Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill) Taiping 1 Jun 2016

We woke up early in the morning and heading to Bukit Larut for the tickets for the Land Rover 4WD to go up to the hill.

We did pack some ‘Loh Bak’ yesterday night during we have our dinner at the food court just next to our hotel, for this morning picnic! Even though it was cold, but I think should be alright, because the ‘Loh Bak’ mainly are fish cakes and some fried stuffed meats.

Bukit Larut or original name Maxwell Hill is one of the hidden and unknown gems to travelers who are looking for a retreat at a hill resort.

Located just approximately 9 kilometers from Taiping Town in the northern state of Perak, no other towns or cities in Malaysia can boast of a hill resort in such close proximity and accessibility as Maxwell Hill.

Although Maxwell Hill may be relatively unknown compared to other more popular places like Cameron Highlands, Frazer Hills, Genting Highlands and Penang Hill, it is Malaysia's oldest and smallest high resort, founded in 1884.

Maxwell Hill was named after Sir William George Maxwell, who was appointed the Assistant Resident of Perak in 1875, not long after British Resident J. W. W. Birch's murder.

At that time, the British were sourcing for rehabilitation and relax resort away from the tropical heat for its senior officers and also the wives of the officials and other high-placed gentlemen.

Bukit Larut stands 1,035 meters above the sea level and it is only accessible by two methods – by the government-owned four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicles or by foot. Private vehicles without permit are prohibited from going up the hill; one of the reason is because of its dangerous cliff for inexperienced drivers.

The journey, 13 kilometers from the foothill to the top of Maxwell hill using the 4WD takes around 30 minutes. However, people are free to walk or hike through the many hiking trails up the hill, which can take up to three to five hours, depending on the stamina and ability.

We reached there early, and we were having our breakfast at the Malay food stalls just outside the sales counter office of the Bukit Larut. We had our nasi lemak and Milo.

Daddy went to the ticket counter to queue for the tickets. A return journey up Bukit Larut costs an economical RM10 for adults and RM5 for children.

Only tickets on the same day are sold and pre-reservation is not available. The ticket goes on sale at the ticket counter located at the foothill at 8 a.m.

However, there was already 4 families in the queue even before it is opened. We can see the tickets get snapped up really fast, and even more so during this school holiday season.

The 4WD operates daily and leaves every hour, from 8.30am. to 5pm. Of coarse, the operation schedule may change according to the weather condition and safety considerations. We were eagerly waiting for our turn for the 4WD.

The road up twists and turns through lush green tropical virgin jungle and lofty hills, with a total of 72 steep hairpin bends that adds to the thrill.

Along the way, we could see clusters of hikers conquering Bukit Larut. The journey up the hill will go pass three huts, popularly used by the trekkers as a resting spot before they continue their hike.

As the jeep takes us up the lengthy and headache-inducing hill road, the air gradually becomes cooler and you will hear the chirping sound of birds, squirrel and monkeys.

We can get to see different things as the jeep climbs higher, and one will certainly be impressed with the huge trees growing perpendicularly up from the ground and a few cascading waterfalls. Besides the captivating scenery, there was also the smell of fresh greenery all along the way.

If there is one thing that all of us would never forget on a visit to Bukit Larut, it would be roller-coaster ride like on the 4WD.

Honestly speaking, it was really hard to describe as a mixtures of scary, exciting and fun journey. It is pretty extreme to some, but a great and joyful experience to the others. Daddy was almost felt like throwing out at the end of the journey!

Sitting on the 4WF, we can feel that the driver is attempting to do a Tokyo Drift on the narrow road with the maximum speed up the hill. We were literally thrown all around the jeep! If we hadn't kept the tightest grip on the steel handles, I guess we would have gotten thrown into the cliff! However, the drivers are experienced and confident, they know every nooks and corners of the steep and windy road. It was indeed a scary but exciting thirty-minute ride, which caught us to scream and laugh at the same time as our buttock were slipping off the seats!

Midway to the top is the Tea Garden Guest House. Initially, I was thinking like the driver might stopped here for awhile for us to go down to visit The Tea Garden Guest House. The jeep did not stop, with a closer look I can clearly see it is now an abandoned building. Such a waste of the nice structures which was developed.

As the jeep whizzed up to the top, we continued to enjoy the cool, jungle air brought in by the morning breeze through the lush shady forest.

