Quantum Singularity

Gua Kota Gelanggi, Day 2: Gua Penyu, Gua Ular, Gua Kelawar, Gua Hijau and Tangga 99

2011-10-04T12:07:00.035+08:00

Day 2 of our trip to Gua Kota Gelanggi begins with breakfast at the Tekam Resort’s café. Surprisingly, a buffet was prepared for us with refills of coffee and orange juice aside from servings of mamak mee goreng, curry puffs and bread. Midway through our meal, the guide assigned for our trip to Gua Kelawar met us at the cafe, informing us to meet up with him at the Gua Kota Gelanggi Park’s car park located just outside Gua Balai which we have gone the day before.

A good morning greeted by a flock of horn bills perched atop the water tank close to our dorm... :)

After having our fill, we packed up and moved out, myself stopping by at the resort office to extend our stay till 3pm so that we may freshen up prior to heading home. This, the resort management approved perhaps seeing that there was really no one else to take the dorms after us.

We drove out and met our guide at the car park outside Gua Balai in earnest.

Back to the parking lot close to Gua Balai

Unlike the previous day’s guide, this one was more professional and gave us a briefing of what to expect from the caves as well as some safety tips. For the most part, we were told that it would be a short walk through the jungle to the mouth of the first cave, Gua Penyu (Turtle Cave). Then we will proceed to Gua Ular (Snake Cave), thru Gua Kelawar (Bat Cave) before heading to Gua Hijau (Green Cave), finally exiting via Tangga 99 (99 Steps).

Our guide gave us a few moments to prepare our stuff. Once everyone is ready, we started our hike, skirting to the left around Gua Balai thru a jungle trek. After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at this narrow ledge flanked on one side by a shallow stream and another by solid rock before we reached Gua Penyu, the first cave prior to our three cave combo.

Journey begins, walking pass Gua Penyu...

Gua Penyu is named after a certain rock formation which resembles a sea turtle, whose ‘head’ has been apparently lobbed off. :p Hmmm… maybe they should renamed it Gua Penyu Dipancung (Decapitated Turtle Cave?) ;)

The rock whose name the cave earned... ;) I have to say it really looks like a turtle... minus the head of course :p

For the moment, we didn’t dally around the cave, rather we pass it on the same jungle path until we encountered our first obstacle, an almost vertical climb up a vine tangled rock face just outside Gua Ular.

Clambering up a vertical rockface is no easy task... :p Fortunately there were vines and roots of trees to assist us!

Moving up on all fours, we scaled the roughly 6m high rock face, before finding ourselves at the mouth of Gua Ular. We paused for the rest of the team to gather before proceeding into the gloom.

Arriving at the mouth of Gua Ular...

Gathering outside Gua Ular... Snakes? Nah!

If I am not mistaken, Gua Ular resembles a small ‘ante-chamber’ prior to reaching the ‘Bat Cave’ which is adorned with a few stalagmites crowned with crystal deposits. Fortunately, or perhaps UNfortunately for some of us, there were no snakes in sight.

Crystal deposits, for the benefit of future explorers, please do not touch! :)

The smell of bat guano ushers us through a small portal where we found ourselves in this very large chamber filled with bats.

The high interior of Gua Kelawar. Bats flying everywhere!

It really isn’t as bad as I had expected. I was previously told to expect knee deep guano and a cave floor alive with cockroaches crawling all over. Instead, the guano was barely inches thick while the cockroaches and insects that feed on it were tiny and not as numerous as you would expect in a swarm. :p Hmmm… perhaps it’s not the season?

It's very dark and only the illumination of the flash from the DSLR camera managed to reveal the group in all it's startled glory ;)

It is still pretty dark and scans of our flash lights revealed an abandoned industry of harvesting guano for fertilizer, evidence of which can be seen littered around the chamber in the form of rotting wooden trolleys and other structures.

We took a few photos, the more insect loving members of our group squatting to observe the creepy crawlies scurrying around our feet.

Bug Lovers... Hmmm what do you call them in a more 'academic' kind of way? Ah yes! Entomologists! :p

Fortunately, the expected ‘aerial bombardment’ wasn’t as heavy either, in fact it was more of a ‘powdery sprinkle’ than a torrent. Something like ‘fairey dust’? ;)

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... the remains of a bat 'returned' to the ground...

A nasty looking spider! :p

Creepy crawlies on the cave floor... :p

Having lingered there for about 20 minutes, we were urged to move on to our next cave, Gua Hijau, via a portal from Gua Kelawar.

Entering Gua Hijau, with it's high ceiling and monolithic looking walls...

Patches of green moss line certain portions of the cave wall, giving the cave its namesake. On emerging through the Gua Kelawar portal, we found ourselves standing atop a high natural promenade, overlooking the cave floor located about 10 meters below, accessible through a small meandering rocky path. A few large boulders litter the bottom of the cave with one feature being a deep hole at one corner with its bottom too far down for our lights to pierce through and another feature, a 'skylight' revealing a peek of the jungle beyond.

The cave's 'skylight'...

The ‘green’ of the moss appears to be the color of jade, giving the impression that the cave wall is lined with seams of this precious mineral.

Your's truly, squatting to take pictures of the cave...

The greenish hue of the moss that line the walls of the cave giving it's name... :)

We paused to take photos, the more restless among us attempted to clamber up a very steep and slippery rock face to reach a small 'cave' within the chamber which they surprisingly manage!

No rest for the 'wicked'? ;) Diverging from the main route to seek adventure... sadly, the Ali Baba cave did not hide Yamashita's treasure... ;)

However, if they had expected to find General Yamashita's hidden stash of gold, there wasn't any because it was empty and also led to a dead end. :p Good effort nonetheless! :)

Group Photo, Gua Hijau... Yeah! :D

Soon it was time to move and the guide informed us to proceed to Tangga 99. Expecting it to be a natural rock staircase, I found in its place, rungs of steel ladders leading all the way down from the cave mouth to the jungle floor below, a long rusting metal chute its companion.

The rusty ladder that constitutes part of Tangga 99

Deceptively though, there is indeed a short flight of wooden stairs just before the cave opening where the ladder starts.

The exit of Gua Hijau leading to Tangga 99. Notice the wooden stairs close to the top...

Here is where I found my first documented leech attack for this whole caving trip, though thankfully not on myself! :p ;) Apparently, Janice had unknowingly brought along a hitchhiker, who had comfortable grew fat sucking the blood off her while we were doing all that climbing and walking. We only noticed the presence of her hitch hiker by the growing stain of arterial red spreading across the back of her shirt. :p Huge (it was almost 3cm long), fat and filled with her vitae, the leech plopped nicely on the ground as Moon shook it loose from Janice’s shirt.

Waiting our turn to descend down the ladder, one by one please... ;) It is here that Janice found her 'companion'... :p

Taking from a scene out of some B-grade science fiction movie, Janice, like some alien ‘queen mother’ unexpectedly pleaded for the it’s life, citing the ‘bond’ they now shared through the DNA coursing through the sightless wormlike parasite’s slimy orifices. Yucks! :p

Janice's alien 'offspring'! :p

Her pleadings were so heartfelt that we had to no choice but to reluctantly leave it for another chance for it to prey on nary an unwary traveller in the near future (Sorry guys, we were more afraid of Janice sprouting claws and fangs attacking us if we ‘harmed’ her ‘alien’ offspring, hahaha). :p

Despite this, I climbed down the ladder quickly, more than pleased to keep as wide a distance between myself and the blood sucking critter as I can. At the foot of the steps on the jungle floor, I met up with Mr. Lee who offered me a morsel of information.

Close to the foot of tangga 99, shortly before discovering there wasn't 99 steps after all!

Apparently, ‘Tangga 99’ didn’t really have 99 steps after all. It was actually short by about 10. :p I suppose the ‘99’ is more for glamour sake than actual fact.

Once everyone had gotten down the ladder safely, we proceeded to make our way back, retracing our steps back to Gua Penyu.

Returning to the jungle trek heading back to Gua Penyu

This time, we proceeded to venture into the cave which in actuality, was really a large natural corridor leading to… a dead end. :)

Along the way, evidence of what was supposed to be the posts for a chain railing can be seen at certain intervals. Perhaps it was a show cave once? At the end of the corridor, were pools of water filled with tadpoles and other swimming insects.

Like most cave expeditions, we were ordered to switch off the lights to experience the pitch darkness. Squels of “Preciousssss…” echoed in the dark confines as Gollum made his appearance... ;)

Entering Gua Penyu, a long corridor with the ceiling descending until it was about 2m high at the end

As the lights were turned on back again, some of us squatted down to observe the insects and tadpoles, others idled around looking at the cave walls while I focused my attention on the rocks above, paying particular attention to the dripping water off a stone stuck to the cave ceiling, which was really only about 2 meters from the cave floor.

Trying to catch that ‘moment in time’ when the drop of water was just about to leave the stone, I was almost left behind in the gloom when the rest of the party slowly pulled out of the cave.

Trying to catch that 'moment in time'... 1,2,3! 1,2,3! ;)

The result... :) A drop of water just about to fall of the tip of a rock... hahaha!

Fortunately, I wasn’t that addled and managed to follow the group out into the light.

From the exit of Gua Ular, we made our way back to the parking lot thus ending our expedition for the morning.

Adventure over! Now to return to the car park and to the resort for a cleansing shower! :)

It was almost 2pm by the time we finished.

The guide passed us his business card, suggesting us to find him for future destinations into Taman Negara before we parted ways. We moved back to the resort, take our very much needed showers before we checked out.

At this point, we parted ways with Chelsina and her group. They taking the more ‘scenic’ route back to Kuantan while we KL people moving south towards the East Coast highway with the riverside town of Temerloh as our destination. Contrary to its famous reputation as the ‘Patin’ Capital of Malaysia, we could hardly find an open decent restaurant in town, a repeat of previous misadventures to this small town. :p Hmmm… maybe somebody can suggest a good restaurant for us to drop by next time?

Thereafter, we went for our tried and true option, none other than Restaurant 126 close to Kampung Bukit Tinggi on the Karak highway. We had to ‘starve’ a little but when we arrived there we were rewarded with a good selection of food which included once more their famous pork bellies (trotters!). Eschewing the ‘seafood’, we ordered more terrestrial dishes such as sweet sour pork, tofu and vegetables, the bill coming up to a paltry RM8/head! :) A very good deal indeed! :)

And so once more comes the ends our expedition. As I drive into the sunset back to the city lights of Kuala Lumpur, I dream (and plot) for the next adventure… ;)

Gua Kota Gelanggi, Day 1: Tekam Resort, Gua Sanding and Gua Terang Bulan

2011-09-07T17:04:00.028+08:00

The hinterlands of northern Pahang hide a network of caves if not discovered by intrepid explorers and pioneers would never be known to the peoples of the cities. ;) The limestone hills housing these caves could be just a hundred meters away but you probably won’t see it because of the thick jungle foliage hiding it from plain sight!

This round, we are off to the fabled Gua Kota Gelanggi, located near the FELDA plantations of Tekam, Pahang. Loosely translated, Gua Kota Gelanggi is malay for City of Gelanggi Caves. Why City? Well, there is a myth that speaks of an ancient civilization that made the network of caves its home. One day, a sorcerer happens to come by and curse its inhabitants, turning them into stone, thus explaining the various rock formations in the cave. Another myth refers to a creature called ‘Sang Kelembai’, some gorgon/medusa-like beast that lives in the area with the ability to transform things it touches into stone.

Well, leaving the fables and legends behind, the Gua Kota Gelanggi network of caves is really an interesting place to visit for those not looking at too extreme an adventure.

Taman Gua Kota Gelanggi, a map to all the caves in the park... click on it for a bigger (clearer) picture... ;)

Introduced by a friend who had been there before, the caves are located within the Felda Plantation of Tekam, the nearest reasonable town being Jerantut, about 20 minutes drive away.

Booking the package is rather easy. All you need to do is to visit the Felda Tehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifkam Resort website at http://www.feldatravel.com.my/Residences/Tekam/index_tekam.shtml and click your way to the contact tab to get in touch with the staff for reservations. You could book your rooms online should you wish but I prefer the more, ‘human touch’.

Taking the advice from my friend, I chose to go for a 2D1N package which covers a visit thru Gua Sanding and Gua Kelawar with an overnight stay at Felda Tekam’s dormitory that includes a serving of breakfast. I also threw in a serving of dinner for our first night’s stay. Overall cost? About RM90/head! Cheap, cheap! :D

Departing from our meeting point in TTDI, we headed first for breakfast at Kampung Bukit Tinggi at the foothills of the Genting Highlands.

At Kampung Bukit Tinggi. Although the siew yoke/char siew seller has been proven elusive, we still kept our spirits high... :)

Looking for its famous ‘char siew’ and ‘siew yoke’ to eat, we were left disappointed when told by the local stall owners that the ‘uncle’ who sells those succulent meats have a habit of now only dropping by at the place only once in two weeks, the week we were there being the week he is not coming :p. We had to settle for a dish of wan tan mee mixed with a dash of yong tau foo, while we waited for a member whom we had left behind on account of not being contactable and oversleeping way beyond our departure time! :p ;) He paid an ‘idiot’ tax of RM50 for the taxi ride to meet us at Kampung Bukit Tinggi.

Presenting... the payer of his own 'idiot tax'!

With our stomachs filled and our crew complement completed, we headed to Jerantut, on a rendezvous with another group of friends coming in from Kuantan.

Note: Along the way, do take care to slow down between the stretch right after the Karak toll and the toll leading to the East Coast highway. A static and very CONSTANT speed trap camera is located somewhere within the vicinity and more often than not have ‘generated income’ for the local polis in speeding fines! The speed limit in this area is 90kph and the camera doesn’t really care if the roads are completely empty. :p

2 hours later, we gathered at Jerantut’s famous Man Fook Lau restaurant for lunch. ;)

Jerantut's Man Fook Lau Restaurant

Getting to Jerantut from the East Coast Highway requires you to make a turn at the Temerloh exit. From there follow the signboards to Jerantut. The drive will take about an hour over a single carriageway flanked by mostly palm oil estates and an occasional kampong or two.
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Recommended by Chelsina (the leader of our Kuantan friends) through a blog (http://thule-food-quest.blogspot.com/2010/01/man-fook-lau-taman-jerantut-jerantut.html), this place offers some surprisingly unique presentations of food for a small town in the hinterlands of Pahang, at a price. ;)

The ever adventurous Chelsina (left) and her husband, Kenn (right) ;)

Ordering Man Fook Lau's signature dishes! (From left: Kwei Fei Chicken, Steam Patin Fish, Yam Pork and a serving of vegetable tou foo)

The taste? Well, really depends on the person. I found it not bad really although some of our crew would not agree. ;) I have to admit that the price is rather steep though. :p We paid RM32 per head.

A closer look at their unique Kwei Fei Chicken, consisting of fish, pork and chicken layered together!

Now with our tanks filled with even MORE fuel, it’s time to do a bit of exercise! However, we have to first check in at our abode in the Felda Tekam Plantation and for this, we need to drive out of Jerantut, heading north. Soon, you’d find signs leading you to the Felda Tekam estate. You’ll also pass by the entrance to the Gua Kota Gelanggi park as well.

Took me a while to figure out the map but I now realize the curious 'box' is actually the Felda Resort itself! Not to scale of course!

