Segamat Durian Trip

How are you feeling today?


Ya Kun Kaya bread style coffee shop


Uncle handsome, I shoot you


This must certainly be the most difficult trip to get together. Timing was quite bad for most and despite trying all avenues, I only could get 3 cars in total to venture up for Segamat Durians. However, it was rare to have Francis, JS and their little boy zhiyu (knowledge of the whole universe) to join me. Alan, Ry and TC, J and friend also came along.

We were a little late to set out from my house and got held up in a little jam at the checkpoint. Nothing too serious. Now the rest know why I usually asked to go over by 5.30am. We drove straight all the way from the checkpoint to the NSH, and made a rest stop at the Machap R&R. There, we had to wait for TC's car to arrive, which was like an hour.

We had some good breakfast and spent time catching up with each other. It had been some time since I met my good friends and it was nice for them to join me for this trip.

Country road


Followed by a slow poke red car


When TC finally arrived, we took off and reached the farm in about 1.5 hours. I took the advice of the GPS, and branched off from NSH at Yong Peng and took the small roads. Road was fairly clear and we made good speed. Upon arriving at the POI, I didn't see any building or house that screamed "durain farm". So we were like quite lost. We drove further down the road but that later took us away from all the nice durian trees and into a palm plantation. I tried calling mr gan but his phone was not in service. Backtracking, we came upon a clearing and saw people waving at us. That was it. We were finally there.

Yes, this is the road


How to eat durian trainig shed


2 basket of durians as an appetizer


I want to eat this one


This one better, kiddo


MSW


Eat till you broke


Eat your durian boy, it will make you strong


It made us strong too


We will grow and multiply and take over the world


The weak ones eat the leftovers


I will wait for it to drop on my head


Durian mobil


Tapoed for Singapore


The helpers quickly brought out baskets upon baskets of durians for us to eat. We had 101, 13, 18, local, MSW. The others, were not available yet. Durian was fresh and delicious although the many flies there made eating quite difficult. The children were squeamish about the flies landing on their durians and didn't eat much. We also took some pictures under the durian tree, until the workers told us that there is danger of the durians dropping on us.

After having our fill, some of us tapaoed durians back for friends. To my surprise, my little Pica was able to load 25kgs of durians. But my car now smelled durianlicious.

New ah pek car following us


Do you sell condoms?


No they don't


Uncle, how come the water don't have chlorine?


Like this very cooling


Wah, this Cherry QQ very Kiasu! Whole car filled with lew lians


Their internet broke down


After that, I took them to Gunung Ledang for a look see. But the weather started to rain and we didn't enjoy it much. ZY just had a couple minutes of dipping into the water and that was it. From there, it was shopping. But I mistakenly took the small roads which was slow and congested at many areas. I should have gone via the expressway instead. But we had a good dinner and then it was back to Singapore for further dispatches of durians to friends.

I like jie jie stripey


This is better than MSW durian. Can I have some more?

Visit to Watukarung, East Java (Day6)

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Early next morning, we had to wake up around 4am to catch our plane. The family came with us to the airport which was a 2hrs drive away. I had promised AF a KFC meal and he was eagerly looking forward to it. Reaching there, we had a good meal before parting ways. It was sad to see L crying when we are departing. But I promised her to bring her over for a visit to Singapore some time in Dec.

From there, it was back to Batam and then a boat ride back to Singapore. We reached home rather late at around 4pm concluding a fruitful trip. Already, I am missing L. See her soon.

Mother and daughter in embrace


Stopover at the highest hill near the Yjogakarta airport


Drinking kopi here while enjoying the scenary


Looking like antennas


Clear traffic early in the morning


Truckload of cows for the market


Java cycling club!


This is a mosque. Don't you think it looked rather russian?


