Visitation To Julau, Sarawak

After my Kanowit visitation, then we took another detour to Julau while on our way to Meradong (Bintagor). And a little bit of background details about the Julau Town.

Julau is a town, and the capital of the Julau District (1703.39 square kilometers) in Sarikei Division, Sarawak, east Malaysia. The district population (year 2000 census) was 34,500. The population is dominated by Iban as well as Chinese especially the Fuzhou.

This is the first time I saw raw rubber, the lorry was loaded with these stuff.

During the rule of Sultanate of Brunei until the White Rajahs dynasty, Julau is one of the places situated inside Kanowit. Julau is a town, and the capital of the Julau District (1703.39 square kilometers) in Sarikei Division, Sarawak. So compare Kanowit and Julau. Julau is much smaller, and not much facilities here.

The warf, I'm not sure where this river links to, but since is near to the Kanowit Town, so it might be linked to Kanowit.

Or it might belongs to the village people which stay opposite the river, or in the long house.

My friend own a coffee shop here, and he told us that most of the population are the Iban people. So the Chinese can also speaks Iban here, and for the Chinese school, almost 60 to 70 % of the students are Iban, so they know how to speak Chinese.

One of the main problem which face by the Julau people here are flooding problem, cause each year during the raining session (Dec - Feb), the town will be flooded and become a water world. So did the gov do anything about this, well of course the gov are busy relaxing in the cozy office, drinking their coffee, playing their facebook game, and waiting for the next payday. weeeee~~~ they're so busy.

Cheers,

Wilson

Selamat datai ke website saya

Visitation to Kanowit, Sarawak

I went to Sibu with a bunch of friend, then we all drive to Bintagor, along the way we drove pass the Kanowit town. As I never visit the place before, so we decided to take a detour into the town of Kanowit.
Kanowit is a town and the capital of a district of the same name. It is located within the Sibu Division, Sarawak, east Malaysia and comprises 2,253.5 square kilometers in area. It is built on the mouth of Kanowit River at the bank of Rajang River, approximately 174 kilometers from the coast of South China Sea. It will take 45 minutes to get there by land transport and about an hour boat ride from Sibu. The main ethnic groups are Iban, Chinese, Malay, and Melanau.
This is the landmark singnature of the Kanowit town, the olive? hmmmm.....
The town takes its name from the Kanowit, a Melanau ethnic group called Rajang by the Ibans. The language is still spoken. There still are some Kanowit people living in the Kanowit area. However, the language is doomed to extinction.
The town center consists of three streets of 1930s vintage Chinese shophouses, almost half of which seem to contain coffeeshops, near the waterfront. The biggest supermarket is Hock Tong Seng Supermarket and it meets most of the needs for the locals.
During periods of celebration, the local karaoke can often be heard from far away with the pounding basslines of trashy 80's hits in English, Malay and Chinese. The best sight seeing can be had by walking along the riverside from town or up the Telecom Hill.
This is some where near the waterfront area, and beside us the the bank of the Rajang River.
I've also confirm the name of the river with the people there, they told me this is the Rajang River, and you can use the boat here to go to Kapit.
The market at Kanowit town. Uhh!! durians...yum yumm
There is also a Chinese Temple beside the river, although Kanowit is a small town but Kanowit has a decent infrastructure, enough to satisfy the small population's needs.

It has two primary schools (Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan St. Francis Xavier-the earliest primary school in Sarawak, founded in 1883 and Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Yee Ting, a Chinese-run government school), and two secondary schools (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kanowit and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dipertua Haji Abdul Rahman Yaakub).

Fort Emma is a fort built in 1859 by Rajah James Brooke, out of timber and bamboo. It was named after Emma Brooke, sister of Rajah Charles Brooke. The fort remains impressive, despite years of neglect. It is now open to public as a mini museum.

Fort Emma was also the site of the last serious challenge to Brooke rule in Sarawak. In 1859, a number of Malay chiefs, led by Syarif Masahor of Mukah and supported by the Sultan of Brunei planned a series of attacks to kill all the Europeans in Sarawak and Dutch Borneo. In June 1859, Brooke government officials Charles Fox and Henry Steele were murdered at Kanowit as the first step of this plan.

The Tuan Muda Charles Brooke led a force of Iban from Saribas to revenge the attack and to recover the heads of the unfortunate victims. As a result, Mukah was annexed to Sarawak, Sharif Masahor fled to Johore and the "Malay Plot" was the last time the Malays and the Iban joined forces against the White Rajah.

