Bako National Park, Sarawak

One of my favorite, top of the list, destination is always about the nature. Mountains, beaches, islands and more recently National Park. I am an outdoor person, so, it’s only natural for me to love these places.

I visited Kuching a couple of weeks back and on top of my list of places to visit is the Bako National Park where the Amazing Race Asia 1 race ended. I wanted to see for myself the beauty of this place.

Well, Kuching is always synonymous with ever presence cats and its everywhere. And the people in Kuching are so proud of it that they have them every nooks and corner of the town.

Am I the only one who think this cat has his whiskers on the eyebrown?

However, another that is famous in Sarawak is the crocodile. Everytime I cross the river that pass the Kuching town, somebody in the car will asked, is there any crocs bashing by the river bank?

Ah, yes, I am diverting. So, the trip to Bako National Park. It’s about 45 minutes drive to Bako, obviously, and its a pleasant drive there.


Once we reached the jetty, we were greeted with the infamous smell of ‘kaim hu’ or salty fish. The jetty has nothing to shout about, just an office and a jetty. This place is actually located at a fishing village. So, from the jetty, you can see lots of fishing boats and also houses built on stilt. This reminds me of the trip I make to Ranong last year.

The trip to Bako National Park cost us RM 94 for the boat ride both ways and also RM45 for the group ticket admission to the park.

One thing that continues to haunt us is the notice board reminding of crocodiles in the river.
On the way there, we can see a lot of nice scenery as we headed out towards the sea. Left and right are just swamp and at all times, we remind ourselves to keep our hand in the boat.
And not too long into the journey, we saw this!
Once we reach Bako, we were amazed by its beauty of the surrounding. And they have built basic amenities for visitors and if you want, you can opt to spend a few nights there too.
As we only planned for a day trip, we went to the reception to check ourselves in at the national park and choose to go for the short trail hike. We must always check in at the national park no matter how long you plan to be there. And if anytime we want to go for a hike, we have to register at the counter informing them of the time and trail we plan to do. This is for security and emergency reasons, so that they can come to look for you if you don’t make it back.
For the short trail, it says it takes about 3.5 hours to complete it. And this should be fine for us so that we can be back on time for the boat ride back before low tide. You don’t want to take a boat during low tide, if you don’t want to vomit!

This trail start back at where we landed and for the first part, we just walk on platform built on top of the swamp. One good reason for us to start here is that here we will do less hiking on the way up but more of descending. If we use the other way round, we will have to hike up the ladder more. So, from this side, it’s more gradual.
One thing that surprises me as we hike is the soil at this place.

The higher we go; we see white sand like we are at the beach. And, when we are at the top, its just lots and lots of rocks and flat plateau.
But we enjoy the hike up. We can see a lot of Nepenthes or more commonly known as monkey cup.

We saw lots of wonderful trees too.
But further we go into the trail, the trail gets harder. Too many roots on the ground and being cover by leaves make it hard for us to walk.

Then, we are going downhill. This is a relive since that we are running out of time. I think this took us more than 4 hours to complete. We thought we have walk so long only to see the mark saying half a kilometer that we covered in an hour.

Going downhill will bring us around big boulders, which sometimes can be scary. You don’t know what’s inside those holes!
But at the end of the hike, we love it and enjoy it much. But, if next time I am going again, I will plan to stay there at least for a night and take the long trail and bring LOTS and LOTS of WATER with me….

Such a paradox that we are surrounded with water (sea) yet we can’t drink and even the stream water too because it’s full of leaves and the facts it’s brownish it’s acidic.

At the end of the trail, we head out to the beach to check out the infamous beach during the Amazing Race Asia 1.

ahhh…

Oh yes, we saw another croc on our way back to jetty from the park!

Kuching, Land of the Cats

I have always wanted to visit Sarawak and up to now, I am only able to visit Sibu. I have not been to any other places in Sarawak and it's always feel incomplete without visiting the state capital.

So, when AirAsia have their zero fare promotion, I jumped at the chance to book myself the ticket to Kuching.

Once, I reach Kuching, I was greated with the sight of unending river bend. this reminds me of Pocohontas and the song, Just aroung the river bend...

Without wasting time, we visited the National Heroes Monument and the Sarawak State Museum.


and what is travelling without trying out the local food. Sarawakian has always pride themselves with the Sarawak Laksa and in Kuching this comes with the company of White Lady...


