25 June 2011
Greetings from Setiu!
Look at how fast time flies! It is already our tenth day in Kampong Mangkuk and we had completed 99% of work which we set off to do. The remaining 1% to be done is the painting of (the brown parts of) The Pink House, which we could only do tomorrow when the paint arrives.
As such, the objective of today’s programme was to experience the way of living and culture of Terengganu. Our ever so warm and friendly hosts, Kak Tak and Abang Lan drove us around and took us to our various destinations.
First stop of the day was the Watermelon Farm.
We had freshly plucked watermelon to quench our thirst immediately upon arrival. Everyone, especially the children, were happy to be chomping on the juicy sweet watermelons under the scorching morning sun. One of the farmers taught us to differentiate between the reds and yellows – yellow watermelons are darker in colour compared to the red ones.
After which, the team got down to their hands and harvested half a row of watermelons. As usual, we had fun and joke around while doing work! It is amazing how we went from strangers to good friends in a mere span of a week.
Our next destination was Permaisuri Market, which sells practically everything (imagine an al fresco departmental store)!
The first thing we did was to get a cup of drink each! The ice blended yam milkshake was simply the perfect solution to cool down in the warm weather. As we proceed further into the market, we bought an assortment of kueh kueh, fried fermented tapioca and deep fried potato. We also bought lemon grass, lime and chili padi to prepare the sauce for the clams we dug from the mangrove the day before. Kak Tak’s children, Tira and Makwang, who followed us to the market, also did quite a lot of shopping for themselves. The team took Makwang to buy a fighting fish, where he finally settled for a turquoise coloured one after carefully scrutinizing all the other fishes on display.
In the market, we came across a stall selling turtles eggs, however we did not see any one buying any eggs from the stalls. Later in a conversation with Brendon (WWF staff), we found out that there are strict laws in place with regards to turtle conservation.
For lunch, we had Laksam and Nasi Dageng, which are both traditional Terengganu food. It was a simple yet sumptuous meal! In addition, we also feast on tropical fruits such as longan, lychee and buah salak.
Food galore aside, we gathered at the Pink House to start our Wau (kite) making session. Everyone, including River, was meticulous in following the instructions of Abang Lan and Abang Zul so as to make a kite that is able to fly. It was a tiring session but when we saw our kites flying up high in the sky, we knew the effort put in was all worth it.
