Perak

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Perak,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Bukit Gambang Safari Park

    Bukit Gambang Safari Park is really a good place to take kids and I am glad that my son, Yassin, suggested the place. We really had a blast and will revisit the park when it fully opens next year. Currently, the safari park is on it’s pre-opening stage and offers ticket at a cheaper rate since March 2013.

    Yassin-and-lion-statue

    Sprawling across 138 acres, the Safari Park currently has four areas that we can visit: Wild Savannah, Simba Hill, Foreign Village and Night Jungle. Other areas under construction are Forest Land and Land of Predators.

    Wild Savannah

    First region we visited was the Wild Savannah which is only accessible by taking a tram. This is an area where animals roam freely and we were advised not to open door or windows for safety purpose.

    Wild Savannah is divided into few areas and those we visited was African Savannah, Tropical Rainforest and Australian Outback.

    We spotted these animals:

    NyalaNyala.

    WildebeestWildebeest.

    zebraZebra.

    ElandEland.

    impalaImpala.

    emuEmu.

    tigerTiger.

    Simba Hill

    After making rounds around the region on a ram, we were sent back to the station. Later we went to Simba Hill by foot. By escalator, actually, hehe. Simba Hill is where a couple of rare White Lions reside. White Lion is a rare colour mutation species in the lion family. The DNA – recessive gene causes the colour of the lion range from blonde to near-white. These lions may live up to 20 years and weigh up to 250kg for males and 182kg for females. These lions spend up to 20 hours per day resting and the remaining time is left to feed or walk around.

    white lionFemale White Lion. The male was sleeping somewhere.

    Foreign Village

    Later we walk up the Hill and reached Foreign Village. This area is divided into small areas like Petting Kingdom, Malayan House, Saddle Castle, Farm House and many more.

    Here we interacted with animals like Llama white kangaroo, Alpaca, Llama not to mention ‘kampung’ geese!

    Malayan-House

    Malayan House – Replicating the Malaysian typical ‘kampung’ house environment.

    geeseJust outside the Malayan House, we were able to see the ‘good old day’s’ animals which are not often seen in our concrete jungles.

    llamaMe interacting with a Llama at Petting Kingdom.

    Swiss-goatPretty Swiss goat at Farm House. It was smiling for the camera 🙂

    cuddleAnother Swiss goat that likes to be petted.

    horseYassin petting a horse.

    And that was all. We did planned to go for the Night Jungle but after having dinner, Yassin fell asleep like a baby. We will take that trip another time as we got a set of free tickets for next visit.

    If you like to visit Bukit Gambang Safari Park, here are some useful information:

    Tickets:

    Adults: RM38; Children: RM18 (with MyKad/MyKid)

    Adults: RM68; Children: RM48 (without MyKad/MyKid)

    * FREE Admission for children below the height of 90cm

    Operating hours:

    Daily operation hours: 2.00pm – 10.00pm daily

    Night Jungle: 6.00pm – 10.00pm daily

    Website: Bukit Gambang Safari Park

     

  • Family travel,  Perak

    Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, Perak

    My husband doesn’t like to stay long in one place, so right after spending a day and a night in Georgetown, we later drove to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. He was partly too lazy/sleepy to drive and at the same time need to complete a job and upload it online. We put up a night at Suria Service Apartment Hotel. The apartment is quite spacious, we got a view of the highway on 7th floor.

    Yassin was quite excited to explore the theme parks but as it was raining, we kept the plan till the next morning. Furthermore, it was already around 7pm when we reached the laketown. It was also raining so we took a rain-check.

    Suria Service Apartment

    highway view

    After breakfast the next morning, we let Yassin take a dip in the pool for an hour before checking out and head to the theme parks.

    yassin swimming
    Boy, he is big now!

    Bukit Merah Laketown Resort is divided into 3 parks; Water Park, Eco Park and Orang Utan Island. We bought a combo ticket for Orang Utan Island, Eco Park and Sky Chair (RM39 for adult, RM33 for children below 12). We skipped the Water Park as Yassin already had his dip. The first park we explored is Orang Utan Island. We took a 10-minute’s ride on a boat.

    Orang Utan Island Jetty
    Orang Utan Island Jetty.

    The 35-acre Orang Utan Island is a research institution dedicated to the preservation and research of the orang-utan. Founded by MK Land developer’s Executive Chairman Tan Sri Haji Datuk Mustapha Kamal, it was developed to resemble the orang-utan’s natural habitat as closely as possible, its vegetation similar to the rainforests in Sumatra and Borneo. The island has dedicated 5 acres of land as a research and rehabilitation centre while the remaining acres are for Orang Utans to roam freely. Unlike zoos, the humans are the ones inside caged enclosure here.

