Out Of Boringness... Went To Kuala Sepetang

Once again I didn't post any entry to my blog for some period. Kinda boring these few days. So, to get out of the boringness, I set off to Kuala Sepetang, a fishing village about 11km from Taiping. I went there with my mum and also my sisters. Anyone from Taiping will be familiar with this small town, which is famous for its mangrove forest and also the production of quality charcoal, as well as its freshly caught seafood.

First stop was the Matang Mangrove Forest. There weren't many people there in fact. We just took a stroll along the wooden bridge. And there was a huge 60-year-old Bakau Minyak (Rhizophora Apiculata) which was planted before the independence. And we managed to catch up with some monkeys too!

the wooden bridge

Later on, we went to the ever-so-famous charcoal production area, which is just within a stone’s throw away from the mangrove forest. The charcoal produced here are not just for the local market in Malaysia as they are exported to countries like Singapore and Japan as well. At the time we went there, most of the charcoal was still in the process of heating. It seems that a circle to produce charcoal in the stove, which can be filled with about 1500 trunks of cut mangrove, will take around 30 days. The area was smoky and although our face didn't turned black, we realised we smelled just like charcoal after we got out from that area.

And these are the rest of the pics from my trip to Kuala Sepetang today.

this Bakau Minyak (the Big Tree) was planted in 1947

seeing something 'interesting' perhaps??

cut mangrove trunks by the riverbanks

the view outside the stove (yes, it's called stove)

these mangrove trunks are yet to be processed

controlling the fire by a worker

new stove in the building process

a completed and ready-to-be-used stove

7 March 2007

Today's 7 March 2007. Yea, 7 March, but why? Any special occasions? Basically, nothing really. But on this date next month, there is something - my 20th birthday. Having said that, instead of being in Malaysia, I'll be in Japan by that time. So, it's gonna be a 1st time celebrating my birthday outside Malaysia. Anyway, looking forward to it though and I'm hoping it will be a nice experience.

And today, after doing some maths, it's just 25 days away for me to leave for Japan. 25 days. Still a long time to go? Not really if you guys see this: 25 days = 600 hours = 36000 minutes = 2160000 seconds. Yes, it's about 2 million seconds away. And by the time you've finished reading this, the time will be much much shorter.

This evening, I went for a haircut coz I'm not a fan of having long hair. Well, I didn't mean the long hair like the girls. But I guess you know what I mean, don't u? Having shorter hair means I can save some time styling it coz it's much more simple and time-saving. If you guys have any comment on my new haircut (actually it's just a normal one, nothing special), just leave some comments.

before... and after...

(to be honest, I don't see any much difference, right?)

Last night, I plan to stay up to catch the match between Liverpool and Barcelona live, but unfortunately, I guess I was too tired and couldn't stay up till 3.45am. Well, I'm neither the fans of the team from Anfield nor Nou Camp, but it's a big game, so there's nothing to lose to watch it though I think. Unfortunately for the Catalans team, they lost on the away goals. Tonight (or should I say tomorrow morning), there'll be another four second-round game and of course I'll be watching the Man Utd taking on Lille of France game.

Well, that's all for today. By the way, to all Man Utd fans out there, make sure u guys don't miss this match!