The Great Durian Festival

Last Saturday was ' The Great Durian Festival' at Gantang, Taiping. I've heard about this festival before where everyone get to eat a lot of durian for free but it was only on Saturday morning that we knew about the exact venue of the festival. I was thinking that we would only go there late in afternoon since it was so hot at noon. But I was glad that we went there earlier.



When we arrived the place was already packed with people and we even had to park our car so far. There was an ongoing show and the tents were filled with tables, chairs and durian everywhere! It was a bit evident that we came late because we could already see almost everyone sitting comfortably with their tables filled with the empty Durian shells. After not having a clue where to go, we were led to the section with long tables and durians. Fortunately, there are still some Durians left for us to enjoy. It was nice that the organizers even provided plastic gloves, styrofoam packets and rubber bands for us to nicely get the durian fruits and pack them.

Even we were late, we were still able to pack a lot of the durian!

That place was a Durian Paradise for all the Durian lovers.. the durian smell was so strong, almost unlimited 'eat all you can' and 'pack all you can Durian' extravaganza. And I just love it! I ate so much of Durian that at the end of the day I was so full, dizzy and sleepy. LOL!

The aftermath...

I just hope that next year, we will be early for the GReat Durian Festival. And oh, by the way, we didn't have to pay anything to get inside the venue nor pay for the Durian we packed. Durian Paradise it is!

Travelling to Hong Kong on A Budget

I'm excited, three more months to go and we're going to Hong Kong but wait, 3 more months??! Now, I feel more 'scared' since we haven't saved up for this trip yet. Our budget is quite limited and Hong Kong's cost of living is quite high. But thank God we have our cousin working there, so we get to have free accomodation. She has also drawn up some plans for us so everything will fit in our very limited budget. Here are the places to see and things to do in our itinerary. I'll give a more detailed view later on.

• Victoria Peak
• Disneyland
• Science Museum
• Ocean Park
• Hong Kong Botanical Garden and Zoo
• Avenue of the Stars
• Harbor
• Space Museum
• Macau
• Picnic at the beach
• a walk at the park

WOw! I'm excited! If you've noticed, shopping is not part of the list as our primary purpose there is just sightseeing. I'm sure with this itinerary that my cousin has given us, we will be able to see the 'whole' of Hong Kong. It would be like a New York City Sightseeing in HK! :) Yes, I've heard about this great service in NY where you could just hop on a double decker bus and see the whole of New York.

Back to our HK trip, I just pray that everything will be well in the next 2 months especially with our finances and the H1n1 status.

image taken from google

The Monkey World

There's one portion near the Taiping Lake Gardens ( in front of the Taiping Zoo) that is just occupied by monkeys. My li'l daughter calls that area as the " Monkey World". When we went there this afternoon, there were just countless of monkey on the parking lot, in the trees, garbage bins, on the electric wire and literally everywhere! Our kids had fun watching them as some were fighting over a banana, swinging in the trees, climbing on the pole or just sitting on a signage.

I think they should make that area as one of the tourist spots..maybe people can feed the monkeys or maybe just plain 'monkey watching' ( like bird watching). But the only thing with these monkeys is that they can get a bit violent especially when they're hungry.

Anyways, here are the photos I took for our 'monkey watching' time in the " Monkey World".

Our Free KL Tour

Seven years ago, 23 of our family members and friends from the Philippines came to Malaysia to attend my wedding. That was long before budget airlines were conceptualized, so the most convenient way to travel at that time was through a travel agency. They actually got quite a good rate for their trip which included round trip tickets, 3 nights accommodation in a hotel at the Bukit Bintang area, free buffet breakfasts for 3 days and a half day city tour.

Everyone really enjoyed that trip! I for one had the privilege to sleep at the hotel where they were staying since I joined in my parents room, I also enjoyed the free breakfasts and all. :) But then, when it was time for their half day city tour, my sis, soon to be hubby that time and I decided to stay back at the hotel since we were not included in the group tour. But our family and friends forced us to go with them and willingly paid for us. So, we hopped in the bus and went with them.

And I'm sure glad that we were able to join the city tour. We went to several tourist places like the monuments, famous buildings, factories, palace and etc. It was nice to get a glimpse of the city in a half a day. It was like we were in an NYC Bus charter. Of course, I haven't been in one but I've just heard that the New York City Bus Charter have great services for daytrips, tours, excursions and the like.

To the Border and Back

Since our Malaysian road tax was due today, we didn't have a choice but to travel to the JPJ in Bukit Kuya Hitam to renew it. You see, we're using a Thai car here in Malaysia and that explains why we need have our ICP renewed. For more information on the process to use a Thai registered car here in Malaysia click HERE.

We really find it a bit of a hassle and not mention, costly to do this procedure every 2 months. We left from our house here in Taiping at about 9:30 AM arrived Bukit Kayu Hitam at almost 1PM, did the renewal and came back straight. We arrived here at home at almost 4PM. So, you could imagine our gasoline consumption and toll fees in a day. But still, I'm glad that the process for the renewal was smooth and we can use our Thai car all over Malaysia for another 2 months.

Intermission: For the Football Fans!

Are you a football fan? Then, there's not better way to express you fondness for the game than playing fantasy football game. Yes, be your own player and play fantasy football at WaiverWire. I just signed up for a free account and I found out that it' must be very interesting and fun to play fantasy football. You can sign up for a free account and get alerts on the latest updates, scores, NFL headlines, picks of the week and etc.

What's more, if you can't get enough of the free membership from the Fantasy Stimulus package, then better sign up for the In Season Pass for only 9.99$. With this, you can get all the benefits of the Fantasy Stimulus package plus real-time player alerts via SMS, email or web, player comparisons, strength of scheduled rankings and a whole lot more! And yes, all these for only 9.99$!!

