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.