Need a quick weekend getaway? Tanjong Jara was the perfect place for me! Left KL about 6 a.m., stopped by HaiPeng for coffee and nasi lemak, then reached the resort about 1 p.m. It was really laid-back wif a relaxed, quiet elegance. Guess wif YTL, U really can't go wrong...
It's situated on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, between Kuala Terengganu in the North and Kuantan in the South. The Resort is built on a 17-hectare site facing the South China Sea. The town of Dungun lies west of Tanjong Jara and is 8 kilometres away.
my room for de weekend...
the verandah opens out to a view of the sea :)
...wif a generous sized bathroom too!
After unpacking i went straight to the beach to catch up on some mindless easy reading...
till the sky got darker...
...and darker! : (
Ventured into Juru town de next morning for some nasi dagang.. i never really like anything rice based but wow, that nasi i had was gooddd...
Then happened to drive past this signboard and i was ROFLing all de way back to de hotel!
...back at the resort the sun was out again. So off to the beach...But 1st, must camwhore a bit...
...then to the pool for a dip!...
The resort's got a sexy li'l restaurant by the beach tt serves yummy french *ahem*cuisine wif fancy presentation...
Can't really remember what i ate (must be the wine..) but it sure looked good.
took a walk around de resort after dinner...
...excuse me while i continue to camwhore...
...last day...Thought i better make full use of my time there...so off to beach again...to camwhore! LOL...
I've always loved dogs. Over the years we've had dalmations, dobermans, german sherpards, pitt bull terrier, west highland terriers, and many other half-breeds.
I remember an incident that happened when i was 5 very clearly. My parents and i were picking up my siblings from swimming lessons and we were gonna go shopping for CNY clothes after that.
I remember my brother opening the back door and my sis carrying in a big plastic bag. My bro put his finger to his lips telling me to be quiet. I was so curious and kept asking them what was in the plastic bag since it started moving on its own.
I peered inside and saw 2 oh so cute black colour puppies with big brown eyes... At that time we were living in an oil palm plantation and we had about 15 to 20 dogs already. So what the heck, my parent's aren't really gonnna notice if we added another 2! And yes, we did go CNY shopping while the 2 puppies remained in the backseat of the car.
About a year ago my sis adopted a puppy Schnauzer. She was so so tiny... and oh so sweet!
My bro brought her over to my cafe when i was looking after the cashier at my cafe. Suddenly a customer walked in so i had to hide her somewhere. I shoved her into a tiny drawer under the counter and proceded to serve the customer. After about 30 minutes only did i realise i had a puppy in the drawer!
She was so quiet and timid.. didn't make a sound at all!
Lavinia named her Snauzu (pronounced "snau-ZOOOO!!!!").
She's a full grown adult now and has grown a beard. She looks like a little old man. Super funny!
...with huge ears too.. she looks like Pinky from Pinky & the Brain here..hahaha...
..and just like her owner Lavinia, she's drawn to designer stuff too...
Then towards the end of 2009 my kor met Elaine and was totally smitten by her. I guess I would be too if i was a guy... considering how she looks and cooks!
He got her a puppy to bribe his way into her heart... (and bed too. But that's just gross..cos he's my brother...Elaine's gonna kill me for saying this...but it' ok, she's in bkk now..hahaha)
Sean named her Ola.
She's a toy poodle with red fur. Well on paper her fur color's called red. But it looks just plain brown to me. Ok, maybe auburn to be specific...
And she was soooo tiny!
Ola meeting Snauzu for the very first time...
As Ola grew, she looked less and less like a stuff toy and more like a teddy bear. Which is almost the same thing. Still cute as a button!!
We love u Elaine, slurrp slurrrrrppp!!
I brought them out recently to my friend CL's house and all my girlfriends went ga-ga over them!
Everyone wanted to carry Ola...She was sooo pampered that night. She absolutey loved the attention!
even Weils fell in love... won't stop hugging Ola.
Ola has a tendency to destroy things...she chews shoes, curtains, furniture, etc..
Last month, Elaine's brother went to Taiwan and got her this cute li'l sweater. It's hand knitted and it even has a brooch!
(Check out the brooch Elaine!!! LOL)
These 2 doggies are quite a handful yet we don't mind cause they're playful, affectionate and damn manja...Love them to bits!
I always wanted to swim wif dolphins...I remember my first encounter with them. I was 4 years old and my mum brought me to seaworld where we watched a dolphin show and when the trainer asked for a volunteer to come up somehow I was thrusted forward to get a kiss from a dolphin. It felt wet and hard.
When Dian invited me to go to Ancol Seaworld i was so so excited I accepted immediately. So she called her friend to arrange the swim. But then i later realised i just had a perm so i had to postpone the swim. Had to wait 2 long days... Such sacrifices. LOL.
By the sea side in Ancol...
But first, i MUST eat bakmi ayam...
Then off we go to ANCOL SEAWORLD!
well hullooooo!...
Before joining them in their pool, best to bribe them a li'l first with fish!
In the wild, these dolphins feeds on squid, shrimp, eels, and a wide variety of fishes. In some waters, bottlenose dolphins habitually follow shrimp boats to consume what the shrimpers discard or miss. They often hunt as a team, herding small fishes ahead of them and picking off the stragglers. They generally consume approximately 6-7kg of seafood DAILY.