The feeling of entering the Felda Tekam Estate itself is like entering a military base. A guardhouse manned by auxiliary polis is located at a rather elaborate gatehouse. On our trip, we didn’t really go through a very detailed check, all we need to do was inform the polis that we are heading towards the resort and they allowed us to pass. Perhaps in more ‘sensitive’ times (like during elections), security would stepped up a bit to prevent ‘unwanted’ elements from influencing the folks inside? :p

It took another 20 minutes to negotiate through well paved roads before we finally reached the resort. More oil palm estates flanked the road in with various large FELDA administrative offices built in between. Signboards leading to the various communities as well as nearby amenities dot each junction. The place feels and is like some mini township!

We arrived at the Felda resort front office around 1pm. Perhaps because it is Ramadhan, there aren’t many people around. In fact, it was very likely that we were the ONLY guest around for the period.

The impressive front office of the Felda Tekam Resort

Presenting the print out of my reservation confirmation and paying what remained of our payment, we received the keys to our dorms which were located about 5 minutes away. Dinner and breakfast will be served in the coffeehouse at the main office.

They do of course have more lavish accommodations for rent as well, some up to ‘hotel’ standard but because we are always aiming for ‘low cost’ trips, I had chosen the dorms as an option. The cheapest would of course be simply ‘camping’ in the premise. ;)

We moved into our dorms, the guys and gals separating to their respective dorms. I am not sure whether gender separation thingy is enforced here although the lady at the counter did mention specifically a ‘male’ and ‘female’ dorm when handing over the keys. They did also want to know many guys and gals were in our party when I made the booking. Fortunately, there were no objections from either side of the gender gulf on our voluntary segregation.

The dorms itself were rather clean though very spartan. There were about 10 double decker bunk beds in each room, more than enough space to accommodate our party with keys to two rooms.

This pic was taken from their website. Needless to say, the presentation is always better there than the actual. Still, it's livable. ;)

Some cupboards had broken doors while you get a very thin piece of cloth as your bed sheet and blanket. Don’t expect to be using the blanket though because the dorm is not air conditioned and the fan is hardly able to stave off the tropical heat of the afternoon sun.

To do our toiletries, we had a centralized wash room complete with toilets and bathroom stalls. For those who are less ‘modest’ there is your typical terrazzo walled water tank where you can scoop out gouts of water to bathe in a more ‘communal’ atmosphere ala ‘kampung’. Don’t seem very practical if you are going to bathe with your clothes on though (even if you’re only clad with a ‘sarong’).

Our guide met us shortly after we checked in and told us to prepare for our first outing to the caves.

Without wasting much time, we dumped most of our stuff in the dorms, strapped on our hiking gear and moved up to meet the guide at a closed ‘coffee’ shop right outside our dorm. Leading us back out the plantation via motorcycle, we drove back to the Gua Kota Gelanggi Park entrance we passed earlier to get to the resort.

Here we realized that there is a token fee to be paid for visitors to enter the park but because we have already signed up for the package with the resort, we don’t need to pay any.

Driving in a little bit away from the guardhouse through a narrow road, we parked our cars at what looked like a natural limestone ‘arch’ named Gua Tongkat which means ‘Cane’ Cave in the Queen’s English. Don’t confused ‘Cane’ with Sugar Cane, because this cane means the stick which generally old people (and some young people) use to walk. :p ;) As with all our trips, it was time to take a group photo.

Our customary group photo in front of Gua Tongkat! Huzzah!

... and a 'solo' one for the books... ;)

Having done that, it was time to venture into the first network of caves. Taking a cue from the guide, we followed him across a short trek of jungle, alongside a limestone face where we found dug out pits.

A very short hike through the jungle... no sweat! ;)

The guide explained that the pits were the result of archeological work, the trinkets and bones found within displayed at the resort headquarters. No archeological work was going on when we came and from the looks of the condition of the pits, not in the recent past or for the foreseeable future.

Pausing before the excavation pits... not sure how long since anyone worked on them...

We met a couple of Singaporeans huffing and puffing heading out from the caves, myself overhearing one of them saying that the trip to Gua Sanding being very ‘tiring’. That sounded most encouraging as I was preparing mind and body to ‘tire’ myself out.

We paused at a cave called Gua Angin (Wind Cave), aptly named for the cool breeze blowing into it from the outside.

A look out towards the greenery of the jungle from Gua Angin...

And took a group photo... ;)

Intrepid adventurers at Gua Angin! :)

Prior to this, we had to walk through a long passageway and having to squeeze through the customary small opening in between. It wasn’t really that bad and unless you are REALLY HUGE, most people shouldn’t have problems getting through.

I felt this customary 'squeeze' in our caving adventures to be a lot easier to go through than the ones in Gua Tempurung and Batu Maloi... so don't worry about it! :)

From Gua Angin, we moved on to Gua Sanding (Marriage Cave). Compared to our hike to Gua Angin, the hike to Gua Sanding is really a very tame affair. No jagged rocks to clamber over nor were there any more nice holes to squeeze through. In fact some in our team was starting to get disappointed at the lack of a ‘challenge’. The chamber within Gua Sanding was huge, dominated by a large opening that showcased the verdant jungle outside.

Gua Sanding!

The cave is so named because of a particular rock formation that is centered at the opening, two mounds of limestone one bigger than the other. They were supposed to resemble a man and a woman standing side by side (in holy matrimony?), with the women erm, about chest height to the man. :p ;) Hmmm…Perhaps she is ‘sitting’?

The two stone 'pillar's that gives the cave it's name, resembling two people... one standing, one sitting(?)

Crystals on a nearby stone... do not touch please!

Hmmm... is it a 'dog' or a 'lion'? You decide... ;)

Undulating shapes on the cave floor formed by millions of years of water erosion...

At this point the guide says it’s the ‘end’ of the trip. It was barely an hour and a half since we left the resort and needless to say we were expecting A LOT MORE. We had been initially told that the caving for this day would last THREE hours with our hopes reinforced by those huffing and puffing Singaporeans! :p Guess not.

Nevertheless, we hung around a bit longer in Gua Sanding, taking more photos before we head out.

Caves and spiders go together... this is one particularly 'large' specimen... :p

Posing by a stack of stones... definitely man made and definitely recent! :p ;) A whole bunch of them are located at Gua Sanding, probably the work of 'bored' visitors?

Haha... I am doing this pose way to often... ;)

At a small shelter close to Gua Tongkat, we asked the guide about the other caves. The guide told us not far away is a show cave called Gua Terang Bulan (Bright Moon Cave).

Seeing that we still have plenty of time to kill, we all took the 15 minute walk along the paved road to the cave. The stink of bat guano greeted us as we reached the mouth of the cave, discouraging some of the ladies from proceeding further. The rest of us mounted the flight of steps up to the mouth before entering through a grilled fence into the cave proper.

In its heyday, the cave might have resembled something you’d expect in the ‘dry’ tour section of Gua Tempurung, with electrified spotlights, cement walkways and white metal railings.

Echoes of Gua Tempurung... except this place is a lot less maintained! The lights don't work...:p

Well, those days seemed to have passed (a long time since) because when we entered the cave, the lights were not working and the railings were crusted with bat guano and other ‘stuff’. :p Using our torchlights we ventured in, passing through a section where the railings were wooden instead of metal and a deep guano filled pool can been at the bottom of a large hole on the right. Overhead, we could hear and see the bats, the culprits that had layered the cement walkway and railings with their excrement.

Slippery steps caused by falling water and bat 'doo doo'... watch out for the cave centipedes! Or at least that's what the guide said, we didn't see any...

We were told by the guide (who didn’t come with us) to watch out for cave centipedes, their sting reputedly to be particularly painful. Fortunately, we didn’t see any hiding between the railings of slithering on the ground but there were quite a large number of spiders milling about instead.

We left this part of the cave via another flight of steps, into a chamber with some flowing fresh air, a relief from the stench of bat doo doo. :p At the end of the walkway, we turned off our flashlights and as we would expect, the ‘moon’ appeared in the darkness formed by slivers of light channeled through a hole from the outside. A few more adventurous members of our party wanted to go beyond the walkway and negotiate up a slippery slope to check out whether Gua Terang Bulan has anything more to offer. They did not find anything because the next chamber was a dead end. :p ;)

Leaving Gua Terang Bulan, we still didn’t feel very much ‘fulfilled’. Therefore we asked the guide (who was waiting outside) for more caves for us to take a look see. We were told of a Gua Balai (Chamber Cave). Asked how far was it from where we were, the guide assured us that it would be about another 15-20 minute walk from Gua Terang Bulan.

This time, our enthusiasm is tainted by a little bit of er… ‘exhaustion’. Despite me being more than happy to make another walk, others weren’t so keen to take up the offer. And so, we got into our vehicles and drove to the next cave which is really where the road ends.

Nice parking below the entrance to Gua Balai

Walking by the signboard...

A large, nice and proper car park welcomed us on arrival. Not far away is a communal toilet. Gua Balai was located a top flight of steps leading away from the car park.

A view of Gua Balai's immense chamber! Definitely fitting it's name...

As its name suggests, the cave is literally one single massive chamber where visitors are invited to set up their tents within. Judging by its size, the space within could accommodate a full busload of campers if not more and with the convenience of the toilet outside, rather comfortably as well.

Aside from this, there is nothing else to see, save some graffiti on the cave walls declaring the staff of a mining company staying overnight at the cave way back in the 1970s! Another large pit can be seen in the cave, which I have initially suspected to be excavated for the containment of water. A large hole punctured on its side close to the bottom shot down that idea... Perhaps it's another excavation dig? Brrr... and to think that people might be sleeping in some ancient burial cave?

Studying the 40 year old graffiti on the cave wall...

Finally exhausted, we headed back to our resort to wash up and replenish our stores with dinner.

The much touted Ramadhan buffet on their website is however non-existent, probably also because we WERE the only guest around. We dominated the coffee house, taking up two full tables.

Dinner itself consists of servings of typical Malay food, vegetables, ‘ulam’, fish, chicken stew and salted eggs, washed down with a jug of Tang-like orange juice. A few of us lamented that the portions were not enough but in the end they found out it was just right. ;)

Dinner!

Fortunately, the orange juice can be ‘refilled’ although I found the second round ‘contaminated’ with some hair(?!) and ants! :p (Protein anyone?)

There was a bit of a ‘surprise’ thanks to Jady, and thanks to Valerie, I almost had my head buried in layers of cake! :p Fortunately, the unexpected ‘facial’ was avoided and everyone got a share of my birthday cake to eat… Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Ah... Valerie giving me a more 'personal' look of my cake... fortunately, the damage was 'minor', allowing everyone to have a piece of it to eat... :)

The night is capped off with a round of Monopoly, with yours truly ending up the property tycoon, much to the chagrin of a certain long haired person who swore revenge on our next outing. :p ;)

M-O-N-O-P-O-L-Y... Monopoly, Monopoly!

Kuala Lumpur's Hidden Fall: Apeh Hill Waterfall

2011-06-21T14:10:00.017+08:00

Apeh Hill, 4th June 2011, First time I have gone to this place famous for weekend hikers of all ages in Kuala Lumpur. Located within Taman Saga in Ampang, it apparently hides one of the closest waterfalls to Kuala Lumpur and true to its nature, the trail head itself can be quite difficult to find among the hive of housing estates if you are not a local yourself. :p

If you are equipped with a GPS, look for Jalan Saga 28 in Ampang, this should lead you straight to a metal ladder taking you up to the trail that leads up to Saga Hill. If you are not equipped and need directions, then it gets pretty ‘messy’. ;) But here goes…

Starting from the MRR2, take the exit out into Jalan Kuari. Road signs should be quite distinct as it is one of the main arteries leading into the Cheras ‘hive’. Drive along Jalan Kuari passing about 3 traffic lighted junctions before you reach the first roundabout. Take the 3 o’clock turn into Jalan Mawar 15. Proceed down the road until you reach the 2nd roundabout where you’ll have to take the turn at 12 o’clock going into Jalan Bunga Melati 8. Keep going until you reach a traffic lighted T-junction. Turn right and head down Jalan Teratai 1/2 until you see another traffic light not far away. Take a left and you’ll be on Jalan Teratai 1/1. You’ll have to go almost to the end of the road before you find the turning into Jalan Melur on your right. Take the next right and you’ll be on Jalan Saga 5. Drive all the way down the length of the road and it will connect with Jalan Saga 29. Turn right. Proceed down this road until you can make a left turn whereby you’ll now be on Jalan Saga 22. There will be a small mound on your right where you’ll see a kindergarten and play ground of some sort. Most visitors to the hike would park here and continue down the road on foot to the start point, otherwise you can drive straight down and you’ll finally hit Jalan Saga 28 with the metal ladder spanning a drain leading up the trail head.

The metal ladder on Jalan Saga 28, marking the starting point of our hike to Apeh Hill Waterfall...

We reached the start point after parking our cars in the surrounding housing estate at about 10am, a little bit late by most standards, no thanks to the maze we have to weave through to get to the site. As usual, we have had breakfast at a local mamak stall to charge up our batteries before we went. The ‘car park’ on the small mound by Jalan Saga 22 was filled to the brim and we could see groups of people already coming back from their early morning hike. Some of these people are surprisingly elderly, deceptively masking the actual difficulty of this particular hike!

For this expedition, we have Aurelius leading the pack with our trusty trail blazer Dennis showing us the way. Our resident troublemaker and ‘renowned’ filmmaker, Linus Chung was on stage as well, although thankfully, we had Carol to temper his sometimes suicidal tendencies. Others in the group included veteran hikers Chris Kok and Sum as well as newcomers Tracy Loh, Pey Chern, Sean Shienrun, Jady Ong and Sum’s younger brother. We even have a ‘mat salleh’ tagging along courtesy of Mr. Linus Chung.

The jungle canopy on the slopes of Saga Hill

After the ladder, we passed some small shelters housing stalls set up by enterprising people selling drinks and refreshments to tired hikers. Just starting the hike, we skipped these for the time being, passing some large ponds on the right. Immediately, Saga Hill loomed overhead starting with a trail of cement steps to lead the way up.

There are actually 3 trails going up to Saga Hill, labeled track A, B and C. Track B is the longest, followed by track C, while track A offers the most shortest and direct route up to Saga Hill. The trail branch can be reached shortly after the flight of cement steps end, there are plenty of signs posted on trees to show the way. Somehow, our group missed the signs and following Aurelius, we ended up on trail C. The hike up on this trail was surprisingly tough, the route rising at inclinations of between 30o to 45o!

Certain parts of the climb requires the use of ropes... it's that steep!

It was a real test of endurance which took its toll on Aurelius and a few others. We paused a few times for them to catch up. A little bit more than an hour later, we reached the summit of Saga Hill, crowned by the characteristic triangle constructed of metal sheets and surrounded by what looked like a camp site.

The Saga Hill Camp Site...

Surprisingly, there were a lot of people at this site and even more surprisingly, there were a few stone ‘bar-bells’ lying about!

Hmmm... thinking... barbells on the floor... should I 'curl'? ;)

We stayed here a while, admiring the view of the valley below and catching our breath. It was getting close to noon before we decide on our next move. Aurelius made the decision not to continue to the falls which was originally our destination for this expedition, citing time constraints for his subsequent activities. ;) Linus on the other hand was adamant on heading straight to the waterfall. Yours truly, who organized the trip chose to side Linus. And so the bulk of the group continued down the track from the Saga Hill summit following the clearly marked trail to the waterfall. Aurelius, Tracy and Chris went down the hill to ‘await’ our return. ;)

The trail from Saga Hill to the waterfall was unexpectedly long. Told by some hikers to be about 45 minutes long it took almost another hour to get there! It started rather easy enough on a flat plane before the trail rises up to another hill, which I believe to be Apeh Hill. Then it goes down where we were unexpectedly attacked by stinging wasps from some hive close to the track! Sean, Sum and our resident mat Salleh were stung while the rest got away unscathed. We continued down, clambering over a couple of fallen tree trunks and passing yet another wasp hive (this time prominently placed on the base of a tree stump right on the track) before reaching the foot of the hill where a stream passes through.

