An exciting activity at Temburong Trip, canopy walk =)

The canopy walking up to 60 metres high! :)


On Sunday, 15th November 2009, for the very last activity of Brunei Environment Appreciation Community Action. Our activities and missions yesterday were the 'Canopy Walking' , Temburong`s very own wasai and lastly heading to Longhouse. My posts for this activity are Secretary, Photographer and also Bin manager. So we went on by using a bus to kianggeh approximately at 6.15am and arrived there at 6.35am sharp. We were all felt excitement and joy of what Temburong was like, and all those canopy walking, because this was my first time ever being to Temburong and so were the others too. Nonetheless, we waited for the our boat to arrive and there were lots of people going back to Temburong due to holidays so we have to take our turn. I heard there was a complicated thing happened between the man incharge of the boat from Dr Asmah. Our boat was already booked by a trek organizer, shair, and supposed to arrive at kianggeh port at 7am. All we have to do is wait for the boat to arrive.

While waiting for the boat to arrive. I, myself volunteered to read our prayers before we go to Temburong. 15 minutes later, the boat arrived, and we all glad that the boat was not the type of boat we expected to be so fragile, it was safe. However, the 1st thing we did when we entered the boat was to wear a lifejacket! :) that was what we learnt from our unforgettable event during our time sailing at Serasa beach. I was curious yet excitement about the place in Temburong, since i never been there before. I had already packed all my stuffs in my bag, food and water because we are going to do trekking once again at Canopy area. Our levels were getting tougher weeks after weeks but i still anjoy it very much and it challenged my mental and physical. So on our way to Temburong, lasted about 45 minutes plus. We arrived at the port and headed straight to the restaurant nearby because everyone seemed to be hungry, no breakfast will eventually lead your body getting weak. With full of curiousity, i realized that Temburong was a nice place to be for Tourism and everyone should go there who haven`t got a chance to visit Temburong. We were welcomed by a malay Tour guide, i forgot her name, and she worked under ministry of Forestry. So Dr Asmah, treat us roti kosong and Tea C special before we moved on to our bus to go to Ulu Temburong National Park.

On our way to the National Park, we stopped at this mini shop to buy ourself rubber shoes which might come in handy later on. So we arrived at the national park nearly half an hour. We were divided into 4 groups consists of 5 person per group, and the remaining group consists of 3 person. I was surprised seeing our long boat, and it was unique in shaped. The man incharged for our boat was an Iban, or should i say a boatman. On our way to Canopy area, the river view was an extreamely awesome! full with flora and fauna as well as trees near the river cliff. It was indeed beautiful environment i`ve ever seen in my life, the rivers weren`t calm, it was shallow in addition of fast flowing water. All and all, the rivers were filled with pebbles and loads on our way to Canopy walk area. The most interesting part of geographical landscape that i`ve discovered on our way to canopy area was the existence of "BRAIDED CHANNEL"! . I`ve done so many research in several areas but still i couldn`t discovered this braided channel ( a channel filled with loads, pebbles in the middle of the river. I should have said that i was so lucky to see that in Temburong. After 30 minutes, we had to stopped at this checkpoint to pay our insurance before we headed to canopy walk area. I managed to take a lots of photo of this beautiful environment.

Soon after a long wait, we arrived at the entrance of Canopy walk area. This was where we began another short trekking, i was exhausted all the time because we have to go up hill. The pathways were very slippery due to heavy rain on the previous night. The paths were all tied with ropes so it was easier for us to climb. Few minutes later, we reached the top and took a rest while finishing our bottles of water. On my way up the top, i DISCOVERED this rare ant ! it was like 3 inches long compare to ants in Brunei`s forests. So i was shaking down my knees seeing that heights :S but i set my sight on this challenged and ready to take on. So i took my turned climbing up to the top, i hold every steels on my way up, i was anxious of this things might fall, but i kept positive thinking and continued my way up. The stairs were made of steel and iron, so it was safe as it surrounded by metal all over the pathways. We followed the instructor`s rules and regulations, because the bridge up top might shake if too many peoples walked above.

I managed to reach the top of this "Canopy walking" and i felt very calm on the top seeing beautiful views and lots of forests jungle around.


This is the picture i took from the top, can you imagine how scary it is to watched from the top? but worth a lot :) nice view.

