Sungai Juru Recreation Park, Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang

 Juru River signage

Have a great day beginning with a visit to Sungai Juru Recreation Park, Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang in the morning.  Enjoying the sunshine and the breeze at the riverside park which is located along the main North-South(Butterworth - Ipoh) trunk road on the right hand-side if coming from Butterworth or on the left hand side of the trunk road if traveling from South.  It is approximately 150km on the Old Trunk road to Ipoh, Perak.  I have never had the chance to go there even though I have been passing through this riverside recreation park almost daily as most of the days were rushing to places with daily agenda.  Just two days earlier, I was passing the bridge over the river going towards Juru Auto-City highways interchange when I saw the beautiful clouds over Bukit Mertajam or "BIG FOOTHILL" that made me want to stop by at this spot again on a fine day.

Reflection of Big Foothill under the bridge

Sungai Juru Recreation Park, Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang

Green trees lining both sides of the river banks at Sungai Juru

Sungai Juru is the river that flow into the Strait of Malacca at the Penang Channel on the Mainland side of Penang State which is also know as Province Wellesley or Seberang Perai.  Seberang Perai have three Districts which are known as Seberang Perai Utara (S.P.U.), Seberang Perai Tengah (S.P.T.) and Seberang Perai Selatan(S.P.S.). It is administered by the City Council, Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai.

Suspension bridge

Noni plant at the river bank of Sungai Juru Recreation Park

The Sungai Juru Riverside Recreation Park is equipped with a playground for children and a foot reflexology garden.  It is also having some resting cabana like concrete structure at both sides of the river for tired feet to rest or shelter from the sun or rain.  There are wood-like concrete benches on both sides of the banks for you to take a good view and sip in the breeze while you can chat with your companions.  There were some visitors who just laid flat on the benches under the tree shades enjoying the cool windy breeze in the morning and evening. The park is supervised by the Drainage and Irrigation Department or JPS as they have a workshop cum station at the end of park on one side of the bank which is also near the Veterinary Department Office.  They have a small boat on standby to help them in their daily task.

Palm tree and stump

Rest area

It is a beautiful sight to behold if you walk to the suspension bridge which is at the end of the park which link both sides of the river banks where you can view the hills around Bukit Mertajam as you walk across the bridge.  On the other hand, let me warn you, if you have fear of water (water phobia) or of walking on ropes or suspension bridge, please do not worry as the bridge is safe as it has safety nets and metal railings guard for you to hold onto. Even a motorcyclist ride on his motorcycle on the suspension bridge to get over to the other side of the river bank to shorten his journey.

Tree resembling a Cross

Some visitors are regulars there doing some jogging and walking to stay fit and healthy. I just enjoy taking some photographs of the scenery at Park. Palm trees are also planted there as it is also the tree symbol on the Penang State flag.  There is a Noni tree with fruits and flowers too.  One green tree grew tall and its branches resembled a cross.

Noni fruits are known for its herbal and medicinal values

Having fun climbing trees

Cool Green

View of Bukit Mertajam a.k.a. Big Foot Hill from the suspension bridge

Serene view of Bukit Mertajam across the bridge linking Butterworth-Ipoh main trunk road near Bukit Minyak

Debris and rubbish flowed into and trapped in the river

Rubbish trapped underneath the suspension bridge

A beautiful sky above but the ugly reflection on the water

Can you identify the culprit?

Do you feed milk to your child or do you let the living creatures drink the polluted waters?

Our food chains depend on our habits to change for better

Washing the polluted waters or pollutant?

Think out of the box or throw out the box?

Plastics, foams and rubbish we dumped into the drains ended up into the river

Do our children deserve playground in this environment?

Recycled or already drunk?

