Tanjong Piai national park

In the past three months, Tanjong Piai in Johore had been much in the news. First, it was political as the death of the Member of Parliament there had led to a by-election. The by-election in mid-November, as we know by now, was won with a landslide result by the Barisan Nasional candidate. The people had been really cheesed off by the policies of the Pakatan Harapan government and they showed it through the ballot box.

Second, Tanjong Piai was again in the news when word got around that on 26 Dec 2019, it would be the only place in the peninsula to experience a total solar eclipse (the only other convenient location would be Serian in Sarawak). The annular total solar eclipse meant that the disc of the moon could not cover the whole sun despite totality. This news got the amateur astronomers in the country pretty excited and they trooped to Kukup to witness the eclipse. Thus, there were two significant events for this place.

It so happened that that very same weekend of the by-election, We were in Johore Bahru to attend the wedding of a nephew. My wife's cousin's eldest son. Johore Bahru is actually about one-and-a-half hours away from Tanjong Piai, it being such a big state and although the by-election result reverberated throughout the day of the wedding, it didn't quite imprint itself much on me.

Not yet, anyway, until on Monday when we were picked up by my wife's ex-colleague in Johore Bahru. "Where would you like to go," Sim asked, playing tour guide to us for the day. "Dunno," we answered, "it's all up to you." Okay, she decided then. We shall take a drive to the Tanjong Piai national park. That surely pricked up my interest. Tanjong Piai. Where the by-election had just taken place.

So we hopped into her car and travelled westwards. The first big town we passed through was Pekan Nenas. From there onwards, we show the start of the bitter campaign process between the Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional parties. Buntings everywhere. Flags everywhere. Posters everywhere. Even the dullest of people would be aware that something important was going to happen. Or had happened. I couldn't resist asking Sim to stop while I took some pictures to commemorate us passing through the town.

And soon, we were on our way again. Through some narrow kampong roads and guided only with Google Maps and a GPS, we soon arrived at the entrance to the national park. We got down from the car, felt the heat and quickly retreated to the national park's visitor complex.

Forget about the other attractions. The tip of mainland Asia was where we wanted to go.

Oops! That's the end of the covered walkway which jutted into the sea. From here onwards till the sheltered hut at the far end, the searing sun was bearing down on me. Saw See and her friend were wise to stay back under the shade while I had to experience the walk into the sea, of course.

The long walk back to the sheltered walkway

And at last, we were heading towards the southernmost tip of mainland Asia

Almost there....

Actually, we should be standing BEHIND the globe, but never mind. This was the southernmost tip of mainland Asia and if there was one thing that Tanjong Piai should be famous for, this was it! Not any by-election.