Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Center

Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Center

This is the story about our one day visit on a friday (sept. 2011) to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Center whilst I was back in Malaysia. It used to be known as "The Kuala Gandah Elephant Orphanage Sanctuary". We decided to stop by on the way back to our home in Johor, after our now "once every 2 years" visit to the Perhentian Islands. Yes I will put up a post on that when I get the time.

It was a sweltering hot Friday afternoon when we got there after a two plus hours drive from Kuantan. For starters, this elephant sanctuary is located in the state of Pahang in Malaysia. It's quite out of the way, in a small area called Lanchang. Well it does have to be out of the way, since elephants do need more space than us puny little humans. The only sensible way to get there is by vehicular transport, road conditions there are medium to poor depending on weather.

Private Tour Vans

Well driving into the place with my 4 wheel drive, I didnt know what to expect. We were greeted by a huge extrance sign with a guardhouse behind. I was worried that we might have to register or something but there was no one in the guardhouse and the gates were open. So we drove in and passed by the main facility building before getting to the parking lot. As you can see, there were already a long long line of tourist vans. These private company vans bring tourists in from Kuala Lumpur and get their own "VIP" parking lots just next to the main building entrance. The parkign lot itself was quite large and whilst we manage to find a slot there, it was uncovered and in the noon malaysian sun, baking hot is the only thing I could think of.

Since it was still early, we decided to drive around outside and finally found a nice cool shaded spot right next to a canteen. That was probably the only drinks and food place open to public in the area. Prices there are quite reasonable.

Registration Counter.

At the entrance of the main building there is a counter where you have to register your visit. Car park and Entry were free. Upon registration you will get a visitor's sticker which you can slap on whichever body part you feel is most exposed. There is a class discrepency here. If you travelled with a private tour company, they would have got you booked in with a yellow 'B' class visitor pass which allows you to ride an elephant around a track. Otherwise you get a normal red 'A' class. More on this in Part 2.

Inside the main facility building, we got to learn more about elephants from various exhibits and displays.

Take Home Elephant.

Elephant Stamps.

This place has a stamping station where you can get a few souvenir prints in a scrapbook, that is if you had brought one. Just like the stamps we encountered whilst travelling in Taiwan. Wifey promptly whipped out her book and chopped away..

Elephant Food

We also found out that Elephants eat a lot...

Elephant Water

And also Drink a lot...

Comparing Mammoth, African, Asian Elephants

Elephant figures were not to scale. A comparison of ancient Mammoth elephant size to African and to the smallest Asian elephants. If this was to scale I would probably be only as tall as the Asian elephants leg. I was once again reminded how short I was.

Elephant Bones.

Everyone's favourite elephant head bones exhibit. Dentists will be delighted to know that elephants use up six sets of molars in their lifetime. I wish I had at least a second set of teeth, no need to worry about tooth decay too much then...


If you had enough of elephant education outside, you can enter a nice cool air-conditioned mini theatre for a short video. Timing as in the picture.


I loved the inside of this room, they really spent good money setting this up. There were also HUGE LCD screens outside that ran informational short clips about elephant conservation. The short video on the work of the sanctuary was also quite informative and interesting. After this it was time to get out in the heat again...

Elephant preparing for show.

Saw this wandering by outside the gift shop where we bought some nice elephant T-shirt souvenirs. Other than souvenirs, they also sold ice-cream/pops. A sign of the activities to come, this got us a little more excited... Please join me in Part 2 of this exciting visit later!

Helpful websites used to organize this trip....
MyElephants.org

Chinese New Year 2011

Heloz and a very happy Spring Festival to all! As per the moon, today is the 7th day of the chinese new year! :D Oh how glorious it is that we have 15 days altogether to celebrate this mega-event every year. That means that there are 350 days left after this, in which we can live for another new year to come...

Tis good to be back in Malaysia, tough the humidity as always takes some getting used to, the weather gods have been kind and on this cool windy night i don't even have to have to turn on the fan . With my new mosquito vanquishing toy at my side I am enjoying blogging on my now almost outdated Core 2 Duo PC, seeing text displayed on a Samsung widescreen, wondering if I should widescreen my blog. I guess for now I am too busy with life to convert the site, quite happy with the 720 width I have for my pictures now.

Add-on. As it got too late last night and I was side-tracked to talking to dad.

It's Day 8 of CNY 2011 now.Well the four days spent back in my hometown of Batu Pahat were great. We even had the chance to stop by an uncle's house in pontian on the way back, and my cousin introduced me to a local hawker center with great food! There were 2 stalls selling my favourite fried oyster there, and a smattering of other stalls including a pork satay stall there. This hawker center has been there for ages but I never knew about it and so never had the chance to check it out..


