Every place has a wild side

12 Dec 2019

Adventures - Sapa rice terraces, Vietnam

Went to Sapa, Vietnam for a quick 2-day relaxing trek (with hotel stay at night).

My friend and I took the mini-van ("Limousine") to from Hanoi to Sapa. We departed at 7am and reached at about 2pm, a 5-hour journey. The winding road towards the end was a little uncomfortable.

Sapa is home to various hill tribes, including the Black H'mong tribe people who make up the majority. The tallest mountain in Indochina is also found in Sapa (Mt Fansipan).

The benefit of travelling during winter is probably the weather, which was cool and comfortable for hiking. The cons would be that the rice terrace did not look as picturesque.

There was not many bees, except a little Hylaeus bee.

Possible trails and villages belong to the various hill tribes.

Sun-rays peeking through the clouds during our trek to the rice terraces

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H'mong lady "smoothening" flax with her hands, so that she can use it to make clothes later.

Rice terraces. According to our guide, there is only one "crop" season in Sapa, which feeds the people and is not commercially sold.

The many peaks at Sapa

14 Apr 2019

Adventures - Taroko National Park (Hualien) and Yangmingshan (Taipei) in Taiwan

Just a quick post about two national parks in Taiwan! Went in late Feb 2019 and it was almost the end of winter and start of spring!

Taroko National Park (Hualien)

We took Taroko train from Taipei Main Station and had pre-booked tickets (online). The train ride was scenic! We hired a free-and-easy driver from Klook. Definitely a recommended way to explore Taroko as you can customise your itinerary, and even do some trekking!

Here's the Qingshui Cliffs, beautiful but rainy day morning.

Qingshui Cliffs

We went to the Shakadang and Lushui trails - these were the easiest but rather scenic trails in the park.

The Shakadang trail is the only trail where you can see blue water (it's the last tributary leading to the larger Liwu river) due to the rocks.

We drove through the national park, visited various "attractions" like the Swallow Grotto, Chingxi Suspension Bridge and Cimu Bridge.

Grey water in contrast to the blue water above. A beautiful sight to behold!

Yangmingshan National Park (Taipei)

We took a tour of the Northern part of Taipei, so one of the stops was Yangmingshan National Park; again we used Klook. We made it there just in time for the flower festival and it was crowded. The sakuras and plum trees were blooming, so it was really nice to catch the blooming flowers. We only spent 2 hours there though, unlike Taroko NP where we spent the whole day.

Flower Clock with many tourists.

Sakura!

We also made a short stop at the Datun Nature Park which is beautiful as well! The clouds obscured our view as we were leaving.

Datun Nature Park

We saw a few male long-horned bees (Tetralonia) sunning on Rhododendron.

A little long-horned bee from genus Tetralonia.

Will end the post here! It was such a great trip to these two national parks. Hope to go again and spend a longer time there!

19 Dec 2015

Adventures - Sarawak, Kubah National Park

Was there for 3D 2N I believe. Kubah National Park is supposedly famous for frogs, there is a frog pond which has many ranid frogs. Stayed at lodge that could house 6 persons, there was air-conditioning but no hot water. Will update another time.

Some photos:

Adventures - Sabah, East Malaysia (#2 - Kinabalu National Park)

Not much time to write a detailed post about the fauna at Kinabalu National Park, did both day and night walks, so got to observe diurnal and nocturnal fauna.

The place is rich in stick insects, and amphibians. There were Orthoptera, Coleoptera present.
Did not spot any Odonata. There were rather few ants and bees, not as species rich as the lowland forests.

It was rather dry despite the monsoon season. The mosses were not wet.
Many of the orchids were not in bloom, esp. at the Botanic Gardens, unlike the previous time when I visited in June.

Some of my best photos; will elaborate further another time.

18 Dec 2015

Adventures - Sabah, East Malaysia (#1 - Kota Kinabalu and adjacent areas)

Visited parts of Sabah from Kota Kinabalu in December 2015. The flight to-and-fro was SGD 175. Our hotel at the city was very cheap, SGD 22 per night for two people. Here're some of the highlights and just a quick review, and there is another post in greater detail about Kinabalu National Park:

(1) Fireflies tour with Borneo Legend Travel

From KK, we travelled about two hours to Klias Nature Reserve at Beaufort, Sabah. Cost at 110 RM, including dinner, snacks, two boat rides at a mangrove (to see proboscis monkey and fireflies in the afternoon and night respectively), considerably cheaper than others tour companies but I think we did not have a dinner as sumptuous as the others.

Proboscis monkey & firefly tour

The fireflies were very abundant and amazing. The guide used a light baiting method to mimic the female light patterns, that in turn attracted the males to light up and even fly. Think this trip was worth it because of the fireflies.

The tour company was reliable and fast in replying Whatsapp messages to book the tour (we only booked the day before). The tour was conducted in Chinese due to Chinese tourists but is also available in English.

Whatsapp number

(2) Seafood

Friends ate the seasonally available Spanner crab Ranina ranina at Kota Kinabalu. It is very odd-looking. The carapace was cracked open from the top to reveal the meat.

(3) Kinabalu National Park

Stayed at the Peak Lodge by Sutera Resorts which was very lovely, had a heater and heated water for the cold nights and even cable TV. Cost SGD 120 per night for four people (two rooms), breakfast included. This was booked on Agoda.com.

Notably, the earthquake that struck earlier in June had resulted in closure of the summit trail and other trails in the national park. We had arrived on 30 Nov, the trail to the summit reopened on first of December with a fare hike in guides and a tougher route (thus one is now not allowed to complete the trail within one day). We did not go to the top though but walked the trails at the national park. The Liwagu trail and Bukit Ular trail were closed though due to the earthquake as well.

I lost the brochure but the cost of staying at Laban Rata is pretty exorbitant, one would have to book the accomodation (with Sutera Resorts) and then book a guide separately. There is a Malaysian and international rate.

Hope this helps those who are visiting the park in the near future!

The view of the mountains only available in the morning and evenings, when not obscured by clouds.

(4) Kota Kinabalu City

Tried many food items, including Kolo mee, Bak Kut Teh (dry and wet), their laksa. There're cafes around as well.

We visited the natural history bookshop at the first floor of Wisma Merdaka too. Many useful guides to birds, amphibians, reptiles, stick insects, plants (e.g., orchids) etc. available there.