Pahang - Kuala Medang Homestay & Kuala Gandah National Elephant Conservation Centre

Date of Exploration : 18 Nov 2013

I always tell my father not to go to Pahang. The reason being that 'Pa' gets 'hang' there. LOL... Okay, super LAME joke. The other joke is that I thought I've never stepped foot in the Malaysian state of Pahang before when I actually had. And many times.

If like me, you've been to Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands, Mersing (to get to Tioman Island) or the beaches of Kuantan, you've touched Pahang grounds. I didn't know that until this trip to visit Kuala Medang Homestay and the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah. They are all in Pahang... which goes to show that the state which often lets its attractions precede its name is a treasure trove of getaways up in the mountains, to the beaches, and everything in between!

A return to innocence with orang asli kiddos at an aboriginal village in Pos Pantos.

The largest state in West Malaysia, Pahang is so huge, it borders 7 of the 11 states on the peninsular and is well stocked with highland retreats, protected forest parks and beachfront resorts.

Since I've been to Genting and Cameron Highlands (abet at a very young age) and passed by Kuantan on the way to Tanjong Jara Resort, this visit to Kuala Medang Homestay and Kuala Gandah filled the gap of exploring Pahang's inland.

However, our day trip to the two attractions in Pahang was rather short and insufficient to fully experience all the activities they have to offer.

Karak Expressway - The Haunted Highway

As we made our way to Pahang from Kuala Lumpur, we took the Karak Expressway which is also frequented by tour coaches to Genting Highlands. We were well on our way speeding along the highway when our guide, Jack, turned around and told us this story...

Due to the high number of accidents and supernatural sightings, Karak Expressway (or Karak Highway) is deemed to be haunted by the locals. Popular scare legends include a yellow Volkswagen that appears out of nowhere, a boy roaming the highway searching for his mother, a Pontianak, and a demon who feeds on human flesh. This makes for one helluva hair-raising ride!

... motorists on the Karak Expressway have seen a yellow Volkswagen that appears out of nowhere and overtake their vehicles. Moments later, the same yellow Volkswagen will appear and overtake their vehicles again! *Spooky*

And if a garang motorist tries to overtake the yellow Volkswagen, he will notice that the yellow car has no driver!

The yellow Volkswagen account is just one of the many horror urban legends that the highway is notorious for. Another story traced the encounter of a tired driver who stopped by the roadside for a nap because he was tired only to be woken up by a boy tapping on his car's window. Curious that such a young boy is alone on a highway at night, he rolled down the window. The boy asked, "Have you seen my mother?" The driver replied that he has not seen anyone along the highway at such a late hour. But the boy persisted with his question.

Sensing that something wasn't quite right, the driver rolled up his window and sped off. He then took a glance at his rearview mirror and saw that the boy was running after his car! Panic-stricken, he looked back at his steering wheel and stepped on the accelerator.

As his car sped to over 100km/h, he heaved a sigh of relief.

Then he heard tapping on his window... the boy was running right next to him.

Apparently, there was an accident on Karak Highway where a young boy and his mother were killed on the spot. While the boy's body was secured to the car by seat belt, his mother's body smashed through the windscreen and landed some distance away.

The hauntings on Karak Expressway were so well-known and a part of the Malaysian folklore that a horror movie stringing all the paranormal stories was made in 2011. Here's the trailer...

I was seated at the back of the minivan and took the above photo of the highway through the back window. Thankfully I didn't see any yellow Volkswagen, boy or anything unholy!

Kuala Medang Homestay Half-Day Tour

After a two-hour ride from Kuala Lumpur with no boy tapping on our window, thank God, we arrived at Kuala Medang Homestay.

Kuala Medang Homestay offers visitors an opportunity to become one of the locals. The homestay village has won several accolades and named one of the best homestay experiences in Pahang.

As our visit was very brief, I didn't explore very much of Kuala Medang Homestay and the activities it provides. Apparently, homestayers can get to go kayaking, fishing and participate in a variety of handicraft workshops.

However, it seems that the activities are catered more for big groups (eg. school and packaged tour groups with a minimum of 30 pax) at the moment and I'm not sure if free and independent travellers (ie. single, double, or less than 10 in a travelling group) can partake or join big groups to experience the activities.

A central hall at Kuala Medang village where homestayers can converge.

