Blog Update - Chinese New Year Happenings

I just came back from Lumut this afternoon. My fear of facing a a heavy road traffic did not materialize at all. I used the old trunk road from Lumut to Klang via Sabak Bernam. This road has been upgraded into 2 lanes for about 100 km out of the 190 km distance from Lumut to Klang. This is not a 3 lane highway. The speed limit is 90 khm/hr/ although there were many who drove as though they were on a highway; going at 110 km/hr or more. I mostly drove at 100 km/hr.

I managed to visit Kuala Gula to see the swamp and see some birds. This place is a stopover for migratory birds. However I did not see many birds around;I saw through a binocular about 2 dozen white colour storks, one eagle and a brief appearance of smaller whiter feathered birds. Perhaps it was because of the time (1.30 pm) and heat. Or maybe it was the declining number of mangrove area.

The entire area was full of palm oil trees. One palm oil plantation owned by Guthrie was at least 12 km long as measured by my car tachometer. I think it is at least 5 km in width giving an area of 60 km square. This is just one plantation among many. I really think there are too much land is used for palm oil plantation in Malaysia. The result is a lost of habitat for animals and plants and a reduction of bio diversity. Then there is the damaging effects of pesticide, herbicide and fertiliser run offs into water sources in a much diminished forest often located adjacent to the plantation.

I also went to Taiping and can only report of my failure to get the tickets for the landrover ride up Larut Hill. I think it was my 4th failed attempt to get a ticket over the past 2 years.

I did manage to run twice in the four days I spent in Lumut. On both occassions, I ran for about 6 km. Lumut is actually a good place to run although there are no large public parks. There are numerous routes on the roads with many hilly sections. During public holidays, it gets very crowded in Lumut with people and vehilcles but I found two routes which is free of both factors.