Waterfall Day (Part 1)

Following the trip to Jalan Sungai Tua to see nature, Papa and Mommy decided to take Juan Or to see real waterfall (that was last week Sunday, 28th February 2010). The nearest waterfall to where we live is somewhere around the Semenyih water dam area. To go to that part of Semenyih, Papa used the toll-free way to go to Seri Kembangan, then to Balakong, part of Cheras and then as if heading to Kajang but following the signboard that leads to Semenyih.

Our initial plan was to stop at the waterfall at Sungai Tekala Recreational Forest. However, before we could even stop, we could see that the parking lots were all full of cars! Not a good day to go after all - too many people!

So we decided to move on along the curvy and hilly road at the Semenyih dam area and made a stop at some unknown minor waterfall instead! Actually the minor waterfall is just a natural drainage outlet of hill water (or river, perhaps?) at some rocky part of the hill. Because of that, Papa termed it as 'longkang' or drain! ^ ^ It's just that it's a natural drain rather than a man-made one.

This is the minor waterfall which Papa called as the hill's 'drain'.




Papa posing with Juan Or at the minor waterfall.

Now it's Mommy's turn to pose with Juan Or at the minor waterfall.

Papa parked at the road side and took Juan Or to see the minor waterfall while Mommy stayed in the car (just to be on guard since the place is quite isolated). Papa was a little adventurous that day - he even took Juan Or down to the flatter surface of the waterfall which is rather like a shallow ravine. For Mommy, Mommy would not dare to go down with Juan Or because Mommy can be rather clumsy when climbing rocky steps while carrying a baby. But knowing Papa to be one person of good balance and agility even when carrying a baby, Mommy had no qualms about both father and son venturing down the shallow ravine.

This is the lower part of the minor waterfall that meets with the shallow ravine. It was at the shallow ravine where Papa took Juan Or to dip his feet in the cool water.

Ever wondered how Papa managed to go down the shallow ravine with Juan Or? Papa said he made use of the man-made drain steps. To Mommy's standard, the lower part of the man-made drain steps are rather steep. If Mommy is to carry Juan Or along while going down, Mommy dare not-lah, but if alone can-lah!

When it was time to leave the waterfall, Juan Or was a little fretful. Hahaha....looks like this boy is very keen on seeing waterfalls! But soon, his fretful temperament was cured by these little fellas!

The little fellas are MONKEYS!

Mommy also had the chance to take a few snapshots of the scenic hilly view, only thing is the view of the dam was blocked by the road barrier from Mommy's angle. However, in the later part of travelling along the hilly road, the view of the dam was visible again but Papa felt it was not a safe spot to stop the car, so in the end, no dam photo was taken.

A hilly scene from inside the car. See the monkeys sitting on the road barrier (and one more monkey in the middle of the road)?

Another hilly scene. If you dare to go beyond the road barrier and to the edge of the hill, then you will be able to see the dam.

After that, Papa drove on till we saw a signboard saying that Sungai Gabai Waterfall is 12 km away. So we decided to make a try for it as well since we were already at the vicinity. And that will be Part 2, so stay tuned!

Trip to Jalan Sungai Tua

It was Prophet Muhammad's Birthday, so a public holiday. Papa and Mommy decided to bring Juan Or to see the countryside, so we headed off to Jalan Sungai Tua. This is the old, toll-free road to Genting Highlands. This road is rather secluded but it offers jungle scenic views along the way.

We had in mind to bring Juan Or to see the Sungai Tua (Old River) itself. If you make stops at Jalan Sungai Tua (Old River Road), you will see the upper mid-stream part of the river. Last time, all the near-river stops (tarred area) along Jalan Sungai Tua was free-of-charge, but now it's different. Knowing that more and more people are getting to know the existence of this place, so the local municipal council has started to charge RM4 for entering the parking place. What to do? So Papa paid the RM4.

This is the 'parking ticket' that costs RM4 which is quite expensive! And who's the culprit? It's the Selayang Town Council.

We had a good time walking on the jungle track (but Juan Or wanted to be carried most of the time!), feasting our eyes on nature and dipping our feet into the cool river water! In fact, Juan Or's favourite is to have his feet dipped into the water so much so when we wanted to leave the river bank, he fretted! By the way, Papa noted that the water level of the river is rather deep now compared to last time (about 5 years back), but the water seems murkier now. Mommy could only manage some snapshots from Mommy's handphone camera because Mommy had to hold on tight to Juan Or most of the time. Most photos were taken by Papa because he took his DSLR camera this time but has yet to pass Mommy the photos. So here are the handphone camera snapshots:

This photo was taken before we went down the river bank.

A view of the river from the higher ground of the river bank. Notice the rather strong current of the river water (white colour waves).

