PUTRAJAYA: A dazzling array of pyrotechnics which threw up glimmering reflections from the Putrajaya lake delighted those who watched the International Fireworks Competition as it got under way.

The competition, launched by Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre - the most strategic point to view the fireworks - last night, will see a series of “fiery nights” for the capital as Japan, Italy, Australia and Malaysia try to outdo each other.

Malaysia kicked off the competition last night with a 20-minute deafening display at 10pm.

Dazzling display: The fireworks show by Malaysia lighting up Putrajaya and the surrounding areas at the opening of the First International Fireworks Competition in Putrajaya last night.

Around 100,000 people turned up for the event.Tengku Adnan said the competition was about “bringing Malaysia to the world and the world to Malaysia.”

“Beginning tonight and for two weeks, the skyline here will be highlighted by a magical display, which will determine the winner of the Golden Merdeka Trophy.”

Australia will take the stage on Aug 22, followed by Italy (Aug 25) and Japan (Aug 30), while Team Global Display has been scheduled for six minutes on the other days starting tonight, Aug 24, Aug 31 and Sept 1.

Fireworks company Pyrofest Canada will have the honour of lighting up the sky on the final night on Sept 2.

The show will be held nighly at 9.00pm and 10.00 pm. I am lucky because when I visit the Dataran Putrajaya, I manage to see it.

Here is some description in the local newspaper of the Putrajaya Laser Show:

Crafted from a screenplay showcasing a fluid series of Malaysian images, lighting effects and high-tech laser artistry, the show is accompanied by a musical soundtrack composed by internationally acclaimed music director, Chong Lim.

Spectacular Spheres comprise large scale floating spheres that combine water, lighting and projection effects to illuminate the Putrajaya Lake at night to the beat of a captivating soundtrack.

A combination of Japanese, German and Australian technology is used to bring the spheres to life while the formation is designed to perform a symphonic visual ballet on the water surface.

Here I found a video that someone upload to youtube about this show:

Here is some photo that I take during my visit:

Back to our travel and happy ’stories’, today I will bring to to the very nice view of Dataran Putrajaya at night. This is one of the place that you can bring you family to at night. This place is very nice with the fresh breeze and nice view. This is also one of the place that you can bring your family to enjoy without cost you a lots. I think this is one of the few ‘family night spot’ in Malaysia.

It is located in front of the Prime Minister office in Putrajaya and near to Putrajaya Lake and Putrajaya Mosque.

What activities can be done here:

I think this place is a very suitable place to bring your family for a relaxing evening. There are lots of people went there with their family or their boy/girlfriends to enjoy the environment and the nice view.

Picnic. Yes, you can picnic here. I always saw many people bring their family to picnic at this place. This place is large and the air is nice. In the evening, the light is still sufficient so anyone can enjoy their meal here.

Exercise. Many people come here to exercise. Some of the activities that I can see when I visit the dataran is some people jogging, cycling and some play badminton with their kids.

Relaxing. Well, I think this is one of the major activities for visitor to the Dataran Putrajaya. Just sit there quitely and see other people enjoying themself.

I think this is one of the place that you can bring you family to at night. Not many night spot that is suitable for small kids and family.

Here below I have some photo that I take during my latest visit to the Dataran Putrajaya.

The photo above is the prime minister office. In front of it is the Dataran Putrajaya.

clearer view of the dataran Putrajaya in front of prime minister office.

Some kids playing. The place is big…

Some family picnic at Dataran Putrajaya.

A view near the Putrajaya Lake. There are restaurant in the right handside. Visitor can have their dinner at the restaurants.

Since this is the first time I visit this place, I have no idea about the road there or the time it open. But luckily everything went on smoothly and my trip there is very fine…

For someone that new, here is some information about the sanctuary that I found on the net:-

Objectives of the Centre
- Overall
For the continuos conservation of the elephants and its habitats through sustainable management in tandem
with the aspirations of the country.
- Immediate
1) Ensuring of the protection and management of the elephants and its habitants
2) Enhancing the public’s knowledge,awareness and support on the importance of elephant conservation.
3) Managing the Centre as a centre for Research and Education as well as an economic & eco-tourism
activities site.