So now I am back in Johor Bahru, wondering what to do tomorrow and for the next 2 weeks. Still have a whole list of shopping to do and a couple friends to visit. Well happy chinese new year to all.

Pic above is from a house we visited, the little flowers look like little birds don't they?

Malaysian Pavillion Shanghai World Expo 2010

Apparently this will be the Malaysian Pavillion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 to be held later this year from May onwards. Will have to give it a miss due to possible work commitments.

Low Speed Car Chase

Just unloaded a heap of pics off my mobile phone. Thought i would share this one I took whilst driving my dad's old mercedes and trying to keep up with the new one in front. heh... Notice the number plate, as if from some terminator movie...

Road-side Cafe Brunch @ Jalan Tan Hiok Nee Johor Bahru

Back in JB, we have a few places that we often like to go. One such place is our local coffee shop. Paris has it's roadside cafe, we have our roadside cafe too! This cafe is located at a corner shop along  Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and makes good coffee and teh tarik. There is a hair dressing salon and a really really old wood-fired bakery next to it.

Kaya and Butter Toast

What better to go with coffee than some Toast. This is a toasted piece of white bread with a filling of Kaya jam and butter.

Nasi Lemak

As this trip was around almost lunch time, we managed to get a pack of nasi lemak.

mee rebus

You can usually get some good malay food during lunch time as there is a small stall in the coffee shop selling Nasi Kandar which is basically rice with a scoops of meat/veg from selection of pre-cooked dishes.. Pick from a choice of many typical malaysian dishes and put a scoop onto your rice. Today however we opted for something lighter and had some mee rebus.

Will update this post as I find more pics... <== (haha haven't looked at this post for like 2 and half years, guess thats the fun of keepig a blog.)

Kelong Acheh Holiday

Jetty to Kelong Acheh

After weeks of rainy weather, the sun finally came out, so I decided to bring the wife to stay a few days at a kelong. Haven't been to a kelong for ages and ages. This was indeed a long awaited trip. Chose to stay at Kelong Acheh, as it seemed to be the most comfortable one amongst those off the east coast of Johor. This long jetty is where you get picked up after parking your car. For a village jetty, overnight parking here does cost a steep $5 per night but it seems like a peaceful village where your vehicle will be safe...

Bumboat ride to Kelong Acheh

A short classical Bumboat ride brings you to the kelong.

Kelong Acheh Tenggiri Room

After you get to the Kelong, helpful staff unload belongings for you. Staff here include Nor, Zaki, Ah Yong and Ah Set. The rooms are very spacious. We had a quick look around and I chose this room, aptly named Tenggiri(Common names: Narrow-Barred Spanish Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Striped Mackerel, Tenggiri Batang, Tohok, Dengkeh. Scientific name: Scomberomorus Commerson) The rooms are all named after fish. Hehe, this place is really my cup of tea!

Lunch at Kelong Acheh

Lunch was nice...

Dinner at Kelong Acheh

Dinner was even better. Even had a plate of big and sweet flower crabs.

Baby Cuttlefish

This baby cuttlefish was caught in the huge Kelong net. This is a huge net hoisted from the water trapping many fish and used by kelongs to harvest whatever swims by!

Baby Octopus

This intelligent sea creature was fished up by me on a squid jig whilst I was trying to jig for squid. Despite the moon not being bright, I still managed to jig up a few cuttlefish and squid! This was my first time successfully catching squid on my squid jig! They are powerful squirters of black ink, so you have to be careful when hoisting them out of the water. One of the other guys fishing with me in the early morning hours got hit by a big squirt. Luckily it was just water and not black ink.

Kelong Acheh fish processing galley

Leaving the Kelong after a few days of fun there was difficult, but we had to go. Enjoyed my stay a lot! Maybe when I get rich next time I will buy a Kelong. The staff are very nice, even chopping off the fish heads and giving me lots of ice for my fish :D

During the weekend, visitors here do pile in. At times there can be up to a hundred people on this otherwise quiet and peaceful kelong. You will get many small children running around posing a big risk to your hooks when casting. So to avoid crowds, always come during the weekdays.

"I'll be back!"

Fraser's Hill Flora & Fauna Up Close

Wierd and wacky "wildlife" as well as other interesting stuff I observed on my recent trip to Fraser's Hill. This was one of the troops of monkeys feeding on hibiscus leaves at the resort.


Red and Black bug which flew onto my hand whilst I was enjoying dinner outdoors that night.


Spider at the archery range building.