Whoa...that’s A LOT of seafood. YUMMY!!
This dolphin is so clever. After i bribed him, he swam closer towards me so i could stroke him. Incentive for me to feed him more!
(On first touch...wet, slippery and hard! Just like i remembered...) The "BOTTLE NOSED" is distinguished by the short, well-defined snout or beak that apparently resembles the top of an old-fashioned gin bottle (hence the name).
ok, time to get in and play!!
I was initially nervous but they were so friendly and playful that soon after we got along just fine!!
The beloved bottlenose dolphin is a distinctly social species that often travels in groups of up to 12, though occasionally can go up to several hundred. Most populations do not migrate, but travel fairly widely to find food or locate warmer waters. They swim at speeds of approximately 19 km/h.
They display a wide variety of vocalizations and is hypothesized to have a complex language. Researchers hope to eventually use this language to communicate meaningfully with dolphins. : )
Each dolphin appears to have its own distinctive whistle used to communicate information on its identity, location, and condition to other dolphins. Sort of like our facebook profile with status updates! Dolphins also use click-like pulses produced by nasal sacs in the forehead for echolocation...like a built-in GPS-how cool!
Males fight viciously over females during the breeding season (sort of like men fighting over me..muahaha...but I shan’t dwell on that.) Generally a hierarchy is established among males based on size.
The beginning of the brief pair bond takes place when the male shows a preference for a particular female and remains with her for prolonged periods of time.
The male often postures in front of the female with his back arched. “Precopulaory behavior” (aka foreplay) includes “mouthing” (I guess this can pass off as kissing), jaw clapping (not sure how this is sexy…but I ain’t no dolphin…) and yelping (this one maybe…heheh).
He also strokes, rubs, and nuzzles her. Even male dolphins know how to do foreplay! Some men need to learn from them. Hahahah.
Courtship can sometimes be rather violent, with male and female bumping heads forcefully. OMG. I can understand why sometime violent sex can be kinky but not THIS VIOLENT!!! Intromission is rapid…about10 seconds…which is super fast la. (Poor female dolphin, kena head bumped still no chance to enjoy). But may be repeated…(so not so char-toh la)
Corpulation (also known as jiggy jiggy or pong pong or SEXXXYYYY time in my books…) takes place underwater belly to belly when the female rolls over on her side, presenting her ventral surface (belly) to the male.
The normal age gap between calves (dolphin babies) is 2-3 years, but another offspring may be produced a year later if the first calf dies at birth.
Gestation (or “pregnancy” in lay men’s term) is 12 months. Newborn calves are 98-126cm long and weigh 9-11 kg. Lactation aka breast-feeding lasts from 12-18 months. (OMG I never knew dolphins have breasts!!!) But young begin to eat solid food when less than 6 months old. Mother and calf often stay close until the young is 4 or 5 years old. The mother-calf bond is so strong that females have often been observed holding stillborn or otherwise dead babies at the surface…
Females become sexually mature at 5-12 years of age, while males are mature at 9-13 years.
(no he is NOT doing what you think he is doing!!)
The bottlenose dolphin is the largest of the beaked dolphins weighing in at150-200kg.
Head and body length is 1¾ - 4 meters with males being much larger than females. Pectoral fin (their cute “arms”) length is 30-50cm, and dorsal fin height is approximately 23cm. Width of the tail flukes is about 60 cm.
Bottlenosed dolphins have been used since 1949 in shows like Seaworld because they are easily trained to perform acrobatics, locate hidden objects and play with balls.
My friend Rita told me that Seaworld in Hong Kong trains the dolphins for marriage proposals. Imagine that you’re watching a dolphin show with your boyfriend when the dolphin swims up to you, opens his mouth and surprises you with a dee-ar-mond ring!
Just make sure you find a really intelligent dolphin la… If not there goes your XXX amount of money spent on the ring!
They are also used widely in research work involving cetacean physiology, psychology and sociology. Dolphins have been hunted by people in many parts of the world for meat (ew...) and products (such as fertilizer, body oil for cooking and illumination, and jaw oil used as a lubricant in fine machinery) made from dolphin parts. (I think this is really cruel. Lucky I only eat Shark’s fin. Muahaha…)
Fisherman sometimes shoot bottlenose dolphins because they believe the dolphins are competing with them for fish and other desirable catch. (And I think this is really stoopid. Can’t catch enough fish, so shoot dolphins? That’s like blaming your Dad for giving you hairy arms. Yea, I can be stoopid too. But quite rare la.)
At one point 1 of the dolphins started head butting me because i wanted to ride on her but she wasn't in the mood. Her trainer blew his whistle and scolded her sternly. Apparently she was pregnant and had pretty bad mood swings!
(so decided to chill out for a bit instead!)
(Here with Dian and Mr. Dolphin Trainer...A really nice guy!)
(she's such a pro with them!)
After saying goodbye to the 3 lovely sea mammals, for some strange reason, i just HAD to have seafood for dinner!
Can't wait to swim with them again...Thanks Ny, Dian & Mr. Dolphin Trainer, you're all awesome!!!
the verandah opens out to a view of the sea :)
GET SET??!
GO!!!
then magically my top disappears... LOL
