An evening stroll @ Tg Tuan

A basking iguana greeted us as we approached the carpark opposite Ilham Resort.


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 A cheerful Sepetir :D

 

The Sepetir seed pod.
I sent a sample to the families in the Worldwide Cultural Swap programme we participated in without knowing what it was but thanks to a resourceful friend on Facebook, I got to know it was a pod of a common tree found near mangroves and it's a favourite with squirrels.
Here in Tg Tuan, monkeys (couldn't see if they were silver leaf monkeys or long tailed macaques) were munching on them and strewing their leftovers on the road.  

A swirling. twirling flower

The thorny stem of the rattan plant. A member of the palm family, the rattan stem is solid and requires structural support, hence the thorns to grip and attach onto a taller host tree, and reach the sunlight above the canopy roof

 

 I was told to write in a request for a visit into the lighthouse

The lighthouse @ Tg Tuan

Tanjung Tuan 23 Jan 2011

Fai's sketch of the lighthouse at Tanjung Tuan.

Note the wooden hut at the base of the hill, the fishing boats in the sea and radar.

PD-Malacca 1st Visit 23-26 Jan2011

It was a hot, sunny afternoon and nothing would be better than a hike up to the Tanjung Tuan lighthouse.


Mummy, termites!

Fai spotted a tree branched filled with busy termites as I prodded a nearby rotting log looking for the little critters without much success.


Fai was at his usual creative self. He made protective headgear and a violin out of twigs.

Shibani and Ean found that towering ferns made a good hideout.

Although there are steps leading up to the lighthouse, the kids preferred trekking up the grassy hillslope.

Rattan grows in abundance along the trail to Pulau Intan.

This trail leads from the lighthouse down a steep hill to a secluded beach.

After the steep trek downhill we were greeted by a pristine beach all to ourselves. The waters of Tanjung Tuan was carpeted with sea-grass. Schools of silvery fish fries could be seen among the swaying grass.

A fruiting pandanus tree by the beach.

Trekking back up to the lighthouse was no easy task. so we took our time and admired the beautiful landscape such as this Strangling Fig tree.

As we made our way down the hill, JY asked where tar came from.

I love questions......it was a wonderful opportunity to discuss fractional distillation of crude oil and boiling points of its components and how fuel having the lowest boiling point would be the first to evaporate and tar the last. It is astonishing the questions that are asked at unexpected moments and I am glad I was there to answer them.

Pengkalan Balak was our first stopover as we made our way from PD to Malacca. This place was discover by PohPoh and KongKong as they went in search for a place for lunch a few months back.

Pengkalan Balak boasts a lovely stretch of beach that was remarkably clean. A fisherman on a sampan was seen throwing crab nets into the sea.

Lots of chalets line the beach. The malay food served was delicious.

The Jetty.

A failed government project - after the jetty was built and millions of $$ spent, it was found that the seabed was too shallow for ships to dock.

So now, the jetty is run by Holiday Inn and turned into a karaoke joint. A buggy transported us from the entrance to the tip of the jetty. It was a rather long ride, the jetty could have been at least 600m long.

The view at the jetty was beautiful and overlooks Melaka Island - another failed project. We had the whole viewing deck to ourselves and the kids had a good time running around, hiding behind pillars and feeding Todak fish that could swim against the strong currents. When we threw pieces of bread into the sea, the bread was carried away by the currents in seconds.

I was disappointed with the trip to the new Planetarium and totally dismissed my few hours spent there. However I was in for a surprise. Somehow that trip got Fai thinking......

A few days after we visited the Melaka Planetarium, Fai came to me with a question

"What did earth look like when it was 100 years old?"

I told him I had to search thought the net for the answer and typed out his question on YouTube . There was a documentary by National Geographic on the birth of our planet and that seemed to answer his question.

After listening intently to the documentary, Fai asked "Where did all the water on earth come from?" Again, National Geographic came to the rescue. There were two hypothesis and he said he believed the theory of water on earth originating from a comet that crashed into earth.

Next question " Where did life come from?"

