Kukup Day 1 (1)

Today is my 2D1N trip to Kukup! 4th Aunt, Kar Cheng, Heng Lip and I assembled at Eunos early in the morning to board the coach, together with 1st Aunt (who was the co-tour guide), 3rd Aunt and her husband, and a bunch of other tour members. 1st Aunt promised us our tour group consisted mainly of youngsters, but apparently in the eyes of a 60+ year-old, 45 is considered a teenage age. Kar Cheng and Heng Lip were furthered disillusioned when the sight of the group's only two prepubescents extinguished their lecherous desires. They were a geeky girl and an oversized girl in an oversized Betty Boop tee, whom we named Enormous. I shall not forget to mention Bling Bling, a boisterous auntie so-named for her dazzling purple-and-gold plaited belt which was so hip-hop. She did a gracious act of single-handedly occupying the whole back row seat of the bus while the rest of us were facing the predicament of inadequate seats.

That was because the coach was going to AMK later to pick up 6 more people, namely 2nd Aunt, Ah Sir, Ah Ping, 2nd Gu, 2nd Gim and a lonely woman in a red business suit (why she would wear a business suit to a fishing village is way beyond me). Someone in the group forgot to bring his passport and had to end his trip prematurely. It was a trip out of Singapore and he probably brought an extra pair of knickers or dental floss, but omitting the passport was ridiculous. Ah Sir brought a delightful array of snacks, including Hello Panda party packs, lemon candies and a tub full of nougat that Ah Ping bought from Australia a few months ago (and they still haven't finished it?!).

Ah Sir and me

The coach took us to the clean and efficient Tuas Checkpoint, and when we entered JB, the coach dropped us at a coffeeshop famous for its Amy Yip buns (don't overstretch your imagination) to have a late breakfast. After that, we were taken to a 妈祖 temple for a look / pray.

At the temple

There was a dodgy stall in the temple compound selling fruits, and being fruit fanatics, all my aunties (and Ah Sir who has an obsession with bananas) eagerly sampled the rambutans and durians. My strong aversion towards fruits drove me far away from them.

Fruits of the season

There was a mini pond overflowing with terrapins. 3rd Aunt bought stalks of leafy greens from another dodgy stall for us to feed them.

A messy pond of terrapins

Feeding them

Then the coach took us to Kukup after that. Along the way, the aunties were fighting over one another to be the first to spot durians and rambutans hanging from the trees by the roadside. The tour guide (a Malaysian) was informing us of the ridiculously low prices of mass-produced bungalows that we saw along the way, but we all know better than to invest in such property that has no lamp posts by the road and that is miles away from real civilization. I was unfortunate enough to be sitting in front of Enormous because her over-sized legs were constantly kicking the back of my seat. The whole coach was full of discussions on rambutan prices, durian varieties and the difference between Sarawak and Philippine pineapples.

We finally reached Kukup town. Kukup is a small fishing village west of JB, that has gradually opened up to tourism over the years. Singaporeans and locals flock to this idyllic spot for an overnight stay at one of the kelong-style resorts. While this brings the town an extra source of revenue besides fish farming, there is also a host of problems that includes commercialization, development at the expense of nature and pollution. More resorts are being built to accommodate the tourists, and I do not see any more of the simple and rustic kelong charm that I saw of Kukup nine years ago. More rubbish has been generated and carelessly disposed of, severely polluting the mangrove environment.

We had a sumptuous lunch at a seafood restaurant there. They served egg tofu, bok choy, chilli crabs, butter prawns, sambal mussels, lemon chicken and a large fish (tilapia, I think). After lunch, we were taken to our luxurious resort. It is a resort on the sea that houses several bedrooms, and each bedroom in turn contains many beds. So my relatives and I were allocated to a bedroom by the back hall and balcony that overlooks the sea and fish farms.

My lovely cousin Ah Ping

Houses on stilts

Houses on mangrove and mud (ick)

I realized that we (meaning our group) were actually sharing the bungalow with another tour group comprising of Malaysians (predominantly aunties and senior citizens). Unfortunately, the hall had karaoke equipment and as I was browsing through their archive of pirated MTV VCDs, two Malaysian bitches (from the other group) promptly inserted VCDs that they brought into the player and started playing crappy oldies at full blast. The worst part was when they started to sing. Their voices could made your innards quiver. Everyone in the hall were really irritated and started leaving one by one. 3rd Aunt even told them politely to lower the volume, but you could see in their slitty eyes and twitchy lips a pompous retort "I rule the hall". Unexpectedly, I lost my cool and railed at the two bitches. Before her husband could open his mouth, I snapped at him too. Everyone was dumbfounded, but they did lower the volume. Geez, I should have brought my techno compilations.

3pm, and it was time for durians. As everybody flocked to the main balcony for the feast, Kar Cheng sneakily removed the audio cables from the player and hid them. Good move.

Looking at the durian-opener expectantly

Ah Sir, me and Ah Ping

While they were eating, I took a walk around the neighbourhood. It sucked because it was drizzling and the scenery wasn't even attractive. Looking down at the seabed (during low tide) was a bloodcurdling experience. The mangrove population of mudskippers, snails and sea snakes was insignificant to the amount of rubbish lying all over the seabed. The rag-and-bone man will be exhilarated to collect the plastic bottles, durian shells, bicycle tyres and a big empty bag of Pedigree dog food.