Tag Archives: places-to-visit

KL Bird Park

Recent posts have explored the island of Langkawi, located off the western coast of Malaysia near the Thai border.

After a week on Langkawi, the next stop was Kuala Lumpur.

While seascapes dominated the Langkawi posts, this post provides a complete change of genre and features birds – the birds of KL Bird Park to be precise.

The bird park is centrally located in Kuala Lumpur and is a roughly ten minute taxi ride from the city centre’s tourist hotels. Buses and the local commuter trains also get you close to the park. The park is very well set up and I would have to say is a ‘must-do’ for visitors to Kuala Lumpur.

Set in 20+ acres of landscaped gardens, the park features large aviaries through which visitors can roam yet provide birds with a natural free flight environment. The majority of the park’s 3 000 or so birds live in these large aviaries. Many of the birds are native to Malaysia, although there are a few ring-ins like the park’s collection of flightless birds – African ostriches and Australian cassowaries and emus.

So, let’s get going…

No bird park would be complete without a few peacocks strutting about, and KL Bird Park was no exception.

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Langkawi: Best of the Rest

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A final post to finish up Photo Morsels’ exploration of Langkawi lsland. It’s been a while since the last Langkawi post or any post for that matter – I initially took a bit of a rest after a busy patch at work, but then came down with an end-of-winter dose of the flu which is taking its own good time to completely pass.

Let’s kick off with some images from the Berjaya Langkawi resort, our accommodation on Langkawi. The Berjaya Langkawi is nestled at the base of the Gunung Machinchang mountain range around 20 minutes drive from the Langkawi airport.

While normally I leave the photo gear technical talk until the end, there’s such a diversity of gear being used through this post I’ll indicate what was being used as I go. I’ve also broken this post into three pages to assist with page loading times, so keep an eye out for the jump points to the next page.

Dawn was when the humidity was low and the temperature pleasant, and the first few images are the product of an early morning walk.

Honeymooners’ seaside rooms at dawn, while the building on the end of the jetty is one of resort’s restaurants. Unfortunately we only ‘discovered’ it on the last night of our stay. Just that little bit cooler out over the water and fabulous ambiance as the sun set. Even had a four piece band roaming among the tables doing requests. My request was the Drifters’ Under the Boardwalk. Seemed appropriate for the location. Should have gone there earlier in our stay and repeatedly. [Pentax K-3 + DA 55-300mm zoom @55mm]

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Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest

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Photo Morsels goes jet skiing to bring you this post featuring Langkawi’s Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest.

Prior posts have introduced Langkawi and visited the Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest and Kilim Karst Geoforest Parks. These parks along with Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest make up the three three major geopark sites on Langkawi.

Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest is a collection of islands on the southern side of Langkawi and a popular day-tripping location by long boat. For the more adventurous, the area can also visited by guided jet ski tours which is what my family elected to do. We shared two jet skis between the four of us and set off with four other riders (also sharing two jet skis) plus our guide, a young Thai lad who, we discovered, had spent several years living in Melbourne, Australia before returning to Asia.

First up, I’ll quickly recycle a photos from the Gunung Machinchang post which shows off the general Dayang Bunting area.

This view from Gunung Machinchang’s summit overlooks the island of Dayang Bunting together with surrounding smaller islands. Dayang Bunting is the largest of the islands on the horizon slightly to the right of centre.

Departure point for the jet ski tour is Langkawi’s most popular beach, Pantai Cenang. I wasn’t ready for my near new dSLR to disappear into the Andaman Sea, so for this trip, the Pentax gear was left back at the hotel and my smaller Samsung NX 1000 camera with its 30mm F2 prime lens was pressed into service.

Ready for action, Datang Bunting jet ski Tour

On Pantai Cenang, kitted out and ready for action. No need to run the gauntlet of a naval blockage to head out to sea as the ‘U-boat’ on the horizon is a low rocky island that delivers a surprisingly realistic impression of a lurking submarine.

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Kilim Karst Geoforest

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Photo Morsels continues its exploration of Langkawi with a visit to the Kilim Karst Geoforest.

Prior posts have introduced Langkawi and noted its declaration as a UNESCO Geopark in recognition of the island’s relatively unspoilt environment and unique geological features.

Langkawi contains three major geopark areas and a number of smaller sites. The previous post visited the Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park. This post turns its attention to the Kilim Karst Geoforest at the opposite end of Langkawi Island to Machinchang.

To quickly summarise the Kilim Karst Geoforest, it is a network of mangrove waterways that takes its name from the Kilim River, one of three rivers in the area and from the geological term ‘karst’ which is used to describe landscapes formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite or gypsum. It is this karst topography that makes the area quite special. Words can’t really do the beauty of this area justice, so let’s just get on with the photos.

Our boat trip started at Tanjung Rhu where there’s quite a flotilla of long boats waiting to service the tourist trade.

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