the Divine Journey - Thaipusam 2011 in Batu Caves

It was 5.30am and finally we reached Batu Caves temple and managed to get a parking at the exact same location as last year, at the roadside of course. Where else can you get a parking on the most special day for Lord Murugan each year? We left from home in Kajang around 5am and reached Selayang  in 30 minutes. The decision to leave early this year was because of the massive crowd on the cave when we went there at 8.30am last year.

And first thing first, for two consecutive years we performed the "head balding" (or whatever you call it) for my son in Batu Caves.So, we decided to do the last "session" at the same place. And what an experience it was! During the first year, my son was very quiet and did not even response when the barber was shaving off the hair. Second year, he cried for a while and gave a stern look at the barber when shaving. And during the final year, he was so pissed off that he started crying from the beginning till the end. It was very hard to hold him till the end. END REsult : Shaving could not be completed successfully.. There were patches here and there. Hehehe.

Once done, moved on to the Vinayagar temple to do the prayers and then to the other deities. Luckily, there were not many crowd at that time. RM5 for each archanai. WOW!

Later, the journey up the to meet Lord Murugan begins. 272 steps...And again, since it was only around 6am, the crowd was still manageble until you reach the top. It has been years since Thaipusam is celebrated here but I wonder why there is no proper management of the crowd. Those going to do 'archanai' will clash twice with those who are bringing the paal kudam. This will cause a massive jam and worse than the one we get to see at the highways everyday.And bear in mind, this was only around 6.30am!!! Just imagine what will happen later in the day. So, The journey up began at 6am and we only managed to get down at 8.15am.

Currently I am uploading the video of the crowd so that you can see it for yourself. Should be ready in the next 30 minutes.
Video uploaded :

We didn't stay very long there as my son was getting sleepy already. While walking towards the car, we saw a few people holding a board written "Please Do Not Litter" and few of them were actually collecting the rubbish and putting it in a plastic bag. Man, we are so famous for littering during the festival that another organisation have to come and tell us to not litter! There were trash can in quite a few places but it was full. Who does the cleaning anyway? Doesn't the management have some sort of plan for this?And for the people, think before you throw..hehe
By 9am we left the temple and reached home at 10.30am. It took us 1 1/2 hours to reach back home when it took us only 30 minutes to reach the temple in the morning! Reason : Traffic jam, of course!

Checkout the photos below :

If you visit the the temple yearly during Thaipusam, what do you think is the most important thing that must be improved by the temple management or by the public themselves? Please comment below.

DinosAlive Tour - Pusat Sains Negara

It was a Sunday and not knowing what to do on a sunny weekend, me and my wife decided to go to Pusat Sains Negara as there is a Dinasour exhibition going on there now. FYI, the exhibition will be running until 31st May 2011. Your kids might enjoy it.
We were not very familiar with the road to the place, just decided to hit the pedals and tried to find the way using the sign boards. Unfortunately, the number of signboards available to get us there is so less. I saw one sign board telling us to turn left, once I did, there is a traffic light and we didn't know where to turn since there was no sign board at all. After a turning here and there, finally decided to stop and ask at a food stall nearby. The funny part is, the local fellow there doesn't know the place and told me to ask the Bangladesh fellow working there. And to my suprise, that fellow actually knew the way to get there. At last, we made it to the place and had to round the place to find a parking as all parking are fully taken. The worse part is there are not many parking available there.

I paid RM20 (RM10 each. free for kids under 4 years old), and the journey to a few millions years back begins. Too bad there was not may dinosaurs exhibited there. On the ground floor, you will be able to see two huge Tyrannosaurus and Brontosaurus. Both of it can move their head and tails. T-Rex is more famous among the visitors as it can open it mouth wide and make a scary sound. :P  Check out the video below.



Once you go to the second floor, it has been separated into two different section, Herbivorous and Carnivorous dinosaur. On the right is the Herbivorous dinosaurs. There's around 15 different types of it with most of them can make some sort of movements and sounds. Me and my wife enjoyed it but it was exactly the opposite for my 2 years old son. The sound made him scared. Hahaha.. He kept on shouting and said "Babai..babai...", signalling us to get the hell out of that place.

After enough picture taken, we moved on to the Carnivourous dinosaur section. Here, most of the dinosaur was Velociraptor and T-rex. Only a few was of different type. Somewhere in between of the dinosaur screaming, you can also hear my son screaming again...Only towards the end he became bold enough to face the dinasours. And that was because, there was another kid (her mother besides him) crying and came to sit beside my wife. So, my son took the responsibility and showed the kid to be brave and he was running towards the dinasour and back to the kid. He even made some scary sound to scare that kid..hehehe...That kids mother told his son, "Tengok, adik tu berani". I was laughing when I heard that..
Well, that about it about dinosaurs..
Anyway, at the entrance of Pusat Sains Negara, there's something like mini-Aquaria. It was very nice to see those big fishes swimming on top of you. And of course, since it's  Pusat Sains Negara, there is quite a lot of scientific activities available there. Quite similar to the one available in Petrosains, KLCC but at a smaller scale.

This is their website : http://www.dinosalivetour.com

Enjoy the photos below :

How do you like the place? Would you bring your children here? If you have missed it for this year, make sure you visit it next year. Well, provided they have plans to have the exhibition again.
Please leave your constructive comments below.

Journey to the Past – Bujang Valley (Lembah Bujang)

First of all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 to all of you!

This happens to be my first post for the New Year. Hence, I decided to post it at 12.01am 01-01-11.

It has been a while since I upload something related to photography. Busy writing movie review.hehe. And now, back to the main purpose this blog was created. Photography.

Actually these photos were taken some time back but I was feeling a bit lazy to choose and edit the photos. It was  taken two days after Deepavali 2010. Just a small outing with family, too bad my eldest brother could not make it else it would have been wonderful with all the kids together.

For those who does not know about Bujang Valley, it is actually located in Merbok, Kedah. Checkout Wikipedia for more details if you would like to know its historical values.

It took us around 40 minutes to reach this location from our house in Sungai Petani, Kedah. On the way there you can see lots of paddy field. Such a nice scenery. Too bad we did not stop by the roadside to shoot some pictures. Next time, maybe.

Just one comment about the place. We really hope the next time these guys decides to relocate the temple ruins, they will actually consult with some Hindu\Buddhist experts so that it is reconstructed properly. For example, there is stairs to enter the temple but the "moolastaanam" is facing backwards.The entrance and the "moolastaanam" should be facing each other. "Moolastaanam" means sanctorum or where the main God statue is located.

The next time you happen to set your foot in Kedah, don't forget to visit this place.

Checkout the photos below :



Would you recommend your friends locally or from other countries to visit this place?

Do let me know in the comment section below.