a wander around Sungai Rengit in Malaysia

This is the Kampong where we had our Seafood Dinner on Sunday night....

a liitle place called Sungai Renggit:

Seafood restaurants, Fruit Farm, Fishing Village, Mini Markets

Sungai Rengit in the district of Pengerang, Johor, is a rustic fishing village situated south of Desaru. Well worth a visit if you are in this part of Johor.

**So funny, some very 'polite' reader told me that my posting was incorrect and to "Please study the Map of Malaysia ya." Unfortunately I had done a cut and paste from an article in another blog which mentioned that Sungai Rengit was north of Desaru.... my fault entirely, I should have rechecked! **

Not all these images have been taken by me, some are from "Waemak" as seen here:

http://waemak.multiply.com/




it is very difficult to obtain information of this area. I guess being just a small fishing village, people think there is not much to write about...... but it is fascinating to wander around and see how the locals live.

Sungai Rengit is a town in southeastern Johor, Malaysia. It is located near Pengerang. Maybe when I do my next 'posting' on the area I will attach a map and then you can see where this place is in relation to the area.....

Seafood dinner at Sungai Rengit in Malaysia

Yesterday - Sunday March 29 2009 - we went over to JB (Johor Bahru) and the Eastern Peninsula area of Johor with friends. Lesley and Darrell have a vehicle so it was like luxury for us to be able to travel by car!

We had already intended to go by bus to JB yesterday. But when they offered to take us out for the day - with a side trip to JB - we certainly appreciated it and what a great day it was.

Won't go into all of it here, but we did travel many kilometre's and ended up ............. at for a Delicious Seafood Dinner at Sungei Rengit.

This posting is all about FOOD any details about the kampong itself and the events of yesterday will be posted over the next couple of days!

The Jade Garden Restaurant would not be what one might call 5 star, but certainly the food was delicious. This photo was taken from the roadway looking at the restaurant....

(if reading this via FB, you may prefer to go direct to the blog as the quality is a little better)

and you can pick and choose your meal, sort of like playing eeny meeny miny mo!!
We ordered enough food for the fours of us to share, which included what was called FLAT CHICKEN and when you see this image, yes, it is certainly flat..... makes you wonder what they did to the poor chicken!
The fried rice was delicious, the first plate disappeared in no time at all and so we ordered another.
Fried Squid .... this is the second time I have had this..... very different to anything I have had before and nothing like the squid that is served at home in Australia. But we are here in Asia and I should not be comparing food preparation and cooking..... one of the many benefits of living in Asia is that we have this opportunity of trying all this wonderful food.
Sungei Rengit is famous for its mini lobsters.

Sungai Rengit in the district of Pengerang, Johor, is a rustic fishing village situated in the north of Desaru. It is not well known to Malaysians but its scenic ‘kampung’ roads also attract many cycling enthusiasts from Singapore.

Sungai Rengit leads a slow and quiet life. The population is small and the town is made up of mostly shop houses. There are no fancy hotels, shopping malls, restaurants or convenience stores here. There is only one ATM machine from a local bank and only one mini petrol station.

Despite all those, surprisingly, Sungai Rengit has many visitors. It is popular for its fishing community and seafood. Anyone who visits Sungai Rengit would have to have a meal of fresh fish, prawn, crab or lobster.....

and of course we play eeny meeny minie mo again.....

which one would you choose?


it is not easy as they are desperate to get out and the young woman standing close by was there to grab the ones that did manage to and put them back in again .... we tried not to think of those poor wee creatures as the plate arrived at our table soon after.....

The lobsters were served with a 'gravy', most unusual so we asked what the ingredients were, and from what we understood it was made with chicken broth. It is a Halal Restaurant and I guess they would be careful with all their ingredients.
Then came the Sea Snail ..... the waitress said it was sea snail. Somewhere else I see it is called Venus Clam. Whatever you want to call it, it was quite delicious. Served with sliced cucumber. mango, chili and some fine chopped nuts. She brought out the shell to show us its size and what it looks like.... similar in size to a football!




oh yes, we did have some green vegetables and about large 5 bottles of Tiger beer to quench our thirst.....
"This river that supports several fishing villages is worth a visit, not only for its great seafood but also to experience what life is like in a slow-paced fishing community."

to get there......

