Pengerang Sea Shore

Special Feature (4): What is going to happen to Pengerang?

2011-12-16T07:55:00.011+08:00

We saw the oil rigs on the sea around the shore of Pengerang since years ago. It was really a very bad news for many of us who are from there, disregard whether we are still staying there or not, there will be some kind of refinery & petrochemical project in this regions.
Some of my old friends who remain to stay in Sungai Rengit show concerns over the land acquisition at different kampung in the region.
For us, this is our hometown. For people like my around 80 years old grandmother, where do you expect her to go eventhough if there are reasonable compensation for the relocation? She have lived all her lives here, this is the only place she knows. Her children had offered to bring her away to the cities where they are staying, but she choosen to stay here, just with an Indonesian maid, despite of her poor health. Why one thinks she wanted to stay alone here? Because this is her HOME. Money buy house and land, but not home.
Even if the town remains there, but with a oil refinery nearby, can you imagine that kind of living condition? Staying in an industrial park!
I really dont care about the economy contribution or jobs creations or whatever things generated from this project. I just hope my hometown can remain as a peaceful and quiet small village, with its slow pace life style. I personally think this project will wipe out my hometown and only now that, i can understand how people feel when they are asked to be relocated from their home. Well, i am not even staying there anymore, imagine those who are staying there!
I came acrosed this some where else, but this is very closed to how i feel about my hometown:
Being born and bred here, naturally we hold this small place closed to our heart with beautiful memories of growing up, gorgeous landscape, unique lifestyle and harmonious people. For many who chosen to stay, nothing is more important than the unhurried, steady and unrestricted life. Each day, they are among friends and life is the way they see it.

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發展邊佳蘭石油天然氣工業‧州設單位監督落實計劃

丹絨浪沙是柔州政府重點發展的石油與天然氣工業區之一。（檔案照）（圖：星洲日報）

(柔佛‧新山8日訊）柔佛州務大臣拿督阿都干尼透露，州政府已經設立一個名為“柔州石油與天然氣單位（Unit Minyak dan Gas Negeri Johor）”，以監督及落實邊佳蘭成為本區域的石油與天然氣工業樞紐中心的計劃。

阿都干尼今日在柔佛州立法議會提呈2012年度財政預算案時，透露上述發展計劃；他說，州政府把上述計劃定位為關鍵經濟領域（NKEA）的項目之一。

政府接獲私人界數建議書

他說，在此之前，州政府已經接獲來自私人界，包括戴樂集團（Dialog）有限公司，以及國油的數項建議書，發展邊佳蘭的石油與天然氣工業。

他說，上述建議書包括有戴樂集團有限公司的獨立深海石油終端計劃；以及建設原油及石化工業的綜合性中心。

他指出，預計到了2020年，柔佛州在邊佳蘭、丹絨賓及丹絨浪沙等地區開展的石油與天然氣工業計劃，將為國家帶來170億9千500萬令吉的國民收入總值（GNI），或製造7千950個就業機會。

此外，他披露，柔州政府接下來將把招引外商的焦點，投注於更具有“群聚性”的招商活動，以便在州內產生工業聚集區（Industrial Cluster）效應。

柔州擬設專屬性工業園區

他說，在這個策略下，州政府將把招商目標投注於吸引電子工業、化學、食品、石化及金屬領域業者，以便在柔州設立專屬性的工業園區，致力把柔佛州打造為更加親商地點的黃金投資地帶。

他說，這種有目標性的吸引外資，將能在柔佛州產生工業聚集區效應；這包括在迪沙魯設立生物谷產業聚集區（Kluster BioValley）；在南部工業物流園區（SiLC）開發BioExel產品；以及在五灣（Teluk Ramunia）發展成為另一個石油工業樞紐。

他也說，政府設立新的工業聚集區時，也將繼續鞏固原有的工業園，確保現有的工業園區不會受到忽視。（星洲日報／大柔佛）

http://mykampung.sinchew.com.my/node/169090?tid=9

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Petronas’ RM50b RAPID investment

Najib (left) and Petronas president & chief executive officer Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas after the announcement of the project at the Petronas headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. The prime minister says the project is larger than the combined capacities of Petronas’ existing refineries in Malacca and Kerteh (pic by Shahrin Yahya)

The proposed Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) US$20 billion (around RM50 billion) Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) in Pengerang, southern Johor, is expected to benefit oil and gas (O&G) players like Dialog Group Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PCGB).

Dialog, an integrated specialist in technical services in the O&G and petrochemical industry, already has a major presence in Pengerang and the O&G construction segment, said equity analysts.

The company stands to benefit from the RM50 billion investment by Petronas, said an analyst with a local investment bank.

Dialog already has an ongoing terminal project in Pengerang. It has established a significant presence in the downstream segment and has a track record of building various Petronas’ plants across the country.

The terminal is also expected to generate RM1.6 billion in gross national income by 2020.....

http://themalaysianreserve.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184&catid=36&Itemid=120

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边佳兰多处土地遭收购

(新山23日讯)有鉴于国油提炼及石油化学综合发展（RAPID）计划，以及独立深海石油终站发展计划，边佳兰多处土地将遭收购，可是，当前市价不一，令当地居民不知所措。　

为协助解决有关居民的困扰，柔州公正党成立边佳兰土地收购行动委员会，欢迎居民致电提出疑问。　

该委员会主席朱基菲里今日下午召开记者会，宣布上述消息。

他披露，在这两项计划下，一些代理相信接受有关当局的委托，开始向居民游说脱售土地事宜，首阶段受影响地段包括头湾、大湾、二湾及三湾等。　

土地报价不一致

但是，居民获得的报价不一致，有者每平方尺15令吉，有者却仅数令吉，令居民感到困惑。

该委员会希望居民勿冲动售地，或可向他们求助讨论，确保在合理价格下完成土地交易。

公正党柔州法律局主任潘伟斯指出，若有关当局无法透过代理购得土地，政府仍可透过1960年土地征用法令下强制购地，之后土地局会公布所涉及土地的详情，一旦没有异议，将自动以政府公布的价格售地。　

政府未解说计划内容

他说，若有异议，居民需在六周内前往法庭申请调高售地价，再由法庭决定最终土地价格。　

公正党柔州副主席刘文清认为，政府至今尚未对居民解说这两项计划内容，令许多居民不了解本身的家园未来将会如何。

他希望政府在边佳兰土地局放置发展大篮图及模型等，增进居民对此课题的了解。　

居民若有疑问，可致电联络朱基菲里（012-75 71860）或委员会副主席张亚成（019-769 2020）。

http://www.nanyang.com/node/400874?tid=512

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Malaysia - Petronas RAPID project

Petronas Rapid Project - feasibility study ready by 2011 year end.
Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) will make its investment decision by the last quarter of next year for its proposed integrated downstream oil and gas project that has been earmarked with a capital expenditure of US$20bil (RM60bil).

It announced yesterday that it was undertaking a feasibility study for the development of a refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Rapid) in Pengerang, Johor. The announcement confirmed a breaking story by StarBiz on Wednesday.

Petronas’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas, told a media briefing after the unveiling of the project that the feasibility study would be completed by the end of this year.

Key facilities under Rapid would include a crude oil refinery, a naphtha cracker and a petrochemical and polymer complex, with Petronas also considering the possibility of developing a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving and re-gasification terminal. The project was mooted on anticipation of strong future growth in the demand for differentiated and specialty chemicals, which will enhance Malaysia's petrochemical industry.

“We will make a decision before the end of this year about developing the LNG in Johor. The LNG import terminal in Malacca will be ready by end-June next year, and we are going to introduce open access (which means that Petronas will no longer have a monopoly). So any parties that wants to bring in LNG or gas, can do so,” he said.

The aim of the LNG in Johor would be to cater to the energy needs of the Rapid complex and help diversify the sources of gas supply to meet existing and future demands in Peninsular Malaysia. The new LNG re-gasification terminal will involve receiving facilities for LNG carriers and a new pipeline to tie-in to the existing Peninsular Gas Utilisation system.

“We are no longer going into basic commodities, which is a sunset industry,” said Shamsul.

The national oil major said naphtha-based feedstock provided the opportunity to capture demand growth and that diversifying the feedstock sources would ensure robustness and business sustainability. An analyst told StarBizWeek that local oil and gas service providers would benefit from engineering, procurement and construction contracts that would be dished out from the Rapid project.

“Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd will also benefit from this project tremendously, as it seeks to move up in the value chain and look for better yielding product,” he added.

http://www.trade.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/export/countries/asiapacific/southeastasia/malaysia/businessopportunity/141480.html

Some Nice Random Shoots of Sungai Rengit

2011-04-17T22:21:00.012+08:00

This is my Home, Sungai Rengit

The creator of this video is 林威正 ‎from Sungai Rengit also. i do not know him personally, but thanks for allowing me to put this video here. i watched it a few times, i think it is very well done, comparable to Singapore TCS production and the song bring out the slow pace of life in Sungai Rengit.

Some Good Shoots of Sungai Rengit

My friend, Khoon, was backed to hometown for 'recovering retreat' after removing his wisdom tooth. Some nice pictures of the town from him. Thanks!