The Pandan Beach @ Lundu, Kuching

Last week the Raya and the Independence day falls in the same day, had a few days off. So I went to the Pandan beach with my fiends, and also for Raya visiting (yumm yum, I finally get to eat the satay).

The top photographer Wilson Chin (me), this is the grocery shop just right next to the beach.

This is a public beach, so there are a lot of people came here to spend their holiday. My parent use to bring us to the beach when I'm little, miss the old days.

My friends :)

Cheers,

Wilson

The water are very salty, and I can't really open my eyes when swimming :S

The Most beautiful temple at Penang, the Kek Lok Si temple 极乐寺

I visited the most beautiful temple at Penang, is on top of a hill, and it's called the Kek Lok Si temple (极乐寺). In the Buddhist teaching, there is a place called the "Pure Land of the West" in Chinese is 极乐世界. The temple name was adapt from there.

I'm impress with the building structure, they have really details painting, and magnificent engraving, very huge Buddha statue, beautiful panoramic view on the hill top, and more.

I like where they have a lot of souvenir stalls on the way to the temple, and also a lot of food stalls. I tried some of the food there and it was really nice :)

That day when I visited the place, it was a cloudy day, I like it cause is not that hot. Took a lots of photos this time, the photos that I took 2 years back are all corrupted. I will make sure that I capture every details this time, and keep my photos in a safe place.

I've made a shot clip on my kek lok si temple trip together with my parents, check it out my friend.



Cheers,
Wilson
amitabah....

  

Visitation to The Penang Hill a.k.a Bukit Bendera

This is the first time I visited the Penang Hill, as I remember when I was a kid, I did read this in the text book about the introduction of the Penang Hill.




At first I know we need to use a train to go uphill, I tough it was a cable car, but I was a bit disappointed when I'm there, and notice it uses a cable train instead of a cable car. oh well, at least I don't have to climb all the way up.




So I uses the Penang Hill funicular train service to go up, and paid RM8 (round trip) for adults. The railway starts to construct at 1906, and had also undergo for upgrading after that.

From the trip up, it took around 5 minutes. The cable pulls the train all the way uphill, and the train did stop at the platform when going up. Is 833 above sea level on the very top.

Also there is a 5.1KM tarred road, is open for vehicles of hill residents, and for off-road motorcycle to travel up the steep terrain.

When on top of the hill, I can view almost the entire Penang Town. I can also see the famous Penang bridge. The weather up there is not as cold like when I'm at Kinabalu Park, Kota Kinabalu or Genting Highland. The view are block by haze that day, if not I'm able to capture good panoramic view of the Penang Town.




There is a India temple, called the Thirumurugan temple, and also a mosque. Not just that, it also has a huge canon on top of the hill. Now this makes me curious, why do they need a canon on top of the hill back in the old days? and is only one, is that for decoration. If they were to use it as defence, that will not be much help...




The old train used back in the old days are display on top of the hill, and i google it out, back in the old days, it takes half an hour for the train to reach to the top, that's slow.

I've record a video while going uphill, check my video out.



Cheers,
Wilson
chu chu.....chiko chiko chiko....chu chu.....

Penang Trip, Day 9 (Last Day at Penang)

My last day at Penang, and the only pace that I went is the Heong Shan Shi Buddhist temple. I was with my parent to attend a Buddhist chanting ceremony, as this is the month of July in the Chinese Lunar, so usually as a Buddhist it would be good if we go to the Buddhist center and pray.

There is a big puja ceremony at this Buddhist temple, and it starts at 9AM and ends at 8PM. Well of course in the middle there are break time.

This is the first time mom and dad come to Penang, and throughout this few days I bring them around Penang, and am really glad that they are having a good time here.

All of my brothers also concern about mom, cause she sometime worry to much about us. Guess all the mom in this world will do the same for their kids.

Thank you for following my travel post for this few days, and remember to bookmark my page, as I’ll continue to share some of the interesting about my daily life.

Cheers,

Wilson

Holiday ends today :)

Penang Trip Report Reports:

Penang Trip Day 1 (post 1 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 2 (post 2 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 3 (post 3 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 4 (post 4 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 5 (post 5 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 6 (post 6 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 7 (post 7 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 8 (post 8 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 9 (post 9 of 9)

Penang Trip, Day 8

This morning my friend brings us to 2 gardens at Penang, which is the Botanical Garden, and the Penang 

Municipal Park

Botanical Garden, Penang Municipal Park

Both of these park has a lot of people, this is nowhere to be found back in Kuching. I found out why when I start to walk in the municipal park.

