A Day in Kuala Lumpur

Kiddos and friends spent a day in Kuala Lumpur visiting some historical places. We began the journey on LRT to Central Market, where we walked through rain to this old shop (picture below) for a bowl of beef noodles.

This bowl of noodle tasted lovely on a cold morning. It cost RM10 though!

After a hearty breakfast we made our way to Central Market. After window shopping at Central Market we made our way to the new MRT station to get to Merdeka Station. At the MRT station, someone commented, "Wow it feels like Singapore or Korea all of a sudden!" 

At the Merdeka MRT Station, the kids recited the Rukun Negara (National Principles) and we hung around a bit, enjoying the cool aircond!

  

At the MRT Merdeka Station, a photo with the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, “Bapa Kemerdekaan” (Father of Independence) and first prime minister of Malaysia.

Our next place of visit was Stadium Negara, the first indoor stadium in Malaysia, built in 1960. The guard allowed us to enter, and the children loved singing in there because of the echo and the way sound travels. Visiting the stadium brought back memories, such as the time I watched Holiday on Ice with my parents when I was probably about 10 or so.

Batik painting in the lobby of the stadium.

The children were hungry again, and after a big lunch of Nasi Kandar by the roadside near the stadium, we made our way to Masjid Jamek.

Kids at Sultan Abdul Samad Building, built in the late 19th century.

Lots of preparation going on for Malaysia's  60th birthday 

Prime Ministers of Malaysia

We ended the day with ice cream and cold drinks at 7-11, walked back to Central Market and took the LRT home. What an exciting day it was!

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2017

Plant Identification

We joined MNS Flora Selangor group on a field trip entitled "Tree Observation and Identification." It was held at Bukit Cahaya Shah Alam, and the planned walk was to " focus on the observation of identification characters of trees that are currently fruiting and belonging to the family of Dipterocarpaceae (Shorea and Dipterocarpus), Fagaceae (Oak family), Anacardiaceaa (Mango Family), and Rubiaceae (Coffe family)."

The walk was headed by Dr. Jean Weber and Dr. Siti Khadijah, who are to me, walking plants encyclopedias! 
We began by looking for seeds to identify trees, then studying the structure of seeds. Then we were taught how to study leaf structures (the petiole,  shape and veins),  flowers and bark. 

This leaf  has a stipule, and is hairy, characteristic of  Keruing Bulu

Children taking notes and listening intently at the beginning. I said beginning, because about one hour later, they more interested in other stuff like birds poop. ;)

Dr Khadijah. I love how she willingly and enthusiastically answers EVERY question!! I asked if she'd conduct a walk for our Science Coop, and she immediately said YES. It is a rare to find someone who passionate about plants and so willing to share information with children. Looking forward to our  next walk.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2016

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Aquatic Educational Workshop UCSI

Our kids from coop recently emailed  UCSI requesting for a workshop at their aquatic center. They thought it'd be a nice review to all the materials they've learnt about marine science in the past 4 months.

After the session I asked my kids for feedback. Their feedback was that they enjoyed the classroom environment and quizzes. They enjoyed observing the tanks there. However, the found the material taught much too simple and suitable for much younger children, though they stated that it was for older children.  The facilitators (students from the marine and biotech department) were friendly and enthusiastic. Unfortunately, they were mainly biotech students, and could not answer quite a few questions thrown at them.  So perhaps it would have been better if the workshop had been conducted by marine science students instead.

We did pre mention that the kids had already studied a marine science textbook. Perhaps they somehow forgot. After the workshop, we asked if they'd do one that would match secondary level and they said it was possible. So hoping to go back there for a better session. Overall, despite the minor setbacks, the children enjoyed themselves.

Spot the Octopus

Aquatic Junior Educational Program
Charges: Registration (Per child) = RM 10.00

Educational Aquaponic Kit (Per family) = RM60.00   (We found this expensive, and not worth the money, as the children were simply asked to connect a few parts together (two tubes, a small plastic tank and a little motor), given kangkung seeds and two fish. Explanation was very simple and short.

Contact
Jessie Lai <jess_yuensie@hotmail.com>
or 

sudomolie@yahoo.com

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2016
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Tambun Cave Ipoh

Upon the invitation of a friend, we visited Tambun Cave. We've always wanted to go, but the dates never matched. Well finally it did!

It was a great learning experience. Phd students from USM led our group and provided interesting facts and info about the caves. We also took part in two interesting activities which were, 1) Map out on a chart where the cave drawings are, and 2) create a cave drawing on plaster boards provided.
Twas a great learning experience!

 To go on one of their trips, watch out for announcements on the Gua Tambun Heritage Awareness FB Page.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2016

Visit to Kebun Kaki Bukit to Build a Mud House

I've taken forever to write this overdue post.

We first visited Kebun Kaki Bukit (E101 17' 6.6" N3 20' 50.0) in January when Adrian Wong invited us. We accepted the invitation at once, when we heard that the main goal was to check out the cobb oven there by making our own pizzas, topped with fresh Salmon which Adrian sells on his Seafood Group Buy page.

But before feasting, first work!

We went round looking for fresh veges which we could harvest to use as toppings on our pizza.

In between, children helped rake freshly cut grass...

and helped harvest calamansi. This grows in abundance there, and on our later visit we bought

enough to make our own Calamansi jam.

Work done, it was time to make pizza!! Using Lebanese bread as a base, kids topped it with fresh produce from the farm, Salmon and of course, lots of cheese.

Pizza ready to go into oven.Toppings...fresh mushrooms, herbs and vegetables from farm, Salmon, olives and cheese

This is how flaming hot the cobb oven is! Pizzas were ready in 3 minutes max.

Hugel Pyramid, elevated bed for plants.

We had a really great time! Thanks to Adrian!

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2nd Visit ~~ February

We read on Kebun Bukit's Facebook that they were launching a mud house project. That's something we've always wanted to try, especially after reading about mud house from historical time.

Hay, from dried stalks of paddy (rice.)

First layer had been laid by other volunteers when we  arrived.

Model of what the completed mudhouse would look like

We helped make mud bricks by stepping on a combination of sand and clay. Every now and then, the tarp on which work is done, is pulled on all sides to bring the mixture to the centre (they called it "making a burrito"), and then stepping continues. Sand is added quite often till clay reaches correct texture. Once completed, hay is added to the mixture and then shaped into bricks.

Bricks completed, we helped arrange them on the previous layer. Holes are made so that the next layer of bricks will fill these holes allowing layers to merge.

VIDEO
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When work was done, we were served a delicious lunch of pumpkin-vegetable curry with rice. Yummm....

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3rd Visit~~ June

When we visited again, the walls had been built high and volunteers were working on the final phase before putting on the roof (which will be bamboo and palm leaves).

A new mud house ...partially bamboo, partially mud.

Wet the top of the dried walls with sponge before laying new layers of mud.

The clay pool had grown so large that it was a tempting mud pool. Needless to say after a time of making bricks, chopping hay, sifting sand and all.....the children had a total mud bath, top to bottom!!

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2015

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