    Orang-Utan
    Observing  Orang Utans from inside a cage.

    3-otang-utans
    Sonia, Adam and Carlos swinging around. They were quite excited to see humans in a cage. Haha.

    BJ
    27-year old BJ is like any other normal orang utans—when he is having a bad day, he will have his amok and break tree branches around him and roars like a lion. 

    Harry
    This is sleepyhead 7-year old Harry.

    Yassin
    Oh, this is my very own ‘orang utan’. ;P

    At the research and rehabilitation centre, care is given to the infants as well as to the healthcare of a total of 18 orang utans in the island. The facility’s ICU (Infant Care Unit) is equipped with heart monitors, IV drips, incubators, as well as a trained veterinary surgeon to cater to the orang-utan infants that may require medical assistance after birth. Infants who are admitted to the ICU will go through a specially designed rehabilitation programme consisting of 6 stages to ensure the development of their natural instincts such as foraging, nest building, searching for water source, swinging and climbing.  The rehabilitation programme aims to ensure the infant adapts well to their natural environment before their eventual release into the wild.

    infant
    One very shy infant.

    After visiting the rehab, we went to watch a documentary—Nurturing Nature—at the video room. It tells about the declining numbers of orang utans due to the clearing of their natural habitats from human development, mining, and illegal poaching as well as the efforts taken by the foundation to save the endangered creatures. This is my favourite part; a frame from the video:

    Tan Sri Haji Datuk Mustapha Kamal

    It was very educational trip for my family and I. Although we missed our boat to get extra information about the island (as well as buy some souvenirs), we were happy that we left the island on the next boat with extra information about the life of orang utans.

    Next, we went to the Eco Park. The 3-acre park features three large enclosures – Nature Trail, Reptile Park and Tropical Trek, with a variety of reptile, primate, mammal, bird and fish species in an environment as close to their natural habitat. In addition, there is a Pets Park and daily animal shows.

    Eco Park
    The Eco Park.

    peacock
    Beautiful Sri Lankan peafowls.

    bearcats
    Bearcats (binturong). The left one is doing major cleaning, haha.

    guinea-pigs
    Guinea pigs.

    hamsters
    Cute cuddly hamsters.

    hedgehog
    Sleeping hedgehog.

    rabbit
    Yassin feeding a rabbit. Pack of mixed food (vegetables, seeds, fish food) for animals can be bought at the park’s entrance. The staff will let you know what food to be fed to which animals.

    parrot
    We got to see the animal show. Seen here a parrot carrying a ball through cones. 

    parrot2
    Clever parrot solving mathematics.

    me-with-parrot
    One for the album. Red parrot and me. Forgot the name of the parrot but it is named after a football player. 

    yassin-and-parrots
    A thundercat and a couple of parrots.

    HangingParrots
    This is what Hanging Parrots do—hanging around. Also known as Serindit in Malay Language.

    ducks
    Friendly ducks seem to be smiling for my album. Awww….

    squirrelmonkey
    This squirrel monkey climbed on my bag and took away my lens cover! It later gave it back to us. 🙂

    We had a blast spending time with the animals and on the way back to the main area, we took the skychair. The ride was great and we got to see view of the Water Park.

    skychair
    Yassin on a skychair.

    Yassin had a blast and made us promised to come back here again for the Water Park. We will definitely return here as this resort is great for family holiday.

     

     

     

     

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Perak,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Taiping Zoo

    It was just my boy and me during our trip to the north recently sending my mom, sis and her kids back home. The car was full and my husband could not tag along. Sis is living with her now and am happy that there will someone to take care of mom. I will drive up north again to visit her every now and then. Mom wants to be close to her elder sister.

    On the way back to KL, Yassin and me dropped by Taiping Zoo. He had been pestering me to drop by each time we travel up north. The brown signboards of Taiping Zoo along the expressway really caught his eyes. I made his wish came true and he is one happy young lad.

    Taiping Zoo is located in a lovely natural setting in Taiping Lake Gardens close to the foot of the Larut Hill (Maxwell Hill). The beautiful natural setting with streams, lakes and abundance of flora gives the zoo a unique advantage of being able to use nature to its best.

    Covering an area of 34 acres, the Taiping Zoo exhibits nearly 1,300 animals representing more than 180 different animal species. These include giraffe, tiger, bear, orang utan, chimpanzee, crocodile, elephant and others. Having an “Open Concept”, Taiping Zoo keeps animals landscaped in spacious enclosures that match natural habitat of animals. Like Singapore Zoo, Taiping Zoo also The Taiping Night Safari is a first of its kind in Malaysia.

    Ok. let’s take a look at the animals!


    Chimpanzee.