Inside the park, there are free entrance, the government build a lot of outdoor gym equipment for the public, not just that, there are also 3 – 4 small swimming pools for the kids, several tracks which has their own unique themes, they also has a court specially for skateboard, and BMX bicycle.

A lot of senior people group together for morning exercise, and practice tai chi.

One thing that I regret is during my walk at the garden, I forgot to bring my camera…

Sorry guys, no photo to be shown here.

Goddness of Mercy Temple

This is also known as the Guan Yin temple, is a popular temple at Penang which specially dedicated to the goddness of mercy. It establish in 1728!!! That’s more than 300 years aleady, we went there around 7AM, there are already a lot of people there.

Some selling joss stick, some sells flowers, fruits, food. And also a lot of beggars sit near the temple, even inside the temple, and most of them are old people. Penang has a lot of beggar especially at spiritual places.

Vegetarian Breakfast

After all the walking, my friend said is time for breakfast. So we went to a vegetarian restaurant for breakfast. This restaurant is situated just near the place that we stay, I wonder why I didn’t notice this before.

I had fried rice, with foufu, spicy sauce, vegetarian sausage, and some small chili to spicy thing up. Mom doesn’t like spicy food, and she likes vegetable.

The restaurant is pack with customer; the business is good here, as my friend told us this is due to the reasonable price here. I guess this is the essence of doing business.

Peal Hill

Then, my friend bring us to one of the best view at Batu Feringgi, is a residential area called the Pear Hill Villa. Many huge and pretty houses was built along the way up the hill, and on the very top of the hill, there are also a Chinese temple.

It took us quite some time to look for the place, as my friend told us that the last time she was here is about 5 years ago. We asked for direction along the way, and finally got it right.

When we’re on top of the hill, is very windy, and I can see almost the entire Batu Feringgi area. The coast line, the buildings, and the trees are all just below this hill.

The temple is an old temple, I’m kinda impress on the people who build this, and they really know how to pick good location. 

Penang Trip Report Reports:

Penang Trip Day 1 (post 1 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 2 (post 2 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 3 (post 3 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 4 (post 4 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 5 (post 5 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 6 (post 6 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 7 (post 7 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 8 (post 8 of 9)

Penang Trip Day 9 (post 9 of 9)

Penang Trip, Day 7

Today I’ll drive my parent to visit a small town called Balik Pulau, and then will eat durian as lunch.

Tropical Spice Garden

I drive pass this garden, and went in to have a look what’s inside. The entrance fees is RM14 for adults, which I think is not worth it. The stuff that available in the spice garden are the stuff that I can easily found at India street back in Kuching, and even my mom plant most of the spices herself. For the spice garden, sorry guys, no photos…

Forest Recreation Park and Museum

For this park, there is a signboard hanging on the entrance saying that they suspect there are “mice pee virus” (something like that) in the park, so they now temporary close the park, and after they make sure that the virus is gone, only then they will reopen the park for visitors.

For the Forest Recreation Park, sorry guys, no photos again…

Balik Pulau Town

After that we drive along the mount road, the roads are like snake, some have danger 100 degree curve.  And the road is just at the edge of the cliff, so have to pay full attention when driving here.

The Balik Pulau Town is at the western of the Penang Island, which situated at the downhill of the western side of Penang Island.

For me I would said is just like a small town similar to Lundu, Samatan back in Sarawak. They sell a lot of durians here. Here is the place where all the durian are planted, and then been distribute all over Penang Island.

Most of the residents here speak Hakka dialect (same as mine), so when negating with the seller we can get cheaper price.

Durian Lunch

We stop by at one of the stall along the road, and it has a sign board saying “Direct Sales” which means they plant, and sell their durian directly without middle man.

The owner introduce us the No.1 Durian at Penang called the “Red Prawn 红虾”, that durian is as big as a basketball, and for the taste…OMG!!! It really taste nice, I’ve never tasted such nice durian before, I kidd you not guys, when you come to Penang for Durian, ask for this, it really nice.

We also ate other type of durians, and all taste extremely delicious. All with a very cheap price, for example like the “Red Prawn” it weight 3.5KG, it sold RM10 for 1KG, after mom negotiate with the owner, he said he sell us the price of 3KG, which is only RM30.

Back in Kuching, my friend bought a normal durian for RM70!!! That’s freaking expensive!!!

My mom, dad, and me… we ate 3 huge durians, and FULL to the max. I wish my other 3 brothers are here with us, then we can have more, and it will be merrier. Wait next time I want to bring my other 3 brothers together as well.

