Hi all...I haven't updated anything for the past four days. Life has been getting a lot busier these days as we prepare for the new school term that will begin tomorrow morning, Monday, 21 March. Both of my kids go to a national school located roughly 2km from where we are staying. I feel confident in sending them to school because both have been vaccinated against Covid19. Still, we taught both of them all the necessary SOPs and to keep their distance from their peers. My son, who is eight, will be in Year 2, and my daughter will be in year 6 (she's 12). Anyway, school is not the topic of today's post because I originally intended to share about my today's early morning run at our local park.
Taman Wawasan Recreational Park
Taman Wawasan Recreational Park is located about 3km from my apartment and is a very popular park for those staying nearby. This 20-acre park has a 3km trail for jogging and cycling. Other facilities offered to the public are:
- A children's playground.
- Basketball courts.
- Exercise facilities.
- A public toilet.
- A recycling center.
- Mini libraries.
- Huts and benches for visitors to rest.
This park is next to Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, a very popular 1200 hectares of hilly rain-forested hiking trail for hikers. Despite the place's popularity, I have never been hiking there. I am not much of a hiker, and to be honest, I don't really enjoy hiking. I did the last hiking years ago at Poring Hot Spring and Nature Reserve, Ranau, Sabah.
If hiking is your thing, that is good for you! But I would rather spend my time jogging or walking in the park without worrying about snakes, insects, and wiggling nasties.
My husband and I woke up at 7am, and before we left for the park, we ate our breakfast and prepared a simple breakfast for the kids. They decided to stay home and sleep in because it was Sunday.
By the time we reached the park, it was almost 8am and we had difficulty finding a parking spot, so we parked the car by the roadside. The weather was good and sunny, so I wasn't surprised to see there was quite a crowd this morning.
The playground was empty, though. Many parents were still reluctant to bring their kids to public places because of the country's high number of Covid19 cases. Or maybe it was still early in the morning. However, the basketball courts were packed with early morning players.
As I walked by, I could see groups of people, young and old, participating in Zumba or Taichi. It was heartwarming to see people being active physically for a change. Do you know that according to a 2020 study, an estimated 54.2% of the Malaysian adult population is overweight or obese? That makes us the most obese nation among the South East Asia nations. It is very concerning, and literally, you will see so many fat people around wherever you go in Malaysia. Now, I am not fat-shaming anyone because I used to be obese too, and I have a genetic predisposition to obesity. So I was happy to see young and old alike enjoying their Sunday morning by being active physically. Physical activities do wonders for your body, and I can totally vouch for that. Still, I will save this topic for a future post.
There is an 808.2 square meter lake (or is it a pond?) in the middle of the park. This lake serves as a rainwater retention pond to reduce the risk of flash floods in surrounding areas. From the news, I learned that the lake has been upgraded, including being deepened, cleaned, dredged, and some soil ditches work. I guess those things contributed to the water being murkier than usual.
There is one very interesting feature of this park - the mini-libraries. Several mini-libraries are scattered throughout the park, like the one you see in this photo. I don't know who contributed the books but being a bookworm, I applaud this effort to encourage the local community to read more. They have English, Chinese, Malay books, fiction, and non-fiction. I have never borrowed any books from here, though, because I have my own stacks of unread books at home. You can read about that here in this post: May the Books You Read Light the Way | What's Inside My Book Totebag
I spent one hour completing my 4km jog/brisk walk, and we had to leave at 9am to get ready for our online church service. I wished we could spend a long time jogging, but we have other commitments to accomplish throughout the day. I enjoyed spending time outdoors, but I could hardly do it due to other responsibilities in life. Perhaps now that the kids have gone back to school, I could regularly go to the park, especially in the mornings.
And before we left, capturing some fun pictures was a must-do activity.
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!
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