Taiping Museum

Decided to drop by the museum in Taiping after our visit to Kuala Gula. and Charcoal Factory. Like most museums here, half the museum consisted of skeletons and stuffed animals. And then there was a small but interesting section on culture.

@Martha, 2011

Dried Shrimp and Belacan Making -Kuala Gula

 Wanna see how dried shrimp is made? You get to see lots of that in Pulau Ketam.  But visit the Chinese Fishing Village near Kuala Gula, and you'll see deep orange dried shrimp, and Belacan Making. Certainly interesting and fascinating. :) To get there, follow directions as going to Kuala Gula, but instead of turning into Jalan Bersatu 1, you go another 100 metres until after the shophouses then turn left... Go straight and you'll come to the village.

Dried Shrimp-after it's boiled in some substance. Dried salted fish on rack

Belacan Making

@Martha

Mr. Chuah's Charcoal Factory

If you're in Taiping, do head towards Kuala Sepetang and visit Mr. Chuah's Charcoal Factory. Call ahead for a guided tour (RM5 per person.)
To read more about our trip please visit link on my other blogpost  Mangrove Study(KGula and Charcoal Factory).

Mr. Chuah's brother explaining the process of steaming mangrove wood

The Kiln. Difficult to make apparently, and only 2 people has the secret knowledge of how this is made

To make a booking for a tour, call 0125739563. Getting there is pretty easy, it's located just about half hour from Taiping. Head towards Kuala Sepetang, and on  the main road you'll see a large signboard pointing left to Mr. Chuah's Factory.

@Martha , 2011

Kuala Gula- Perak

Kuala Gula, situated in Nothern Perak consists of mangrove, mudflats and estuaries. It's really a lovely place for bird watching. Highly recommended that you book a boat with a guide to enjoy your trip. :) We went as part of our study on  Mangrove. (Please visit link to read about the whole trip, this page is just an excerpt.)

Directions as given by friend :
From Jalan Kamunting Lama heading towards PLUS highway, turn right onto Route 1 (trunk road) instead of the toll booths..
After driving for almost 8 km, turn left onto Jalan Gula (signboards will be there).
After 17 km ++, turn left onto A196.
After 4 km ++, turn left onto Jalan Bersatu 1.

One can easily spot egrets and herons there

FLoating fish farm

Bird watching

@Martha 2011

Kids visit Petaling Street

For the fun of it, hubby decided we'd visit Petaling Street with our kids. I was a little apprehensive at first, then thought why not. So we went. As usual, Petaling Street or China Town in Kuala Lumpur, was extremely crowded. Hubby carried the younger, and I had the older tightly in my grip, so as not to loose any of them in the narrow, crowded lanes.

It was nice, kids enjoyed it. We learnt all about imitation goods and haggling. heh heh...  I saw a salesman "rip off" a tourist, selling her imitation Coach for a whopping RM200! 

Lots of tourists still..

I find the fruit stalls there very colourful...even more so under yellow light at night

Aha...imitation LeSac. Be careful with quality. Some sell really bad quality stuff, and some very good ones. Check properly before buying.

@Martha, 2011

GCC Farm Bentong

A relatively new farm in Bentong is the GCC Farm. It's a fairly new farm, with lots of work to be done.

Just a few random shots below, followed by 2 videos of goats which I enjoyed taking. :)

 The area surrounding the farm, lovely and serene.

We visited the goat pen, and this goat said "Yo mama..ain't I handsome or what!"

This one called out to me and said "yo mama...me likes you. You like me smile? I got nice teeth. yeah!"

and here's the same fella with his silly grin. hahaha..

And then em females came out and said "Yo mama leave our men alone and go find your own kind." hehe...

Video 1-Sneezing Goat.



Video 2- Testing goat reaction. hehehe..I had fun doing this, don't go thinking I'm mad now, coz i'm not..but just having fun. :) Enjoy.


Finally, if looking for no-kill Bentong Farm Sanctuary, click on following post Bentong Sanctuary Farm (LLFarm) or   Liberation Farm. @Martha , 2011

Bird watching again, more than 10,000 birds this time!

 Unsatisfied with last bird watching we decided to try again. Amazing, estimated about 10,000 birds, and with a great variety of birds this time! Just simply breathtaking. This place unfortunately is off limits, but you may go in when Pesta Sayap is on, or with written request ahead of time.

