Save the Orang Utan

Asia's great ape which is the Orang-Utan are found in the rain forest of SouthEast Asian island of Borneo and Sumatra.Not surprisingly they are found in Sarawak which is their in situ ,spending their entire lives swinging in tree tops and building their nest to sleep. However these large mammals are facing threats and are considered endangered due to deforestation of their habitat for palm oil plantation and maybe even other plantations.

With that in mind, the Yayasan Pulau Orang Utan Bukit Merah was formed in 2000 with funds amounting to RM1 million donated by Tan Sri Hj Mustapha Kamal bin Hj Abu Bakar, through Yayasan EMKAY. The Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island is also lucky to have a passionate Veterinary Surgeon ,Dr Sabapathy Dharmalingam as the Chief Executive Officer. Their mission is to promote the conservation of the Orang Utan through ex situ efforts at the Orang Utan island encompassing awareness campaigns on the plight of the Orang Utan,education programmes,research studies,rehabilitation and collaboration with Universities.

The island which was formerly known as Pulau Panjang comprises of 35 acres area. 15 acres of which has been set aside as an exhibit for rehabilitation endangered species with provision for further expansion.The island now have 16 Orang Utans and this facility's achievements in rehabilitation and the care of the Orang Utans, especially the ones born on the island, has made the place warrant a label the only ex-situ facility of its kind in the world.

Today,the 10th November 2019 , the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island  further cements Malaysia as the scientific referral centre for Orang Utan.On this date a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Bukit Merah Island Foundation and Seoul Grand Park Zoo to facilitate research, education and veterinary care on the Orang Utan.

"On behalf of Seoul Grand Park,I am truly delighted that we have inked a collaboration with Bukit Merah Orang Utan Foundation which is renowned around the world in building conservation capacity in aspects of primatology such as primate behaviour and ecology, captive care and veterinary medicine, and conservation biology." stated Chung-hun Song,the Director General of Seoul Grand Park.

Present during the ceremony were the delegates from Seoul Grand Park,Tan Sri Hj Mustapha Kamal ,Dr Sabapathy Dharmalingam,officials from the Wildlife department, Department of Veterinary Service,and other representatives from Zoos and Corporate bodies, members of the media including yours truly.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.

During the press conference,a delegate from Seoul Grand Park Zoo mentioned that they have 6 Orang Utans at their Zoo and two of them are unwell.Therefore they need the help of Dr. Sabapathy Dharmalingam to train their employees in ways of looking after their Orang Utans.

As for the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island, what they need are support from our local government as well as other private bodies in terms of funds in looking after our endangered species which is the Orang Utan.

Exchanging gifts

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Bagas Zakariah

 I fell in love with this house upon seeing it on Facebook.A friend posted it and without any hesitation I asked him for the way to get to this house.So he gave me a number,I called and that's how I became acquainted with Arie ,who manages the 'Bagas' (Mandailing word for house)and Azmin the owner.

So I drove to Gopeng with my sis and surprisingly the owner was there with his family.So I got to know about his roots and the houses.Some may call it a homestay but since the three Perak style kampung houses are nestled together in the massive durian orchard with a stream running through it, Arie said he calls it the Kampung Stay.

Yours truly listening to Azmin telling about the houses.

"My grandfather was a Mandailing and his name was Zakariah.When he first came to Gopeng in the late 18th century his first job was sending  water to houses which he collected from wells.Subsequently he saved his money and bought wells!The hardworking man then started buying lands with his saving and because it was the beginning of the rubber trees era,he used his lands for rubber plantation." said Azmin.

That was how Zakaria became a wealthy man and when he passed away he left many pieces of lands to his children. Azmin's father had five parcel of lands scattered around Gopeng and Azim who is the youngest in their family and also an architect came up with the idea of rebuilding the kampung houses together with Azmin.

The rumah asal is a hundred years old and is painted bright yellow.Their kampung houses are fusion of the old and new which is something  new to Perak.For example ,they have the hot water for shower, a jucuzzi and wifi.The rooms remain as it was except for the interior decoration which is simple yet attractive.There is no air cond because Kampung houses are airy and cold at night.Of cos there are fans but due to the high ceiling,the house is well ventilated and cooling.

The reception area is still work in progress and they have a herbal garden and durian trees plus other fruits.The best part about Bagas Zakariah is the fact that it is by the trunk road and guest can easily visit gua tempurung which is nearby and also visit the Gaharu plantation in Gopeng.For the adventurous ones,you can go white water rafting at Gopeng.Therefore guests have choices .

If you feel like cooking,they allow you to cook and you can just stay in their huge compound and fish at their stream.I love the stream because it is so clear that I could see fishes swimming.

