You know what?? I didn't talk about the Bio trip at all!! Thus, I'll just paste my report here.
6.55 a.m. on a gloomy Saturday morning was the time I reached the foyer of Sunway University College. It was still dark and although we students were supposed to gather here by 7.00 a.m., there were only a handful present at that moment. We were soon joined by Dr. Uthaya, who had brought her sister and niece along for today’s trip. Mr. Gopal shortly joined the fray and we began boarding the bus at 7.37 a.m. However, some 5 minutes later the bus pulled up at the Sunway Medical Centre for David wanted a cup of coffee from Starbucks. We resumed the journey soon after.
At 9.00 a.m., we had finally reached the place. Most of today’s participants were already feeling restless as the long drive took some toll on them, even me. We were relieved to finally disembark from the bus. We headed to the information counter first. There we met up with our tour guide for the day, Laila. She gave us a rough idea of what to expect from the inhabitants of the forest, including the often-annoying mosquitoes and the mischievous monkeys. We then took some time to look around the flow charts and information boards. There was even a scale model of the entire compound placed in the middle of the room.
15 minutes later, we proceeded to the bags deposit booth so participants can lighten the load for the energy-sapping 4.5 kilometer walk ahead of us. Later, we gathered at the entrance to the forest and Laila gave us an introduction to the place.
We began our walk into the forest at 9.29 a.m. We witnessed some Silver Leaf-monkeys early into our journey and also came across a termite mound. We cross the nearby bridge, with a T junction, and went straight. We walked past a rather muddy terrain before reaching the end of the path.
After 20 minutes of brisk walking, we reached a watch tower. We all ascended the stairs to the top so that we can start bird-watching. The tower overlooked the lake which is situated at the heart of the Park. Quickly, participants took out their binoculars as they gazed upon the lake. Many herons were resting atop the trees and Mr. Gopal noticed a Monitor Lizard swimming in the lake. We later descended from the tower to collect some samples for our upcoming lab session. We walked back to the bridge and Laila revealed the muddy path we passed earlier was the work of wild boars. She explained why she did not tell us just now because we may attract the boar if we panicked.
Afterwards, we took the path at the left and it turned out to be a very big circle around the lake. After half an hour of walking and cropping plant samples, Laila stopped us at this petite plant resembling Mint. She explained it to be a Neem plant and insists it is edible but very bitter tasting. She asked for any volunteers. I accepted. As I took a nib of the leaf, the bitterness quickly sat in. I can say that it was bitterer than Bitter gourd, as it left a very strong after-taste. As I was trying to kill the taste, Mr. Gopal told us that Neem was a common herb used to cure the itchiness of those who got Chicken Pox.
At 10.49 a.m., we reached the mangrove swamp section of the nature park. We got on the bridge and walked along, while looking at the swampy terrain below, searching for crabs and mudskippers. We saw the Sonneratia sp. followed by Rhizophora sp. and lastly Brugeria sp. Then Moloud offered us some Pistachio nuts from her country, they were good. At the end of the mangrove walkway, we had a “catch & release” session, where Andy and David had fun catching crabs, while Safa screamed out loud when she startled one back to its burrow.
At 12.10, all of us had completed the tour around the forest and walked out the nearby town for lunch. Mr. Gopal had stayed back to guard our bags as some of us left them behind. Dr. Uthaya then asked us to rendezvous back at the entrance to the park at 1.00 p.m. for the hike up Bukit Melawati. Kevin, Joseph and I were the first to finish and went back to the park at 12.50 p.m. There, Kevin had sudden bowel issues and had to use the toilet while Joseph and I waited at the hut with Mr. Gopal. We waited and waited, but no one seemed to return. Then at 1.40 p.m., we saw Dr. Uthaya’s sister and niece approaching the hut.
She explained to us that the others were waiting at the outer entrance and had hiked uphill since 1.20 p.m. Noticing that it was too late, the three of us stayed back and learnt more about the hill from Mr. Gopal, since he is quite familiar with the place, coming here on several occasions. At 2.00 p.m., we tried to catch up with the others via the shortcut stairs but they had just descended as we made a move. At 2.10 p.m., the exhausted participants of the trip happily boarded the bus home. We had a 20 minute rest time as the bus had to change tires. Kevin and I went down to get some food to eat and we lost track of time. Thankfully, Joseph called me to give a heads-up and we frantically rushed back to the bus.
We reached Sunway University at 4.00 p.m. and immediately went to the lab to press our plant samples. Mr. Gopal gave us step-by-step instructions and we submitted our samples at 4.30 p.m. and headed home after that.
Cheers :D
Warning - Green Day
