It had been quite some time since I went hiking, a few days ago, Dave Koh called me and asked if I would be keen to join in with his 23 Eagles Scout Group combined hike at Pulau Ubin on Saturday 22nd August, along with Henry Park Primary School cub scouts and help to capture scouting moments. After checking my schedule, I was able to join Dave Koh for this combined scout group hike !
The schools involved in the hike were
(1) Bukit Merah Secondary School
(2) New Town Secondary School
(3) NUS High School
(4) Henry Park Primary School
I woke up early in the morning, around 0600 hrs, washed up and made my way to Bukit Merah Secondary to meet Dave and a group of scouts around 0715hrs, took the bus and joined up with the rest of the other schools at Changi Village Ferry Terminal to catch the bumboat across to Pulau Ubin. For my readers who haven’t heard of Pulau Ubin before, Pulau Ubin is an island situated off the Northeastern coast of Singapore, a laid back area, like Singapore in the 1960s, more information can be obtained from National Parks website and Wild Singapore website and it’s quite a popular destination with tourists and locals too !
Once the entire contingent were across, they would began their hike before stopping for outdoor cooking lunch at Kampung Noordin, the Henry Park Cub Scouts were split into their patrols, led by Ventures of 23 Eagles Scout Group attached to each patrol and strongly supported by volunteer adult leaders from Henry Park Primary School. The fun began and we hiked from the Southern area to the Northern area of Pulau Ubin. Along the way, there were checkpoints for the patrols and fun activities, along with history and science lessons from their adult volunteer leaders especially on the old wooden houses and wild fruit trees.
At Kampung Noordin, the contingent rest and relax, preparing to try out outdoor cooking, with their mess tins, solid fuel, instant noodles and can of hot dogs. Looking at them, the young primary school children, trying out their hands on outdoor cooking, it brought back a lot of wonderful memories when I was a young Boy Scout in Dragon Scout Group, learning how to do Outdoor Cooking ! The feelings were great, happy and it was always a family feeling whenever I am back and involved in Scouting, especially with my alumni mata, Gan Eng Seng Dragon Scout Group, and being involved today with other fellow Scout Groups and friends, we belonged to a worldwide movement – A Brotherhood of Scouting around the world. More photos of today’s combined hike can be found in my Flickr !
Soon, it was time to call it a day and returned back to mainland Singapore. Weather was great except it was quite hot and arms were slightly burned. On the bumboat mainland bound, stood on the back and watching Pulau Ubin behind us, the waves and ripples of the sea.
Happy Scouting folks !
I love the shot of the water behind the boat- thanks for sharing these photos and reminding us of Pulau Ubin. I used to go quite often and always recommend it to tourists since most are clueless about Singapore’s many other islands.
Hi Mr Caddy
Thanks for dropping by !! Appreciate your kind comments and glad that you like the water behind the boat !
Yeah, Singapore does have attractions around her and Ubin is one of them !