Chek Jawa is now open! ...any-tide

Was at Chek Jawa the fourth consecutive day today, and it is a big day for this special place. It is the offical launch of the boardwalk in Chek Jawa which features the mangrove, intertidal shore, coastal forest etc. You may now visit CJ anytime between 9-5, and any-tide! Yes, it's finally opened to the public, without the constraint of booking limited places for guided shore tours. But if you really wish to go down, you can try booking guided tours starting July.

The day started with a thunderstorm, but I saw that it did not dampen any of our spirit. I also got to know Dewi and Lei today :-)


After a heartful speech on the Chek Jawa journey by Minister Mah, the volunteers and important people of CJ were awarded for their passion and work with this place.


Thankfully, the weather fine much better after the speech and awards. Managed to tag along with Ron as he guided. Went up the observation tower for first time and wow, what a pleasant sight! Something different from usual working trips indeed.


The nipah fruits give you the attap chee you eat in desserts. But do not just open it, it needs processing before you get the gluey sugary attap chee.


First time seeing the inflorescence of the Nipah plant. Bees are busy pollinating the plant.


And a special find in the mangrove! A banded krait.


At the shores, we stopped and marvelled at these fiddler crabs, waving their huge orange claw.


Chek Jawa is so lively today! Wow.


And here is Ron, the professional guider to shores with our group on the boardwalk.


Suddenly, Dewi's hairs started to stand up! It's static and I wondered is the lightning going to strike her? This thing made everyone of us laugh... lol.


At house no. 1 or now the visitor centre, here is a rescue tank to house any injured animals. Seagrasses are also found inside. Do wonder will they do well in a tank?


The fireplace is such a classic of House No. 1!


And it's also the first time I see barcode scanner used to give information of each species found in Chek Jawa. Cool.


So do make a visit at this HSBC gallery at House no. 1 the next time you visit Ubin yah.


The jetty outside house no. 1 has been repaired and it continues to give a nice scenery of the spectcular house no. 1, the nicest building in Ubin. It faces Sekudu too giving grand view of the wonderful rock formations there.


Mass media FM958 caught hold of Ron for an interview in Mandarin, that must be bit hard.


Siva here with the mass media... Other veterans including Ria etc were also interviewed extensively :-)


And we ended the day with champagnes and 100 plus (for those who don't drink) to celebrate this special day and to mark the start of the next phase of Chek Jawa journey. Here's Evelyn, being always enthusiastic and game to cheer up our spirits.

Come visit Chek Jawa now!

The boardwalk is able to allow you to explore that place anytime, without getting down and dirty like what we did for the 2 days of transect (more stories on transect will be posted soon on my CJ project blog).