On The Way to Ipoh

Sometimes when I am on the road, there are scenery that scream out to be recorded. This was one that I captured on the way up to Ipoh at around 8 a.m. The sun was out, the mountain mist was about to drift away and I was sleepy. It took all of 5 seconds.

Imagine that shortly before this at about 7 a.m. it was like this :

Tree of Light

Ling Sen Tong Temple

Took a drive to Ipoh this morning for work and on the way back I decided to stop by the Ling Sen Tong Temple, a Taoist temple located at the foot of a limestone hill just outside Ipoh. Apparently this is the first of 3 temples located on the same stretch of the road or shall we say on the same side of the Gunung Rapat.

I've taken a few shots of the temple with my handy Nokia N8 and believe me the pictures do not do justice to the place which are way nicer. Except for a few visitors, the temple grounds were generally empty

Three famous characters from Journey To The West

This is the neighbouring Nam Thean temple

On the grounds of the temple itself you will find many swiftlets. The nests of some species of swiftlets are built entirely from threads of their saliva, and are collected for the famous Chinese delicacy bird's nest soup. Check out the video below of the swiftlets nesting on the temple arch.

If you are interested, here's the map to the temple location :


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Teluk Datai, Langkawi

The Dusky Leaf Monkey. One of the more docile members of the simian family

The Malayan Flying Lemur or Colugo. Check out the camouflage of the fur of the colugo and the tree bark

Hermit Crab - about the size of the palm of my hand several meters from the sea inland

Black Giant Squirrel (I think)

Nestled on the north coast of Langkawi Island is Teluk Datai, one of the more secluded stretches of beach on the island. It offers stunning views and if you are into animals from the rainforests, you are in luck. You can easily find a variety of hornbills, monkeys, eagles, squirrels, eagles etc in the rainforests estimated to be around 500 million years old, nestled around this bay.

I just got back from Langkawi with the family and I already miss it. Maybe I'll try to squeeze in another trip before the year is up. Fingers and toes crossed!

Here's the map to Teluk Datai :


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Sigh!

I saw this when I was at the A&W outlet, Petaling Jaya and reported it to SYABAS (Toll Free Line 1-800-88-5252). They said there was a burst pipe somewhere up the road and this may be a 'flushing' exercise (whatever that means). Just seems like an awful waste of water. Damn!