Ghee Hup Nutmeg Factory

While on our way back to Batu Feringgi, we drive pass one nutmeg factory. So I told my parent why don’t we go inside and have a look.

While we at the factory, we’re greed by the owner. He told us that he’s in his 60’s already, and he had start doing this Nutmeg business since 1953…OMG after ding my math, I found out that is more than 50 years.

He plants his own nutmeg, and by using the nutmeg fruit, he produce drinks, jam, cakes, medicine, and preserve food.

The owner is a Hakka as well, and is very nice, friendly, and honest, to us. He told us about his background, how he stats the business, also tell us about nutmeg, how to plant, how to differentiate a male and female nutmeg, how to store it, how to cook it, and a more.

He and my parents are like old friends that didn’t see each other for a long time. Mom buy a few nutmeg products from him, and he not only give us huge discount, but also give us a few as present.

I can’t believe there is such nice and honest person, and by far this is the best place to visit while at Balik Pulau here. Mom and dad are happy as well.

After all the talking, drinking and eating, we bit good bye to the owner, and ask him to visit Sarawak (he told us he never travel before).

I’m so full now, we went back to the place we stay, and have a nice evening nap after that.

Stay tune for my next travel post…

Penang Trip Report Reports:

Penang Trip Day 1 (post 1 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 2 (post 2 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 3 (post 3 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 4 (post 4 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 5 (post 5 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 6 (post 6 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 7 (post 7 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 8 (post 8 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 9 (post 9 of 9)

Penang Trip, Day 6

On day 6 of my trip, I went to visit a place that I always wanted to go. The hospice center, the name of this hospice center called “Pure Lotus Hospice of Compassion” 净莲慈悲院.

Pure Lotus Hospice of Compassion

This is a center which establish by Buddhist monk, and is a non-profit hospice caring center for the cancer patients.

The patient that stays here are all free of charges, the main objective is to let the cancer patients to be able to ease their pain, and to leave this world with less suffering from their illness.

Although this center is run by Buddhist monk, inside the center have all kind of races, Chinese, Malay and India.

I’m glad that I’m able to bring my parent to come and visit the cancer patient, as I know my mom sometime complain about life a lot, and so I took this opportunity to let mom knows how suffer it is to fall sick, and how lucky we are to be able to stay healthy. And we should start appreciate what we have now, and focus on the positive stuff not the negative stuff.

The center is just situated opposite the Penang General Hospital, and it used 2 semi-detach houses, renovated it and become a hospice center.

They employed retired nurses to look after the patients, and also several general workers for cleaning, cooking, and daily chores.

I like this place, and in the future if when I’m tired of my daily working routine, I wanted to come here and work as a volunteer to help the people here.

Queesbay Mall

After the hospice visitation, I drove to the largest shopping center at Penang the Queesbay Mall. This place is mom’s favorite, and one good thing is the mall has a lot of discount going on. So we stay like 3 hours there, for me and dad we just wait at the walkway, and let mom do her shopping.

Not much to tell about while I’m at the shopping mall…

Flat House at Tanjong Tokong area

After the shopping, we went to the place we stay. We stay near Tanjong Tokong, and while mom and dad are resting, I went for a walk… at Penang, there are a lot of flat, and condominiums. Where back at Kuching, Sarawak. We have a lot of houses; this is because there are plenty of land at Sarawak.

When I walk pass by a flat house building, saw all of the units at the flat, all very pack, and they rinse their clothes just outside the corridor. It must be very noisy here, and not much privacy either.

I’m so lucky that I have my own house, my own car, my girlfriend, my dog (well plan to have one soon). And I have my own little garden, I can park my car within my house compound, I can rinse my clothes at my little garden, I can plant flowers, and I can have a lot of privacy. I love Sarawak….

Thai Pak Koong Temple Tanjong Toking

I can’t believe it, while I was roaming in the Malay village area, there are actually a lane which pack with tradition chinese village house here, and on the end of the lane is the beach.

There is a Chinese temple here; beside the temple is a seafood restaurant. That time is around 7PM, but here is west Malaysia, so is still very bright.

There is this old towel near the beach, and they put tiny India god statue next to the building. Here at Penang, is like a religious place, and it is full of india temple, mosque, Buddhist temple, and a lot of small chinese temple.

The people who stay here are so lucky, cause they get to go to the beach every day. This is the life that I want. 

How about you my dear reader?

