Pengerang Kelong Trip (Chia Soon Kelong)

This time round, it is another poly gathering; however the gathering venue is not at the usual Singapore mainland.

On the 25th March 2006, we went for a 2 days/1 night trip to the Pengerang Kelong Visit, located on the coast of Pengerang, Johor.

The kelong is an offshore fish farm which is built with stilts in the middle of sea, normally located at a short distance from shores.
The kelong owner rears fishes in closed nets in the sea @ the kelong as traditional fish farming and harvests them when they reach maturity.

We met up early in the morning at around 9+am and took an hour's bumboat ride from the new Changi village jetty to reach the kelong.
After we reach there, we settled down our things and have our lunch - Changi Village's Nasi lomak which we 打包 before we departed from Singapore.
Other than our group of 11 people, there were also another group of strangers who also came for the kelong trip, but it happened that 1 of my friends known 2 of the strangers in the other group. haha.

After the lunch, we looked around the kelong, took a look at the fishes reared there and took some photos for a while, and then we started playing with a "guessing game" which my classmate proposed. We have great fun along the way and next we proceeded on to other activities like playing mahjong, poker cards and chatting etc. till late in the afternoon.
Before the dinner time, we are glad to witness how the kelong uncle owner & his 2 workers catch some fishes, crabs and prawn that he reared in the net over there, which will be used for our “新鲜海鲜” dinner.

After having our “海鲜” steamboat dinner, some of us proceeded on with the Karaoke session over there, some continued with their mahjong games, while the rests gathered at a corner chatting under the dark sky, filled with countless stars.
Next, in the late evening around, 10+pm, we had another yummy BBQ session overtime, where we barbecued chicken wings, hot dogs, etc and chatting along thew way till late in the night.
Before the sleep, some of us (including me) had another unusual experience of bathing in the kelong toilet, where we have to scoop our own water from the water container into a pail before bathing.

In the very late night past 2+am, most of us catch a few hours of sleep, resting on the mattress provided, and woke up early in the morning around 6+am to have wash up ourselves, viewing the sunrise (not a pleasure one cos of the cloudy sky, but still managed a view a bit :) ) and have our breakfast, delicious fish porridge， “鱼粥” there.
After the breakfast, we packed up our belongings and gathered together for some late moment photo sessions at the kelong, before we set off our return bumboat ride back to Singapore.

Overall, it is quite a successful kelong visit and a great gathering with my poly classmates again.

Below is the address and website URL to the Pengerang Kelong if anyone of you are interested to go or get more info on it.

http://www.chiasoonkelong.com