Sea Turtles watching (lay eggs) during night time at the beach of Terengganu

We being bought to the first stop (N4.19112 E103.44248), then got to know that the sea turtles had made a U-Turn back to sea...initially, I thought...'what a disappointment!'...but the 'tour guide' received a phone call and ask all of us go to the second spot (N4.20295 E103.43993) which was about 1.5km away (both were at the same Mak Nik Beach) from the original place.

At the second spot, the 'tour guide' explained about the sea turtles and showed us the turtles hatching area while waiting for the Sea Turtles to comfortly dig the hole...

The sea turtles hatching area at the second spot

Everyone has a experience to touch and hold the baby turtles which just born 2-3 hours ago...

Feel the baby turtle...

The 'tour guide' told us that every egg need to hatch for at least 45 days, and out of One Thousand baby turtles which return back to the sea...ONLY One will survive! Oh! That's One out of A Thousand! And if the surviver is female, it'll be back to this same beach after 25 years...but if it's male, it won't be back for its whole life....

The sea turtles took a long time to dig a big hole for herself and another small hole for the eggs...we were waiting at total dark beach...once the signal given, all of us separate to few groups and take turns to watch the sea turtle laying eggs...

The huge sea turtle was laying eggs...

Everyone was busy taking photos and NO FLASH is allow! Only lights...

But my luck wasn't that good because when I stand closed to the turtle, its started to covered up the small hole...that means its finished laying eggs for the night! OH! I miss the golden chance to snap the laying eggs photos! My goodness!

The turtle covered up the small hole at her back...

Even the turtle finished laying the eggs, everyone still continue to take photos non-stop...

The Sea Turtle at Mak Nik Beach, Chukai - Terengganu

The turtle was huge! It's about 1.5 meter long and 1 meter wide...
As you can notice the 'tears' in its eyes after she finished laying eggs, some said because its upset that going to leave all its baby on the beach....But, Actually...the 'tour guide' said it's because of the 'sea water' and another reason is trying to protect the eyes from sands...That's the true reason! Everyone was laughing after the explaination....Haha!

Can you see the turtle is crying?!

The turtle will going to take some times to cover back the big hole before it get back to the sea...at that time, our tour guide ask all of us line up in one line on the beach where not far away from the mother turtle...

Everyone was given with one or two baby turtles in hand. He said "name your turtles!" And wish the baby turtle 'Good Luck!'  Because in the next moment, we'll be letting all these baby turtles back to the sea! Exciting isn't it? :)

One of the baby turtle...

Everyone line up in one strait line...

All the baby turtles can't see anything on that moment, because they just born 2-3 hours ago, but they will 'follow the light'. Therfore, one of the assistant of the tour guide was light up a Spot Light from the sea direction....
1, 2, 3! Everyone started to let go the baby turtles!

All the baby turtles ran Very Fast towards the light, yeah...to the sea! ...back home...
We got to be Very careful to see front and back by avoiding to step on them! Because its everywhere on the beach! Haha!

Some of them were lost their way, our responsibility to direct them to the sea...

One of the lost baby turtle...(wrong direction...)

When I saw partial of them got into the water....the moment was so Touch! Awesome!
You have to feel it yourself on the spot...hehe!

Partial baby turtles found in the water...

Then we started to prayed for them...to be strong and survive! Most of the little turtles will become the food of the bigger fish and birds during day time...that's why Only one will survive from the thousand...

The little one no need food for the first week, then they will start to eat the sea weeds and jelly fish. The tour guide said, he saw some dead sea turtles on the beach sometimes ago, because the sea turtles ate some plastic bags and they thought that was jelly fish!

So we have to keep our ocean clean and don't let the sea turtles die again from the rubbish!

Once all the little turtles swim into the sea...we heard someone shouted : "The mother is going back to the sea!" At that time, the mother turtle finished cover up the hole and crawl heavyly toward the sea...

All of us greeted the turtle and said "Bye-Bye and see you again"...