For the full post, with videos of the  amazing sight,  kindly visit my other blog here Bird Watching Again

Address if you'd like to write in for permission:
Tn. Hj Sohaimi Subahir
Stesen Janaelektrik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz,
Beg Berkunci 220,
Jalan Tok Muda
42200 Kapar,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
@Martha, 2011

Bird Watching Kapar Power Station

Kapar Power Station opens once a year during the Festival of Wings. For more pics, hop over to my other blog here at BIrd Watching KaparPS

@Martha , 2011

Children exploring Jelita Ostrich Farm, Seremban

Feeding the pretty goats there

We've been to Jelita Ostrich Farm in Seremban twice in 2010, and both times we loved it. What I like about it is that it is huge with acres of green green grass. If you book ahead, they'll provide a tour guide who'll take you on an educational tour, all about ostriches. For instance, I learned that a male ostrich has a red line on its beak, as if wearing lipstick; and that ostriches are the only birds with only 2 toes (and Emu has 3).
                                                                                         

They've also got ostriches of different ages, and of course my girls went oooh and aaahhs over the baby ostriches. :)

On a non crowded day, one may choose to ride an ostrich. Children must be always held by an adult as a tumble from an ostrich can be nasty! Though I felt uncomfortable about riding an ostrich, I gave it a shot since I was dared.  Well, they taught me how to balance on an ostrich, which is to hang on to the feathers and sit really way back on the ostrich, slouching forward, then balance. This went against my instinct which was to sit close to the ostrich's neck to avoid falling off the back. Well..it was quite a ride!

If you go on a crowded day, they'll just put people off and on the ostrich just for photo shoot. (poor ostrich I know..)
                                                                                            

Finally, if you do go, go early in the morning as it can get very hot. They also sell Ostrich Satay, omelet and other skin care and health products, all derived from the ostrich in some way.

Testing the strength of Ostrich Eggs. However, the guide said, there's no guarantee the eggs will not break.

Feeding baby Ostrich. Be careful though, once an adult ostrich started running towards Lil Jo, who panicked a little. (hehe..) And yeah, standing among the tall ostriches  had me imagining for a moment that I was among dinosaurs!

Helping dd onto an ostrich before riding round the ring

Collecting cert after the ride

Entrance fee: Adult (RM8), Child (RM6)
Opening Hours: 9am to 5pm

Jelita Ostrich Farm.

Lot 1504, Batu 6, Mukim Pantai, Jalan Jelebu,, 71770 Seremban, Malaysia

Tel : 06-767 0707

Children at FRIM canopy Walkway

We enjoy going to FRIM. . We've been there several times and usually we head out there really early morning before it gets too crowded. A nice place to hang out is at their little waterfall, shallow and like all waterfalls, refreshing. :)

At the Canopy Walk itself. For more info visit FRIM.Gov.my

The Canopy Walkway at FRIM is  definitely worth a visit. Just be warned that it can get very crowded on weekends and you might have to queue. Do take note that the opening hours are 9.30am – 2.30 pm except on Mondays and Fridays and the last registration is at 1.30 pm. You'll have to purchase a ticket at the office before trekking to the start of the walk. To get to the canopy walk,  you'll have to hike/trek uphill for about half hour to 11/2 hours (depending on your fitness level), some parts may be quite steep for the unfit. As always, I had super bribes to get my youngest going. *wink* It also helps to have other families or friends come along and that always motivates the kids to walk happily without whining. :)

Apart from trekking to the canopy walk, one can also take a long, beautiful walk to the waterfall instead of driving right to it. We always enjoy that walk, and once we walked that path with some good friends from France, in pouring rain! A day I will never forget, certainly filled with laughter, for how often does one get to walk in rain with good friends. :)  (To read more, click on READ More link below)

Cold Camping

We went camping somewhere in Pahang..this time at a high altitude. Oohhh...all I can say is that it was shiveringly cold at night!!! We kept warm around the Korean BBQ wok and the adults had some nice wine to keep warm. Huh..yeah, 5 star camping with wine. :)  Just a few pics below. Next time before I camp in higher altitude it will be wiser to first invest in a thermal bed pad.

Early morn at campsite

Despite the cold, our friend was trying to be a hero here, dressed only in a caftan. Later she came to me with freezing hands!!

I think these are prayer flags?

 Lotsa pitcher plants here, we found about 3 different species. Hope it will be preserved and save from poachers.

Our campground.. and oh yeah, this place is Fantastic fo Star Gazing too!

