Firefly Trip
Causeway Traffic on a Friday Afternoon
This afternoon was the opportune time to make a recce trip up to Kota Tinggi. I did some researching on the net, and decided that the place to go was near a Mayres Hotel in Kota Tinggi Town. I had originally thot it to be near to Sg Rengit, but that might have been another boat ride. This one would start from the river in the centre of Kota Tinggi Town.
I already had my OPC coupon used that morning. So, when the kids came back from school, we moved out after packing some stuff. But first stop was Jusco, as the kids hadn't got lunch and were rather hungry. We had a bite at Kenny Rogers and then drove up to Kota Tinggi. From there, it was not too long a journey. I wasn't keeping track, but I think it was only about 30 or so Km away from Jusco.
Way in to Kota Tinggi
Mayres Hotel
The River
We were here. Sungei Tepi
We reached there around 4.30pm. My GPS brought me enroute to the hotel. But I broke off the navigation once I crossed the river. The boat ride had to be near the river itself. I made a turn and stopped at the Tourist Information for..well, some info.
Kota Tinggi Town Centre
Market Food Centre
Bus, Taxi Terminal
Watson, for insect repellant
Kota Tinggi Plaza
The ferry point (We took one of the boats)
The restaurant where the tickets were sold
Parking just outside the restaurant
Ice cream!
We were then told that the ticketing place was at a restuarant further down the road. Thanking them, we drove a little further down and found the place with little problems. That stretch along the river itself was like a park area. And the town centre was just around it. Kota Tinggi Mall was about a few bus stops away. This seemed to be the centre of activity for the whole of Kota Tinggi.
Playground
We bought the tickets from a nice lady and was told to go to the restaurant at 7pm. We then let the kids have fun at the playground, while we did a little shopping around the area. My rechargable battery had died on me, and I had to get some replacement. A also needed to get insect repellant. In case if we were to get attacked by mozzies later.
Fishing the murky water!
Seeing the nice river, I also took out my fishing gear and had a short hour session. I didn't want any messy fishing and so just threw out a red head lure and did some practise. That drew some attention from passer bys that were quite amused with this crazy guy using a lure in the river. I guessed luring wasn't quite mainstream here. There were others fishing, but using bait.
Loose life jackets
Time passed quickly and soon we were herded to the ferry boarding area. Everyone was given a life jacket to don. But the life jackets only came in 1 size, and were quite too big for the children. Not much use if they were to fall into the river. There was quite a big group that came in a bus, and were a noisy bunch of people. From their speech, it was obvious that they were Singaporeans. (maybe a church outing).
Birdnest!
The boat ride started with the boat going under the Kota Tinggi Bridge. We were shocked to find a massive nest of swallows under the concrete bridge. Not sure if anyone was harvesting them for bird nest.
Moving out
Dark pic of the river
Another group overtaking us
Hey! We caught a firefly
From there, it moved forward and brought us onwards for our firefly quest. Initially, due to the bright lights, we could only see a couple here and there. Not very impressive, and most were thinking that it wasn't such a big deal. But deeper into the river, it started to get interesting, and we did pass quite a number of places where trees were like christmas lights, blinking on and off. Someone at the helm of the boat actually caught a firefly and managed to put it into ziploc bag. Wow, it was real amusing how such a tiny fly (beetle actually) could emit the short burst of intense lights.
The boat trip lasted about an hour. From my GPS, when it was going fast, the speed was about 10km/h. But there were times that the boat slowed down to purposely let us enjoy the twinkle twinkle night view that the fireflies were making.
Soon it was over. The kids enjoyed it and must have been an eye opener for them. We left the place and headed back to Jusco for a spot of dinner. After dinner, we caught a midnight movie Transformer to let the causeway jam to clear up and made it home around 2+am. Traffic at 2am was nice, but nevertheless we were in a Jam at the Singapore custom due to the slow clearing by the officers.
