KUKUP

Kukup is situated south of Pontian a small town at the southwest corner of Johor. It is an interesting fishing village with many residents having their houses built on stilts over the sea. This village is famous for its seafood restaurants, most of which are built on stilts over the sea too. The village is packed with tourist from Singapore, especially on
weekends. Many tourist make day trip excursion to Kukup
island to visit the mangrove swamp along which numerous fish farms bob up and down on the surface of the Kukup Sea.
Witness the life of the fishermen living in houses built on stilts. Get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
Admire the beautiful seascape and marvellous sunsets.
Feel the cooling sea breeze touching tenderly and welcome them warmly.
See how fishes were caught and how they were reared.
Get for yourselves, your friends and relatives local varities, native products, watches and souvenirs at very low prices.
Sing Karaoke, barbecue, fishing, sightseeing, boat-touring, visiting the fish farm, playing mahjong under the moonlight, taste the wonderful spicy and delicious seafood and relax with only RM 65 - RM 120 per person all inclusive.


14 of us gathered on a saturday morning to make a trip to Kukup island in Malaysia. It was supposed to be a GMSS gathering, but a few of AnGie's ex-classmates backed out.Thus, there were vacancies for wEiLinG, iNa & me. There was a traffic jam at the causeway & guess what made it worse?
HUMAN JAM -- we queued for 1 hr 15 mins at the customs, perspiring away because the place was poorly ventilated.we travelled about another hour or so on the road,snapping pics & joking away.we stopped over at a hawker centre after we passed the customs.quenched our thirst & filled our empty stomachs.we carried on with our journey after the break.



Alas! we reached Kukup island.we took a ferry to the resort we were allocated to.the resort was pretty clean & tidy. we dropped our bags in the room & indulged in the bee hoon & curry chicken that the owner (very nice & friendly auntie) has prepared for us.
we went on to explore the village further after lunch and could not stop snapping beautiful shots of the village.




The fishermen catches the sea animals for a living & also to feed their families. They dry the the seafood under the sun for hours to preserve them so that their wives can sell dry foods for the household allowance.










The weather is usually very hot.The sunlight is so strong that the prawns can be cooked within hours of drying.The prawns are usually used to make into prawn paste,chin jia lut or deep-fried prawn crackers. Auntie fried some prawn crackers for us during tea-break.it was very so good we could not stop going back for more helpings.

We check out the other resorts & villages after tea-break.as we walked on,we realised that some of the wooden planks we were walking on were chipped off or broken.the fear of falling was there,so i tried to refrain from focusing on them as i walked. wEiliNg joked that people who saw my bandage might have thought that i have fallen there.
we walked out to the streets & realised that we have walked to the jetty where we boarded the boat from.there was not much things to shop for as most of the shops were grocery stores.we saw some tough fellas working on the ice machine,crushing huge blocks of ice into smaller pieces.

we walked back after exploring & got ourselves ice-cream.not only the food & tidbits were really cheap, they had more varieties,compared to sinGaPore.
it was really relaxing & eye-oopening walking past through the villages.however,the walk would have been better if there were lesser cyclists & motorists. we had to dodge them very few minutes.these 2 are the most common means of transport in the village.there were sights of a mother with 3 children on a bicycle & motorists with more than 1 pillant.

the villagers are not well-to-do and cannot afford to splurge like people living in the city.toys and electronic games are a luxury to them.those children who cannot afford them can only share with their siblings or neighbours.they are contented even if it means having to wait for their turn.
the children would gather outside their house &and take turns to play with it. you can hardly see children playing with toys.most of them were just throwing stones,dancing around and riding on their bicycles.


the toilets in our resort were pretty decent & clean.However,all toilets in the villages have 1 common factor.at the bottom of the toilet bowl is just a hole where all the waste goes through into the sea.for toilets built on muddy areas,you can simply see whatever is at the bottom,gross huh...
iNa & i could not refrain from taking this picture of the water rushing down as someone bathes.
we often rushed for the toilet with toilet bowl seat so that we could flush the waste down & not see what was at the bottom.
ShaWn was anxiously waiting for the toilet as he was having a bad stomachache.iNa was taking her shower in the toilet with the toilet bowl seat while i occupied the one whereby u can see what was at the bottom.
i came out of the bathroom first & sHaWn dashed in.iNa was still taking her shower even when sHaWn was done.bEnnY was about to go in & have his shower before sHawN warned him not to look at what was at the bottom of the toilet bowl.oH bOy....beNny was disgusted decided to wait for iNa to come out of the bathroom.


the guys were engaged in fishing and they had lots of fun.they were laughing at each other on how they threw their baits out,how they swing their rods and so on.
some of us dodged and stood far away as the first timers get ready to swing the rods.
here are wEiQiang & bEn getting their baits ready.
the guys did not catch anything at the end of the day and decided to give it up.




we went to a nearby kelong on sunday.2 young boys brief us on the fishes that were being reared in the kelong.we were invited to touch the fishes too.one of the boys introduced the small shark,puffer fish,sea turtle and so on...the small shark felt pretty rough,like sandpaper.







we went on to explore on our own after that.we caught sight of the beautiful mangrove swamp at the back of the kelong.it was a nice patch of greens which draws your full attention to it.looking at it simply relaxes your eyes and mind.

the trip to Kukup was very relaxing and it really took my mind off the busy city that we live in,where people are always rushing and stressed out by work.