Wanting to get away from the polluted city life, once again we headed to the forest, this time, much nearer, Templer’s Park.

I’ve always imagined it to be the overcrowded waterfall with filth and stinking toilets everywhere, and have not been there for at least 20 something years. However, a friend called and said he knew a jungle trek there where few people bothered to walk. So we went, the same 8 adults and 11 children. I must say, it was really a beautiful, serene walk in the forest. We trekked 45 minutes along the peaceful meandering stream, heard lots of bird calls, chanced upon a giant millipede and finally arrived at a beautiful waterfall. The best thing was that, we had the WHOLE falls to ourselves. Totally lovely and refreshing! We’ll be back there and have identified a possible camping site. :)

the lovely stream along the trek

lovely tall bamboo along the path

the lowest part of the several tiers waterfall...heard it's 7?

my favourite jacuzzi spot in this waterfall! COLD, shivering STRONG water...totally refreshing. Best part is it has a little space behind the water...


Ab attempting to get behind into the space behind the water. I tried it, and it's shiveringly cold and powerful when the water hits you! brrr....

Abnow almost behind the water in that space. It's an awesome experience. you get to hear the very powerful n LOUD sound of water rushing...while breathing in pure oxygen....while shivering your butt off!


finally, the most awesome thing I saw there..even took a video of it!! it's a blue wasp, called the blue mud dauber I think...and it's injected its venom into the widow spider..and dragging it to its nest! really cool!

Overall...what a wonderful way to learn and observe nature, science in the outdoors...my children love it! :)

last weekend we decided to head to Bukit Cahaya in Shah Alam for some jungle experience. Part of our mission was to visit the 4 seasons house, which is currently featuring Autumn. It did not turn out as planned.

First we walked in the hot hot hot sun. Passed the padi fields...which was interesting (although children were really, more absorbed in their ice cream and the scarecrow.)

Padi is really almost ready for harvesting. So I plucked some and showed kids the husk and rice inside.
Then we walked on in the hot hot sun, towards the animal farm. Viewed porcupines, horses, deers, guinea pigs, birds.

Walked on in the very hot hot sun.....and then we heard it.

Kaboooooooooommmm!!!! Brrrrooooooooooommmmmmmm!!!!

Thunder roared through that forest, warning us of the imminent storm, despite the hot hot sun. Within seconds it started becoming very very windy.

I shouted out to Mil and our kids, "walk faster! walk faster! we've gotta get to the house with Four seasons. It's featuring Autumn now. Walk faster!!"

Alas, our kids saw a hanging bridge, couldn't resist, had to detour to cross that one. They did not cross just once, but several times back and forth!

Crossed it....

more Loud, thunderous warnings resounded through the whole forest............

I yelled "walk faster, walk faster!"

We walked as fast as the little ones could go, youngest being Dudu (2 years) and Jo (3). Mind you these little shorties can walk quite fast and for a good long distance!

Then we saw the sign , Autumn House 50 meters away. It started to drizzle. We saw a small drink stall ahead. I yelled "faster, faster!!" The last of us got under that stall and it POURED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! real heavy heavy rain.

It was dark, windy and rainy. Thank God we had shelter. waited for More than an hour! Rain turned to drizzle, park was closed. Didn't want to risk being shut in there, we decided to walk in the drizzle out.

We had not hats/umbrellas, so I made Little Jo put on this shirt on her head, and we walked......a long way... out. That was our day at the park.

Simple Science project at Tasik Biru

Drove to Tasik Biru Kundang. (If going there, it's near Sg Buluh, in an area called Kuang.)

Somehow the lake is not as blue as it used to be anymore. It's more like green now, and the water is getting a little dirtier. Still it is a nice place for a picnic. THere were lotsa kampung kids diving into the lake, doing summersaults and water gymnastics.


we brought with us.... Lemang and rendang, nuggets for the kids, water and a change of clothes.
(Lemang - rice cooked in bamboo poles. This one's been taken out of the bamboo and cut for us)In the tupperware is the rendang (like beef curry...totally delicous if you can take spicy food)

Our objective of heading to that lake was to have a good time, to relax and help Nel with a simple Science project.


Project was - to discover things that float/sink. For this we brought: egg cartons, styrofoam, bottles, wooden spatulas, rope and tape.


The egg carton went in first. Of course at first it float . Nel placed a rock on it, stepped on it and it eventually sank. Now she knows, paper stuff eventually absorbs water and sink.
(pic missing)

Finally dad helped her create this simple boat (3 bottles and 2 spatulas). She put her dolly on it, and had a fun time pulling her dolly in the little boat...


Nel setting her dolly on sail. Someone told me, it looked like the reenactment of the Baby Moses among the reeds story. haha...


Later we discovered that her dolly didn't need the boat as it can float by itself too.




Next, pulled her dolly in the styrofoam which was spacious with a little hole in the middle for dolly to sit. Nel asked "Mum, this has a hole, but it can float. Why then, does a boat sink when it has a hole?"

Enjoyed the water a little more, and then headed home.


was a beautiful day.....i think kids love learning science this way, instead of being cooped up in a room learning from text books. Am planning for more such projects.

Sepang Gold Coast Beach

Have been on several short day trips recently... mostly nature trips.... I have this believe that part of my job as a mother is to get them to love nature places and to appreciate the beautiful things GOd has made.

Last week we went to the Sepang Gold Coast Beach (about 15 mins from the F1 circuit in Sepang). Someone told me that it was more like a swamp area.... Anyway, we went to check it out. What we found was major development going on. They're building chalets on water...

Anyway there were 2 main picnic areas. Ok, honestly my bro rated it the World's Worst Beach (and that's partly coz he suffered a deep gash in his feet after stepping on an oyster shell, pointing upwards, hidden in the mud. OUCH!!!) . .Anyway, i think it's a wonderful learning place for children. At low tide, the water recedes several kilometers, uncovering the muddy bed of the sea. Thus it became a learning site for the kids.

Some parts were so muddy, we found our feet sinking till mud covered our ankles. Lovely thing is the children found all sorts of muscles, lalas, cockershells, and even beautiful Sand dollars!

I was excited when I found the long sea worms. (That's what I call em.) It brought back memories of childhood. My dad used to be an avid fishing kaki. We went fishing at lakes, ponds and seaside. My job was always to hunt for worms for my dad. I remember digging through mud at low tide to hunt for these very long thin worms. So to see them made me so excited! I'm not sure if my kids were excited as me, but now they know you can find worms under the bed of the sea! haha..

WE also talked to a fisherman there. He told us that before the construction began he used to yield about 4 kgs of lalas (clams, muscles..) Now he's down to only about 1 kg. :(

Anyway....the sunset was quite lovely, and we bought some kites to fly....followed by a really delicous finger licking good dinner consisting of a variety of seafood...

Here's some pics...... A word of caution .....if your kids are going there...you'll need lotsa sunblock, hat, and if you have boots better... coz i think bcause of the construction there...some bricks and stuff get buried in the mud. And bring lotsa water and a change of clothes.

The beach at low tide (notice how far the water receeds..caution, do not go too far out. Fisherman warned us, coz some people had been stranded on portions of the beach before when caught unaware by the rising tide.)

fisherman's son/grandson digging for lalas

L throwing sand into the sun

little Jo looking for her share of shells

sunset

nxt post will be on Kuala Selangor Nature Park (we were there just yesterday)