The Centre has also played guests to interns/volunteers with veterinary, zoologial and eco-tourism
and/or business/marketing OR hands-on living skills backgrounds from Czech Republic, the UK,
the US, New Zealand, Slovenia, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany and Canada, not only
to offer their skills and knowledge for the conservation of elephants but, in exchange, to learn more about
the local culture, conservation efforts and the host country.

It take me about 2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur (at 80km/h) to reach the place… I don’t know the exact distance as I didn’t measure it at the time I start the trip. However, it is about 10km from the last toll i.e Exit 816 of the highway.

Here is the activities there:

ACTIVITY SCHEDULE
12.30pm & 1-30pm - Video Documentary show @ the Visitor Registration Office
2pm - The elephants will be led away to the holding area for grooming &
handfeeding where visitors will be invited in the handfeeding session.
*2-30pm - Overland elephant rides followed by an EleFun time with the
elephants in the nearby river!!!
4pm - Leave some donations - The sanctuary closes!

One thing about this sanctuary is that there are no entrance fees like other place, However they will accept the donation from visitor. We might feel that why should they need it, but the fact is the food for the elephant and the cost to maintain it is very high… and when you watch the documentarie, you will understand more about it.

There are lots of people take the opportunity to feed the elephant. All the food is provided by the sanctuary, it cost a lots of money from my point of view.

One of the fun thing to see is that all the kids is very happy to feed the elephant, I can see that they all have really good time. It is a good way to teach your kids about the nature of the elephant and make them more responsible to the earth.

Many people also take this opportunity to ride the elephant. Each day, they limit up to 120 visitor to ride the elephant (there are about 6 elephant if I am not mistake that visitor can ride)

I have some more trips to share here… it will be very soon…

In the meantime, enjoy!

There are many photo missing from the blog. It is actually because there are some technical error in the server that I save the photo… I am not sure if I will able to find all the missing photo but I will try to check out some of them and reload it somewhere and link it to here…

I am very sorry for the inconveniance couse…

by Faridah Begum

Fascinating Putrajaya.

Putrajaya is about 20 minutes’ drive from the KLIA. You can exit at the Putrajaya/Cyberjaya exit on the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) or through Puchong. Road signs to Putrajaya are aplenty and one cannot get lost if the sign are observed and followed.

The nation’s administrative city has many attractions that make it a worthwhile place to visit.

1.Perdana Putra

Insipired by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Perdana Putra houses the Prime Minister’s Department and overlooks the beautiful Putrajaya Lake. The structurak design is strongly influenced by the Malay, Islamic and European cultures.

2. Putra Mosque

The Putra Mosque is the principal mosque of Putrajaya and is located next to Perdana Putra. There is a large squaqre in front of the mosque that has flagpoles flying the Malaysian states’ flag and is a stopover for the numerous foreign guest who visit daily.

3. Putrajaya Independence Square

The Putrajaya Indepence Square or Dataran Merdeka is a city square used for the national day parades and for festivals. It is located opposite the Perdana Putra.

4. Millenniium Monument

This national monument is located in a 25hapark in Precinct 2 of Putrajaya and was the first national monument to be built here. Built in the shape of the national flower-the hibicus-it stands at 68m tall and is constructed of solid metal structures.

5. Putrajaya Wetlands Park

Putrajaya Wetlands Park is believed to be the largest constructed freshwater wetlands in the tropics. It has a total area of 3.35sq km and comprises the Wetlands Park, which is also a wildlife sanctuary which attracts a huge variety of animals to the combined terrestrial aquatic wetland environment.