Our amazing roller-coaster ride was a well-worthy ride as we were welcomed by the fresh and cool weather at the peak.

As we arrived at the top of the hill, we can see that there is actually nothing much here but the cool and fresh air and the clear blue sky.

There are several centuries-old cottages at the top of Bukit Larut and in the old days, they had their individual personalities and names to suit them.

Today, most of these names have been localized and renamed, among them – The Hut (Cendana), The Cottage, Treacher (Tempinis), Watson's Rest House (Beringin), The Federal Bungalows (Sri Angkasa), Speedy's Chalet (Rumah Rehat Gunung Hijau), The Nest and The Box.

All of them are still standing although few have been renovated to suit the current visitors.

I think there used to be a small operated café there as we still can see the building itself and the dining chairs and tables around.

The others unfortunately, are in various stages of deterioration like the Tea Garden Guest House.

We were taking some photos and find a place where we can sit down and have our picnic. It was relaxing and fun too.

Along the way, we can see the plants on the hill also a bit different from the plants we saw at the foothill. There is a big children playground, and a timber wooden bridge linking to a high tower.

It is a great place of sight seeing and here, you will find the best panoramic view of Taiping Town. On a clear day, it is possible to see an enchanting view of the West Coast of the peninsular stretching from Penang to Pangkor Island at the summit of the hill.

Besides, there are many natural jungle trails which provide the opportunity to discover Bukit Larut untouched natural beauty and a close observation of the hill's various species of flora and fauna.

Bukit Larut features groves of evergreen and a wide canvas of vibrantly colored flora and fauna. Roses, dahlias, daisies, pansies, petunias, lupines, and marigolds abound in profusion here.

The cool climate also favors the rare mountain giant fishtail palm, many species of bracken-like ferns, and also the golden sunflowers which is reputedly the largest variety in the country.

The timing is just right after we wondered around the hill, around 11.30am the jeep came and brought up the 2nd batch of visitors here. And it is time for us to go down to the foothill. This time, we choose a different type of jeep whereby it was an open type. It was more fun and thrill than during we came up!

Bukit Larut is indeed an ideal destination for those wanting to escape from the heat and humidity of Malaysia's lowlands. Although it is the smallest hill compared to other hill resorts in the country, it still retains much more of the atmosphere of its colonial origins and offers a natural peaceful and quiet sanctuary for weary souls.

Taiping Night Safari 31 May 2016

Our initial planning was reaching Taiping earlier, so that we are able to visit the Taiping Zoo during the day time. Due to the jam on the highway, we were no choice but just opted for the Night Safari instead. Thought of never been any Night Safari before and it was just happened.

We were very exciting and looking forward to experience it. The time of this Night Safari was from 8pm onwards. It was just located near the Taiping Lake and it was very easy to be found, as 2009 we did come here before, but both Issac and Annabelle are too young to remember any of those experiences.

Upon reaching there, it had not much crowd and we were full of anticipation. We were taking photos and looking around at the entrance and the souvenirs shop.

From the response from the crowd, it should be very well worth visiting Night Safari while no much people around, as it is still early of the school holidays.

After gone thru the entrance, there was a photo booth there for the visitors to take their family photo if they like too. We did take a photos and the ready printed out photos and frame can be collected at the exit of the zoo later.

All of us just queue up for the mini train ride. We need to wait for about 15 min while waiting for the drivers and the trams.

There were quite a lot of people, thus we were at the 2nd tram. The ride started with huge happy thought. The driver did at the same time explained and introduce each animal.

According to the driver, the Taiping Night Safari is unique because animals which are active at night are displayed using special lighting similar to moonlight. Visitors will be able to experience this environment similar to wildlife habitats where the sounds made by numerous creatures can be heard.

To fully appreciate this experience visitors are required to minimize all sounds, even speech so that the sounds of the night creatures can be heard.

Reduced noise will also help to maintain the peaceful atmosphere of the Night Safari. Torchlights and flash cameras are not allowed to be used in the Night Safari as this will disturb the animals on display.

Then, after one by one, passing each left and right cage…The light of each cage was so dim, we could not even have a good look of what was inside it. What we saw only dark sight, and can hardly see the animals even the driver did pointed out to us.

It did stopped at a few stops, so that let us goes down to have a closer look at the animals. We did stop and see the snakes, and the safari theme where we were able to see giraffe, zebra, deer, etc.