Another angle of the river from the higher grounds of the river bank.

Jungle scene.

Posing time!

Shown here is a fretful Juan Or who seemed reluctant to leave the place!

After we left the place, Papa drove on further down Jalan Sungai Tua. Then only did we start seeing free river-stop areas (with large parking areas and more cars parked there) gazetted by the Selangor state government rather than the local town council. Dang!

Juan Or on the 8th Day of Chinese New Year 2010

This day will be the last of our house visitation days during the CNY season. It was a Sunday and Mommy had intended to visit Mommy's side of aunts (Ah Yees) in Pandamaran. One of Mommy's aunts opens a tyre shop, so rarely could go on holiday. Thus she and her family will go for overseas vacation during Chinese New Year. This year, she and her family would only be back in Malaysia from Day 7 onwards.

Also, just in case Juan Or cries when we go visiting to people's house, Papa and Mommy decided to drop by at North Port first for sight-seeing before going for lunch in Telok Gong and finally off to the aunts' houses (both aunts stay next door to each other).

Here are some snapshots taken at North Port:

"Hello, everyone! We are now stopping by at North Port to catch some sea breeze."





Here's a model life-sized ship to decorate the place. In the past, the municipal council used to allow people to climb the stairs and into the ship, but now they have put up a barrier. Too much vandalism, perhaps?

Here's father and son posing together with the distant port structures in the background.

A perspective of the seaside. Note the rocky seaside and anglers doing their business.




Now both father and son are in the perspective!

Papa was helping Juan Or to go up the short flight of stairs.

Juan Or was caught red-handed plucking the leaves of the hedges. He probably didn't realize Mommy snapping a photo of him in action. ^ ^

Got pricked by the twigs, eh?

"GOTCHA!"

"Bye-bye, North Port! We are heading to the car now."

When it was time to enter Mommy's Ah Yee's houses, Juan Or was hesitant and almost fretful at first, but once in the house, Juan Or looked like he has adjusted himself already - no more crying or fretting! So look's like Juan Or has truly 'grown up' already. No more like those days when he would cry non-stop when brought to people's house. However, Mommy was too occupied with chatting with the Ah Yees while watching over Juan Or so much so Mommy forgot to snap some photos there.

Juan Or on the 4th Day of Chinese New Year 2010

(Note: There will be no blogpost on the 3rd day of CNY because Mommy's handphone had low battery....hehehehe.....forgot to charge the battery, so couldn't take any photos. ^ ^)

So what did we do on the 4th day of CNY? Well, we went window shopping at The Curve, Kota Damansara. So just before we made our way there, Mommy made another attempt to put on another Chinese New Year suit onto Juan Or. This suit was bought by Juan Or's paternal Grandma. It is sleeveless, comes with a pair of shorts and made of cotton material, much like those material normally used for British India or South China Sea clothes. So what was Juan Or's reaction towards the CNY suit? Well, Mommy anticipated him to be fretful and hesitant like last time, so Mommy made sure that before the top part was worn on him, Mommy buttoned up all the buttons leaving only the topmost button open so that it could be worn like a round-neck T-shirt. And the wearing action had to be done quickly! As expected, Juan Or fretted and struggled a little when Mommy put it on, but once it slipped onto his little body, he seems fine with it already! After that, wearing the shorts was just a breeze! Ta-dah, a China boy!

Juan Or the China boy.....

......and now posing with the sunglasses!

Chinese New Year decoration at The Curve was nice, but not outstanding though. Papa, on the other hand, didn't quite like the deco because it was the fusion type - a fusion between traditional and modern CNY deco. Here are some snapshots in The Curve itself:

Don't know why Juan Or just refused to look towards the handphone camera! Too fascinated with the CNY deco, perhaps?




Here's the overview of the CNY deco at the concourse area of The Curve.




Juan Or posing at the bench. The hand at the left is Papa's hand holding his handphone.

Fake bamboo trees with lanterns hanging at the top as part of the CNY deco.





A wishing tree to hang your CNY wishes with a fee, of course. But guess who's wishes came true first? The Curve's management, of course!




Aaahhh.....something more red in the background now.

Then we walked out of The Curve building towards the direction of e@Curve and more photos were snapped.

Juan Or posing with two cows. Now, who's the other cow? Papa, of course! He is an ox actually, not cow.



Juan Or seems enchanted with fountains.

Here's the front part just outside e@Curve where you have fake plum blossom trees decorated with red lanterns and a fountain at the centre of them all. In fact, Papa preferred this type of CNY deco than the ones in The Curve! Juan Or, on the other hand, seemed captivated with the rhythm of the fountain. He would stand and stare at the fountain for quite a long time.

Juan Or and Papa posing at the fake plum blossom tree.





