Yu So Like That!

(This writing is so very Singaporean..found as an advertisment to a little coffee place at Pulau Ubin)

*SNIP*

Hard to believe! I have indeed only a few days left before my internship is over. The project has been successfully accomplished (of course :-)) and I begin to realize that there is indeed some change ahead. Weird..how fast these 7.5 months went past. I still remember the one moment in September a few days after my arrival and still before my first day at work. I swam totally alone in the condo swimming pool that night, nothing but the moon and a few stars above me. 'What the hell is it gonna be like in 5 months?' In that kind of moment, you feel like this is as far away as the next solar system...But suddenly and faster as you think daily life kicks in. You get new friends, work is catching up speed and *snip*, suddenly its almost May...

I also see that I indeed wrote 28 posts on this blog during these 7 months. No idea if that's good or bad. Be sure that I will continue even in my time in New Zealand and Germany during the next to months, before my final return to Singapore in the beginning of July. There's still a lot to tell and I'm slowly catching up with my material. Stay tuned :-)

PULAU UBIN

(Pulau Ubin is another island quite close to the Malaysian border)

Ahem...well, as still part of an internship, funds are always more than just limited (As fast as the Self Service Public Transport Machines pull in the bank notes, so fast the money finds its way out of your wallet in Singapore..believe me). The upcoming New Zealand holiday and my long leave in Germany (bummer; unpaid!) ahead, I joined my flatmates Leif and Thuzar for a more affordable trip to Pulau Ubin (Pulau = Island). This little island which belongs to Singapore can be reached via Ferry and is probably the most natural island that you can find here.

(Thu Zar, Scarecrow and Leif on rental bikes; as told by the Lady who owns the rental shop, the bikes were supposedly 'brand new' while pointing in a determined manner at the wrapping that was in place on many parts of the frame. Well, they should renew the wrapping every now and then..it itself looked a tad worn down ;-))

(Maik and Leif; on the far end of the island we found a signpost telling us that there was a 'Shrine of the German Girls' somewhere ahead; so what the heck..we tried to find it, but it was supposedly only a try to lure us into the woods..)

THE BACK DOOR OF SINGAPORE

When one compares this island with Sentosa (the totally landscaped, very made up and quite beutiful island in the south of Singapore) you will see that the differences are staggering. The only real infrastructre seems to be a net of paved roads all around the island...which is a casual cyclists dream (there are no challenging hills around..). One is inclined to think that Singapore deliberately neglects this small outpost, to offer its inhabitants a taste of poorer lifestyle without the need to cross the border (how convenient). Almost all houses and huts are worn down and dilapidated, power is mostly provided by noisy generators. Some locals even live on houses that are built on the water.

(a visitor on the back side of our lunch place at Pulau Ubin..leave quickly or you will be deep fried soon ;-))

The Island has its own numberplate (PU) and local inhabitants, but it seems to me that the most people who work there must be commuters. The whole place somewhat felt like a show window and closely resembled what I have seen earlier in the rural countryside of Malaysia and Indonesia, where the normal people still have a long way to climb on the ladder of development and prosperity.

Is this a deliberate decision by Singapore to keep that island poor? They could easily turn this thing into a wonderful and more developed place. But maybe this is what the people want as well...having Pulau Ubin right at the back door as a reminder where they all came from only a few decades ago...when Singapore still was a town, built on the swampy side of a river. 'See, how we changed and evolved' is what it might read, sadly implying a glass ceiling for the people of Pulau Ubin with regard to their way up the already mentioned ladder..

Maik