We were one hour into the hike from the hill and it looked very clearly that we will have difficulty returning back to the trail head where Aurelius was waiting for us. We didn’t know how far the waterfall was here and after all that hiking and dodging wasps, some of us were rather reluctant to just give up and turn back. Once again, Linus offered to scout ahead, telling us to give him 15 minutes for him to return with good news. In the meantime, Carol and Jady ‘attended’ to Sum who was groaning and moaning about the stinger embedded on his head by extracting it.

15 minutes passed and there was no Linus in sight. Dennis and I started to get restless and told the others that we would go ahead to find him. It didn’t take long before we spotted the long haired dude balancing himself over a series of logs, heading back to us. Reassuringly, he told us the falls weren’t that far from where we were.

Unfortunately, there was no hand phone signal at this point to contact our ‘kungfu’ panda waiting at the trail head. So we risked his ‘wrath’ by going ahead… balancing ourselves on the logs before getting our feet wet at another stream.

Another stream to cross before we reach our goal!

The elusive falls lay just beyond the stream over some flat ground at a small depression.

The approach to Apeh Hill Waterfall...

...with what looked like Genghis Khan's Mongol horde camped below... ;)

The number of people there however took us by surprise. There were more than 30 people there setting up camp by the falls, a large number of them rather ‘elderly’, going about their business drying up clothing and cooking, no… FRYING of all things, YONG TAU FOO!

Cooking YONG TAU FOO in the jungle?! I want one too! ;)

Indeed, it looked like home away from home for these people with kids running around the place well. We doubted these people hauled up all their tents, stoves, cooking oil, sacks of rice and others via the way we went and suspected that they probably came from the other reputedly ‘closed’ route outside Jalan Wangsa 1/6.

The falls itself consists of a wall of water tumbling over a precipice wide enough for 4 or 5 people to stand side by side.

Searching for inner peace... ;)

The pool beneath wasn’t big or deep enough to swim in. The water was however, refreshingly cool and after waiting for the ‘residents’ to have their turn at the falls, it was time for us to move in.

We took turns to enjoy the ‘rewards’ of our labors.

Mat Salleh, Sum and myself... ;)

Group Photo at the Falls...

At length, some of us chatted with the camp people all the while stealing a ‘sniff’ at the tasty smell of fried yong tau foo.

Around 2pm, we packed up and head back, moving quickly in the hope of avoiding the possible rain brought down by the threatening clouds overhead. We reached the trail head via track A only to be informed via sms that Aurelius, Chris and Tracy had gone home. ;)

Clambering down the slope with ropes via track A, it's even more steeper than track C though definitely shorter...

Taking in Dennis into my car, we went to Ampang’s famous Yong Tau Foo for lunch, the lingering smell of the dish fried in the jungle imparting to us subliminally the destination to quench our hunger.

Subliminal message! Where else to get good Yong Tau Foo other than in Ampang? ;)

Overall, despite the surprising toughness of the trail and unexpected extension of time to the expedition, we generally enjoyed ourselves. Aurelius, despite fuming at our ‘tardiness’ still managed to participate in our next expedition and we all can safely notch off yet another waterfall conquered in yet another corner of Klang Valley! Onward! ;)

Lepak at Lepok Waterfall, Ulu Langat

2011-06-20T12:17:00.015+08:00

Saturday, 18th June 2011, Another day another hike to yet another fall in the pristine countryside! :D This round, we have chosen to revisit Lepok waterfall in Hulu Langat, although this is the first time I am blogging about it. ;)

My last trip to Lepok, 15th August 2010

I have actually visited this waterfall a year before in 2010 on a previous expedition, finding this waterfall unique with it's fair sized ‘slide’ for you to zip down into a pool of water at the bottom. Of course, this is without neglecting the extra advantage of having a nicely paved road leading to a fairly reasonable car park at the start of the trail leaving me with hardly a worry about damaging my ‘ride’ which has become quite a concern for me these days if I end up having to provide 'transport' for our trips. ;)

The team met up at 730am in TTDI’s Devi’s Corner for breakfast, 11 brave souls mustering for this expedition consisting of our courageous founder (and kungfu panda), Aurelius Teo, seasoned hikers; Aaron Chung, Carol, Eu Jin, Yee Wei, Cheah; newcomers; Shienrun, Pey Chern, Choy Foong, Clay and last but not least yours truly well. After loading up our carbohydrates, we set off for Ulu Langat, traveling along the network of highways that crisscross the Klang Valley to first reach Phoenix Plaza in Cheras. From there, we went through the toll leading towards Kajang, immediately veering to the left and following the signboards pointing to Kampung Batu 9 and Pangsun. Here is where the scene changes from the affluent neighborhoods of TTDI to the familiar kampung environs of rural Malaysia.

A single carriage trunk road leads the way towards sleepy hamlet of Pangsun, unusually busy with large multi-axled lorries plying the route but also not without the characteristic SLOW drivers enjoying their Saturday morning drive in their clanky, old, battered, rusty Proton Iswaras, seemingly all too oblivious to the procession of vehicles trailing behind. Oh well... :p

Fortunately, as we neared the fork that takes us away from the main road leading towards Pangsun, the traffic thins out significantly leaving us with clear roads ahead. At this point, the sound of the flowing river running alongside the road begins to fills the ears. In this rural paradise, crystal clear waters flow over polished river rocks, the sun’s gentle morning rays giving the water an added silver sparkle. Do yourself a favor by winding down the windows, allowing the fresh mist drenched air fills your lungs which is a mostly certainly refreshing experience! ;)

About 3km from Pangsun, we found the fork, a signboard with the words ‘Asli Adventure Camp, Sungai Lepoh’ confirming the prompts from my ‘not-so-trusty’ GPS unit. ;) The narrow but otherwise very good conditioned paved road goes on for another 2km passing small wooden houses and other adventure camps before we finally arrived at the farthest point our cars can take us, a wide open space just beneath a large arch leading to the ‘Asli Adventure Camp’ itself.

You can park your cars on the graveled sides here. Depending on ‘luck’ you might be approached by someone to pay a RM2 fee for parking. We paid for it the first time we were here, although this time there was no one in sight. We alighted our car and prepared to move on by foot but not before we witnessed this huge group of scouts marching in file in the general direction of our final destination! I called out to one of them to ask and was told that indeed, Lepok waterfall was going to be their destination although not before they head up to a ‘hill’ first. Looks like it’s not going to be lonely weekend hike for us after all, eh? ;)

We set off after the scouts, right after we took our customary group photos. Unfortunately, we did not have any of our ‘professional’ DSLR wielding photographers in our group, and with Aurelius appearing to have long since retired from his usual role of being our chief ‘cam-whore’, we have to make do with Eu Jin’s IPhone and my trusty Nokia N97 to make up the shortfall instead. :p

Trail Tracker's Traditional Pre-trip Group Photo! :D

Leaving the car park at 9:50am, we moved down the track alongside the river having to cross a shallow stream almost immediately, in the process getting our feet wet.

Getting our feet wet...

The 2km track to Lepok is oriented generally on a north-south axis so if you kept on heading ‘north’ you should be fine. The next stream was spanned by a rickety wooden bridge, which we reached after passing through an open area surrounded by tall ‘lalang’ grass, beyond which the jungle path truly commences.

Traversing over a rickety wooden bridge... march on!

The trail inclines upwards for a few hundred meters, with deep gouges made by motorcycle tyres in the laterite soil ushering us onwards.

First rise of the trail... fairly decent ;)

Durian orchards dot the left and the right of the trail after this incline, the place all these motorcycles have been plying up and down the trail from and to. We passed a small reed hut on the right along the way, a landmark to confirm that we were on the right track before reaching a clearing in the jungle where we met a fork in the trail.

The Hut in the middle of the durian farm... the last time I was here, there was a man selling durians by the 'longgok'... this time, nobody :p

The clearing in the jungle. Watch for the familiar white and red striped ribbons. They lead the way to the falls...

We took the trail to the right where those white and red striped ribbons now appear on the branches of surrounding trees. After this point comes the first and only ‘challenge’ of the trail, a long steep slope that we have to negotiate...

The most challenging part of the hike! The scramble up a long rather steep slope...

The climb slowed our pace a little but overall we didn't encounter any problems although on the way back from the falls, we did encounter quite a number of hikers pausing for breath along the slope, the ‘challenge’ appearing to be too ‘much’ to bear for some… ;)

Along the slope, there were a few tree trunks that straddle across, requiring a little 'heave-ho' to clear...

After clambering up the slope for about 30 minutes, a large metal pipe will appear on your left leading up to what appeared to be a disused ‘dam’, akin to what you might have encountered above Kem Lolo on the Nuang Trail, though in worse condition.

An abandoned 'house' can be seen just at the side of the ‘dam’, also reminding me of a similar construct at Kem Lolo Dam, making it another notable landmark on the trail.

Landmark! ;) An abandoned 'house' by the remains of a 'dam'... a rather (haunting) place to spend the night... :p

We pressed on, skirting along the side of the river, clearing over some boulders along the way. By now, the din of cascading water can be heard through the sounds of the jungle; we are close. ;) 2 hours after we started, we finally arrived at Lepok to discover that it was JAM PACKED with over 30 people bathing in the waterfall! ;)

Civilization finding it's way into the jungle! The look of dismay on Aaron's face describes it all! ;)

They were not the scouts we had encountered earlier but actually members from another group. A few small tents were also pitched at the side, the inhabitants of one burning a pile of twigs and dried leaves to create smoke, perhaps to chase off the irritating sweat bees that begin to buzz around us the moment we arrived. We placed our bags down and waited for about 15 minutes, long enough for the large group to take their leave. ;)

The waterfall is ours! For now... ;)

Once the coast was clear, most of us waded into the falls proper. Courtesy of having the back of my heel chewed off by an escalator one week before in Klang Bukit Tinggi’s Jaya Jusco, I had to reluctantly sit out this round of having a satisfying waterfall bath. :p :( Of those that went in, only Aaron decided to try his luck with the 'slide'. Yee Wei, who has previously did the same decide to sit the slide out.

Carol sitting out a chance to dip in the icy cool waters...

Not surprisingly, the water was icy cold. The depth was deep enough to swim while still low enough for a grown adult to stand on his feet to clear the water. The strength of the cascade at the foot of the fall was not overwhelming yet still good enough to give you a good 'massage' if you were to stand right under it.

City beauties wading into the pool... ;)

A picture is never complete without a beautiful lady at your side... ;)

We hung around the waterfall till 1245pm, the heat of the afternoon sun barely affecting us, shielded as we were from the overhead cloud cover and surrounding trees. It was our empty bellies that urged us to make tracks back to civilization. We returned to the car park by 2pm, as usual, the journey down a lot easier than the journey up.

Some of us washed by the flowing stream near the car park while a rest went into the Asli Adventure Camp to ‘commandeer’ their more civilized facilities. It is still a private ownership however, so it is recommended for you to ‘ask’ when you use their facilities if you see anyone there.

Our customary Trail Tracker lunch extravaganza was held at our regular haunt for trips to this area, Hulu Langat town’s famous Langat Seafood Restaurant and Beer Garden. Located within Hulu Langat town itself, it could be accessed by turning left at the traffic light junction at the center of town on the single road leading out from Pangsun into Jalan Sungai Tekali. From here, you’ll have to cross over a bridge before huge signboards of the restaurant can be seen on the right. Turn into the small road following the directions on the board and watch for the second one that shows the way to the restaurant itself. Do watch out for those menacing unmarked ‘bumps’ on the road especially for those cars with low clearances (mine included), otherwise be prepare for some heartbreaking thumps! :p

At the Ulu Langat Seafood Restaurant and Beer House... never try to disturb Yee Wei when he is eating his food... Grrrr... Woof! :p

A satisfyingly filling meal of egg fu yong, kung po style mantis prawns, green vegetables, kampung chicken in herbal sauce, crowned by nothing less than their signature pork knuckles was served to satiate our hunger.

Their signature dish! Pork Knuckles! Yum...

Once our tanks are ‘filled’, we commenced our final journey home… ending yet another memorable hike to one more of our pristine waterfalls in this quiet pocket of Selangor! :D Until then, this is Eddie Tuen, signing off... ;)

Hike Down to Ijen Caldera, Indonesia

2011-04-15T11:39:00.030+08:00

How would you fancy hiking down the caldera of an active volcano these days? :p Well, quite interesting actually, especially when you are going to be visiting one of the world's biggest manual sulfur mine in an active volcano! Yup, the place I am referring to is none other than Ijen Volcano (Gunung Berapi Ijen) on the eastern part of the Indonesian island of Java. A little far away from my common roaming grounds in Malaysia isn't it?

About a mile away from the infamous Merapi volcano, (the last eruption was in 2010), Ijen is 'calmer' compared with its famous neighbor. No dramatic lakes of steel melting lava here, although it boasts an equally beautiful and reputedly highly acidic lake in it's caldera with a measured pH of 0.5!

The pristine turquoise pool of water within Ijen's caldera...

Arriving in Surabaya, the ride from there to Ijen will take approximately 8 hours by van courtesy of the mostly single carriage roads.

A 'familiar' looking face greeting us at the airport... too bad, Miss 'Olive' wasn't in our party! :p ;)

Traffic culture here is a little different which makes the experience plying on Indonesian roads a little harrowing sometimes especially when you have a 10 ton lorry hurtling straight at you while you're in it's way. Yup, overtaking vehicles here is not a wait and see whether the coast is clear kinda thing. It's more of a hit and fade style with the vehicle jumping out on the opposite lane, driving as far you can before quickly slipping back into YOUR lane before the oncoming vehicle slams into you!

Road conditions can only get worse as you ascend the Ijen plateau with long stretches of it having the tar completely removed, leaving loose gravel and gigantic potholes for us to traverse upon. Also, due to the season in which we arrived (March), generous amounts of rain have inundated the slopes with evidence of land slides along the way.

There are no hotels in the village nearest to Ijen. The best you'd probably find there are the homestays that cater to tourists like us. We stayed at the Catimore Homestay, which I guess was one of the 'best' there is in the area, judging by the amount of westerners there. Based on the comments I am reading from the web about this inn however, and with the benefit of hindsight, I confirm that this place leaves much to be desired. :p The toilets are indeed 'not so clean' (someone wrote in the blogs that there was even 'turd' inside, although I didn't see any ;)), and amenities minimal.

Catimore Inn's toilet... the brown stains, cobwebs... Ewwww, I can safely rate this place as slightly above 'filthy'! :p

The toilet didn't look like they were washed daily, if not monthly! The bedroom is spartan with a rickety bed and one lonesome chair. Bedsheets are thin and rather er... dirty :p.

A bed fit for a Spartan! :D :p

We arrived a little pass 830pm in an area where darkness and fog easily overcomes what little light there is. Dinner was ready for us on arrival, although the fare offered to us was rather bland and tasteless consisting of some white rice, fried chicken, some varieties of stir fried vegetables and dried out bananas.