The ride was fast and the path was dark too. Camera cannot even take any picture. After the ride, it stopped someway near the exit. The ride just took about 15 - 20 min. Then, we could take our own walk.

It was a huge disappointment for me. The whole zoo was really dark. The lighting did not encourage us to explore the zoo. It was very dangerous to walk too as we could not see properly.

Although it was Night safari, but for visitor's point of view, it should be well lighted up. The children too were disappointed on this too.

Only after half an hour, we just opted to go back to our hotel. We collected our photo frames and key chains at the exit and we left. The zoo management should upgrade its lighting.

This trip around, it really spoilt the good reputation that I have for the early year visit we had. I think we will be back for the day time zoo next trip.

An Evening @ Kaki Bukit Larut 31 May 2016

I really do not know how to describe the day. It was really late that we departed from Subang Jaya.

The morning started with Issac was not feeling well even though he had consulted the doctor yesterday, Dr. Liew’s clinic was not opened yesterday.

We were thinking of this morning going to Dr. Liew’s clinic again before we start our journey to Taiping. Due to Dr. Liew’s clinic had been closed for 1 week last week, today there were a lot of “little patients” in the clinic.

It was almost 10.30am after we came out from the clinic. We headed to Sis. Jennifer’s house to fetch Miguel.

We were thinking that it should be all the way have a good trip to Taiping, all the way up to North.

Unfortunately, there was a serious accident happened just after the Rawang toll. There was a huge crawl of cars along the road up to 3km. Daddy stop aside at the R&R for having our lunch, rest a while just to avoid the long crawl and jam.

By the time we reached at our hotel, it was almost 4.00pm. we checked in the Beverly Hotel. The hotel is very near to Taiping Tune Hotel, Tesco and Taiping Sentral Mall.

There is a food court just next to the Hotel, and shops in front of the Hotel consisting of self-service laundry, convenient store, a Domino’s Pizza and a few pub there. After we settled our luggage into our room, we just went for the Domino’s Pizza.

We went to the Bukit Larut as we just want to find more about the charges as we targeted tomorrow going there. We met an uncle who is a frequent Maxwell Hill hiker, Uncle Law.

Uncle Law is at his 70s but still every day without fail come to here and hike for 2 hours. He is so fit compared to his age.

He told us that he is staying alone here in Taiping, because all of his children have married and moved to either Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as they are all professionals such as Accountants and so.

Uncle Law does not like to stay together with them in the city. He likes here as Taiping is a serene and peaceful town. He said, he will going to Kuala Lumpur during weekends only, just to visit them once in a while.

We were chit-chatting for some times, almost an hour I think. The children were playing around the areas. They were rushing us going off as the sky was getting darker.

It was such a nice evening to end with, before we were heading to the Taiping Zoo and Night Safari.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Puchong Branch Missionaries Fireside 28 May 2016

It is a fruitful Saturday. Why I said it is fruitful? Because it is a ‘Missionary Day’ for our family!

We had our brunch with Brother Junior from Nigeria. He is currently a student in one of the private college here in Malaysia.

It was so happened that our church missionaries were teaching his room mate Brother Anthony, and Brother Anthony introduced him to our church.

We were having our brunch at A&W restaurant at Caltex petrol station Puchong Permai. Brother Junior staying around Vista Millennia Puchong.

It was quite a spiritual one I can say, because Brother Junior began to speak to us more after we have share our family testimony to him.

We shared with Brother Junior how we recognized the hands of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in our life.

We shared with him how did Jesus and Heavenly Father make it possible for our family to reunite again, how He reached us through the hands of other people or friends that we knew and how He leads our family to His true church.

Step by step, piece by piece, the Savior helps our family one thing at a time to complete the broken pieces of our family back together again.

Brother Junior shared with us his story, his family as he have a very faithful Christian father. Since young, he had been taught about the love of the Savior and his father educated the children to be a good person.

He expressed his happiness with us when he got to know that how we can reconcile again, because he knew that it is not easy as he did experience this before with her girl friend.

And, he shared with us that with putting the Christ first in our lives, everything can be make possible. And, it is important that couples do need a common and same religious belief.

We were happy that we are able to meet up. After the meeting, we went to the kids’ art class and follow by Annabelle’s violin class.