A nearer view now.






Mesmerized by the fountain.

A closer view of the mesmerization.





A beautiful setting. No wonder Juan Or seemed enchanted with it.




Taking a seat by the side fountain.

After Mommy was satisfied with snapping photos, it was time to have lunch, so Papa took us to McDonald's at e@Curve. This time, the strawberry topping ice-cream was only half-price, so Papa bought it together with a Big Mac, fillet-o-fish burger and McD's fried chicken value meals. Surprisingly too, Juan Or had very good appetite for the ice-cream, french fries and fried chicken. Mommy was very happy too that Juan Or ate a lot of meat this time. Mommy shredded the chicken meat according to the grains and gave him one shred of meat at a time to hold and munch, just like holding and munching a french fry. Previously, this meat-shredding trick was successful but only for a short time, then he revert to his norm of not wanting to eat meat again. Mommy guessed probably Juan Or likes to eat food in a commercial setting. That probably explains why he seems to eat better when eating outside compared to eating Grandma's home-cooked food. By the way, a McDonalds staff came over to our table to give Juan Or a plastic McDonalds pencil box and a stationery set - what a pleasant surprise!

Just one last look (and snap) before we leave the place.

After McDonalds, we went back into The Curve again to do some window shopping. Along the way, while waiting for Papa to see his things, Mommy took Juan Or to sit in a kiddy car (upon Juan Or's request) but without putting in the coin, of course!

Juan Or on the kiddy car which he refused to leave after that!

Juan Or on the 2nd Day of Chinese New Year 2010

On the 2nd day of Chinese New Year 2010, Papa, Mommy and Juan Or took a trip down to Klang to visit Mommy's side of people.

Our first destination was to Juan Or's maternal Grandma's house. As soon as we stepped into the house's porch, Juan Or was hesitant and showed a fretful face, but surprisingly when in the house already, Juan Or regained his usual composure. This was really a big improvement compared to how he would usually react when going into unfamiliar territory! Last time (till last month), Juan Or would cry continuously whenever we go to people's house except for public places. We had our lunch there as well where Grandma cooked porridge that contained seaweed, chopped beancurd, carrots and dried shrimp. Mommy was surprised too that Juan Or willingly ate quite a lot of the porridge even though he was in unfamiliar place. Here are some snapshots at Grandma's house:

Juan Or with his trademark frowny face whenever he knows someone is taking a photo of him.

Juan Or in another pose on the same chair.

Here's Juan Or posing with Papa.

Our next destination was to make a brief visit to Juan Or's paternal Grandpa who happened not to be around in the same house as Grandma but was staying at the other house in Pandamaran during CNY. Grandma had requested Mommy to take a container of the porridge for Grandpa to eat. This would be Juan Or's first time going into the Pandamaran house which Mommy had stayed partially from age 9 till 24 years. Surprisingly Juan Or didn't cry too when Mommy took him into the house which is definitely an unfmiliar place for Juan Or. Unfortunately, Mommy forgot to snap some photos there.



Our last destination was to Juan Or's maternal Great-grandma's house which is in Pandamaran also. Initially, Juan Or was fretful when we were about to enter the house's compound but he soon cheered up when we entered the house because he saw Mommy's young cousins (ages 8 and 10) playing with their remote control helicopters! By the way, Juan Or loves the presence of other children, so that probably helped a lot in keeping him from being fretful in an unfamiliar place. Thanks to Mommy's cousins and thankfully they are still in their childhood too! ^ ^ Some snapshots of Juan Or at Great-grandma's house:



This photo was taken in Great-grandma's bedroom. By the way, Great-grandma is 87 years old and is already confined to the bed.






Juan Or was fascinated by the remote control toy helicopter. The hand that held the helicopter was Juan Or's Lau Ku's (maternal Granduncle) hand who is the father of Mommy's young cousins. A funny thing happened at Great-grandma's bedroom. Don't know how, of all places, the helicopter accidently flew into Great-grandma's sitting potty chair! Luckily the potty's inside was dry - no urine nor faeces. Everyone had a good laugh when it flew into the potty. Even Juan Or laughed too! And because it flew into the potty, now Mommy's young cousins dared not hold the helicopter anymore!





These young Uncles to Juan Or (Mommy's young cousins) were very good at entertaining little kids. They even took out the carrom set to entertain Juan Or. Shown here is Juan Or sitting onto the board like the king of the game with the young Uncles looking on. At the background is Juan Or's Lau Ku (maternal Granduncle). Sorry, Mommy tried rotating this photos but without success - don't know what's wrong.

Here's another pose of Juan Or sitting right in the middle of the carrom board like the king of the game!

So the main conclusion is looks like Juan Or has matured a little already - he no longer cries when go visiting people's house.