When you are as tired and cold as us... even not so tasty food is good enough! ;)

After having our dinner and setting our bags into our spartan rooms, we roamed around the premises. A pool with geothermally heated water caught our attention, it's waters inviting except that in the cold of the night we were in, my mind reasoned that it would be better to decline it's warm embrace as the effect of the night's chill would have immediately asserted it's deathly hold the moment you step out of the water!

We retired somewhat early, as we had to start hiking early in the morning. I couldn't sleep much though as the paper thin walls couldn't filter out the noisy chattering from one of our neighbors. :p

We packed to leave in the morning, planning to head for our next destination immediately after the climb. Breakfast was nothing more than a few pieces of pastries and some locally brewed coffee, unfiltered. :p
Boarding the van, we made our way to the Ijen base camp taking about 30 minutes to reach there. The camp was surprisingly well equipped, with a clean toilet and bathroom, a small local food stall and an office.

Base camp at the foot of Mount Ijen...

It is worth noting that the whole place is privately owned, visitors are charged a certain amount which in our case was already paid for by our guides. What was not paid for was our cameras and on noting that some of us were hanging some of the gadgets over our necks, one of the wardens informed our guide that we had to pay for that too (25,000 rupiahs each, tourist price no doubt!). We were told that they could be 'smuggled' in our bags through the base camp and then taken out later on the hike but that was after the guide was already 'stung' by the warden. :p As usual, we took a few group photos before the camp signboard before we set off!

Selamat datang ke Kawah Ijen! :D

The climb was rather pleasant without much exertion required. This does not mean that its easy because endurance is required to last the 2 hour hike.

As the sign says, from the foot of the volcano to the caldera, it's about 3km... which is approximately about a 2 hour hike for most people... ;)

Bring water because there is no where else to obtain them aside from the stall down at the base camp. As for the cold, well, after a few minutes walk, your body would have generate enough body heat to keep warm. Bring a light jacket if you wish.

The gang on the way up the volcano...

Along the way, we bumped into the miners, some carrying lumps of sulfur in weaved baskets linked by a strip of sturdy rattan spread over their shoulders. Don't let their small frames fool you because these guys are super strong! The loads they were carrying over their backs range from 60kg to 100kg! And these guys had to do it like 4 to 5 times a day over a span of 6km one round trip!

Unless you are some 'power-weightlifter', mere mortals like myself are unable to duplicate the feat these miners do everyday!

Knowing that this place has become somewhat of a magnet for curious tourists, some of them would offer to sell carved pieces of sulfur in the shape of turtles and other animals for a fee. Watch out though because it might be a problem carrying this stuff on board a plane, sulfur being a primary component for explosives! There is a way station somewhere in the middle of the path up the caldera. Here is where the loads carried down by the miners are weighed and their wages calculated.

The waystation in the middle of the track up to Ijen...

Rows and rows of baskets filled with lumps of sulfur can be seen right outside the way station.

Taking a photo with one of those 'super-human' miners!

Tuhan Selamatkan Indonesia! ;)

Not tarrying long, we proceeded up to the lip of Ijen Caldera, taking about another half and hour to reach the top. Along the way, the surrounding countryside is revealed to us as we cleared the forest canopy. Distant volcanoes, tall mountains, tracts of forest and villages filled the view around.

A nearby mountain and judging by how geologically active this place is, possibly an extinct volcano?

Peaceful, serene forest...

We can even see the island of Bali, located on the eastern edge of Java. Coniferous trees give way to rock the closer we get to the lip of the caldera.

Trees give way to boulders and rocks as approached the lip of the volcano...

At the top there are no more trees, although fortunately for us, the heat of the sun was moderated by the cool weather and thick cloud cover. We took a few pictures at the lip of the volcano. More rocks and the rising plume of sulfur from the mines dominated the view within the volcano, the famous mine itself a distance away down in the caldera.

At the crater's edge...

There was no question on what I would want to do next. I didn't come all this way to Indonesia to stop at the lip so with our guide, four of us peeled off from the main group to descend into the mining area at the bottom of the caldera. A stone path, roughly cut by the miners themselves led the way down.

In the footsteps of Dante? ;)

A firm footing is required while negotiating this path as at certain places it is rather steep. Coupled to this was the fact that some of the stones along the path are rather loose and could be dislodged therefore some care is required lest you topple down into the stony depths below. The trek down into the caldera took another 30 minutes. We were fortunate today as the prevailing winds did not blow the choking sulfurous clouds from the mines into our path which we were told it sometimes does! That small concession gave us a clear view of the path and mines ahead of us.

The sulfur mines of Ijen beckons!

Arriving at the bottom, we were greeted by a busy scene of miners clad in rudimentary breathing masks milling about the pipes and barrels enshrouded in thick sulfurous smoke.

Arriving at the mines, enshrouded by sulfurous smoke...

Not very healthy... :p

A large turquoise lake stretched beyond the mines. The lake is actually the volcanic cauldron and with this much sulfur around, there is no doubt that it is acidic. Curiosity clouding this fact for a moment, I ventured down to the lake's edge to 'feel' the water's temperature.

The waters of the caldera, reputedly pH 0.5 at the center...

Not surprisingly, it was a little warm with the slippery feeling of weak acid. ;) Hahah, mercifully there was no scene of flesh dripping off my bones here... maybe at the center of the lake would the pH drop even further. The mine and the surrounding lake offers a breathtaking sight!

Looks like movie set for some apocalyptic scene! ;)

Truly amazing! Where can you find another place like this? ;)

From a certain perspective, the place reminds me of the Grand Canyon, with rocky walls rising all around.

Echoes of the Grand Canyon...

We stayed here for about 30 minutes taking pictures and observing the miners at their work before our guide called us to return to the lip and back to the van.

Miners work to harvest the sulfur...

Threatening rain clouds gathered overhead and the thought of being washed down by acid rain wasn't really enticing either. We quickly made a beat back to the base camp about an hour and a half later, a little tired but truly charmed by the sights offered at Ijen. We met an elderly German couple at the local food stall over a light snack consisting of local cakes and coffee provided by our tour organizer.

The adventurous German couple that has transverse the wilderness of Central Asia, the wastelands of Siberia, the plains of Mongolia, to the cities of China down to the jungles of Malaysia... finally they are here in Indonesia! ;)

Turns out the couple has been traveling across Asia with their caravan and their most recent stop prior to this being Malaysia! We chatted with them for a while, allowing them to share their adventures before taking a peep at their rugged looking caravan.

The 'rugged' caravan that probably would have clocked more miles in a single trip than most cars in their lifetime!

A little bit pass 1pm, we were summoned by our guide to get on board our vehicle. "All aboard!" for it's time head to our next destination... Mount Bromo! ;)

Kota Damansara Community Forest Reserve: A walk in the Park

2011-02-22T15:07:00.007+08:00

It’s been a while since my last hike, what with the rainy weather that is so common towards the end of the year in Malaysia. Trails become muddy and soggy, you get dirty and the hordes of leeches that seem to ‘bloom’ in conditions like these always a deterrent to this adventurer.

The good news is that the weather has now moderated somewhat, with less occurrence of rain. So it’s time to slip back on my hiking boots. :D

February 19th, 2011 saw my first foray into the jungle since the dawn of the New Year. The destination: Kota Damansara Community Forest Reserve. ;) Yup, right close to the heart of civilization! And yup again, it’s kind of a ‘sissy’ hike for me. :D

You can’t really find the place on the GPS nor are there really signboards posted to lead you to the place from the main road. But I have recorded the GPS position via my phone, so if you are looking for it, key in the following coordinates: N 03o 10.162’ E101o 34.838’. That would put you right smack at the most official looking entrance to the park. You can also locate it by searching for the school opposite the entrance, the rather blandly named, Sekolah Menengah Sekysen 10 Kota Damansara. For those not ‘blessed’ with the latest Global Positioning technology, then you’ll have to rely on good old road directions.

Ye’Olde Road Directions

Starting from the Curve behind you, travel along Persiaran Surian until you reach the traffic light junction to turn into Persiaran Mahogani. This junction is also where you’ll find Kota Damansara’s HOT Giza development on your right. If you miss this turn, Casa Indah Condominium will be immediately on your left after the traffic lights. On Persiaran Mahogani, drive pass the overpass spanning the Kota Damansara exit of the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), pass the 1st traffic light with Carrefour on your right, pass a 2nd traffic light with a mosque on your left, pass a 3rd traffic light with 7-Eleven on your left before finally reaching the 4th traffic light. Take a right turn at the traffic light into Persiaran Bidara. Driving along this road will take you pass De Rozelle Condominium on your left before you reach the start point opposite the school.

I was introduced to this place by two of my friends, Cindy and Suk Yuen whom I had never thought would want to take up ‘jungle trekking’ as a hobby, ‘delicate’ beings they were ;). There was an offer of a ‘fish’ to bait me, but as my luck would have it, the ‘fish’ always somehow found something else to do at the last minute. :p (Not that the ‘fish’ is the main reason I joined this ‘sissy hike’ in the first place. :p ;) As I have repeatedly stressed, it’s the QUALITY TIME I get to spend with my friends that is more important! ;) Right?) So for this trip, it was Cindy, Suk Yuen, Hou Yong and myself.

We started off on the trail at about 9:30am, after meeting up at Giza. The start point has a large permanent roofed structure close by, probably built as a resting spot or gathering point.

Signboards posted at the entrance to the park. Unfortunately, no camping allowed :p

The trail is pretty well defined, with trees to the left and right labelled with the name of its genus and species.

As long as there are signs like these on nearby trees, you SHOULD not get lost... :p

As long as you keep seeing these labels, you know you will not get lost here (Not that you’d be far off from civilization anyway. Housing areas surround the park). It is also officially listed as a mountain biking trail as well, although on this Saturday we did not see any ‘macho’ mountain bikers that the ladies were touting. Perhaps it was pretty ‘late’ in the morning.

Cindy 'enjoying' the morning walk... ;)

After about 20 minutes slow walk, we encountered a fork in the road. Although the other three have been here before, none seem to recall which route to take. A paper trail with the word ‘BATU’ etched on it led us into one direction, which we decided to follow. At length, the trail was blocked by a fallen tree trunk at which the ‘BATU’ paper trail suddenly veered itself right into the jungle up an inclined slope.

The 'notorious' BATU paper trail that led us to a DEAD END :p.

Not wanting to second guess these ‘BATU’ people who seemed to know what they were doing, we followed on, passing thorny ferns before ending up at a DEAD END! :p The ‘BATU’ trail just disappeared and after a 15 minute search of the perimeter with no further evidence of a trail, I advised we turn back and head towards the fork. Of course, the prospect of being on the next day’s newspaper headline cited with the distinction of being one of those clueless people that could actually get lost in a relatively meek forest reserve and had to be rescued by the fire department didn’t sound at all appealing to this ‘seasoned’ hiker’s mind. ;) :p

The trail we took from here on was labelled the ‘Temuan’ trail. It was listed as officially being 4km long. There were a few other trails; the other I remembered was called ‘Scout’s Trail’ at a shorter distance.

Dainty ladies experiencing a hike...

We met a bunch of other hikers at a fork on this trail. They were coming back from an unsuccessful search for some sort of ‘spring’. More likely, they have better luck searching for ‘El Dorado’, because I haven’t heard of a waterfall or spring in this area. :p ;)

We left the hikers behind and headed down the trail. Strangely, the ‘BATU’ paper trail made an appearance again, ‘guiding’ us along the now obvious path. There were a lot of ‘exits’ to this trail that lead into the surrounding housing estates as you near it’s circuitous end but I would recommend you return to whence you start lest you get disorientated. :p

Prior to discovering that the trail was circuitous however, I had asked the other three whether there was a ‘destination’ to this trail. Their answer was a surprising negative! :p

So there you have it. After following the jungle trail for another 30 minutes, we finally ended up where we started. No waterfall, no summit, no viewing point, nada. :p Not that the place is all that bad. It’s a real good place for beginners and for arborists, you know, those people who study about… er… TREES! :p ;)
Still, the chance of spending time with friends (seriously! ;)) and stretching my hiking legs a bit is well worth the time.

Hou Yong negotiating a slope... seems like he is happy! ;)

At 11:00am, we packed up, got into Hou Yong’s MyVi and headed to Giza for a ‘luxurious’ breakfast at Papa Rich. :)

Sisan Ice Kacang, Taiping

2011-02-22T11:16:00.006+08:00

Sisan Ice Stall, Taiping, Perak.

Located in the sleepy town of Taiping in the state of Perak, it is one of the many stalls found at the local food court on Jalan Iskandar, close to the town center (Look out for the police beat base nearby).

The Police Beat Base next to the food court in Taiping on Jalan Iskandar, Sisan is nearby...

The view opposite the police beat base. Old style Pre-war buildings abound in this once bustling tin mining town.

Other hawker fares abound but what really attracted me was the unique way they presented their ‘ice kacang’. ;)

Aside from ice kacang, Sisan offers other treats as well.

Perhaps it’s the influence of the many limestone hills that dot the Kinta Valley, but the shape of their ice kacang certainly resembles one of those hills! It might also relate back to the name of the store itself. ‘Sisan’ in Cantonese roughly translates to ‘Ice Mountain’. :)

Eating the ice kacang itself requires some forehand knowledge. ;) ‘Undermining’ the base might result in the whole ‘mountain’ toppling over resulting in a rather wasted and messy predicament.

Ice Mountain!

The proper way to eat it is to ‘carve’ along the sides of the ‘mountain’, then eating from the ‘summit’ before going down to the base. At the ‘foot’ is a treasure trove of goodies with peanuts, cendol, red bean and corn among the choices for you to savour.

You can further enhance this culinary experience by pairing this treat with some fruit rojak which is also offered at the stall. For me, however, eating the ‘ice mountain’ is sufficient experience in itself and for about RM1.30/bowl (2010 pricing), its a steal! :D

So guys, do look out for it when in Taiping!

Conned in London!

2011-02-21T13:48:00.028+08:00

I was robbed. :p No, I was conned. And I was conned right under the QUEEN’S nose! :p

Since my return from my trip to London, I had been repeating this story over and over, so at the risk of making myself sound like a moron, I hereby post this blog about myself getting conned right under the Queen’s nose at Green Park, London. Hopefully, through my own experience, readers of this blog have one more thing to have themselves alert off in their trips overseas!

First, a declaration.

“LONDON, PARIS, AMSTERDAM, ROME… if you think these places are safe, think NOT.” You should be even MORE careful than you are in New York, Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur or even Siem Reap!

These modern European cities, being popular destinations for tourists from all over the world are some of the BEST places for con artistes and criminals to prey on us. They know we love this places, that's why they linger there like flies attracted to a dead carcass. :p With snatch thieves and robbers, they are obvious. Scam and con artistes, now they are a different category of felons all together. :p

These people prey on our relative ignorance of local customs and practices and exploit to extract our hard earned cash from us. And I label them ‘artiste’ because they are professionals, cool, methodological and confident. They are NOT AMATEURS. :p

Now back to my story. How did it happen to me? Well, sit back and let me regale you of my tale. :p

It was a chilly winter afternoon of the 22nd of January 2011. The venue, somewhere near Wellington’s Arch on a traffic island, east of Buckingham Palace and north of Green Park. I had just finished a conversation with my cousin on the phone when all of a sudden some guy just popped out of nowhere and asked me ‘where was the Big Ben’. And herein comes the first precaution when handling strangers in a foreign place.