The town is so just beside of the sea that if you are staying in a higher building, you can see the lights from the boats at night. There are a few food stalls in operation at night.

The same view as above, but bigger and during day time.
The things that i miss the most in Malaysia no matter where am i, are the delicious street food and the kind of relaxing feelings to have a bite while having a drink and see the world turns around me.
This is really different from sitting at the WIFI starbucks.

This should be the beach or coast line along the road between Tanjung Pengelih Jetty and Sungai Rengit. In my momory, the beach or seaside is never looking as good as this. This looked almost like a tourist beach!

This fruits stall at the site of the old cinema (the cinema was already long gone when i went to primary school) has been there since i can remember. During primary school, my friends and me used to come here in the evening right after the co-curriculum activities in the school, to get some fresh cut fruits.

We called this part of the sea as 'east side', chinese 'dong1 bian1'. East side is a fishermen areas with fishing boats and some small jetties around.

One of the jetties at 'east side'. The fishermen will unload their catches here. It could be a surprising encounter if you are lucky enough to be there when they return from the sea.

This must be the work of a fisherman who is staying here!

The Parade of the Goddess Mazhu -- 妈祖游神

2010-10-30T14:52:00.019+08:00

The Greatest Event of the Year

The greatest event of the year in Sungai Rengit is the parade of the Goddess Mazhu in celebration of Her birthday. This happens every 3 years and almost every villagers participate. Those are not staying in the town or those working else where, young or old, everyone comes back to join the fun.

The temple of Goddess Mazhu is the richest temple in the town. The temple even build its own 3 storey building. The temple itself is small and never got expanded over the year though. The Goddess is said to be a good carer to Her believers, especially to the fishermen. From time to time, there are tourist buses coming here just to bring the believers to pay respect to the Goddess.

Inviting the Goddess to control the 'holy stick' (hokkien: ki2 ki1－起枝) before the starting of the parade. The holy stick would sit in one of the sedans.

Nowadays, people or teams from outside of the town are also invited to join the parade, such as this dragon or lion dance team.
When i was a teenager, i thought joining activities of the temple is really superstitious －迷信 and old fashioned - 老土 (i think this is a phase of growing up. :) Now, i like it to see the younger generation to join the events hold by the temple, i see it as the passing down of the culture. －薪火相传

In the team of the lady flower basket carriers, most of them are the young local girls. But if you take a closer look, there are even adult men who dressed like a girl to join the team, as a repay of the kindness to the Goddess.－酬神

The believers joined the parade and crowded the road - 万人空巷. They walked with the parade team for 5km to reach the other temple by the sea at Sungai Buntu －三湾. The hardcore one, walked there and walked back. But most people would come back by bus or van or car.
My husband was the representative of my family, he walked 5km with the parade!

Part of the parade.

The sedan with the Goddess sitted inside was 'not in control' and moving all around in the street. My uncle who used to join as the sedan carrier said, during his year, they had to 'push' and 'pull' the sedan way much more than now. The carriers always ended up with muscle pain the next day.
Some of the carriers 'disappeared' when there were not many audiences and only reappeared again when it was near to the temple.

The parade arrived at the destination temple －观音庙 which is 5km away, by the sea.

The parade returned to the temple and whether you walked 5km or not, everyone can have the free lunch provided by the temple.

Walking Around Sungai Rengit...

2010-10-30T13:23:00.012+08:00

Memories as a child

In my Form 1 Geography project, it was about to find out the origin of the name of the town you are staying. I remember i had a manuscript of 'Sejarah Pengerang' (The History of Pengerang) from my sister. I got my project done by using that manuscript. It said, the name 'Sungai Rengit' is coming from the river (Sungai) and a kind of tree which used to grow by the river, which were' rengit' trees. i did not know anyone who knew rengit tree, but there used to be mangroves by the river. Now, even the mangroves have disappeared, not to mention the rengit trees, if it ever exist. As for the chinese name si(4) wan(1) dao(3)四湾岛 (literally means the fourth cove island), if you counted from Tanjung Pengelih, Sungai Rengit is believed to be the forth cove by the sea. It is called an island because long time ago, there is no road access to here from Kota Tinggi. People had to take a boat to go to the bigger town or city. My sister was borned in 1976 and my mom had to take a boat to go the the hospital in Johor Bahru to give birth. Due to this, people mistaken or considered this 'forth cove' as an island.

This is one of the fishermen jetty, it is at the river mouth of Sungai Rengit, beside of the bridge.
When i was in primary school, for unknown reason, mantis shrimps were something that nobody wanted to buy. So i came to the jetty in the evening time when the fishermen came back from their catch, and went back home with a big bag of shrimps for free.

Near by the bridge is a 'Y' junction and this piece of land is at that junction.
When i were young, we called here san(1) jiao(3) po(1) 三角坡 [the triangle slope]. There were a few swings, see-saw and other things for children to play. Eventually, they built a garage to park the fire engines and now, it is just merely for decoration.

My grandma told me that, those tower liked structure on the sea are oil rigs. i doubted it, as i don't think we produce oil here. But later on, my friend who studied petro chemical told me that, they are oil rigs! I am still not sure what are these rigs doing here, as nobody i asked seems like can tell me for sure. Some of the rigs are so near that you are able to swim towards it! [such as the nearest one to Kampung Jawa -- tou(2) wan(1)头湾].

We called here da(4) cao(3) chang(3)[big field]. It is shared by both Yok Poon and Sungai Rengit Primary School. Any special event of the town, this is the place for it. In the evening, there are always people playing football.
When i was in the primary school, this is the field where we were trained by Sir Ganeshen (the only Indian teacher in the chinese school) for run. One round of the field is 400 meter.

This is considered as the main street of Sungai Rengit. There are many more tall buildings (more than one storey) than it used to be. There are a few new shops and restaurants, including local product shops (the only real local products are the pastry and may be the seafood at the restaurants -- even in the restaurant, nowadays, they important many seafood from else where), a bakery or patteseries, a steak restaurant (!) and shop selling bubble tea and waffles.
Most of these shops or restaurants are opened or invested by the local younger generations who earned a bit of the money else where and have confidence over the potential the town.

Medan Ikan Bakar or the grilled fish square is the only hawker centre in the town. On the 4th and 18th day of the month, there is a night market just beside of the square. The night market is the best place to try different kind of local snacks, such as apom-apom, bamboo rice, bird nest water (the owner sold this for at least 20 years already) ... There are also clothes, electric appliances, plants ...

Medan Ikan Bakar have good views. It is by the sea and you can feel the breeze and even see the sunset. Nowadays, you can see many big ships on the sea. I read it some where saying that, this part of water is the international grey zone between Singapore and Malaysia. These ships are parking here so that they do not have to pay the anchor fees, while waiting to get into the habour in Singapore.

Places for Activities

2010-07-29T08:40:00.012+08:00

Desaru Beach

i personally have strong affection to Desaru Beach. When we were young, it was the greatest day outing we could get with family. It was only feasible during time when aunties or uncles came back, as we did not have car. I have good memories in this place and when possible, i always wanted to visit here.
Desaru is around 30km from Sungai Rengit.

Desaru used to be a very popular weekend escape for residents of Singapore. They come to enjoy the attractive 25 km stretch of beaches and golf courses.
Nowadays, i think Singaporean know Desaru Fruits Farm more than Desaru Beach.
In the non-rainy months, the water is very blue and relatively calmer.

Over the years, i think the public beach areas looked run down. However, it is still a popular place for the local to enjoy picnic, flying kites with the children and enjoy the strong wave of South China Sea.
The beach managed by the hotels are cleaner.
We used to come and stay in the apartment or hotel, just for a weekend break or Chinese New Year family activities.

One of the resort or apartment invested by Jacky Chan (he was here for the ceremony) had a grand opening years ago. But eventually, it closed down. It had reopen again when we came.
The government is making efforts to develop this ares more. When the Senai-Desaru Expressway complected, it will connect Desaru to Johor Bahru in 45 minutes, compared to the present 1.5-2 hours.

When the weather is good and in the season -- not raining season, between April to July, this is how the beach looked like.
This is how the beach appears as in my memory too. Blue sky and crystal blue water.
(Picture is courtesy from aunty Elena and friends.)

Besides from hotel, there are also apartment for rental. i remembered i came here with my family and we brought our own small stove and had potluck in the apartment.
(Picture is courtesy from aunty Elena and friends.)

Sebana Cove

During its grand opening, like many 'feverish' local who had a little bit of money, my uncle became the member of the resort. So we got the opportunities to come and enjoy the facilities, for us, the most interesting thing is obviously not the tennis courts, but the swimming pool.
The resort is quite well maintained. It looked the same as in my memories as far as 15 years ago when we first visited there.
Sebana is around 10km from Sungai Rengit.

Located at the tranquil Santi River, Sebana Cove is integrated with golf, marina, residential and holiday resort.
This is the most expensive and most comfortable rented accommodation you can get around Pengerang areas.

