NL LIEW's Blog: 2009

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Waterfalls of Raub (3) - Lata Lembik at Pos Buntu

Sunday 22 November 2009 - The weather cleared up a bit (just a little bit) and so, I decided to take a friend to visit the most accessible cascade in Raub even if it rains - Lata Lembik at Pos Buntu. After a decidedly hurried lunch at a friend's home, we went off straight to Pos Buntu: about 18 km from the main trunk road at Batu Talam (about 20 km from town center). The visit was not long because of the weather and also the fact that everything's still wet everywhere. There were no tourist, both local and foreign (except us of course) but there were many Orang Asli youths socializing at the place. As many of them are usually put in full boarding schools, I suppose this is their catching-up moment.

After a few quick snaps, we asked the Orang Asli youths if we could visit their kampung and they said yes. With that, we drove to the village nearby and took a quick tour of the place. Many of them came out to greet us and actually, WE became the object of curiosity even though it was us the intruder. The village is a Semai tribe village and they were very warm and nice to strangers. It was a short and memorable trip and my friend Francine was very happy event hough she thought that we were too 'brutal' in our first contact with the Semai people. I promised them that I would come back to learn their language when time permits...

The cascades of Lata Lembik at Pos Buntu.

The reason why these cascades are called Lata Lembik is because they actually 'glide' down smooth rock formations that can be used for Tobogans...

A hut by the Semai people to sell snacks to tourists on weekends

Dilapidated huts meant for tourism but did not seemed to have worked...

A large birdwing, Troides spp., at the Semai village of Pos Buntu

A colourful cockerel

Roadside treasures: From Gap to Raub (2)

Dangling strange fruits from a common roadside tree...

a close-up

The Pegaga, now known to be a powerful anti-cancer herb

Wild figs sprouting from the ground, at the base of the tree

Three stems of the black lily, Tacca spp, at the same time - a rarity

Hazy afternoon at Fraser's Hills

Saturday 21 November 2009 - I had a friend from France who came visiting (actually I offered) but the problem was that it has been raining intermittently for the past two weeks and everywhere was wet or rather soaking wet. So, the question of visiting the Rafflesia site was out as it was off-limit due to some researches going on, jungle trekking and waterfalls too were not in the menu...leaving which the option of visiting the hills as kind of a last resort. I actually thought that it could be risky, rock boulders and loose hill slopes could really pose concerns on the road. Luckily, non of that occurred.

For the first time in many years, Fraser's Hills was not inundated with tourists - we even managed to catch a cosy afternoon tea uninterrupted at the Ye Olde Guesthouse, something rarely possible on a normal weekend. For some reason, they were not that numbrous, maybe because of the rain, maybe because of the impending Hari Raya Haji long weekend so people are saving up. Anyhow, their lost was our gain. For once, the air in Fraser's Hills was less polluted by exhaust fumes of tourist buses and weekenders' cars. Even better, there was a lingering shroud of cool mist in the air, a faint reminder of the Fraser's Hills that I once knew as a young boy growing up in this region. It was a short visit but a pleasant one as it was really the Fraser's Hills that I like...

Mist over the hills in the town center

A retro-designed new signboard with a faint English accent. An improvement on the devastating bad taste of the hurriedly developed 80s until recently.

A little denizen of the forest taking a sip of nectar from a roadside plant.

Beautiful necklace orchid of the genus Coelogyne outside the Ye Olde Guesthouse.

Tree ferns in the mist - route to the Jeriau Waterfalls

Stange fruits in the wet jungle.

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

Snow in La Rochelle

27th February 2004 was a special day because it was the first time that I've ever seen snow falling. As with all other dreadful mornings in winter, we were having our French lessons until right after the break at mid-morning when something miraculous happened: streams and streams of thick, soft snow started falling and everyone was practically fixated with what's happening outside instead of paying attention to the teacher teaching. Sensing that she was against the odds, our teacher Monique decided to let us have some fun...

According to some Rochelais that we've met in the street, this was the first snow in La Rochelle in 11 years! I would certainly think of ourselves as lucky spectators rather than harbingers of climatic change. After class that day, my classmates and I went for a stroll on the old port (called vieux port) and ended up chez moi for a hearty lunch.

