Fresh and Strange Longan Fruits

What? Never tried the longan fruits before? You dunno what you have been missing! The longan fruits are sweet and absolutely delicious! It is one of my favourite fruits. But the thing is... I have never seen a longan tree before.... :-) In fact I have been walking pass a longan tree day in and day out and I did not realised that it was a longan tree!

Yesterday, I was handed a bunch of longan fruits and I did not even realised what it was... LOL. The fruit's skin was green and the skin was hard and felt thick. The longans that I am used to seeing are brown in colour and the skin soft and easy to peel to get to the fruit inside.


Photo of a bunch of longan fruits I am used to seeing in the fruit market stalls (linked from Wikipedia).


The fresh longan fruits, which I did not even realised was longan.


The longan tree was very tall and the fruits was hard to reach.


A branch of longan fruits.


I packed some to let my colleagues try.

When I had finally gotten to taste the longan, it was not what I had expected. The skin of the fruit was thick and tough to peel. The meat of the fruit was fleshy, but lack the sweetness and juiciness usually associated with the longan fruit.

In any case, it was an experience to remember. Maybe the fruit had not yet ripen, hence the green skins... LOL. Maybe next year when longan is in season again, I will wait till the fruits is properly ripen :)

Motorbike Ride in the Wasteland of Batu Gajah

Two weekends ago, I took the family back to Batu Gajah for "Qingming" or "Ching Ming" Festival. My wife's family members were gathering for Qingming. Qingming is essentially the honoring of ancestors or ancestors memorial day, where family members gathered together to visit, sweep and clean the tomb and grave sites.

During the visit to the grand parents' kampung (a small village), I took the opportunity to take the kids motorbike riding around the old tin mining "wasteland", which practically surrounded the whole kampung.


The "wasteland" of Batu Gajah. Made me feel like I am playing my Fallout 3 game... LOL.


Another pix of the "wasteland" that only scant of vegetation can survive.


The boys (Jordan and Joel) happy as can be to be able to ride on a motorbike... Hahah.










The kids had a grand time. They wanted more but unfortunately, it started raining and we had to head back. When we reached the grand parents' house, we managed to catch an ice cream seller on motorbike. Needless to say, they two boys were screaming for ice creams.


After the ride, back at the grand parents' house, Jordan and Joel had a popcicle each as a reward for behaving.

In the end, it was ice-cream for everyone.... including the grand parents... LOL.

Family Fun at Hutan Lipur Lentang

Exactly 10 days ago, a group of friends together with our families went to a waterfall somewhere in the remote foothills of Genting in Karak to celebrate a friend's birthday... sort of... LOL. The place is called Hutan Lipur Lentang.

Actually it was a prelude to a fantastic lunch at a famous restaurant sponsored by the birthday boys, yeah... two birthdays... LOL. We got our families together to let the kids (those of us with kids) experience the "wild". My kids were very excited. They were freaking out when they saw the giant ants foraging in the forest path. Out of impulse, Joel could not help trying to stamp his feet on the ants! I managed to calm him down and got him to appreciate what the ants were doing... i.e. searching for food... LOL.

I had to take this picture... the rocks looked ideal for trials... LOL.

The river was flowing very rapidly... not safe for swimming.

My two boys mesmerised by the flowing river.

Thanks to Uncle Joe, my kids had the paper binoculars to purvue their surrounding with. Blurred as hell!

The guys pointing to the tiny tree growing out from the shadow of the giant tree... :-)

There they go again with their binoculars...

The rain the night before made the river unsafe for swimming.

Fast moving water.

The river, muddy and clouded with sediments.

There they go again.

A view of the picnic site from high above on the paths.

The river flooded, almost overflowing the banks.

The picnic site. Nice and clean.

George, the birthday boy, getting rid of a leech... LOL.

The tent was set up for the kids... but too hot for them to stay inside long... LOL.

All the kids going after the food... LOL.

All in all it was a fun trip. My kids definitely had fun and so did I... :-)