Travelog Mr. Traveller

Travelog Mr. Traveller by Meor Farid Asyradi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Dengan Lafaz Basmalah Aku Menjelajah" ... aku memang suka baca travelogue atau cerita kembara orang lain terutamanya catatan pengembaraan orang Islam ke negara asing kerana banyak yang boleh aku belajar daripadanya. Pengalaman mereka boleh dijadikan panduan jika aku punya rezeki untuk mengembara suatu masa nanti. Subhanallah, pengalaman Radi sangat best! Semuanya dengan kurnia dan rahmatNya. Baca je lah kalau nak tahu betapa bestnya kembara mahasiswa Sains Politik Islam yang fasih bertutur bahasa Arab ini. Oh ya, buku ini aku beli special sikit sebab ditandatangani oleh Radi sendiri ...cuma, kan lebih baik kalau gambar-gambar yang dilampirkan dalam buku ini semuanya berwarna, tidaklah hitam putih semuanya..

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just dreams ...

ohh, how nice it will be if i can .....


roll myself in the meadows on the mountain sides ... (and perhaps singing the sound of music ...)

marvel at the volcanoes .... (dormant ones, of course .... )

enjoy a  romantic dinner with my beloved ...

hmmm.... sweet dreams, dreamer ...

(all images thanks to google)

Madai Baturong Forest Reserve Nature Centre

Madai Baturong Forest Reserve Nature Centre or Pusat Sejadi Hutan Simpan Madai Baturong or also known simply as Madai Waterfall, is located just by the roadside of Jalan Tawau - Lahad Datu, somewhere around 50 km from Lahad Datu and 15 km from Kunak, Sabah. My colleagues and I always pass by this place whenever we are on our way to and from Lahad Datu for our work trips but never once we stop at this place. It always seems to be deserted, and I've never seen a car parked inside the area before, therefore the assumption that this place was not open to public. I didn't even know and give any thought about what was inside it. Then again, I think we have never passed by this place during the weekends.

One day, while we were on our way back from Lahad Datu, we saw a police road block set up at the road just in front of the centre. Slowing down, I saw that there's actually a few people sitting at a food stall inside the centre. Thinking out loud, "I wonder what is this place..." and my colleague suggested to stop and take a look inside. It's actually a nature centre and there's a waterfall in it.

Information board at the entrance

Oh, by the way, we have to pay an entrance fee of RM 2 (for adult Malaysians) each. The first thing I noticed was how unkempt the little landscape was as we walked further inwards. At the entrance there's quite a spacious parking space, a surau, toilets and showers and a couple more buildings, one of them was the Information Centre. I didn't go inside that building though. The built pavement was really muddy. A huge butterfly greeted us and it was playing hard to get; fluttering its wings around my colleague while following him as he walked yet it did not allow me the chance to snap a photo of it. I was mesmerized though by its size and (if I may say) playfulness.

a kind of forest plant, I presume ... 

not a good idea to swim

The waterfall was not even far from the entrance. We have to walk down quite a long flight of wooden stairs to reach the river and there's the waterfall with its height of about 10-15m tall standing before us. It was a really nice view. The water falls into what looked like a pond of about 15-20m radius before flowing down the river. The water in the river was quite brown in colour although it seemed pure and clear from above the fall. There's a signboard that clearly warns the visitors from swimming and diving. Yeah, we could see with the rocks all over, it is surely preferable to stay safe.

the waterfall and the pond 

the river

The waterfall aside, as nice view as it could be, I couldn't say the same about the surrounding area. Of course I know it's a nature centre in a forest reserve but the place could be more beautiful, accommodating and safer with a little bit of maintenance. The wooden stairs were old and some parts were really soft and could break if a person bigger and heavier than us stepped on it. Some planks have already been missing from its place that we need place our foot carefully. Fallen leaves and branches were left accumulated on the stairs. There's a gazebo but I didn't feel like resting there.

repair and maintenance long overdue

I spotted a hanging bridge but from where I stood I could see the piles of leaves accumulated on it. I doubt that I could walk on it without fearing my safety. It seemed that the bridge leads to the forest where people could trek and climb hills and mountains. We went up to look for the bridge and found out that the bridge was closed. Oh, well, what a shame. My excitement was cut short. There's nothing more we could do here. I hope the reason it's closed is because of renovation or maintenance work is in progress but if it is, there's no notification whatsoever about it there.

it could have been nice to be up there

the hanging bridge is closed ... huhu

This place is really nice but I was feeling quite sad with its conditions. I'm sure if this place is maintained well, it could attract a lot of visitors who love to be in natural surroundings, walking in the forest while enjoying the environment, the view and the various species of flora and fauna. The plus side of this place, in my opinion, is that it is really easy to access, no need to ride a pick up to reach here. This place should be a hit. I hope this place will be maintained and promoted well in the future. It's such a shame to see a good recreational place like this reduced to shambles or being appreciated for the wrong reasons. Surely, there are a lot more to be discovered here.
 

the stairway to heaven .... ha ha ...nah, it will be stairway to death
if you are not careful!