Precaution #1: Be wary of strangers that pop up immediately after a phone call. You have been distracted and disorientated. Chances are you have made an appointment with someone and need to get somewhere soon. Perfect for scam artistes to make a good getaway as you’d be too busy trying to get to your destination than have time to check whether you have just been conned.

I looked at the guy. He was alone, dark and of slight build. He looked Southern European, maybe Italian. “The Big Ben? Oh it’s back over there,” I replied as I pointed in the general direction of Westminster Palace. I was right. It was the ‘wrong’ answer.

The famous BIG BEN...

The guy asked, “How far away is it?”

I said, “About 20 minutes walk. Just follow the signs to get there.” Again, I was right and again it was the ‘wrong’ answer.

“You seem familiar about this place, how do you know where it is?” The guy was trying, hard. :p

“Oh, that’s because I just came from back there a moment ago,” I answered.

The guy placed a hand behind his head and said sheepishly, “Thanks. I am actually new here. My name is Franco and I am an Italian tourist.”

That was when I made my mistake. “Oh really? I AM A TOURIST TOO.”

The guy had to make sure. So he asked one more question.

“Your English is quite good. Are you a student here?”

“Nah, I am not a student. I am a tourist. The reason my English is good is because I come from Malaysia. We speak English there,” I chirped.

At that, the guy must have given some kind of hand or eye signal. And just as suddenly as he appeared out of nowhere, two other guys popped up.

Precaution #2: Now what just happened? Did you notice the line of questioning? The ‘Italian tourist’ was shooting off questions to gage me to see whether I can be a potential victim. Unfamiliarity is something he was looking for. The fact that I answered the two questions correctly threw him off. I made the mistake when I admitted that I WAS A TOURIST too. But he made one final confirmation with the question on my English in which I affirmed I was a tourist again and not a student (whom might have spent a little bit longer a time here to know the ways of this place).

“Police!” one of the two guys yelled as they approached.

Both of them were dressed in the same greyish jumpsuit similar to what most of the joggers were wearing this time of year. Both of them had beanies (hmmm… how come beanies are such a favourite among felons?) on their heads, again of the same colour. The whole thing was meant to show it was some kind of undercover ‘uniform’. :p

When the two reached us, one of them flipped out his wallet to show his ‘warrant card’. I only had a fleeting image of a horizontally orientated card with a picture and some wordings written on it before he quickly flipped it back. The other guy did not do the same.

Precaution #3: When undercover ‘police’ approaches you, make sure you make an additional effort to verify their identity in detail. Demand to look at their ‘warrant card’. READ IT. Observe whether they immediately make a ‘report’ that they have stopped people via a walkie talkie or some kind of communication device. This should be procedure. Both of the officers MUST SHOW THEIR WARRANT CARD.(A note about London Police warrant card: The one that was eventually shown to me at the police station are longer vertically. The ID side has a picture of the officer in uniform and on the other side is a BIG BADGE. Strangely, though it is important for the general public to recognize a warrant card carried by a police officer, samples of it are notoriously hard to find on the web). For more information on what to expect when stopped by London Police, read here.

“There have been a number of incidents whereby people have been tricking tourists by exchanging them money. We suspect you two of doing so,” began the bearded, taller of the two. “Do you know this guy?” he queried, indicating me as he looked at the ‘Italian tourist’.

The ‘Italian Tourist’ said he did not know me.

“How about you?” the ‘policeman’ asked, turning towards me.

At that point I was rather struck by the un-English like accent the two ‘policemen’ were using. They did not look ‘English’ as well, again akin to Southern Europeans than natives of the British Isles. But at the same time, another part of mind was telling me, “Hey, this is the United Kingdom! All sorts of people come here. It shouldn’t be surprising to have two Southern European guys speaking in a non-English accent as police officers right?” I mean, how many times have you seen a British citizen of Indian origin?

“I don’t know who this guy is,” I answered, “We just met a few moments ago.”

“Can I see your passport?” The ‘policeman’ asked the ‘Italian Tourist’.

The ‘Italian Tourist’ handed over his passport to him. The ‘policeman’ flipped it open, looked at it a while then returned it back to the ‘Italian Tourist’. He then turned to me and asked for the same.

Oh Great! I thought as I struggled to pull out my passport from my tight chest pocket. Finally managing to pull it free, I passed it to the ‘policeman’.

He examined it.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Eddie Tuen Wai Keong,” I instinctively replied, realizing quickly that ‘Eddie’ was never printed in any of my official identity documents.

It apparently didn’t bother the ‘policeman’ as he closed my passport and handed it back to me. He then launched the standard 'immigration' questioning charade.

“How long are you here in London?”

“I have been here since yesterday.”

"Where are you staying here in London?"

"At the Raddison in Warren Street..."

“You have to know that there have been a spate of illegal money changing going on here recently. For this reason, we have to check your wallet for any foreign currencies,” said the ‘policeman’. “Can you pass me your wallet?” again indicating the ‘Italian tourist’ first.

The ‘tourist’ obidiently handed over his wallet.

The ‘policeman’ opened it, lifted the notes within, put it back in and handed the wallet back.

It was now my turn.

I took out my wallet with British pounds and passed it to them as I had been subconsciously led by the ‘Italian tourist’. However, I kept my eye on the wallet as it was handled.

The wallet was returned to me.

It was now the 2nd ‘police officer’ to start his ‘performance’.

“How long will you be staying here in London?” asked the clean shaven, shorter of the two.

“I’m going to be here till Sunday, after that I will head back to Amsterdam.”

“Amsterdam?” the ‘officer’ said with a slight tilt of one eyebrow. “Then you’d have Euros too! Do you have a 2nd wallet?” he asked.

Drat. I had indeed a 2nd wallet with more of my money, although I had never the intention to carry all my cash with me :p. In fact, that very morning, I had the very clear urge to stash the 2nd wallet into the hotel safe but for a small fact that the safe wasn’t working! So, between risking keeping my wallet in the hotel room and having the cleaners swipe it or carrying it along with me but making sure it was securely buried in my backpack, I chose the latter. I didn’t know that I have to now ‘surrender’ it to people claiming they are ‘police officers’. :p

Reluctantly, I said, “Yes…”

“Can you pass it to us?” came the inevitable request.

What was I to do? If I lied and they were indeed police officers then if they searched me and found my wallet, I would be in deep shit. As a matter of fact, if they were suspecting I was some illegal money changer, my 2nd wallet had all the evidence; 100 Malaysian Ringgits, 705 Euros and about 350 US Dollars. So, with a heavy heart I told them, ‘Ok’ and knelt down to open up my bag to retrieve my 2nd wallet.

It was at this point that I made my biggest blunder.

Precaution #4: ALWAYS KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR WALLET!

Knowing that the 1st time those guys handled my wallet and nothing happened, I had again subconsciously begun to ‘trust’ the two. When I handed my wallet to the ‘policemen’ I had initially kept an eye from where I knelt. I saw him did the same thing which was lifting my money out and putting it back in. Unfortunately, somehow, I turned away from it for a split second and that was when they made their move.

“Ok, everything is in order,” said the 2nd clean shaven ‘policeman’. “Please be aware that robberies and snatch theft happen quite often here in London. Make sure you secure your wallet properly,” he ‘advised’ with a slight grin.

At that, the ‘policeman’ took my wallet and ‘helped’ shove it deep into my bag before piling it under the pair of mittens I had carried.

Once I have zipped up my bag and stood up, the other ‘policeman’ gave out his hand and grinned even wider as he said, “Well, thank you for your cooperation, but we have to go now. Have a good trip here in London.”

I grabbed the guy’s hand and shook it, all the while not realizing that the bastard must be thinking what a BIG SUCKER I was :p.

With that concluded, the two ‘policemen’ coolly walked away towards Wellington’s Arch leaving a flustered looking ‘Italian tourist’ to cover their escape. In hindsight, it was more likely that the guy was to make sure I don't do anything as stupid as checking my wallet straight away while his accomplices walk away. :p

I turned around, saw the man’s ‘flustered’ face and thought he was probably as ‘shaken’ as I was.

“Well, this is really the 1st time such a thing has happened to be,” I started. “Never thought such a thing would happen here.”

The ‘Italian tourist’ said nothing.

“Anyway, I have to go. I have my cousin waiting for me at Chinatown. Hope you enjoy your stay here,” I said offering my hand.

The felon took my hand shook it and left, probably satisfied on a ‘scam well done’. :p

I watched with a slight degree of confusion as the guy went in the direction of Wellington Arch after his two accomplices instead of the Big Ben he had asked me earlier.

But I didn’t have the ‘time’ to do anything else. I had an appointment to keep and I was late.

Only when I arrived at Leicester Square, waited 15 minutes for my cousin, meeting him and being brought to a local Chinese restaurant did I opened up my bag again to check my wallet’s contents.

And that was when I found I was 500 Euros and 200 US Dollars poorer. :p (The PROFESSIONALS picked out the big denomination notes and left the smaller ones in to maintain the wallet's volume. All this in a blink of an eye!)

After that, I went to make a police report at the Holburn Police Station near my hotel on Warren Street. This was so that I can make a claim to my travel insurance agent.

Ironically, at the same time I was asking the hotel concierge on the location of the nearest police station, there was another elderly hotel guest who was also doing the SAME! Apparently she too was robbed of all her belongings (money, credit card and identification)! She was travelling with a group of other ladies. And that is not all, as I walked to the police station, I met this family who was asking me for directions to the station. They say they had 'lost' one of their children, possibly kidnapped! I met all three parties at the station when I was making the report. Gosh!

Holborn Police Station, where I made the report. As the crime was committed in Westminster, my case was transfered there later...

Precaution #5: ALWAYS BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE! This should not come as a surprise especially after my ‘adventure’ in Cambodia two years ago :p. Anyway, the maximum coverage is only 800 Malaysian Ringgit for theft, although it is still better than nothing. :p

You should note that in Britain, you don’t actually get a ‘report’. You get a ‘crime reference number’ instead. The British police claim that there are certain ‘sensitive’ information on the report which cannot be revealed to the general public. However, it is mandated by their Freedom of Information Act for the police to respond to any questions on the status of the report. Thus any queries from you should be entertained.

Also, the British police do maintain a database of felons caught by their famous network of CCTVs installed throughout London. The database can be accessed here.

It is here that I found a picture of the ‘Italian Tourist’, dressed in the same brown jacket with the same mark on the bridge of his nose. :p From the site, it was shown that he had been active in the Westminster district since November 2010.

Suspect 31242, Wanted for Burglary (now as a scam artiste as well!). Watch out! Grrrrr...:p

Strange, because that district, with the British government offices, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace was akin to the area around the National Mall, Capitol Hill and the White House in the United States! I mean, this place should be as secure as the Green Zone in Baghdad! :p And yet, from their own website, the police highlighted this area as an area with a high incidence of crime! :p

Another thing to note was during my 3 days in Britain, I had hardly sighted the famous British Bobby on patrol. Whether it was the cold or their over-reliance on their CCTV system, I only saw them at two places: Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square. In contrast, Amsterdam had police everywhere in threes and fours, on foot, mounted on motorcycles and also in patrol cars.

Finally, British Bobbies! Too bad I had already been robbed :p.

Finally, a surprise. :p This was neither the first nor the last time a con was executed on me during my two weeks in Europe. Watch out for these two scams:-

Scam #1 ("For the BABIES!(?)")

At the Big Ben, watch out for this roving band of elderly ladies sticking ‘flowers’ into your pockets. They will ask for some ‘donation’. If you pause and start to take out some money, they will insist on hard paper notes. ‘They don’t take coins’ and don’t expect to get ‘change’ for your bigger notes. It’s for the ‘babies’. :p My advice is to FIRMLY decline and return the piece of grass if necessary (the grass is not even worth a pound!). :p

Scam #2 ("Oh dear! I've lost all my belongings!" *Sob*)

This happened at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam. Before checking in for the flight home, I was arranging my bags on one of the benches as it was overloaded. Suddenly a lady appeared and told me that she was robbed of her belongings and money. She then asked whether I have any Euros to ‘spare’. This is a classic case of ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on ME!’ :p I told her that since she was robbed, she should report to the police. She replied that she did but she still did not have any money. I then replied that it was ‘improbable’ for the police to leave her like that and offered her to find some policemen to assist her. To this, she immediately withdrew and went off to prey on other unsuspecting tourists. :p

Precaution #6: Be extra wary when in places like airports. Prime real estate for con artiste and criminals to operate!

Alright, that’s all for today folks. I hope by sacrificing my dignity to air this on the internet, that you readers will learn a thing or two when you are travelling overseas. Never be fooled by this veneer of ‘civilization’. Often times, that is where all this kind of professional criminals fool us country bumpkins! Until next time…

A Visit to Restaurant Talipon (Jalan Kuchai Lama)

2010-11-24T11:42:00.013+08:00

"...Can call all you want but there's no one home, you're not gonna reach my telephone. I out in the club and I'm sippin that bub, you're not gonna reach my telephone..."

I don't know why but my mind has been busy buzzin Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' for the past few weeks as I extended invitation after invitation to very busy people for a visit to (where else?), Restaurant Talipon along Jalan Kuchai Lama.

Restaurant Talipon. "Talipon" is the old Malay pronouciation of "Telephone". ;) Nowadays the proper spelling for "Telephone" in Malay is "Telefon". ;)(Is there someone rolling back their eyes back there?)

The usual reply were things like:-

"Sorry, I've got wedding dinner this weekend"

"No thanks, got other plans oledi"

"Got to do household work today :-("

"I can't join. Have dinner with friends later...", bla bla bla... (Yeah, and you know who you are! :p)

Well, whether the overly negative responses to my invitations were an aversion to Lady Gaga's telephone (hmmm, maybe my constant redention of her song at the karaoke is scarring people off?), Restaurant Talipon's food itself (why????) or the SENDER himself, I leave it to the processing powers of others to fathom. :p

In any case, I still managed to scrap together a small posse of three, consisting Kam Keong, Jady and myself for a visit to staunch my intense craving for BBQ Steamboat food! :p

Once on Jalan Kuchai Lama, it is really quite hard to miss the restaurant along the side of the road. From Old Klang Road (Jalan Klang Lama), take the traffic light junction into Jalan Kuchai Lama. You'll have to go over a rather high slope, before finding a slip road running parallel called Jalan Indrahana 1.

The name of the road parallel to Jalan Kuchai Lama where Restaurant Talipon is situated (complete with Ah Long stickers!)

Restaurant Talifon is right next to the signboard and across from an Air Asia advertisment promoting flights to Chengdu featuring two cute pandas(at least that's what the advertisment board was showing at the time of this writing) ;). For those with the benefit of GPS guidance (hey it's the 21st century! ;)), the coordinates for the restaurant is N 03 5.470', E101 40.842'.

We arrived at Restaurant Talipon at about 7:45pm on a Sunday night. There were still quite a number of seats available, although after 8:00pm the restaurant was packed full. :p

Almost full at 8pm...

What I like about the place is that it is one of the few steamboat restaurants that actually allows you to BBQ your food around the soupy steamboat pot. In fact, the relative size of the pot vs the area available for the BBQ seems to imply more of an emphasis on the BBQ than the traditional steamboat soup option.

The steamboat pot and BBQ plate combination...

Settling down, I went over to the counter where the foods are arranged to be picked up by eager customers. Oh, and did I mention that tthe place is almost 100% self service? Chopsticks, plates, spoons, forks, bowls, sauces will have be brought back yourselves to your tables from a communal tray.

To open up the taste buds, the restaurant offers a choice of fried wan tans, fried rice, curry chicken, fried chicken and below average sushi :p. I skipped all that and went straight for the main course.