During weekends, the resort come alive and is crowded with either local who comes back to Pengerang, or visitors from Singapore.
If you truely want a very quiet place to enjoy your holiday, come during weekday.
You can enjoy the relaxed ambience of the marina, play golf, enjoy the mangroves or simply sunbath by the pool. The whole place is almost all yours!

My Home Sweet Home

2010-05-08T23:57:00.009+08:00

No place is warmer than home

Having a baby and exclusively breastfeeding have taken a lot of my time. The tiny little thing can scream so loud that sometimes it amazed you. The shore has became less accessible to me, as my coming back home time didn't fit to the tide and most importantly, i was just simply too busy taking care of the baby. The first time when i returned to the hometown with the one month old baby, i didn't even get to leave the house compound for more than 20 minutes. The tiny princess just wanted to feed all the times! i looked at the shore from far and thinking, the next time when we come back, may be the princess can already explore the shore together with me.

The behind of my house.
Grandma and mom used to grow vegetable on the land and sale them.
That is their favorite activity and we think that is a form of exercise to them too.
Since grandma got heart attached, the land is now in charged by the maid.
If you go to Pengerang and would like to purchase the fruits or vegetable that you saw at people's house, don't be shy, just ask.
If people don't give it to you, they would still be happy to sell it to you.

The banana trees which my mom grown outside of the house.
The bundle got stolen just right before she wanted to harvest it. She was rather upset with the incident.

I remember a friend cooked aloe vera dessert before. It was some kind of sticky thing.
When we were kids, we cut and apply aloe vera juice directly on the legs as a super moisturizer.
I am not sure how effective it is and as far as i know, some aloe vera is poisonous.

Sweet potato leaves were the best selling vegetable for mom and grandmom.
They sold it to the local restaurant by a serving portion at RM 2 and in turn, this dish is charged RM 8 in the restaurant.
If the restaurant place the order, grandma used to wake up at 5.30am to pluck the leaves from the soil, remove the hard skin of the stem and cut/break the leaves and stem into the cooking size.
Towards the end, the soil would get into the nails and this is a tedious job to be done.

i couldn't believe that grandma managed to grow white carrot!
I thought carrot only grows in mild or cold temperature.

The fireworks during Chinese New Year are always what we all looking forward to.
Many wealthy villagers will light their private big fireworks, comparable to the kind they had for national event.
This one was lighted by the neighbour right beside of my house. The noise was loud at its maximum and the effects are massive.

Special Feature (3): Don't Let This Be the Last Year of the Tiger

2010-03-27T13:16:00.012+08:00

The tiger is our national animal. Our heritage. But today only less than 500 of them remain in the wild. As Malaysians, we need to stand up and protect our heritage.
Speak to your children. Speak to your leaders. Everyone of us can make a difference.

For further information, please visit MYCAT (www.malayantiger.net), WWF Malaysia (www.wwf.org.my) and Department of Wildlife & National Parks (www.wildlife.gov.my)

每次说到老虎，总会想起中学时，参加学校到柔佛苏丹皇宫时所看到的老虎标本。那是当时某任苏丹的战利品，代表着那位苏丹的英明神武。苏丹已仙逝，化做尘土，反倒是战利品的皮毛却一直被保存下来。在那个年代，徒手或用简单的武器来战胜凶猛的野兽是需要智慧和勇气的。没有人会怜悯在血泊中挣扎求存的吃人大猫。不知道皇宫中的那只老虎是在活着或死后才被剥皮的。它被杀就只是为了表现出某人的厉害吗？由何时开始，在当年象征着王者之风的老虎，已被进化得更快的我们赶进穷巷，变成硕果谨存的动物。
记得在古装片里，什么山寨大王的坐椅每每都是一片虎皮。只要坐在虎皮上，你就好比是人群中的万兽之王，可以统撤群众。可怜这万兽之王，最后也敌不过枪弹，落得连子孙根都被人拿来当补品。
在各国都赶着搭上经济发展的列车时，我们都只想到只身的利益，变得市惠和自私。我们大量的砍伐树林，开发农地，建造牧场和住家。那么，从前住在森林里，包括老虎的动物，又得往哪儿去呢？
我自己并不特别喜爱老虎，只是觉得，每个生命都有活着的权利。如果不是非不得已，没有必要杀害任何生命吧！没有人的人生会因为有一颗虎牙而变得更尊贵。人性中的真善美才会让人的生命升华。
请大家高台贵手。

When i was in Secondary school, i joined the school trip and visited the Istana in Johor. I always remember the tiger sample that i saw. It was the belonging of one of the Sultans and it signified the courage and wisdom of the Sultan. The Sultan had passed away for years, giving His share to fertilise the earth, however, his works of bravery remains there. At those ages, it was not an easy tasks to hunt and kill a beast like this. Nobody would sympathised the loser tiger, that struggle in the pool of blood. The big cat, might even had it skins peel off before it breathed its last air. Its death was just to prove the capability of somebody. Since when, the tigers which are associated to the kings, have been drove into the dead angle by us human beings. There are not many of the tiger left now.
In the TV drama, sometimes we would see the leader of the bandits was sitting on the chair with tiger skins on top. People believed that, one will be the leader like the king of the jungle by seated on its skin. In the end, the poor King of the Jungle lost to the bullets, lost even its pennis to people who believed that, eating the tiger pennis will enhance the sexual ability of man.
Nowadays, most of the countries wanted to have hight GDP. Gradually, we all become selfish and care only about ourselves and look only at money. We clear the forest and made the land into agriculture used, animals farming or just to build house. Where can those animals, including tigers, that used to stay in the forest go?
I myself do not have special feelings to the tiger. I believed the old saying: Every lives have the rights to stay alive. Killing is not the way to move forward or to solve a problem. The teeth of the tiger will not make somebody's life to be better. Only the quality within ones could enhance someone's live.
Please let the tigers live.

Access to Pengerang (3): Via Tanjung Pengelih Jetty

2010-02-02T20:46:00.012+08:00

I last went back home probably by April 2008, i returned home again on Xmas 2009. Many changes in the town since then. Even the jetty, the boat fees and the taxi fees are different now.

The new immigration complex is completed with modern male and female toilet. There is a room marking as nursing room as well, but unfortunately, it is used as the cleaner room instead.
There are proper seats for passengers waiting for the boat too.

The jetty to alight and board from the board is decorated and have a floating platform now. It seems like safer.

The marina is totally new. It wasn't there at the old jetty last time.
The speed boats, the new boat services, are anchored here.

To go back to Singapore, submit your passport at the first counter. The boat man will keep the passport for a while and when they collected enough passport, they will call you to collect your passport and every passenger will ask to queue up to pass through the immigration together.
The bumb boat leaves when there are 12 passengers, sometimes they ask you to top up the fare so that the boat can leave earlier. Eg. The current boat fee is RM 15 per person if there are 12 passengers. If they are only 10 passengers, the boat man will ask everyone whether they are willing to pay RM 3 in extra, which is RM 18 per person, so that the boat can leave without waiting for another 2 more passengers.
There are at least one boat leaving from Singapore/Tanjung Pengelih to Tanjung Pengelih/Singapore at 7am and 1pm. The boat fee from Singapore is SGD 8 per person and from Tanjung Pengelih is RM 15. But the fees from Tanjung Pengelih will become SGD 8 after 1pm. It means, the boat man will ask for Singapore dollars after 1pm.
The taxi fees from Sungai Rengit to Tanjung Pengelih is RM 20 per taxi or RM 5 per person. The taxi will move only when there are 4 passengers, or else you have to 'top up' the fare (包车).

This is the new office for the speed boat services from Tanjung Pengelih to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Singapore. They have a fixed schedule but the fare is rather expensive. My friend said, it takes only 20 minutes to arrive in Singapore.

The schedule and price of the speedboat.
It is a good option if you don't mind to pay.

Access to Pengerang (2): Via Sebana Golf Resort

2008-06-24T05:22:00.009+08:00

Noted: i am currently at North America/ Europe, not likely to come back until next year. i do not intend to abandon this blog, but updating it can be tricky since i do not have the latest pictures or inputs. i would appreciate if someone is kind enough to share his/her pictures in Pengerang with me. Merci.

The marina of Sebana.
Many visitors do not know about the Ferry service between Sebana and Singapore Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.
From Singapore Bedok or Tanah Merah MRT Station (i don't quite remember now, check SBS service), take shuttle bus to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.
Take note that, taxi will apply a surcharge like in Airport.
From Sebana to Sungai Rengit (the biggest town in Pengerang area), transportation can be tricky.
Somehow, you do need to arrange a pick up either with Sebana or local Sungai Rengit taxi driver. It probably costs you a steep RM 50 or so. (A 20 minutes drive.)

This is how the ferry looks like.
The ferry actually takes a detour towards Tanah Merah direction.
So eventhough the speed is definitely faster than the bump boat, but the journey time is around the same. An hour or so.
The Malaysian side immigration is easy and casual (the immigration is only for Sebana ferry passengers only), but the Singaporean side is kind of tedious.
Sometimes, there are long queue and Woodlands custom kind of immigration, due to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal is also used by Indonesia-Singapore ferry services.