Haven't seen a payphone in a long time and couldn't resist a selfie with it. The homestay houses at Kuala Medang are not shabby at all. Households offering homestays must go through approval and certification by Tourism Malaysia.

While taking photos, I walked into the courtyard of someone's house and small streets. The few villagers I encountered were friendly with ready smiles.

The bungalows for homestay looked really comfortable although I didn't venture inside.

What's cooking? One of our hosts preparing to feed us with Kuala Medang's specialty...

... durian assam fish! Yup, the sauce was infused with durian flavour and tasted pretty interesting. I went back for seconds because the fish was really fresh and sweet... maybe because of the durian.

Fans of chilli and durian would get a high from this paste. It made for a really tasty dip for ayam goreng (fried chicken).

At Kuala Medang Homestay, you can opt for a day of fishing and handicraft activities or a visit to the nearby orang asli settlement at Pos Pantos. We went for the orang asli visit but if you homestayed longer, you can experience it all. A 3D2N stay would seem an appropriate length to get under the skin of Kuala Medang.

A group photo with my trip's travelling companions at the mouth of a suspension bridge leading to Pos Pantos' orang asli village.

Bridge over troubled caramelled waters. The river is not dirty but infused with earthy sediments of the river bed and banks. Spa time, anyone?

Pathway leading to the orang asli village. Orang asli means "original / natural / aboriginal people" in Malay and forms one of the earliest ethnic tribes that inhabit Malaysia. There are three groups of orang aslis and the group we visited belonged to the Senoi tribe, which is the largest amongst the three.

The difference between original orang asli housing and modern kampong adaptations is that traditional orang asli homes are simply built with flattened bamboo while more sophisticated 'modern' dwellings use panel wood, cement and paneled windows. Olden day orang asli housings have holes within their walls from the uneven flattening of bamboo material, which facilitated ventilation. But rain is a bummer.

The moment we arrived at the village, we were crowned with hand-woven garlands that made us go... "I like to move-it move-it!" Heh heh... Photographed here with the granny who organicessorised me.



Orang aslis obtain their food sources from the forest (such as tapioca), hunt for games, or fish in the rivers and streams. Here, the womenfolk are skinning tapioca roots.

It was a feast to be inducted into the way food was prepared the traditional way. We tried our hands at preparing leaf wrapped rice too.

Tada! My orang asli lerek leaf wrapped rice.

The wrapped grains were then stuffed into gigantic hollow bamboo tubes filled with water and cooked over an open fire. As hunters-gathers, the orang aslis cook with whatever they can find in their surrounding.

Open sesame! Piping hot forest-flavoured rice cakes is served.

Bamboo cooked tapioca and rice eaten with crispy salted fish. It's a very simple meal but pretty appetizing.

Another traditional activity we got to try at the village was the orang asli's blow dart hunting technique. I didn't do a good blow job with my dart missing the target board by a long shot. Taking good aim was harder than it looks.

The village boys sat spellbound looking at us city folks wielding their tribe's hunting weapon. I think they look worried.

Homes built by the Malaysian government to rehouse orang aslis who left their forest dwellings.

Our short visit to the orang asli aboriginal village lasted about an hour and we went on our way to the National Elephant Conservation Centre. Along the way, we passed by rows of neat houses that have been built to house the orang aslis who have moved out of the forest.

It's invaluable to have visited the original orang asli forest village at Pos Pantos with its remaining aboriginal residents for a glimpse of their idyllic lifestyle before they too opt for the convenience of modernization.

National Elephant Conservation Centre (Kuala Gandah)

After a very bumpy 2-hour van ride from Kuala Medang Homestay, we arrived at the elephant sanctuary. The best way to get here would be to charter a vehicle or take a cab. Contact the centre for more info at 09-2790391.

As the only one such rescue and rehabilitation shelter for elephants in Malaysia, the National Elephant Conservation in Kuala Gandah educates visitors on the importance of harmonic co-existence with nature while providing an opportunity to get upclose with the long nosed giants. If you enjoy ecotourism, this place would satisfy your green appetite.

As we arrived rather late, we missed the various activities and video presentations that the centre has. Daily activities start from 10.30am onwards with the highlight being a chance to bathe the elephants in a nearby river at 2pm.

Unfortunately, the water level was too high on the day of our visit and the bathing activity was cancelled. If you are lucky enough to take a dip with the elephants, bring a change of clothes and towel. Entrance price to the centre varies with the number of activities you want to engage in. We got the ticket that allowed us to see and feed the stompers.

