Melaka Apa Kaba Village

Continued from last post. After our long day of cleaning up the Turtle Sanctuary and beach front in Melaka, we had a late dinner and drove an hour to Apa Kaba Homestay.

What a delightful place it is! According to the front desk, the place is more than a 100 years old, but refurbished and extended a little to accommodate guests.

The simple and lovely courtyard. Outside of the house there's a little patio for guests to lounge at. 

This was our room, facing the main hall. The windows had traditional wooden shutters, which the children found fascinating.

The front of the kampung house.

 There were bits of antiques here and there to give the house an old feeling, such as the very antique oven seen on the left, a knob to control fan speed (top middle), traditional glass windows (right) and the old typewriter (center below.)

While we were there, we rented bikes for rm10 each. The bikes were quite creaky and old fashioned, which made it fun for the kids. Surprisingly Jo, being a new rider handled her high bike well. Kids and their friends cycled around the neighbourhood exploring while we parents walked along, sometimes stopping to talk to villagers.

We stumbled upon many old houses like the one with the steep roof. An elderly lady we met lived in such a house, but in a really dilapidated condition. She told us, "Makcik dah tua. Dulu makcik ada rumah kampung yang cantik, dekat jalan sana. Skarang...semua diambil untuk bina bangunan baru. Jadi sewa saja rumah ni. Takda duit dah....nasib baik sudah tua...." 

An old Chinese village house. Banda Kaba has two sides, the Malay side and the Chinese side.

A slightly more modern Malay traditional house.

As the room we booked had an adjoining door with their friends next door, the children passed messages back and forth. :)

Overall....we found the experience lovely. However, do not expect a 5-Star hotel with comfortable beds. Beds were a little sunken, and there was dust. However, the hosts were very warm and friendly people, and we just enjoyed the experience of staying in an old kampung house, and definitely exploring the village by bike/foot.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2015
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Volunteering with MNS Green Living-

We saw an ad on MNS Green Living looking for volunteers to help clean up turtle tanks, the hatchery and the beach at the Melaka Turtle Conservation. I asked my children if they were keen, and very eagerly they said Yes.

It was quite a wait before the briefing began, because we had to wait for late comers. During briefing children were asked to be very careful, because the tank would be VERY slippery! Their job for the day would involve scrubbing the tanks, as well as gently scrubbing turtle shells too.

 The Melaka Turtle Conservation is mainly home to Hawksbill Turtle...and we spotted only one Green Turtle.
"The Critically Endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) has been exploited for thousands of years as the sole source of commercial tortoiseshell. The beautiful carapace is generally streaked and marbled with amber, yellow or brown and often has a strongly serrated edge (5). The strongly hooked beak on the narrow head gives rise to the hawksbill turtle's common name (6). Unlike other marine turtles, the scales (scutes) of the hawksbill turtle’s carapace are imbricate, or overlapping, hence the scientific name 'imbricata' (7)."(Arkive.org) 

Children gently scrubbing the top of a turtle's shell. They were told to only scrub in one direction, downwards, away from the head.

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Scrubbing done, we headed to the hatchery.

From the outside of the hatchery, we took a peek and saw these babies that were newly hatched and ready to be released! How eager they were to get out of the bucket. :) According to Arkive.org, "probably less than one out of 1,000 eggs will survive and reach adulthood (9)."  :(

~We were not to go near the nests, but clean areas away from the nests. Children were given rakes and bags to clear the area of leaves and whatever trash they found.

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Final job for the day was to clean up the beach by the sanctuary. This was a dirty job that required gloves.

Somebody lent Jo this gadget which really came in handy. We found all sorts of garbage, like diapers, lots of styrofoam, old batteries, plastic containers, underwear and just gross items.

Nel carrying her full bag of garbage back to the meeting point.

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Finally to celebrate the hard work done, volunteers were asked to make a V on the beach to celebrate the release of turtle hatchlings. Nobody was to touch any hatchlings. The bucket of hatchlings was tipped over gently and we stood and watched as the little ones began their journey to the ocean. Some struggled even on sand...and we wondered if they'd survive. We know, the rate of survival is low...we could only pray for them and hope.

Back home, Jo drew these pictures in her travel journal. I asked my children if they thought the trip worth it, they said Yes. They never expected to find so much trash on the beach and they do realize how trash will pollute the ocean when the tide rises, harming sea creatures and the environment. I think they learnt a lot from volunteering.

So yeah, Let's keep our environment CLEAN...and teach our children to protect the environment  through volunteering in such programs, and perhaps even starting little projects in our neighbourhoods to educate others about the importance of keeping mother earth clean.

Next Post: Apa Kaba Homestay where we stayed the night after a long working day.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2015

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Exploring with dear friends from the USA

On the 26th of Dec, some very close family friends arrived from Michigan. We spent 2 weeks with them exploring our country and city. Needless to say, it was wonderful reunion time and we do miss them very much now!

Just some highlights in simple photos now. (I've been spending very lil  time on the computer and plan to keep it that way. So not much photo editing.)

 Pulau Ketam

It was a rainy day when we got there.

A friend on the island showing us how dried shrimp is made.

Mini Road Trip to Melaka and Port Dickson

Nothing melts the stress away like a few days by the beach. Here's my sandman.

At play while the sunsets.

Melaka Unesco site.

Of course we all had to ride on the beca (pronounced bay-cha). Only now they come with LOUD booming music!!

Spent a whole day shopping at Jonker Street, and all the girls bought lovely patchwork skirts which we wore together.

At the famous A'Famosa Fort.

To cool the day off, we boarded the boat for a river cruise. Enjoyed the lovely graffiti here.

Visit to Royal Press Melaka.

Our very knowledgeable tour guide

First thing that captivated me were the old beautiful air wells and windows.

The longest serving worker there, showing us how printing was  done long time ago. She told us that to print a page of paper could take as long as 2 days to prepare.

Batu Caves

yup we managed to climb the steps, all 272 of it.

Saw this couple carrying her baby up in a yellow cloth, tied to sugar cane. They say this is to give thanks for answered prayers for a child.

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Till we meet again dear friends.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2013