Rare sight of bikers wearing helmets


Eagles are a common icon here


Reaching the Airport


Having KFC breakfast here, as promised to AF


Cost of the KFC meal


Our plane home


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Visit to Watukarung, East Java (Day5)

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This being the last day, we told L not to go school. Instead, we went fishing with her. She too reminded us that we promised to bring her fishing. The first time here, she was at school and didn't join us. Today, the place was rather empty. I rigged up a tamban jig with small hooks for her. Earlier on, we were at the boat park and met a lady that sold us some small fishes as bait. Now armed with some bait, our fishing was more promising.

True enough, L dropped down the lines and immediately hit on a small damsel fish. A few more tries, she got a nice ACK. I too had some luck and managed to catch 2 ACK. At the end of the session, we missed some catches and landed a few ACK. She was so proud of her catches.

That afternoon, A wanted to just rest at home. But I didn't want to waste the last day here and insisted to go out to visit some places. From my GPS, there was a tlogo (lake) nearby. On the bike with 3 of us, we rode there. But the way turned out to be very rocky and A and L had to walked part of the way. Reaching there, the tlogo was a disappointment as it was cemented up and look very artificial. But i was told that it wasn't a close system and there were some link from the deep end to some other places. True enough, some folks there were catching fishes.

We moved on from there to visit Srau beach again. But this time, we went to another side. And it was more beautiful here. We were hoping to catch the low tide so that we can wade on the beach to explore the creatures. But the tide wasn't too low and most parts were rather rocky. But it was a beautiful scene and a very nice place indeed.

Fishing
Visit to a small passage way


Hmm, getting squeezy




Someone caught a rabbit fish with net


Not sure what fish this is


We bought bait from this lady (who is a relative as well)


Some catches at the fishing shed


L holding up her catch proudly


I finally got my first Indonesian fish!


A nice snapper (by L)


Someone else caught this baby trevally


Her total catch


Tlogo Blue
Alamak, like a swimming pool


But got fish


The locals fishing here


Srau Beach
This place was amazing


Someone doing netting here


Look at the clean and fine sand


Very picturesque cove


A man who caught a seahorse here


Water like plain water


A and L


She found a shiny purple cony shell


Letters in the sand


Man checking his net


Hmm, man is missing something...hehe


Rendition of Ah Cat


She picked up a sea urchin! (which I thot was very pricky. Actually, no)


A white sea urchin


Turtle shaped hill


Sun is setting


A big urchin (they are edible)


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Visit to Watukarung, East Java (Day4)

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The day before, we had some difficulty moving around as we couldn't get a car. This morning, I realized that A's brother, K had 2 motorbikes. That solved the transport problem and I borrowed the motorbike to move around. Over there, there wasn't any need to wear a helmet. In fact, it was even ok to sit 3 pax on a single bike.

With the new found freedom, we decided to ride to Srau beach that was like a couple of kms away. I had some adjusting to the road conditions there but soon got used to it. The way to Srau was a rather hilly one. Reaching there, I couldn't believe my eyes. The scenery was indeed breath taking.

On the left edge of the beach, there was a rocky cliff. i was wondering if one could fish from there. To our utmost surprise, we saw people seated right on top of the rocks doing fishing! All excited, we too made our way to the top and met up with them.

The man was a friendly sort and shared with us what bait he was using, and what fishes he was targeting. In this place, we were surprised to hear that todaks were a a valued fish and could fetch a high price for its meat. Here, todaks are called "pang jio". Quite funny.

I rigged up our rod and also tried fishing. Since I didn't have any bait, I dropped a tamban jig and hoped to get some bait fishes. But I didn't have any luck. Next was to try out luring. And on my first cast, I saw (water was clear) a grouper chasing after my lure. Encouraged, I lured and lured but the lure soon got stuck in the coral grounds.

That afternoon, A's brother, K had at my request arranged for a boat to bring out to the sea fishing. However, when the boat reached the middle of the sea, the waves were thrashing rather badly. Everyone had sea sick (except for me). I tried tamban jig but no luck. Seeing that, I tried luring and again hopeless. I let out the lure and the boat move around a little for some trolling. But nothing was biting at all. Seeing how everyone was turning green, I asked the boatman to return to shore.