A class photo in ths snow

Snow fight! The snow brought out the child in us...

Posing at the vieux port

Observe the snow covered port at the background- a rare sight in La Rochelle

Still frolicking despite the cold frozen feet in ice...

A photo op

A warming drink before meal...tchin!

A photo after the meal

The day after...28 February 2004

The next morning, another surprise awaits me...sloshing through the icy lane of my rented house at rue des feuilles, a yellow van with the unmistakable logo of La Poste delivered a yellow packet to me. It was my Nikon camera that I had sent home for repair in Malaysia! I was extremely excited and glad that my camera arrived unscathed as I had already imagined the worst case scenario: like it will never arrive and some evil postman will be enjoying his ill gotten loot in some unknown scene...(heard of stories where people looses all sorts of things in the post). But came it did and all was well again.

The first thing I did, after having had to run out to the door in slippers and pyjamas in an icy cold morning to answer the postman's call, was to quickly get myself ready and head out to town and the campus to snap some photos of the city covered in snow...

Outside my room...the gazon (grass) covered in soft snow.

The park behind my house covered in snow...

The park behind Port Royale covered in snow.

Port Royale - the land entrance point to the walled city of La Rochelle. This seemingly calm facade has a violent history: La Rochelle was a rich merchant city with liberal politics (the Rochelais were protestants in a predominant Catholic France). However, to unite France in religion and politics, Cardinal Richelieu, prime minister to King Louis XIII, burned down the city in 1628 after a final confrontation in the famous siege of La Rochelle where its ports were blocked from land and sea to slowly starve the people of La Rochelle into surrender but the city held on to the end. This history is still being retold to tourists visiting the city. This city was also the departure point to the New World where rich Rochelais merchants traded 'ebene' (ebony -meaning slaves from Africa) in the darker part of its infamous history as a principal actor in the triangular commerce: France-Africa-New world

A path well taken...one of the nondescript shops on the way to the market in town center from Port Royale

Farmers selling their produce (mostly seafood) outside the enclosed wet market.

La grosse horloge -the big clock aptly describe the clock tower on the principal entrance to the walled city from the vieux port (old port).

Another view of the clock tower

The calm after the storm - a view of the port

The campus is situated at the port on reclaimed land of a once marais (swamp)

View of the vieux port

Sunny bright day after the snow at the vieux port, La Rochelle

A view from the vieux port

Traces of yesterday's storm on the pedestrian walkway to the campus

La tour saint Nicholas, part of the three-tower complex (including la tour de la Chaine and la tour de la Lanterne) that forms the sea gateway to the city of La Rochelle. These monuments are UNESCO certified as world heritage.

View of the vieux port - La tour de Saint Nicholas on the left and la tour de la Chaine on the right.

A view of the vieux port

Ferry to Ile de Re and other islands in vicinity. To the left is la tour de la Lanterne, which of course served as a lighthouse

The modern lighthouse

The way back from town a pied: sunset over the leafless tree-lined street near Port Royale

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Villandry...the traditional French garden chateau

One cold and rainy spring morning in 2004, I arrived at the Chateau de Villandry with a busload of my coursemates on a cultural discovery trip organized by the university. We visited three chateaux over 2 days on the Loire Valley: the other 2 being the magnificent Chambord and the historical Amboise. I returned to Villandry again on 2007, unfortunately on another cold and even rainier morning... After 5 years of memory distilled by time, the only thing that sticks in my head about Villandry is the incredible neatness of the garden in a cold, wet and miserable morning as well as the violet flavoured sorbet ice-cream sold at the entrance...

Villandry did not start its life as a royal chateau like Chambord and Amboise but it does have an illustrous history- it was initially built over a 12th century medieval castle, finished in 1536 by Jean le Breton in the Rennaisance style (he was the finance minister to Francois I, king of France and owner of the Chambord and Amboise). The chateau changed ownership to the Marquis of Castellane in 1734 before being bought over by Dr. Joachim Carvallo in 1902. He spent his life restoring the gardens of the Villandry into its glory seen today according to the rigid style of the traditional French philosophy in gardening: perfect symetry. His work was among the first efforts in France to restore patrimonial heritage for the grand public.