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Pulau Ubin , 2km offshore, gives visitors a pretty good idea of what Singapore would have been like fifty years ago. A lazy backwater tucked into the Straits of Johor, it's a great place to head for when you get tired of shops, highrises and traffic, and it's almost worth coming for the boat trip alone, made in an old oil-stained bumboat which departs from Changi Point throughout the day, leaving when full (10min; S$1.50). The last boat back to Changi may leave as late as 10pm, but plan to be at the jetty by 8.30pm at the latest. The boats dock at Ubin Village , where Malay stilt houses teeter over the sludgy, mangrove beach. The best, and most enjoyable, way to explore the dirt tracks of Ubin is by mountain bike , which can be rented for S$5-15/day from Universal Adventure on the left-hand side of the road leading west from the jetty. You'll be given a baffling map of the island's labyrinthine network of tracks, though it's more fun to strike off and see where you end up - Ubin is only a small island (just 7km by 2km) so you won't get lost. Ride through the village until you come to a basketball court, where a right turn takes you past raised kampung houses and rubber trees to the eastern side of the island. Turning left instead takes you to the centre of the island, past a quarry, to a rather incongruous Thai Buddhist Temple , complete with portraits of the King and Queen of Thailand, and murals telling the story of the life of Buddha. If you follow the left track out of Ubin Village for twenty or thirty minutes, you'll come to a steep slope: a right turn at the top takes you straight to the temple, just beyond which is another quarry, where you can swim. Ignoring the right turn to the temple at the top of the steep slope and continuing straight ahead takes you towards the island's best restaurant, the Ubin Restaurant; it's a bit tricky to find, though - you'll have to look out for a taxi taking Singaporean diners there, to discover which track to turn down.
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