Ahh... what a way to enjoy the Laksa better then....
.
.
.
.
.
this glass of wonderful and sweet connoction of lychee, jelly, ice and condense milk...the White Lady


i am waiting for more to come in the next 5 days... in the Land of the Cats

Unity

Ahh...i was watching this video from Pete Teo about Malaysia Artiste for Unity and I thought it's wonderful.

And I just love to show you all here.




there are so many people involve in it and you simply just love Harith Iskandar, the Funny man in red...


Then, while having dinner, one of my friend ask me to view this video below...



Suddenly, it dawn in me...

Malaysia is not just us Malaysian only. We are truly a nation with so many nationality living here. People love Malaysia yet, so many of us are running away from this nation.

While others love Malaysia, why Malaysian is not loving this country anymore. Maybe we should and MUST try to do something, in us, to love our beloved country!

In the second video, it's a Nigerian dance performed by Malaysian. and in the first video, there are so many races (all malaysian) trying to spread the message of united races in Malaysia. Wow!

P/S: My friend is the one performing the 'macarena' move in the white robe standing in front of the group!

Herbie's in Town

Remember the movie where the car have his own opinion and feeling. And the can move and even race...?

No I am not talking about Transformer... but maybe older...

The car bearing number 53...

Yes Herbie... we found it yesterday night!

I am amused when I saw this car... surprise how people like it so much! Well, its entertaining but I don't really like Lindsay Lohan though...

Anyway, we saw this car parked at the Tesco Kajang....

Penang Botanical Garden

One of Penang best kept place is this germ, Botanical Garden. Located near the Youth Park at the end of Western Road, this botanic garden is one of the oldest in Malaysia.

I remember visiting this place in my childhood days and picnic and swimming in one of the river flowing through it. Though, now the river has nearly dries up, this place still draws visitors and joggers alike.
Botanical Garden or more commonly known as monkey’s park, because of the amount of monkeys one can find here, is a beauty to stroll in.
I took the opportunity to visit this place again when I went back to Penang during the last trip.
They have various types of trees, and some I find to be quite amusing.
The shape is funny.
Some have big tree trunks and they are said to be few hundred years old.
They have some bridges too and this one looks like the Penang Bridge.
And they also have a big heart too...
I remember the stage where I used to play at and also during my secondary school days, where we have our marching drill.
Here, they also house some cactus collection
Apart from that, they also have fern house, orchid house among others.
This is a good place to visit if want to jog or just simply enjoy the beauty of trees and flowers. Any time is a good time to visit, as there are plenty of trees for shade.

But if you planning for a picnic, do be careful of the monkeys. They will rush towards food when they caught an eye of it.

And if you are jogging alone, do take a stick with you in case the monkey chase after you.

Myanmar Cyclone Victims: How to Help

Cyclone Nargis has inundated Burma's densely populated rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta, destroying entire towns and villages. Tens of thousands of people have been killed by the storm and as many as a million survivors are homeless. The storm has also destroyed infrastructure in Burma's largest city, Rangoon, its "satellite towns" and other areas. This disaster has been compounded by the regime's deliberate delay of international emergency assistance.


Myanmar Cyclone Appeal AG from leonalim on Vimeo.
Souce: Leonalim

Last weekend, we in our church also raise fund for this country during our service. We get our people to donate so that relief works can be carried out in this country. Aids can be in form of cash or kinds such as medicines, food, blankets, beds, etc. The little that we give can make a whole different to the people there. we are chanelling the fund to the WAGRA (World AG Relief Agency).

You too may help by donate securely online at http://www.agrelief.org/donate.cfm to make a donation with your credit card.

Alternatively, you can also donate to World Vision Malaysia. They have people in Myanmar who are doing relief work and you can visit their website for more information.

I received an e-mail from one of my friend whom have travelled extensively across Asia in particular Indo-China. She has ask for help so that aids can pour in to this Junta rules country. Below is her email.

Dear friends,

As the world is now aware, Cyclone Nargis has inundated Burma's densely populated Irrawaddy Delta, destroying entire towns and villages. Tens of thousands of people have been killed by the storm and as many as a million survivors are homeless. The storm has also destroyed infrastructure in Burma's largest city, Rangoon, its "satellite towns"
and other areas. Emergency shortages of drinking water, food and shelter are being suffered and there is an imminent danger of diseases such as cholera. This disaster has been compounded by the regime's deliberate delay of international emergency assistance. Burma's deforestation also made the cyclone's damage worse. The cyclone will have long-ranging effects, as the Delta area was Burma's primary rice growing region.