Even myself, i hoped this canopy walking lasted for long periods of decades, as you can see, this is so valuable to our country, it attracted a lot of tourists from around the world. As well, the economy of the country also increased without depending on natural resources such as oil :)
The forests at canopy walkaway filled with lots of tourists from Japan and Britain. They even said, " i was lucky to be here, the best place to be for tourists" by a japanese member. So went back down to our long boat and headed to waterfall, Temburong`s very own wasai :) the flow of water was indeed clean! We went there and took a shower for a few minutes. The waterfall was awesome! i was freezing because the water was so cold..

This picture, taken at Temburong`s waterfall :) nice, enjoy and experienced!

Lastly, we all went out from the waterfall area to have our short break lunch, and soon we headed back to our boats, and went back to the national park entrance as we have one more visit to Temburong`s very own longhouse. It was their own traditional way of living, a very long house consists of one big family :) i was pleased to visit this long house and talked to the people inside. Some are muslims and some aren`t. So we went back to our bus to go to the market where lots of fruits were sold especially DURIAN! ;D again, i discovered this new durian known as 'DURIAN TAYIE' sweet taste :) We were short of time after that as we have to return before 4.15 at kianggeh. So we went back to the port and say farewell to our very own tour guide, we had loads of fun with them! We hoped to see them in the near future. We went back to kianggeh by a speed boat and it lasts for 45 minutes.

Overall, i learn so much from Temburong trip, canopy walking and so much more. I learn how to be a leader and the tour guide who guided us in and out taught me how to be a good leader. Here i would like to thank Dr Asmah as well as Dr Irene, who taught me so much about environment. Thus i could use this experiences in the future,again thanks to Dr Asmah who treat us having a breakfast. I enjoy this experienced by taking Brunei Environment Appreciation Community Action and i never regret that as it makes myself explore to environment. Our very last week and activities, i shall say, we all are like a family, we fight together, helping each other and learn from our mistakes. :') THANK YOU. BEACA 2009. Our memories will be remembered.

Your sincerely,
HAFIDZ O9B1226

Sailing activities: Unforgettable moments

OUR PICTURE AT SERASA BEACH, PARKING LOT :)

On Friday morning, around 6am, we arrived at UBD car park and waiting for the bus to pick us up. Unluckily there wasn`t any transportation so me and the others drove on our own cars to Serasa to do sailing. When we arrived at Serasa beach, we met all the BEACA members and DR Irene and also DR Asmah, looked with full of joy because we hadn't experienced sailing before. All of this were sponsored by UBD authorities including all the payments.

At exactly 6.30 am. we arrived at Serasa beach, so for this week i volunteered myself as a refreshment manager. It was a hot fine weather so we all as usual wore sunblock to prevent our skin from Ultra violet ray. After we all gathered on the parking area, at the same time we waited for the Dream Chartered crews to arrived. They were two of them, one from Germany namely Pete and the lady`s name was Jane from Ireland. Both of them incharged of this sailing activities. So this was where the unforgettable event happened. A small boat like rectangular shape near the shorline came to pick us up. With excitement on my friends faces, so they all got into a small boat, approximately 10 members. But the boat already full with lots of people, so i took a second one after Pete dispatched them to a big sailing known as JENNY. With metres away from the shoreline, i can only watched them with joy but things turned into nightmare where the boat capsized and turned upside down. I was totally shocked of what had happened and only could watch from the shoreline. Most of them screamed for helped as most of them couldn`t swim. Pete instructed them not to panic and pushed the boats inshore.

That picture shows unexpected event happened to my friends.


My friends were all wet when they reached the shoreline with disappointed face. Lots of mobile phone filled with water after the boat capsized and so did the camera too. Me and Azri intended to helped them out but since Jane and Pete comfort them and under their controlled so we just watch them from the shoreline. We couldn`t just stop this activity but continued it. i was amazed by what had happened, never thought that kind of boat would capsized. It reminds me of a movie called Titanic whom people believed it couldn`t sunk,indeed it was. So i took my turned and my mates to get into the boat and we managed to reach the big one.

When all of us already onboard, we all felt happy because it`s safe and rail holder everywhere where people could hold it from falling. The crew members both Pete and Jane did apologize for the event that happened early in the morning. So the sailing began its move at 8+ am. Before that, all the beaca members were taught significant things when all of us had calm down. For instance, navigator marks, the handling, how to react when the patterns of wind change, and also something call knot. It was tremendous, and we enjoyed it very much. We were told by Jane and Pete, they make a living through this sailing as the locals and also the tourists paid them. One person for $35 if im not mistaken.