That evening, A brought me to another side of the watukarung beach. At that time, it was low tide. Devoid of water, the whole beach was an interesting spectacle of corals and trapped marine life. We spent the hour picking up interesting things, and top shells which I ate later on.

Srau Beach
Please read the story from here
http://community.mocca.com/articles/rock-fishing-srau-beach-east-java



Boat fishing
Readying our boat


K releasing the rope


Picking us


Now in the Hi Sea


The rocking was none stop


Doing some trolling


Ok, cannot take it already


Splish splash




Only "fish" I caught


Low tide at Watukarung beach


Wide expense of this kind of corals


A fungus coral


Mad guy with fishing rod at such a place


No fish, take a rest


Hermit the crab


Sun is setting


Another angle


Mother & child


Sick goat
Goat fell sick due to eating some wrong food


Had to be killed so that it can be prepared halal


Burning off the fur


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Visit to Watukarung, East Java (Day3)

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This morning, I decided to try out some fishing. As the beach was quite unfishable, we went to the river spot to fish instead. The day before, we saw quite a number of folks all crowding around a small patch of grass viving for the good spot. As I didn't have any bait, I tried all sorts of methods from lure to flies but couldn't get anything at all. Some kind soul gave me a piece of bread(which they were using) but I didn't have any luck except for the bait to get eaten as soon as it was placed in the water. Definitely lots of nibblers around.

Later that afternoon, as I didn't have any car, we decided to take the public transportation to pacitan city to have a look at the Teleng Ria Beach. This is the bay like area that is visible from google map. However when we reached there, I wasn't too impressed with the beach at all. It was dirty and littered with rubbish.

But there was a nice quaint balinese restaurant there and I brought L to have a meal of her favourite ayam penggang(roast chicken). The meal was not bad and I thought of bringing the whole family here on the last day before we fly back to Singapore.

After lunch, we walked around a little and came across a horse carriage. We decided to give it a try and it took us a round on the beach. it was a novel way to move around the wide beach quickly.

From Teleng Ria, we had a bit of trouble making our way back. Waiting by the road, we couldn't see any public car to fetch us. A friendly policeman came over to chit chat and tried to help. Luckily, A's brother friend was around the area and swung by to give us a lift. With that, our ticket home was secured.

Fishing
Nice and clean place for breakfast


Noodle was yummy


Some puppies playing around


Man on the beach with a catch of grouper


Grouper


Nice beach at Watukarung


Trying to fish here for the first time


No bait, so tried some jigging


All the lures and flies I tried. Only once saw a fish going for a fly



Teleng Ria
This is a tourist attraction


Need to pay entrance


Not an impressive beach


Rows of hotel and cafe


We had lunch here


Taking a stroll


Horse ride for rent


Giddy up


Some souvenir shops here


Leaving the place, some kind of election rally stage


Alarm for fire and such


Woman suning rice


Rice with the chaff


Close up


Tourist information (but it was closed for this tourist)


Police


Another meaning to crowded public transport


Big and nice petrol kisok (only for the rich with nice cars)


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Visit to Watukarung, East Java (Day2)

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The next morning, I had a better glimpse of the Kampung that I had spent the night in. The night was a tad uncomfortable as I wasn't used to the constant smoking of the folks here. Furthermore, they didn't have any fan, and the night was warm and we were frequently irritated by mosquitoes. Although the living was simple, people here are healthy and happy (except for the smoking part). My in laws place were kind of the better off people in the village as they have telephone and television. I had also given them some years back my old PS2 set and that like made them the only home within 50km to own a PS2.

Over here, everyone is related in some ways or another to each other. I was trying to keep track but soon got lost in the maze of uncle brother sister cousin son grandfather etc. So the safe thing was to smile at everyone I meet.

We visited the Watukarung beach at the end of the road from the village. There were rows of fishing boats parked in the sand. The beach here wasn't too clean and the sand brownish. But we trekked further into another patch of land. There, the rocks formation were impressive. And this time of the year, the waves were strong and big, and they would crush into the rocks with such sheer energy.

