Tag Archives: photos

Sultan Abu Baker Mosque

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The Sultan Abu Baker Mosque was constructed upon a hill overlooking the Johor Straits between 1892 and 1900 and is the state mosque for Johor. The mosque can accommodate 3,000 worshippers.

photo of Sultan Abu Baker Mosque

Sultan Abu Baker Mosque. All photos are by John Hunter.

I recommended taking a short trip to visit and walking around the grounds. You can walk to old town from without much trouble (I would guess it is less than 2 km from old town), obviously you can drive or take a taxi if you prefer.

building in the Sultan Abu Baker Mosque complex

This square building and two large rectangular buildings of the same style sit on the non-Straits side of the Mosque.

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Wonderful Hiking in Bako National Park

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Bako National Park offers a network of trails through jungles, scrub environments and to beautiful beaches. The post includes spur trails which I took as part of a loop off the Lintang Trail. I slept in Kuching, hiked during the day in Bako National Park and returned to my hotel at night.

On the Pandan Kencil Path

photo of view from plateau on Bako National Park Pandan Kencil path

Great views from a plateau. And the plateau also had large numbers of pitcher plants.

photo of pitcher plants

Then there is a short spur off the Pandan Kencil path to this wonderful beach overlook (Besar):

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Lintang Trail, Bako National Park, Sarawak, Borneo

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Forest trail, Lintang trail

The Lintang Trail, Bako National Park, Sarawak, Borneo is 5.25 km but it offers several additional spur trails. I will post on the spur trails in a future post.

Steep climb on trail, Lintang trail

The trail has quite a bit of step climbs. Along with the spur trails I was quite exhausted when I completed the hike (which is not normal for me). It was fairly hot, combining that with probably a bit over 10 km (which is not normally any problem) and the step climbs got a bit tiring.

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Big Lizards in Johor Bahru CBD

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Large lizard (over 1 meter)

Large, thin, lizard (over 1 meter)

Two days ago I saw this big lizard and managed to get a photo. It is at least a meter long from head to tail (probably longer, the tail is really long). Still it isn’t huge since it is very narrow (more like a snake with legs than anything else).

A few months ago I saw a really big lizard 1 block from the CIQ. It was easily 2 meters long (head to end of the tail) and quite large (stout). I was standing for awhile looking at this cool patch of wild greenery. All of a sudden I heard a noise and looked down; this large lizard probably got tired of me standing so and moved quickly into the brush. I hadn’t seen it. I would guess it was sunning itself, before I wandered over. Too bad I didn’t have my camera ready.

close up of the large, thin, lizard

Close up of the large, thin, lizard (shown above)

A few weeks ago I saw one in between the size of those 2 (more like the stout one) that leaped into the undergrowth before I got a good look.

And today I saw another one (like the one in the photo) in a park near KSL Mall. It was maybe 700 cm or so. That is it for my large lizard spotting in Johor Bahru. I do see these little guys in my condo occasionally.

I do wonder what the largest ones eat. People keep chickens and feed neighborhood cats (as far as I can tell they are stray cats). I would think those lizards could get young chickens and cats maybe. I also wonder if the cats get any of the young chicks. I would imagine people wouldn’t like that too much. I guess the adult chickens are pretty good at keeping the cats at bay. They mill around right next to each other and I haven’t seen any cat stalking them. I see the cats stalking each other a fair amount (the young ones).

I haven’t seen lizard or snake on the menu anywhere here. I’m sure it probably is I just haven’t noticed it (in a bunch of places they don’t have menus in English. I have seen frog and deer and wild boar (and of course squid is common and I really like it). When I have had alligator or snake I have liked it. Nice lean meat.

If you know what type of lizards are in the photos (and what the larger one might be) please mention it, in a comment.

Photos from Penang

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I took this photo while walking from Batu Feringgi to Tanjung Bungah on Penang. There were some nice views, like this one, but it probably isnโ€™t very smart to walk that path as considerable distances have no sidewalk at all and you have to walk within a foot of where cars and trucks zoom by. And even when there is a sidewalk you have to be watchful for huge holes, feet across and several feet deep, you could easily fall through.

The lack of consideration given to pedestrians in the design and operation of Penang is a big reason I don’t think I will live there. The buses were very convenient, and cheap, for the Georgetown to Batu Feringgi corridor, that part of the urban planning has been done very well.

See more photos from Penang.
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Floating Houses in the Straight Between Johor Bahru and Singapore

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I updated the theme for this blog and replaced the header image with one of floating houses in the straight between Johor Bahru and Singapore. Here is another photo from my visit in which you can see Singapore on the left and downtown Johor Bahru on the right of the background. It is hard to see in the image, but if you look closely you can also see the causeway connecting the two cities. The photo is taken at the shore a few blocks from the Straights View Condos.

Photo of straight between Johor Bahru and Singapore (with floating houses)

View of the straight between Johor Bahru and Singapore by John Hunter.

Related: Online Resources for Living in Johor Bahru – photos of Johor, Malaysia in the 1970s

Early Photo of Me on the East Coast of Malaysia

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I head over to Kuala Lumpor in just over a week. Here is a photo of me on what may have been my first trip to Malaysia. I appear to be looking to jump over the railing.

John (on the left) eyeing a big jump

Perhaps my first trip to Malaysia (I am on the left)

This photo is actually a photo of a slide projected on the screen, which was my brother’s suggestion for a quick way to digitize some slides. It works amazingly well (for posting images to the web) and is very quick and easy.