First, we sailed near the Muara Port, and Jane again taught us about the marking, the red ones and the other, Yellow indeed. Basically, all of us glance at each other wondering about where we supposed to sail when we didn`t see any marking at all :P hehe. The one with Pulau Pelumpung or Pelumpung Beach was memorable yet excitement. The boat anchored only metres away from the shoreline and Dr Irene told us, "if you wanna swim, you can" i thought that was a joke haha. She really did swim to the shoreline. I actually want to swim too! but too bad, i only think about my clothing as i didn`t bring any. On the other side of the pelumpung, all of us Including Dr Asmah played near the beaches and almost all of us playing with waves approching the shoreline :) it was memorable. We learnt so much from this activity. Even so, i experienced things that didn`t happen in my life before. It`s worth taking this course Brunei environment appreciation community action, it made me explored myself about brunei environment and somehow i managed to take it positive knowledge that would helped me in the future :)

After 45 minutes swimming we went onboard again and went home. On our way home, we were taught about knot technics that were very veryyy significant especially to the sailors, crews and more. It was fascinating, i only watched my friends playing knot game while me,still trying t0 master the knots though =__=" and finally i made it :D It was such an unforgettable moment especially having 2 sporting crews, full of joy and excitement.

Last but not the least, i would like to thank both of them Jane and Pete for their services, a memorable things that we enjoyed with them for about 6 hours i guess, all the games, and all of us very happy. So 3 things that i learn from this sailing.

1) Wear life jackets eventhough you know how to swim
2) Don`t be panic
3) I learn leadership and boosts in communication skills when i saw Pete instructed them and taught us various things. The way the Pete done for us really inspire me to be a better person with leadership.

Week 11. Jungle Trekking at BIG TREE.

On 25th of October 2009, at 6.30am. We arrived there upon a hilly area at 6.30am. I was surprised and at the same time excited about this trekking due to its hilly areas and its beauty environment. What makes me feel excited was the existence of big trees in that jungle. So my job for this activity was a follower, as other posts were all filled in by others. There were 3 groups altogether and we were in group 3 which included me, Naz, DR Irene, Ziman and Chia Yie. So we headed up the hill which was very steep and ofcourse dangerous. At some places, it freaked me out because of loads of roots and branches that made me slipped.

In some areas, i was shocked to see a rock like concrete building and it was a hard rock and on it grew plants and trees. So another discussion among my group mates of why was the rock didn`t break as soils. It was because of weathering that made the rock stood still and due to hilly areas. We went on trails after trails and discovered a lot of "tongkat ali" and also Sumbui-sumbui and kalamunting. Moreover, orchid plants were also spotted on our way down the cliffs. The environment here was awesome and fascinating compared to previous jungles. It was tough and tiring but worth a lot. We went down the cliff by using ropes nearby and it really froze my mind because i`m afraid of height afterall since i was a kid. But a courage and confidence made me want to do it.

Down the cliff, we saw rapids alongside and a waterfall.. This jungle is indeed valuable due to its plant species, and animals sound everywhere.. I was so excited when we had to reached down the cliff by using long ropes, and it was really fun! there were this tight and small steps of routes to reach to another way, and it was dangerous for sure. Like it was 10 feets high,one slipped will eventually fall to dead. There were lots of spike vines on the ground and made this trekking even tougher, but it worths a lot.

By the time we went across the waterfall, we met up the 2nd group. Our group including Dr Irene, joined them and accidentally thought of doing this fascinating thing :D which was doing hand to hand circle consisted among us 13 members including 2 groups around that big trees. It was BIG than i could ever imagine. I considered this big trees as an ancient trees that left 100 plus years ago. Luckily, one big tree is still alive, while the other next to it left dead. DR Irene discovered this seed called "five wings" im still thinking of how the seeds will grow. Is it like that big tree? all and all it was very interesting!

This is a big tree,could u imagine how long this tree has lived until now?

We followed our marks and nazz our group leader lead the frontline. This jungle is more complex as it has so many trails. But we managed to find our exits and done it successfully :D especially to our groups, we had so much much and learn something. Which is the charisma of friendship and teamwork.

This is another pictures of plant species call sumbui-sumbui or pitcher plant :)

A gigantic wall of concrete on the hills in jungle at Big trees :) really like museaum.

WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THIS ACTIVITY :

-Team work worth a lot, increase our solidarity and friendship nor understanding on another.
-Eventhough im just a follower, from time to time i do help my friends when they face difficulties and that makes this activity successful.
- we need water everytime we enter in the jungle because without water you can feel unconsious due to dehydration to much
-If you are lost, try to be calm and don`t panic as it disturbs your mind and concentration in this activity.
-I have discovered and increase my knowledge towards plants species and its name.
-focus on the markers to prevent from lost of trails and routes.