The next program will be the time to dig out all the eggs and bring them to the hatching center...

Everyone has a chance to feel the eggs...

Total of 91 eggs as counted...

It was A Great educational trip! I advise you have to go for it at least Once! We like it very much!

If you drive yourself to the beach, there will be no charges at all! But the disadvantages are no tour guide to explain and no chance to feel the little baby...

I will watch the sea turtles again in our next visit to Cherating!

Once we got back the Resort, me, Mr Anthony, Mr Praba and Mr Siva (The Resort Manager) end our day in a few mugs of Tiger Draught in the pub...

Related post :
*  Media FAM Trip 2012 at Cherating, Pahang.

Location map of the Turtle laying eggs at Mak Nik Beach, Chukai - Terengganu.

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Dinner by the poolside of Legend Resort, Cherating.

After the short speech of Pahang Tourism Minister - Mr Amran Abdul Rahman, we proceeded to the poolside for our first dinner at Legend Resort Cherating.

I took some photos before the area getting dark, where the staffs did their preparation...

Alfresco dinner by the pool...

Dinner by the pool...

 

The area was really a nice place for dinner!

All of us were there about 8pm, and it was a right time because everyone was Hungry! :)

Let me show you what we had that evening...

The common foods on the buffet dinner...fried rice, curry and etc...

Fruits and salads...

Western foods like lamb racks, steaks and seafoods...(this was Special!)

I like this area very much! Because it had all my favorite! They had prawns, squids, lobsters and fresh oysters!

Fried Lobsters...

Fresh Oysters (my favorite corner)

Everyone was enjoying the dinner very much! My wife and daughter were had some simple foods with seafood, I had the steak, lamb rack, squids, half lobsters and 2 fresh oysters for the first round...:)

My first round of the buffet dinner...

The weather was good on that evening, that was our only worry...haha!

Dinner with all the guests, media and bloggers.

Most of the fodos taste were above average! Great! That made me took the second round of the foods...and it was Only Oysters! :)

The satisfied smile from everyone showed that all of us were enjoyed the buffet dinner served by Legend Resort Cherating...there was a unplug band companied us during the dinner, I enjoyed the oldies very much...especially with the Delicious foods!

I had a good chat with the organizer - Mr Anthony Clement after the dinner...and suddenly I heard : "The Turtles had landed!" Oh! That was our next itinerary - Turtle watching!

So we group ourselves immediately at the Lobby and prepare for the Turtle Watching trip!

Related post :
*  Media FAM Trip 2012 at Cherating, Pahang.

Smart phone apps for Jewish sites in Warsaw and Berlin

 This post also appears on my En Route blog for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal

 By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I’ve been on the road for the past 10 days, and I have a backlog of material to catch up on with postings…. both items I have seen online and on-site visits I’ve made myself.

One new development is the release of smart phone apps that guide you around several Jewish sites in Berlin and Warsaw. Smart phone and tablet apps are clearly the self-tour guides of the future that are becoming the present….

The new ones I’ve noticed recently include an app that guides you around the Warsaw of Holocaust hero Janusz Korczak. Called “My Warsaw,” it is a project of the forthcoming Museum of the History of Polish Jews—it’s available for free on the iTunes store, but I’m not sure about other platforms. This is what Virtual Shtetl says:

The application spans two tourist routes. The first one guides you through places related to Janusz Korczak’s early and late childhood while the other shows Korczak’s life story during World War II. Both routes comprise almost fifty described places. The “My Warsaw-Warszawa jest moja” project shows now nonexistent Warsaw through pictures, audio recordings, a quiz, quotations and the augmented reality system. It sets an example of a novel approach of learning by having fun by means of state-of-the-art technologies.

You can download this bilingual Polish-English application on GooglePlay and AppStore for free.
The application is designed to be a modern tool for learning and teaching history. The only thing you have to do is take your Smartphone with you and take a walk with your family around Warsaw or organize a memorable outdoor history lesson. Tourists may use it as a city guide while Warsaw residents may discover their home town anew.

