Singapore has got a lot of things to offer, but a fishing village is not one of them. On Tuesday the 17th of October the Danish Seamen’s Church in Singapore arranged a tour to the fishing village of Kukup on the west coast of Malaysia.25 people signed up for the trip and started driving the 70 kilometres west from the Singaporean-Malaysia border at 9am.
Arriving in Kukup the party went to see a local Hindu temple. Sateesh, a local employee at the Seamen’s church, and his father showed the temple and told about the Hindu faith, culture and traditions.
Visiting a fishing village like Kukup, which is built on stilts, there is no discussion about the menu at lunch time. Seafood and lots of it.
After lunch time it was time to get on the ocean. A small motor boat sailed the group to a temple, home of the goddess Tin Hau. A guide explained how the goddess is believed to be the guardian angel of fishermen and everybody else travelling at sea, thus being very important to the people of the fishing villages.
Arriving at the nearby mangrove island people with fear of heights had to face their fear. A suspension bridge 15 metres above ground had to be crossed. Or so it seemed at first.
“There was a chance to cross by a wooden foot path on ground, but the brave crossed the suspension bridge,” reverend Hans Vestergaard Jensen of the Danish Seamen’s church laughs. At the mangrove island there was a chance to see a lot of birds, shells and even a wild boar. But there were other animals than the ones living in the wild. The island was also home to a fish farm.
“To make us happy they fed the fish while we were there and they showed us all their fish. A few even got the opportunity to hold a small shark in their hands,” Hans Vestergaard Jensen explains.
After putting the sharks back into their right element, it was time for the party to head back to Kukup. At 5.30 pm the bus arrived back in Singapore with 25 tired people onboard.
