2nd Trip: Harvesting padi at Wasan

Monday 17th August which is yesterday we got our 2nd trip for this course and our trip this time is very different with the 1st trip we had last week. This week we had a trip to Wasan in Kg Masin. This time we've given a chance to do something that probably we never done before that is harvesting the padi. The aim for this trip is to gain experience being part of the Brunei heritage in harvesting the new Brunei padi brand Laila as well as do some community work with farmers in Brunei. As for me this is the first time i'm experiencing doing this kind of work because before i never get a chance to do it so i was really exited that we had this trip. Yesterday we need to came much earlier than last week where we need to be at the meeting point at SHIBIE car park in UBD exactly at 6am sharp, However i did came thirteen minutes late and at that moment most of my colleagues had not arrived but still yet the bus is leaving at 6.15am and never wait for them.hehehe. It took about half an hour for the bus to arrived at Wasan.


The sign board and its not really clear.hehehe





Dr.Asmah CAR!!!WOW...

As we arrived there we were given a warm welcome by the padi land owner named Hj.Mohd.Ali bin Bakar. Firstly before i left the bus i put on my boots and prepare myself to get wet and muddy. Dr.Asmah took photos with us and before we step on to the farm Dr.Irene gave us a short briefing about the harvesting thingy. After everyone was set with all the equipment ready such as pen knife, basket(tekiding) to put the padi on but i didn't get one so i just used plastic bags which most of us used it as well. At first i felt odd doing this kind of stuff because i guess its my first time and im abit scared of snakes or rats but neither of this animals been spotted so i felt relief. We are given 1 hour to harvest the padi and Dr.Irene said who harvested the most padi will win but i don't know who's the winner.hahaha.i hope its me!!! I'm really impress by the padi land that its has a good protection against pest which disturbed and pestering the padi such as rats, birds (burung pipit), insects (kasisang padi) and many more and i've been told that all of this pest control were mostly done by Hj Ali's son and i forgot his name actually. He told us that he used a black plastic to surrounded the padi land the reason for that is only to control the number of rats entering it but sometime it jump into the padi land. He also used dry leaf of 'pokok tarap' to scare the birds and he tie up this dry leaf in rows on a rope and when there's a group of bird came he just pull the rope and all the dry leaf moves infact he also tie up a tin filled up with rock so that it produces a sound to scare the birds. Hj.Mohd.Ali explain us that how 'kasisang padi' ate the padi. Firstly he show us how that small insect (kasisang padi) look like and it's really small and green in colour but this small insect only ate the baby padi which mean that the padi that are still in process to grow. In order to kill this insect they sprayed a pesticites around the baby padi field to kill the 'kasisang padi' and other insects.


Hj.Mohd.Ali bin Bakar padi land owner.

Dragon fly!!!!!

The man is spraying pesticides

Hj.Mohd.Ali also told us that his land is about 1.60 hecters. Before the land is used for this padi he told us that he do the slash and burn process so that it can help to make the land fertile. The padi before it is planted on this area the padi must first planted at other land which the seed is just spread out then after it grow it is transplanted to the real padi farm area and transplanted in group and 1feet spaced between each padi for path way. For this padi which is called padi Laila it took about 3 months 10 days for it to be fully matured. Hj.Mohd.Ali also added that before using this padi Laila he used padi Pusu which is smaller than padi Laila and it had a tall grass and hard to take care of it. Usually after the work of harvesting, the padi is then needed to be separated from its steam and traditionally this is done by stepping on the padi by bare footed but it is no longer practice due to invention of high-tech machines so this machine took place of this manual work and it's also help to save time. After the seed of this padi been separated then this padi need to put under the sun and left to dry for about maximum of 3 days and to check that it's already dry just bite the padi and if the padi sounds crack that's mean it's already dry and this is a traditional way. After we already done harvesting for about an hour, Hj.Mohd.Ali serve us a good breakfast kind of food and drinks such as sandwich, curry puff, 'teh tarik', mineral water, soft drinks. Before we left Hj.Mohd.Ali gave us a pack of 'beras laila' about 150kg if i'm not mistaken.

The two hansome farmer.hahaha.azri and syahir.

Padi laila after separated from its steam and leaves

Padi after being harvested and kept inside.

Yummy!!

At the end of the day i really enjoy this trip and it gave me an experience. I am proud that Brunei had left a valuable heritage which is this harvesting and many other traditional way of farming that might be different in other Asian country and might not be found in other European country..I also felt lucky as well for this trip that here i've been given the chance to do harvesting and i can experience the work of a farmer which i never felt it before.

1st Trip:Proboscis Monkey Trip.

The Proboscis Monkey Trip is the first trip for Brunei Appreciation and Community Action Course(BEACA) and were held on last Sunday 9th August. This trip started at early morning around 8am however a friend mine Syahir said, we need to met at 'Tambing' area which is between Ideal cafe and Portview Restaurant around 7.45 because the boat were leaving at 8 am sharp. Earlier that day i manage to came at 7.15am and by the time 7.30am there are 2 boat waited for us one of the boat is big and its capacity is about 20passengers and the other boat is a bit smaller and i think its capacity about 12-15 passenger if I'm not mistaken. Before all of us off to the boat Dr Irene and Dr Hasma gave us a short briefing about the trip and after that we were given a life jacket each person for our safety but azry get a life jacket with a whistle on it which i think he got an extra safety.hehehe. All student of the BEACA were on the same boat and we were on the big boat and on the other hand the lecturers and some other student i guess were on the other boat. The journey of the trip took place along the Brunei river and the trip is really interesting for me because this is not only the first trip for the course but it's also the first trip for me myself along the Brunei river. We were accompanied by two men and they were also as the tour guide and boat driver.

zali our boat driver

Our journey starts and the first thing we saw was the 'Nakoda Ragam'. I don't really know how the story goes and as far as i concern it's only a myth story which is about a forbiden son who been disrespecful to his mother and he envoled to become a rock along with his ship.





view of Nakoda Ragam from distance and near

As we go deep into the wildlife its getting very interesting. Our boat driver is telling much info about the wildlife and i think his very experience with this kind of thing and he does really help. Zali our boat driver also told us that the monkey actually live across the river and at night they swim back and if they are lucky they survive but if not they might been eaten by crocodile or been drowned, plus he also added that the monkey always in a group and in each group there will be one leader who lead the smaller ones, So in this sense the bigger monkey is might be the leader. The proboscis monkey is really hard to be approach because they are really scared to people just only with the sound of the boat it is already hiding away from us so i don't manage to capture any picture of it. Along our way back i do manage spotted many kind of animals such as Monitor lizard or in malay 'Biawak', 'Burung kenawai', snake and syahir spotted a baby crocodile but all of us don't saw it.

As we went back we also saw many interesting sites such as rock mine site, Makam Luba which is believe to be the 17th sultan of Brunei grave yard, Istana Nurul Iman, mosque and many more.

The mangrove

Makam Luba

By the time around 9.30 i guess or 9.45 we manage get back to the boat owner house and they serve us many kind of 'kuih' and it delicious. I didn't manage to took picture of theire house because i was busy eating and chit chatting. We need to paid $10 for this trip so i think its really worth it for just only $10 and i can gain experiance with this trip so its very satisfying for me so i looking foward to have this kind of trip again this week.