Camping Latar Seminyang

Another lovely weekend spent camping with some good friends. Some photos below. Enjoy. :)

You  need a 4x4 to get to this place

 

Trekking Frasers again - Pine Trail and Bishop Trail

Trekking Pine Trail and Bishop Trail- Frasers Hill

My family and I love Frasers Hill. We've been on the trails there several times already, and I'm always amazed at what I find there each time. My first post on Frasers can be found here -->Trekking Frasers Hill

The children especially love Hemnant trail, but this time round we decided to trek Pine Trail and Bishop Trail for the very first time. Initially we avoided it because we've heard horror stories about the leeches there. But after going through the horribly large, hungry and aggressive leeches at Ulu Geroh Forest Reserve while hunting for Rafflesia, we thought, this would be nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~Trekking Pine Trail~~~~~

Well, first we contacted the local ranger to inform them that we'd be on Pine Trail. They informed us in return that the trail was closed due to the rainy season which has caused several fallen trees along the path. We decided to try a portion of the trail then. In the end we trekked about 2km in and turned back when the trail got darker, and plus the constant sound of trees creaking got a little scary after a while, not really the sound, but the thought of a tree falling on us got my imagination wild!  Here are some pictures below. Pine Trail is really lovely, full of discoveries, and well known for the Bolonaphora flower. It's a really love trail.

Crossing a fallen tree. It was wonderful to see my children helping each other cross these obstacles.

More fallen trees along the path. It's all part of the adventure. :)

Bolonaphora buds along Pine Trail



Bolonaphora in bloom (found near the buds)

 


Bolonaphora too. We discovered these deeper in the trail.

Lots of very beautiful and huge fungus and mushrooms on this trail. Love the colour of this particular species.

Spotted these on a fallen tree. Beautiful!



A wild flower, found along this trail. There are also many herbs found along this trail.

It's worth looking carefully into bushes and grass to discover tiny species like this. This was just about 1 cm in length.

Love the colour here. Again, some sort of fungus. Sorry for my lack of scientific names. ;P

Then the sun set, and as it grew dark, the amazing insect orchestra of the forest came alive!! We stood in a huddle in that darkness listening, and while we were at that, the bats decided to fly around. It's amazing that some flapped quite close by us so we felt the power of their wings!



This was taken shortly before sunset. Always love the moon in Frasers Hill. It somehow looks closer and more beautiful there.

Night was spent watching the moon through our binoculars. I hope to invest in a good telescope soon.

An attempt at taking a shot of the moon.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trekking on Bishop Trail

Bishop trail is about 1.6Km. This is known as the Pacat trail (Leech trail), but we didn't see too many although Jo got bitten by one. Generally the trail is narrow, Lots of fallen trees,  a little muddy and quite dark. But because of the dark, the gibbons really have a party in there. All along the trail, you hear the gibbons quite loudly.

This is how most of Bishop is, a trail covered with roots. So be careful not to trip

 Some areas are very narrow and once as Jo was trekking, a large part of the ground below her left feet gave way and she tumbled a little. I grabbed her on time. She was slightly shaken but continued as usual

Jo had this leech bite. She yanked the leech out by herself.

 This is how large the fungus on the trail is. Some larger !

 Our Star find on this trail was the Impressed Tortoise, found only on Frasers and Maxwell. I must say, we were certainly blessed and fortunate to find such a star find!! woo hoo!!! This fella was aggressive and crawls pretty quickly!

Another reason why we love Frasers..beautiful caterpillars.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So go trek Frasers. Remember, nature has full of surprises in store. We never see the same things twice, but we discover new things each time we trek. Some tips when trekking.

1.Wear long pants and long sleeved shirt. I say this, because twice I've been stung by some unidentifiable insect leaving a horrible itch for weeks!

2. Use mozzi guard, it will help to keep most leeches away.

3. Trek silently, keep alert. Beautiful things don't always appear right in front of you, they may be beneath logs, on trees, under bushes anywhere! I always tell my children to be on the look out, and many of the things you see here were spotted by my children.

4. Breath deep and relax. Don't be anxious or in a hurry. If you're constantly worried about falling down, and avoiding this and that, chances are you will not enjoy your trek, and neither will you see much.

5. Listen for sounds and the rustling of leaves. We spotted several interesting bird species, insects and chipmunks because of this.

6. Bring lots of water and energy boosting snacks for your children. Don't forget the binoculars and camera. Enjoy! :)

@All photos copyright of Martha@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com

This Post is linked at Happiness Is



@Martha, 2011