Choices for the BBQ range from black pepper marinated beef, chicken, pork, to curry powder covered fish, chicken marinated satay style and even pieces of sliced chinese sausage!

The BBQ choices, notice the 'self service' sign...

For the soupy side, you'll have a choice of clams, lala, 'see-hum', mushrooms, pork intestines, meat balls, fish balls and lots of vegetables.

When preparing the BBQ plate, don't forget to grab a few scoops of butter. They are the clumps of yellowish durian fruit looking stuff on a plastic sauce plate located on the table near the sauces. The butter is used to lubricate the BBQ plate as overtime, burnt pieces of skin and meat tend to stick to the BBQ surface rendering it eventually useless. :p

For soups, I believe there is only one standard choice as the Bangladeshi looking workers there didn't present us with alternatives. So if your idea of having steamboat is to have varieties of soups for boiling your food (ie. asam soup, herbal soup etc.), this is probably not the place for you :p.

Soup? Well there seems to be ONE choice...

Also, there is a 'no wastage' rule which is posted on boards located near the food pits. Apparently, 'every 100gm of food wastage you will be fined RM5'.... how much this is enforced I am not sure as a table of Thai speaking people sitting right next to us left 'unmolested' with I guess more than a few hundred grams of food left there unattended. :p

NO WASTAGE!

Switching to 'buffet' eating mode, Jady, Kam Keong and myself ate slowly but steadily, going for a few rounds until we were stuffed. Fortunately I had already put in a 'deposit' at the gym before I came over. ;)

For drinks, we had the standard chinese tea in a pot, although fruits juices and soft drinks are available for order. Ice creams, fruits and ice kacang are choices for dessert. The total cost per head? RM21.80 for adults and RM12.00 for children. Of course there is an extra charge for the drinks.

Prices per head are advertised on the board behind... click the pic to enlarge. ;)

The crowds begin to thin after 10:30pm, the dessert table becoming more popular as people wind down from the main course.

Empty tables begin to pop up here and there as the night progresed...

We stuck around for a quite a while as Jady and Kam Keong exchanged 'life experiences'... ;) Only after I have received a summon from Vincent and Eric to attend our weekend football gathering at Emak Nik did I *ahem*, drop a hint that it is time to perhaps go(?). ;)

We left Restaurant Talipon at 11:00pm, stomaches full and Lady Gaga finally silenced (for a while at least). ;)

48 Hour Film Project! Shooting and Death Scenes!

2010-11-05T12:30:00.000+08:00

It’s always hard to wake up in the wee hours of the morning on a Saturday. The time is 6:30am and I am finding it hard to establish motor control over my body despite my alarm already hollering for the last 15 minutes :p. After doing the necessary morning rituals, I was back on the NKVE, hurtling towards TTDI to gather with the others at Linus's place. We had breakfast at our common haunt, Devi's Corner, before heading out to the 1st shooting stop, the bus stop along Jalan Dato' Sulaiman, TTDI.

On the set with the team...

For this shoot, most of the dialogue will be in good old, Bahasa Malaysia. ;) Therefore the expertise of our thespian, Mr. Faisal is needed for this task. While we filled our bellies, Faisal and Kay Lee were busy working and 'feeling' out the translated script. ;) The shoot started at about 9am, with Kay Lee and Nurafidah starring after their faces were generously doused with makeup by our artist, Lyana Dee ;).

Lyana Dee (Daffy's makeup artiste) working her magic...

The weather was generally cooperative, the sun was up with little cloud cover, although the sound of passing traffic was quite a nuisance. Apparently, the people of TTDI with their better access to bigger and more powerful cars tend to create a larger amount of noise when they drive by, VROOOOMMMMM!!! ;) As we are filming at the bus stop, our activities also managed to attract a few people within passing buses (it is a bus stop after all ;)) although fortunately no crowds formed around the shooting area (I wonder if it was done in my hometown, Klang, what would happen?) ;).

Filming at the bus stop. Surprisingly this outwardly 'mundane' looking public amenity is quite popular as a film set! :)

Prior to the shoot, my director gave me an active chance to contribute to the 'wellbeing' of the shoot. Calling out my name initially illicited a confused response because on this very fine day, there were two 'Eddie's' on the set, the other one being our Director of Photography (who also seems to have an affinity for red Mazdas :D). The 'task' our director reserved for 'Eddie' leaves no doubt as to which 'Eddie' he was calling out. It was to pick up rubbish around the bus stop so that the set don't look so dirty, something which I guess would have made the other 'Eddie' go bonkers. :p *Sigh* The things I do for my 15 secs of fame... :p ;).

The DIRECTOR! :D

After 3 hours of golf ball swirling in a glass jar and bizarre explanations of how someone could keep a love one forever at one's side, we finally took a break at about 1:00pm for lunch, a little bit behind schedule.

Kay Lee must be thinking, "Little ball, little ball in a jar, who is the fairest of them all?" ;)

By now, I had a second task from our esteemed director and that is to ensure everyone gets fed their share of chicken rice. For 'halal' fare, Sum assisted me by getting the required foodstuff from Devi's. Meal time over, we went over to the next set, a motorcycle shop in Kayu Ara. There was a brief spell of rain which fortunately petered out rather quickly. No matter, we were 'safe' as the next shoot is held indoors.

At the recently 'commandeered' motorcycle shop in Kayu Ara

Located close to where we shot House about a year ago, the motorcycle shop was 'commandeered' by our ever resourceful Mr. Dennis, for a small fee to the owner of course. Thankfully there were also no muscular thugs to harrass us like the last time. Guess now is the time I get to fulfill my '15 seconds of fame', posing as the protagonist's father's motorcycle riding friend ;).

Ah... Director Linus giving pointers to a noob... :p ;)

Greeting Mr. Danial Mamat (Faisal), I was to exclaim about his new name tag, his mispelt name and then comment about his daughter as she passed by. The longest line I had was, 'Wah, tiap kali saya datang, anak you semakin membesar. Dahlah macam mak dia, Cantik pun macam mak dia'. That was however, reduced to 'Wah, anak you semakin membesar ya?". Why? Well, because we are shooting on celluloid, so if you mess up that's one length of unretrievable useless tape, oh as well as oh... one minor detail? I kept forgetting the extended line! :D

"Fuyoh! Ada name tag baruuuuuu!!!" ;)

Admittedly, I was rather pleased that the remark on my little star protagonist was mostly removed, the line did sound a little bit 'not right'. ;) At length, it was Faisal, who acted opposite me that had to babble a long string of stuff after my line. No sweat for our veteran thespian! :D

I had to leave quickly after the motorcycle shop scene as I had appointments galore this day. Pretty unusual really, because my Saturdays are usually quite vacant for this 'quantum singularity' ;). After redoing the scene from different angles and almost being made to a 'tango' with Faisal, I had to reluctantly bid the crew goodbye. :( My phone was already buzzing with people waiting for me at the next destination. ;)

At this point, I do have to mention one rather strange event that happened during the shoot though. It sort of happened while Carol was holding the clapper board in front of me and Faisal as we were made to do the near tango for the camera. She apparently saw 'someone' passed behind the both of us on the monitor that was hooked up with the camera. Eddie (the other one), who was behind the camera saw that 'someone' passing behind as well. Now this is where the 'strange' and a little 'bone chilling' part comes in.

Creepy... Brrr... :S

EVERYONE knew where they were and NOONE on the set saw ANYONE passing behind us at that point of time!!! :p We can't confirm anything at that time because the camera that we had cannot have the film rewound and replayed to show that scene on the display monitor. I'm told that length of film can only be replayed when it is being editted in the studio later on. Kinda ironic isn't it that our genre is er... 'HORROR'? :p

The team! :D

In any case, the whole experience was definately FUN! :D A lot different from what I would usually do as a mundane engineer, preparing datasheets and material handling studies, staring at numbers and tinkering with formulae all day :p. A breath of fresh air indeed! :D

Experiences like this also provides me with a unique opportunity to get to know new people from professions on the very opposite side of the spectrum (science vs fine arts) like Kay Lee, Faisal, Lyana and Eddie (the other one ;)).

My early departure did rob me of one very interesting experience though. Faisal's Death SCENE!

Hmm... Forensics team member or 'makeup artiste in her element? ;)

Ah... but then again, maybe we should wait patiently for the release of Linus's film and marvel at the movie magic, eh?

Death by Power Tool anyone? ;)

48 Hour Film Project! Between Hollywood and Deng Xiao Ping

2010-11-05T12:00:00.004+08:00

Friday, 29th October 2010. I groaned as my eyes sweep in the sight of a sea of rear red hazard lamps lighted up like a Christmas tree over a snake like form that stretches from where I was just after the Subang Jaya toll down to the main artery of the NKVE. The usual Friday madness once more and I was going to be late (again)… ;)

I was headed towards TTDI, towards Linus’s house exactly, for an 8:00pm meeting to discuss on a script for his latest foray into the limelight. Sponsored by FINAS, the Kuala Lumpur 48 hour film challenge as its name suggests, requires that we cover the entire film production process, from writing the script, to shooting, dubbing, all the way down to the submission of the finished product at FINAS on Sunday 7:30pm, 31st October 2010 in a mere 48 hours!

I arrived just as the familiar figure of a pizza delivery guy was passing over boxes of goodies to yet another familiar looking long haired person over the gate. “I’ve arrived just in time, it seems!” I exclaimed as I greeted Linus. It was 8:30pm.

Mouth Watering Pizza! Courtesy of our Director, Linus... :)

Entering his home, I was introduced to the other members of the ‘board’, consisting of 6 ‘artsy -(fartsy)’ members. First up was Chris, whom I was told is a sound effects master, followed by Faisal and Kay Lee, both of whom are theatre actors. The rest are the usual suspects, Carol whom aside from fulfilling her full time role as Linus’s girlfriend and sidekick, is functioning as the project manager for this outfit. Dennis; Linus’s Art Director, Tarantulla Tamer and Survival Man Extraordinaire; and last but definitely not the least, ‘Maestro’ Linus of course, movie director with a suicidal streak and a penchant of feeding nonconventional choices of food to his pet phyton. ;)

The MAESTRO himself!

Most of the pizza had gone down the hatch when I was told of our genre we’ve got from a lucky draw held at FINAS earlier on. It was… HORROR! :D (something which our Director admitted he has little experience in doing). There were other choices, the least appealing of all was ‘MUSICAL’ which generated a round of applause to the lady that picked it off the ‘hat’ from the other participants at FINAS.

Aside from adhering to the genre, all participants also had to insert in a few specified plot elements. Ours was notably a golf ball as well as the name and profession of a character (Danial Mamat, salesman) including a specific line to be mentioned in the short film (“Okay, so what’s the problem now?”).

The plot thickens...

At the end of a 2 hour brainstorming session, two ideas for the storyline has been hashed out. Initially, the top contender was Chris’s idea developed from the Malay belief of ‘Susuk’, which was proposed as a plot basis by Faisal. ‘Susuk’ was basically a practice of inserting an object beneath the skin into some part of the body, the object supposedly bestowing the wearer with certain desired characteristics albeit at a price.

Certain taboos had to be maintained, the breaking of one might result in the wearer being cursed. Removing the curse, which was going to be the main basis of Chris’s story, would require the wearer to do ‘terrible, horrible’ things. ;)

Most of us were receptive to Chris’s idea which promised visually stunning scenes and effects.

Our Director had other ideas. ;)

“Of course I wanted this to be fun for everyone and don’t want to be some dictator imposing my ideas on everyone,” said Linus in his monotone even as he coolly scribbled images on his storyboard while Chris continued to explain his idea to the others. Democracy, HOLLYWOOD style. ;)

When his turn came, Linus proposed a more ‘practical’ plot, more on dialogue and less on effects and settings. It also involves children, which immediately sort of strikes me as a rather common plot device in Linus’s productions (House, Democracy, Prayer, all involved children). Hmmm… ;) To be fair of course, a lot of directors (including Linus’s mentor, the late Yasmine Ahmad, M. Night Shmalayan) ‘use’ children as a way to project ‘innocence and purity’. But then again, perhaps there might be OTHER ways to do the same WITHOUT using children? :p

I have to admit though, that given the amount of time allocated for the project (48 hours!), Linus’s plan seems again to be more practical. For one, the inclusion of more mundane and easy to find settings saves us a lot of time that could have been spent shuttling from one set to another. Also, the minimizing of outdoor and the elimination of night time scenes removes the unpredictable element of weather (fog and rain) from our shoot.

Oh, and did I mention that Linus is planning to shoot everything on celluloid? ;) Rather ambitious actually, considering that once you shoot with film it’s gone forever and any retakes would just take additional lengths of celluloid. Loading the film into the camera itself also is quite a science actually, requiring the whole task to be done inside a bag in complete darkness. The slightest twinkle of light can likely ruin the whole rim of film which for 20 minutes costs about RM400.00. Needless to say this thing should be left to the professionals. ;)

A professional has to also master the 'dodge' from those ever threatening nipple pinching fingers! :p

Doing what he does best, Linus eventually ‘lured’ the entire ‘board’ towards his idea. Well, he is the director after all and everyone knows that the director is always ‘right’! (even a square head engineer like me knows this hard and fast rule… ;))

He did put in a ‘veneer’ of ‘democracy’ by asking each one of us, ‘what did we think about his story and whether we agreed to it’… well, we know Linus (and Deng Xiao Ping, shortly before he sent in the tanks) of course. :p

Linus turning the tables around... ;)

Seriously though, he does have ONE big advantage over Chris. HE IS THE DIRECTOR (did I say it again?) after all and everything that will be coming up is already playing in his mind’s eye (camera angles, atmosphere, desired lighting, etc). I would venture that imagining someone else’s idea would be a little bit more difficult perhaps if that vision wasn’t absorbed and captured fully enough.

Visions of HORROR!

And so we got ourselves a plot and a storyline. All that is left is the scheduling for tommorow’s shoot. That took a few minutes and once it was agreed, it was time for most of us to head home to get some rest (our director spent the night with Carol to develop the story further by inserting dialogue and such).

At this point, I have to be thankful to our kind Director for giving me yet another opportunity to be a ‘keh leh feh’ (‘extra’ in the English parlance ;)). The last time I was a ‘keh leh feh’, it was in ‘House’, waving the tractor (handled by Dennis) that was about to smash poor Varma’s house to smithereens. You’d probably (definitely) missed me because I was there for 5 second fraction. Hahahah… This time however, I had LINES! Yipppeeee! ;) (Whether you’ll hear it or not, depends on the Director’s final cut! ;))

Bad Service at Subway, Summit USJ! :p

2010-11-03T16:31:00.010+08:00

I had a very bad experience at Subway yesterday night (2nd Nov 2010, 8:45pm). I had just finished my regular Tuesday gym session and decided to go down for my very regular serving of Subway sandwich. A little bit tired of the mundane however, I decided to drop by at the Soy Shop located opposite the Subway branch to boost up my 'protein's... ;) Paying the RM2.30 for a cup of soy milk, I brought it over to the Subway shop and laid it on one of the tables before heading to the counter. I supposed my arms were a little weak after my workout so I was kinda sluggish. The strap of my bag caught against the side of the table and I yanked it free, it table lurched and it hurled the plastic cup containing the soy milk to the ground, making a messy white spot on the floor. :p Unable to do anything, I went over to the counter and told the Chinese, bespectacled, red T-shirt supervisor (he didn't wear a nametag) looking person of the unfortunate event and apologized.