    Marmoset monkeys.


    Estuarine Crocodile -the largest living reptile! The head is large with a heavy snout. The crocodile’s back is covered with ridges that provide protective armour and act to conceal the crocodile’s movement below the surface of the water.


    Civet. Civet is a nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests.


    Yassin and Sambar deer.


    Sambar deer.


    Barred Eagle Owl. Also called the Malay Eagle Owl, this owl is recognisable by their prominent ear-tufts.


    African Lion.  Its most famous feature is the mane, which only male lion has The mane is yellow when the lion is young and darkens with age.


    Smooth Otter. This type otter is listed as a vulnerable species. Their range and population are shrinking due to loss of wetland habitat and contamination of waterways by pesticides.


    Giraffes.


    Bat.


    Heron.

    Taiping Zoo opens around the year of the year including Sundays & Public Holidays from 8.30am to 6.00pm. Admission fee is RM12.00 for adult and RM8.00 for children.

    Should you be interested in adopting animals, you can read the information >here<. Prospective “foster parents” are expected to bear the cost of maintaining the animals for ONE YEAR. For an annual contribution of RM50.00 – 499.00, you get 2 free passes to Taiping Zoo; each pass permits free entry for 2 adults and 4 children. Your contribution is tac deductable.

    Address:
    Jalan Taman Tasik Taiping, 34000 Taiping, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia.
    Tel: 605 – 8086577 Fax: 605 – 806 6025.
    E-mail : zootaiping@zootaiping.gov.my


    Can you guess what is Yassin looking at?

     

     

     

     

     

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Perak,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Gua Tempurung, Perak

    During our road trip to Kedah early this year, my husband decided to take the exit at Tanjung Malim (Exit 121) and drive along the trunk road (Federal Route 1) as the expressway was quite jammish. We don’t mind the long and winding road as the sight is better than the expressway. There’s actually a lot to see. And so, when we saw signages and directions to Gua Tempurung, a well-known limestone cave in Gopeng, we decided to just drop by and visit the cave.


    Part of Gua Tempurung has been developed as a show cave with electric lighting and walkways and there are a range of tours of different lengths and difficulty. Knowing that I am not that fit, my husband bought tickets for the shortest tour. Tickets are very cheap; RM6 for an adult and RM2.50 for children. The tour we took was Tour 1: Golden Flowstone. Tour is about 40 minutes and starts every half an hour from 9am to 4pm.

    Yassin and his dad admiring the cave.

    I was pretty impressive with a speleotherm that looks like ‘Monalisa’ .

    Gua Tempurung (Tempurung Cave) existed since early 8000 B.C. The cave measures 1.9 km in length and 120 metres in height and situated inside Gunung Tempurung that stands 497 meters high. The mountain is an erosional remnant near an ancient coastline. Years of mineralisation of the limestone rocks yielded deposits of tin, with some tungsten minerals and other minor ores.

    Gua Tempurung is made up of five huge domes, each of them has different formations of stalagmites and stalactites as well as different temperatures, water level, content of limestone and marble. Concealed within this limestone massif is an intricate system of caves honeycombed inside the limestone hills. These caves are actually a breathtaking gallery of super geological wonders that can only be found in this part of the world.


    For more information about the cave and tour, visit Gua Tempurung website.

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Perak,  Road Trip 2012

    Road trip 2012 – Day 2

    The breath of fresh air and the smell of trees and paddy is amazing. My son wakes up early to go fishing with his uncle. So far he got a little fish and is so proud of it.

    I wanted to capture photos of the little fish but leeches got in the way! More than five of them! Bloodsuckers!

    I am going to go packing now and buy some breakfast. Leaving around 10am.

    ———————–

    It is 10.10am now as we are leaving Pendang. Now on Route K151, on the way to Sungai Tiang (K17) passing by Kg. Belukar Luas and Kampung Baru. I notice that houses here are mostly brick houses; some semi-wooden. Very hard to find real wooden Malay house. This is mainly because bricks are most cost-effective. As much as I love to see more wooden houses, I guess it is better to leave it that way. Now we don’t want to chop off those trees, do we? We need to save the trees. Read the effort of PEKA about curbing destruction of natural resources, mostly trees.

    At a junction to Kg. Baru

    From K17, we took K153 passing by Kg. Kuala Berok and Kg Kuala Ruman among others. We later took K10 passing by Jeniang.

    Somewhere in Jeniang.

    From Jeniang, we took K15 until we reached Kg. Mengkuang. From there we took route K173 and later A173 (Jalan Baling-Gerik) leading to Grik, Perak.

    Route K173, 11.25pm.

     

    Route A173, 12pm.

