30 June 2015 - Lenggong
Last minute decision to stop by Lenggong to visit the gallery. In fact we past the gallery slightly before making a U turn to take a look.
The Lenggong valley in Ulu
Perak is one of Peninsular Malaysia's most important areas for archaeology, as
excavations have revealed many traces of Malaysia's prehistory. It is the site
of the oldest known place of human activity in the Peninsula. The Lenggong
Valley was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage siteon 30
June 2012.
Perak Man
Lenggong area is very important as it contains much evidence relating to the
prehistory of Malaysia. It is the oldest area where remains have been found,
and all the sites are situated conveniently within a small area.
The oldest human skeleton found
in Malaysia was in the state of Perak in Peninsular Malaysia. Its exact location is at Gua
Gunung Runtuh, a cave of his final resting place situated in Bukit Kepala Gajah
or Elephant's Head Hill in the Lenggong Valley of Ulu Perak. The skeleton was a
male with a height of approximately 157 cm, aged 50s. It was discovered in
1991 and the skeleton has been dated to around 11,000 years old.
The Perak Man dates to about
11,000 years before present, and is one of the most complete skeletons for this
time period in this region.
Royal Belum
(“RB”) 30 May – 2 June 2015
Why RB ? have always been hoping to visit Taman Negara
and upon learning that RB is less commercialised, I guess there is not much
doubt that RB is selected. The Belum
Temenggor forest reserve forms the last and largest contiguous block of natural
forest in Peninsular Malaysia, covering an area of over 300,000
hectares. It is located in the Malaysian state of Perak and crosses into
Southern Thailand.
The tropical
rainforest of Belum Temenggor is believed to have been in existence for
over 130 million years, making it one of the world’s oldest rainforests, older
than both the Amazon and the Congo.
In the heart of the
forest lies a lake – the Tasik Temenggor – covering 15,200 Hectares, which is
dotted with hundreds of tiny islands. The forest is home to a vast number
of species of animals and plants, many of which cannot be found anywhere else
on Earth.
The unspoiled magic of
Belum, which literally means “land before time”, makes it the perfect habitat
for some of the world’s most threatened mammals, including the Malaysian Tiger,
the Malaysian Sunbear, the nearly extinct Sumatran Rhinoceros, the White-handed
Gibbon, the Asiatic Elephant, and the Malayan Tapir.
The stunning landscape
of the rainforest houses over three thousand species of flowering plants,
including three species of Rafflesia, the iconic giant flower. It is also the
natural habitat of unique species of ferns and mosses.
The lake Tasik
Temenggor is home to over twenty species of freshwater fish and five
species of turtles. Wild boars, deers, pythons and countless species of small
reptiles and insects roam free in the jungle.
Over three hundred
avian species fly over its skies; it’s common to spot eagles catching fishes.
Belum Temenggor is the only place in the planet where all the ten species of
hornbills that inhabit Malaysia can be spotted at once.
An enchanted place that people call
home.
Belum Temenggor is
home not only to an astonishing number of plants and animals, but to many orang
asli or “aboriginal people” who having been living in the forest for millennia.
The orang asli were the first inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula of Australo-Melanesian
origins, with many of their earliest burial grounds dating back 10,000
years ago.
The orang asli that
settled in along the area of Belum Temenggor were traditionally nomadic or
semi-nomadic, mostly hunter-gatherers, sustaining their communities with fishing,
small farming and trading of medicinal herbs, spices and handicrafts.
Semi-nomadic orang asli villages can be found today on some of the islands of
Temenggor; they still live in their traditional way in bamboo huts, hunting
small mammals using blowpipes, fishing and gathering plants and honey from the
forest.
Belum Temenggor forest
reserve is open all the year through to both foreign and national visitors. The
reserve hosts research facilities too.
We visited the
forest reserve of Belum Temenggor and hike in the rainforest, visit orang asli
villages, bathe in waterfalls and almost spot wild animals.
As we reached Belum
rainforest resort in evening, we took our time enjoying the pool overlooking
Temenggor Dam followed by buffet dinner and a 45 minutes night walk. It was a good experience for the kids as well
as myself. Probably given another
chance, we should opt for the longer 2 hours walk.
We spent the next day exploring
various small islands around the Dam , Unfortunately
Raflessia has yet to fully bloom, the biggest was still at 4 months. Also toured salt lick made by elephants. It acted like a clinic for the elephants. Had our packed lunch next to a
waterfall. There were 4 waterfalls at
the island and we went to all 4.
Fortunately we had the 2 boys and Kwee Yap to help Ern Tong. There was also an abandoned army camp
nearby. We also visited a small island
occupied by less than 100 orang asli.
There was a school and the ducks are reared not for consumption. On our way back, it was raining cats and dogs
and all were drentched. We checked out
the place nearing noon after a late breakfast and headed for Kota Bahru.
Kota Bahru – 2 – 3 June
2015
It was our first visit to Kota Bharu , the state capital of Kelantan, on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia.
The hotel we stayed which is Cystal Lodge was within walking distance to Pasar Wan
Khatijah. There is a good Kopi shop
right opposite the hotel. Noticed that
it is full all the time, could see customers from all walks of life.
We were fascinated by the fact that the so-called Islamic state
of Kelantan actually has quite a number if tenmples.
Great temples to visit in the nearby towns to Kota Bharu Town:
near Tumpat there is Wat Pothivihan (huge reclining Buddha). It was really huge and there are some stalls
nearby.
We also visited Wat Machimmaram which has the tallest seating
Buddha in South East Asia, something unexpected.
We visited Pasar Wan Khatijah twice, found the place really
colourful and so full of goods. We
dropped by a Pusat Batik next door and found the batik really interesting. Quite tempted to purchase.
We did some shopping at Parkson shopping complex nearby and at
night visited pasar malam next to Parkson.
Kota Bahru turned out to be quite interesting.
On our journey back, a tyre punctured and we had to stop to have
the tyre repaired. Reached home at 1 am
next day.
During this holiday, we also watched interesting movies like San
Andreas, Tomorrowland and Jurassic World.
During the weekend, we joined Kwee Yap for his Bank’s family