Mamutik!

The Sutera Harbour Marina was awesome. Andrew and I got to know about the place through my uncle. He recommended us to take the boat from there for island hopping. You pay more but the service was excellent. I'll explain about this later in the post. We saw beautiful corals lining the marina. We saw sea urchins, fishes and a duck at the marina. Really an ecosystem there. Heheh.

We get to choose which island we want to go to first. We took the suggestion to go to Mamutik first and then Manukan. After paying, we were given two bottles of water. Thumbs up for me. The boat definitely looks better than the one in Langkawi. The life jackets looked clean too and the straps were in good condition.

Once we reached Mamutik, a SeaQuest employee greeted us by name and gave us a brief tour of the island by pointing out where the toilets are, the snorkeling areas and swimming areas. He also asked what time we want to leave. He would jot down what you told him and then you can go on your way.

It was my first time snorkeling and I got to snorkel in Mamutik. It is a beautiful beach. The toilets and outdoor shower was better than the ones in Manukan for me. Cleaner too if I were to compare both places.

The corals here may look dead to you but if you swim further you'll see better-looking corals. You can even see fishes feeding or playing around the corals. I saw fishes of many shapes, colours and sizes. There were mini ones as well.

HOWEVER, there was this one pink fish that kept biting everyone in the water. It will not bite you if you swim. So swim you must! XD I think the fish was hungry so someone got to feed that fella!

There were lots of foreigners. Japanese, Hong Kong-ers/ Hongkies, Koreans etc If I am not mistaken, there were groups of people camping for scuba diving trips. Interesting stuff!

Those who want to swim without the pink fish biting can swim on the other side of the beach, but that side of the beach the water is deeper so watch your kids and do not swim too far out, although there is a barrier there.

Remember the SeaQuest employee? Once we decided to move to the next island, we just went to the jetty and waited for a few minutes, unlike the hoard of people who took boats from another company. I think SeaQuest was the only company with people stationed at every jetty, so you won't be stranded. Those still waiting for their boats asked the employee when their boats are coming but he could not help them because it was a different company. Andrew and I just walked in and out whenever we wanted to in a way. Pretty convenient!

Manukan... I did not exactly like the island much after coming from Mamutik. When we walked on the jetty, we saw a Jack n Jill wrapper floating on the water. There were more people waiting at this jetty and those who took the same boat as us just walked in and out again.

We walked around the island first. I did not like the sand here. The toilets were smelly and the outdoor shower had moss on the shower head! O_O I think that's why the water has a smell...

View from the restaurant we ate in

Food was expensive here. Cheapest was Malay food (which was still not cheap and did not look appetizing for me) and the most expensive was the buffet (which was not impressive either). We settled for something in the middle. We had fried banana, yam and sweet potatoes with honey and Spaghetti Marinara.

Fried bananas, yam and sweet potatoes with honey

Spaghetti Marinara, I think. I forgot the name.

I love the fried bananas. The spaghetti was so so. After eating, we went to the beach. There were lots of broken corals, shells etc along the shore and in the water so watch where you step when you want to enter the water.

Once in the water, it was better because it was all sand BUT if you walk further it then suddenly goes VERY DEEP. Usually it gradually goes deeper the further you go but this was just like DOOP, it's up to your neck. It was up to Andrew's neck. If that was the case, it'll be over my head. Anyway I just avoided that area. I try to swim near the shore.

Here, I saw no corals and did not see any fishes. I saw one or two. Then suddenly there were a lot of fishes. It was because this Malay guy with his son on his back were feeding the fishes with Jack n Jill chips. That was the only way to attract the fishes and the fishes ate the chips!

The waves here were super huge and it was scary, even without boats passing by. Maybe it was because it was raining in the mainland. We could see the grey clouds at the mainland.

Spot the jellyfish?

When we got back to the marina, we managed to spot one or two jellyfishes. We were in awe with the marina and the sea life there. Hahahaha. Sounds so jakun but it was nice. You got to see it for yourself. The duck was still there when we came back.

Duck

I love how they arrange these circular couches to face the sea.

We managed to catch the sunset as well before going home to my aunt's place.

This is how the marina looks like, part of it.

Firsts

A short and sweet update about what is going on in my life. Sims Freeplay and ClayJam are fun. I play them using Android but you can also find them in Apple Store. Young children will like ClayJam, even the adults. ClayJam made em think of the cartoon I used to watch on television called Tiny Planets.

Tiny Planets

I watched Machete. The movie, Machete, was my first experience of watching a B-movie I would say. My first time watching a B-movie action exploitation film. You can read up on films like these by utilizing Google :P

Go Padre!

The reason I watched Machete was really just to watch Michelle Rodriguez. I thought Jessica Alba was pretty good here (for the first time, again.) The movie was funny for me. I guess I'll be looking forward for Machete 2. I might even check out Grindhouse...

It's also the first time my house is out of eggs. I wanted to boil an egg to eat but there were no eggs to be seen. No wonder my sister ate her noodles without eggs like she usually do for brunch. My mum used to make half-boiled eggs for my sisters and I and put them in egg cups for us to eat. Nyammmmm

Hey, where did my egg cups go?!

And that's all the firsts I experienced for today.

Farm in the City, Seri Kembangan

The opportunity to go there arose when Andrew's dad's customer gave his dad tickets to this farm. It's owned by the customer.

Yeah, the question in my mind may be the same question you got in your head right now. I was told it's around Equine Park. I asked Andrew, "Equine Park got zoo there? Out of nowhere got zoo there?"