By car

Sungai Rengit is around 35 km south of Desaru, or 120 km from Johor Bahru.

By boat

Bumboats shuttle from Singapore's Changi Point Ferry Terminal to Pengerang from 7 AM in the morning to 7 PM in the evening, operating on a first-come-first-served basis: once 12 people show up, the boat leaves. The journey takes about an hour and costs S$9/person, plus S$2 for a bike. The last boats back leave by 4 PM.

If you miss the last bumboat, you can also take the Sebana Cove ferry back to Singapore (4/5 services daily, last departure at 9 PM), but this is much more expensive (S$38 one-way) and you'll need to arrange a taxi to take you to Sebana Cove first.

tomorrow I will post some images of the kampong area ....

Saturday breakfast .......

John has been telling me that he often goes to The Chevrons at lunchtime, and suggested we go there for breakfast this morning.......

we went by train, though it is just as quick and easy to go by bus, as seen here on the GoThere website.

The Chevrons is like an "Officers Club", a little bit like what we would call in Australia the RSL (Returned Serviceman's League).

The SAF Warrant Officers & Specialists Club was previously located in Beach Road. Since moving to the new clubhouse in Boon Lay Way, the Club has made milestone changes.

With a new home, the Club adopted a new identity - THE CHEVRONS. The chevrons refers to the v-shaped stripe that is unique to the Warrant Officers and Specialists Corps.

THE CHEVRONS logo reflects the values of the Club. The three chevrons-like veins on the leaf represent the three services of the SAF. The evergreen leaf depicts the Club and its resolve to provide a vibrant and relaxing environment for members and their families to unwind and interact.

Walking across Boon Lay Way on the overpass, this is what you see.....

but step inside and it is a whole new world. At first it looked like a large hotel. Then I realised that it also has accommodation. On arrival back home I checked the website and see that the "chalets" are booked up every weekend till August!

So it must be very popular.....
from inside the lobby looking out to Boon Lay Way. I know, not a good photo looking out to the light like this.... but you get the general idea.

But we are there for breakfast ..... I keep forgetting as the surroundings are just so nice!!

Even a large pool.... the children can be playing while the adults have a meal.


But we dragged ourselves away from walking around the complex to sit down in Hans Cafe to have breakfast......

It is nice and clean and the tables are not jammed up against one another. They even serve alcohol, which did surprise me.

The breakfast set is very reasonable. Certainly well worth the effort of going there!
SET BREAKFAST
*Served with Butter Toast N Coffee/Tea

(Available till 11.30 a.m.)

Fried Egg (sunny side up)
w/ Bacon $ 5.80
w/ Ham $ 5.00
w/ Sausage $ 5.00

Scrambled Egg
w/ Bacon $ 5.80
w/ Ham $ 5.00
w/ Sausage $ 5.00

Omellete of
Ham $ 5.20
Cheese $ 5.20
Onion $ 5.20
Mushroom $ 5.20
Chicken $ 5.20
Tomato $ 5.20
Tuna $ 5.20
Pisang (Banana) $ 5.20


but not only do they have breakfast, but cakes and pastries and lunch and dinner and coffee and tea and juice and ..........

all quite delicious and well worth going there. A slice of the above Apple Crumble was only $2.20, a slice of the Apple Pie was $1.80..... can't beat that!!!

So yes, we enjoyed our Saturday Breakfast, then it was off to IMM for some shopping!

decisions! decisions! decisions!

...... so many decisions, trying to decide where to go on a holiday that we are planning in August. Yes, it is still a long way off, but as we had to organise house sitters before even attempting to think about where or when to go or even what to do .... we really do need to plan ahead.

Well we now have our house sitters booked, that was finalised yesterday and they are arriving from the UK on August 19th, so we can take off the following day..... wahooo!!

But where?

That is the question.

First of all though, I really have to say, that John and I are extremely lucky to even have a choice of "where to go", we know we are truly blessed to live and work here in Singapore and of course that allows us access to the many beautiful area's of Asia.

