— The ferry ride takes less than ten minutes, but it feels like a journey back half a century. As the sleek skyline of Marina Bay shrinks into a hazy mirage behind you, the air changes. The diesel fumes of the bumboats mix with the scent of salt and damp earth. Ahead, a green hulk rises from the strait: Pulau Ubin, Singapore’s forgotten island.
"Singapore sacrificed its mangroves and reefs for development," says , a nature guide who has led walks here for eight years. "Chek Jawa is our apology letter to nature. And Ubin is the last chapter." The Ticking Clock The question every visitor eventually asks is: How long will this last? singapore pulau ubin
The quarrymen are gone now. The last mine shut in the 1990s. But their legacy remains in the island’s topography. Today, the flooded quarries—most famously Pekan Quarry and Ubin Quarry —are breathtakingly beautiful. Kettles of tea-green water sit inside sheer rock walls, framed by ferns and strangler figs. Dragonflies patrol the surface like tiny helicopters. If you stand still enough, you might spot a monitor lizard gliding into the depths. At its peak, Ubin housed over 2,000 people. Today, fewer than 40 remain. These are the orang pulau —island people—living in the last true kampong (village) in Singapore. There is no running sewage. Electricity only arrived in the 1990s, and many homes still rely on diesel generators or solar panels. — The ferry ride takes less than ten
The Singapore government has repeatedly promised to "conserve" Ubin for as long as possible. Plans for a "Ubin Park" have been floated. But the island faces existential threats. The population is aging and shrinking. Storms are eroding the coastline. And the mainland is always hungry—for land, for housing, for memory. Ahead, a green hulk rises from the strait:
The last bumboat back to Changi Point departs at 7:00 PM. As the boat pulls away, you look back. The island is already dissolving into shadow, a green memory on the edge of the world’s most successful city-state.