times are priceless: May 2008

div me and grace

my first pic on the island :)

where we sleep

me and div

divya day dreaming :)

arvind reading ... i think ??

the wonderful pulau upeh which i miss so much

sleeping

the beautiful hawksbill in the wild. manage to get it without flash with the torch . Arvinds gona kill me

eggs ! to be saved not consumed

' THE LOBBY '

the office of fame . where all the fun is :)

this is where we store the eggs .

the painted terrapin

the hawksbill

again adele and nature

awww

poser !

adele and nature

teaching

pak ali trying to :)

arvind receiving on behalf of ernest

we were asked to give out the certificates to pengarah

me and grace

hatchery

nice

awwww turtle

when the wind howls

sunrise

scary looking at night

yap !! thats it

pulau upeh

where our first turtle nested .

green

the entrance of the lobby

oops !! i am so dead !

a ketupat in " the Lobby " now thats scary .

talk about getting strike by lighting

love this pic

pulau upeh .... nice right ??

all my bag are pack i'm ready to go .

the team . so sad div was not there

sunset on the way back to kl

me and div on the island .

Remember the days when you were young, when you told your mum you wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer or a policewomen. That day for me seemed not too long ago. I remember telling my teachers in school how I loved animals and how I always dreamed of working with WWF, with the pandas and the orang utans not forgetting my one favorite animal the tiger which is sadly now slowly at the edge of being extinct. 20 years of my life has past and now I am at the position that I would had killed for as a child. It was a dream so enchanted that it seemed it could never come true. My passion had always been for nature. As I grew up I realize how big an organization WWF was and how that dream as a child slowly faded away. Life took its place, time killed the past. I was heading into a different world of college and reality. Then came the opportunity of a lifetime. I had the chance to organize an event correspondence with WWF and SPCA building awareness among the younger generation. That’s where it all begin.
I never could admire the turtle more before I was given the chance to go to Malacca to work with the turtle team of WWF Malaysia. Yes as a person who loved animals I thought the turtle was another beautiful creation of God never hitting me once that the turtle is actually one of the most gorgeous outrages outstanding creature ever walk this planet . Yes at one point I may sound like a drama queen but trust my words when I say it is. Working with the turtle team in Malacca which works closely with the hawksbill and painted terrapins was a life time experience for me. Min Min our team leader is one of the most passionate women I have ever seen in the conservation world. I guess what she said in her interview in the star not too long ago which is what keeps her going is passion passion and passion. Grace and Arvind was another of our team mates there. I had the chance to work closely with Arvind on this trip and not forgetting my best friend Divya. What captured me most was how passionate Arvind and Grace was that they could work for the sake of saving another not just because its work. The excitement and passion put me to the stand and said I was never alone.
The best of all was I got the chance to experience this with my best friend who is a nature lover like me as well. it was such an honor to work with her on this trip. I too could tell her passion and sincerity towards conservation. It brought us both tears of joy when we heard that we were accepted as interns at WWF. Although it took is 10 days before we saw our first turtle. I guess it was worth the wait. But within this 10 days I had the time of my life. Yes you would say I would have been bored to death just hanging around the outskirts of Malacca Tanjung Bidara but as a city girl I pretty much enjoyed every second of it. No jam but once in a while you will find cows crossing the roads but hey its their territory too. Everyone is so nice, so polite, you warm and welcoming. Everyday when we go out and eat, a simple smile of a simple hello is given to me and that is what makes my days worth living. I was also given a task to complete a egg fact sheet on the comparison of nutrition in a chicken egg and a turtle egg. I actually got to find out that as much of a statement there is that turtle eggs are better. It sums it all up that after research was being done that chicken eggs are much better to consume than turtle eggs. Plus I got to improve on my translating skills as Divya would do the English fact sheet and I will do the Malay one.

