A trip to Kukup on 1 May

The idea comes from Joanne who suggest a trip to Kukup. We agree to gather at my house at 7am and depart to custom from there. The kids are trilled when they learnt about the trip the night before. Ashley has been asking where is Kukup, what can be found there. I have been to Kukup during my Secondary excursion, and I can only base on that excursion experience to relate what to expect in Kukup to Ashley. The kids agree that they will wake up early, ready for the trip in early morning. Indeed, my children never delays... they wake up 6.15am and are ready by 6.45am! According to Marcus, the drive is about 2 hours from custom. The custom clearance is smooth on a Labour Day and the weather is fine with light shower. On the journey to Kukup, we stop over for breakfast by a coffee shop. We have wanton noodles and bak ku-teh. A little disappointed that the wanton noodles are not with the dark sauce where M'sian style usually are. Nonetheless, it taste good with a combination of fishball, char siew and wanton. It goes pretty well with my teh for a morning breakfast. After the break, we continue our journey to Kukup. We arrive at Kekup around 10am and manage to find a space for parking along the side of the road from the jetty. Our first stop in Kukup was a toy shop as we walk towards the Jetty. The children are probably attracted by the toys hanging outside. Little Clara is so cute! She spotted a little barney (size just nice for her little fingers) and couldn't let go. Eventually, her parents paid for the barney since she likes it so much. Little Clara is so clever! None of us realised that a song will play when you pressed the Barney's tummy, till Clara pressed it and Barney starts singing "I love you... you love me..." . It's quite a worthy purchase (esp when you pay in Ringgit)! Joanne also spotted bubble gums (the one we used to like when we are kids) and bought a pack. I think it's RM1.50 for a pack of 10. Both Vernon and Ashley get excited watching us blow bubbles from the gums and wanted to try. I have to warn them that gums are not meant to be swallowed. It is their first time chewing on gums and they love it! Poor Cieran who wish to try as well (from watching them having fun in trying to blow bubble). But I dont think Cieran is at the right age to chew gums, as such disallow him to have one. The children amused themselves with the gums while we wait for the ferry to get on board. Cieran keeps pointing to the speed boat, asking if he can sits on it. What an adventurous choice! The ferry will be bring us to 2 places-red forest and fish farming. This is an educational trip for the children. Our first stop was the red forest. It's actually the National Park. You have to pay a minimal entrance fee which we decide to go for it. It's a round walkabout inside the red forest of 600m, with a hanging bridge. After taking a few photos by the signboard, we start our adventure in the red forest. The first animal that welcomes us is a monkey! The monkey is on a branch that is only about a ruler distant from our head. Indeed, it stares us a little as we have to walk pass it. Next, we walk by the suspension bridge. Cieran is a little afraid to walk across but he bravely completes the walkover with me, to and fro! Well done Cieran! Vernon is a active boy who tries to jerk the bridge by hopping and making big steps while crossing. Believed all children have fun on this suspension bridge. As we are climbing down the stairs, the same monkey surprises us again. This time, it walks up the stairs (towards our direction) and swing up to level 2 from the bars. It scares the children since it's so up-close. All of us have a good glimpse of the monkey's ability in climbing and swinging. As parents, we are glad that the monkey didn't attack the children who are making so much noise. Our walk in continues with several spot on. There's long roots of mangroves, different speces of crabs in the mud, birds ...and wild boar! It's certainly a rare sight for all of us! On our return journey from the red forest to central jetty, we take the speed boat for a different experience. We paid total RM 19 for the ride. It was a breezy ride and the children love it! Our next stop is at the fish farm on kelong. As we alight from the ferry, few of us witness an accident. There has been a crowd anxiously waiting to get on board the ferry before all passengers can alight and through the push, a boy (around 10 years old?) fell and drop into the sea. Few of us shouted loud and the boy's parents (I suppose) quickly pull the boy out from the water. It is a blessing that nothing serious happen to the boy, but a traumatic experience for him. That accident reminded us, to look after our children carefully and constantly remind them of the safety on the kelong. The children are delighted to see the different fishes being farmed in each sectors with nets over them. We got to see how the fisherman feed the fishes. He pours a pail of fish food into a sector and the fishes are creating lots of watter ripples as they snatch the thrown food. We also saw an interesting fish...call archer fish (or spinner fish). The archer fish is a fish known for their habit of preying on land based insects and other small animals by literally shooting them down with water droplets from their specified mouth. They are remarkably accurate in their shooting! A few aunties who demonstrated to us on the skills of the archery fishes. They place a small anchovies on the wooden prank and not long, it captured the eyes of the archery fishes... and soon, we witness the shooting of water droplets from the archer fish. The auntie did a few rounds, and each time the water droplets hit on the anchovies, falling into the water and ate up by the archer fish. It is perfect and accurate shooting each time! Amazing! The children, no doubt was amused by the demonstration.... actually, I am too. By the time we are back to the land, it's lunch time. We are amazed that the crowd have formed with long queues waiting for ferries. Aren't we lucky that we are the early birds? The seafood restaurants are crowded as well since it's lunch time. We try our luck in the restaurant that was recommended earlier by an auntie we met at the suspension bridge, but it's full house. Believed that restaurant has earned its name for nice seafood. A pity we are unable to try it this time. We decide to walk further (away from the jetty) in hope to find one with less crowd. Finally we settle on one and have a sumptuous lunch. We ordered steam guroupa, sweet sour pork rips, dou miao, braised beencurd, several cans of soft drinks and two coconuts, all cost only RM100+. Cheap Cheap Cheap! An discovery before we leave the restuarant. The children spotted a fish-head alike creature with 2 front legs and a tail in the mud below our resturant (portion bulit on wooden pranks above sea level). According to Marcus, the creature is call 'mud-skipper'. Again, our first time seeing such creatures. There's so many of them in the mud! Yucks! After discussion, we decide to have some shopping at JB-Jusco. It is recommended by Marcus who mention it is a huge shopping mall. The drive to JB is a little slow moving with lots of cars on the road. Both Clara and Cieran fall asleep in ride. Jusco is indeed popular among the locals. We see a lot of shoppers in the mall. The retail shops are similar to Singapore ones, and I didn't manage to buy anything. Grace and Eric are the only ones that bought something from Jusco. We have dinner at Nandos before we leave for Singapore. Ashley slept on the way home, but surprisingly Cieran is wide awake. He has his shower, drinks his favourite milk before he doze off to la-la land.

The trip has been fun, adventurous as well as educational.