He told me, "I will pass you the mop for you to clean up".

I thought he was joking. I ordered my sandwich, in the process noticing one of the workers coming out with a mop from the backroom as my sandwich was being prepared. Surprisingly, the worker paused after he laid the mop on a chair by the table where I spilt the milk and I wondered for a while what was he waiting for. I paid for my sandwich (RM10.50), adding a cup of 100 Plus to cover for the lost soya milk drink and headed back to my table. The worker was still standing there by the mop. Perhaps thinking that he was waiting for me to clear my stuff from the 'affected' table, I moved mine to the next, sat down and unwrapped my sandwich.

I was about to make my first bite when the worker looked at me and said, "Sir, you'll have to mop the spill..."

I was SHOCKED beyond my senses!!!! It took me a while to gather my wits because this was absolutely unheard of! I turned towards the red T-shirt supervisor who was standing by at the counter and asked him whether he was 'SERIOUS'. He replied that 'It's MY FAULT, and I should clean it up for them'! He also said that I should APOLOGIZE for the mess!(?). If the worker asking me to mop the floor was a shock, I was stunned beyond belief by the audacity of the supervisor! I mean like, have they forgotten that I am a CUSTOMER????? I told the supervisor that I was a regular customer and gestured to one of the workers whom I know have seen me ordering from him every Tuesday. I also told the supervisor that I HAVE ALREADY APOLOGIZED! The supervisor then said that 'he was just pulling my leg' and that 'I should not do this again'(?).

Wow! I guess I must have unwittingly been transported by aliens into the planet of 'not knowing what a customer means in a service/food industry'! I asked the supervisor, "So are you still expecting me to mop the floor for you?" to which he answered, "He will get the worker to mop it up". The whole thing left a very bad taste in my mouth. I mean like, spilling things is something that people don't intentionally do. Little old ladies sometimes do it, nice cutie kids running around the shop sometimes do it, even a guy out of a gym also sometimes do it as well! Does Subway expect ALL THEIR CUSTOMERS to mop up the spill if that happens???? Not that the business there is fantastic. There are hardly any customers there. :p And if there are any, it's the gym crowd that go there, the same gym that I just came from! I could just as easily post a note on the gym noticeboard telling how Subway values their regular customers! :p I ate my sandwich, quenching my hunger first before I made my next move. I flipped up my phone, connected to the internet and went over to Subway's website . I then patiently typed in my complaint. I checked my email later on and got an acknowledgement that the system had received my complaint.

Now whether anything is going to happen from here I guess the powers only knows. In any case, I concluded my bad experience at Subway, Summit USJ by heading back to the counter and telling the poor worker that was standing by with the mop that I have already lodged a complaint with Subway. The Red T-Shirt Supervisor 'hero' was not around. He seemed to have dissappeared. I guess this is going to be my last experience with Subway... what a shame, despite having so few customers, they still have the gall to insult and embarass their customers! Shame on you SUBWAY! :p

Belum (Or Sudah?): Day 3: Kelah Pond and Home

2010-10-07T15:39:00.022+08:00

Day 3, Belum. The last day's attraction was perhaps the best out of all we have visited so far. The previous day's excursion (the trek to nowhere) was a disappointment (especially when I don't get to swing around my ferocious parang at stray branches, vines (and maybe a leech or two) ;)) and I wasn't really having high hopes that today's destination would be getting any better. Fortunately I was wrong, because we were brought to this very nice waterfall whose flowing waters filled a pond swarming with Kelah fish! ;) This was after we have packed up our stuff and left Sungai Papan campsite one last time. From there, it took another 45 minute boat ride to reach the landing point with a large signboard proclaiming the place as 'Lata Kelah' and a 15 minute hike to arrive at the pond.

The landing point outside the Kelah filled lake...

Fishing is allowed in the park for a fee (no fish bombing or trawling allowed though), but it is definately not allowed in this Kelah Sanctuary. We took to the water, swimming in it's cool waters.

Fish spa anyone? ;) Swimming with the fishies...

The guide insisted that we wear our life jackets while we swam, although later on, one of us decided to roll the dice and swim without it (guess who?) ;). With nothing else to do, we spend almost an hour here, taking photos and generally having fun.

Frolicking around the Kelah Pond...

A few of us swam to the bottom of the falls at the far end of the pond, although midway the water could get a little deep. At lenght I got back onshore, only to discover that my shoes had become a haven to some insects, including a very large spider! :p Shooing them away, I got my foot wear back on, joining the rest of the group heading back to our boat.

Racing home! :)

We returned to the army checkpoint to de-register ourselves. The sight of guns pointing at us no longer inspired much dread, especially after we passed a number of boats packed with soldiers heading into the reserve for which we waved and were waved back ;). We reached the jetty at close to noon, the sun beating the top of our boat's canopy, our stomachs grumbling for good and proper food! :D

Land Ho! The end of our Belum adventure?

Bidding our guides goodbye, we moved on to Grik town, stopping at the Belum resort on Pulau Banding to take a look see on more luxurious accomodations. ;) Tarrying there for not more than our hungry stomachs can allow, we moved on, finding ourselves in a Chinese restaurant along the road having our typical post trip lunch! :D

Well not before our customary post trip meal! :D

An order of fish, some meats and vegetables satisfied our hunger and soon we were joining the multitude of post holiday makers crowding the North South highway, all with one destination in mind... HOME! :D The verdict for this entire excursion?

Overall, the trip was a little bit 'too easy' for me. Touted as a 'pristine virgin jungle', it was perhaps a little too 'civilized' for my liking. Maybe another round of hard hiking and camping ala Kenong Rimba or Teluk Batik might soothe the adventurer in me... but then, that's for another time. ;)

Till the next adventure, over and out! ;)

Belum (Or Sudah?): Day 2: Walking along the banks of Perak River

2010-10-06T12:37:00.000+08:00

Day 2 of Belum begins slowly, the coolness of the night lingering into mid-morning. Some of us had already woken by the time I stepped out of the tent, preparing their morning breakfast which was NOT included in our package. :p I've brought my simple meal of Indo Mee and some satchets of milo. Linus, Carol and Sum did not. ;) Of course seeing our fellow adventurers 'without food', some of us with excess generously donated ours to them ;). Wei Han and Jiun Hoe had another round of 'oriental' meal, while Kam Keong and Cheah also had their share of instant noodles.

Breakfast at Sungai Papan campsite

At close to 9:30am, we moved out of camp, prepared and ready for our next 'adventure'. That 'adventure' was a conveniently short boat ride ACROSS the river. We landed by a large rock, a small trail leading out along the riverside. Apparently, this appears also to be a frequent camping site for the Malaysian Army, courtesy of the many discarded satchets of sugar, creamer and sorts strewn about the rocky outcrop, all marked with 'Kementerian Pertahanan Malaysia'. We continued along the track, single file, hugging the side of the river pass tall grasses filled with those thorny seed pollens that sticks to your socks.

Riverside flora...

Again there was little use of my 'parang', although I did take a few swings just for show. ;) I wondered where were we heading, hoping that we would make a turn soon into the cool comfort of the jungle canopy, away from the heat of the rising sun. More discarded satchets led the way to another camping site, this time a shaded clearing with evidence of wooden makeshift shelters and camp fire pits. We paused here for a while, dipping our feet in the cool waters of a nearby stream that crossed our trail.

We moved on, following a pause of 15 minutes, still hugging the side of the river. After an hour of walking the guide motioned for us to stop and unceremoniously declared that 'this is the furthest' we can go! I looked around taking in our 'destination' and was disappointed. :p Aside from a shallow riverbed sprinkled with water logged tree trunks here and there, there was nothing else!

The end of the road?! @_@

I guess, if it was to just swim in the river waters, we could have just as well done the same at the campsite. The 1 hour plus walk was really for nothing except to burn our exposed flesh in the hot sun! :p Unconvinced, some of us asked the guide whether this is truly the end of the trail and whether this is 'all' that there is offered for the trail.

The guide's answer was unsurprising, we couldn't venture anywhere from the trail because the whole area is in an army zone and we cannot wander anywhere else :p. GREAT! Therefore, we put down our small packs and made the best out of what we have, taking a dip in the river waters and frolick among the fallen tree branches.

Making the best out of what we have... 'mandi lor'... :p

We spent about 30 minutes there before we turned around. We paused at the stream close to the army camp site for another dip, seeing that there is really nothing else to do except to 'wash' ourselves.

A nice shallow stream with fast running water for a welcomed dip!

The stream here was a better 'wash' point compared to the end of the trail, with a small cascade located not far from where it connected to the river. Lured by the cool, clean, running waters as well as the cool tree shaded surroundings, we spent about an hour here to soak ourselves.

Cool jungle shade, running water... what else does Tarzan and Jane need? ;)

We took a number of photos while some (Sum (pun intended) and Jiun Hoe) delved in more 'imaginative' activities...

Jiun Hoe bravely (or more likely unknowingly) putting the 'acorns' over his eyes after Sum placed it somewhere over his 'nether' regions... :p Hahahahah!

It was a little pass noon when we got to our boat, the guide ready to take us back to the our camp site across the river. I guess we had still plenty of time to kill because we were back in the waters again floating down the gentle river current. Linus had the wonderful idea of giving Sum a chance to get on an Orang Asli river raft to take photos to which we asked our guide to enquire the community down river whether we can borrow it for the shoot.

Not surprisingly (again :p), such 'facilities' weren't free. As we were still floating in the water, the guide returned to tell us that the use of their simple bamboo raft would make us poorer by RM100.00. Wow! Even a ride in Sunway Lagoon won't cost us that much! :p Most of us were immediately cool to the thought but Linus asked for the guide to negotiate. They went off and returned, this time the price dropped to RM75.00. ;)

At this point, some of us had made up their minds that the price for Sum's photo op isn't really worth it and the answer we gave back to the guide was a firm 'NO'. We were still floating in the water when the guide came back one more time, with an offer of RM28.00 for the raft! A 400% discount (from the initial RM100.00)! Gosh, I guess even in the depths of the jungle, there are still people trying to pull the wool out of our eyes! :p Thank goodness no one took up the offer.

An Orang Asli. Despite living in the jungle, they can be pretty entrepeneurial!

After floating about for perhaps an hour, we moved onto that boulder sticking out close to the middle of the river, for a moment to sit around as the river water dripped off our bodies. We made some idle chatter before attempting to explore the depth of the sand bed around the boulder. Yeah, we were THAT BORED. ;)

Finally, I decided that I've had enough of soaking and swam back to the river bank. Some followed while some others lingered on. We prepared our lunch soon after. For the rest of the evening, we loitered around the camp site, the overcast sky threatening another bout of drenching rain.

Loitering the afternoon away...

A few boats packed with soldiers passed by and we waved at them. Most probably they were headed to the trail we hiked earlier, to conduct their patrols. Soupy Ginseng Noodles was on the menu tonight, which was another of Wei Han's discoveries from his Tahan trip. Yummy... ;)(Ok, I am being sarcastic :p Sorry ;)). Thank goodness we had some freshly fried eggs to supplement!

As night fell, we took refuge beneath our 'pavillion', Linus challenging me to a game of Chinese Chess while Kam Keong, Wei Han, Cheah and Jiun Hoe tried to outsmart one another with 'Chor Tai Tee'. Looks can be deceiving though as our very 'banana' Mr. Linus is a secret 'expert' in the Art of War. ;) After being defeated the first round by yours truly, he won the 2nd round (although not after he was checkmated, the game brought back a step or two before continuing again to its unexpected conclusion) and the third which he decisively won over me. :p Admittedly I do not declare myself an expert strategist when it comes to Chinese Chess, but I had thought I would have easily beaten the long haired fellow. I was wrong. :p ;) I retired for the night shortly after, giving in to the demands of my tired and sun burnt body over more challenges from Linus in his unexpected role of Sun Tzu(?). ;)

Belum (Or Sudah?): Day 1: A 'Civilized' Excursion into the Jungle

2010-10-05T18:19:00.000+08:00

I have to admit that I have been rather 'absent' from the blogging scene for quite some time now. Getting lazier and lotsa 'changes' going on in the interim. ;) But I do love blogging, it's sort of my way of recording interesting events for posterity and future reference. Also, I am equally happy that there are readers that benefit from my recommendations and comments on the places I have travelled. ;) I try my best. ;) This time's blog is focused on my recent trip to that supposedly unexplored, uncharted and pristine patch of Malaysian jungle situated in the northern portion of the peninsular, the place aptedly called but not exactly 'BELUM' ('Belum' in Malay means 'Before' for those uninitiated in the Malay language).

Suggested and organized by Mr. Wei Han, my initial impression of the place based on what I have seen in the advertisments and travelling brochures is that the place is somewhat undeveloped, more likely any adventures or trips in this area would be something that might require a little bit of 'hacking and slashing' of jungle undergrowth with a trusty parang (aka machete) ;) not akin to what I heard from Danum Valley in Sabah.

Settling to go during the long Hari Raya Holidays, we left Klang Valley for our 5 hour drive up to Grik, Perak in two cars, our initial complement of 9 hikers short of 1. ;) That '1' enjoyed himself a little too much the night before and when we discovered him slumped over his car's steering wheel (battery dead, I meant the car. Yeah, his batteries were sort of dead too :p) in front of his house at 5:00am in the morning, we knew we had no choice but to let him continue in his 'alcoholic' dreams... :p

Our 'lost' member of the team, deep in alcoholic dreams... :p

Looks like the village is out to celebrate? ;)

And so for the trip, we had 7 gentlemen and 1 brave lady to join us (the enigmatic Wei Han, his hometown friend and solar topee wearing 'botanist' Jiun Hoe, straight as an arrow Kam Keong, silent and steady Cheah, ever entertaining and possibly clinically 'mad' Linus, his 'exotic' girlfriend Carol, his spade carrying sidekick and new convert to the church of 'anti-leech' Sum and of course, yours truly ;) I shall keep the identity of the 'ONE' secret ;)).

Signboard on the way to Grik (a long way more to go) :p

The morning Raya dawn traffic on the North South Expressway wasn't really as bad as I had initially thought and we made good progress, getting on the Kuala Kangsar exit at close to 730am. We had initially thought of stopping by at Ipoh for their (over-rated) dim sum but due to the earlier 'drama' that consumed a little bit of our travelling time, we decided to continue up the byroads to Grik for breakfast instead. Reaching Grik at about 8:45am, we found most of the shops closed. Whether this is symptomic of a 'sleepy' Malaysian backwater town or the fact that the day we arrived was a public holiday, I am not really sure.

Regardless, a few quick questions to some locals directed our attentions to this food court where a number of Chinese stalls were open. Apparently, most of the visitors and passerbys have been given the same location as the place was packed! We sat down and ordered our share of dim sum, wan tan mee, chicken rice, served with freshly brewed coffee. There were other fares as well, among which are some 'chang' (glutinious rice wrapped in pandan leave), porridge and yong tau foo. We left to continue our journey north towards the Malaysian-Thai border ending our journey at the parking lot with a long bridge overlooking Temenggor lake.

A stopover for many an adventurer, the famous bridge spanning Temenggor Lake

Our guide hasn't arrived yet, so we wandered about the lakeside taking pictures and helping ourselves at the toilet located at a store nearby. This being Hari Raya, the store itself was closed, thankfully the toilet wasn't. ;)

Rules and Regulations... the place is highly guarded area ;)

About half an hour after we arrived, the guide came, whisking our organizer over to the army camp with him to obtain our permits. Security seemed tight along the Malaysian-Thai border, permits need to be obtain to enter certain areas, not all areas are accessible. :p After about 45 minutes, Wei Han returned, permit in hand. With this, we boarded our speedboat, taking us to the first army checkpoint. The sun was bright and the overhead roof our boat offered much needed shelter from the heat.

