cable stayed bridge at kong kong in johor

today, we went back to kong kong in johor to check on the status of the cable-stayed bridge that is being constructed across the johor river. the stated completion date was the end of 2008 but when we reached kong kong today, there was still no cable bridge in sight. the main span of the bridge will be 500m and the pylon height is going to be 150m above the surface of the river.





what we saw from the yaacob's fishing jetty at kong kong were the two main towers in the middle of the river. we checked with the local people and they believed that the bridge should be ready by the end of the year (2009). the bridge forms part of the senai-desaru highway. it is expected to reduce travelling time to desaru (from johor bahru) by about 50 minutes.

yaacob's jetty seems like a popular fishing spot in this part of the johor river. we made enquiries and found out that it would cost rm$30 to hire a boat for 12 hours to go fishing along the johor river. there was a write-up in the berita harian featuring the owner of the place, with a picture of him and his prized catch.

at the kong kong and the kg sg latoh junction, there are a few eateries. some are built on stilts over the waters of the johor river. the stalls sell malay dishes like mee rebus, nasi lemak and mee soto. over in johor, especially in this part of it, it is a common practice to help yourselves to the items that you want to go with your rice. we had lunch at kong kong before making our way back.

while we were near one of the eateries, a father and son came back from the river with their catch. they had use nets and caught more than fifteen of these river cat fish. they told us the fish were for their own consumption.

this fishing village is a nice get-away. it is only 42km from johor bahru and you can get to it via the pasir gudang highway. we took a slightly different route to get there. we travelled a short stretch of the pasir gudang highway and exited near the giant hypermarket to get onto route j10 which took us past masai before reaching kong kong.

on our next visit, my friend victor samuel intends to hire a boat to take us up the johor river to johor lama. when he was a university student, he went on a trip along the same river with his lecturer and some other students.

where can you find this type of lamp-post?

this is the second lamp-post quiz. the first one showed lamp-posts at the macritchie reservoir park.

in which park/garden in singapore can you find such lamp-posts? i am sure that chun see (of goodmorningyesterday) will be able to provide the answer. from reading his postings, i gather that during his 'pak tor' days, he got acquainted with quite a few places in singapore, and this could be one of them.

you can see that the lamps - although old in design - are fitted with energy saving bulbs.

clue: the place is in the western part of singapore. one more picture to help in the identification of the place.

i do not know whether chun see actually pak tor there or not (because i was not a lamp-post) but i know he blogged about this place before.

yes, it is yunnan garden at nanyang technological university.

a tunnel for mountain bikers

i think i am having tunnel vision these days. saw two railway tunnels lately and today i went to re-visit another tunnel. i had seen this tunnel the last time when i walked with victor samuel and jason ong from the dairy farm quarry to the bukit timah nature reserve.

it is not big enough to take a railway track but there is enough space and height for a mountain biker to ride through. i find the bikers, whom i often meet during my walks, a disciplined lot. they follow the directional sign which says 'one way only'. so, at this tunnel, the bikers who are passing through are those travelling from quarry view towards the dairy farm quarry track.

this tunnel is under the disused road that leads to the singapore quarry, which is scheduled to be open soon. the tunnel must have been constructed during the time when the quarry was still in operation.

although i have walked from the moe dairy farm adventure campsite to the bukit timah nature reserve a few times, i will not encourage other walkers or nature lovers to take this route. much of the trail is meant for bikers and on a weekend, you are bound to meet some of them along the way. the track is tight and narrow and sometimes the bikers may not see you until the last minute. you have to be very alert and you should make way for the biker/s.

something on this signboard caught my eyes and made me wonder. some boys scouts from america came all the way here to make some contribution to the improvement of the bike trail. if you cannot read the words at the bottom, let me help you. it says: community service project by the boy scouts of america. why couldn't/didn't our local scouts undertake the project?

susan boyle - singer - britain got talent 2009

must listen to susan boyle singing 'i dreamed a dream' from les miserables

played chinese carrom with cue stick?

conventional carrom board made by a student

back in the kampong days, when i played carrom, it was the chinese variant, played with a cue stick. the board was raised and had legs, and it had pockets at the four corners too. unlike the game played today, you cannot play it with the board flat on the ground. the cue stick was slimmer and shorter than the billiard stick.

unlike the conventional carrom, you placed the seeds, not in the middle but, at the opposite sides. your opponent would try to pocket the seeds on your side and vice versa. the striker was a plastic piece, about 4mm thick but the seeds were actually the round pieces that we used for chinese chess. there was no extra piece, like the red piece (queen or match-maker) in the carrom that is played today.

the winner was the one who put all the opponent's seeds into the pockets first. the player remained on his own side all the time. he was not allowed to move over to his opponent's side to do the potting. at all times, he had to use the cue stick to propel his striker to hit the seed.

in the pictures above, we were playing in the staff-room during our free periods and recess. try it today and you will be threatened with a poor grade in your epms.

those days, we did not have the luxury of an air-conditioned staff lounge. these days, they have air-conditioned staff lounges but the teachers do not have the luxury of own time and so the lounges are largely under-utilised.

i used to play with my kampong neighbours outside the compound of the house. whenever a chinese wayang was staged at the neighbouring lorong sinaran kampong, i recalled seeing such chinese carrom tables being set up for children to play. of course, you had to pay a small fee to play for a limited time.

may be i have found the reasons why we teachers then were hardly ever on medical leave: stress level was low and we looked forward to be at our place of work where we could interact with our colleagues in a cogenial environment.

we did a lot of things together as colleagues. we had inter-session ( a.m. session versus p.m. session) games among the staff. we went for picnics at sentosa (pulau blakang mati then) and changi. we went hiking, usually at macritchie. we had barbeques, usually at the government chalets or bungalows at changi; the loyang bungalows were not in existence then. we also made trips to mersing in johor to fish.

carrom boards made by technical students