At the clash of thunder, we knew our plans to have a family swim was dashed... our only consolation was the rain would cool down the horrid heat wave we have been experiencing this past few days...
Hannah was most disappointed at not going to the pool for a dip... donno, maybe she had forgotten her fear of water (not exactly lah... only dont like to jump in only)... so we decided to brave the dark clouds and just head over to Taman Gelora for the kids to play.
We had forgotten there was a night market on sunday nights... so the children play area was off-limits due to the market... thus we opted for a leisurely walk in the park.
It was practically deserted... (on a weekend!Wow!...) i guess it was near breaking fast time and no one wanted to be caught in the rain when it pours...Thankfully we had at least half an hour to ourselves before a slight drizzle soon signaled our end of walk, well Hannah and Phoebe had a fun time jumping, skipping and playing all about... 
we did also caught sight of a woodpecker up on a tree... 
Today we ventured to the mini zoo at Taman Teruntum again, Hannah's suggestion... she wanted to see the animals...
I think partly because it is puasa month and we were also quite late, there was almost no one at the mini zoo... we were practically by ourselves...
The bear was just as lonely... but i think due to lack of people, when we were there it did try to look up and seemingly expecting food when we peered down the enclosure...
We spied many... many... many monkeys... and these are dangerous creatures... they are territorial, and seemingly just had a new batch of newborns...so if you go too near them... they will defend or make a ruckus... but i did catch a baby feeding on its mom... using max zoom, thankfully it came out sharp enough.
The usual suspects were there, the birds, ostriches, a very friendly monkey, the wild cat... the aligators are gone now... and we were too lazy to see the porcupine BUT one new animal we saw was the otter (malaysian version)... playful lil fella... was gobbling down its meal of the day... fish...
The next moment a guard was saying... err... "mesti tutup"... oh! we didn't know they even close for the night... but again, maybe because it is puasa month, they close earlier... but as it was already getting kinda dark... 7.00pm, we left for home lah... at least the poor guard could break fast in peace.
yeah... we are back at this beach, ughh...
not for the beach per say... but this time for a round of woodball! What is woodball? Its like golf... only easier, u use mallets instead of tiny sticks... u get a giant ball instead of the puny golfball... and its all made of wood! Supposedly invented by some beer drinkers who wanted to play golf in their drunked state... made all their stuff in the shape of beer bottles. 
The goal/hole/gate is testament of the concept... looking like 2 bottles of bear suspending a mini bottle... with the aim of hitting the ball through it. U can get more info from www.woodball.net, Malaysia seemingly a big player in it.
anyways... this is a game children can play too... as Hannah (in the beginning a reluctant kiddo) enjoyed it... and phoebe, heh! just take and hit lah...
anyway, this was an activity planed as the monthly getaway of Julie's office department so some of her collegues were there playing the course too. We hardly got through half the course cuz with kids in tow... things tend to go slowly... but it was fun... this particular course was a 12hole/gate one
the course at Pantai Balok is not great... with lots of litter all around, and very little upkeep... the other one in Taman Bandar, Indera Mahkota is much better, unfortunately the Majlis Berbandaran Kuantan only stations people in this site to rent out the equipment... thus if u want to go to the nicer course... u got to have your own equipment.
overall it's an interesting game... and fun for the family... 
Well, since today so happen to be a holiday in Pahang... woo! in the evening we decided to just go and let the gals play around the beach... we had earlier decided to revisit this beach, Pantai Sepat when back in April we stopped by, on our way down to Pekan...
the place is just as deserted as before... not a spectacularly nice beach... but is still much better then Balok Beach... the sand is similar though... grey, muddy... but wah... tons of crabs runnning all over... plus u get to see this mounds of sand they dig up all over the beach...
well as usual, phoebe just plonked herself down where we settled and just enjoyed digging and dirtying up herself... she played till the tide almost washed her away...
hannah had a lesson on hop-scotch from mummy... and was thrilled... of course mummy gave lots of leway to the rules, so hannah won!
we stayed till almost 6.30pm then packed up and left for home...
We had bought the gals some electric lanterns 2 week prior and man... were they impatient to use them! They had annoying musical electronica playing from them whenever u switch it on... 
The festivities in Kuantan for the mid autumn festival mainly focuses at the Pantai Teluk Cempedak. Hordes of people will come down during the weekend and dig intricate holes, sand banks to ensure whatever candles they light wont be blown off by the sea breeze... its a sight to behold...
That particular sunday... we went early for dinner by the sea... ahem... McD's... & we even parked in Hyatt, cuz we heard of terrible past year's jams and horrible traffic all around the area during this particular weekend.
at around 7pm plus as the sky began to darken... the people began their work... wow... i mean... it slowly took form with a few people scattered all about... but soon less and less space was available, as more and more groups begin to stake out their territory to do their masterpieces... i think it was like a competition of sorts... all trying to outdo each other...
Hannah and phoebe had a interesting walk around... with their parents of course... with the irritating sounds coming from thier lanterns... thankfully in such a big crowd... the sounds did seem to drown amidst the din.
as the night grew darker... more and more people began to dig their own masterpieces... as it was already late, we decided to go back and have the gals wash up... on our way back the line of cars entering the beach stretched all the way till the next junction... oh boy... looks like more & more people on the way!
by far... this was the most interesting moon cake festival aka. mid autumn festival i've witnessed... and it was in kuantan!
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