Aku Melayu di Kota Inggeris

I like reading travelogues, especially the ones written by a Muslim traveler. I like travelogues because I always like the idea of traveling although I have not done it as much as I want to. I really wish I can travel more in the future, to more distant places and doing much more different things. I always enjoy reading a Muslim traveler's story because I always want to know how to manage oneself by being a Muslim in places where everything is different from my home country, a country where there's no problem in living my life as a Muslim. I like to see the 'other' world from the traveler's perspective and learn how 'the others' react to the traveler. Having my own little share of travel experience when I lived in a foreign country for almost a year several years ago, and though I have collected many wonderful moments and learned a lot of new things there, I wished that I could do more than what I had done in seeking experiences from the aspects of Islam.

 

From my old posts, perhaps you readers have read some travelogues that I had read and reviewed here, like here, here, here and here. Recently, I found this book while waiting to board a plane (most of my travel books I bought while I was on a journey to other place, such a thematic purchase...). Aku Melayu di Kota Inggeris is a book in Malay language written by a Malay scholar, Dr. Muhaimin Sulam, about his experiences while studying in University of Wales Trinity St. David, UK. He divided his story in three parts. In the first part, he shares things about the community around him and the country in the cultural, socioeconomic, historical and political aspects. The second part touches more on the life of Muslims in UK and his experiences and involvement in the Muslim community activities there. The poignant memoir of his late father is evident in the third part, showing how important he is in the author's life. Although there are three parts in this book, I don't feel that there's any distinct differences between them. I feel that there's everything in every chapter and it is full of values.

 

I don't have prior knowledge about Dr. Muhaimin but from this book, I think that it is quite obvious that he is very knowledgeable of the nation's politics and is involved in it at a certain level. However, this author is pretty fair in his comments and presents his discussion in a way that make the readers ponder about it without misconceptions or bad impressions on anybody.

 

All in all, Dr. Muhaimin's travelogue is enjoyable to read. It is always good to learn things that others have learned and to be mindful or aware of the things that happen to ordinary people like us but who lives so far away, and also of the things people take as their values in life.

 

google image

  

my postcard moments in Mabul part 3 (end)

Location: Mabul Island, Sabah, Malaysia ...

my postcard moments in Mabul part 2

Location: Mabul Island, Sabah, Malaysia ...

my postcard moments in Mabul part 1

Location: around Semporna and Mabul Island, Sabah, Malaysia ...

Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park

Location : Tasek Merimbun, Tutong District, Brunei.

Date of visit : 12 Januari 2013.

Brief description :

Tasek Merimbun is part of a geological formation that was uplifted from a shallow sea about 7 million years ago. Home to many species of flora and fauna, it is a kind of low depression surrounded by swamps as opposed to being a typical lake. The water is black due to the presence of peat i.e. fermentation of plant vegetative materials that feed into the lake through the peat swamp. Tasek Merimbun was declared as Brunei's National Heritage Park in 1967 and later on declared as an ASEAN Heritage Park in 1984. This park is under the management of Brunei Museums Department.

Visit on a Sunday and you can cross the bridge.

The exhibition hall inside the heritage park complex.

Nice view of the lake from the complex. 

Inside the exhibition hall.

Location : Taman Kulimambang (Butterfly Garden), inside the Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park Complex.

Visiting hours : Saturday - Thursday, 9.30am - 3.30pm

Brief description:

Established in July 2012, this little garden is said to accommodate about 100 species of butterflies, and there's a myriad of other insect species too. We arrived at this garden exactly 15 minutes before the closing time so we only had little time inside but it's enough.The garden is pretty and nice although quite small. 

Some of the residents.

Nice garden.

This place is a nice place to visit if you like nature. There's a 650km trail called the Banunih Trail where you can track along in about 45 minutes inside the forest and observe tree species, orchids and frogs, among other things. Since we didn't have a lot of time to spent so we didn't cover this trail.