Since it is far from the town, the journey takes around the same time as the bump boat, more costly (far more) and possible of nuisance immigration, so why should someone takes a ferry?
The only reason for local like me to do so is: The ferry service is until late evening at 7pm and it got a fixed schedule.
So if you do not want to stay overnight at Pengerang and want to hang out until late evening (since the bump boat stops the service at around 3.30pm), then this can be your option.

http://www.sebanacove.com/ferry_service.htm

Sebana provide the best accommodation at Pengerang area. (In my personal opinion.)
Resort or hotel kind of room with facilities such as swimming pool, restaurant, sports ...
If you are willing to pay and do not intend to stay at a small RM 30 motel in Sungai Rengit, then you might want to check it out.

http://www.sebanacove.com/accommodation.htm

Not to forget, you can see many mangrove monkeys around the ferry areas.
Obviously somebody has been feeding them as they are not 'that' scared with human beings.
Please do not feed them, so that they won't grow to expect food and when they don't get it, they eventually attack people for food.
They have sources of natural food around, so don't worry about their diet.

Mangrove: source of food and breeding ground for many marine creatures such as fishes and crabs.
It is also the habitat for some mammals, such as monkey and reptiles, such as monitor lizard.

Shore Behind of Yok Poon Primary School (5)

2008-04-03T22:12:00.017+08:00

May be, i won't be able to update this blog again for months ...
i will on the road again soon and this time, i do not know when i will come back home again.

Banded bead anemones in the rock crevices.
When out of water, they retract their tentacles and look like beads of jelly.
In the pool, they extend their tentacles and filter feed.

This is a community of sand bubble crabs.
This kind of small crabs eat the coating of detritus on the sand grains.
Processed sand is discarded in little balls.
The tongue structure of the crabs is actually on their legs.

This looks like an elbow crab to me, with its relatively longer pincers.
During the talk with Dr. Dan, he shared about how crabs mate. The male organ of crab will go into the female's body. They can mate for ten days and up to 12 hours continuously for a day. The male will inject around 2 little of sperm into the female!

Barnacle is crustacean, or in simple words, the relative of crabs.
To continue the sex story, barnacles have the longest pennis for animals, relatively to its body size.
They can switch from male to female or vice versa.

Venus clams are normally found under the rocks.
When i was young, picking clams at the shore is a kind of family activity and source of extra-dishes.

Limpet is a kind of snail with the shape like a hat.
They lift their shells and crawl around the rock to graze algae.

Top shells are abundant at the shore. They are a kind of snail which graze on algae.

Shore Behind of Yok Poon Primary School (4)

2008-03-29T18:07:00.028+08:00

i always like to explore this this small island. Most part of the island is submerge during high tide and it is only accessible during low tide. This island is right behind of the school and when i was young, during the art lesson, the teacher even asked us to sketch it.

The red tall building is a Sungai Rengit Malay Primary School. Beside it, it is Yok Poon Primary School.

This Soneratia alba mangrove tree (Malay: Perepat) is almost and icon of this small island.
Its circular leaves may be eaten raw or cooked and the ripe fruits are edible.
It is the host tree of fireflies.

i found this red color nerite particularly beautiful.

Nerite is a kind of marine snail and it has one of the strongest shell structure.

A beautiful blue hermit crab is hiding in the shell.
i used to think collecting shell at the beach is something romantic. :)
But since i become a nature guide, i realised that, shell collection is depriving hermit crabs from their houses.
At the same time, those shells selling by the shop is probably by first killing the snails first, in order to get their beautiful shells.
(Hermit crabs don't kill the snail in order to get the shells. They just used the one which is empty and suit to them.)
i remember Ria said something like: How long are you going to look at the thing if you bring it back home? 3 minutes? and then you just leave it there and eventually forgot all about it.
Then, why not do a good act to just leave the shell alone. A shell in good condition can become the house of a hermit crab and the broken shell eventually become the sand.

Onch is a kind of sea snail without a shell. Its thick skin prevent it from drying out.
It is so well camouflage with the similar skin color and texture with the rocks that, i almost step on this one.
It breathes air through its modified gills at its backside.

The left side is just a shell of an oyster while the right side is an oyster alive. i was actually surprised to find even one live oyster as the residents here are coming to the shore from time to time to harvest free seafood.
Oyster is a kind of soft body animals with 2 shells. They feed by filter the organic particles in the seawater during high tide.

These are my favorite animals at this shore.
They are colonial anemone. They are a kind of animals (not plant) with stinging cells like coral or jellyfish.
They get their food from photosynthesis of the algae living with them and filter feed organic particles in the seawater.

The name of this snail is drill.
It gets it name from its way of feeding. It can use its tongue like structure to 'drill' a hole at barnacle to feed on it.
Its hatched eggs turned into purple color and the yellow color eggs are the unhatched one.

Others: Accommodation and Bicycle Rental

2008-03-10T16:22:00.004+08:00

The New Immigration Building in Operation

General Election of Malaysia.
Different party flags by the bridge in Sungai Rengit town.

i feel like this blog is getting like a tourism site instead of about the seashore. :)
Hope the below information is helpful since some of you have been asking.
i have never ever use their service before, so i have no idea of the quality of the service and others.
If you intend to visit the town during weekend, it is better that you call them and make your reservation.
Try to speak in Mandarin or other Chinese dialects when you call.
By the way, i do not gain any benefits from putting up their name cards here. :)

Accommodation

Chop Let Seng is almost the first hotel (more to a motel) in the town.
The owner said, every room is with attached bathroom and TV.
Room for 2, RM 40
Room for 3, RM 50
Room for 4, RM 65

i have no idea on Seng Huat Hotel. But it has been there for a while too.

Hotel Hiap Hwa is kind of brand new. Started last year and managed by the family of the ex-village head. Simple room range from RM 68 - RM 108.
My sister's friends and family had stayed there last time and they said it was clean.

P/s: The town is so small that the location of these hotels is basically not an issue. These three can be reached in 3 or 3 minutes walk from each other.

Bicycle Rental

i asked some Singaporean cyclist who i saw in the bumb boat.
They said, they rented the bicycle at Changi for SGD 18, 2 days.
Just ask at the bicycle shops near to the hawker centre.

If you prefer to rent the bicycle in the town, call and make reservation.
Kwong Hwa Heng is near to the bridge and the rate is RM 14 for one whole day and RM 2 for an hour.
i have no idea on the condition of the bike.

Other alternative, call 07-8265888
This is another bike rental shop in the town.

Sea Almond tree. This one is near to the jetty. The branches look like a pagoda.
The fruits look like almond and the nuts are edible.
The leaves change color during dry season: Red, copper, gold.
Currently, this one looks red.
The tree Sheds all its leaves twice a year in January-February and July-August.

The new jetty. Going to complete soon.
There is a marina for the yachts, like the one in Tioman.

The new immigration and passenger waiting building.
It has not yet been completed completely, but already in operation.

Leisure Pengerang (4): Lunar New Year Fireworks

2008-02-17T23:25:00.007+08:00

If you like to see fireworks, undoubtly, Sungai Rengit is a place for you to see it near and without crowds during Chinese New Year.
Supposingly, fireworks are banned due to safety reason, but in fact, many rich households in the town disregard to the law and had their 'private' fireworks.
Thanks to them!

Special Feature (2): The Rape of Sungai Pulai, Johor

2007-12-20T11:56:00.001+08:00

Leave the Seahorse at Sungai Pulai Alone!

As a Johorean, i don't even know where is Sungai Pulai until one day that, someone from Team Seagrass Singapore forwarded one email regarding to Sungai Pulai.
So i did a small search on this.
I myself won't dream of to see seahorse in Pengerang, but to my pleasant surprise, near by (kind of) around Pontian, there are seahorses!
I almost couldn't think of any places in Johor where there is a wide public known of rich marine lives.
(If you are thinking about Tioman, then, come on! Tioman belong to the state of Pahang! :P)
Please let other know about this place so that there will be at least someone to speak for the place.
All of us can play a role.

Photo from SOS gallery.

What is Seahorse?

Seahorses are a genus (Hippocampus) of fish.
Seahorses and pipefishes are notable for being the only species in which males become "pregnant".
The female inserts her ovipositor into the male’s brood pouch, where she deposits her eggs, which the male fertilizes. The fertilized eggs then embed in the pouch wall and become enveloped with tissues.
Most seahorse species' pregnancies lasts approximately two to three weeks

About Sungai Pulai Wetland
http://www.wetlands.org/malaysia/en/articlemenu.aspx?id=5bc18f0e-b793-4967-9fb2-e9236b055b23

About Save Our Seahorse
http://www.sosmalaysia.org/home.html

The nightmare for the seahorse and Sungai Pulai has finally show up.

A proposed development plan which involve the clearing of 2255 acres (913ha) of mangroves at Sungai Pulai (near the Ramsar Site) for petrochemical and maritime industries has its EIA open for public reviewing.