     And from A173 we just go straight ahead on Route 4 (Jalan Grik-Pasir Puteh) passing by Lake Temenggor.Here are some photos from the route:

    We stopped at Pulau Banding at 12.56pm. It’s lunch time!

     

    After lunch, we just drove on Route 4 until R&R Titiwangsa to take pictures on Titiwangsa Range.

    We later drove without stopping until we reached Kuala Besut. Routes taken after Route 4 are D20 and D7. We stopped by Pantai Bukit Keluang to let Yassin has his dip. We put up a night here at a newly opened lodge, T’Lodge.

     

     

    Blogging live from my phone – Jan 22, 2012. -Emila

    Edited off-mobile – Jan 23, 2012

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Perak,  Road Trip 2012

    Road Trip 2012 – Day 1

    Hello world! I am on a road trip along with my husband and son. My first destination is Pendang because that’s where my mother is. Started the journey as early as 5am.
    image

    I took the advice of the Travel Time Advisory Schedule to travel before noon on North-South Expressway (E1). I thought I was smart to travel before dawn. I was wrong. Everybody seems to choose to travel before dawn, making a huge traffic jam very early in the morning.

    Expressway versus trunk road

    My husband decided to take the exit at Tanjung Malim (Exit 121) and drive along trunk road (Federal Route 1) to avoid further jam. We don’t mind the long and winding road. The sight is better than the expressway. Not a scene of drivers overtaking one another in dangerous ways. I feel safe traveling on trunk road than expressway.

    The first stop we took was at R&R Temoh, located somewhere between Kampar and Tapah, around 10am. Yassin had  to take his morning shower and we put in RM1 in a container as per instruction note  glued on it. Facilities here include toilet, shower, surau and food outlets. While taking our breakfast, my eyes wandered around. Saw some interesting subjects to photograph. Took my camera out and snap.

    Can you do bird-watching on the expressway? No. Take the trunk road. You will even see chicken cross the road.

    We continued our journey and reached Gopeng in about half an hour. I asked my husband to stop for a while as I want to photograph some windows to add to my Windows Collection on Flickr.

    Clock tower and windows of Gopeng (Gopeng-hagen, as my husband put it. Haha)

    We drove on further slowly and saw Gua Tempurung sign. As it is just 5km away, we decided to drop by. Gopeng is also well-known for s such as the Gua Tempurung, located approximately 5 km from the town centre. Gua Tempurung is a well-known limestone caves in Gopeng and the longest cave in Peninsula Malaysia. Part of it has been developed as a show cave with electric lighting and walkways and there are a range of tours of different lengths and difficulty. Knowing that I am not that fit, my husband bought tickets for the shortest tour. Haha.

    Tickets are very cheap; RM6 for an adult and RM2.50 for children. The tour we took was Tour 1: Golden Flowstone. Tour is about 40 minutes and starts every half an hours from 9am to 4pm.

    I was pretty impressive with a speleotherm that looks like ‘Monalisa’ (right bottom).

    Gua Tempurung (Tempurung Cave) existed since early 8000 B.C. The cave measures 1.9 km in length and 120 metres in height and situated inside Gunung Tempurung that stands 497 meters high.The mountain is an erosional remnant near an ancient coastline. Years of mineralisation of the limestone rocks yielded deposits of tin, with some tungsten minerals and other minor ores. For more information about the cave and tour, visit Gua Tempurung website.

    After Gua Tempurung ,we drove 20km more to reach Ipoh. My husband wanted to find his favourite Nasi Kandar spot he used to visit years ago. But it wasn’t there anymore. We just drove around Ipoh looking for another Nasi Kandar. But could not find any on the route we were on.

    Ipoh town.

    We just took an exit back to E1, did not stop at any R&R as they were visibly full all the time. It’s school holiday, what do you expect. But thankfully, the E1 was less congested. We reached Pendang at 4pm. Spending the night here catching up with my mother.

    We’ll be taking route K153, K17, K10, K15, K154, Federal Route 67, K171, K173 and Federal Route 4 (the West-East Highway connecting Grik, Jeli and Pasir Puteh).

    Good night, everybody. Till tomorrow.

    ~Emila, Pendang | 2259hrs

  • Malaysia,  Perak,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    I’m back!

    I’ve attended my cousin’s wedding in Simpang Pulai, Perak on Sunday and later went to Pangkor Island with my uncle and his family (including the newlywed couple) on Monday and Tuesday.

    pangkor1.jpg
    Pangkor Island

    On the way to Pangkor, we dropped by at Kellie’s Castle.

    kcastle.jpg
    From left: Aidil, Wanda, Yassin, Mimi and Diana
    posing on the 1st floor of the castle.

     

    Here are more photos from the trip: