Lost World of Tambun

We didn’t go for any family holidays this year end holidays, as I had been too busy at work.  So when sis suggested making a trip to the Lost World of Tambun, I readily agreed so that the girls would have some fun before school reopens.  We bought the Groupon vouchers, and went on Christmas Eve.  Apparently, half the state population decided to do the same – the park was teeming with people.  But it was a nice day for a visit – the sun decided to go into hiding, yet the rain didn’t make any appearance.

The Lost World of Tambun is run by the Sunway Group, so the overall concept and attractions is pretty similar to Sunway Lagoon.  What sets it apart is its location – amidst beautiful 400-million year-old natural limestone hills which are characteristic of Ipoh.

Cat statues guarding the entrance to the Lost World of Tambun (L), entrance to the Lost World of Tambun with the beautiful hills in the background

Similar to Sunway Lagoon, there’s the Water Park, Amusement Park and Petting Zoo.  Additionally, there’s also a Tiger Valley, Swan Lake, Tin Valley and Team Building Park.  A unique feature of Lost World of Tambun is the Hot Springs and Spa, and there are a number of pools and a steam cave where visitors can enjoy the health benefits of natural hot springs.

We started the day by visiting the Amusement Park, where the kids, and adults alike, enjoyed the three available rides.

Giddy Galleon

Dragon Flight

Top left: Yihao and I waiting for the ride to begin.  Bottom left: Yiu Yiu looking longingly from the edge - she couldn't get on the ride as she was just slightly below the height limit of 110cm.

Storm Rider

For younger children, there’s also a carousel.  There are also plenty of games stalls, fun fair style.

Then it was time for the children to hit the water – and they pretty much remained at Kid’s Explorabay, a kids only zone with slides and play area with tipping mine buckets, water cannons, water curtains, and fountains.  

They took a break for a while when we adults dragged them to the hot spring pools.  Water temperature in most of the hot spring pools exceeds 40 degrees centigrade but since it was a gloomy day, it was quite nice dipping into the hot water.

Saphira's Lair and Foot Spa

Clockwise from top left: Saphira's Lair, Top of the World Pool (this is supposed to be a jacuzzi but it was not switched on), Infinity Pool, Lost World Steam Cave (nature's sauna)

Towards evening, we wanted to catch the Adventure Express, the Lost World train that takes visitors on a big circle around the park but as the queue was long, we decided to walk instead.  We just missed the tiger feeding at the Tiger Valley, where two Siberian tigers roam freely in their enclosure.  The tigers look well-fed and well cared for, unlike tigers we’ve seen in some zoos.

A relatively new attraction is the Tin Valley, with exhibits depicting the history of tin mining in Perak.

Statues of elephants, depicting the mode of transportation in the mines in the olden days

Beyond the Tin Valley are the Needle of Tambun, a unique vertical rock formation that looks like a pencil from a distance, and the Team Building Park.

The Needle of Tambun was once part of an arch which was known many thousands of years ago as The Kingdom in the Sky.  It is all that remains after the fall of the arch.

We also visited the Petting Zoo, a well laid out area of 80,000 sq ft at the foot of the mountain.  The natural setting and vegetation has been pretty much preserved for the various small animals in the zoo.
 

Top from left: Raccoon, ferrets, white eared marmosets

Bottom from left: European hedgehogs, guinea pigs, striped skunk

Sis and I wanted to go on those adventurous slides at the water park but we didn't get the chance.  All our time was spent watching over them in the water, accompanying them on the kiddie rides, and bringing one after another to the toilet…haha.  But watching the kids having so much fun made it all worthwhile.

Work trip to Hong Kong

I was in Hong Kong recently for work, and managed to do some extra curricular activities.

Dining

We had the official dinner at Nanhai No. 1, a Michelin one star restaurant located on the 30^th floor of the iSquare complex in Tsim Sha Tsui.  The contemporary Chinese cuisine restaurant has an extremely nice environment – we can even watch the Symphony of Lights show while dining – but food was really quite mediocre, with the exception of one or two dishes.  And service was extremely slow.

Very elegant interior (photo from here)

After dinner, a group of us decided to walk back to our hotel, Langham Place Hotel @ Mongkok.  We stumbled on Yee Shun Milk Company, famous for its steamed milk, so we made a pitstop and shared several bowls of steamed milk with ginger.  I’m not a milk person, but even so, I found it good.

Christmas decoration at the Langham Place - the North Pole came to Hong Kong

Hoover Cake Shop at Kowloon City is famous for their egg tarts – apparently, Chow Yuen Fatt’s favourite.  I happened to be in the vicinity on my last day there and tapau some back.  My verdict?  It was nice, but we can get equally nice ones here in KL.

Photos of the exterior of the shops from here and here.

Shopping

Didn’t have time to go to Citygate, only managed to visit the Ladies Market, which was very near the hotel.  My loot consists of small knick knacks for the girls, and some phone covers for me and sis.

I thought the Hello Kitty watches were a steal.  At HKD 100 for four, they were really pretty.  Lets hope they'll last for some time.

Places of interest

The Hong Kong Tourist Board publishes a booklet on Hong Kong Walks, a guide to exploring the city on foot.  I’ve done several of the routes in my past trips, and since I had the whole morning on my last day (my flight was at 4.05pm), I added one more to my belt.  It wasn’t really a walk, as I travelled mostly by MTR J  It started at the Nan Lian Garden, a 35,000 sqm² Tang dynasty style garden.  I was surprised to find myself in such a serene and well maintained garden amidst the bustling city.

Next stop was the Wong Tai Sin Temple – one of the most popular temples in Hong Kong, and for fans of TVB serials, you must have heard this temple being mentioned a million times before J  Wong Tai Sin Temple is home to three different religions/beliefs: Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.  Many locals were seen praying with various offerings in front of the main temple.

The arch leading to the main temple

The main temple of Wong Tai Sin

There are five buildings/structures within the temple compound representing the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.  I managed to locate all but the Archives Hall, representing wood.

Clockwise from top left: Bronze Pavillion (metal), Fountain (water), Yue Heung Shrine (fire), Earth Wall (earth)

The Kowloon Walled City Park sits on the site of the Kowloon Walled City, a former Chinese military fort turned into a largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, with 33,000 families living in 300 buildings.  Looking at photos from this page about Kowloon Walled City brings back memories of Hong Kong movies of yester years, and no where is the term 白鸽笼 (pigeon hole) more apt than it was here.  Kowloon Walled City was completely demolished in April 1994, following which a number of relics was unearthed, nearly all of which were incorporated in the design of the Kowloon Walled City Park, or preserved as exhibits.

The yamen (衙门), or the bureaucrat’s office in the centre of the park is the only remaining old building of the Kowloon Walled City.  I wonder if they have offsite backup of all the old administrative documents.  Its façade has been restored to its original appearance in the Qing Dynasty.  It now houses an exhibition which shows the history of the Walled City and the construction process of the park, along with display of some relics unearthed in the Walled City.  At both ends of the yamen’s front yard are two cannons dating back to 1802. 

The yamen - can you spot the cannons?

Fui Sing Pavillion and Guibi Rock - the Guibi Rock is named as such as its veins look like those of ancient jade.  Fui Sing is one of five emperors of literature in Chinese astrology.  According to legend, Fui Sing is a god who will bless scholars with good results in examinations. 

Garden of the Chinese Zodiac with 12 vividly shaped Chinese zodiac sculptures carved from white stones.  In the background is the Mountain View Pavillion.

The South Gate had originally served as the Walled City's main entrance.  Along with its foundations, other remains included two carved granite plaques from the original South Gate, one bearing the characters for "South Gate" (南門) and the other "Kowloon Walled City" （九龍寨城）.

Remnants of the original South Gate 

 The South Gate as it is today

P/S: I didn’t bring any camera on this trip – all photos were taken using my Samsung Note II.  Maybe I should check out BackBlaze updates for online backup options.