I imagined the conservation centre to be a mud pit like the elephant camp I've been to in Chiang Mai but this one is pretty well kept, landscaped and doesn't smell bad.

At the point of visit, there were about 30 elephants at the centre. They have been rescued in the wild from poachers or been removed from plantations all over Malaysia where they pose a threat to human life and crop. The elephants are housed at the centre and those suitable for release are relocated to other wildlife parks.

Their size and perpetually curious trunks were a little intimidating initially but once hand touches trunk, there's a certain kind of magic with having made contact with such a formidable but gentle beast.

One of the elephants had her feet cut off from a trap set by hunters.

For RM3.00, visitors can buy bananas and peanuts to feed the elephants. Each elephant eats a staggering 100 - 150kg of food a day! Sleeping only 4 hours daily and eating the rest of their waking moments, they are literary walking stomachs.

An orphaned baby elephant that's about two years old. It has such a happy face!

Without Googling, do you know how many teeth does an elephant have? Answer at the end of this blog post.

Another elephant trivia... can you guess which set of four footprints belongs to a male elephant and which to a female elephant? The first set of four prints are evenly spaced while the next set of four prints have two back prints that are wider apart. Again, the answer is at the end of this post.

As the number of Asian elephants in the wild is dwindling due to illegal poaching, urbanization and deforestation for farming, the National Elephant Conservation Centre plays an important role to rescue and relocate the distressed animals. I think what the centre tries to accomplish and the work of the volunteers are admirable to preserve Malaysia's wildlife.

Shuttling out from the hyper-urbanized, metropolitan skyline of Kuala Lumpur to the rustic meanderings at Kuala Medang Homestay, the orang asli village and the elephant conservation centre, it's amazing how the scenery and pace of life changes so completely. But that's Malaysia. There's the choice to be lapped up in the luxury of modern extravagances, or put city life on pause mode and go wholeheartedly back to basics.

Oh... and here are the answers to the elephant trivia :

- an elephant has 26 teeth but they are arranged into four blocks of massive chompers so technically, an elephant has 4 teeth
- the evenly spaced set of footprints belong to a female elephant and the set with the hind prints wider apart belongs to the male (because of the animal's testicles!)

This post has been made possible by Tourism Malaysia (Singapore Office).

Related Post :

Kuala Lumpur - A Weekend of Fashion, Food & Fun

Langkawi - From Tourist to Naturalist

First of all, a BIG thank you for supporting my participation in the SAFRA in2it.sg Langkawi blog contest. I made it as one of the winners because of your votes and had this amazing opportunity to scale the heights and dive into the depths of Langkawi!

This would be the first of a series of post to share experiences, attractions, reviews and tips from my encounters during the trip. To start off, here are some snapshots of the impressions Langkawi left with me.

Leaving my Havaianas and going au naturale on barefoot at Pulau Payar. I learnt so much fascinating stuff about nature on this trip, it awakened the naturalist in me.

Of all the sponsored trips I've had the good fortune of going on so far, this would have to be the most packed in terms of itinerary. We changed a different hotel every single night and were almost always on the road.

It's very siong (tough) as I'm split between taking photos, videos and notes on all the sights, sounds and tastes. In other words, you peeps better appreciate Explore Life Lah! for I give my best each time to bring you as much photos, stories and information about a destination as possible okay?! Hahaha... But of course, I totally enjoy the process of recording each trip! I hope you've enjoyed this blog so far and continue to come back for more travel posts :o)

A pretty purpulish-orange Van Hyning cockle shell found along Pantai Tengah.

When I told a colleague I'm coming to Langkawi, she said it's a boring place. To me, anywhere can be fun or yawn-inducing depending on what kind of traveller you are. For Langkawi, as with all nature-adventure sort of quasi-rural destinations, city-folks like us would do well to ditch the urban shell and let sweat be the measure of fun.

Beach view in front of Frangipani Resort and Spa.

This is not to say that to enjoy Langkawi, it's all about hard work and one has to go all out of the comfort zone. The beauty of this place is that we can choose to take it really slow just bonding with the clean, powdery beaches or we can opt to rough it out with day trips and excursions into the mountains or surrounding islands.

Pricky rock formation observed during the Kilim Mangrove Tour. Gaia loves dirty jokes.