XD He also doesn't know so we only knew where exactly it is on that day itself. His two younger brothers and his elder sister and her family went to.

Luckily, it was a sunny day and it did not rain. We were surprised in a good way because the place was actually big.

When we first entered, we were greeted by giant tortoises. Andrew asked whether it was real -_-" LOL
The tortoise was chewing the vegetable stalks. Chomp chomp chomp chomp

The front view of the tortoise. All of us said the tortoise is bigger than Andrew's nephew (about a year old plus. wahaha.)

In the middle of the farm, there is a large pond for the birds such as swans, ducks, mallards, seagulls etc

After we passed the tortoises and turtles, we get to enter an aviary and have birds flying above our heads. Luckily no birds pooped. Here we can feed the birds with bird food that the friendly zookeeper will provide. I shall call the workers the zookeeper to make blogging easier :)

Once you got the bird food in your palm, hold your palms up and still. Wait for the birds to come to you. Do not need to be afraid of the birds. Andrew and his brother held out their hands.

At first no birds came. Andrew wanted to attract the pair of love birds on a tree branch but it did not work.



Anyway, another bird landed on one of their open palms first and another one followed suit.



Peck peck peck



The other bird also pecked pecked pecked



Just keep pecking, just keep pecking..



Bird food is everywhere!

After the bird finished pecking food from Andrew's hand, it just stood there and waited. Andrew placed his hand near his brother's hand and the bird 'stole' some food from the other bird.

They might be love birds. Different colour but same species.



Wonder if birds burp. They look happy and content.

The zookeeper was really excited about his work. There was good leadership. He managed to get all of us in the aviary to pay attention to him and that was how we got to see the male peacock show off his feather tail. If we didn't pay attention, the peacock wouldn't open his magnificent tail.

The zookeeper also got me to hold out a slice of papaya for the green bird with mohawk hair. I don't know the bird's name XD Anyway, when I held out my hand with the papaya the birds came and pecked at the fruit. It was not scary and do not be afraid of its claws and beaks.

The wings of the green birds with mohawk hair are red underneath!

Watch the bird eat the papaya in the gif below.

Next, we got to see snakes such as the giant python. Some snakes were sleeping with half of its body in the water (not the pond no worries!) or coiled around tree trunks. They have their own small pond in their respective cages. 

Right after the snakes, we went into this area where we could pet, touch and feed goats and deers. Here, we were greeted by another friendly zookeeper. He answers our questions nicely. I believe there are quite keen to share what they know about the animals. :) 

The deer kept licking my leg and licked my bag when the zookeeper wanted to help us take a group photo. The zookeeper thought I was afraid of the animals but I said I could not stand still because it felt basah and wet. Hahahahaaha! I found it funny. Anyway, maybe the deer's saliva has moisturizing properties. He explained that the deer keeps licking because of our sweat. The goat we were feeding earlier got jealous I suppose and came in between us and the deer. The zookeeper shooed the goat away for the picture. XD

He took us to see another deer. That deer has its legs inside the small pond. We joked that the deer was having a foot spa. He explained that it was to help the animal keep cool. Then, he offered to help us take another group photo. The deer who licked me came into the picture and stood in the water as well.

I forgot to mention that the deers shake when we pet them. At first I thought they were afraid. The zookeeper again explained that it is to get rid of insects such as flies. Think of a horse wagging its tail to get rid of flies. Similar function.

He said to come back around January to see baby wallabies. We saw a wallaby but the baby is still small.

We saw many animals there. I even saw a hatchery for lizards such as iguanas. Oh yeah, there were iguanas too. I think iguanas have that old, wise man look. There were mouse deers, dik dik and also a butterfly garden.

The animal below is not a toucan but it poses at the toucan signboard! :D
Poser betul. Supermodel!

Andrew's nephew loves the area where he got to feed guinea pigs and rabbits. He took hold of a stalk of vegetable and rushed into a throng of them after feeding a small group. The more around him the better. Very cute laa. He's born in the year of the Rabbit. Figures XD He even massaged a rabbit with the vegetable stalk o.O

Some of the rabbits there.

Around the rabbits and guinea pigs area, it's a small stream (I call it a stream but it isn't, just a wall of water. I'm no sure how to explain) where you can fish the small fishes. Small nets and buckets of water were provided for anyone to use.

A parrot feeding itself.

We even got to feed the birds such as swans, ducks, mallards etc There are so many types of them here. We discovered that when we ring the bell, the ducks (any kind and swans) will come. If we ring the bell again, they will go away.

There were a few black swans and white swans. I find that the black swans are rougher than the white ones. The black swans will peck at other birds to fight for food.

While we feed the birds, we get to feed the fishes in the pond as well. Now here comes the part where Andrew's nephew put fish food into his mouth. O_O Andrew's sister (the nephew's mum) quickly tok it out from his mouth. When asked whether it tasted nice, Andrew's nephew shook his head. LOL. The little adventurer @@ Kids are like that. 

We could see skunks and prairie dogs too.

The same prairie dog summoning the power of the Earth. 

There were small ponies for children to ride on too. Andrew's niece went for that. While waiting for her, we went to sit in the cafeteria. The cafeteria was cool and clean. It was air-conditioned too and comfortable seats. Inside the cafeteria, the walls are decorated with frames of butterflies and beetles.

Overall, I think it is a good place to go for families, school children and for school trips. I find that it was cleaner than the zoo and no smell. Then again, this place is considered new. 

There are sinks provided around and in the farm itself with soap provided.