Last but not least, i`m happy with this activity, and i learn so many things throughout this course which boosts my confidence level and courage to do things in the future :) this jungle trekking is very fun, although we are all tired, but the environment and the big trees really impress us as it lives for about 100 years plus to survive. i`m looking forward for the next activity and i love this course very much! :)

A dream come true :)

On friday morning approximately at 10am. Our group Beaca were asked to attend a talk from the 1st Bruneian woman to venture to the South Pole. Dayang Najiba Erada Abdullah voiced her goal in an inspirational and motivational talk organised by the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, University of Brunei Darussalam. Unfortunately i couldn`t attend the talk due to transportation problem, but i managed to hear some of her opinions and experiences from RTB and Borneo Bulletin. She`s experienced enough and i bet she`ll have a wonderful time there.

Najibah Eradah Abdullah will start her journey on the commonwealth Women’s Antartic Expedition and is scheduled to arrive at the South Pole on the first January 2010. It`ll be a great challenge for us, especially guys because of her, it motivates us to be strong physically and mentally especially when we deal with our environment. She even said “You have to stand out from the others and leave a mark on someone’s life, be it for the purpose of educational, work and even our everyday lives,” . From what she said, already boosts my confidence to go into the jungle and do a jungle trekking again. We must have confidence of what difficulties we will face in the future.

Maybe that`s all i can say for now, we all wish her to do her best there and i`m confident she`ll make it and achieve her destinations and goals :) all the best.

WEEK 10. Again jungle trekking at DIPLOMATIC RESIDENCE

On Sunday morning at 6.30am, 18th October 2009. Our main activity on week 10 was Jungle Trekking at Diplomatic residence near Yayasan`s school. For this activity, i was elected as a sweeper and Aziman as a leader in our frontline and two followers which included Naz and DR Asmah. My objective for this activity was to keep an eye for my friends in my group throughout the jungle and collect litters scattered around. With experienced we had in our previous jungle trekking, we made full used of it to lead our way in front. We had explored different types of forests/jungles and discovered lots of plant species and trees.

On our way into the jungle, we discovered various types of plants, big trees fell off the ground and even streams with beautiful ferns growing near the rocks. So the main concerned here was to keep our environment clean and to see differences of environment compared to previous one and discovered plant species call tongkat ali which is very valuable to our economic benefit. I could say that this jungle trekking at Diplomatic residence was very much tougher than any jungle we had entered before because of there were loads of trails and routes which puzzled our mind. We entered trails after trails and follow the marking on the trees nor the white papers scattered everywhere. We had faced so many trails and followed the paths until we found no trails as we past by. So Aziman and me felt we had followed into a wrong paths. We stay calm and find another paths with marking, but failed.

As we continued our walked, we discovered this big trees like a plywood in shape.

This trees is rare because i`ve only seen it once with this type of light woods in this jungle. This is also valuable as the wood can be used to make furnitures and more, thus again improve our economy.

This picture was very fascinating and really surprised us just before we headed to an exits. We discovered tons of ants carrying its own food to their nests with straight line following another ants.


So we gathered together as a group with me, Aziman, Dr Asmah and Naz and we made a right choice which was to head back to the place before we entered a wrong path. Then Dr Asmah phoned Dr Irene to find us while we searched for trails with markings. Just before Dr Irene arrived, we finally found our way which hardly to be seen because the paths were covered with dead leaves and rocks and we couldn`t even recognized that paths. We still did it calmly because we knew that panic only made things worse. While waiting for DR IRENE, we picked up rubbish on the ground and preserve our environment clean :)

So we continued to head to an exits. We took 3 hours in this jungle and finally made our back to starting points near the parkings. So there were lots of things which i could LEARN in this activity when our groups were lost.

1) Believe in yourself and be confident with where u going.
2) Trust your instinct
3) Use your intelligence, creativity and leadership
4) Team works worth than anything else
5) FOCUS everytime we do jungle trekking

STAY FOCUS,TEAM WORKS REALLY EFFECTIVE!