Sitting on the Andaman Sea off the Malaysian state of Kedah's west coast, the Langkawi archipelago consists of 99 islands so there's plenty to explore if adventure is in your chromosomes.

I've been to a couple of resort destinations in the region such as Bali, Batam, Bintan, Phuket, Ko Samed, Cebu, Boracay and Penang; and while I've not stayed long enough or explored every cranny of each of those islands, I would say that Langkawi is possibly the most eco-minded of them all. At the very least, trash doesn't run amok in the drainages and landscape of this island.

Playing Tobey Maguire at Mardi Agrotechnology Park adventure course.

We got to experience a lot of things during the trip and it’s non-stop action the moment we touched down. From understanding how resorts can work with nature to be eco-economical, to getting our hands and feet into the padi fields, to zipping through the forest at an adventure camp, to swimming with baby sharks, to learning about the avian wildlife, to walking into the clouds atop the highest peak on the island, to trekking through prehistoric caves… Langkawi is the go-to place to feel the heartbeat of tropical Asia.

An enlightening evening with the maestro of taxonomy, Mr Irshad Mobarak.

One of the most enriching experiences on this trip was being in the pressence of veteran naturalist, Irshad. We were all so fascinated with his stories about the Hornbills, herbs and his personal hero, Alfred Russel Wallace, an opponent of Charles Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest. We could listen to him talk for hours!


Hibiscus, the national flower of Malaysia and a representation of delicate beauty,

Any successful environmental conservation project requires the partnership of people and authorities and it seems that the Langkawians have a strong cause conviction towards that mission. That’s why I had the feeling of coming to Langkawi as a vacationer but returning home as a planeteer!

A bunny I met at the Geopark rabbit enclosure.

By all standards, Langkawi is pretty well-developed, so it’s surprising to come across exotic wildlife without even trying too hard. Monkeys can be spotted on roads, cows come to you, cicadas sing a different song throughout the day, while colourful birds dart from tree to tree just outside the windows of my hotel rooms. It’s really kinda cool. Made me feel like some fairytale princess where woodland critters love to stick themselves to.

The roof of Langkawi at D'Coconut Resort which sits at the peak of Gunung Raya.

Langkawi has always been synonymous with blue skies, the sun, sea and sand for me. But this trip expanded my synonymic dictionary to include smoky mountains and cooling highlands. The best part is, it’s all within an hour’s drive or so and doesn’t require rocket science to get to.

The day's departing hues at Kuah Town.

They say the grass is always greener on the other side. I say that the sunsets are always prettier on this side because unlike in Singapore, there are not many tall buildings to block the celestial canvas for the full dusking palette to be admired.

Not sure if it’s due to the time of the year, but the 3 sunsets I saw had been wonderfully hued from sapphire to amethyst to amber. It’s like watching a the changing colours of Mother Nature’s bejeweled cloak overhead.

Picturespue stretch of dramatic trees at Lagenda Park.

I didn’t know Langkawi had so much on it and even much more that I hadn’t seen on this trip. I would like to thank in2it.sg, Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Tourism Malaysia and all the hoteliers and tour operators for this incredible insight of the island.

My hugs and muacks muacks too to all my fellow explorers on the trip who made an unforgettable holiday more memorable. Do drop by their blogs too to see Langkawi through their eyes!

Brenda (food. friend.or.foe?)
A pencil thin gal with a tack sharp wit who's more gungho than many guys I know!

Germaine (Germaine Seraphyna)
Self professed foodie who runs an online nail polish business. She's only 20!

Ivy (Ivy Goh)
Our Queen of Wifi whose fresh face and beautiful smile rules and brightens up any day.

Joanne-Marie (Perfectly Imperfect)
Aspiring actress who has no prima-donnaness and not afraid to really get down and dirty!

Jonathan (Jonnie Boy)
The strong silent boy-man type who oozes coolness without even trying. I'm so jealous.

Stephanie (the girl at the traffic light junction)
Unusually perceptive for someone her age and an absolutely sweet companion on long rides.

If you're thinking about visiting Langkawi, here's great news! SAFRA is having a promotion exclusively for its Facebook fans. Simply click here to 'Like' the page and pay only S$189 for a 3D2N package (excluding airfare). Usual price is S$379 so that's a 50% savings! Booking offer ends 30 Sep 2011.