tanjung piai and kukup (part 2)

We immediately taken into the information centre on the main jetty (is that the correct term?) and we were given brief on the island. Not far from the jetty, there are 2 watch tower connected by a sky bridge. However the other tower on the other side of the skybridge was under maintanence due to its leaning structure. Thus, we crossed over the sky bridge and took some snapshots. After having some height fright, everyone continued their journey on the wooden deck looking around whether they could find any life forms.. I've spotted this eagle size bird busy cleaning its feather approximately 30 metres from where we stand.


Finally, we got to the end of the deck where we are supposed to get on a boat cruise along sungai ular.. but the boat or the boat deck was not operating (huh!) so, we went back to the jetty to return to the mainland, kukup. On our journey back to the jetty, suddenly my friend shouted, "BABI!! Ape bende ni!" as she throws away a huge bag full of prawn crackers to the floor and scooted as fast as she could.. Everyone was in shock and spontanously ran together like a pack of bison chased by lion.. (including the park guide!).. After a few minutes of running everyone looked back and burst out of laugh as everyone realize that it was just a macaque that wants a bit of our food. Everyone thought it was a wildboar!

after that short entertainment, everyone was exhausted and continue laughing at the jetty.. thinking back how silly was our reaction "chased" by the primate who was actually approaching us in cool macho mode without the intention of scaring us. It was not showing any agression when it approach us from the back. That was something.. So, as the boat arrive to take us back to the mainland, we were joined by a couple of Japanese tourist acompanied by a tour guide. Around the island there are several fish farms where they are said to be main exporter to Singapore. The boat stopped at one of the farm and we were taken to see how they feed the fishes. After that, we finally got on the mainland and straight away went to find a place to have lunch.



After having a not-so-appeasing lunch, we picked our bags and went straight to tanjung piai by taxi. Arrived at about 3-4 pm, the checked into our resort room and prepared ourself before we go to Tanjung Piai park. The park was under renovation and the route that usually used by visitors was not operating. So, we took the palm plantation route which is kinda scary as if in a horror movie setting. Though we weren't sure whether the road is gonna take us to the right destination, we kept on walking on the rough rubbles and keep walking, and walking, and walking. Then, finally we arrived at the national park after half an hour of painful steps. We head to the counter to buy drinks as we were exhausted and "dried up". The same as kukup, tanjung piai was surrounded by thick layers of mangrove forest and the faunas are similar. but we didn't find any except for the obnoxious macaques and they are not adorable at all, PERIOD!


After that long walk and talking pictures everywhere we go, we decided to head back to our hotel and get ready for the crit session later that evening. Everyone wasn't prepared actually for the crit.. just that to get comments from the lecturers. Back at the hotel, everyone gathered at a wakaf in front of the block waiting for lecturers but they didn't showed up. so, some of us went upstairs to pray or watch tv. At about 6-7 pm the lecturers arrived .. the crit session starts. but i didn't joined, i just listen to other people's crit. Dinner that nught was on Dr Hamdan and we had quite a chat with him and Dr Zin on the dinner table. As all the food was all finish, the lecturers were ready to get back to JB and we head back to our rooms to get some rest after that tiring day.


The next day after everyone was having a good night sleep, we were ready to hop on the bus straight to UTM.. everyone slept again on the bus


photo: credits to depulson