The Awakening!

Wow! How time flies.  Must have been too busy eating the Musang Kings and Trackas this durian season whenever I was up here in Genting Tiara.  Bad news for my waistline though. 

So, seems like more and more people are waking up to the fact that Genting Tiara is a location worth buying into.  This year alone, a couple of bungalows have already been sold.  This buying trend seemed to have started in the year 2011.  Prospective buyers visiting Genting Tiara now will find much progress compared to a couple of years back.

Hmm, wonder if my postings had played any part in influencing their decisions.  Anyway, I'm happy if they did as I sincerely put my heart into writing each and every posting and truly hope that my blog will make people realise the genuine quality of life that they may be missing, especially with all the hype on the booming Klang Valley property market the past couple of years.

Let's face it and accept one obvious fact - No matter how expensive or big or exclusive or beautiful or sophisticated a property in Klang Valley is, it is still HOT and I am not referring to Hot Selling Prices here.  Money allows us to buy anything in Klang Valley, even Love ; ) but no amount of money can bring us weather so cool and fresh, yet so easily accessible and conveniently located.

Am just lucky to have bought my place earlier, though just a year earlier.  At current prices, I would have had to fork out an extra of more than RM200K.  Well, like they say - the early bird gets the worm.

As much as I hope to get more people interested in Genting Tiara, deep down inside me is a selfish thought that this place does not see high occupancy rates so that I may fully enjoy the peace, calm and harmony of nature that should rightfully be.  Anyway, just a selfish thought.      

Durian Season Greetings

It's that time of the year again.  Yup, the durian season has begun (though not at its peak yet) as several fruit stalls in Bukit Tinggi Village can be seen selling limited species of durians.  That means having to start eating the beloved durians but also needing to pay higher prices for them.  Sigh!  The merciless economics of Demand & Supply at work as always.

The great tastes of the Musang Kings, D24s and Trackas ('Bamboo Legs' if crudely translated from its Chinese name)  lingered in my mind since I sank my teeth on them in the last durian season.  Am glad I need not wait much longer to savour the various species of durians at 'more attractive' prices.

Even at the current high prices, I can already see many people eagerly patronising the current durian stalls in Bukit Tinggi Village.  Such is the pulling power of the King of Fruits.  As more and more people from other countries who many years ago would stay far away from the strong aroma of the durian e.g Hong Kong and China, are getting attracted to this fruit, we may have to be prepared to accept the fact that future prices for superior species of this fruit are only going to go up.  Being a seasonal fruit only makes it worse.

Anyway, no amount of money is going to stop durian fans in Malaysia from enjoying this most awesome of fruit.  No other fruit can even match its popularity since years gone by.  Its awesomeness is just way too awesome.  Even the potential risk of a bad sore throat and fever (usually due to overindulgence in this fruit) will deter very few from eating it.

Below is my teaser of what's to be expected in the coming months from the fruit stalls in Bukit Tinggi Village:

A 2kg durian?

Tricked ya!

Durian fit for a hamster?

And I thought durians only fall when they are ripe.  Guess this one must have been blown off by strong wind or heavy rain.  No matter because we know, come rain or shine, nothing is going to stop all of us from emptying our wallets and rushing to any durian stall at first sight.  Proper sitting etiquettes and dining etiquettes are thrown out the window at times like these.  No matter.  Just eat it and enjoy it.

A Glimpse Of Nature's Wonder Creatures

As Genting Tiara is surrounded by rainforests, it is only natural that we expect Mother Nature's creations to be our neighbours. I shall try to 'shoot' these wonderful animals whenever possible and share with everyone once in a while some of the more common creations and some quite bizarre and rare looking ones. We should not forget that 'we' are the guests of the forest, not the animals. So, let us all learn to live together in harmony, respect each other's private space and enjoy one another's company.

In this post, I shall just show a couple of bugs that I have 'shot'. Please rest assured that no animals were harmed in the making of this post.

Firstly, we have the Cicada. From this photo, it looks like a fly but when I was 'shooting' it, it is actually quite big (about 3" long and 1" wide) and was very calm in my presence. I know I should have taken a closer shot to give you guys a better look but I guess I was afraid that it would suddenly fly onto my body. My only bodily encounter with a Cicada is the toy version where we press with our fingers to emit a tic, tac, tic, tac sound, the ones often distributed in party packs.

Next, we have this beetle, from the beetle species, I think. Don't know it's actual name, so I'll just call it Mr Beetle. Mr Beetle here was discovered by my son on our porch one afternoon. As my son is a bug lover, he immediately called to me to show me a demonstration by this animal. Seeing that it seems to have a pair of nasty looking mandibles, my son put a piece of paper in between them and immediately, the mandibles went to work making a hole on the paper. This is one of the reasons why I truly appreciate being around Mother Nature. My kids will hardly be encountering, let alone interact with these wonderful creations in city living. This is where they can learn and admire the sophistication of animal bodily functions in person instead of just watching them on television. This is where we also let our children learn to respect other living beings by peaceful interaction instead of running away scared or gruesomely ending their precious yet fragile lives with powerful foot stomps.

Unfortunately, Mr Beetle here did not live to see the next day. I feel that it was all my fault. Fearful that I might accidentally run over Mr Beetle with my car, I scooped him up with a shovel and attempted to free him onto my garden 10 feet below. I was sure it would not get hurt as the grass would cushion the fall of Mr Beetle. However, due to my carelessness, Mr Beetle had dropped onto the concrete surface of my manhole cover instead of on soft grass. I was glad to see Mr Beetle still moving after that hard landing, so thought that everything was fine. But that was not to be as I discovered it's motionless body in my drain the next day.

Therefore, I stand corrected on my opening statement. One animal was indeed accidentally harmed in the making of this post. Sorry, Mr Beetle for my intended help on you became your undoing. I shall be more careful in future. May you rest in peace in Bug Heaven.

Finally, let us enjoy the love song performed by this cricket, a song which never fails to accompany me and my family during our sleepy nights - 'Music of The Night' (Not Phantom of The Opera version)

Gong Xi Fa Cai , , , And A Word Of Advice

To all who are celebrating the Chinese New Year, here's wishing all of you "a most prosperous Dragon Year filled with good luck, great health and abundance of wealth."

In order to enjoy the entire new year, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all residents of Genting Tiara to always ensure that those who ride bicycles, especially children wear the necessary safety gears ie. helmet, elbow pads and knee pads. As almost all roads in Genting Tiara are very steep and winding, descending the area on a bicycle not only requires extra caution and alertness, it also requires braking systems in good working condition and safety body gears.

Though riding on a bicycle and letting it descend on its own freely down a slope may seem a fun thing to do, the force of gravity coming into play ever increasing the speed of the bicycle and its rider can turn out to be a pretty harrowing and even fatal experience. The roads in Genting Tiara are not long and straight, so one can imagine the difficulty and danger of maneuvering a speeding machine around a sharp bend. Always, Always reduce the speed of the bike when descending to the extent that one can still maintain total control of the bike. Do remember that not all bicycles are made to withstand tough running conditions i.e the type of bike frame, wheels or braking systems may not be capable of withstanding use under extreme conditions.

Most of us use the bicycle just for leisure and recreation. We are not trained professional cyclists. So, to ensure that we can enjoy a long term riding experience not only in Genting Tiara but around the entire Genting neighbourhood like Bukit Tinggi and Janda Baik, the above precautions should be taken. Prevention is always better than cure be it in relation to diseases or accidents.

Have a great Dragon Year!