Last saturday, I was treated to a splendid sight of the night sky. It happened 2 weeks ago when I heard about a trip down to Pulau Semakau with Uncle Albert. Apparently, Daniel, Caleb and How Yee, who were all regular star-gazers, told me about it, my interest in it grew. I thought, since its once in a lifetime experience, why not? After all, i probably wont get to see that many stars in Singapore, given its brightly lit environment even at night.

The trip cost $35 for the jetty and bus transportation on the island, as well as the tour guide stationed on the island. Pulau Semakau is a reclaimed island where landfilling from waste in Singapore has been compacted. It was later used as a recreational facility to make full use of the land and its beauty. This is a place where birdwatching, sports fishing and tidal walks can also be done. It was truly an island of total serenity and beauty.

As we travelled to the southern tip of the island, cells of the island are being converted into fields. It was estimated that in 40 years time, the island will be fully filled, and Singapore will have to look at other alternatives to its waste management. At the end of the trip, the astronomers (about 50 of them) set up their individual telescopes at dusk. We settled down away from the site, trying not to disturb them, and also preparing our dinner. As army people who has just ord-ed, we have brought along canned food, mess tins, mosquito repellents etc.

After settling down, the first set of stars slowly started to appear 1 at a time. It was truly appearing as while we saw more stars come about, Uncle Albert was filling in details to increase our knowledge. From how planets would all spin in one direction, to telling us how the moon is actually moving further away from the Earth's orbit, to how inaccurate reading your horoscope is, due to the different times in different eras, to contemplating whether the 1st moon trip was a hoax.

We were treated to powerful visuals of the moon, Saturn and a bit of Mars in the 1st half. At the same time, Orion with its stars around it (Taurus, Raijin, Sirius), Candis Major(The dog), Leo Southern Cross and its false cross, Centaurus Alpha and Proxima, Castor and many more~!

We made a short trip back to the tourist centre where Caleb, How Yee and I had our short naps. Daniel stayed back for some other stuff.... but he told us how we missed seeing the Sagittarius and Scorpio

We were rewarded by that later in the morning at around 4am. In the morning, the whole sky changed completely, with Jupiter now in the picture. And for the first time in my life, I saw the milky way in the sky, something you will definitely not been able to see in singapore as it was a faint spot in the sky. Constellation such as Scorpio, Sagittarius (think Kettle), Centaurus, Segmus(Alberio- the 2 coloured star) , Aquila, Butterfly Cluster, The summer Triangle and Hercules all started appearing before our very eyes. It was simply breathtaking.

We were finally rewarded with the rising morning sun, with cleared the sun and showed a complete different beauty. As the rays shimmer across the artificial lake, if this isn't haven, I dunno what is. Okay, have the haven without the irritating sandfly bites!