Kuala Gandah

An interesting place to visit. I enjoyed spending time watching the elephants. The place is well- kept and the elephants were friendly. In the photo is a baby after his daily bathe.

Meet my new Zumba partner. This elephant had good moves to zumba with.

Taiping, Perak

Beautiful old trees saw in Taiping

On my way to Taiping, i wanted to see Teluk Intan .I found the tower quite easy. Next was Kellies' Castle in Batu Gajah. The best part was finding the castle which tested my PR skills. Had to ask for directions many times since I was hopeless reading the map.My friend ( my GPs) was not in a good mood so I decided to try my luck.Found Malaysians to be really helpful.

After all the searching, I found it.

In Taiping, stayed in quite a new hotel;;; fleminton near the lake.Reasonable price.Dinner in a local hawker stall eating Yong Tau Hoo. Nice and cheap. Had a long long walk in the lake since the lake was BIG. The trees are really old and huge.

Friendly creatures 

After breakfast the next day, we were supposed to leave for Penang( assam laksa here I come)....went back to the local hawker stalls, had Curry Mee which was good. I was so surprised to get a cup of black coffee for 80 sen. Wah... that was cheap.As we were driving round, saw a beautiful place called Sentosa Villa. Went in and they had friendly staff that allowed us in. I fell in love with the garden of trees and the..... stream flowing from Maxwell hill. I never knew that such places existed in Taiping. I assumed that it was a   sleepy town.

Stream from Maxwell Hill. Water is awesome.

   

Look what I saw in Taiping

We voted and I won. I stayed another nite  in this Villa. Since it was holiday, no rooms so had to take up the villas. Quite pricey but trust me, it was worth it.My Villa( sound so nice) is facing the stream... cool but the best part , this villa is surrounded by durian trees. Luckily, one of the nearby tree was bearing fruit, We could smell durian when the wind blew. Priceless. 

Sentosa Villa

My villa for the nite only

It was shared.

Next, we took walk round the villa. Saw fish pond with big fish like kelah. My freiend said delicious if we get one and steam.. Surely fresh. Sorry not allowed. Took a dip in the stream. Real cold and refreshing. The water is directly from Maxwell Hill, so it was like in a spa.After two long dips, my friend is now rosy red and CANTIK.

Curry Mee in hawker stall.

Kota Tinggi Waterfalls

Pretty sure that many people had visited this place. Since it was my first, I had great expectation. So sad to see that massive development is taking place next to this waterfall.the water was really cold but the clearing next to it was an eye sore to me.
So if anyone is interested, pls go soon before too late.

Tanjung Piai, Johor.

WHERE? The southern most tip of Asia in Johor. To me, it sounded interesting. From Endau, i drove passing Batu Pahat and Muar. Had lunch in Pekan Nenas. True to its name, the pineapple were sweet and juicy. I will fondly remember Pekan as having delicious Assam fish and cheap.

On the way to Tg Piai, went to kukup, a famous seafood place. Stayed in Tg Piai Resort. Do not go during holidays cos the whole resort was invaded by students from Singapore. Poor souls. Why? The room was quite run down but the toilet gave a nightmare. A real no-no . When in the loo, observe when you flush.
Next , to the resort is Tg Piai national park. Pls no more national parks.. i was surprised cos it is a Wetland park. Take a walk round on the wooden platforms. It is cooling since it is shaded ny Bakau trees. Look down and get to see cute and colourful small crabs.

Small nit cute crabs.

Endau... a pirate haunt

Endau..

I always assume that Endau is just a national park. I was Really wrong. I found a lost paradise here in a place .. PasirPenyabong abt 20 minutes away Endau(town). But be prepared..

Sign board to Paradise

I stayed in a cheap chalet with NO electricity in the day time. it is usual to be a pirate haunt where treasures were kept.. OMG. How...mati lor. the generator was only turned on late evening. I was worried but soon the beach front won my heart. It is like I was in paradise when I saw the crystal clear water compred to other beaches. The best part was that I had the beach to ourselves. We could actual go crazy naked ... sorry it did not happen.

Taken from Pulau Acheh.

Later in the evening, the owner brought us to a deserted island not far away.. Pulau Acheh. The water in this island was much more better.Seriously beautiful since we had the island to ourselves. On d way back to mainland, the engine of the boat failed to start. The guys took a long time to fix it. I told them are we sleeping up the tress in Pulau Acheh tonight? They laughed cos the phones work and help will come if so neede. There goes my crazy idea!!!

My dinner cos d nearest stall or shop is abt 10 to 20 minutes  drive to town.

On the road

Me with beloved students

As a women with a shelter life, i decided to try new things after getting a new car in 2010. I ventured out around Malaysia in my car which I named Froggie. My kids liked the name I gave my Myvi. The journey started by travelling to Kuantan. OMG..... it sounded so far away on my own driving. Madness.

End of April 2011
I invited a female friend to go along on my plan. I drove non stop to Kuantan using the East; West highway. It was okay not too bad. Reached Kuantan late afternoon and had a good tea in Kemaman Kopitiam. Nice keropok but a bit pricey. Then only we started looking for a room. We picked d phone n called all d hotels... No rooms kept on repeating . We then realised that tomorrow was 1st of May. I freaked out.. asking her where are going to sleep tonite.Seriously, i dont have such experience. Then we drove to Balok, a nearby town with beautiful beaches. I drove from chalets to hotels looking for a room. Failed mission. Sat on the beaches sad n had to make decisions. Do I drive back home to Klang ?

wandering at balok beach......

My brave fren said lets eat seafood in Tanjung Lumpur which is famous for seafood! I had no mood to eat the delicious sotong or even siakap. I wanted to go home to my own comfort zone.

After dinner at nearer 10pm, we went to a nearby mall and I had a nap. My crazy fren got tickets to watch a midnite movie. She said lets go n sleep in a safe situation. Paid Rm 10 and slept till 2am. What next?Outside of the cinema on  way to lift, we saw a pool of fresh blood on d floor and on d walls. Talking abt crime rates. We saw police cars outside of the mall. Quickly walked to my froggie n locked d car.  Went back to Kemaman kopitiam for supper and decide... No room and very tired.Luckily, saw a lot of people in the kopitiam.

Yummy...

From Ana and only RM2

Next at 3.30 am, i drove to the nearest rest stop to sleep n wait for the sun . In d thick fog, arrived Gambang , parked d car in front of a lit toilet. Took out sweater... sleep. Trust me.. d sleep did not come so easy for me. I was afraid for own safety after seeing d gang fight in Kuantan. Thank god.. there were many people sleeping in rest stop.

Day 2.... woke up at 8.15 n drove back.... Survived .
Lesson learnt: do your homework abt d places of visit
                      it is okay if you didnot bathe for a day or two.
                      sleeping in d car in rest stop is only d last solution.
                      Make reservation during public holidays.
Conclusion: We became much braver after this experience.