The types of industries proposed are shocking. They include the manufacturing of industrial gases, synthetic resins, paints, varnishes, petro refinery, shipbulding and repair, chemical incinerator and harzadous
waste, fertilizers and pesticides, rubber remilling and latex processing
etc.

This is the intended rape of Sungai Pulai.

The EIA is open for public reviewing and comments starting 19 July 2007.
Please send in your comments by the end of the month. The EIA executive summary is attached here. Also attached is my general comments. Alternatively you can also download the EIA report from the DOE website.

Your comments can make a difference. Pls spread the words as far as you can to the like-minded people.

Please prevent the rape of Sungai Pulai.

Sincerely Yours,
Choo Chee Kuang
Save Our Seahorses

Below are the some people whom you might want to send in your comments
(email, fax, post letter, cc whatever - the more the better)
............................................................................

Director,
Department of Environment
Ministry of Natural Resources
Level 1-4, Podium 2 & 3,
Wisma Sumber Asli,
No 25, Persiaran Perdana
Precint 4, Federal Government Administrative Centre
62573, Putrajaya
Tel: 03-88712000 or (2200)
Fax: 03-88891973
Fax (Director General Office) : 03-88891036

Pengarah
Jabatan Alam Sekitar Johor Bahru
Tingkat 1&2, Bangunan Hasil,
Jalan Padi Emas 1, Bandar Baru Uda,
81200, Johor Bahru
Tel: 07-2356042
Faks: 07-2356071
Email: johor@doe.gov.my

Prime Minister
Prime Minister's Office
Federal Government Administration Center
Bangunan Perdana Putra
62502 Putrajaya
Malaysia
Tel: 603-88888000
Fax: 603-88883444
Email: ppm@pmo.gov.my

Dato' Haji Abdul Ghani Othman
Menteri Besar Negeri Johor
Pejabat Menteri Besar Negeri Johor
Aras 1, Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, 80502 Johor Bahru, Johor.
No. Telefon : 07-2244148 / 07-2234789
No. Faksimili : 07-2230867

Seaport Worldwide Sdn Bhd (Project Proponent)
Attn: Miss Susan Chiang
Level 5, Wisma Kontena, PO Box 151,
81707
Pasir Gudang
Tel: 607-2535888
Fax: 607-2522507
Email: susan@johorport.com.my

Hijau Sekitar Sdn Bhd (EIA consultants)
Ir. Dr. Wee Ka Siong
124A, Jalan Lembah,
Taman Tasek, 80200
Johor Bahru
07-2453388 /235 3322
Fax: 07-2355666

Y.B. Dato' Haji Abd. Latiff Bin Yusof D.P.M.J., P.I.S
SUKJ( Cawangan Jurutulis / Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan )
Aras 1, Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, 80503 Johor Bahru, Johor.
No. Telefon : 07-2239780 / 07-2769780 / 07-2241957
No. Faksimili : 07-2246359

Unit Sains Teknologi dan ICT Negeri Johor
Aras 2, Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, Jalan Bukit Timbalan, 80000 Johor Bahru,
Johor.
No. Telefon : 07-2238239 / 07-2215030
No. Faksimili : 07-2234269

UPEN (Unit Perancang Ekonomi Negeri)
Aras 2, Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, Jalan Bukit Timbalan, 80000 Johor Bahru,
Johor.
No. Telefon : 07-2241768 / 07-2241698
No. Faksimili : 07-2241323

Tuan Haji Abd.Rahman bin Mohamed Dewam
Jurutulis Dewan Negeri Johor /
Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri Johor.
07 - 2239780 / 2244203 ext. 108
Email : - arahmanmd@johor.gov.my

Y.B. Encik Freddie Long Hoo Hin
JAWATANKUASA PELANCONGAN DAN ALAM SEKITAR
Aras 1, Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, 80503 Johor Bahru, Johor.
No. Telefon : 07-2239780 / 07-2769780 / 07-2241957
No. Faksimili : 07-2246359

Y.B. Datuk Halimah binti Mohamed Sadique
JAWATANKUASA KERAJAAN TEMPATAN DAN KESIHATAN
Aras 1, Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, 80503 Johor Bahru, Johor.
No. Telefon : 07-2239780 / 07-2769780 / 07-2241957
No. Faksimili : 07-2246359

Photo from Chay Hoon, but this is from Chek Jawa Singapore. :)

Choo's Comments on EIA Executive Summary

The EIA Executive Summary has 20 pages. If you are interested to read, please email me and i will send it to you.

Tanjung Pengelih Shore (1): 4Nov07

2007-11-05T21:28:00.001+08:00

It was a pleasant surprised to see so many soldier crabs near to the jetty. Roy ( :P )said, there are 'tonnes' of soldier crabs at Cyrene Reef, Singapore. But Cyrene is patch reef and not as accessible. i have never seen the soldier crabs army before, so i think this is my birthday gift from the shore. :)

When the tide goes out, hoards of Soldier Crab emerge from their sandy burrows to ‘march’ across the sandy shore. Their ‘armies’ can range from a dozen individuals to hundreds, moving over the sand flats like an undulating carpet. (This is why they are called soldier crabs. They troop about in large numbers.)

Soldier Crabs are fascinating creatures to watch, as they swarm over the flats. Systematically, they pick up parcels of sand that are placed into their large and complex mouth-parts. The sand parcel is revolved around the mouth-parts where small pieces of organic matter are extracted and consumed, the sand-pellet is then dropped and the crab picks up another parcel of sand and the process is repeated. It is interesting to note that these crabs move forward on their stilt-like legs, not sideways like most crabs.

When disturbed, the crabs burrow sideways directly into the sand, a process that takes less than two seconds. Its bizarre to sit on a sand flat and watch a hundred crabs just disappear into the sand, then a couple of minutes later, they just pop up out of the sand and carry on feeding, a great anti-predator defence.

This is not a good picture...
Anyway, i think you can see a shrimp!
It hides under the rock and normally if you flip over a rock during low tide, you will see many life forms.
(Remember to flip back the rock gentlely after that.)

Shrimp are distinguished from the superficially similar prawns by the structure of the gills. There is, however, much confusion between the two, especially among non-specialists (like me :), and many shrimp are called "prawns" and many prawns are called "shrimp".
For most people, the difference between shrimp and prawns is based on size, with larger shrimp being called prawns.

A young Avicennia mangrove.
This fellow just simply grows too near to its mother tree and this could be a disadvantage to grow under the shade of the mother tree.
The pencil roots can be see clearly.
Since mangrove nud is poor in oxygen, the pencil roots help the tree to absob oxygen from the air.

i am not sure what kind of palm tree is this.
It grows by the coastal hill by the main road of jetty.

Unknown butterfly.
Take note with the shinning blue patch near to the edge of its wing.

An ant nest!

Sungai Rengit Mangrove and Festival: 7Oct07

2007-10-09T21:44:00.001+08:00

Home sweet home! i have finally returned from my months of overseas trip. One of the good things about to travel is, i learn to appreciate what surrounding me and what i have. This is of course something that everyone said when they travel, but i can really feel this from the bottom my my heart now. If you have forgotten the last time you just look up to the sky and enjoy the sunset, then please do so. The purplish, orangish and reddish colors in the sky are just amazingly beautiful. You don't have to even go to the seaside to do so. Just look up eventhough you are in the bus or car!
Do enjoy the pictures below. These are some findings in my warmth hometown.

Near to the river mouth, this area used to be a rich mangrove. But nowadays, it left only a few mangrove trees and hardly even see the mud lobster mound.
We still got a fat monitor lizard though!

Monitor lizard eats insects, crabs, dead animals and anything it can catch. It 'smells' the air with its blue forked tongue to track down carrion and small animals.

Climber crab. It feeds on mangrove leaves and scavenge for meat.

Archerfish. It feed on insects near to the water surface. The interesting thing is, archerfishes have elongate mouths to forcefully pumped out water to knock down the insects near to the water surface. But they have to practise and learn to be accurate over time.

Needle fish. Normally found near to the water surface as it eats small surface-dwelling fishes. It has a pair o long jaws with sharp teeth.

Calyx of bakau, a kind of mangrove tree.

Monkeys are common along the river near to the mangrove. You can easily sighted one at Tanjung Pengelih Jetty.

Oysters and alive! Oysters are molluscs with two-part shell. They stick one of their shells firmly to the rock with a strong glue.

It was the 'birthday' of the guarding deity of my clan, "Sim" (沈). The Teochew chinese opera was one of the yearly events to celebrate the birthday of the deity. i was surprised to see the Chinese electronics sub-title by the stage. i almost feel like i am in Singapore Esplanade Theatre! :) Nowadays many young people are not able to speak or understand Chinese dialect, not even to mention be able to appreciate the opera. This sub-title was really useful for the young people to understand the performance.

Offerings to the deity.

Fire cracker!