Oh this site has just so many things in store for all the fantasy football players and the list is just exhaustive. So, you better check out the site and see for yourself. I'm sure you'll get excited just like other the other players. This site is indeed like a dream come true to all the fantasy football players!

Is It Safe to Travel at this Time?

With the spread of H1N1 across the world, many of the travelers like us are asking if its still safe to travel at this period of time. While some people take the swine flu very seriously to the point of getting paranoid to go out, other people also take it so lightly.

As to date, there are still no bans or travel warnings against traveling to some countries especially those highly affected by H1N1 but most of them advise to only travel "if you MUST". If traveling is inevitable then all the precautionary measures must be followed like, avoiding close and direct contact with suspected people with the flu, washing of hands frequently and keeping oneself healthy.

A Walk at the Lake Garden

There's nothing more refreshing than taking a walk at the beautiful Taiping Lake Garden. The place is such a peaceful and refreshing place. Last week, our family had an opportunity to take an evening walk there and we certainly enjoyed it. We thought that maybe we could take a regular walk there in the evenings for a bit of exercise and refreshing. It would be great to go there in the early mornings too but we can only do that once we find someone to take care of our lil boy for a few hours.

There's so much to see and discover once you take a walk inside the Taiping Lake Gardens, you'll find a couple of playgrounds in the park, small bodies of water ( apart from the main lake), bridges, arches , water fountain, flowers, foot paths and etc. It's just beautiful. They have done a good job in the landscaping of the place. I don't know who did the landscaping of the Taiping Lake Garden but I've heard that in the US, there's a company that does the boston landscaping best.

Parks, gardens, playgrounds and lakes are really our favorite places as of now, especially that our children love these places too.
photo taken from Taiping talk

Taiping Museum, Under Renovation

The Taiping Museum is the oldest museum in Malaysia. It's just adjacent to the Taiping Prison which is also the oldest prison in Malaysia. Yes, there are over 50 'oldest in Malaysia' things and events here in Taiping that's why I always tease my Husband, ( who's a Taiping boy, by the way) that this town has all the 'oldest' that's why it's boring and quiet. Of course, I was just teasing him and it's not true. In fact, there are a lot of beautiful things to be seen in this quiet town.

One of these is the Museum. I've been to this museum 9 years ago, and last week, we thought of bringing our kids and have an educational tour. But sad to say, that only part ( 1/4 if I'm not mistaken) of the museum is open to the public as the other areas are undergoing renovation.

So, if you plan to visit the Taiping museum this year,to avoid disappointment, you can do so in October as this is the targeted time for the renovation to be finished. I'm excited to see how they'll improve the place.

So, for now only the section with the bones and animals is open for viewing.

An Afternoon At Bukit Larut

Bukit Larut or formerly called as Maxwell hills is the oldest hill station of Malaysia. It was founded in 1884 and named after William George Maxwell, who was the British Assistant Resident in Perak.



We had the privilege to go up the hill the other afternoon. Even though it was a very short trip in which we only stayed there for 2 hours but I enjoyed it so much.

A fee of 6 Malaysian Ringgit for Adults and 3 Malaysian Ringgit for children is collected at the base of the hill. This covers the ride back and forth. Then, we took the government owned Land Rover to the summit. Private vehicles are not allowed to go up the hill.


The road to the top was a bit scary. The road was so narrow, winding and steep. Then, we understood why private vehicles are not allowed on the hill and why our trip has to be very scheduled and precise. When we reached to the top, I noticed almost everyone of the passengers had that big sigh of relief! LOL!



Maxwell Hills is indeed beautiful. The place is so cool and everything is so fresh up there. I love the big trees around it, the flowers that sprouts around and the scenic view of Taiping Town you can see from the top. It can really be a resting place for those whoa re tired in weary. Of all the resort houses that are there, I find the Cendana Hotel a nice place to stay in. It's a small, cozy place and not too old compared with the others. On the way, I also saw they were building a big hotel.



There's really nothing much to see and do in Maxwell hill, unlike Cameron highlands. But if you need a change of atmosphere or to just relax and see the beauty of nature, then you can try to visit and stay in Maxwell hill. What are the things you can do there? You can go bird watching, pass through their hanging bridge, have tea at the Tea Garden or simply see the beautiful flowers at the gardens. If you're the adventurous type or looking for an exercise, you can also walk up the hill for 8 hours.

Intermission: A Recovery Social Networking Site

Nowadays, social networking sites are getting so popular. It's a way to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. But recently, I've come across a very unique social networking site which especially caters to those who are in recovery, who seeks help for recovery or family and friends of those in recovery. This site is called InTheRooms. It has also a complete Database of the most current Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Overeaters Anonymous (OA), and Gamblers Anonymous (GA) meetings. They call it the Wiki Meeting lists or InTheRooms Meetings .

Of all the social networking sites, I believe this to be the most helpful since you'll be in a community who seeks to be recovered and therefore you will have full support for it. There are a lot things you can do in this site, you can create a group, learn about recovery and even choose your own level of privacy in which you're comfortable.

Just like any endeavor, it is always better to achieve something with a full support group than doing it alone. Being in a group who has the same goals and struggles like you will help you, inspire you and motivate you. So, if you or anyone you know seeks recovery, then you better check out what's the latest In The Rooms.

Not A Shopaholic

I would like to invite you to my other blog, "Not a Shopaholic". It's not a very new blog but I try to update it as much as I can. Its a blog that caters more on the other side of me, who likes to go to malls but doesn't shop till I drop.. who loves to go window shopping and is just satisfied with that.. who loves to find the cheapest and the greatest deal in town... who loves freebies, coupons, discount cards and all..