Earth Hour 2009

As most Malaysian preoccupied with the UMNO’s election, some of us are more interested with another important ‘election’ that happened on Saturday. On Saturday, thousands of Malaysian had participated in Earth Hour by switching off the lights between 8.30pm and 9.30pm. By switching off the lights it is a vote for Mother Nature and leaving your light on, you are voting for global warming. What had been an initiatives started by the Australian in 2007, the events had spread to the whole world.

Malaysia is participating for the first time with government and private sectors joining in. Thousands of other ‘civilians’ like me are excited and join in the effort. I took an effort of reminding my friends and family through SMS and emails. The response at my neighborhood was very good. By 8.35pm, almost 90% switch off their lights.

Though my effort may not be significant, I hope that it will make this world a better place.

paya indah wetland

If you are happen to be around KLIA, you may want to stop by Paya Indah Wetland. It is only 15 kilometer from KLIA or 30 kilometer from Kuala Lumpur. I was around that area on Saturday so I give it a go. I arrived at the gate exactly at 8.30am. The visiting hour is at 9.30am so I have to wait. I decided to have breakfast at the nearby local coffee shop. My initial intention is to have a normal nasi lemak but the beef curry smells nice. I end up with a heavy breakfast and. There are few local folks at the coffee shop. I initiated a conversation with some of them. Politics always the best to spark a conversation at the coffee shop.

Sharp at 9.30am, I head to the wetland. There is no entrance fee and you can drive your vehicle in the park. At 450.76 hectare, it is a massive area. However, if you bring your car in, the area that you can cover is quite limited. There are a lot of things to see but a lot more missing. Like most of parks in Malaysia, the atmosphere seems… ‘Uneventful’.

Perhaps the ‘star’ of the park is the Hippotamus amphibious. Visitors have the chance of feeding this beast, with the supervision of the park’s officer of course. With a beast that big, I am not taking any chances…so I kept a reasonable distance from the beast.

I took off half an hour later. I may come back in the future if I know what to expect.