Fishing Places For Children To Visit In Singapore: ‘LongKang’ Fishing Pond In Sungei Tengah
Smitten with the thrill of ‘longkang’ fishing at a Kranji fishing place earlier in June, we visited another ‘longkang’ fishing place at Qian Hu Aquarium in Sungei Tengah as my children clamoured for more during this June holiday.
Qian Hu needs no introduction for Singaporeans who dabble in shares on the Stock exchange of Singapore. This listed company is a major producer and exporter of tropical fishes. Their aquarium and fish farm at Jalan Lekar, off Sungei Tengah, has several ponds to amuse local visitors who come for longkang fishing, feet-cleansing routines and aquarium fish shopping.
Qian Hu’s ‘longkang’ is tucked away in a corner of the main building that sits on the left as you walk down the sloping road from its main entrance. This fenced-up open area for ‘longkang’ fishing has a concrete pond of uneven depth, between 1 to 2 feet with a series of shallow canals connected into a maze. There are sheltered benches for child minders to rest as they watch over their children.
Their ‘longkang’ fishing policy is to charge children less than 12 years old $5 each for half hour of fishing. You get to keep all longkang fishes that you manage to catch, plus the plastic container allocated to you. However, the fishing net has to be returned and exchanged for a container lid to seal your container of fishes for the journey home.
The small rectangular nets attached to a flimsy handle made longkang fishing challenging. Through trial and error, we learnt that you could succeed in catching fishes in several ways. The first way is to hold the net near the surface of the water, aim at your target, then swing the net down and scoop up your catch. This method generates a lot of unwanted splash and success depends on the speed and the distance of the fish from the water surface.
The other more refined way is to use stealth. Put the net under water close to the side of the longkang and trail your target with the net. When the fish swims between the net and the side of the longkang, capture your target by pushing the net against the side of the longkang. Then scrape the sidewall as you lift up the fish sticking to the net out of the water.
As a last resort, if all else fails, use the plastic container that was provided and leave it under water with its opening facing one direction. From the other end, use your net to chase fishes along the canal and hope that one or two will swim into the container. Once the fishes are inside, you have to lift the container out of the water quickly. I am sure you can think of other ingenious ways to help your child succeed in longkang fishing.
At this ‘longkang’ fishing pond, there are two round shallow ponds under shelter where patrons pay $10 to get their feet cleansed by a special breed of fish. Users remove their footwear, sit on the rim of the pond and dangle both feet to allow fishes to chew away dead skin cells. We did not try this feet cleansing routine, as the thought of fishes biting our lower limbs was as unappealing as the sharing of water filled with other people’s unwanted skin tissues.
There are also mature fruit-bearing chiku trees on this property. Children can learn to recognize the chiku tree and receive opportunity to touch the fruits, bark and leaves. A pond filled with terrapins sat near one corner and those keen may feed them at their own pleasure. Elsewhere, there are many fish farm tanks full of exotic ornamental aquarium fishes, goldfishes and koi fishes. Of note are the expensive Arowana fishes, housed in a darkened room, that visitors can come to appreciate their aesthetic value.
This is another fun and interesting fishing place for kids to visit in Singapore. For older Singaporeans pining for a return to the good old days of long kang fishing, this fishing place is one of those nostalgic places to relive the memories. For the younger generation, this is one place to learn why longkang fishing was the craze during their parents or grandparents time.
See more places. Live more life.
Related Reading:
Related posts:
1) Longkang fishing in Kranji (1)
2) Longkang fishing in Kranji (2)
3) Kids fishing place at Bottle Tree
4) Fishing place for kids at Sungei Tengah
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7 comments:
the pictures that you have taken all appear to be so much nicer
Your posts on your site opened my eyes to the many wonderful places to visit in Singapore. Thanks for sharing! I will visit often to get more ideas!
The mentioned last resort of longkang fishing is funny. =) Letting the fishes help themselves with our dead skin is quite a revolting thought, but this looks like a fun place.
The pool was packed, people sitting elbow to elbow. They seemed quite happy to offer a part of their anatomy as fish food. If only the water did not look so dark and brown, I might have given it a try!
hi seenthisscene that, another place that offers longkang fishing is bottle tree park, the one located after the khatib station in yishun. it is quite a large park maintained by the owners of bottle tree.
while the children entertain themselves in longkand fishing, the adults can try their hands at prawn fishing at the adjacent pond.
by the way, bottle tree village at jalan mempurong also has a fish spa.
Appreciate your tip on another longkang fishing spot. I will post my review soon. Thanks!
Hey can I know where is this place? I want the address!
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