We have already been to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, we even considered going further afield, maybe somewhere around the Mediterranean. That was a short lived idea though when it came to the amount of time that we will have available to us.

We are already booked to go to Cambodia next month, so that one is out.

Maybe the Philippines?

yes, worth considering.

Back to the drawing board.

Another idea was to fly home to Melbourne, to visit family and friends ..... that plan lasted until I checked the costs of the flights, I want to know how our house sitter can fly from London to Singapore at a cost of $950.00 for a 13 hour flight, yet for the 7 hour flight to Melbourne (with the same airline) is a whopping $1300.00!

We decided on a flight/hotel combination ...... thinking that would be less hassle and cheaper. No way!

back to the drawing board.

Hhhmmmm........ what about Vietnam again?

ahh, now that has possibilities, as we really enjoyed our time in Saigon last year, maybe we should consider Hanoi this time?

So that is a "possibility" as I am writing this.

If anyone has done the following 'trip', would dearly love to hear from you:

Our idea is to fly to Saigon, stay overnight and take the train next morning going north to Hanoi. The train takes about 10 hours and you can travel either day or night.

On arrival into Hanoi, stay overnight and next morning board one of the many "Junks" that are available for a 3 or 4 days Halong Bay cruise....

Ha Long Bay Vietnam is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietna. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes.

now these images are not mine, purely here to help with the "decision making" ..... tee hee




and yes, this is one of the many Junks that are available for a few days cruising Halong Bay:
..... and on our arrival back into Hanoi, we then take the train that heads north/west to Sapa, near the border to China.

Staying for at least 3 nights in Sapa.

Behind Sapa, towards Phong Tho is a high pass forming part of the Hoang Lien Mountains that were known to the French as the Tonkinese Alps. This range includes Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam at 3,143m, which to view at dawn could be spectacular.

There is a weekend market in Sapa during which the town fills up with hill tribe people selling their wares. If you want to see these tribes as they "traditionally" live (as opposed to flogging jackets to tourists), either go for a hike or head over to Dien Bien Phu from Sapa.

This stretch has the most traditional people you will see in the whole of Vietnam. It seems that most tourist groups pile into Sapa during the weekend for the market. However, travelers have reported that during the week is a much better time to catch a glimpse of the real Sapa avoiding from a big hassle of tourists.

You can hike in the surrounding area and visit a number of fairly traditional predominantly Mong hill tribe villages. Further afield is the colourful Red Zao, Dzay, Tay and Xa Pho people. A home stay in the Tay village would be unforgettable experience. But I think by this stage we will be running out of time!

These two images are just an example of the Sapa area with the villagers and the terraced rice fields.....

Our idea would then be to take the train back to Hanoi and fly home to Singapore from there.

I think this would be a really special holiday to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary!

I saw a funeral today

The image above was taken from our balcony ....... the funeral was held over at the HDB apartment block near by. A funeral Wake is usually held in the Void Deck of these apartment blocks.

I heard all the drumming earlier today, but didn't go out. Then an hour or so later when I heard it again - much louder this time - I decided to grab the camera and take at least one image if I could.

Was not easy to take it on such an angle, but you can see the bus behind carrying the people and many of them walking along side. Because you cannot see it too well due to the tree's I have captured some off the internet so you will get an idea of what a funeral is like here in Singapore.

The following images are not mine:





The Chinese funeral ceremony and the procession of the dead depends upon the financial resources of the family. The burial of the dead is a very serious matter to the Chinese, they believe that improper funeral arrangements will cause bad fortune.

Special clothing must be worn by the family members of the deceased. The children and daughters-in-law wear black with a sackcloth hood while the grandchildren wear blue.


and a little bit of the Traditional Chinese Folks Religion (Folk Taoism)

About 67% of the Singapore Chinese still adhere to their traditional folks religion in varying degrees of devoutness. This group tends to speak Mandarin and/or Chinese dialects at home and follow a Chinese-influenced lifestyle. Most the people in this group came from the lower and middle classes, though some of them belong to the upper-class. Some claim to be Buddhist and the remainder Taoist. They generally practise a mixed form of different religion comprising of buddhist, taoist and other folk practices and even local beliefs.