Shore Behind of Yok Poon Primary School (3)

2007-04-09T16:47:00.001+08:00

Finally, i bought a new camera to replace my lost one. And i was lucky enough that, it was low tide when i got back home. So, i dragged my friend to go to the shore with me. :) There were nothing much at the shore though. The tide was not low enough, so we did not see the black sea cucumber. However, we saw a tiny elbow crab and i think my friend now knows that, why we should always visit the shore with a guide! :p

i will be away for another few months, likely until September. So, it is not likely that i will have anything to upload here until then. However, i think i should still be able to do the Q&A or comment stuff. :)

Like usual, we were greeted by the Friddle Crabs near to the Sonneratia mangrove tree. Male Friddle Crab has one big pincer and one small pincer. The big pincer is so huge and heavy that it is bascially no practical function. It is used to attract female, to show that i am mascular! (In the animals world, manhood is equally important. :)

There used to be abandance of oyster around the shore area, but due to over collection, there isn't as many now. Oyster is two-parted shell softbody animals. One of their shell stick firmly on the rock. When the tide comes in, the other half of the shell will open and it started to filter feed. It filters organic particle in the sea water. So if the water is polluted, either by heavy metal such as mercury or human waste, then these toxic is very likely to remain in the body of oyster. When you eat the oyster, these things will transfer to your body!

The things which look like a hat and stick on the rock is a kind of snail called limpet. It can shape its shell to suit to the uneven surface of the rock. This snail can lift up thier shell to move. So it is not stationary.

This volcano looked creature is called barnacle. It is the close relative of crab, so it is a crustacean. Barnacle is a pest in shipping industry as it will stick at the bottom of the vessle and hence causing the additional used of the fuel to drive the now heavier ship.

This is a tube of a tube worm. The tube worm is living in the tube under the ground and the tube is made from both mucus and sand. This species of tube worm like to attach a piece of leaf to its tube. It is believed that, the leaf will help the worm to better sense the vibration and hence, predator. Some fishermen would pull out the tube or dig the worm out as fishing bait.

i flipped over a rock and saw this tiny little crab, around 1cm. It looked like just another ordinary crab to me but when i took a closer look now, it looks like an albow crab to me. Its pincers are obviously longer than other ordinary crab.

Ok, this animals become my favorite in my hometown shore. There are always there and they look beautiful! This is colonial anemone. Anemone is called "sea sunflower" in Chinese. You can see the one opened and the one closed in this picture. The open one does look like a sunflower right? The have stinging cell, so they are cnidirian like jelly fish.

We saw these two stranded jelly fish on the way back. They were likely dead or going to die...
Some jelly fish will swim up-side-down to have their tantacle facing up. This is because there are sometimes symbiotic algae staying at the tantacle. These algae will produce their food from the sun and eventually the jelly fish gets its share too.

This is a simple and basic crane used by the fishermen to upload their catch from their boat to the jetty.

The black color dots that you see were all flies! There were tonnes of them flying and stopping on the fishes left on the ground. When i asked the fisherman were these to sell at the market (i asked in my horror, although i myself don't eat) ? To my relief, he said, no, these were to sell for making pet food.

Sungai Rengit Simple Town Map

2007-04-05T13:38:00.000+08:00

A simple map as i can recall.
May be i will come out with a 'better' map later. :)
Anyway, hope this helps.

Accommodation

2006-10-07T12:19:00.001+08:00

This is the hotel or guest house that my family will book if we have friends or relatives come and couldn't occupy all in our house.

It is situated right in front of the taxi station. The hotel is apartment like. You may choose to rent the whole unit with 4 rooms at around RM 200 per night (if i am not mistaken) or just a room at around RM 50 or 60.

The apartment or room is clean, with kitchen, TV and air-con.

The receiption of the hotel is at the grocery shop beside of this beauty salon.

The owner of this grocery shop used to work in the grocery shop of the owner of hotel. Eventually he opens his own grocery shop but continues to work for his previous employer by taking care of his hotel business.

By the way, if you are looking for some inexpensive and reliable facial or others, this beauty salon is quite a good choice. The owner is a local used to work in Johor Bahru but she came back and opened her own shop when she got married. She has a diploma in beauty kind of thing (couldn't remember what is the name already).

i got this news when i went back during Chinese New Year 2007.

Avoid Tai Hoe Hotel right opposite to the bus/taxi station. The owner was caught and under bail for getting her Indonesia "maids" to provide "special service" in her hotel.

What to Buy at Pengerang (1): Local Made Pastry

2006-10-07T09:48:00.001+08:00

If you are looking for some 'real' local products, this is the place. This pastry shop has been there since i was a kid. It is runs by a family and the bussiness been past down from one generation to the next.

This shop is situated at the row of shop houses near to taxi station. You are not likely to miss it!

You can find many kind of traditional Chinese pastry here. However, nowsaday, mostly are 'imported' from the other state or district. The only real local produced and local famous pastry is "Lao3 Po2 Bing3" (direct translation to English would be "Wife Pastry").

Making of "Lao Po Bing" on the spot.

We used to call it "tua bia" (Hokkien) or "Big Pastry" in English. The size of the pastry used to be around 15-20cm. However, it has shrinked to slightly around 10+cm now. May be that is why they called it "Lao Po Bing" now.

The pastry tastes sweet, mainly making from flour and sugar. i am not sure about the oil they used, but i assumed it to be vegetable oil (it just doesn't make much sense to use lark to make this kind of pastry).

One piece is RM 1.50.

That is how a Lao Po Bing looks like.

Remember, only this is local made!

All other kinds of 'imported' pastry and cracker.

My brother-in-law like the chestnut pastry. However you might be able to get it some where else too.

Leisure Pengerang (3): Ostrich Farm

2006-08-22T10:54:00.001+08:00

i hadn't been home for the past two months. Partly was due to my frequent oversea trip and the other reason was i lost my passport. :( So i was trapped in Singapore for one month while waiting for my new passport to be done. Fortunately things went out smoothly and i managed to get my new passport.

This time in August, i went back with two of my friends. i am glad that i brought them with me, as they let me see the other perspective of 'going back home' and highlighted something in my hometown that i have never appreciated at much.

However it was high tide with very strong wind when we was at the shore. So we did not walk at the beach.

There is an Ostrich Farm just some where near to the town. We did not go there but a few of my ex-colleauges went there last month. They were kind enough to share some of their pictures in the farm with me.

Nursery of the baby ostrich.

Unfortunately, their ultimate path of the ostriches are being one of the source of food.

Feeding corns to the ostrich.

You can have an ostrich ride if you wanted to.

You are allowed to stand on the huge ostrich egg too. The egg has very hard and thick shell.

As far as i can remember, you need to pay either RM 5 or RM2 as entrance fees to the farm. However my friend said they paid for RM 6 or RM8 for entrance and tour. i am not very sure about this, may be they have local and tourist rate. :P

Other than Shore (2): The Guan Yin Temple

2006-05-07T17:54:00.001+08:00

You won't miss this temple between Sungai Rengit and Sungi Buntu, if you are coming or going to Tanjung Pengelih Jetty. It is right beside of the big corner of the road. It used to be a small and 'plain' temple. But as many other temples in Pengerang, it got renovated in the good will of some devotees and now it is still small but eye catching - too colourful if you ask me.

The Guan Yin temple is built facing to the sea. Like usual, the fishermen hope the protection from the Goddess and wish for a good catch. Every 3 years, there will be celebration which devotees escort Mazhu Goddess in Sungai Rengit to this temple. It is a big celebration and festival for a small town like this. The next celebration is 23th March of lunar calender in year 2007.

Dragon is an auspicious animal in Chinese belief. Although Guan Yin is a Buddhist Boddhisattva, but this temple is a typical mixtual of Buddhist belief and Taoist. In fact, the temple is very much Taoist as you actually see many other deities and a stove to burn paper money. (Buddhist temple don't burn paper money.)

The lion symbolized lion's roar, the authorative of the teaching .

Two buddhist's dhamma guardians, Skanda Bodhisattva (looks younger) and Sangharama Boddisattva (the elder one) , are found on the left and right of Guan Yin statue.

The stove to burn paper money.

Shore Behind of Yok Poon Primary School (3)

2006-04-16T21:02:00.001+08:00

i don't know why. Every time when i go back home and wanted to take photos at the shore, the next thing i know when i arrived at the shore is, it rains. You can see from the picture above that, the sky was cloudy and dark. It was around 5pm and just after a very heavy rain. I was already at the shore when it rained and had to took up a shelter to wait for the rain to stop. Fortunately, the rain did stop after half and hour, so i could continue to take photos.
The buildings that you see are located at the main street. A market used to be there as well, however it was relocated to the inner area few years back.

Doesn't it interesting? A hermit crab climb onto the pencil root of the mangrove.

Oop! Distrub! A love corner. Mating nerites. Nerites are hermaphodrite (have two genders) and they have external fertilization.

This nerite is even smaller than my finger tip. If you pay a little bit of attention to your surroundings, then you will see a lot of interesting things that you never even notice before.

This pool has many opened up banded bead anemone. They look like small flowers. When you go to the shore, look into the pool to see many interesting life!

Can you see the sea slug? It is a snail without a shell. It has thick skin to prevents it to dry out. It has similar color with the rock, so most of the time it will be overlooked. Camourflage (same shape or color to blend in surroundings) is the common way for animals to protect themselves.

