All of us, Pure Bio students were divided into 2 major groups, A and B. So, each group had around 60+ students and were further divided into smaller groupings. I was in Group B3 (I think, I can't remember anymore). We departed from USM early in the morning on that assigned date. We were already at the campus for our lab sessions about a week prior to the field trip. We stopped by at a point to load off our baggage for a boat ride. Then, the busses continued until the entrance to Penang National Park to drop other students as they need to hike up the trails to reach CEMACS.
However, I went for a boat ride due to my health condition (can refer to my previous posts) with few other friends that were not in good condition to hike. Besides, the boys were also with us as they need to load the baggage into and out from boat. The boat ride was funny and thrilling when the boatman crashed the waves. I was jolted higher as I sat at the front of the boat. When we arrived at the jetty, I had trouble getting out of the boat as it was bumpy with wave. My legs almost gave up on me but I still managed to hold up my weight and successfully climbed up the staircases.
Later, we were assigned to dorms with the girls in 2 dorms while the boys in a dorm. I unpacked all my belonging as I was ready to settle there. Later, I discovered that the toilets were inconvenience for me and asked the officer in charge for any other toilet that I can use. But, to no avail, there wasn't any in the dorms except for the buildings for lecturers and officers. I was made to move there. Btw, I had a letter from medical doctor that had an exemption request from any demanding activities that might harm my body further. My friend helped me move my baggage to that building. My roommate was Kak Nora, a science officer. She is a very sweet and caring young lady.
The next morning, we were assigned to different ecosystem to do observation and collect data. My group started with river ecosystem. We need to hike down the trail as the river is located in the middle, known as Sungai Tukun. But, I was lucky enough since I was delivered to the site by boat alongside Mr. Kumar a.k.a Uncle, our expert. Initially, I thought that I wouldn't be able to join my team in their expedition. At the site, we recorded the data for wind speed, temperature, latitude, longitude, vegetative species, animals species and so on. At the middle part, there was a pond-like structure that collected water, we had fun and played in the water whilst doing the data recording. I managed to join them for all parts of the river starting from lower, middle and upper part of river even though the upper part was only for a short while because the boat was fetching both of us before the low tide.
The next day was our turn for marine ecosystem. Coincidentally, it was Friday. In the morning, we had a talk on marine ecosystem with Prof Zul & Dr Nadine and took a long break that afternoon as the boys needed to go for Friday prayers outside. We only went into the sea water at evening, around 3 pm. We recorded the wind speed etc. and proceeded with doing turbidity reading using Secchi disk, collected animal samples per quad, and even collected algae. My hands even got a few scratches from holding onto rocks with barnacles for support. After we completed our tasks, we were given permission to gather Venus clams a.k.a lala/retak seribu. It was very enjoyable and memorable. I still remember what a dugong I became while collecting the lala. Those lala were cooked for our lunch the next day. They were so sweet and fresh.
Our third session was the forest ecosystem, whereby we were required to hike the hill behind CEMACS. Unfortunately, I could not joined my team in their hiking. I waved them goodbye at the gate and joined with that one group doing marine ecosystem. I was told to do so by the officers in charge as they all knew about my circumstances. They joked around, as I had already done with marine ecosystem the day before, I should be the supervisor for the group doing it that day. I stayed with them and took care of their belongings lest the monkeys wanted to stole something. Jk. After a few hours, my group arrived back at the sea side. I joined them to collect data on wind speed, sunlight reading, plants observed and others. Later that evening, we had a presentation on the whole structure of the forest observed from the hill dipterocarps to the beach plants.
Our last part was the soil ecosystem. We did experiments in the lab using the soil collected from the previous day's hike during forest ecosystem. I could not remember much about this because it was just plain lab procedures with the observation using microscope, some drawings, writings, and others. It gave us a time to relax without doing strenuous activity for the rest of the day. That night, we had a fun time playing and winding around on the beach as it was our last night there.
The next morning, we readied ourselves to get back to USM. Those who were hiking down departed first after they finished preparing. Meanwhile, I stayed back for a boat ride with the boys, as they needed to load the baggages and microscopes. I helped a little because I felt guilty watching them doing all the works. I took the last boat as the first boat was loaded with bags and equipments. When we arrived at the jetty, the hiking groups did not arrived yet. So, we waited for them while unloading the boats. Around half an hour later, they all arrived. We gathered together for another head count before boarding the busses. After that, we went back to USM for an exam on what we had learnt from the past 2 weeks the next day.
I was glad that I could join this trip with my friends. From this trip, I became much more closer to my now-closest friends, syamimi, qadijah, hasnira & hanis. Sadly, hakimah was in group A, so we were separated. Besides, I also get to get to know more of my classmates especially my group mates, syazwani, zakirah, anis, arshiq, iffat, athirah, umi, lidya, mira, maryam, pavi, aqil, afiq and amet to name a few. I also became close to Kak Nora and Parjo as they were my "guardians" there. Everyone was very concerned and looked after me and my well-being throughout my stay at Cemacs. I regretted for not taking more pictures during those times as much of my memories from that time blurred out from my mind. I wrote this mainly on what I can still recalled.
Last but not least, these are a few things that may be essentials for those who will be doing field trip such as this BOI117:
1. Wear rubber shoes as it can be used in many situations. We might need to walk in water and this shoes can better protect our feet compared to canvas shoes. Besides, it can dried easily compared to any canvas or sport shoes.
2. Packed lightly, only essential needs. My mistake was packed quite heavily with pillow, blanket etc due to my health condition as I need to prepare for every worst case scenario possible that might occur. My advice is that asked the person-in-charge about what should be brought along and what not to.
3. Be frank about your health conditions if you have any illness. Better yet, asked your doctor to provide you with a letter to validated your condition. This is necessary so that they are aware of your situation and keep a close eye on you. And if the activity seemed too dangerous for you, ask for an exemption.
4. Bring along waterproof phone case as there are activities that might involve water. Besides, it also can be used to protect our phone from rain. Having this protection mechanism, we can take lots of pictures without needing to worry about our phone getting wet. These pictures can be used for documentation purposes and even serve as lifetime memories.
5. For clothes, bring jersey material and easy to dry material as we will encounter water a lot. Do not bring cotton material as it will take a longer time to dry and will become heavy once it is soaked wet.
P/s: This is just my pov without specific description on what had happened during my trip to cemacs. I personally really love this trip and held it close to my heart. As I said, many of these became hazy but there are a few scenes that are still refresh in my mind as it occured only yesterday but I'm not gonna tell here. Will end this writing here today. So, goodbye for now.
1130 hrs / 08122023 - Friday
From left: hanis, me, syamimi, hasnira & qadijah. This pic is from IG post, I cannot find any other pics aside from the posted pics as I changed my phone twice already plus I did not have that many pics to begin with. Rajin2 lah post di socmed for memories ✌️✌️