Before the entrapment

Next time you cross the bridge, please make a wish that you love our environment and heritage. Remember Sungai Juru for Mother Earth

Come to enjoy God's gifts to Mankind and follow His steps of loving kindness

Leave footprints behind

For those who love green environments, and who dislike the sights of the flotilla of rubbish or plastic wastes or old decomposed parts of plants or human made objects, you will be upset as there are tonnes of such items floating on our drains and flowing into the river daily and trapped by the entrapment placed across the river just immediately after the suspension bridge.  The entrapment helped to trap the rubbish which are then disposed off by the JPS to minimize the pollution of water that flow into the seas and our environments.

Just by co-incident, there was this article in The Star newspapers on Saturday 13, November 2010 Nation page N21 that the Penang State Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has urged non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to speak up in supports of the no plastic bag ruling daily from January 1, 2011(see scanned page of The Star).  I was really upset when I saw not only plastics bags floating on our beautiful riverside park at Sungai Juru Recreation Park.  Here are some snapshots of ugly objects which you and me are familiar with and used daily which we need to clean up our acts.  The plastic bottles from mineral or drinking waters and soft-drinks, the plastic and foam containers used for foods packaging, the aerosol or spray cans, the cans from soft-drinks and beers, glass bottles, shoes and comb, the foam packaging for consumer goods especially for electrical goods preventing impact damages.

Although most of these plastics,foams and cans are from consumer products which are sold by reputable manufacturers with labels reminding us on helping to recycle it after use and avoid littering, most of us are not environmental friendly.  It has chain effects on all of us and the environment.  Can we stop all this by making a pledge and put in action to stop using these hazards to environment and health hazards to ourselves?  If the laws of the country do not allow the use or manufacture of these hazardous plastics, foams and pollutants, the manufacturers will have to resort to alternative packaging materials which are more environmental friendly.  Ultimately,the change in attitude of the consumers and the manufacturers are crucial to make the green environment possible in Penang, Malaysia and any parts of the Earth.

I remember those days in the Sixties(1960s) and early Seventies(1970s) when I followed my beloved departed mommy to market and we brought our own baskets made of bamboo and rattan to carry the sundry goods.  We also have our fish, prawns, meat and vegetables wrapped in old recycle newspaper or other papers.  Eggs, rice, sugars and even the charcoals were wrapped in old newspapers which were prepared in triangular shapes bags or paper bags made from brown papers.  Even the wedding dinners banquet tables were usually covered with table cloths and/or papers (Pink colored papers for weddings and white colored papers for funerals). Of course, brown paper for Chinese tile games.

Oh yes, those days, we bring our own enamel plated or stainless steel containers for carrying foods when we go the local restaurants or coffee shops to buy foods for meals and refreshments at home.  A visit to the local government clinic for treatment and medication would not be complete without bringing our own glass bottles for the liquid medicines and there were also brown or dark colored glass bottles for special prescriptions.  Steamed coconut milk rice with curry anchovy and hard-boiled egg and garnished with cucumber slices, and steamed glutinous rice with grated coconut in brown sugar  which is a type of Malaysian desserts and many other foods were wrapped in banana leaves.

Coca Cola, 7up and Fraser & Neave (F & N) soft-drinks were in glass bottles then.  The Guinness Stout and Anchor Beer were in dark brown colored bottles in three sizes. As a child, I used to collect the metal caps of these bottles to play many types of games with it. Perhaps I will tell more of the games to my own kid. The breads were in waxed paper wrappings or straight from the local bakers in paper bags and then kept in our own bread container.

Alas, changes to our present lifestyles and habits are necessary to help protect our environment and our health.  There will certainly be losses to some businesses but the economy will still grow as shrew businesses adapt to new demands.  In the past, did we compensate the glass manufacturers who make glass bottles for the soft-drinks or the clog makers who makes clogs for our foot-wears? No supply and the demand will go for the alternative source for solutions.  Therefore, the alternative solutions will have to be set in place to encourage more manufacturers to quickly change their model of business to embrace the new environmental friendly products demanded by the community. It is just sharing my personal experiences and thoughts.

God created Nature and beautiful things and living creatures like us to inherit His gifts as written in the book of Genesis in the Bible.  How do we appreciate God then?  What do we as good parents want our children to inherit from us?