A day trip ….
This was our KPA first outdoor trip. In the beginning I thought the students would be excited to join such a trip as they have never had one before. But surprisingly some of the members were not interested. Their reasons were having tuition class during the holiday, the fee too high or their parents didn’t allow them to join any school trip. So,to attract more people to join we lower the fee & opened it to non-members but the response was still not encouraging . After going through all the trouble ,we finally managed to get 23 students. Then , it was expected on that morning before leaving , some pulled out last minute. This included those who had paid the fee! Can you imagine how they wasted their money ;o(
OK, let’s not affected by these people. Only those who were really interested ( at the end only 15 of us)would appreciate and enjoy the trip. So, we gathered & ready for the adventure….. We waited and waited but no sign of the bus. Finally it came almost an hour late! I was even more worried when I saw the bus owner sent a “bus kilang” . After talking to him, it was confirmed that all his buses were occupied on that day & according to him it was alright to use “bus kilang” for school trip. With no choice we started our journey. Our first stop was at a petrol station. When the bus stopped, a terrible smell –some sort of rubber burning came into the bus. It was actually from the tyre ! When I asked the driver, he told me not to worry as his bus was in good condition. Next, all because the bus was late, we were trapped in the traffic for hours! When we were almost approaching Jln Duta toll gate, the road in front was closed! We were forced to take another route and again wasted another few minutes. By the time we reached our destination, it was already 10am. The weather was getting a bit hot for a nature walk.
Nature walk……
A lot of “woo & haaas “along the walk. They’ve learnt that wearing back T-shirt for nature walk will be chased by mosquitoes ! And for bird watching never wear bright colours . Next come to the excitement of using binoculars for the first time, they saw Great Egret (a type of migrant bird) resting on trees and Brahminy Kite (a type of raptor) soaring in the bright blue sky.They’ve also learnt the uniqueness of the different types of plants found in the secondary forest, the importance of mangrove forest to the ecosystem and observed tiny blue & orange Fiddler Crabs and Mud Skippers moving in the mud. It’s good to see some of them could relate what they’ve seen to the knowledge they learnt in the classroom. The only creature that was not seen during the walk was the endangered Silvered Leaf Monkey & the Long-Tailed Macaques. According to the guide , these monkeys are lazy to hunt for food now as human has spoilt them by feeding them at Bukit Melawati, a hill next to the park. As a result, they are seldom seen in KSNP as in the morning the'll go next door waiting for "free food" & return in the evening :o)
The pouring rain…..
It took about 3 hrs to explore the park. They were exhausted & hungry. Luckily the simple catered Malay-styled lunch came to rescue. After lunch, it was going to rain so I suggested to call it a day but they refused to go home so soon. Since the majority agreed so without wasting anymore time , we climbed the stairs and took the shorter route went up to Bukit Melawati. However, half way it started to rain heavily but luckily there was a shelter nearby. While waiting for the rain to stop, they occupied themselves by playing a game. It was great to hear their joyous laughter in the rain. At a corner, I noticed one of the members was standing alone looking very unhappy. I went to her & chat. She didn’t join the group as she felt upset as two of them had abandoned her throughout the day. There were tears in her eyes when she saw herself difficult to be accepted by others. She further shared her frustration in life. There it goes -teenage blues need attention! I took the opportunity to motivate her to see life positively. After a while the rain finally stopped. We continued to walk up the hill hoping to see some monkeys but there was none. After seeing a couple of cannons, we took a quick glimpse of the
Reflection…..
For evaluation, out of ten points they voted 6 and above. It was considered an enjoyable & successful trip. Though only a small group, they were able to mix around easily & know each other better. Today they had learnt something extra from their books or tuition class. In fact,to nurture our young people to love mother earth is to bring them to the nature, using their five senses to appreciate the environment.I'm sure they've gained more than those who didn't make it.Somehow this exposure will remain a precious experience for them. For me , although I was quite worried in the beginning, I was grateful that God kept us safe and sound throughout the journey. It was a day that the LORD had made for us to come closer to HIM . This outing has also given me a chance to know my KPA members better. Not only that, at a right moment I was able to lend my ears to the girl who needed encouragement. It was indeed a blessed fruitful day *o)
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