There is actually a Branch Missionaries Fireside in the evening at 6.00pm. I was not feeling well and having migraine and that is the reason why I just stayed at home and take a rest, while Annabelle and Issac followed Daddy went to the Fireside at church.

I heard Daddy said, it can considered a good one even though there were only a few investigators turned out. Most of the members were there.

It is a sharing of the missionaries (Elder Bringhurst, Elder Forsyth, Elder Lee and Elder Chin) on how members of the church can help to do the missionary works.

There were testimonies of the church members on how became a member of the church due to the church member’s missionary works, and Daddy was one of the speakers on this.

He shared his testimony because of Brother Felix and Sister Joyce’s family, our family be able to reunite together and get to know this church.

There were some easy tips or steps on how we can share the gospel in our life through daily conversations, social medias, and church events or activities. It ended well with some finger foods and drinks.

It was indeed a spiritually day for our family! In the morning, we were sharing our testimonies to someone, while in the evening, we were engaging with church activity too!

Father & Son

Here is a photo taken by Alvin during our family were having dinner with Elders after a home teaching. We were having Puchong Yong Tau Foo at Batu 14, Puchong.

Issac was hungry waiting for the food to be served…

Kuala Lumpur District Conference

Today is our Kuala Lumpur District Conference which is at Wisma MCA 10.00am to 12.00 noon. Here are some of the photographs or moments all the Latter-Day Saints spent together during the Conference.

President Brian Chan and family from Klang branch.

Brother Felix and Sister Joyce from Subang Jaya branch, together with their 2 daughters Sister Marion and Sister Merrille with grandson Triton and granddaughter Moana.

Young Man from Subang Jaya branch – Brother Robert

Sister Annie and Sister Zellie from Puchong branch

Young Men from Puchong branch – Brother Kenneth Teh and Brother Ajay Tamilarason.

President Whitaker from Kuala Lumpur branch

Brother Duncun D Horne and wife from Kuantan

Sister Chee Mun from Puchong branch

President Tony Teh – Counsellor from Singapore Malaysia Mission

President Augustine from Puchong branch shaking hand with Elder Cane

President Augustine from Puchong branch with Brother Segar from Cheras branch and District Clerk.

Sister Ima, Sister Vani and Sister Christina from Subang Jaya branch

Sister Jaxlyna and her daughter from Puchong branch

Brother Shaan and Sister Cross from Puchong branch

Siew’s Brothers from Puchong branch – Brother Russell, Brother Gabriel and Brother Kennedy

Brother Denzel and Sister Mabeza from Puchong branch

Brother Aaron and friends from Kuala Lumpur branch

Brother Raja family from Subang Jaya branch – Sister Primala, Sister Wilma and Brother Raja

Sister Min Lian and Brother Richard Ho from Subang Jaya branch, together with Sister Saffron from Puchong branch sharing the mini flower pau.

Elder and Sister Patterson, our couple missionary with Issac. This picture is one of my favourite! Seeing my son standing together with the missionaries!

Well… This is my favarite! Future missionary with a great Mission President – Issac standing together with President Simmons, our Singapore Malaysia Mission President!

Our family love President Simmons! He is the one whom interviewed our family during last year before we went for our family sealing ordinances in Cebu Philippines Temple. He is really a great Mission President!

I really hope that day come when Issac went to servce his mission!

Angry Birds Day Out

Today is a Saturday. Early in the morning, Alvin have to help Brother Lynas from the Subang Jaya church to move from Kelana Jaya which currently his family stayed to The Wharf Condominium, which is near to our house.

Alvin helped to move all his belongings with the help from the Elders from Subang Jaya branch while they were at Kelana Jaya, and the help from the Elders from Puchong branch while unloading all his belongings up to his new home.

Here is the photo taken after they completed the moving! It was almost noon! From left: Keifer, Sis. Sheryl, Bro. Lynard, Alvin, Elder Bringhurst (standing behind), Elder Chin (squatting in front), Elder Forsyth (standing behind), and Elder Lee (squatting in front).

After the shifting, our family went out for usual program for Saturday – art class and music class for both kids. After Annabelle’s violin class at The Empire Shopping, we just walked over to Subang Parade MBO Cinema to catch a movie.

Guess what movie we watch? Yes, Angry Birds are in town! Here are some photos of their angry faces to show  

Here are the toy specs which comes together with our pop corns combo!