Everyday at around 6 we would leave for Pulau Upeh and we would meet Pak Ali our boat man who brings us to the island everyday. I had a chance to talk to Pak Ali and as interesting as it may sound I actually admired him for who he was. A simple man with simple heart, at the end of my trip it was quite hard to part. There was something so beautiful about a fishermen smile and how they sit together underneath this little shack back at the jetty. I guess its true what people say, catch a fish for a men and he eats for a day , but teach a men how to fish , and he will never go hungry. I remember going to the island on the first day, the moment I step on the island I asked myself this question if I was a turtle would I lay my eggs here? Well I guess just like Arvind told me, ‘its just like you having your kampung , no mater what you would still go back right’. The island was small, it looked deserted. It was an abandon resort. Trust me when I say this is what nightmares are made off. We slept under the stars everyday. It was a dream come true for me and Divya. What more can you ask for. A night with just stars the sparkled like the eyes of the sky, the sound of the waves hitting your ears, who needs an iPod. As I glaze at the skies I see shooting stars that glance by. This is how I console myself and say If never make it to heaven, this is the closes I could get. The whole trip on the island was just amazing, no words could describe. Within these 10 days of no turtle I and Divya fell into a little bit of turtle depression. Its quite sad night after night patrolling the beach every one hour plus but spot no turtles. Despite that of cause we had each others company and we had a chance to chat with guards over there as well. As weird as it may should I actually built an interest of listening to the guards stories that they had to tell us day by day. It reminded me of the days when I was young of how grandma use to tell me her stories too. Sometimes me, Divya, Arvind and Richard get so carried away in our laughter that we probably had scared a few turtles away. Here I also got to work with another passionate conservation guy Richard. His stories of how he as a nature lover himself went on trips and work with other teams on different animals. It’s amazing just to hear his stories. It so good to have in minded that there are still people out there likes that which I only thought happens in HBO movies. Well they definitely prove me wrong. How we craved for chocolate milk and Oreos on the island. It became our staple food. Oh, how I miss it.
Then the day came, it was actually the most beautiful night of all nights. The countless stars in the sky caught my eyes, the beautiful raze in the sky f.The amazing light that lighted up the sky above us so high. I knew that today was a good day. Just after midnight it was Divya and Richards turn to patrol the and I wanted to take a sinful fulfilling bite of the chocolate, Arvinds phone rings and it’s Richard. Divya had spotted a turtle. At first honestly I was still in shock because I was at the edge of saying I would never see a turtle. Then I started to hurry Arvind with the stuff I was too exited that at one point I forgot to help Arvind with carrying the stuff down to where she had nested. I think he was at the edge of literally kicking me off the cliff at one point. I ran with all mixed up emotions. I ran like a little kid running towards her mum waiting to give her a hug. I saw Divya, her look on her face was awesome. It was priceless.

