Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Indian Visa

Yesterday i went to the straits building to pick up my Indian visa as well as husbands. http://www.indiavisa.com.my/main.html

apparently the Governement of India has decided to ask visitors to apply for a visa when entering their country. This visiting visa lasts for 6 months with a 2 month gap after each visit, with this I do think I wont be visiting India again anytime soon unless its due to some unforeseen circumstances.

Anyway, the first thing that made this such a hassle is when I tried to call the visa center to ask for information and the line was always busy... penat tau nak call again and again. Dah dapat, nak pergi building ni tak ada parking yang dekat lah pulak so we ended up parking kat Central market yang charge RM2.50 for the first hour and RM2.00 every subsequent hour.

We went on Monday and the visa can be collected on Tuesday in the afternoon from 4.30- 5.30. So hari selasa sampai lah at 4.30 sebab husband needs his passport since he has work on Wednesday morning. Sampai at 4.30 dia kata tunggu at 5.30... dah sampai 5.30pm passport still tak sampai lagi and orang dah ramai beratur.

Last-last passport sampai at 6.15 hmmmm dah sampai I checked my name dia salah print pulak and so I had to return my passport to them to make amendments and dorang suruh datang again today at around 6pm... tapi I decided to go tomorrow morning sebab jalan kat KL in sangat jam and I dont want to be stuck there.

Hopefully esok everything will be ok.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

School Holiday activities for my nephews and nieces

Elephant sanctuary in Temerloh , pahang ( 1 hour 20mins drive from KL ).



As was written down on the phamplet, Kuala gandah elephant sanctuary is the base for the elephant relocation team to help locate, subdue and translocate elephants from areas where their habitats were used for plantations or human development.



These elephants who have lost their habitat are moved to other suitable habitats such as taman negara and kuala gandah itself. As areas for their habitat shrinks its hard for them to look for food, as a result these elephants will look for food in converted forests areas such as plantations where they raid crops. To prevent them from being shot by farmers when they 'invade' the land the team at kuala gandah will move them to other suitable habitats

You take their habitat away from them and you kill them when they enter? shesh!


the kids and the adults were all hungry and we cant wait for our packed lunch from home. We found a suitable picninc area, spread our mat and enjoyed our lunch.

with our full belly we are now ready to explore. Our first stop was the video presentation which gives you an idea about this translocation process and some basic idea about elephants . I would suggest anyone who comes to this sanctuary to have sometime to watch this.


While waiting for the video to start

Next we were allowed to get up close and personal with the elephants to pet and feed them during their lunch time. The kids loved this. meanwhile, riding the elephant activity is also available. Mind you, the activities and entrance are limited to 120 person per day thus please make a booking a few days before your intended visit. Bathing the elephant commences right after every everyone's done with the riding and this is straight to the river.



Overall, this sanctuary was great, the kids got to learn a lot about elephants. we asked them to explain the elephants skin, what it uses its trunk for, what they eat etc.



One of the thing that concerned me is seeing elephants chewing on sugar cane without any juice left. im not sure about an elephant's diet so that's just my tiny concern. its was also sad to see them all chained up but i guess its for safety reasons.



Another part which im concerned about and which i realized after watching the whole falling down episode from our video camera is on them using a hook on the elephant's ear to pull the elephant down so those riding the elephant will fall in the water. I know elephants have thick skin but im not sure if that hook on the ear will actually hurt the elephant. I mean, if that hurts you can just remove bathing with the elephant in the activities because seeing the elephant up close is just great by it self.

Entrance fee:- Free but it would be very much appreciated if you would contribute
Activities :- 1.30 pm there is a video show on how these animals were brought here
:- 2.30 pm Fedding the elephant, ride on the elephant and bathing with the elephant
Things to bring :- Food for lunch , spare clothes, towel, soap (if you choose to get wet)
Website: -http://www.wildlife.gov.my
Number to call for reservation:- 09-2790391




Additional information

About 5km before reaching the elephant sanctuary is a Deerland where I was told the deers has a big space for them to roam around freely. I didn't get the chance to stop over the deerland but many said its worth a visit.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

New delhi --- INDIA

This month im planning to visit India, thought of doing a massive shopping spree in Delhi. as for now planning is on the way

1) Tickets - Purchased

2) Accommodation - still searching, i don't need a 5 star hotel just one comfortable enough to stay for 5 days

3) Tour Guide - I hope someone can help me with this... im still searching for someone reliable

4) Places of interest - Im doing a Google search, hope that a tour guide will help me with the whole things to do in addition to what i have