The Elusive Kukup Valley

Let me first say that overall, Maggie has done a fantastic job of booking fun weekend trips for us, and I really appreciate all the time she spends dealing with poorly designed web sites and a variety of thick accents when making our travel plans.

Kukup Valley was to be a simple day trip across the border into Malaysia, yet Maggie seemed more excited about this trip than most of the others. She kept reminding me "Kukup Valley next weekend!". There were promises of a remote fishing village where all the buildings were on stilts. An authentic Malyasian seafood lunch. Shopping for local handicrafts, and a visit to Orchid Valley! Every day, I heard the countdown: "Four days till Kukup Valley!".

Finally, the day came.

We walked a couple blocks to a nearby hotel to catch a minibus to the Suntec City mall. At the mall, we transferred to a large tour bus. I had my huge camera bag and my tripod. Maggie had a giant bag filled with snacks, brochures, her camera, and enough Malyasian Ringgit to handle her planned shopping spree.

Once on the bus, we heard the tour guide explain the process for crossing the border and we learned that a Malaysian Tour Guide would replace out Singaporean Tour Guide. We each got an immigration card to fill out. As the bus headed north toward the causeway that separates Signapore from Malaysia, the tour guide started at the rear of the bus, checking to make sure we had all completed our immigration cards.

[When we first moved to Singapore, we had to apply for green cards. I have a green card indicating that I have a work permit. Maggie has a green card to indicate that she is the spouse of someone with a work permit. These green cards have ensured that our wait at Immigration, when returning to Singapore, is never longer than 20 seconds.]

It so happens that when the tour guide stopped at our seats to ensure that our paperwork was in order, Maggie confessed that she was not in possession of her green card. Maggie inquired if it was "really necessary" to actually carry the card at all times? In response to Maggie's query, the tour guide walked to the front of the bus and said something to the driver. Within 30 seconds, the bus stopped at the side of the road and the doors opened. The tour guide unapologetically told us: "You might alight here. You can take a taxi home".

We gathered our camera bags, sack of snacks and brochures and my tripod and marched the long walk of shame from our seats to the front door of the bus. We stood in shamed silence as the bus drove away. Maggie began to cry.

I assured Maggie that this was a minor setback. "By God!", I said. "We'll keep trying until we get to Kukup Valley! We'll get it right eventually!" Then we went to the Orchid Garden in Singapore and had breakfast.

Three weeks later, "Try, try again". The tour company graciously offered to book us on a later trip, and we once again arrived at Sunset City mall. This time, before we boarded the bus, they told us that they "No longer do the trip to Kukup Valley, due to lack of interest". This, despite Maggie's phone conversation with them the previous day confirming our trip. Instead, they asked, would we like to visit the Zoo or Johor Bahru?

Johor Bahru is another town in Malaysia, just across the border. Something akin to Tijuana. The trip ended with us gnawing on my camera bag because we were so hungry. They did not stop anywhere near a source of food during the entire tourist-trap ridden journey.

We told ourselves that the Kukup Valley trip was probably over rated anyway.