While I was sifting through the many videos, skipping those that were too religious and deciding which one was suitable for him, Fai was called away by Han who needed help invading an enemy's castle.....so, that ended our question time.

Malacca River cruise(left), A-Farmosa(right)

Yesterday, at the playground, I had a discussion with Fai on the Malacca trip. I briefly told him why Malacca was an important trading hub about 500years ago and about the Portugese who conquered Malacca. I asked him if he remembered visting the Cheng Ho museum when he was 4years old. He said he did and asked "Why didn't the Chinese help when the Portugese was invading Malacca?"

I couldn't answer that and I am still surfing the net searching for the answer.

Maybe another trip to Malacca will unveil the answer.

Gula Melaka in Malacca is not to be missed. Gula Melaka drizzled onto ice kacang is must-have.

Malacca, we will be back soon.

5 Days in PD ...Merdeka Weekend 2010

We had 5 wonderful , funfilled days in PD. This time around with Mom and Dad as well as Swathy from next door.

We were eager to get there by Friday night to catch the sight of the moon and Mars. The car was filled to the brim with food stuff and beddings and luggage. So JY, Swathy and Mama made the journey by Komuter from Templer Station to Seremban and then by bus to PD bus station. It took them about 6 hours and JY proclaims "Never again will I take public transport!" Read about their adventure on JY's blog

The sky was clear at 10pm and there was a full moon out. We noticed a shiny object next to it, we assumed it to be Mars. The binoculars were brought out and the kids peered through it, unfortunately clouds blew in and obscured our vision of the night sky.

So we went hermit crab hunting instead. I guess I am not into astronomy much and books on constellations have always confounded me.


This tiny snake was nearly trampled on by my troop as we made our way to the beach. Mama got the hibbie-jibbies and anxiously shooed us along. Ean didn't get the chance to observe and kept on asking for the snake later. My mistake for letting this wonderful opportunity for observation get away.

There were lots of hermit crabs that night. I was surprised to see big huge ones as last year we had a hard time looking for a single hermit crab. The boys collected a few in a pail but let them go when they realised that the hermit crabs kept dislodging themselves from their shells.

JY wisely said "They need the sea to survive"

Day 2 Saturday 28 Aug
Major Looi from 2 houses down the road gave us 4 coconuts and reminded us to meet at the Tanjung Tuan reserve at 4pm.

We played P-I-G and Cheat! Two entertaining card games that had us rolling in laughter.

JY with a 'P' in her mouth. Hehehehe :)

A long-legged mosquito(?) that was spotted on the car on as it parked by the beach.

The girls were put in charge of food and they decided to hold the BBQ by the beach and started preparing the fire at 4pm.



Kent doing his water-resistance exercise while having some grandfather-father-sons bonding time.

A sample of their catch...2 stingrays and a couple of crabs. The horseshoe crab was released back into the sea.

I enjoy spotting raptors and unexpectedly 3 buzzards soared just above our heads that afternoon. These magnificent creatures circled above a few times, swooped down to the water twice and then flew off.

Day 3

We had gone up to the Tanjung Tuan lighthouse once when Fai was about 2 years old. This time, after Major Looi's tales of sighting birds, coral reefs and whirpools, we decided to try out one of their trails.

We were informed that there would be a group that hikes up at 8am and 4pm daily. We didn't see anyone, so we decided to explore the place on our own.

The trail that we took was paved and it was an enjoyable stroll with lots of trees and little creatures to observe but we turned back when we came to a steep slope. I didn't fancy a strenous uphill climb so close to dinner time.

The trail, bark of a tembusu tree and the lighthouse.

Back home, JY, Swathy and Fai played "Hello Jack!" Another card game with lots of action and laughter.

The ground cricket filled the night with its loud hum.

Day 4

The catch of the day.

This turtle was trapped in the net. Kent took hold of the fella while Dad retrieved the net, so that it would not get caught again. It was a fiesty one and zoomed off into the sea the moment it was released.



We had dinner at PD restaurant, our favourite Tai Chow in PD. And once again saw the mangy horses.Poor, neglected creatures.

I couldn't resist taking photos of the sunset as we made our way home.

Notice the cloud shaped like an eagle?