tanah merah trip. today

the trip to Tanah Merah plantation on saturday was quite a nice one. quite an enjoyable day. there were 5 of us going there together: Mr John, the advisor from Wild Asia who brought his wife and his 5-year-old son along; James, the intern from UK and me. Mr John and James were involved in the eco-mating of a part of the eroded river bank in the plantation, while i was there to check out the potential sampling sites


in Mr John's car. around 7am plus. a lovely cloud which doesnt really look very lovely here



the road outside the staying place for Wild Asia people



loading the eco-mats and the blocks to the truck to be transported to the working site. the mats are made out of fibers of unwanted parts of a oil palm fruits, and they can attached to the eroded river bank better than the plastic covers that normally people use to cover the side of the high ways when landslides occur



from left: Mr John's son, Mr John, one of the people who are in charge of the eco-mating and Mr John's wife.


James, the intern from UK

a potential sampling site at Sungai Janging. the river looks yellowish but actually it is just the colour of the sediments which are sand in the river. the water is actually quite clear

at the middle of the river. this was where me and Mr John' s son, Bryn, spent some time 'sampling' while his dad was busy at work somewhere near the front part of the river. the little boy brought along his little net and a little box to catch the larvae, small fish, little shrimps in the river, just like what i am going to do during my own sampling. believe me, this 5-year-old boy's sampling skill is really very impressive. he managed to catch quite a number of things, just by using a little net. and he is just 5 years old!!!

little Bryn showing me some fruit that he found on a plant.

they have plenty of chicken shit flowers at the site

another potential sampling site somewhere in the middle of the plantation. the river still looks quite ok, flowing with clear water

downstream of the above site. the yellow car over there is Mr John's car

this is our so called Pig River. it got its name because of the dead pig found in the river some time ago when Mr JOhn checked out the plantation. yes. it is very yucky-looking and it is giving out a very 'nice' smell. i actually went down there, just by the river to collect some water samples. the soil which i stepped on was very soft, and i thought it was just normal mangrove soil. but to my surprise, the 'soil' which i stepped on was actually BLACK GREASE. eeewwwwwww...

then the last stop was the reservoir. it started to rain when we reached there. in fact at the very beginning at the first river site it had already started to rain..the water looked ok from far. but when you are by the reservoir, you will know that actually does not seem to be as clean as it appears to be..there are a layer of something at the surface of the reservoir. just doesnt look clean.

after the eco-mating was finally done, we went to Port Dickson town in search of lunch. in the end we found this chinese restaurant and had quite a nice meal there..thanks to Bryn, we had crab other than a fish, some pork and a vege. then me and Mr John's family headed back home, while Mr John and James stayed on for the eco-mating work. quite a fun trip...didnt feel like working, more like just a trip for enjoyment. nice

as for today...the most interesting thing is that, my lecturer actually brought in some water cockcroaches and currently rearing them in the lab!!! haahaha. water cockcroaches from the river in FRIM. she wants to know about their eating habits and whether they swim in water. one of them is seriously very big hahaa. hopefully wont see them anywhere outside the tank containing them :p