Manual Roller Coaster at Datanla Falls in Dalat, Vietnam

Datanglah to Datanla.
That would make a good tagline :)

I felt so welcome here in Datanla Falls, maybe because the word Datanla sounded like datanglah which means "welcome" in Malay language.

Datanla basically means water under the leaves in Vietnamese language. According to folklore, the villagers dived under the water that was covered by leaves to hide themselves, this helped to save the village from their enemies. Of course there are a few other folklore pertaining to this place such as the fairies story as well as the two lovers story, regardless; one must visit this beautiful place.

My sis and I did some researches of what to do and where to go here in Dalat, we practically veto-ed everyone (no one suggested anything pun, hahahaa). So, we decided that Datanla Falls MUST be in the list of places to visit! Must. 

Why?

3 reason why you should visit Datanla Falls 

• The name itself is welcoming, duh...
• Nature. How one not like god's creation.
• Waterfall, rides, green, rides.... did I mention rides?

We were looking at the routes, the ride is a must. Obviously. (salah blur lak)

Brake! Check out the brake!

We took the Alpine Coaster ride and found out that it is manually operated, which means you will slide/glide downwards and to stop it, one requires to lift the brake (just like a car). How super cool is that!

The truth is, this ride kinda scare me as I can't gauge the speed nor how and when do I need to pull the brake but like Nike's tagline, we decided "Just Do It"; and we did just that.

The ever so popular travel blogger Jardness being selfish by not wanting to share her ride. Kiasu!

That is how the ride is.... scary? Neh....

Sis and I let the toboggan glide downwards reaching its full speed (and us screaming at the same time) until we saw the toboggan in front of us stop to enjoy the view. WHAT???? We creamed "MOVE! Don't stop!! MOVE!!!", we had no choice but to lift the brake FAST, while giggling. This cycle continues till the end of the ride... We had a blast!

Then we tried the "home-made cable car". YES! This is a DIY cable car, only one car. ONE. Yes, going down the canyon.

Then somewhere out of the blue there is a lift going down, we were like.... what? This is the weirdest hiking place we ever been.

This is the area to view the waterfalls upon getting down from the cable car.

Fees

• Datanla Entrance Fee : 10,000VND
• Toboggan Ride : 20,000VND per way
• Cable Car Ride : 10,000VND
• Monkey Man Costume : 20,000VND (pic taking)

For those lazy to hike up, can take the toboggan up like us.

We. Had. Fun.

The last Judge Dredge in Perak

The last Judge Dredge in Perak. #Eh
The last Judge in Perak. #Eh
The last Tin Judge Dredge in Perak. Ahhhh..... Baru betul!

Judge dredge? Heheheheeee...

When I got the invitation from Gaya Travel, I was ecstatic, one of the places of interest included in this Perak trip was a visit to a tin dredge ie kapal korek. KAPAL KOREK! It can not be any cooler than this! It's the highlight of Perak trip and I told myself that I will brag like no one's business, and boy did I brag. Loud.

I have always been curious of this made in England behemoth monster, wandering inside its belly would be like an exploration in 20,000 league under the sea. A mysterious creature this one. 

This last tin dredge named Tanjung Tualang Dredge No. 5, or TT5,  weighs 4,500 tons and is supported by a pontoon of 75 meters in length, 35 meters in width and 3 meters in depth. It was built in England in 1938 by F.W.Payne & Son which, at that time, was a major design engineering company in bucketline dredges.

Thanks to google and ipoh-city.com the above paragraph made me sound like a geek when I am not (yet).
 
Perak being the tin mining state since 1900, was where the first tin dredge being introduced by Malayan Tin Dredging Ltd. It was showcased for the first time in Batu Gajah, located approximately 30mins from the Ipoh town.

This last tin dredge that we visited was in operation for 44 years and cease its operation in 1982 when the tin industry went into a decline stage due to tin deposits, prices drop and high operating costs, thus maintaining it is not economical anymore.