Despite the mixture of practices and beliefs, many of these rites and customs actually have their origin to be tranced back to Taoism belief. Ancestor worship and worship of various deities, burning of joss offerings and Heaven worship are good examples of Taoist traditions.

Most of the Taoist traditional practitioner would place one or two altars at home, or along the corridors of their HDB flats. In their homes, they will have a house altar, worshipping popular Chinese deities, who are actually Taoist divinity. Some examples are the 'Deity of War' (Guan Gong), Da Bogong (Earth Deity), Guan Yin (She is a Buddhist Divine too), Kitchen deity etc. A hanging urn or small altar, often painted red, may also be seen. They also hang small urns filled with ash outside the house; this is where joss sticks are placed and used as offerings to the Great Jade Emperor whom represent the Heaven and all other divines in the Heavenly Realm.

When there is a death in the family, the relatives of the deceased will organise a funeral ceremony. These ceremonies are usually held at HDB void decks The deceased is placed in a wooden coffin. Buddhist or Taoist monks are then called to preside, and they chant mantras and prayers for the deceased to ward off evil spirits. During the funeral ceremony, the relatives of the deceased will burn incense paper and pray for the deceased. A typical funeral ceremony will last around 3 or 5 days.

At the end of the ceremony, a hearse will transport the body to the crematorium, where the body will be cremated. As the body is cremated, the monks are also present to pray for the deceased. The ashes are placed in an urn, which is then placed in a columbarium or temple, where an ancestral tablet is used to indicate the location of the urn.

Due to lack of understanding in the Taoist religion in Singapore, majority of Taoists remains in the 'Folk Taoism' sector and true meanings behind various rites, teachings of the religion, proper code of conduct and rites are often overlook and left out. However, in recent years, many Taoist organizations, temples are pushing proper religion's education, imparting orthodox Taoist belief and teachings. Rising the self-awarness of the Taoist community.

Taoist Mission(Singapore) is one Taoist religion society which promote Chinese heritage and Orthodox Taoist teachings and practices.

Storm destroyed 200 trees at Jurong Country Club

Yesterdays newspaper tells us about the 200 tree's destroyed in just 15 minutes at Jurong Country Club, just near where we live.

........and in part the article reads:

"The decision was made to abandon the tournament because the many tall trees that were there to protect certain holes were gone and this would have affected the degree of difficulty of the golf course, he added.

Right before the Sumatra squall, the club's lightning meter registered a reading of "35", a very high number considering that, at a reading of "two" the greens are cleared of people to prevent lightning from striking anyone, said Mr Mike Chong, the club's golfing supervisor.

He said: "At around 3.45pm, there was a lot of lightning, so we suspended the course and got everyone to take shelter. Fifteen minutes later, the sky was very dark and suddenly there was a very, very, strong wind".

Then 15 minutes later, the lightning meter went back down to "zero" and the golfers were prepared to go back to their game as the sky had cleared.

That was when they saw the destruction that had taken place.

Thought I had better go find out whats been happening with the weather here in Singapore, especially on Sunday when we had the most amazing storm ever. You probably wont be able to read the image I scanned in.

.... but it does say that there will be Wet Weather in Singapore till the end of the month!!

it goes on to say that Rainfall was above average for the first two weeks of this month.

But to explain the weather we experienced here on Sunday as written on the left side of the above image:

Sumatras are lines of thunderstorms (squalls) which usually occur between March and November each year.

1.
Squalls typically form in unstable atmospheric environments in which low-level warm air can rise unaided after being initially lifted by a cold front.

2.
Cloud formation occurs, during which heat is released, resulting in the rising air becoming lighter than nearby air at the same height.

3.
This leads to an acceleration in the speed of rising air. Wind on the ground can be up to 90kmh.


and here are just a few images taken from our balcony last Sunday afternoon during the storm:

we had lightning hit between us and this building opposite..... just amazing and so loud!!
This image will show you the difference a day makes!!

Well that is just a little bit about some of the weird weather we have been experiencing here in Singapore!!