Wednesday, 24 June 2009

Fishing Trip

Hurray! I'm back from the fishing trip! We caught lots of fishes and likewise a crab and a seaweed. Simply it was an interesting trip to begin with, I think everyone has enjoyed as much as I did!

In the dawn of 20th June, I woke up excitedly way before the alarm could have lifted me awake. Immediately after my usual walk-around in the house, sat on the sofa and then recall what I could have left out. I picked up my bags and fishing accessories and left the house.

We actually were heading to Malaysia's Sibu Island (Pulau Sibu), 100km north-east of Singapore, and about 140km of journey on the road. Not so far away, I took us about 3 hours to reach the Jetty, which should not have taken us more than 2 hours because the newbie driver lost his way on the country road. When we reach the jetty at about 12nn, it had far exceeded the boat arrival time of 10am.

Nonetheless we were just in time to enjoy our sumptuous seafood lunch prepared by the owner onboard the kelong, after a scenic but exhaustive 45mins boad ride. In case you ask 'what is a kelong', well, it's a kind of floating platform in the middle of the sea that was historically used by fishermen purely for fishing activities, which is now used for leisure activities. Such platforms are exclusive to our South-East Asia region, where many other kelongs can be found in offshore Singapore and Indonesia too.

So we had fun, hadn't we? We really enjoyed the facilities and activities there. Mr ong was fishing non-stop and was found still with the hook late at night. For me, capturing the scenic shots was not at all regretted, given that I've sacrificed some fishing time. The environment there was simply beautiful, great! Whether dusk or dawn, even in the middle of the night there'd be something for the camera. It would easily have been the nature's paradise! However, the large amount of pollution the kelong produces gave way to the could-be name. That's because all of our food scraps, washing detergent (what the hell!!), washroom wastes such as soiled toilet paper and shampoo, would all end up in the supposedly clear blue sea. I contemplated on eating our catch, but ended up doing so anyway. That would be really gross if I were to find 'something' in the fishes' tummies.

Yes, I felt tired and went to bed that night. And something dangerous had happened during then - FIRE. A wall-fan just about 2 or 3 foots below the vulnerable attap roof went haywire and caught fire. Everyone whose eyes stayed wide open stayed panic too, with some shouting for fire extinguishers and trying out ways to put the small fire out. Luckily, the few owners managed to extinguish it. The worse thing is that the entire kelong is made up of wood, wood and wood, capped with an attap roof. So if everything is that flammable, what would have happened if everything gets burnt? Roasted human beings with a touch of malaysian flavour? The vicinity is nothing the eye can manage - because everywhere you see would be pitch dark if we were to escape into the sea. What's worse, all these happened while I was snoring my way. That's because, I thought, this credits to my ipod's noise-cancellation ear piece that I just bought. I couldn't hear anything other than Olivia Ong. I got up, after hearing some hoo-hahs, and went back into slumberland again instead. This despite the fire over my head, literally. Mr Ong's eyes remained open all the way until all his children woke after sunrise. I think I should get myself a punishment for not being alert... No more ipod during overseas trip...

At the return journey, we went to johor bahru's new Aeon Tebrau City 'mega mall' which is litterary HUGE. Jusco, comprising its departmental store and supermarket, is the anchor tenant. Dad says we'll drive there next month!!

Overall, it's a good experience and I certainly look forward to another trip like this. Photo time! Please give comments for my photos :) I personally love the one with the bee! The resolution was perfect at 10mp with no digital zoom used.

































It's Photos Time!







Karaoke Session!

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