Another new app guides users around three historic Jewish cemeteries in Berlin .

Berlin has several Jewish cemeteries, including the huge Weissensee cemetery.

This is what Reuters says about the Berlin cemetery app—but I’m not sure where to get the app, or what platforms it serves. I did not find it on iTunes:

The smartphone programme leads visitors to the graves of Jewish figures such as philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, hotelier Berthold Kempinski, publishers Rudolf Mosse and Samuel Fischermen and also of those who committed suicide to escape deportation to Nazi death camps.

“There is an Internet code at the entrance of each cemetery which can be scanned by a smartphone and directly connects to the cemeteries’ website,” the cemeteries’ inspector Hilel Goldmann said.

The Internet programme is steered by a GPS navigation device and enables the visitors to plan their own ‘tour’ choosing among about 160 of the 150,000 graves in the three Berlin cemeteries, Goldmann said.

Superior and Junior Suite rooms at The Legend Resort Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang.

Sharing some photos of Superior room and Junior Suite room at The Legend Resort Cherating.

We were invited to these 2 type of room for photography on the last day before we say bye-bye to Cherating. I just wanted to share the photos before I continue with my blog post of Cherating's vacation.

Junior Suite Room

Once we enter the room, the small little living hall is in front of us, the small pantry is just next to it.

The living hall of the Junior Suite room

The pantry is behind the sofa...

The pantry

The Private balcony is connected from the living hall to the bedroom...

Photos of the bedroom and the bathroom...

Spacious Bedroom of Junior Suite

The bathroom...

The bathtub is behind the entrance to the bathroom...

That's all about it, let's move on to the Superior room...

Two single beds and 2 sitter sofa in the Superior room

The balcony is facing the Resort swimming pool...

The room is pool view...

The bathroom...

The shower...

If you like to know more about the promotion package, please visit my previous post HERE.

Related post :
*  Media FAM Trip 2012 at Cherating, Pahang.

Location map of The Legend Resort Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang.

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Tea break at Penthouse (President Suite) of Legend Resort Cherating

We were invited to the Penthouse (President Suite) of Legend Resort for the welcome drink and having some light snacks before the dinner on 7.30pm.

Once I stepped into the Penthouse, there is a Alfresco area with the snacks to serve all the coming guests...

The Alfresco area of the Penthouse

Let me show you some photos of the Penthouse...
I started to take photos from the right...where the small living room of Penthouse located.

.

The living room of the Penthouse

Follow by the Master bedroom...

The master bedroom of the Penthouse

King size bed...

And with the private sea view balcony...

There's also a nice sofa in the room...

The little cozy corner in the master bedroom

Then I went into the bathroom...

There's the shower area behind the mirrors...

The Spacious bathroom

The toilet bowl is located on the right of the bathroom...

The toilet area...

A Jacuzzi pool in the bathroom where you can enjoy the pool with a scenic view of South China Sea...

Jacuzzi pool in the bathroom

The master bedroom is definitely comfortable!
Now, let's move on to the second room (guest room)...

There are two single beds in the guest room, and a bathtub in the bathroom. Comfort enough for 2 persons...

The two single beds in the guest room

Bathtub in the bathroom

That's about it. The whole Penthouse is spacious. I like the balcony area...not the private balcony in the master bedroom but it's located btween the two room...
According to Mr Anthony (The event organizer), the Penthouse cost RM2000.00 per night.

The public balcony between the two rooms

All the Media persons, Magazine editors and bloggers were serve with the light foods before the dinner...chocolate cake, sandwiches and local snack - Keropok Lekor.

Chocolate cakes

Sandwiches

The local famous snacks - Keropok Lekor

This was also a Ice-breaking session for all of us, where we got to know each others and chat about Cherating. After about an hour, we were invited to the room beside the swimming pool for the Pahang's Tourism Minister Speech...

Related post :
*  Media FAM Trip 2012 at Cherating, Pahang.

Location map of The Legend Reosrt Cherating, Kuantan - Pahang.

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