Outing with International Students to Sungei Buloh

On 9th Nov ’13 (Sat), See Pan, Dr Chen Ming and I brought 13 international students to Sungei Buloh. See Pan shared with us very nice rambutan from his garden. The Chinese students were very appreciative of it because it is new to them and they like eating it. See Pan even bought Attap seeds for the students to try. He related that he had a hard time looking for it in the supermarket because it was manned by foreigners. The first one that he approached for help was from Philippines and the second lady was from China. Both have never heard of Attap seeds.
There are a lot of Attap plants in Sungei Buloh. In the olden days, houses were built with Attap leaves. This is why such houses were called Attap house. The sap from the bud gives an alcoholic drink called toddy. The fruit has edible seed which can be found in ice kacang.
On the bus, See Pan lectured and conducted a pop quiz with instant prizes to be won.  Students, who gave the right answers, have an array of snacks to choose from.
The board walk that goes right into the swamp area is made from the wood of mangrove trees which have adapted to the local conditions like extreme humidity, muddy soil and seawater. This is a brilliant engineering solution: sustainable, economical and environment friendly.
On the way out, we saw a hornbill bird which is quite rare in Singapore. Apparently, it is not shy of people. It stayed calm and collected while the many of us were clicking away and chattering noisily.