I take my hats off to Azmin and family because they have come up with a good concept with their ancestral land.


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Hop on!

I remembered being skeptical and thought that it was bad joke to have the open deck bus in Ipoh. I am guilty for judging before even trying because I was proved WRONG!

The media crew on the hop on hop off bus. 

Here is how  my story goes. I was involved in the fam trip organised by Tourism Malaysia for the Lenggong Carnival. Our itinerary included the ride on a hop on hop off bus which was introduced in Ipoh sometime  in March. It's a double decker bus where the top part is open so you can see the town clearly. The bottom part is aircond so if you hate the sun, you can always sit here. The bus starts at 10am and stop at 9.30pm.It starts at the Amanjaya bus station and will go to the courthouse near the cityhall. Passengers will get down here. Here we can walk around the area since it is part of the heritage trail. Or we can take another bus that starts from the courthouse that will take us around the city with a guide that explain and introduce passengers to the best places to eat, historical places and shopping mall. The tickets  can be used to and fro. Yes you only pay once. 

We enjoyed the ride and I noticed many locals taking their children on the bus. The children loves it. 

The bus will soon go to the outskirts of Ipoh like Tambun and Gopeng. So you can visit most of the tourist spots without worrying about parking spaces. That's the idea for having this hop on hop off bus. 

So I must say that it is a good way of getting to know a city. Just hop on and hop off. 

Meteorites at our own backyard

There I sat on a meteorite which happens to be in an oil palm plantation right smack in Lenggong. Lenggong is one of the UNESCO World archaeological site. We have four UNESCO sites in Malaysia  and Perak is proud that Lenggong is one of them. Getting that recognition is no mean feat. So we are thankful to our archaeologists for finding the Perak Man and this meteorite which fell on our own backyard so to speak.

There were thousands of the meteorites at the place where the meteor fell more than a million years ago and the place is called Bukit Bunuh. It got its name because every living beings were killed at that time when it fell. They look like rocks but upon closer inspection it is not the same. 

I was lucky to be invited by Tourism Malaysia on a fam trip to Lenggong for a carnival  in conjunction with its 7th year of being recognised as the UNESCO world heritage site. 

The above are pictures of the meteorites.

To begin with, I was there with other bloggers and media players by invitation as mentioned earlier to introduce to the world at large if not just Malaysia only the Lenggong UNESCO world heritage site.

Before we visited Bukit  Bunuh , we went to Gua Kajang first. This  is one the cave where two skeletons from the stone age and the bronze age were found. The difference between the two is that the one from the stone age was buried in a fetal  position and the bronze age was buried in a straight position. These two skeletons are now resting at the Archaeological Gallery in Lenggong.

Later on the oldest skeleton of a man was found at another cave and he is known as the Perak Man. Researched found that he was deformed during birth and died in his forties. We did not get to see the place where he was found because the infrastructure of the archaeological  complex was not safe for visitors at the moment. We can only see him at the gallery.

The Perak Man

 He was found to be deformed

I guess we never realised how lucky we are to be on the world map because of The Perak Man. Unlike other countries, we don't seem to show our pride in having a UNESCO site. It's about time that the Perak Govt should put a huge Signboard of The Lenggong UNESCO world Archaeological site. Why are we in awe of other countries' UNESCO sites and not ours? We travel to foreign places to see their UNESCO site without realising that we have ours that many do not know existed . An irony I would conclude. 

How about Iftar by the lake this Ramadan

Muslims will be welcoming  the holy month of Ramadan on the 6th of May 2019.It is that time of the year where every Muslims,rich or poor awaits and to be able to fast during that month is a precious gift  from us to our Creator.If you wish to go on a spiritual journey during this month,it is only a week more to go.

As always most hotels and restaurants will prepare a special buffet for the breaking of fast and the Bukit Merah resort is of no exception.The management has prepared a special program for this year's Ramadan called Gerbang Iftar Nusantara buffet.

Their highlight will be a boat ride around the 7000 acres lake before the breaking of the fast and then you can indulge in their sumptuous buffet by the lake.Imagine dining by the lake with your loved ones during Ramadan with the stars above you and maybe the moon too. It will definitely be a memorable night.

Yours truly had the privilege to review their buffet last week and I take my hats off to the chef Noorul Qamar Mohd Noor for preparing a beautiful and delicious buffet."Menu will be different every day and there will be 50 types of food for this Ramadan."he said.Besides the usual dining at the table,guest can  also dine on the mat just like the Malays of the olden days.Price is RM45 for adult  and RM35 for children, senior citizens and OKU.

Eating on a mat like the olden days 

There are plenty of food  but I  would rather you go there and see it for yourself. The presentation of the food was superb. Kudos to the Chef.

