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6 MATHS AND SCIENCES
Malaysia and Singapore Trip
Ria Aggarwal, U6S
With an excruciating early 5am start,
a group of very tired Bancroftians
headed out to Malaysia and
Singapore for a diving and ecology
trip. The trip was led by Mrs Graham
(Biology) and Mr Goalby (Chemistry)
and consisted of 21 students from
the Fifth Form up to Upper Sixth.
After a deceptively smooth first flight
to Dubai, we unfortunately missed our
connection to Singapore due to flight delays.
While waiting four hours in Dubai airport
to reorganise flights and watching Mrs
Graham deal with the complexity of airport
administration we had our first bonding
session as we conquered a corner of the
airport to play cards and football. At 2am,
bookings were finally complete and our
group spit for two different flights. Since
my group had an unexpected day in Dubai,
we embarked on a city tour in which we
saw mosques, the Palm Islands and the Burj
Khalifa with Mr Goalby. During spare time
in the hotel, we also all managed to master
the art of poker which became fiercely
competitive in striving to win the most
sugar packets. The other half of our group
with Mrs Graham moved onto Singapore
earlier but we all regrouped and headed off
to Tioman Island only five hours later than
planned. At Singapore, we were joined by
Ecofieldtrips’ staff, Rob and Kat, who led the
days of snorkeling and trekking and stayed
with us until the very end of the trip.
Tioman is an island covered with tropical
rainforest and beaches off the east coast
of Malaysia. We got a ferry from Tanjung
Gemuk in Peninsular Malaysia. On arriving in
Genting, we saw locals playing an impressive
game of Sepak Takraw, a rattan ball game
and the native sport of Malaysia. On our first
day on the island, Rob and Kat taught us to
play Sepak Takraw, or at least a form of it!
We quickly caught onto the game, with some
rules having to be bent for us to keep the ball
in the air for more than three seconds. We
split into teams, and a ‘friendly’ tournament
was arranged. Again, our competitive streak
came out and was especially prominent in
Caleb who gave his team aggressive pep talks
as self-appointed leader.
On Tioman Island we stayed in Melina
Beach Resort, situated between the tropical
rainforest and fringing coral reef. This gave us
an opportunity to explore both such diverse
ecosystems. One theme of our trip was
microplastics: the impact they are having to
marine life and even to human health. We
learnt that millions of tons of plastic debris
end up in our oceans collecting in ocean gyres
and are known as ‘plastic soups’. During one
of our evenings we had a collective debate
as to who is responsible for the management
of mounting microplastic pollution; the
government, general public or conservation
agencies. One thing we learned was never
again to use plastic drinking straws!
We also took advantage of the surrounding
rainforest by going on a walk from Tekek to
Juara. Rob and Kat pointed out may different
animals including long tail macaques, monitor
lizards and fruit bats. We also noticed plant
adaptations to the rainforest like buttress
roots and drip tips. Here we did some
sampling in which we used a clinometer to
calculate tree height using trigonometry. We
also visited one of the island’s mangroves
which are now under threat due to land
being cleared for building resorts and shrimp
farming. On another evening, we went on a
night time intertidal walk where we saw
many sea cucumbers. These slug-like
invertebrates feed on tiny food particles by
sifting through and inadvertently cleaning
the sand on the seafloor. We also learnt that
when under attack sea cucumbers expel their
own toxic internal organs which can save
them from predation!
Our last days in Tioman were our diving days
in which we progressed from inexperienced
divers to achieving our PADI qualification.
This involved learning the basics of
equipment and safety to emergency ascents.
These days were the most tiring, however
it was wholly rewarding to be able to reach
depths of 18m to see turtles, baby sharks and
lionfish. As a group we got serious tan lines
due to wetsuits, earning me the nickname
‘stripey’. All students and Mr Goalby passed
their PADI open water certification so we
were very pleased.
We travelled back to Singapore where we
visited the Botanic Gardens, Little India
and China Town. This was the chance to do
some intense shopping, which Abdullah fully
utilised. We also tried durian, the world’s
stinkiest fruit. I managed to eat the most,
which was perhaps not the best idea given
that we were due to go to Raffles Hotel
for high tea afterwards. For Raffles, we all
scrubbed up changing out of our usual shorts
and t-shirts into dresses and smart clothes.
This was definitely an eventful trip, in which
we eventually all became immune to the
heat, insects and salt water. We got to know
students and teachers alike and it was a great
way to send off the Upper Sixth students
who were leaving Bancroft’s.