Well, this is actually a collared kingfisher. It is blue in color. It hunts for small crabs, prawns and fishes during low tide. It is normally in pairs.

Gobbies feed on smaller animal. Some of them are toxin and some of them are staying with shrimp in a symbiosis relationship (both sides gain benefit).

A tiny little crab hide itself in the sea weed. It would grow up and many be end up on your plate.

Fruit of the nipah palm or atap chee, what we normally find in our ais-kacing. This one has obviously floated in the sea for quite a long time until it becomes black.

This is rose apple or in Malay language, jambu air. It tastes slightly sweet and juicy. It is seasonal and home grow to many of the household.

Leisure Pengerang (2): Kampung Jawa (Tou2 Wan1)

2006-04-14T16:18:00.001+08:00

Kampung Jawa is a very small fishing village. There is only one street in the village and the street itself is the main street then. The whole village is built along the coastal line. During high tide, when the villagers open the back door of their house, they see only the sea. Most of the catch from the villagers are sell to Singapore, especially the big tiger prawns and lobsters. The smaller catch like shrimp is sell to the local fish mongers.

The backyard of a villager's house. See, the house is right connected to the sea during high tide. The fisherman will examine their catch to determine which are to sell to local and which are to sell to Singapore.

The tiger prawns need to be kept in the tank before they are transported to Singapore. Of course, the fresh one will definitely give a better price.

Lobster and mantis shrimps. The local water is still rich with big catch. The mantis shrimps are as big as the lobster. However the fishermen said, it is getting harder for them to catch big fishes due to water pollution and over-catch.

To talk about the pollution. Well, this is a toilet. Due to lack of the proper sewage and sanitary system, every waste from the villagers, including organic waste, household rubbish, dead animal body... are all throw into the sea.

A goose is kept as a pet in a villager's house.

i know this is gross and cruel. But this is a fact and part of the life for some of the villagers. The sea condition is not always suitable for the villagers to go out. So some of the villagers either hunt wildboar in the secondary forest or slaughter widlboar for the hunter.

The teeth and the tusk of the wildboar. Obviously the wildboar was a huge one.

Dried fishes for their own consumption.

Special Feature: Pulau Hantu

2006-04-13T10:14:00.001+08:00

Recently there are talks that, some organizations in Singapore wanted to turn Pulau Hantu (an island in Singapore) into to huge aquarium (as per my understanding).
If you are interested, you can read more here:
http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/hantunoah.htm
http://reefwalk.blogspot.com/2006/03/first-step-to-create-marine-sanctuary.html
http://www.finsonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=G79

i would like to share some of the pictures i took during my visit to Hantu. It would be a lost to all if this place is destroyed.
(err... This pictures might make our local Pengerang shores look a bit bored though :)

Coral, coral, coral. The best thing about intertidal is, you can see a lot of marine creatures without getting wet. See, you don't need to be a diver in order to see the coral.

A nobel volute (snail) was laying eggs (the white slimmy things)!

Flat worm. The way it swims was just beautiful! The flat worm is so flat that oxigen can just diffuse its entire body .

This was a real huge sea cucumber (as i remember, around 30 cm long!) Sea cucumber will vomit their innards to repel their predator. The innards will be reproduced, but they would starve until then. (So, please don't make them do it!)

Fan worm is a segmented worm with feathery fan on its head. The fan is used to gather small food particle and send it to mouth.

It is a shy animal. If you wanted to see them, just stand still and wait for a while. Eventually it will come out from its tube.

Common sea star which is not longer common now. It can liquidize its tissue to right itself if it was overturned. Their body is supported by sea water, so it will be very stressful to them if they are out of water for too long.

Leisure Pengerang (1): Teluk Ramunia Beach

2006-01-05T11:18:00.001+08:00

I thank Alyce (a Check Jawa volunteer guide) for her kind words and feedback to this blog. She visited Pengerang with her friends and they stayed in the chalet at Teluk Ramunia for their last day of Year 2005.
Robin (a Check Jawa volunteer guide also) and Grace (Alyce's friend who i have never met before) are also kind enough to allow me to upload the photos they took.
They rented bicycles in Pengerang and cycled all the way from Tanjung Pengelih to Teluk Ramunia. i believe that, it took around them around 2 to 3 hours.This is something not very common to do for a local people like me. :)

The chalet beside of the beach. The beach at this area is rather flat and shallow. You enjoy quite a peace ambient too, as it is not very near to the main town.

Horseshoe Crab

Scientists believed that, they exist since dinosaur time. Their tail is often mistaken as weapon but in fact it is used to right themselves if they were overturned.

The sunset for the last day of Year 2005.

The very fresh and relatively cheaper seafood is the greatest attraction in Pengerang.

In fact, due to its location which is so near to Singapore, the cost of living in Pengerang is high for a small town like this. The price of seafood is also not any cheap to the local people.

Local fruits. Probably freshly picked from tree!

A honey dew farm near to the chalet.

If you cycle or drive along the road beside of this honey dew farm, you will pass by a boring resettlement. After that, you reach another beach called Batu Layar, which i prefer more than the Teluk Ramunia beach. Batu Layar is more secluded and the beach has many big and small rocks in different shape. However i heard rumour that, there are crocodiles there. After Batu Layar, you will reach the famous Desaru Beach.

Access to Pengerang (1): Via Tanjung Pengelih Jetty

2005-12-27T10:49:00.002+08:00

For latest information, see updated post by Feb 2010 - Access to Pengerang (3): Via Tanjung Pengelih Jetty

From Singapore Changi Point Ferry Terminal (the same jetty you used to go to Pulau Ubin).
Submit your passport to the boatman outside the immigration. They will copy your details in passport and return the passport to you later. The boat will only leave when they get enough of 12 or 13 persons. Each person is S$8 and pay the boatman on the boat.
Remember who is your boatman and get from him his boat number. All people in the same boat will have to queue up together for immigration clearance.
The journey is around 1 hr 5 minutes and sometimes the sea can be turbulent.
When arrive at Tanjung Pengelih Jetty, just go by yourself to the immigration office for immigration clearance.
You may charter a taxi (RM 16) or share with others (RM 4.50) to go the biggest town, Sungai Rengit. The taxi won't leave without 4 persons.
The last boat leaves at 4pm. If you don't intend to stay in the town, make sure your taxi leave Sungai Rengit by 3.30pm. The return boat fare is RM10 before 1pm and S$8 after 1pm. (However there are cases that, during public holiday or weekend, due to massive crowd, the boatmen stop taking late comer as early as 3pm. So the boat system is a bit uncontrolled.)
During your return, submit your passport to the security guard at Tanjung Pengelih. They will pass your passport to the boatman and the boatman will get your passport stamp and return to you on the boat. Before the boat departs, check you passport to make sure that they did stamp it! Inform the boatman immediately if your passport is not stamped. Pay the boat fare on boat.

* Due to the hiking petrol and diesel prices in Malaysia, the boat fare is slightly more expensive now. (As above - updated 10 Apr 06)

* Photo taking near the jetty and custom is now prohibited. So... if you really want to, just avoid to be catched by the security guard. :)

* Updated 1 Sept 06: An anonymous passed this info to me. Might be useful to some of you who are looking for direction or confused.

"Changi Ferry Terminal" is actually another jetty to Desaru.

http://app.ica.gov.sg/about_ica/checkpoints.asp#c9

"Changi Point Ferry Terminal" - This checkpoint serves travellers to and from South Eastern Johor e.g. Pengerang District.

For enquiries, contact: Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, Changi Point Ferry Terminal, 51 Lorong Bekukong, Singapore 499172.

The boats from and to Singapore and Indonesia stop here. The green building is for the immigration and custom. The hill behind of the jetty is the location of Johore Battery, the same structure with Changi Battery (the big gun build by British during World War II to protect Singapore from the invasion of Japanese). While the Singapore Changi Battery is well protected to become a national heritage cum tourist spot, the Johore Battery is left to become a ruin.

A WWII structure left on the hill.

Since the Royal Navy shifted from Woodlands, Singapore to Tanjung Pengelih, there are always news about the government wanted to close down this jetty for security reason of the navy base.

This issue is complex. It involved the rice bowls of the boatmen, taxi drivers and the stall owners who earn their living at the jetty. Many villagers, like me, are working or studying in Singapore and are very much rely on this jetty. Of course we don't want this jetty to close down!

If this jetty does been closed down, then all have to use the ferry terminal in Sebana Golf & Resort, which is 25 minutes away from the main town, Sungai Rengit. The ferry fare is more expensive and so as the taxi fare to access to the resort. Sebana provides their own ferry service, so what will become to the operators of the bumb boat?

* When i went back during Chinese New Year 2006, the boatmen said, the government is not going to close down this jetty already. In fact, some construction works have been carried out to expand the jetty's very narrow road.

