon (Coney Island) such as the majestic white-bellied sea ushers visitors around a seascape eagle and oriental pied hornbill make populated by frenzied mudskippers Beachside amusement their homes in towering treetops. and crabs — a vantage point where In the mid-20th century, a wave of the sight of the skyscraper-strewn theme parks arrived in Singapore landscape across the water suddenly with names like Great World, Gay 1 The old days are not quite gone on Pulau Ubin 2 Chek seems strangely surreal. World and Wonderland, offering Jawa Wetlands 3 Free- Pesta Ubin, a month-long a colorful mix of fairground rides, roaming monkeys are among celebration of the island, starts May food markets, circus attractions and the island’s inhabitants 4 18 and includes activities such as puppet shows. In the midst of this Lush forest just on the other heritage tours, nature trails, kayaking new thirst for entertainment, an side of a metal fence 5 A wild boar not quite living up to and cycling (more information can be Indian businessman named Ghulam its name found at fb.com/pulauubinday). Mahmood acquired an island just May 2019 Smile 79 079 085 R1 FEATURE 2 - SINGAPORE KF KG.indd 79 15/4/19 3:23 PM OFF THE BEATEN PATH THE BEATEN OFF 6 9 7 8 south of Malaysia from the Burmese Though the remote beachside park 6 A sandy stretch of beach tycoon brothers responsible for both has appeal aplenty in its own right, on Coney Island 7 There are over 80 species of birds in the Tiger Balm ointment and the island’s with its overriding tranquility, cycle park 8 Restaurants and retail creepiest theme park, Haw Par Villa. path and a family of otters, it’s the establishments at the Punggol His grand scheme was to turn Pulau dusk walk back to civilization via Settlement 9 A beachside walk Serangoon into an Eastern counterpart Punggol Jetty — one of Singapore’s to New York’s Coney Island resort. finest sunset spots — and Punggol courtyard, bonsai exhibits, fish While the name “Coney Island” Waterway Park — one of its most ponds and a tea house are among its stuck, this plan, like those of scenic boardwalks — that really seals prominent features. subsequent owners, came to nothing. the deal. The garden was designed to remain Instead, the land was reclaimed and scrupulously faithful to the timeless expanded, with a stretch of sand added Chinese Garden tropes of Chinese horticultural art, and to its western flank, before bridges were its marquee attraction is the Peking- built to connect it to the mainland. Romantic surprise style “Double Beauty” bridge that The island was finally reopened to the This stop-off in the western suburbs elegantly crosses the lake near public in 2015 and became an overnight could have been a disaster: an ersatz the entrance. While you’ll doubtless sensation among avid Instagrammers. approximation of imperial-era China be preoccupied with photographing Curiosity seekers went on the lookout built in 1975 by a Taiwanese architect this entrancing structure, a stroll for a solitary Brahman bull (sadly now on an artificial island. Yet this across it reaps huge dividends, for deceased) that had mysteriously ended traditionally inclined lake island — set the southern side opens up to up there, ruminating among casuarina amid unlikely industrial environs — parkland complete with a show- trees ordinarily frequented by exotic adds up to an exceptionally stopping red bridge, guesthouse and birds such as orioles, kingfishers and romantic excursion: stone lions, garden, landscaped along Japan’s blue-throated bee-eaters. pavilions, pagodas, a Suzhou-style medieval template. May 2019 Smile 81 076-086 FEATURE 2 - SINGAPORE KF KG.indd 81 10/4/19 7:19 PM Coney Island is connected to the mainland via bridges on its eastern and western ends OFF THE BEATEN PATH THE BEATEN OFF How to get there Pulau Ubin Travel to Tanah Merah station, on the East-West MRT line, and climb on a number 2 bus to Changi Village. Alight at the final stop, walk the short distance to Changi Point Ferry Terminal, wait for a ferry and pay the boatman S$3 (P115) for the 10-minute crossing to Ubin. Pulau Serangoon (Coney Island) Take a train to Punggol MRT station Singapore’s government declared quirkier, historical side. Shrouded or Damai LRT (light trail) station, in polytheistic folklore — and once walk north along Punggol Road, this stunning expanse the nation’s around the coastline (past the “new national gardens in the a burial site for disease-stricken Punggol Settlement restaurants), heartlands”, with a first phase of immigrants — Kusu (also known as then cross the bridge to enter upgrades completed in spring 2019: “Turtle Island”) was an early example Coney Island. belated recognition for what is one of of the city’s penchant for reclamation, Chinese Garden the city’s most unsung and undeniably redeveloped in 1975 from two outcrops Take a train to Chinese Garden lovely open-air experiences. into a beach-enhanced islet. station on the East-West MRT Thankfully Kusu retained its line, alight and walk the short century-old temple, shaded by distance that’s clearly marked Kusu Island, St John’s Island a fanning palm, that remains its towards the garden. and Lazarus Island centerpiece and annually receives Kusu, St John’s Southern beauty more than 100,000 Taoist, Buddhist and Lazarus islands and Confucian pilgrims. Three yellow Visit Marina South Pier, next to the Adrift in the Singapore Strait, the kramat, or Malay shrines, stand above station of the same name on the North-South MRT line, and buy a Southern Islands are a chain of eight it at the top of 152 steps (marked ticket from one of the booths. Two- wildly diverse land masses ranging “Datok Kong”), commemorating three way services run throughout the day from the obscure and uninhabited members of a pious family. Though and cost S$18 (P690) for adults. (Sisters’ Islands) to the mass-touristy only suitable for the physically fit, it’s To visit Lazarus, turn right at the St and overdeveloped (Sentosa).