Stay tune for my next travel post…

Penang Trip Report Reports:

Penang Trip Day 1 (post 1 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 2 (post 2 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 3 (post 3 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 4 (post 4 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 5 (post 5 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 6 (post 6 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 7 (post 7 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 8 (post 8 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 9 (post 9 of 9)

Penang Trip, Day 5

Today will be visiting the Penang Bird Park. And the place is at Butterworth, so have to cross the mighty Penang Bridge. Dad and mom are so excited, as this is their first time to visit the bridge.

The Penang Bridge

We start our journey at around 8.30AM, the road condition today are smooth. I’m not so familiar with the road, and all I had was this map that I get when reached the Penang Airport.

I just follow the signboard and drive where ever it pointed. One good thing is it has an icon of the bridge on the road sigh, so is easy to recognize.

Reaches the bridge like around 9.15AM, and I drive around 70 Km/h. Enjoying the view along the way, while point mom and dad where the second Penang Bridge will be build.

We don’t have to pay toll when drive to Butterworth, we only need to pay when we’re on our way back to Penang Island.

Ok so now we’re at Butterworth, and our next stop will be the Penang Bird Park…

Several Gas Station…

On Butterworth here, there are a lot of express highway. Once you got a wrong turn, you have to drive a long way to get where you started. And this is what happen to me, the map is not that clear, it only label Penang Bird Park at one of the highway, but when I’m driving, there are like 4 – 5 highway in front of me, and the freaking road sign also didn’t state clearly where is that goddamn birdpark.

One thing good is that it has petro station along the way, so what I do is I stop by to the gas station, and ask for direction. The people at the station are also kind enough to point to me where is where.

It took me like almost an hour on the road, going from gas station to gas station, turning from junction to junction; paying toll to another toll (I even ask the toll guy where is that freaking birdpark). Got a bit frustrated, and the bird park better be a good place to visit, else I will be really !@#$!@#!$#$^@!!

Finally the Bird Park

The entrance for the bird park is RM15 for adults, and an additional RM1 if you have a camera. The owner claims that they’re the first establish bird park in Malaysia, and now they’re the largest.

We’re greed by two eagles at the entrance, their leg has been tie, pity bird…

After that, when entering the bird park, the names that I can tell are like owls, peacock, eagles/falcon,  ostrich, hornbill, parrots, stork, flamingo, ducks, pigion, craw (penang are full of these birdy) and a bunch of students. Oh… the students are all visitors like my parent and me.

They also have reptiles like snakes, iguana, and crocodile. Talk about snake, when we’re half visiting the place, it starts to rain. Mom didn’t bring umbrella, so we have to take a shelter at one of the pavilion.

Then dad saw a huge cage just next to the pavilion, so he go and check it out. Then he called me to go quickly, he said a huge snake rolling itself there. Mom scare of snakes, so she don’t dare to go close, but dad keep on calling mom to go over. So mom go and have a peak, when mom is near to the cage, she ask “where is the snake?” then dad push mom forward the cage, and make a loud noise to scare mom…lols

Mom then scolded dad, she said she nearly have heart attack. Dad and I laugh at mom…. I should took a picture of mom that time, she looks so funny!!!

There is also a bird show which starts at 11.30AM, but it’s raining so the show had postponed nearly to 12noon.

The show is not as attractive, the lady owners is a bad performer. And the birds that morning also didn’t follow the instruction, so most of the tricks did not perform well. I will give it a 2 out of 10. Booooo!!!!!!

Before we left the park, mom and dad took some photos with the eagle and parrot. I’m scare of their craws, so I will skip…

The famous Hong Kong roadted duck rice

After the bird show, I feel to eating some bird (just kidding). We stumble upon on this stall unintentionally, and why I said if famous is because the customer just keeps on coming, it flows in just like water, nonstop.  

I ordered duck rice which is enough for 3 people, and we waited for about 30 minutes for our food to come. But is worth it, because is really tasty. It cost RM30 for that whole big plate.

That’s the best food that I taste so far when I’m at Penang. Next time when I’m here again, if I’m still not a vegetarian, I’ll come back here and eat it again.

After the late lunch, drive dad and mom for a ride at the town area, and go back to rest.

Stay tune for my next travel post…

Penang Trip Report Reports:

Penang Trip Day 1 (post 1 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 2 (post 2 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 3 (post 3 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 4 (post 4 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 5 (post 5 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 6 (post 6 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 7 (post 7 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 8 (post 8 of 9)
Penang Trip Day 9 (post 9 of 9)