6. Taman selatan

Taman selatan or Southern Park is a cemetery quite like the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC, in the United States. It has 570 grave plots, of which 331 are reserved for Muslims, 94 for Buddhistes, 55 for Christians, 61 for Hindus and the final 29 plots for those of other regilions.Among the notables buried here are the current Prime Minister’s late wife Datin Seri Endon Mahmood and Petronas presedint Tan Sri Azizan Zainal Abidin.

7. Melawati Palace

The Melawati Palace, also known as Istana Hinggap, is a retreat of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Located in Precint 1, Putrajaya, it was completed in 2002.

8. Putrajaya Lake

Located at the centre of this new and latest Federal Territory of Malaysia, it is a 650ha man-made lake that acts as a natural cooling system for the city and is also used for recreation, fishing, water sports and water transport. In September 2004, the F1 Powerboat Championship was held on this lake for the first time and in 2005, Putrajaya hosted the Asian Canoeing Champoinships.

9. Alamanda Putrajaya

Alamanda Putrajaya is the first shopping centre built in Putrajaya and has French hypermarket Giant, Carrefour, as an anchor tenant and 180 other tenants. The shopping centre has a variety of shops, restaurant, bowling alleys, movie theatres and a food court illuminated by natural lighting. The centre also features Malaysia’s first travelator within a shopping complex that connects the retail outlets and provides access directly to car aprks.

10. All Malaysian foods, even those peculiar to the individual states, can be found here especially in the food court adjacent to the Putra Mosque and in the shopping centre, Alamanda Putrajaya.

The environment is very nice, there are lots of large trees in this park, the waterfall is beautiful/impressive and the river is very nice and cool. lots of kids (and adults too) bath in the river and the waterfall.

I think this is a must visit for someone that stay in Kuala Lumpur area, sinceit is very near to the city center. If you drive, I think it will take about 30 minute from the city and it maytake a little longer if you take public transport like buses. Some of the buses that you can take to go to this place is Metro bus no 43. This buses will go to Rawang, but it will pass by the place. You can inform the bus driver that you want to go to Kanching and he should able to let you know when to take off the buses.

Kanching recreational forest is actually part of 478 hecter of Kanching Forest Reserved. It is located very near (and I think physically next) to FRIM, Templer Park and also Commenwelth Forest Reserved. This place located 7 km from Rawang city center and 23km from Kuala Lumpur.

Some of the activities that you can do here is camping, picnicking, tracking (or jogging - in the morning), bathing or just relaxing.

I found that the most interesting part about Kanching Recreational Forest is that it have 7 ‘layer’ of waterfall and each of them will have their own pond which visitor can take a bath in it… the water also crystal clear and very cool.

Some facilities in this place is the bathroom (20 cent per entry), a ‘resort’(just open, you can call to 03-55132000 or 012-284 3956 for enquiries) and spacious parking lots. The payment to enter this park is RM1.00 per person (above 12 years old) and parking fees is RM2.00 per entry.

Few weeks back I drive through road from Rawang town toward Batang berjuntai. When you use this route, you will passed by the Selangor Fruits Valley, a ‘park’ which is full of tropical fruits and trees. It belong to the state and it cover a large area. The Valley contain of 809 hectare of land which 101 hectare is starfruits plantation. If i m not mistake this is the largest starfruits farm in the world.

The Selangor Fruit Valley is open to public and we can visit the place and also shooping for some tropical fruits during the seasons. Unfortunately, it is only open during week days and will close during week end.

If you want to visit Selangor Fruits Valley, do bring along some bread, on the way to this place, there are reserved forest and lots of monkey live there. The monkey is very tame as it is used to be feed by the passer by. It is fund to see them and the greenary of this place.

On 11 December, I do travel back from Kelantan to Kuala Lumpur and found that some road especially in Kuala Krai is flooding. Fortunately it is only 15cm on the main road. I heard some said that the water level on the same spot is about 1 meter high the following days.

It is dangerous to travel in Malaysia especially during monsoon season. I would recommend not to do so except some place in Kuala Lumpur which seem like not effected from this season.

Based on the news, lots of people has been killed due to this incident (flooding) . Most of it is children.