Family Holiday..

just came back from Kuala Gula. went there with my family to spend a night there. it's an eco-tourism area, about almost 2 hours away from Ipoh. it's actually mainly a fishing village and a mangrove area along the coastal area. u can say, it's a place not really known to many. our accommodation was a semi-D single storey house with 3 rooms all with air-cond, not bad. and our tour guide was a chinese, Mr Tan.

first day, the moment we arrived, he took us to the charcoal factory. haha. saw how charcoal was made. and our clothes all had the smell of charcoal after that. although this charcoal factory might sound boring, it was actually interesting. and we saw some funny n interesting stuff there.

and there was this tame monkey there. it went and hang around the little kittens there. so cute. quickly took a picture.

monkey n kittens

next headed for a boat ride along the coast n mangrove area, out to the sea. the boat was really nice, comfortable n it went so fast, so fast that i was kinda scared my stuff will get blown off the boat, and so happen, i received a call at that time n i was like clinging on to my phone tightly. lol. my hair was in a total mess n full of tangles after that. phew.. but it really was a great n enjoyable ride.


and here's our professional photographer, my bro, David n his professional camera n skills. lol.


the boat ride was actually for us to view the different species of birds there including the migratory birds and also the mangrove area and how ppl there catch fishes, prawns, shrimps, cockles, etc. and i got to know this fact, fishermen are no poor ppl, they're RICH!! honestly, according to Mr Tan, who is also a fishermen, one day's work to catch cockles or shrimps can earn you RM3000 to RM4000, that is just 1 day. imagine, if it was everyday, u'll be rich. so, anyone wanna change your minds n go be a fisherman? lol..

and to prove it, these ppl don't drive cheap cars. i hardly saw any Malaysian cars there, my bro was looking out for the cars that they have there, and they're seriously branded cars. Mercedes Benz also got, the new ones.

here are some shots from the boat trip.

Samuel, daddy n Stephen
Mr Tan n his son behind

mommy n grandma looking out for birds


my hair.. a mess..

weather was not hot but unfortunately, it started to rain after 35 minutes. we could see the rain pouring down at one part of the sea n it was gradually coming towards us so we had to quickly go back. too bad, hoped to see more birds and also to catch cockles n maybe spot some dolphins (u can spot dolphins there if u're lucky), but anyway, i enjoyed it.

we could see the rain pouring down from far

after boating, went back to the house, clean up n headed for dinner at a seafood restaurant. dinner was yummy, delicious. thanks daddy. we had crabs, fish, veggie, chicken.. i'm so gonna get fat with all these food, but they're just so tempting, definitely must eat all i want. haha.


after dinner, Mr Tan showed us photos n told us about the birds n other species of animals that u can find at Kuala Gula. he had loads of photos. there were even different species of crabs at Kuala Gula, they were so cute, and not to forget the Mudskipper.

next, he took us to see the fireflies. these fireflies gathered at certain trees n from far, these trees look like the Christmas trees with twinkling lights, cute.

then, went owl hunting. we sat in the car n dad drove along the road where there were oil-palm trees surrounding, with Mr Tan leading the way. he spotted the first owl n soon we became pro at spotting owls also, spotted quite a lot, we're lucky. haha. these owls were on the electricity poles. we spotted two species of owls. one is the common Barn Owl n the other is the Spotted Wood Owl. the minute we spotted an owl, we stopped the car right below the pole where the owl was, so we all could see it closely and my bro took shots of the owl with his professional camera with us shining flash lights at it to be able to see it clearly. the owl just didn't bother about us but some did fly away after awhile. it was really fun, we were like ppl who haven't seen owls before. haha. well, i think it's because it's the first time we have to actually hunt for an owl to see n the owl was out in the wild n not in a cage, so it was something new.

Barn Owl

Spotted Wood Owl

went back, laze around, had our baths, watch tv, chat n went to sleep. and at that time, my dad discovered a frog in one of the bathrooms. dunno how it got there coz it wasn't there earlier.

morning, woke up 7am. got ready. went for breakfast. ate Wantan Mee, they said it's the famous one in Kuala Gula, actually, Kuala Gula doesn't have much restaurants. lol.

after breakfast, went to walk along the mangrove area. saw the mangrove trees up close, fascinating crabs, funny monkeys, and the cute Mudskipper. i love the Mudskipper, this cute little fish that can live out of water just caught my attention.

a type of crab. above is the male one
n below is the female one.
spot the difference.

the seed of the mangrove tree


the mangrove plantation project

mangrove trees. look at the roots.

monkeys

mother n baby monkey

Mudskipper

next, went to the PERHILITAN building. that department is in charge of monitoring the area n preserving the area so that the birds can live and also to monitor the birds at the area. we checked out the exhibition there.

here's something interesting. ready? here we go.

BEWARE!! Open this window at your own risk...
Get ready to face the most dangerous predator on earth!

Human beings (with inhuman senses) are the worst
and most dangerous predator on earth

next, headed to the belacan factory. according to Mr Tan, our shirts will stink of belacan, n indeed it did but it wasn't that bad coz i could still smell the nice detergent smell of my shirt. haha. at the belacan factory, saw how they made belacan. bought some belacan and rojak sauce there to bring home too. the rojak sauce was really nice coz they gave us free rojak to eat there, so nice.



after that, went for lunch and headed home. though it was only a short trip, but was worth it. we enjoyed it though it seemed like we didn't do much. guess we all enjoyed the little time away together, after all, it was a long time since we had a holiday together as a family.

thank you daddy n mummy for the lovely holiday.. thanks everyone for making it so special.
love you all loads.