This magnificent monster runs 24/7 managed by shift workers, each shift consist of 20 workers. The dredge is pretty much a self-contain floating factory. 

When I was wondering in its belly, I was very fascinated with all the old school equipments and tools. Being the curious me, I wanted to explore everything, every nook and cranny, every holes and knolls, ie everything. The minute they allow us to visit the upper deck I was among the first 3 that ran up (wearing dress doesn't help as the staircase are all hollow, #facepalm) and..... I stop there, at the first deck.

You will never realised how high/tall/big/gigantic this monster is until you are up there, way up there (for me, it's one floor up "ONLY"). Those brave media when even higher, to the envious of me. The view from up there, SUPERB!

We have been briefed that everything here is big, the biggest wrench (spanar) requires seven men to lift it up. SEVEN. Enough said.

The Perak Government has plan to preserve this tin dredge and the mining industry as one of Perak unique tourist attraction.

From Malaysian Minerals :
The “Save The Dredge” campaign is initiated by the tin industry (Research and Development) Board in collaboration with Magic Mirror Sdn Bhd and Intact Group with the support of the Ministry of Natural Resources and environment, Department of Minerals and geoscience, Malaysian chamber of Mines and the Kuala Lumpur tin Market, State economic Planning Unit Perak, Department of National Heritage and Osborne and Chappel Sdn Bhd.

I would highly recommend and encourage schools to do an educational field trip here to learn and feel of our long lost past, our pride and joy; the industry that built our Perak state.

The Last Tin Dredge
Daily : 8:30am - 6:00pm
Entrance Fee : RM6 for adults, RM3 for kids.
Address : 
Tanjung Tualang Tin Dredge Ship
Warisan Kapal Korek (Tin Dredge Heritage)
9th Km, Jalan Tanjung Tualang
31000, Batu Gajah, Perak.
Tel:  +605-3702253

A #VMY2014 #Perak Media Fam Trip in collaboration with #GayaTravel

"Haramjadda" - A Melakan/Malaccan dish

YUP! "Haramjadda" - the dish is called.

However nowadays the Chetti/Chetty calls it sayur campur or sayur lodeh (mix vege with coconut milk).

Chetti or chitty are Peranakan India, a small community of 1000 in the state of Melaka, I will share more about this interesting and unique community lifestyle and history in my next entry. But for now, I will just share with you their famous authentic dish – Haramjadda. Yes, the name shocked me too, well… us – the whole bus, one of the key highlight for us aside from the Chitti Museum itself. We were taken to the K. Nadarajan family home to learn about this famous dish.

There wasn’t any specific rule of how this unique dish should be cooked, or perhaps I should say “ikut suka hati aje lah, asal jadi” (whatever goes). I guess, back in those days when their great ancestor created this recipe, it was more of combining any vegetables and ingredients readily available, one would noticed that there wasn’t any meat in this dish as it is normally served with ikan sinting (fish) and sambal belacan (chili paste). 

One thing I noticed, unlike the standard Indian dish whereby curry powder and leaves are heavily used, haramjadda only uses dried chilli mixed with onions, garlics, ginger and several other ingredients; a very typical malay type of cooking *smile*.

 

*Picture taken with iPhone4 plus super shaky hand. Hehehhehee.....

The main ingredient.  

Fry the anchovies and followed by the chilli paste.

Add in the "harder" type vege and stir fry them. 

Followed by the "softer" type vege. 

Once cooked, pour air asam jawa (tamarind sauce) to simmer.

Add in coconut milk and stir until its cooked.

 

Contact Info :
Chitty Museum
Jalan Gajah Berang, Melaka

Tel : 019-6677226 / 06-2826526 

Visiting Hours (daily) :
9:00am - 5:00pm

 

 

 

A #VMY2014 #Melaka Media Fam Trip in collaboration with #GayaTravel.