Other than Shore (1): The Mazhu Temple

2005-12-27T10:08:00.001+08:00

The temple is only a few footsteps away from my home. It used to be a more tiny and decent small temple for the Goddess Mazhu, the protector of the fishermen. When i was still in primary school, the villager renovated it. The sad things when people renovate an old building is, they standardize the design. Chinese architecture is difference in a way that, the dialect group of Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese... all have their unique difference architecture designs. But nowsaday due to lack of study or lack of people to know in these differences, all renovated temples are follow to the Northen China palace kind of design. Hence the origin of the temple gradually becomes hard to differentiate by the building itself...
At least the roof of the temple not really changed much than the structure i saw when i was young.

The temple is now so prosperous that the committee of the temple built its own building right behind of the tiny temple.

The 'wealth' of this temple is not surprising, consider it is famous among many Singaporean aunties. They either come from Tanjung Pengelih or a lot of time you see them come by chartered tourist buses all the way from Singapore via JB (at least 2.5 hrs).

When i went back home on 11 December 05, it was coincidentally a festive day to thank the Goddess for her protection to the fishermen in the past one year. At the night before, there was a Karaoke singing performance by fellow villagers. This kind of activity has added a little bit of spices to the peaceful and quiet life in the village. Sometimes i would say that, all these activities all more to please the mortal than the immortal.

The temple is near to the river mouth and right in front of the temple is the river.

i think a mud lobster mound managed to survive the 'massacre' of the villagers when they cleared the mangroves and reclaimed the river bank with red soil.

Shore Behind of Yok Poon Primary School (2)

2005-12-17T17:42:00.001+08:00

i wonder how many school is blessed with a sea shore as its backyard. When i was studied in Yok Poon, during recess, my two childhood good friends and me liked to sit on the stone chair facing to the sea.

i went back home on 10 December 05. It was an evening and unfortunately very high tide. So i went to the shore in the next morning. The tide was high but the shore is at least accessible. It was raining slightly at that time, so no much creatures were seen. Sea animals don't like fresh water. So i took mostly the pictures of plant.

(The picture is up-side-down. Doesn't it look like a big pineapple plant?)

This is wild pandan or in Malay mengkuang.
It has forward thorns and its leaves are used as the wrapper of nyonya dumpling and making map (tikar).

Sea slater is also call sea cockroach. But, this creature is not an insect. It is a crustacean, which is closely related to crab.

Each of the Barnacle looks a small mountain. They are not molluscs or shells, in fact crustaceans -- closely related to crab.
They grow not only on the rock but any surface, including ship and crab. This made them a pest or parasit.
Ship - they made the ship heavier, hence the ship used more fuel. So the shipping company have to pay extra money to scrape them off from their vessel.
Crab - the barnacle is so heavy that it constraint the movement of the crab and eventually the crab will have difficulty to hunt for food or even move.

The leaves of the sea hisbiscus can use to feed cattle.
The interesting thing is, its flowers open at around 9am and close at around 4pm.
The leaves is in heart-shape. The underside of the leaves produced nectar to attract ants to staying on the tree. The ants protect the tree from other harmful insect.

Periwinkle feeding on algae and lichens.
They are sometimes cooked in soup!

Avicennia (api-api) is a very common mangrove tree.
It has pencil roots (pneumetophores) as breathing roots.
Its flowers in yellow or orange color and its fruits look heart-shape.

The egg cases of snail.

Shore Behind of Yok Poon Primary School (1)

2005-12-05T18:30:00.001+08:00

i went to the shore behind of my primary school, SRJKC Yok Poon on 18 November 2005. This was the first time i went to this shore again ever since i grown up. My last visit was probably few years back!
The different of this visit after so many years was, now, i am able to recognise most of the marine creatures i saw! Thanks to the trainees from Check Jawa and Semakau. :)
Unfortunately, i forgot about the nasty sand fries of this shore. i got a few nasty bites during my visit and the bites itched for a week. The scars from the bite (of course i would scratch since it was so itchy) lasted until now, after 3 weeks!
These are only a few pictures that i managed to take. Well, i am not a good photographer ,so do bear with the quality of the photos. Due to time constraint also, i did not wait patiently to take animal such as friddle crabs, mudskippers, gobbies ...
Next time then. (You do see me in need of helper right?)

Soneratia (Perepat)

The nectar from this mangrove tree is the favorite food of a kind of bat.

The fruits of Soneratia. It is edible.

Black Sea Cucumber
There are a lot of them anchor under of the rock.

i like the fact that there are bacteria staying near their anus for an easier source of food. :)

Hey, this is not a rock!
Doesn't it look like melt chocolate?
This is ascidian, an animal.

The baby ascidian in the free swimming larva form has notochord (vetebrate or back bone), but degenerates when it settle down.

Rhizophora (Bakau)

The seedings grow on the mother tree for a better surviving rate in the harsh environment at mangrove.

The timber can be used to construct kelong.

Sargassum (Brown Seaweed)

The air-filled bladders look like grapes!

The extract from the brown seaweed is used to make ice-cream, so that the ice cream taste or feel more smooth.

A clam in the pool of colonial anemone (the dot-like things).
When i was young, i thought these anemone were the eggs of frog. So i always thought there might be a kind of 'sea frog' laying eggs in the pool! LOL

Sea Letuce (Green Seaweed)

Seaweed has no vein, no flower and no fruit.

Red Seaweed

Sushi!

Japanese Nori is actually made from red seaweed.

A red seaweed might not looking red at all.

Sea Grass

On land, the cow eats grass. In the sea, the sea cow or dugong eats sea grass.

The sea grass is not the same as the grass on land. It lacks of a waxy-covering.

It feels slimy to touch.

Snapping Shrimp

It makes the 'snap' sound when you walk at the shore. The sound is to stun prey or intimidate rival.

i used to think the 'click' sound i heard came from the clam opening or closing its shells or a crab opening or closing its pincer.

Drill

It eats barnacle. They can secrete asid to soften the hard shell of barnacle (drill a hole). It takes them probably 8 hrs to drill a 2mm thick of hole!

In the past, people extract purple color dye from drills.

These are the egg cases of drill. The eggs are inside of the egg cases. The purple color one is the hatched larvae.

Hermit Crab

Its soft abdomen attached to the shell. So pulling it out by force will hurt it. Don't do this!

The hermit crab is not able to produce its own shell. So it will have to change to a new shell (shell from dead snails) as its size growing bigger and bigger. Collecting shells from the beach is depriving the hermit crabs from getting a suitable home.

Crab

The crab is in a defensive position.

There are abundance of them hide around the rocky shore. Please let them have a chance to grow bigger before you just snapped them and cooked them as your dish!

(i saw people collecting clam, so i think they might not spare the crabs if they found a suitable method to catch them.)

Dove Shell

This is a very tiny snail. Its shell is only around 1cm. It is omnivore (meat eater) and normally found at rocky area. Unfortunately live animals are becoming scarce.

Nerite

Take note of their streaming lines. The streaming lines prevent it from being sweep by away by the tide.

Oyster

Unfortunately, these were already opened up and harvested.

Oyster is bivalve (mollusc with two-part shells). One of the shell sticks tightly on rock.

A live oyster has rough and uneven shell while a died one (normally because of harvested by human being) has its smooth inner side of the shell exposed.

The Origin

2005-12-05T10:18:00.001+08:00

When i was young, my sister and me liked to go to the mangrove behind of our house to catch thunder crab and catfish. At that time, horseshoe crab and mud lobster were abundant too (although i didn't know the name of these creatures until 2 years ago).

Just these few years, the residents beside of the river had chopped down all the mangrove trees in order to extend their housing compound. It is sad to see no more mangrove trees beside of the river. Without telling, you can guess that the river is going to become shallower as erosion becomes worst. The lose of mangrove also means the lost of fishes or prawn nursery. This can be a disaster to the fishermen.

A lot of development is undergoing in Sungai Rengit , my hometown, and other villages in Pengerang. With these development, we are losing our natural heritage.

Since i graduated from University of Science Malaysia in 2002, i started to work in Singapore. At the same time, i joined the volunteer group to become a shore walk guide at Check Jawa Pulau Ubin and the landfill Pulau Semakau (still under OJT). The efforts put by my fellow volunteer friends in conservation of intertidal in Singapore has really inspired me to do something to the shore in my hometown. So i decided to setup this blog to record the marine lives at the shore in Pengerang. i probably not able to do much to stop our shore from been destroyed or to reduce the lost of habitat of our marine life, but i do hope to make this small record of what we 'used' to have.

i am not a marine life sciencetist, in fact an engineer by profession. I myself is very interested with the scientific facts about these marine creatures. However i think most lay person will be more interested to know about facts that related to them. eg: "Can eat or not?" So i will try to give more interesting facts about my 'finding' instead of the scientific facts (you can actually log on the website of wild singapore for facts). Do you find any errors in my posting, do inform me.

Please help me to spread this blog to your friends either the residents of Sungai Rengit or Pengerang or any other areas, so that people do know what we have in Pengerang.

Should you want to join my effort in recording, do contact me. I will feel happy to conduct a guided walk for you (obviously if you are not a local) if i happend to be in Sungai Rengit at that time.

p/s: From the picture attached, you can see that, no more mangrove... The water used to be greenish and now it is very murky and sedimented.

"We do not inherit this land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."