Lowtide

Actually supposed to wake up @ 6.30 today, but woke up @6.50 cos slept LATE XP. Can either sleep late or early but slept too early and late.
Anyway, went to Changi Beach Park at 7+, enjoyed the scenery and had breakfast. The beach was later, when the sun was up and the water was warmer. Organisms started coming out of the sand and began searching for breakfast.
We walked on the muddy sand and found hermit crabs, urchins, sea cucumbers, anemones, jellyfish...all hiding in the seagrass.
Then at the end of the day, ate at Din Tai Fung @ Junction 8. Had the famous dumplings. ate about 10...

Back

13-6-09
Reached the Pullman Putrajaya resort at about 8pm, checked in, watched TV, showered, and then went to sleep. I had to sleep on the dirty, dusty floor 'cos got no space on the bed :@. At least they provided a yoga mat so it could cover the floor. Pillows were put to prevent me from rolling onto the floor.
Then 9hrs later, it was the Day-To-Go-Back. Had breakfast at the cafe, the design was unique. But I can't believe that this hotel is only 3 months old, the floor design was flaky and had coffee stains left on it. The room was small and there were mozzies.
Ok, back to the present; after breakfast, we actually decided to go swimming but first we went downstairs to the lake. I rented a cheap bicycle and went half a round around the lake. About 5kms. Then played table-tennis with my parents and cousins. THen with an old uncle; his smashes were strong but always OUT. 'Cos I kept spinning the ball, after a while, he became 'scared' and then only did topspin.
Then drove south and had lunch at another Restoran Jejantas at Ayer Keroh. The Q was like 5m long and the queuer did not want to cut 'cos he was a 'hao gong min' so we had to wait over 1/2 hrs to get the food.
THen drove south and futher south to reach a small town named Gelang Patah, ate at a seafood restaurant and then took another 1 1/2 hrs to reach home.

Creek

That day was

a Friday, 12-6-09. Woke up at 7 plus. drove to the creek at Teluk Bahang again. Had breakfast at a coffee shop along the way. The water was like...Brrrr, cold. People were there early. And on the big rocks in the creek, there were black 'grasshoppers' living in the holes! To catch one, you had to just splash water on the rocks and then the thingies would come out of their hiding places. They would not drown if put underwater, 'cos they can swim ashore or onto those big rockies. They also can 'walk' underwater on my finger.
Lunch was at another coffee shop. I had mixed vegetable rice and my uncle had a plate of famous char kuay tiao. It turned out that the stall helper was his niece. THe stall was just like 2m by 2m and its soooo famous u can even find it on the Internet.
Then drove across the 3rd longest bridge-Penang Bridge (Jambatan Pulau Pinang). 5kms long. Took about 15 mins only 'cos got no jam. Drove for like 4hrs then reached Sg Buloh's Restoran Jejantas, and overhead bridge over the highway that is a restaurant. KFC was like oh, long Q. Had a 15 piece chicken shared between 12 people, 2 bottles of Pepsi and 2 bowls of Chicken Rice.
THen continued on our journey, took another 1 hr to find the next resort- Pullman Putrajaya...

Temple visits

Yesterday woke up LAte. Need to rush to change.
Went to a batik factory, watched them do the process. First they got a piece of white cloth, then they soak the mould into hot wax and pressed it onto the cloth. Secondthey had to paint the wax pictures and background. The wax is then removed with boiling water and the marks are overlined with black ink. At then in the shop, I was 'naughty', I took the handphone and took a photo of the 2500RM picture. The signboard said 'No video or camera'. Sighs, could not take the 6400RM one. And I think someone saw me.
Then went to a small creek at Teluk Bahang. Did not bring proper swimwear so cannot go into water. Only could soak feet into it.
Then went to Kek Lok Si (ji le shi) temple. biggest in SEA. Bought a pineapple shaped glass with wax and put it on the altar table to let it burn. THe woman said it could only burn for 24 hrs 'cos bought the smallest 1. THen climbed the 7 storey pagoda and then went home to swim, again.

To Penang

Today woke up at 7 plus, got outside with my jacket and felt that the air was abt below 20 degree celcius. Left the bungalow and drove to Brinchang town. Then after passing Equatorial hotel, we headed downhill towards Ipoh. Somewhat 90kms later, we reached Simpang Pulai and had 'brunch' 'cos didn't know when the next meal would come when travelling.

Afterwards, we went to 'Kek Lok Tong' (ji le dong) cave temple. The cave had a 50m ceiling and the staglatites were like OMG! So big! Staglatites are formed from dripping water from the ceiling of the cave over hundreds of years.

Then in a darker corner of the cave, I heared squeaking sounds. Walked over and shone torchlight, it was small bats appearing every now and then.

After that went on North-South Highway to Butterworth, took 2 hrs, waited 1 hr for a ferry and crossed over to Pulau Pinang. We stayed at G Hotel and had dinner at the hawker centre. I ate 'char kuay tiao'. Extremely nice, next time mabye will take budget airline here to eat again.

Then went shopping, bought 5 pieces of clothes, all mine. Then had ice-cream. Then went back to hotel. Then blogged...

Gunung Brinchang

Left and left and futher left: Mountains of tea leaves on steep slopes where skilled workers come to pick them

Ok, today we woke up at 8 plus, I had instant noodles and Milo for breakfast. Then at 9, we waited downstairs for the guide to arrive.

He came in a van and took us up to Gunung Brinchang, the highest point of Cameron Highlands via Brinchang town. The road after the town was just 1 way but vehicles in different directions came on the road. We drove up the summit, climbed a tower with ultra narrow steps, and was greeted with a magnificent view and cool breezes.

After that, we also went to a tea factory to see how tea leaves were being processed into the tea in our cups. The workers had to dry it, grind it, heat it over hot air made from rubber wood, sieve them and then pack them into 50kg sacks where the sacks are being transported to KL to add flavourings.

And another thing is that, I got chased by the owner of the bungalow's dog. It was one of the 6. I climbed up the steep slopes and I think it sensed that I got too near their home and then chased me. I was actually told by the owner not to run if chased but, defence instincts, of course I ran.

After a while, it stopped giving chase. It was damn scary.

The bottomost pic is where Megan would not want to go to-The Peak of Gunung Brinchang where there is RADIATION.

Highlands

I am now typing this post while high up in the mountaineous region of the Cameron Highlands . Its in the night and the air here is chillly.

The highlands is located in Pahang state and the narrow road is over 70kms long. It took over 2 hours to reach hotel. The hotel is a bungalow in somewhere remote along the highway.

Today we visited the strawberry and bee farms. The restaurants we went to were so horrible as there were alot of flies everywhere due to the agriculture.

We also visited the tea farms where there were mountains of tea leaves and workers had to climb up the 70 degree slopes to get the leaves.