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Rumah Tiang 16

The house with 16 pillars is what the title of my post means. Situated in Lenggong  which is a UNESCO  archaeological site, this small town gained the world heritage title because the oldest skeleton of a human being in S.E.A was found in one of the caves.Called the Perak Man, he now resides in the archaeological museum in Lenggong.

So Nash Jalaludin, the owner of the homestay invited me to stay at his ancestral home and I gladly accepted. Together with my husband I arrived at the house on the 23rd of April 2019 around noon.Obviously I was enchanted by his way of welcoming his guest. Dressed in a traditional baju Melayu, we were given a tray of drinks made of flowers and daun pandan, a cold face towel with the bunga kenanga frangrance. Nash then recited a pantun and I was supposed to reply with a pantun but I was speechless! Lunch was then served and his wife cooked noodles for us.

The next day Nash took us to a padi field and we had our breakfast at the stall facing the padi field. It's quite an experience for us. A real Kampung lifestyle.

Breakfast facing the padi field.

Then come the moment that we waited for which was a trek to one of the caves. There are many caves in Lenggong and he took us to Gua Kajang.  He said that it probably got its name from the orang Asli word Kajang which means Shelter. During the stone age, hunters used this cave as their Shelter. In this cave they found two skeletons from the stone age and the bronze age but both are not as old as the Perak Man. How did they differentiate the period? Well during the Stone  age, the corpse was buried in a foetus position and during the bronze age, the corpse was buried like the normal position.

The cave from the front. 

I have been to caves around Ipoh but this one in Lenggong is different.I could imagine the cave men using this cave as a Shelter.It is really beautiful and I wish other adventurous people especially the youth would be able to explore the Lenggong caves.I would have ventured out to see the rest of the caves but time was not on my side.I had another appointment at Bukit Merah Resort.

The sad part about our UNESCO archaeological site is because the authorities left it to rot.The boardwalk,Gazebo and toilets were in dilapidated state.Why are we not looking after it?Are we not appreciative of what's given to us?I remember going to another UNESCO site in Jogjakarta.The Borobodur was so well kept and the numbers of tourists that visits it.No one visits our archaeological site because we never bother to tell the world about it.Who do you blame? 

Meet the Perak Man

It was in 2012 that MALAYSIA proudly received its inaugural recognition from UNESCO world heritage for its archaeological achievement in the discovery of the Perak Man.This is the oldest remain of a caveman found in South East Asia. Yet I am guilty of not visiting the museum and meet the Perak Man earlier.

Today my aunt,my American friend and I went to Lenggong and visited the beautiful archaeological museum. It certainly deserves an applause for its lay-out, descriptions of the Stone Age on the wall and the skeletal remains of the Perak Man .This skeleton was found in situ and this provided reliable data for analyses and interpretation of the excavated artefacts  not usually available for this period. This is the most complete skeleton found in South East Asia in its antiquity which is 11,000 - 10,000 before the present. When the skeleton was etched out, it measured approximately 154cm in height.

This is the Perak Man. 

Studies showed that he suffered a genetic anomaly. The short and abnormal shapes of the second and third middle phalanges of the third digit of the left hand associated with vocally and radially curved phalanges , shorter lower arm bones suggest a genetic malformation. As he grew older his left arm suffered prolonged limb disorder and the bones were smaller and shorter than his right hand, a reflection of a partially paralysed upper limb .He died at the age of 45 which is considered 'long life' for people of his time. (facts about him are written on the wall of the museum.)

After watching the video about him at the museum I felt sad seeing him in his deformed state but at the same time proud of the fact that this man was living in the caves at Lenggong Valley with his tribe.Reaching that age during that period was considered lucky.Not many survived when they reached 20!

Mannequins  of the cave men

Pictures of their life style. 

The women were already wearing necklaces made from rocks. 

There are other remains of archaeological value at the museum and it is very interesting. The cave like atmosphere at one part of the museum is brilliant. I learned from the writing on the wall that there were Ashes from the volcanic eruption of Mount Toba dated 74,000 years ago on the rocks at the site. I think it is incredible.

Remains of the cave man

Mannequins of the cave men

There are mannequins of cavemen hunting for food at the museum and also 3D pictures of them and their lifestyle.

You will gain knowledge of the cavemen and the Perak Man from all the writings and a video of the actual scenes.

The group from Lenggong tourism with us. 

An interesting read about his burial

The bones of the another caveman. 

The museum is Perak's pride and it is a place to  visit for tourists, local and international alike.  I am glad I made the visit because now I know that the district of Hulu Perak has so much to offer.

The Perak Man as you enter.He lies on the top floor.  

The Perak Man has an IC

Yours truly

Their utensils


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