Day trip to Pengerang and Sungai Rengit, Johor

Pengerang is this small town in the southern tip of Johor (close to Desaru and the South China Sea). It is popular for its seafood at this town called Sungai Rengit, as well as a good place for cyclist to ride via its countryside. Other attractions include an ostrich farm, dragon fruit plantation and nice long beaches.


View Pengerang in a larger map

Our day trip was more a field and eating trip to see the area surrounding there and not for birding specifically, so we did not bring our "bins" along.


Getting there without a car
Accessible via a bum boat from Changi Village jetty. Changi Village accomodates boat travellers to both Ubin Island and Pengerang. The signs that differentiate it is pretty clear and it cost SGD$9 per person. The boat man will not leave until 12 passengers are available or the shortfall is shared among the remaining passengers. Operating hours is from 7 am to 4 pm. Note: if you are planning a day trip there, remember to get back to the jetty on the Johor side by 4 pm. Journey time 1 way is roughly 45 minutes and the immigration on both sides close around 5:00 pm.

Once on the Malaysia side of the jetty, there are taxi's available for charter to Sungai Rengit for RM$20 for the whole taxi. (Note: this is for 1 way and 4 persons in 1 cab)

Sungai Rengit
It is pretty easy to move around this town. This town is popular because of its seafood mainly lobsters fresh from South China Sea and often frequented by tourist from S'pore as well Malaysian's from Johor Bahru and further north.

The 3 well known ones are located pretty close to each other. If you are not sure where they are, either (1) ask to locals (2) look for where the crowd and Singapore registered cars go.

We went to the one called Jade Garden Seafood and found it overpriced. By the way, in the same street, just 15 meters further is a house that sells bak kut teh and noodles. It seems popular among the locals too !

Bird-life
I am pretty sure there are shore birds along its serene coastal roads...That's something to consider, once the JB-Desaru highway that spans across Sungai Johor is ready. We were told by our local taxi driver (Encik Arifin, a retired Ranger and resident of Kampung Jawa) that this bridge will be ready only by December 2010.  Getting here by car requires now at the moment to swing a big loop via Kota Tinggi.


Finally some pictures of our trip there.

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