Links for ongoing information and disaster relief donations are below.
The groups listed appreciate and will make good use of any contribution, even very small amounts. As one way to deal personally with this immense human tragedy, I recommend organizing a small benefit event such as a concert, reading, art sale, dinner or film show, inviting your own friends, family, co-workers, neighborhood or community and sending the proceeds to a relief aid group. Children often have excellent ideas for such events.

I personally was in the cyclone which took 139,000 lives in Bangladesh in 1991, and I know how extremely important a concerted, well-organized, and well-funded ongoing relief effort is for survival and recovery in such an enormous disaster situation. Even though these are hard economic times everywhere, I hope that you will consider making some contribution to the relief effort, either on your own or by making others aware of the effective donation options available.

best wishes,
Edith Mirante
Project Maje
www.projectmaje.org

DONATIONS for disaster relief can be made via these organizations:

Medecins Sans Frontiers (already distributing emergency aid in affected areas)
http://www.msf.org/

Medical Emergency Relief International (already bringing aid to the Delta)
http://www.merlin.org.uk/

Thirst-Aid (water purification is an urgent priority)

http://www.thirst-aid.org/Poster.html

Avaaz.org (special fund via Burma's Buddhist monks) https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/

MercyCorps (experienced disaster relief experts with local partners) http://www.mercycorps.org/

For constantly updated information, see these news sources:

BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2008/burma_cyclone

The Irrawaddy
http://www.irrawaddy.org/

Mizzima News
http://www.mizzima.com/

US Campaign for Burma (also accepting disaster relief donations) http://uscampaignforburma.org/

Act now to save life!

Penang: Food Havens.

Penang has always been known for its good food and also the beach. Well, for now, the beach is nothing to be proud of because it’s dirty. However, there are lots of people from around the world who spends their summer in Penang and eventually choose Penang as their second home.

I took the opportunity to go back to Penang during the Labour Day holiday break, taking advantage of the long weekend.

As usual, every time, I will go for food hunting. One of the hawker stalls that I missed during the last trip back was this Prawn Mee (or as its known as Hokkien Mee in Penang) stall over in Macalister’s Road. This stall was voted the best Hokkien Mee stall.

I must say that the taste of this noodle is a bit different after the owner passed away couple of years ago, but it still taste good. What I like about this Hokkien Mee is the noodle’s thick soup and taste sweet. On top of that, the serving comes with mantis prawn and not the usual prawn.
To top up to that, a nice cold white coffee is great! Ipoh is famous for its white coffee, and I must say, the white coffee here matches it!

At night, I went to the famous Gurney Drive.
I never recommend friends or anybody to dine at this hawker center. This place is expensive and only caters for the tourist. Furthermore, the food here is not that nice. However, this time, I decided to go there for old time sake. So, we visited this place on Saturday night, after church service, with my family.

It has been so long since I eat at this place. Reaching there about 10.30pm and we found the place to be packed with people, tourist to the local who just want to hang out by the seaside.

Once there, I spotted this guy who is doing street performance. He was dancing with fire and trying to throw flame with his mouth!

We watched for a while and I snap some pictures.

Then, we went over the hawker center and have our dinner at about 11pm…

I remember when I am young, I love the smoke cuttlefish but now it’s so expensive. I end up ordering snack from quite a number of stalls.

I was craving for Indian’s rojak or Pasembur as its’ known in Penang. I went over to a stall and this guy was dancing to the beat of the song and singing rojak to promote the stall.

As he was pouring the sauce, he was dancing as well. I didn’t manage to snap photo of him dancing but I spotted a clip of him appearing in the paper because of his trademark of dancing when serving.

We love the fried lok lok too. Sadly, I was enjoying the food so much that I forget to take any picture. lok lok comes in sticks like the satay, but this we have a variety of dish to choose from. we can have taiwanese sausage, meat ball, fish ball, oyster, cuttlefish, beancurd, beef, pork...you name it, chances is, they have it. all will be deep fried and you dip into chilli sauce or peanust sauce before eating it.

After dinner, to walk around Gurney Drive for while, enjoying the crowd and the activities that are going around. At 12am, this place seems to be bustling with activities and seems not going to sleeps.

Ahh... I love Penang.