Jurong West to Tuas: Kilns to Breakwater

The far west rewards one long day more than three short ones. We'd spend the morning at the dragon kilns off Lorong Tawas and the late afternoon on the Raffles Marina breakwater in Tuas, with lunch in Jurong West between them. Boon Lay Interchange is the hub, with bus 199 to the kilns and, according to the club, bus 192 to the marina. The cost is distance, so give it the whole day. With only a few hours, keep to the Jurong West half, and save the lake gardens for Jurong's Weird West.

Kilns off Lorong Tawas

Singapore's last two dragon kilns, both wood-fired, stand on Lorong Tawas. Jalan Bahar Clay Studios works from the grounds of the Guan Huat kiln, saved in 2001 and still fired for exhibitions, with potters at work in the studio around it. It's open from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and shut on Sundays and public holidays. The gallery keeps Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm.

TK Pottery Jungle opens every day from 9am to 5pm, which makes it the one for a Sunday. Its kiln went up in 1940 and the Tan family has run the place since 1965. From Boon Lay Interchange take bus 199, get off at the stop before Lor Danau and walk about five minutes. Our guide to kilns, studios and workshops has the workshop prices and the kiln tour.

Both kilns sit beside The Potter's Garden, a five-hectare park with over 1,500 trees, a butterfly garden where at least 26 species can be spotted and ceramics from the two studios on show. Walk in by the pedestrian overhead bridge off Jurong West Street 81.

A campus of public art

Bus 199 also serves Nanyang Technological University, and so does bus 179. The free, self-guided NTU Campus Art Trail has a North Spine route of 500 metres that takes about 20 minutes. It starts at Nanyang Auditorium, where Lim Tze Peng's painting of a godown on the Singapore River hangs on the third floor, then threads through the lecture theatres and plazas of the North Spine, the academic heart the campus grew from.

Elsewhere on campus, Michelangelo Pistoletto's The Third Paradise is a 41-metre red infinity symbol of living plants on the sloping grass roof of the School of Art, Design and Media. NTU Museum's page has the map to download, and a free digital guide on Bloomberg Connects explains what you're looking at. The UOB Innovation Hub, whose stacked towers have earned it the nickname of the dim sum basket building, is the one to photograph.

Lunch in Jurong West

Taman Jurong Market & Food Centre opened in 1972 as Yung Sheng Food Centre with 60 stalls, and it's a stop on the Jurong Heritage Trail.

Tai Seng Fish Soup is a third-generation family stall on the centre's third floor. It makes its soup from scratch, with sliced fish, deep-fried fish or fish head, and noodles, rice or congee on the side, and it's typically open from 9.30am to 8pm.

At Jurong West 505 Market, a neighbourhood hawker centre, Dudu Cooked Food steams tu tu kueh, small rice-flour cakes filled with coconut or peanut, which are chewy outside, sweet inside and best eaten hot. It's usually closed on Mondays. The Michelin Guide lists Dudu and Tai Seng as Bib Gourmand street food stalls.

A soak, a swim or a late bowl

Joya Onsen Cafe on Upper Jurong Road runs a Japanese-style public onsen for all ages, daily from 10.30am to 10.30pm. A full-day pass costs S$45 for adults and S$36 for children and the elderly, a meal set adds S$22, and booking ahead is encouraged. Bathhouses, Saunas and Ice Baths compares it with the city's baths.

For a plain swim, Jurong West Swimming Complex is close to Pioneer MRT and has a fun pool, a slide, a lazy river and a competition pool. Standard adult entry is S$2 on weekdays and S$2.60 at weekends and public holidays, with lower rates for citizens and PRs, and it closes on Tuesdays. After dark, SuperBowl Jurong stays open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, with bumper lanes for children aged 10 and under.

Jurong Fishery Port

Jurong Fishery Port sits at the mouth of the Jurong River and has been running since 1969. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) operates it as a hub for handling and distributing seafood, and the wholesale market of 130 lots on 10,000 square metres is open to the public. Take bus 98 from the stop across Lakeside MRT. The port runs around the clock, except for Monday mornings between 2am and 6am.

Everyone registers before going in, at the kiosks by the guardhouse or on SFA's Visitor Management System, which charges nothing. You scan in and out with an NRIC, a work permit or a passport, and a foreign passport registration lasts 24 hours. The wharf area needs its own restricted entry pass, so the market is the part to see. SFA publishes house rules for its ports, and since this is a working market we'd ask before photographing anyone's catch.

The Raffles Marina breakwater

Tuas is the far end. Ride the East-West Line to Tuas Link MRT (EW33), leave by Exit B and walk about five minutes to the club entrance at 10 Tuas West Drive, or take bus 192 from Boon Lay Interchange. Raffles Marina Lighthouse stands at the tip of the breakwater. It's 12 metres high, was built in 1994, flashes every 10 seconds and looks over the Tuas Second Link to Malaysia. Entry is free, and the club restricts the breakwater in bad weather. The lighthouse page gives closing time as 8pm and the club's contacts page says 10pm, so plan to be back by 8pm.

If you'd rather fish, breakwater fishing is open to adults by day pass: S$20 nett from Sunday to Thursday and S$25 on Fridays, Saturdays and public holiday eves and days. Last booking is at 3pm, and the club's tackle shop rents rods and live bait, though only from 7am to 9am and 5pm to 10pm.

Divelab keeps its dive boat here for full-day trips to Pulau Hantu at S$195 and Pulau Jong at S$220, with three tank dives, a simple lunch and a hot shower at the marina afterwards. The boat takes 45 to 50 minutes to reach Pulau Hantu. Sailing, Dinghies and Dive Boats has the other ways onto the water.

Outside food and drink aren't allowed in the club, so eat at Marina Bistro or Captain's Table, which are open to the public. The club asks visitors to park bicycles at the stands beside Marina Bistro, to skip picnics and drones, to stay back from the seawall's edge and to keep well clear of anglers' lines. Take the pier out to the lighthouse near sunset and you've earned dinner.