Travel illo

  • Family travel,  Lanchang,  Pahang,  Temerloh,  Travel illo

    Exotic animals at Deerland Park, Lanchang, Pahang

    Visiting Deerland Park in Lanchang, Pahang not only gives the opportunity to meet deers, but to also to meet a collection of pheasants like Golden Pheasant, Vulturine Guineafowl, common pheasants, other type of birds like quails, cockatiel, Mandarin duck as well as the four-legged ones; ferret, Bengal cat, Guinea pigs, rabbits not to mention the hissing ones; couple of pythons.

    I found that these two pheasants have very interesting plumage so I took them as subjects for my pen drawing.

    Golden Pheasant caught my attention as it has a very beautiful intense shimmering plumage. The crest is in golden yellow and rump and bright red body. The deep orange “cape” or tippets can be spread in display, appearing as an alternating black and orange fan that covers all of the face except its bright yellow eye, with a pinpoint black pupil. According to the keeper, this pheasant is not that friendly despite it’s beautiful plumage. When it saw me aiming my camera, it came darting across the lawn and walk non-stop and made it hard for me to take the picture. Unlike Golden Pheasant, Vulturine Guineafowl has primarily bright blue body with interesting black and white streaks and  dots on the back feathers. There is a band of tiny brown feathers on the back of its head and the eyes are fiercely red.

    My son was in awe with the cute quails and the keeper told me that these were the meat-type not the egg-laying type. He also added that meat-type quails are bigger than egg-laying ones.

    After walking around the corner of this quail area, I saw a couple of creepy crawlies! I dared not go near but my son and his dad went near and touched them! Yikes. I ran—like quail—away from the pythons and later got to meet a cockatiel.


    Photo captured by my husband.

     I looove this cockatiel! It has orange blush spot, so cute. I must draw this cute bird in color when time permits.

    Cockatiel is an exotic bird, popular for its attractive yellow crest, bright orange patch in its cheeks and its long sleek tail. Cockatiel is usually gray colored, however, some domesticated cockatiel breeds are found in colors of yellow, peach, gray, orange and white.

    And later we got to see Bengal cat sleeping. I called tsktskstsk (the sound when one calling out to cat) but it ignored, must be in deep slumber. The Bengal is actually a nocturnal loner and very shy—that explains why it was in deep slumber. The Bengal is a hybrid breed of cat, formed by the cross of a domestic feline and an Asian leopard cat (ALC). The Bengal cat has large spots, rosettes, and a light/white belly, and a body structure reminiscent of the ALC.

    Next, we got to feed rabbits!

    Later we got to see pretty Mandarin ducks. I love the plumage, so beautiful. This will be my next pen drawing subject too.

    You see the pretty one in the middle? It’s the male one; the female ones are those two having not so attractive plumage. The male duck has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and “whiskers”. The breast is purple with vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange “sails” at the back. The female is similar to female Wood Duck, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, but is paler below, has a small white flank stripe, and a pale tip to its bill.

    And the mandarin duck ends our trip around Deerland Park. We really had great time here getting to know more animals. We waved goodbye to the animals and dropped some donation to support them before we leave.

     

  • Fraser's Hill,  line drawing,  moleskine,  Pahang,  pen & ink,  Raub,  Travel illo

    Moleskine: Fraser’s Hill sketch

    I bought a new moleskine with a plan to practice my pens sketches. Previously have black one, thought I get a red one this time. My first sketch is a sketch of Fraser Hill; the roundabout with a clock tower and post office. It took me quite sometimes to finish the details. I filled in the blue color digitally to break the monotonous. Everything else was traditional: pen and sketchbook.


    As seen on my Instagram page.


    Pen on Moleskine. 

    What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Leave me your thoughts.

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Selangor,  Travel illo,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    De Palma Kuala Selangor #depalmahotel

    When my family and I went to Kuala Selangor to visit the Kampung Kuantan Fireflies Sanctuary, we didn’t plan where to stay. As I know there is a De Palma Kuala Selangor, I suggested to my husband that we should check the place out. We just drove around and followed directions to the place.

    After going through the registration process like any other hotels, we walked to our room. Our room is in the form of a Malay wooden chalet! I love it! Although it is not fully traditional, the main features are there; the wooden house, the verandah and the cylindrical column posts.

    I like the fact that the room is equipped with praying mat, direction of Qiblat as well as Al-Quran. For your information, All De Palma hotels are Syariah Compliant and De Palma is the first to pioneer Syariah Compliant Hotel after recognising the needs of Muslim travellers who had difficulty in obtaining hotels to suit their lifestyles.

    My favourite spot here is the area facing the admin building equipped with wooden benches. I managed to sit there for about an hour and draw. While I draw, my son took the opportunity to play in the pool and make new friends.




    During our stay, there was a group having a family day or something and they had a barbecue picnic.  Intrigued by the idea, I went and check with the front reception and yes, they cater barbecue picnic to a group of 20 or more. Yay! I thought this is great because I am thinking of having a family day since last year and this is just the right place to hold such event. Other facilities here  include banquet facilities, ballroom, musollah, outdoor court and meeting room. While services include free WiFi service, laundry, Mountain Bicycles rental, newspaper upon request, outdoor/field trip package and 24 hours security.

    Overall, our stay here was great. As for food, I didn’t have any from the hotel (except breakfast on the checkout day) because after my son had finished having fun with his new-found friends, we went to Malawati HillKuala Selangor Nature Park and Kg Kuantan Fireflies Sanctuary and had our lunch and dinner around Kuala Selangor.

    For those who live in the city and in need a quick getaway, De Palma Kuala Selangor is the place to be. Just about an hour drive from Kuala Lumpur, De Palma Kuala Selangor is located in the heart Kuala Selangor town. You can get here by car or bus. From KL take the Sungah Buloh trunk road and from there will be many signboards directing you to Kuala Selangor. GPS coordinates is 3.349436,101.240473. You can also take Selangor Bus 141 from Pudaraya Station, KL.

    —————Now, we move on to the best part—————

    I have made an effort to contact the management for a hotel-stay sponsorship by e-mail. And few weeks after that I got a call from Ms. Michelle from De Palma Hotels management office for a meeting. After having discussion over tea and jemput-jemput and goreng pisang, De Palma Hotels is happy to sponsor a 2 Days & 1 Night stay at De Palma Kuala Selangor! Yay!

    Now, do you like to win the stay?

    If you do, here’s the catch:

    • Leave a comment and tell me (and the management of De Palma Hotels) why you deserve this stay.
    • You need to share this entry using the above social media buttons.
    • Follow De Palma Hotels on FB: facebook.com/depalmahotels
      and twitter: twitter.com/depalmahotel

    That’s it, 3 simple steps. You DO NOT have to follow me or write a post in your blog or subscribe to my blog in order to participate in this contest. But if you win, a thank you note linking back to http://www.depalmahotel.com is good enough.

    The lucky winner will be selected based on the most creative comment. Judging will be done by me and Ms Michelle from De Palma Hotels. Closing date is 1 June 2012; 11.59pm.

    Treat this as warm greetings from De Palma Hotels management and a thank you gesture from me to you for reading my blog. Good luck!