Quite an firing day indeed.
This afternoon was the opportune time to make a recce trip up to Kota Tinggi. I did some researching on the net, and decided that the place to go was near a Mayres Hotel in Kota Tinggi Town. I had originally thot it to be near to Sg Rengit, but that might have been another boat ride. This one would start from the river in the centre of Kota Tinggi Town.
I already had my OPC coupon used that morning. So, when the kids came back from school, we moved out after packing some stuff. But first stop was Jusco, as the kids hadn't got lunch and were rather hungry. We had a bite at Kenny Rogers and then drove up to Kota Tinggi. From there, it was not too long a journey. I wasn't keeping track, but I think it was only about 30 or so Km away from Jusco.
Way in to Kota Tinggi
Mayres Hotel
The River
We were here. Sungei Tepi
We reached there around 4.30pm. My GPS brought me enroute to the hotel. But I broke off the navigation once I crossed the river. The boat ride had to be near the river itself. I made a turn and stopped at the Tourist Information for..well, some info.
Kota Tinggi Town Centre
Market Food Centre
Bus, Taxi Terminal
Watson, for insect repellant
Kota Tinggi Plaza
The ferry point (We took one of the boats)
The restaurant where the tickets were sold
Parking just outside the restaurant
Ice cream!
We were then told that the ticketing place was at a restuarant further down the road. Thanking them, we drove a little further down and found the place with little problems. That stretch along the river itself was like a park area. And the town centre was just around it. Kota Tinggi Mall was about a few bus stops away. This seemed to be the centre of activity for the whole of Kota Tinggi.
Playground
We bought the tickets from a nice lady and was told to go to the restaurant at 7pm. We then let the kids have fun at the playground, while we did a little shopping around the area. My rechargable battery had died on me, and I had to get some replacement. A also needed to get insect repellant. In case if we were to get attacked by mozzies later.
Fishing the murky water!
Seeing the nice river, I also took out my fishing gear and had a short hour session. I didn't want any messy fishing and so just threw out a red head lure and did some practise. That drew some attention from passer bys that were quite amused with this crazy guy using a lure in the river. I guessed luring wasn't quite mainstream here. There were others fishing, but using bait.
Loose life jackets
Time passed quickly and soon we were herded to the ferry boarding area. Everyone was given a life jacket to don. But the life jackets only came in 1 size, and were quite too big for the children. Not much use if they were to fall into the river. There was quite a big group that came in a bus, and were a noisy bunch of people. From their speech, it was obvious that they were Singaporeans. (maybe a church outing).
Birdnest!
The boat ride started with the boat going under the Kota Tinggi Bridge. We were shocked to find a massive nest of swallows under the concrete bridge. Not sure if anyone was harvesting them for bird nest.
Moving out
Dark pic of the river
Another group overtaking us
Hey! We caught a firefly
From there, it moved forward and brought us onwards for our firefly quest. Initially, due to the bright lights, we could only see a couple here and there. Not very impressive, and most were thinking that it wasn't such a big deal. But deeper into the river, it started to get interesting, and we did pass quite a number of places where trees were like christmas lights, blinking on and off. Someone at the helm of the boat actually caught a firefly and managed to put it into ziploc bag. Wow, it was real amusing how such a tiny fly (beetle actually) could emit the short burst of intense lights.
The boat trip lasted about an hour. From my GPS, when it was going fast, the speed was about 10km/h. But there were times that the boat slowed down to purposely let us enjoy the twinkle twinkle night view that the fireflies were making.
Soon it was over. The kids enjoyed it and must have been an eye opener for them. We left the place and headed back to Jusco for a spot of dinner. After dinner, we caught a midnight movie Transformer to let the causeway jam to clear up and made it home around 2+am. Traffic at 2am was nice, but nevertheless we were in a Jam at the Singapore custom due to the slow clearing by the officers.
Quite an firing day indeed.
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