There she was nesting at her own sweet corner underneath a tree. She was the most gorgeous looking thing I have ever seen. I felt like it was a dream. I felt the sweat of happiness running down my spine. My tears wiped against Divya’s shirt as I hugged her so tight. We were like little kids seeing our first turtle in the wild. But I guess a kids happiness is truly priceless amazing and sincere. I was too exited once again that I forgot I was given the task to write down data until Arvind Hit me back to reality and said ‘ hey , data sheet!’. She was a new turtle, this means she had not come up to the island to nest before because she was not tagged. Just like us we have names to identify ourselves; turtles have tags with numbers and their codes.
When we got there she had already nested and she was already sand bathing which is their ritual thing that they do after nesting. Unfortunately I was at her flipper when she started to sand bath and boy did she hit me hard. But just as Richard said times like that you actually don’t mind getting hit. Which is actually quite true although it leaves you a blue black or another, it’s worth it. After taking the necessary measurements we dugged for her eggs and put in a sty reform box and. She laid about 134 eggs that night. Seeing her go back to sea was eye catching amazing. Just as the moon shown down on her back and she took her steps back to sea. i was so agitated of riding on its back and saying take me with you. Although it may sound scary and weird at the same time. Divya had taken the measurements for the eggs while me and Richard count them slowly and put them in the box. It was a night to remember. I remembered calling my mum at about 2.30 a.m. and telling her everything. I knew she shared my excitement with me as well. Then Vimal my very very good friend calls me up too and there I went on again telling him about how amazing this turtles was. he was more concerned about me being out so late like that at night but he knew I was in good hands. We were all so tired and warn out that night. Me and Divya still could not believe our eyes. The night was priceless.
The next moring we took the eggs back to the hatchery. Arvind actually drove like 60km/h and cause a massive jam I think. We had to drive slowly so we don’t harm the eggs. I started to laugh when ARvind drove very slowly because he is quite a F1 driver on days that there are no eggs. The next day got even better. The moment we landed on the island me and Divya did not even have chance to lay our mat on the jetty and we saw flashes of light from the beach. We knew immediately it was a turtle so we took the necessary things and headed for some work. As we when there ARvind told us there were 2 at the same time. This got us even more exited. One for each me and Divya. Arvind separated us into groups, Divya went with Arvind to one turtle and I was with Richard here with my turtle. My turtle was such an angel she found the perfect spot to nest and laid there that night. Me and Richard became quite adventurous and did a komando crawl up to her to watch her nest but of cause in the quietest position ever. Just watching her nest and give life was a bundle of joy. Just was I was seeing her nest I felt this heavy breath behind my neck , the wind had stop and the light from the moon deemed. As I turned behind, it was Mr Arvind behind us watching us be sneaky and all naughtiness up our sleeves. At that point I knew I was a dead girl. We were actually not allowed to go too close to the turtle. Yes I did feel bad at one point but I have to admit that what I saw I could not even get it on the national geographic. Then came Divya’s turtle that was quite a late turtle. She took hours to search for a place to nest. I mean I could understand how she felt. Pulau Upeh is not much of a beach. She dugged 5 pits before she finally had nested. She had nested when my little angel went back to sea. That’s how long she took. After she had gone back to sea, searching for her eggs was rough and death taking. Arvind was actually at the point of giving up. But just at that moment as I was brushing through the sand I came upon a turtle egg and I said ‘hey Arvind isn’t this turtle egg’ at that moment everyone’s face had lit like they had seen a glance of heaven. So we dug and finally got her egg which was around 119. We had started at around 8.30 p.m and we only headed back to the jetty at around 4 something. It was quite night. We were all roughed up and tired. We slept like little soundless babies after that. We woke up the next morning just in time to put the stuff in Pak Ali’s boat and head back to shore.
I think that night we all had the best sleep ever. Even though the night before that I fell from the boat and was all wet. And of all the days in the world I fell when there was the most fishermen were at shore. How embarrassing is life. The nights after that became very emotional for me and Divya because the time for us to say goodbye to Malacca came closer and closer. I guess the relationship that we had built with one another was so close that we dreaded to come home. Even I extended my stay for a few more days. I was just not prepared to go home. That day it was divya’s last night. She got the most amazing present before she went home. That night we reach the jetty we were getting ready to go on pak ali’s boat then suddenly Divya goes ‘oh my god hatchlings’. At that moment I knew today has got to be my lucky day just as I was complaining a few hours ago I did not get to see turtle hatchlings there they were right in front of my eyes. That night we were asked to release them when we got to Pulau Upeh. I got to hold a few in my hands. They were the tini winy small little turtle in the palm of my hands. Arvind put the box down so they could crawl out one by one. It’s amazing of how they form a triangle when they come out and slowly head to sea. It was magnificent to see them as they went to sea. At some point I think the tears of joy filed my eyes to witness such a wonderful thing. Then the next morning it was time for Divya to go home. It was quite hard for me being alone after that without her on the island as well. we had send her off that day and a shed of tear filled her eyes and she got on the bus to go home. That night was my second last night on the island and we actually got to celebrate someone’s birthday on the island. It was Arvinds birthday and I had plan something so perfect for him. I told Richard to bring his phone down to the beach when we petrol then to call Arvind as we approach behind the trees. I told him to tell Arvind that there is a turtle , just as Arvind came to search for the turtle I came our of the bushes singing the birthday song. Arvind had a million dollar look on his face that moment. He was quite in shock too. I guess it will be a birthday he will never forget?
The Next night was my last night on Pulau Upeh. I was so emotional that night. I had just listened to my radio and watch the beautiful stars up in the sky. That night I spotted 11 shooting stars. How lucky am I. it did not last for long tho. It actually started to rain and we had to head to ‘the lobby’ for shelter. It is a haunted looking deserted lobby. Well it only looks haunted but its not too bad in there don’t worry. At about 4.30 a.m. I could not sleep I had gone out to take a walk .as I was outside I watch the raugh sea hit the shore. I watch the wind howl call the rain. I sat and stared at the sea, just thinking what would it be like to work here for long. What would it be like to live some place like this? I was day dreaming and I stayed up the whole night till Arvind and Richard woke up. I guess I did not want to waste time sleeping when I could spend my time admiring the island. I learn a lot on this trip. The one thing I learn is how people live in a smaller town, the happiness of fishermen, and the dedicated people who risk lives to save another. I wish I could work here permanently not just as a job, not just as a chore but as a passion and something worth living and working for.

eNjOy !!

delmissacen.