This huge bee/beetle the size of my thumb was feeding on nectar from the flowers at the resort we stayed at.


Another creepy crawly outside the resort office.


Thank full of fish, the bottom fish was 'stuck' in between some rocks! but the owner said it was just mucking around and swims out during feeding time...


Some organic homegrown coriander at the side of the Malay stalls where we had our dinner. I am successfully growing some at the moment but not growing well due to the hot weather.


Nice big yellow Wild Chrysanthemum plucked from the roadside by wife.


Most interesting for me was a cat eating out of plates left by some other travellers... eww.. hope they washed my plate properly!

Pretty nice trip up there and back... Now need to post my recent Kelong trip too! :D

Deer Meat Satay Raub

Some very yummy satay at a local shop in small town of Raub near to Fraser's Hill in Pahang state. We ordered deer, goat, chicken, cow's stomach and intestines satay!

Not as extreme as that Andrew Zimmerman guy on the Travel Channel. We even skipped Rabbit meat as wife adores rabbits. Most of the satay sticks were light on oil but high in lemon grass flavour and smokey charcoal taste.

In malaysia, we have small pieces of meat on a wooden stick, much similiar to its larger cousin the Kebabs from middle east with their large pieces of meat and big stick.


The Satay Menu up beside the main counter on the shop wall.. All sorts of meats!


Highly recommended : down a cup of cool ice lime tea with the satay.

Location : Rokiah Sate Raub(town), Pahang(state), Malaysia

NameWee 黄明志 JB Song

Came across this whilst viewing my monthly youtube subscriptions this morning. Found the video and underlying message quite funny...

NameWee 黄明志 was formerly an undergraduate student majoring in Mass Communication at Ming Chuan University, in Taipei, Taiwan ROC. NameWee's sudden rise to stardom is the result of his highly publicized piece - Negarakuku. (Wiki)

Gianni's Italian Lunch

Don't normally like non-asian food, but had lunch at Gianni's restaurant a week ago as wife wanted to give her friends a treat. We ordered some lunch sets which cost about RM20 each. For starters was a nice tomato soup with fragrant bread.


Wife's fettucini, not so nice with lotsa oil at the bottom of the plate. Note : lots of local staff doing the cooking as well and the manager was a chinese looking woman.


My sea bass on spinach surrounded by a moat of creamy stuff. This was very good despite being baked, but not enough quantity!

Mamak Osman

Headed down to the local mamak place as wife wanted some teh tarik supper...


Ordered PURI for the first time. Some sort of chappatti fried in oil to puff it up. OMG so big when it came to the table!

Jerantut Trip Day 1

As my mom and uncle had to go to Jerantut for their caving trip(see previous post), we had to drive up to the town of Jerantut in the state of Pahang.

We set off in the 4WD on a Friday afternoon. Weather was great and after couple hours driving we stopped by the usual yong peng stop for a break and lunch. There are many noodle shops in yong peng as this is a popular rest stop for people travelling along the north south highway. This small little town is located very near to the highway.


We ate at Anthony fish ball shop which was a very high tech place that had Wifi and PDA wielding wait staff. We suspect the boss has some sort of IT background. My dry noodle with fishball soup was quite good. The chilli sauce was also very good. However mom and uncle thought their laksa and prawn noodle soups were nothing to shout about.


Mom happy to have found some wild roadside monkey cup plant.


Beware of crossing deer. Haha first time I have seen this sign. Must be in serious wildlife territory.


Nice road drive through Pahang.


Old classical type petrol pump with the balls the would be blown about as the pump was working. Think this was at a station at Mengkarak town...


It is not advisable to drive with one hand and take pictures with another. Very nice weather as we drove through miles of roads fringed by oil palm trees.


In this region, even the police need some extra power with the 2.5L 4WD Hilux. How else to chase down oil palm stealing criminals!


Driving until the sun went down... Sunset is a very nice time but only lasts a few minutes...

After a good 6 and half hours, made it to the town of Jerantut. This town was previously the place to stay before going into Taman Negara, however there is now a direct road to the national park taking an hour plus. You no longer have to go to Kuala Tembeling jetty for the 3 hour boat ride unless you have never had a river boat ride before.


First we checked into WAU hotel, took some time to find it though as we missed a turning.


Decided to end the day with dinner at a local restaurant. Wild Boar stir-fry and drunken kampung chicken were really good. You can apparently also find Ikan Kaha and Wild frog legs at restaurants in this town. They no longer serve protected species such as tiger meat.

We then sent mom and uncle to stay at Tekam Plantation Resort which was nearer to the caves, about 15 minutes drive from our place in Jerantut.

More Pics at My Flickr Page