I have been organising cycling, trekking and run events for friends and some
meet up sites members but this trip was certainly different. We do not have to trek up mountain, cycle or
run under sweltering sun. It is an eco-tour to Pontian in the idyllic south-western region of Johor and travelling
in the comfort of a luxurious coach cabin. For this eco-program, I am charging S$70 nett per person, which includes
land transfer, lunch, some leisure time for last minute shopping and a personalised
explanation by the facilitators, among others.
The trip was scheduled on 29 Dec, Saturday for all 27 of us with me as their
tour leader. Sheepishly, I must admit it was also my first such trip but I
reckon I should not have any big issue ahead, after all it was just a one-day
trip up north.
Some of our regular
kakis also came along.
Kevin who is
always so supportive and I only realised that he is still nursing a leg injury
from his recent Hokkaido skiing trip with Y Trek.
My running mate, Catherine and she brought
along her parents too.
Jacky, his wife
and their two lovely boys though the youngest one is quite a rascal who was ‘taunted’
by me throughout the tour in light-hearted spirit, of course. And JK too who
tagged along with Catherine.
For the
rest, it was my first meeting with them but soon, we will gel well.
Prior to the departure, all were informed to assemble at Newton Hawker
Centre open car park by 7.30 am. That morning, I got up around 5.45 am and very
quickly, I was on the way out.
I took
the train to Newton station and I was already there well before 7.00 am. One by
one, they arrived and as usual, one or two arrived later than the scheduled
time.
The last person arrived at 7.45 am
and after making one final headcount, we were off to 2nd Link. I was using our
own 44-seater Citystate Destinations coach for this tour with our ever trusted coach captain, Jason on the wheel.
Frank, our facilitator was on board with us, together with his assistant,
Lee Hong. While travelling, I did the initial introduction and a little bit of rah-rah
to break the ice.
Thereafter, Frank took
over to explain the program of the day in more details. As it was still the
school holiday period, I was expecting heavy traffic jam at the 2nd link. There
were more cars and coaches on that morning but it was better than what I had
expected – couldn’t have asked for more, really. All in all, it took us about
an hour to clear on both sides. Soon we were travelling on the highway heading
to Pekananas town to our first stop – the bee farm in Parik Sikom. The name of
the bee farm is called 'Nictar Bee Farm' which is owned by a local Chinese man,
Haleem. I thought he must be a Chinese Muslim but no, Frank told us that his
surname is Lim and everyone used to call him 'Ah Lim' but gradually it ended up
as 'Haleem'...well sounded almost the same.
That much about the bee farm owner.
We sat in rows facing Haleem, just like children waiting eagerly to attend our
first eco-lesson.
Haleem brought us up close
and personal to the bees from the beehive he has been keeping but before he can
do so, he has to ‘smoke’ the bees first. He said the smoke is to 'disorientate'
the bees so that they will not become aggressive and start to sting. He then
explained how honey is gathered from his farm, the eco-way. Some brave hearts
from among us even held on to the beehive for photo taking and Carolyn (
picture above) was among the few. I
preferred to watch on the side while looking out for open space in case we need
to dash for cover, you know what I mean (
do
not take the last part seriously though) . Oh ya, on our arrival, Haleem
had earlier prepared his cross-breed pineapples from Johor and Sarawak for our fruit
testing, which he proudly called 'Josa Pine' (
Jo for Johor and SA for Sarawak). I have to say it is sweet and
juicy – in short,
heavenly.
Haleem produces his own honey which he sells
at his premises after each ‘bee demonstration’ and of course, some of us ended
up buying, even his ‘Josa Pine’ too - much to his delight.
Our next stop, Lee Rubber Plantation. This plantation is owned by the Lee
family in Singapore, one of the founders of OCBC and it was one of the biggest
pineapple exporters in the world then.
The plantation is not opened to the public but Haleem is the man who is
authorised to bring us on a private tour of the plantation.
It is 10,000 acres of nothing but pineapples. In case, you cannot visualise how big is 10,000 acres, well, one acre is about 44,000 sq feet.
We can only see rows of pineapple to the end
of the horizon.
I have not been to a
pineapple plantation and this is certainly an eye opener for me.
Pineapple is best grown on soft soil and it
gives bouncy effect when one jumps on it.
Soon, some were happily jumping on the soft soil next to the pineapples
to feel that bouncy effect.
Lunch is our next agenda.
Frank told us
the lunch theme is
what else but pineapple.
The ride to our lunch point which is also the
horse farm took some 20 minutes.
We are
travelling in the remote region in Pontian, the road is quite narrow, long and
winding too.
Quite a challenge for our
high deck coach but we have a superb driver in Jason - he certainly knows his
way around.
He even had to carefully manoeuvre
over low hanging cables, phew.
The horse farm is called ‘Wednesday Ditch Farm and Resort’.
First, we headed for lunch to answer our
hunger pang.
Among the dishes, we were
served pineapple rice being our main course, yes…literally on a pineapple which
we can scrap for its flesh after finishing our rice.
There was some confusion when one member who
is a vegetarian had our vegetarian rice taken by someone in the group and she
had to wait a little longer for the cook to dish out her vegetarian meal
again.
I went over to that fella to tell
him that it is right for him to take someone’s lunch without checking
first.
Small issue, everything was quickly
blown away after lunch.
At the horse farm, we were briefed on some of the basis equipment and
techniques for horse riding by the instructor.
A rider did a short demonstration for us but nobody had volunteered to
mount on the horse, or are we allowed?
Perhaps, ride is chargeable.
But
we were allowed to feed the horses at the stable.
It was my first going up close and personal
with a horse.
Frank did propose a 2 day
full board horse riding training course at this farm and at the end of the
course, we can earn certification by Malaysian Sports Authority for Equestrian
Olympic Standards.
The course comes in 7
modules over 2 days.
Already some in the
group expressed interest.
I wonder with
that certification, can I race at Kranji Turf Club (
dream on…)?
By now, it was about 3.00 pm and next, we will be heading to a local snack
factory which is about 40-min drive away.
I took a short nap while on the move.
On our arrival, we were immediately treated to a sampling of pineapple
tarts, fish & prawn crackers and a variety of local products.
After the sampling, some were happily
shopping for the goodies at the shop.
Our final stop was the much talked about Johor Premium Outlet before heading
home and we were to spend an hour there.
After making sure everyone was accounted for, we left for Singapore just
before 6.00 pm.
It was smooth sailing at
both sides, no jams but we had to wait a little longer for Jacky and his two
children at the Singapore immigration who were caught in the human queue.
All was well and finally, we reached Newton
car park at about 8.00 pm.
It was a
short trip but quite an educating one, at least for me…and am sure the rest
should share the same sentiment too.
Watch out for more such trips in the near future.
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