Vegetables for makan, animals for cuddles, mangrove for sinking in

Hi hi,
What a long and eventful day today! The 7 of us (SJ, LY, WH, CY, Jo, Janinah and myself) started our day so so early, to embark on our little farm tour of Singapore.

We started with Oh Chin Huat Hydroponics Farm (http://www.ohfarms.com.sg/). The lady I spoke to kindly agreed to hold a tour for us even though there were only 7 of us. And our very nice and well-informed young guide (Libing), brought us to almost all parts of the farm, shared all that she knew in a really forthcoming manner, and generously showed us everything to quench our untiring curiousity.
[This is one of the 'baby' vege from the nursery.]

While sharing with us info on the farm, she would also pluck off spices and Japanese cucumbers (it was so yummy because it was so fresh) for us to try. Wow! This is the freshest any vege can get! They ended in our mouths the moment they were plucked. :)

Also, the entire hydroponics process was shown to us, from the mixing of minerals for the veg, right up to the cold room where we could choose the vegetables we can bring home. :) And of course cameras clicked non-stop and fingers scribbled non-stop. What dilligent students we were. :D

Ah, the cold room. This was where I got a new nick - Polar bear! Because I have a natural layer of blubber such that I am not afraid of cold, even at 4 to 6 degrees C. :P And this Polar had to get herself into some mischief towards the end of the day.

We then moved on the Aero-green tech aeroponics farm (http://aerogreentech.com.sg/). Things were a bit more disappointing because we had to tag onto another group, since the farm refused to conduct a tour with just 7 people. And the tour was not as detailed as that of Oh's farm. Plus, a coming storm shortened the whole tour of the premises. But we saw lots of herbs and other edible 'stuff' here, like the passionfruit and the snake gourd (what's that - hee, I'm not telling). Hmm.... And the lettuce cum fruit extract that comes with the $3.50 we have to pay, was pretty good, if one can conquer the initial shock at the strong taste of chlorophyll.

Then came the storm. We sought refuge at the gallery of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. To wait out the rain, we went back to civilization (Lot 1) for lunch. Thereafter, a short ride on the most kampongy road in the whole of Singapore led us to a small tropical fish farm where mollies are bred for export, after much confusion over the address. The shy but generous uncle gave us a whole pack of mollies, depsite CY's chants of "Uncle, enough already." But, got to say sorry for dirtying LY's car and for causing Janinah some discomfort with the number of pariah dogs found there. Sorry, sorry.

Next in line was a short stop at an orchid nursery run by my uncle. I hope my tutorial mates have gotten use to my having to go round greeting everyone there and my obsession with hands washing there. Orchids are not vege. There are lots of pesticides and other chemicals on them.

Finally, we ended the farm tour with a visit to Farm Mart. The highlight of the place was the little animal corner. Bunnies, goats, frogs, guinea pigs, turtles etc... None of us could resist cuddling the cute rabbits and laughing at the little cute noises made by the guinea pigs. And the kind-hearted CY got us started feeding the various animals. :) Boy, are they hungry. Poor things!

And see just how adorable they simply are. Who can resist them? And it is simply great that we have a bunch of animal-lovers together today. :D

The farm tour ended here but Jo and I went on to Pasir Ris to check out the mangrove swamp there. Sad to say, but the mangrove swamp is not in a good condition. Rubbish, rubbish and more rubbish everywhere. There are some reafforestation efforts going on. But the mangrove swamp is still obviously going downhill. This is so depressing! Jo and I were cursing mankind while we strolled along the boardwalks. Arghhh! I really do not think that the mangrove swamp here will last another 5 years. Sob sob...


After that, we went to the beach area to check out what the coast can offer. The tide was extremely low and we could walk a little further out. Herons and egrets were on their rounds, making full use of the low tide to feed their hungry little stomachs. I was so engrossed watching them that I walked right into the muddy area and started sinking at the rate of 5 cm per second. When I tried to get one foot out, the other sank deeper. Arghh! Jo tried to rescue me. But the poor xiao mei, a quarter of my size, could hardly help. Finally, I had to go on all 4's to widen the surface area of my weight placed on the mud, to extract myself out. I just hope that there weren't any of my students around to witness my sprawling on all 4's and trying to pull my feet out of the mud. It must have been real hilarious. This is not a mud walk. How can someone just get herself stuck in the mud in Pasir Ris beach? Good thing I have done a mud walk before. If not, I would have panicked. And thanks to Jo for relieving me of all my valuable items so that I can crawl to safety. Sigh.. What a way to end my day! Blind polar bears? Don't think they exist.

SW