Jungle Trekking with Young Children

It all started when we are planning to send our maid away. My husband and I love to go jungle trekking but without maid to take care of our two boys, we finally decided to bring them along. My youngest son, nicknamed Didi was not even 3 years old when he joined us on such adventurous sport. His older brother, the “Koh Koh”, was just celebrating his 4-years old birthday when we took them for their first hiking at Wawasan 5, Puchong.


It has been a scary and tired experience for all of us. We either hold them too hard that hurts them or we hold them the improper way that make it difficult for us to hike. It took about 6-months for Koh Koh to adapt to it and for us to learn our mistake. Didi, being too young that time, took a bit longer to adapt himself. They cried and grumble all the way and we learned to give a lot of encouragement to them. We also reward them with sweet and breakfast of their choice if they able to complete the trail as planned.

One important thing to remember is that it is best to let them walked on their own, let them hold your hand and don’t grab them so hard that it stress out both of you. Also very importantly, never ever carry them when they refused to walk. Give your child a lot of encouragement and motivation to proceed further. Let them see that life has to go on even though how tough is it. Obstacle is a good lesson to improve oneself rather than a problem.

This year marks the second year we have been going hiking together as a family event at least once a month and now I really cried a lot of happy tears that my two sons has successfully conquer the jungle. They can climb up a step half of their tall without assistance and they are capable of jumping down from a high place without fear. They know which part of the ground can be stepped and which one to avoid. Koh Koh can hike faster than me already. Nowadays we go hiking even it is raining and the trail is slippery. Sometimes they will fall down and sometimes they will have their shoes struck in the mud but they will just carry on walking without fear. Oh dear, I’m so proud of them and every day I thanks god for giving me such good family life.

Teluk Bahang Forest Eco Park

This Eco Park is a nice place to visit in Penang.

If you want to go inside the forest, you need to register yourself at the ranger office and then sign out after you completed the trail. There are 4 trails to choose from. We brought children along, so we choose the easy trail called Monkey-cup Trails.

We are the second group who register for forest trail today. There are not many visitors today, maybe it is a weekday and not a public holiday. Or maybe many people prefer to go to the beach or shopping that breathing the fresh air of the forest…I’m not sure.

There are signboards along the trail but a lot of the information board along the way has been badly damaged that we unable to know what is the name of the tree/plant already.

We took 1½ hours to complete the trail.

We went to the Forestry Museum also. The museum is not so big but good enough to display useful information about the forest.

Overall I would say it is worth spending time there if you are the kind of person like me who like natural environment a lot.



Grace Farm, Serendah

My children and I follow a group of Church Members to visit this organic farm located in Serendah, Selangor. I’m not Christian but I do not mind to follow any group of people to go for a trip because I can take advantage of the cheaper price that I need to pay due to bigger group of peoples joining the trip.

At Grace Farm, the price that they are charging is depends on the size of the group. They also provide accommodation if you plan to stay overnight there.



We arrived there around 9.30 am and were served with simply breakfast of fried mee hon and egg omelet plus milo drink.

We get a hand-on experience on planting vegetable, tapping rubber, maintaining palm oil tree and milking the cow.

We were also giving the opportunity to have a close-up experience with the deer, gooses, turkeys, goats and rabbits. My children simply love it.

Our trip ends around 1 pm where we were served with lunch of rice and 4 or 5 dishes (sorry, forgotten how many dishes already) plus sirap drink.

They also sell the products such as spinach, green mustard, village egg, goat milk and papaya.

BTW, the goat in the photo below is called "John" and they like to call him "Kissing John" because he simply like people kissing him….ha..ha..ha…funny goat!

Kin Tick Orchard Village

The resort is located at Bentong, Pahang. It is very new, about 4 months old only.

The resort is surrounded by the river, you need 4 wheel drive to get to the resort.

You no need to worry if you do not have one as they will pick you up at the parking if you drive a sedan car



We paid RM170 for 2 queen size bed at their Stone House.


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It is a place to relax which is not far away from Kuala Lumpur. The activity that you can do there are nature walk (they build a nice trail for you to walk using used tyre), picking fruit from their orchard farm, visiting goat farm, fishing and cycling.









We went there during durian season, there are so many durian on the ground for us to pick up.

