A Visit to Pengerang

It was back dated almost 1 month ago when it was a festive season. During that period, it was 5 full days of holiday where all of us would visit our own family (especially hometown in Malaysia). Xiong's mum was from Malaysia and she would go back to celebrate CNY with her family. This year, Xiong, his brother, sister in law and me went together to visit his mum at her place.

It was an impromptu activity since it was rare that all of us were available.

Journey to Pengerang

Pengerang is a small town located near Johor. It is about 2 hours route trip (depending on road condition) from Singapore Custom. It was a pleasant drive as we drove through the windy route, passing by huge area of plantations and barren land. I kept myself wide awake throughout the journey as it was my first time visiting his mum hometown. I was really excited.

As it was a one way route, we had hard time over taking the other cars who were speeding. To make the matter worst, some lorries turned into your lane and was cruising at 80km/hr. Oh well, too bad! We were only able to follow behind those lorries. However, all of us were finding the best chance to over one another haha.

After 3 hours of drive, we finally reach Pengarang. Before we went knocking to his uncle's house, we decided to stop by Ostrich Farm for a short tour. The ticket was RM18 per adult. Xiong's brother wasn't interested in Ostrich, so he was the only one waiting outside while the rest of us went in for a visit.

        

Beside looking at ostrich, they served their meat and egg. How on earth would i dare to eat them after touring the farm?! I wouldn't have the heart to eat them. Also, these delicacies are just not my cup of tea. 

 Entering the farm... ...

They segregate the young ostriches from the adult. The picture above are ostriches which were 3 weeks old. They were pecking the wooden, metal grills non stop. If you put your hand near, they will peck your hands too. The uncle at the farm told me that it was okay to let them peck as it doesn't hurt. Then he demonstrates.... He was enthusiastically encouraging us to let them peck. 

Xiong was brave enough to do so... and he led me doing it too. Sure enough, it was painless but the feeling of being peck is definitely weird and beyond description... 

This little guy trying to 抢镜头。

They are ever ready to peck your hands. See the 2 of them which were aiming for his fingers.

Happy ostrich smiling for the camera

The adult ostrich are really huge! I do feel intimidated when they were looking at me, felt like that would attack me any time haha. I do hear horror stories of them being aggressive towards humans which explained why I wouldn't go too close to them initially.

Selfie with the ostrich. They love taking selfie too!

There were 2 ostriches which were outside roaming freely. For a while, i thought their ostriches went loose and i had almost wanted to tell the staffs to enclose them. After which i realised that they were let loose on purpose, so that tourist can take photos with them. The ostrich were specifically trained so they were not aggressive at all.

Manage to take a photo with one of them. My pose wasn't natural as i was prepared to run anytime if the animal went berserk.

After 1 hour, we went to meet Chris and headed straight to his uncle's house after that.

They had a huge front and backyard. Best for children who needed ample space to run. 

There were 10 over dogs coming to greet us when we got off the car. If you are afraid of dogs, you might want to avoid or run away as far as you can. Those were stray dogs but were kept by Xiong's uncle who took great care of them well.

The hometown is serene, One of the best place to dwell if you want to get far from city, far from those highly populated area. No wonder his brother loved this place. I can see why.

    

The puppy which was always bullied by its peers

His mum was really happy to see us coming. After exchanging greetings, we sat at the backyard, enjoying the breeze and conversations, which we did not expect such quality time together. 

Big boss on hammock 

Besides us is a mini lotus pond, though no frogs on the lotus leaves but its presence does make the whole place tranquil. There were a few hammocks tied to the trees but i did not lie on any of them. I had an image to maintain haha.

Also, just located next to their old house, there is a fish farm too, breeding marble goby. If you know soon hock, you will know marble goby is the English word for it. This type of fish is expensive and could fetch a high price depending on its weight. During dinner, his uncle caught 2 of it and requested the restaurant to cook. It was the best marble goby i had so far!

Inside the mini fish farm. I believed i was looking at the spider web.

A photo to remember this place as I heard that the government is taking over the land for other uses.

Took a close up selfie.

After which, we had dinner at...

According to his mum, this restaurant served the most affordable seafood around that area, The food was really palatable and good!!

The fish which was caught just now

After dinner, all of us went back for Blackjack. Blackjack definitely helped us to pass time quickly, I wasn't good in gambling so I do not really know how to play or calculate the points. It came to the point that I do not know what to do even when I had 2 aces. But anyway, it was always fun spending time with his family. 

Happy hours doesn't last long. At 10pm, the four of us left Pengerang, feeling happy and satisfied, spending a day with their family during CNY.