Field trip

Train trip to and from Pulau Ketam: RM 5.80
Trip to toilet while waiting for boat: RM0.30
Boat ride from Port Klang to the island (one way): RM 6.00
A bowl of gone low ee min (dry brown noodles): RM3.50
Seeing a cute blond chick: Priceless..














At least that is the little consolation for travelling so far beyond the boundaries of my comfort zone to understand the workings of sewage system in an island. The sewage system (or the lack of it) is of no surprise as there are many ways to deal with it. Animals like crabs (what the island is famous for) and some anphibian fish would pick on the "nutrients" and put it back to where it all belong. It is true to the term that one man's, er.. shit, is another animals' food?

The oddest part of this island is that the smell most of us got is the smell of the rotting prawns and crab shells that most islanders wouldn't mind throwing onto the soil. Bare in mind that most of the island's activities are on stilts. The ground/ soil is a convenient site for dumping.

Not all islanders are like that. There is a small group who actually like the island to smell better. However, the small group does not have the right tool to start a crusade against such illicit act against nature.

The consolation of this trip? Yup, a cute blond chick. Hair colour is natural, or so we were told by the aunty we interviewed. To protect herself from us, she ran into the house to bring her sword but her weapon was her laughter. As we were leaving the house after the interview, she hid behind the window and shout at us.

And oh, people there are willing to take all the shitty questions we asked, literally. They do explain where their human waste go to and how the tide and animals would "take care" of their stuff. We were rather embarrassed to ask such questions.

In the end, we went home. Voila! Never would we ever do that again unless forced to go back there.


p.s. one of the guys who went a week ahead of us told us how unfortunate we were because we missed the opportunity to see real good looking ladies from other colleges doing their project too. I cannot begin to imgaine a pickup line suitable for such meeting - "Hi, what is a pretty girl doing in a smelly place like this?" Yeah, right.