To conclude all of this. We really had fun, although we lost but we made it and thanks to us, team work really works. I`m looking forward for another jungle trekking, and we`ll learn to take this activity seriously both mentally and physically. Really challenge our mindset in this adventure :)

Another jungle trekking at Rimba :)

On Friday morning, approximately 6am, 9th October 2009. Jungle trekking at Rimba was our next activity for week 9. I can say that this activity is far more challenging compare with jungle trekking at Lucky garden. As usual our groups consists of myself, aziman the leader who leads our frontline, Naz, Sia and also Mizah as our sweeper. We started our move into the mudflats and sandy soils before we enter the jungle.

We used insects repellants since our leader told us to do, just incase lots of mosquitoes going to bite and suck our blood. When we entered the forests, it was full with branches where monkeys used to hang over.. On the surface filled with spiky vines which is very dangerous, and i think it`ll cause an excessive bleeding if we are twisted by those vines.. On our way into the forests, we saw an empty fuel barrels lying over the rock. Who could have done that? it may pollute the water nearby. However things are just getting started when we face difficulties of finding our way because the forests are thick, and hardly to see any trails.. So, me and my partners used our team works to find next routes and proudly we found that way where it leads to another routes by the help of aziman and the rest.

Luckily, we have discovered a root of this plant where many people call tongkat ali's ingredient. What we can learn here is that, saving this species is important so that i`ll grow widely. We also know that tongkat ali is increasingly demanded by other countries like Malaysia, so by selling it, our country can increase her economic growth rather than depending on oil and gas itself.




This herbs is known to be medicinal in our traditional medicine and it is valuable especially to treat diseases such as lung problems, bites from poisonous insects and more.


Another rare plant species grow on the ground.. I forgot what the name was because an old people have a name for this plant.

This activity is really challenging, it increases my team work spirits and leadership nor responsibility to appreciate environment.. I`ve learnt to know every plant species and it uses and expose myself to environment. I`m looking forward for more extreame and challenging activity as it makes my mentality strong :) so our way back to an exits, we gathered with other groups and Dr irene who leads the frontline.. We used long cuts and discovered a footsteps of a pigs.. I never thought a pig will be in a place like that. Anyhow, i saw 2 monkeys up the trees eating.. I wonder where are the loads of monkeys, i`m afraid that it will lead to extinction, thus eco system will be affected. But luckily Brunei Darussalam fully control the use of forests and avoid deforestation.

Our difficulties for this activity is that, we have to clear a long grass that covered the routes.. It took time but worth it, i managed to clear it by using a parang. It was tough, but and exciting moment to be remembered.. I`ve learn so much from this activity and yet want more experience for the future. Lastly, i love this course!! :D thats all.

Jungle Trekking :)

This is a mushroom we have discovered on our way into the jungle.


On Sunday morning, 4th September 2009, we were assigned to do jungle trekking at Sungai Tilong at Lucky Garden area. So Dr Irene split us into 3 groups, 5 person per groups and elected one leader in every groups. It was a whole new experience for me as i haven`t done any jungle trekking in my life before and ofcourse it was a fascinating activity. Approximately at 6 am, we went from UBD to Sungai Tilong by using a bus and arrived there at 6.30 am. My group for this jungle trekking consists of myself, Emelda, Kim, Aziman and Azmy as our group leader. We started our activity at 6.45 am.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE.

Jungle trekking activity taught me to become self confidence and improve communication through group works. We work as a team, helping one another when we face difficulties. Obviously, this activity is risky due to slippery and different pathways and one slip will eventually dangerred our life. We have discovered a lot of plant species such as mushroom growing on the buttress root of the trees and make me realise that we need to appreciate environment and prevent certain plants from extinct.

Our main objective also to collect all the rubbish littering on the pathways and on the plants because if we leave it like that, plants may not survive and all the bottles of fuels scattered will pollute the areas. In fact,it may affect our flora and fauna. From this activity, it increases my sense of responsibility as a person and widen my knowledge on how to appreciate environment.. After all so many people think that destroy areas of forest jungle may create space for the living or construction of buildings, but it also lead to the extinction of animals and affect ecosystem.

I`m proud that Brunei Darussalam`s forest is still secure from any threats of human beings.
I still think and learn that they are not easily regenerated once removed from an area. Rain forests contribute to biologically-important gasses in the Earth's atmosphere and most of the plant species we`ve known used to produce oxygen. From what i can learn logically from this activity is that, we MUST appreciate our environment, its nature, flora and fauna because of its beauty may attract tourism in Brunei and at the same time increase our economy as most of our plant species known to be some sort of medicine. So by selling those medicine may bring profit, but under strict control use of plants as not to over exploit them.