After Sungei Buloh, I decided to ride around and explore the countryside. I followed the main trunk road till the end, where it gave way abruptly to a ramshackle wooden jetty.


I came upon some children who had caught a poor little seahorse. They were playing around with it taking it out of the pail and putting it back in again. I overheard their dad telling them that he would put it in the ice box later. If not for the presence of their dad, I think i would have told them off and made them release it into the water. Instead I went over and asked them whether they knew that the seahorse was an endangered species, they didn't seem to understand the meaning of endangered, so I told them and the dad, who didn't understand what endangered means either( I didn't know the mandarin translation), as nice as I could, that the seahorse would not survive if they brought it home and they should release it after they have seen enough of it. The dad must have been quite taken aback by this stranger who had come up to them to demand politely that they release what they must have considered to be a lucky catch. So he muttered ok ok we will let it go later. I sure hope they did.

Next up, I went for some Goat's milk. There were some really cute baby goats in the farm. I was reminded of my friend Yang Weikang. The chocolate milk was quite bitter. I hear the plain milk is better.

I sat at the main bridge over the river at Sungei Buloh today, enjoying the soft caressing breeze, I peered through my binoculars at the little heron fishing in the water; the playful sandpipers skipping around the mudflats. I look out at the litter strewn along the mangrove mudflats, and I feel distressed, our earth is sick and we need to drastically change our habits and lifestyles (its impossible not to sound hypocritical as i say this) before it is too late. We need to learn to respect and appreciate nature and pass this on to our children, if we fail to do so, then we are well and truly lost.