A's brother managed to get a friend to lend us a car and we had it for the day. The plan was to head for the famous Goa Gong (Gong Cave) some distance away. After driving over mountainous roads, we arrived. The place was deserted as it was a weekday. We were escorted by guides that would explain to us various artifacts about the gong cave. It was so called as some of the stone structures were hollow and would emit a "gonging" sound when hit.

After the cave visit, I decided to treat them to a lunch at a restaurant. I told them to bring us to a nice restaurant. To my surprise, they had never been to a resturant before. And the nicest one was at a hostel-like looking place. But the food was alright.

Finishing off our sumptous lunch, I asked to do some shopping. As I wanted to travel light during the trip, I didn't bring much over. Now, I wanted to get everyone something special. Again, the best shopping centre was nothing more than sheng shiong standard. I thought of running 70km over to a better one at Solo but was advised not to make the trip as it would take 3 hours. Without much choice, I bought them the best things that they liked. I also got for them 2 standing fans to be used in the house.

Kampung
My favourite goats. (seriously, they meh at me everytime I walked past)


King of the pack


Eggs direct from the hen house (talk about fresh)


A regular lunch fare


I discovered the bike!


L's cat SyPus (opposite of Pussy)


She loves her


L drawing something for D


Playing with clay


Who is this supposed to be?


It's peanut season


Close up


Watukarung Beach
Taking the public transport


At the kampung school


Nice neighbourly folks


We are here!


Boat park




Stretch of beach where the boats are parked


Was he trying to catch a fish?


A picture together


At the coffee house


L and I


Kopi here is thick


Hmm, I missed those


Man returning with a good catch (from the boat)


Villages harvesting the peanuts


This is how it is done


Hey, got people fishing here


Hmm, fishing with helmet too


Lots of spiders around


Watukarung beach (away from the boat park)


The waves were damn strong


My father in law with his pink hat


Cool view


Water misting all over (it was high tide then)


Sand is clean


Is that a strawberry?


One for the album


Another windows background image


L catching something


A "dunno" what insect


scren saving #2


trails on the sand


metres high splashes of wave


Back to the river


What are they eating?


A turtle!


This place is a tsunami zone


School children coming back from school


Hang on in whatever ways possible


Lunch
I did some driving


Best restaurant in Pacitan


Food was alright


Goa Gong
Arriving at Goa Gong (we came in the blue car)


Nice shop houses (but no business)


Rows of stalls leading to the entrance


Guarded by two fearsome statue


Ready?


Impressive array of pointy rocks


Pichar pichar


Drop on you sure die


Hey, the rocks are luminous


Nice lighting effect


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Visit to Watukarung, East Java (Day1)

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My girl had gone to Wuxi for a 10day trip and I was wondering how to spend the "free" time. Coincidentally, I also left my old job and had a one week break before starting on a new one. After some considerations, I thought it a good time to pay my wife's hometown a visit in Watukarung, Pacitan, East Java.

Unfortunately, this was my very first visit there after so many years. The cost of flying there is not exactly cheap. My wife was naturally very happy to be returning after the last trip 2 years ago. I was looking forward to be finally seeing Ling.

Within a week, we had all the arrangements settled by all her family connections all the way to Batam. The plan was to transit via Batam to Yogyakarta airport. Her family would meet us there and transport us via car over a 2hr mountainous drive to her hometown at Watukarung. The route was slighty cheaper but it took a longer time. By the time we reach the place, it was already late and dark.

When the plane touched down, I met up with Ling and Kap, my brother in law and his cute and chubby son, AlFan as well as my inlaws and all the relatives. In this place, everyone is related in some ways to one another.

The pretty boat we took


Ho ho...someone got a PS3 (Bag showing the game Little Big Planet)


Canteen we had lunch in


While waiting, we did some shopping here (big mall)


Arh, my fishing bag gets present wrapped!


Got handle somemore


Leaving on a Jet plane


Bye!


Arrived at Yogyakarta Airport


Oh, he wearing MIW T-shirt! (which A gave to him)


Night riders


L with the present from D (cat food)


All receiving their presents from Singapore


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