Artworks (#6 – #10)

It’s been some time since I posted her artworks, so here are some of her creations from art class:

Boots

Monalisa...the artist herself acknowledges that this doesn't look one bit like Monalisa :-)

Twirly whirly

Candies

 Coconut tree

Of short stories and languages

While cleaning out Yiu Yiu’s school bag at the beginning of the school holidays, I found a little pink notebook.  On the first few pages, to my pleasant surprise and amusement, were these jottings:

I hope she’ll continue writing and penning down her thoughts – not only will it be fun for me to discover them, but it’s a good avenue for her to express her creativity and improve on her English.  I used to speak to her in English but somehow after she got into Standard One this year, we spoke mostly in Mandarin, to hubby’s dismay.  Firstly, my Mandarin isn’t really up to mark and secondly, by not speaking in English with me, her English may deteriorate so it’s a double whammy.  So now, we made a pact with each other to consciously speak in English, and reprimand one another if one of us starts to speak in Mandarin J

She did not pick up her notebook at all during the school holidays.  We’ve kept her occupied with some revision workbooks to brush up on her BM, the subject that pulled her down substantially in her final exams.  Thank goodness for the babysitter who ensures she does at least 2-3 pages of the workbooks daily, in between time on the iPad.  Otherwise, she wouldn't have done much as I had been so busy at work over the last 2-3 months due to two vacancy gaps that I had not spent any time revising with her.  

It’s just another three weeks before school reopens and we need to hit the “Back to School” promotions at the malls to get her ready for Standard Two.  We don’t need a lot actually, probably just a new school bag and transparent book covers/wrappers.  She had already collected her textbooks before the school holidays, so we don’t need to compare college textbooks.

Visit to Pulau Ketam

In between Deepavali and Nuzul Quran recently, I was on leave and we decided to visit the famed Pulau Ketam.  We left after breakfast, and made it in good time to the Port Klang jetty to catch the 10.45am boat to Pulau Ketam.  Since it was a working day, the jetty and the boat was not crowded at all, contrary to some blog postings I read.

Kids posing at the jetty

It was a comfortable 45 minutes ride, and passengers were entertained by an old Hong Kong vampire movie J  The ride took us past the port with plenty of container ships docked, followed by open sea and mangrove swamps.

As usual, the kids entertained themselves with gadgets

Whatcha' looking at?

Crabs...lots and lots of baby crabs, as tide was low when we arrived

View of the village from the jetty, at low tide when we arrived (L), and during high tide, as we left

Upon arrival, we just walked around the village, which is built on stilts.  There are no cars nor proper roads, and the main mode of transport it the bicycle.  It was a hot day but I suppose it’s better than a rainy day, which had been the case during that time.  I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Police station

As the inhabitants of Pulau Ketam are primarily Chinese, there are quite a few Chinese temples

Kids breaking into Gangnam style in the middle of the village square

Houses on stilts

A very primitive public toilet in the middle of the village.  It consists of just a simple hole inside the zinc structure

 The village's secondary school

 Another temple

Boat yard 

A much nicer and modern primary school

 

Shrimps out in the sun at the dried shrimps factory

Workers sorting out dried shrimps at the factory

We walked around a large part of the island and by finally had enough, and settled down for lunch at about 2.30pm.  We chose Restoran Kim Hoe, located at the beginning of the main road as one walks in from the jetty.  Though Pulau Ketam is famous for its seafood, our meal was disappointing.  The sweet and sour crab, and the gungpo mantis prawn, didn’t taste good, neither was the seafood fresh.  Luckily the seafood vermicelli and the fishball soup saved the day.  We also ordered a plate of lala chien from one of the stalls nearby - it was pretty good.  The meal, with rice and drinks for 3 adults and 4 kids, cost about RM 150.

One of the many lala chien stalls in the village

As we were walking out to the jetty, we spotted this uncle selling fried ice-cream near the police station.  We bought two to try - it was basically ice-cream sandwiched in a bread pocket, and deep fried briefly, giving a crunchy outside layer, and cold delight in the centre.

We caught the 4.45pm boat back to Port Klang, and I can finally tick Pulau Ketam off from my Cuti-cuti Malaysia list.