National Elephant Conservation Centre at Kuala Gandah, Pahang

Pusat Konservasi Gajah Kebangsaan di Kuala Gandah, Pahang




We went to this Elephant Santuary on 2nd January 2011. It took two hours’ drive from Selangor to the centre. About 2km before reaching the centre, the “aroma” smell of animal dropping fills the air.

Kami melawat pusat gajah ini pada 2hb Januari 2011. Perjalanan dari Selangor ke pusat ini menakan masa 2 jam. 2km sebelum sampai ke pusat ini, bau “kewangian” najis binatang dapat dirasai.

We reach the centre around 9.10 am and manage to get 2 yellow stickers. They only allow two yellow stickers per family. The yellow sticker allows its visitor to enjoys elephant ride. We are not charged with entrance fee but they will hand us the donation once we wanted to register as visitors.

Kami sampai ke pusat ini lebih kurang pukul 9.10 pagi. Kami dapat 2 sticker kuning sahaja. Mereka hanya beri 2 sticker kuning kepada satu keluarga. Sticker kuning adalah pas untuk naik gajah. Tiada bayaran masuk tapi mereka akan minta derma bila anda daftar masuk sebagai pelawat.

The activities at the centre only start around 12.30 pm. We thought of going to Bentong town only to find out that it is too far away from the centre, so we decided to U-turn half way.

Aktiviti di pusat gajah ini akan bermula pukul 12.30 tengahari. Kami ingat nak pergi ke Bandar Bentong dulu tapi ianya terlalu jauh dari pusat gajah ini, jadi kami patah balik.

We visited the Deerland located not far away from the elephant sanctuary. It opens at 11 am. They charged RM6 per adult and RM3 per children. No charge for infant. We are allowed to feed the deer, ostrich and some birds. We can take photo with the snake and sun bear too.




Kami melawat Deerland yang terletak tidak jauh dari pusat gajah ini. Deerland buka pukul 11 pagi. Bayaran ialah RM6 untuk dewasa and RM3 untuk kanak-kanak. Tiada bayaran dikenakan untuk bayi. Kami dibenarkan untuk memberi makan kepada rusa, burung unta and setengah jenis burung. Kami juga boleh mengambil gambar dengan ular and beruang matahari.












We went back to the elephant centre at 12.30 pm. We view a documentary about elephant, join in the feeding elephant activities, watched the elephant show (including bathing of elephant) and I ride the elephant with my son. It is raining season and we are not allowed to join in the bathing elephant activities because the water in the river was very high and not safe for visitors.

Kami kembali ke pusat gajah pada pukul 12.30 tengahari. Kami menonton sebuah documentari mengenai gajah, memberi makan kepada gajah, menonton persembahan gajah (termasuk staff mandikan gajah) dan saya menunggah gajah bersama anak saya.Pelawat tidak dibenarkan untuk mandi gajah kerana masa itu adalah musim hujan and air sungai adalah tinggi dan dianggarkan tidak selamat untuk pelawat.















We leave the centre around 3.30 pm, buy some Honey Jackfruit (Nangka Madu) along the way and headed to Bentong town to enjoy homemade icecream at Kow Po Restaurant before going home.

Kami meninggalkan pusat gajah pada pukul 3.30 petang. Kami membeli sedikit Nangka Madu dalam perjalanan balik dan memakan icecream di Kow Po Restoran sebelum balik rumah.

Janda Baik, Pahang

Janda Baik is a very beautiful Malay village located not far away from Genting Highland. I simply love this village because it is so near to KL town but yet a very good place to relax our mind and keep us away from the noisy and hectic lifestyle of KL town.

In 2010, I have visited a few of the resorts in the Janda Baik Village and each one of it has its own unique “story and scenery” to be offer to each of its guest.



Tanarimba






Hawa Resort
This resort is suitable for team-building activities but lack of beautiful scenery






Cherengin Hills Convention & Spa Resort
The resort is new and beautiful but too commercial for those who look for “kampong” lifestyle like myself



Centella Asiatica
They offer chalets and camping facilities. A lot of people went there for fishing.









Al-Sakinah Eco Resort
They offer river lodges, suites and villa. I simply love the environment there – relaxing and full of beautiful scenery.















Wadi Samrah

They offer villa and banglo. There are also fruit trees surrounding this area and during fruit season, guest can enjoy the fruit here for free.