Pirates of Temenggor Lake! :p Luckily the army didn't see us otherwise we might be misidentified as a splinter group of Abu Sayaff! :p

We arrived at the army checkpoint along the riverside under the muzzle of a machine gun. No photographs are allowed here and with live ammunition potentially pointed at us, we all remained gravely quiet as Wei Han and the guide went up to the guardhouse to present our papers to the officer in charge. Tense moments pass before they reemerged and we are to continue our journey into the park. The 1st destination was to an island to watch the Rafflesia flower, one of the biggest flower in the world with a reputable 'smell'. ;) Mostly renown for growing in the jungles of Borneo, it is surprisingly found also on the Peninsular as well. The boat ride took about close to 45 minutes before we arrived at the island. We hopped ashore and hiked up a small gulley for 15 minutes.

Disembark! Our group of landlubbers starting our very short hike to the Rafflesia flower...

Lo and behold the Rafflesia! :p Not really the hack and slash expedition I was expecting though. This particular specimen we are to behold now was rather 'smallish' with a piece of broken petal.

The not so very elusive Rafflesia!

We took a few photos around it, observing the insides and out and was told by our guide that that was the end of this particular journey! :p Apparently, we cannot venture further into the island. Our permit did not allow it and we have to move on to our campsite from here. Well, scratch one item in the itenary I guess. We got on the boat and zoomed across the lake for another 30 minutes.

Boating in the sun...

At this point, I was beginning to think that really, our trip is going to be more of a boat ride than anything else. We arrived at the Sungai Papan jetty with a nicely set wooden pavillion in the background.

Brandishing Dennis's parang. Too bad there ain't nothing to do with it except cut some stray grass on this trip! :p Wei Han?

The grass around was cut and the place looked overall well maintained. A row of decent looking shetlered toilets were located behind the pavillion. In a distance was a large suspension bridge. We got down, took photos and proceeded across the bridge for another 15 minute trek.

Linus doing a dance with the guide on the suspension bridge...

We were headed towards an animal 'salt lick' and when we arrived, we were told that we 'just missed' a herd of deer at the same spot by a few minutes. As we examined the vague hooveprints in the sand, we heard a gasp from the guide. Putting as pale a face over his darkened features, the guide told us that there was a 'tiger' about :p. Wow! I instantly grabbed the hilt of Dennis's parang. ;)

Shh... them there 'Maybank' tracks! :p

Of course, the chances of a tiger attacking us humans is rather remote, since us being such 'ferocious' creatures, they'd prefer more regular 'prey' than us. Still, if a tiger were to be injured, we would sometimes end up on the menu. :p The guide told us that the tiger was most likely trailing the herd of deer and there was nothing much to worry about. He showed us the observation hut located a distance from the salt lick, dangling the prospect that the tiger might return here later in the night. That tweaked Linus's curiosity but not enough to convince the majority of us to spend our first night without mosquito coils, light and minimum heat in the hut. :p

The observation hut in the jungle...

The hut itself was rather luxuriously equipped with a toilet inside, again a hint of how relatively 'developed' this park was compared to the other places I have been. All of us could fit into the hut comfortably if we didn't mind the hard wooden bunks for beds. :p We returned to the wooden pavillion, satisfying our hunger with the chicken rice we bought in Grik. We contemplated setting up camp in this deserted but very well maintained spot but ended up opting for the alternative campsite close to the orang asli village in the next destination. Getting on board our boat, we headed into the blue yonder again, surprisingly bumping into a group of very familiar and long lost faces on another boat heading into the site we just left!

In a typical 'tak jemput pun' scenario, it seems like our old hiking 'buddy', Patrick, is on the loose and together with his OTHER friends were also on the area doing their own tour. ;) Another 30 minutes boat ride and we found ourselves standing on the banks of Sungai Kejar at yet another well developed campsite.

Arrival at the Sungai Kejar campsite...

Aside from a very well built wooden pavillion for 'group' activities and very nice toilets with running water, the 'tent sites' also had roofs with a solid elevated concrete platform as well! Talk about luxury! ;) After a brief discussion, we decided to pitch camp in the pavillion itself. There was no one else around anyway in the vast campsite.

At Sungai Kejar...

Once we have finished, we moved on to the nearby Orang Asli village to visit 'their' waterfall. It was a sweatless hike of 10 minutes before we reached it's cold running waters. We bathe there for close to an hour before returning to our site, dodging a few dogs owned by the Orang Aslis. Our guide paused amidst their village to confer with one of them, we surmise to pay them for our 'passage' thru and the use of their 'facilities'. ;)

Bathing in the compulsory waterfall! :D

As dusk approached, we took the little time left of daylight to cook our dinner, recipes our Mr. Wei Han had learnt from his recent trip to Gunung Tahan. Admittedly very oriental from our regular fare, we were presented with rice, chinese sausage, luncheon meat and fried egg for dinner. Rain fell as we settled in for the night giving us a cool and refreshing environment for a nice nap. ;) We played some 'chor tai tee' with some Chinese Chess on the side, eschewing our regular session of 'Werewolves'. :p Well, apparently, the game was starting to get a little 'tired' for a few of our members :p. Lights were out shortly after midnight as we all drifted into blissful sleep lulled by the soft pattering of rain over the rooftops. ;)

Vios Requiem

2010-07-21T21:39:00.004+08:00

I am wishing my ‘steed’ goodbye. For almost 7 years, it had faithfully shuttled me without incident through the 4 corners of peninsular Malaysia. Together, we had ventured into the hinterlands of Kelantan, the coastal lowlands of Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, the sea sides of Penang, the jungles of Perak and northern Johor, the narrow congested streets of historical Malacca and not to forget, the daily traffic battles of metropolitan Kuala Lumpur. It had come true through rain, wind and sun in addition to an occasional flooded road or two. My Toyota Vios…

Oh what a feeling! To-yo-ta! ;)

This was truly my ‘first’ car, or least the one that I really felt was my own. I have had a 1990 Maroon Honda Accord back when I studied in the USA, but it never really felt like it’s was ever going to be a fixture since it was a forlorn conclusion that I would return to Malaysia to find my life here. :p I sold that car off to a junior when I graduated.

A Japanese American...

The car that I drove at the dawn of my life as a ‘wage earner’ was the same car that I drove while I was in college, my grandfather’s 1983 White Toyota Corolla station wagon, BBT8605. ;) It was also known as the ‘death wagon’, after I nearly slammed it into the back of a surprisingly stationery car in the middle of a highway in Klang! I could still remember how my passenger back then, a college mate named Wei Choy, looked shortly after our near death experience. ;) He was pale as a ghost! Fortunately, well maintained brakes saved our skin.

I drove the ‘white ghost’ for as long as I could hold out against a car of my own, over my grandmother’s constant pestering for me to get a newer (safer) car. I finally relented when in a downpour, the amount of water that was getting itself into the car threatened to drown me in it! :p ;) That was when I met MY Toyota Vios…

My Vios outside the Duta Hacienda apartments in Port Dickson...

It was a brand new line back in 2003 and I remembered Britney Spears was the model they hired to promote the car. She was ‘clean’ back then and not ‘messed up’ as she is today :p. At a higher range, Orlando Bloom was promoting the Altis.

Vios on the way to Kenong Rimba, outside the Shell Petrol station in Gombak...

Plonking all the money I got from the sale of my car in the US, as well as a generous contribution from my grandmother, I got my ‘companion’ for the next 7 years in November 2003. It was also about a few months into my 2nd job at Mitsui Copper Foil (MCF), Shah Alam and I have been told that the Japanese Managing Director, Kawashita san, on seeing me drive my brand new Toyota Vios to work for the first time, actually wondered whether I have been ‘overpaid’ to afford that kinda car for a junior maintenance engineer :p (I am glad to say, that in the course of my service at MCF, I showed him that I was worth MORE than the money I was paid then).

My first heartbreak came rather quickly. Some dude slammed his Wira into my rear bumper as I was queuing up behind other cars on the Summit, Subang Jaya ramp after exiting the KESAS highway. Apparently the dude thought he was driving a ‘Kancil’ perhaps and misjudged the gap between the railing and the leftmost side of my car. Miraculously, despite the hard bump I felt in the car, the bumper held with the exception of one broken clip and some paint shaved off. I extracted from that fellow an RM300 compensation, complaining that it was a brand new car and I had to replace the whole bumper for fear of it falling off!.:p The cost to replace the bumper was a lot higher I found out later, at >RM500 and after thinking a while, I took a chance to leave it alone. The bumper is still in place till now. ;)

I'm gonna miss this panel... ;)

There were a few teething problems as well, ranging from loose seatbelt panels to twice failing power windows, frankly not I would expect from a Toyota. The last was particularly annoying as the technicians at Sungai Rasah service center were less than attentive or concerned about my complaints. It was the second time the power window failed in two months and I was told that a replacement power window motor would only be arriving two months AFTER I make the warranty claim to which I exclaimed that “If I had wanted to drive a car with faulty windows, I would have bought a PROTON!” This illicted a very ‘smart alec’ky response from our ‘friendly’ service technician that “ALL cars are also like that!” A quick email to the Japanese sales director in Malaysia (in which I specifically mentioned that after this episode, my next car would be a Honda), prompted a call from the manager of the service center a few days later. Amazingly, the ‘parts’ have 'arrived' at the shop and I could bring in my car ‘anytime’ to have the power window motor replaced! (The reality is that spare parts are always available, it's just that for 'free' replacements, they try to make it a little bit more difficult for you to 'obtain').

Vios at the Gunung Nuang carpark...

Over the years, I continued sending my car to the Toyota service center even after my warranty expired, diligently emulating my grandfather’s tendency to keep the car ‘well maintained’. The prices were hefty but the there were really no major technical problems since the power windows failed.

Vios in Tanjung Malim, with one strange but familiar looking dude waving back... :p (click the picture to get a better view of that 'bugger' is)

There were a few more heartbreaks, notably the time when I brought the car to the Lubuk Kawah camping trip with Aurelius and gang. What was originally supposed to be a road to a resort with a nice clean car park, turned out to be a 4WD adventure trail! A huge ‘gronk’ echoed into the interior compartment as the undercarriage of my car rubbed against rough stone, making my heart skip a beat. :p I had to endure another near case of cardiac arrest when the left front door of my car ran against the protruding point of a thin metal wire from a fallen fence on the way out, gouging a foot long line into the paint! :’(

Vios feeling the PAIN! :p 4-Wheel Driving on the trail to Lubuk Kawah, OUCH!

Then there were the perpetual ‘meteor shower’ of stones that often strikes the users of the KESAS highway. Having driven a lot of highways in Malaysia, I can swear that stone throwing ‘toyols’ must inhabit the portion of KESAS between Kota Kemuning and the entry/exit point to my home in Bandar Puteri, Klang. More often than once, I would hear the un-welcomed thump of a stone hitting the sides of my car with the occasional heart rendering ‘crack’ of a ‘bull’s eye’ on my front windscreen! You really never see the stones before and after the strike although the results on the windscreen is glaring! I have had three of these bull’s eyes in recent years along the KESAS highway, although the first one was on the road to Gebeng, Kuantan when I had the misfortune of following behind a very large (and dirty) lorry.

Inevitably, signs of ‘old age’ has begun to creep in by the 5th year of its life. Critical injuries have become to manifest with busted up joints (all 4 wheel bearings worn out), bones (broken suspension arms) and respitory failures (air cond compressor breaking down) occurring within a span of 3 months on average. It’s ‘senses’ were also going as the rear sensors were starting to register ‘ghosts’ when there was really nothing there. It's eyes (lamps) were starting to develop cataracts (blurring due to build up of hardened dust deposits).

It's time of service is nearing an end, and I have find another steed.

Therefore today, I hand over the reins of my steed to the stable master. May the new master the stable masters finds be kind to you as I hope I was the same... Sayonara BGY9835 and Godspeed...

Hajimimashite WUB2138, watashino atarashi kuruma desu! ;)

Fraser's Hill, Between Suffering and Relaxation! Part 2: Relaxation!

2010-07-17T08:47:00.036+08:00

It's now time to earn some much needed R&R! :) Leaving Kampung Pertak at close to 4:30pm, Wei Han and myself head towards the gateway from which the single narrow road leads up to the delightfully chilly climate of the English countryside at Fraser's Hill. We were aiming to reach the gateway before 5:45pm, after which the road will be closed to uphill driving, allowing those from the resort to head downhill.

Timing is crucial when going up Fraser's Hill, you can review the times here :D

It's a system to accomodate the very narrow road to the top, which was wide enough for one way traffic only. Even before we reached the gateway however, the roads were already starting to wind as we weaved through mountain country, that was covered by virgin jungle. Incidently, for those not really in the 'know', these roads are the same ones where the 2nd High Commissioner of Malaya, Sir Henry Gurney was gunned down by communist guerillas on 6th October, 1951. :p We reached the foot of Fraser's hill at about 5:20pm, right between the time uphill traffic is allowed and headed up. The curvy road continues all the way up, requiring an additional amount of fortitude (as well as a strong stomach ;)). Although there were a few solar powered lamps on this road, it is advisable NOT to travel downhill after dark for the same reason. Coupled often times by the mist, it could be pretty dangerous negotiating pass the sharp bends in the darkness. My roti canai lunch had ascended almost up the base of my throat when thankfully we reached the top about 45 minutes later! :D Passing through the clinic, some shops and the police station, we found ourselves parked near the hill's famous fern entwined clock tower at the center of 'towne'... ;)

The towne 'center' by the clock tower

We immediately tried to make contact with Pui Voon, who is our 'host' for tonight's R&R. Apparently, working for KLK has a few unique priviledges, chief of which is the ability to rent (at a fantastically low price!) company owned fancy English countryside homes on chilly mountaintops! Our initial efforts to contact her however only managed to get us 'familiarized' with the already familiar 'Nombor yang anda dail, tidak dalam perkhidmatan'... Attempts to call our other party joining the trip, Vincent and Fei, was met with similar results. True to the spirit of a 'resort', Fraser's Hill apparently does not have FULL coverage of phone services. There was a moment of apprehension, after coming this far; "Are we to head home now?" :p

This view encompasses the entire towne center ;)

Fortunately, the phone came alive again. Although it was not Pui Voon, it was Vincent who called. Together with Fei, they had just arrived at the exit of the single lane road. They too had problems reaching Pui Voon but now with strength in numbers, we decided to hang around towne and take some photos. Located 1280m above sea level, Fraser's Hill was first developed by none other than Louis James Fraser, a solitary Scottish pioneer, who set up a tin-ore trading post in the hills during the 1890s. Finding a small deposit of tin, he opened up a mine, brought in Chinese workers and expanded the trading post to include opium and gambling dens (something of a necessity to us chinese perhaps? :p). He vanished mysteriously among the hills 25 years later, which resulted in an expedition led by J. Ferguson-Davie, Bishop of Singapore in search of him. Although Mr. Fraser was never found, Ferguson reported back to the British of the area's ideal location for the construction of a 'retreat'. By 1922, construction of the single lane road was complete and the resort opened to visitors.

History buff? Read this! :D

More development came in the 1970s to the point that it threatened the environment around the resort. In 2010, the Pahang state government announced that there will be no further development of the virgin forested area. Today, aside from the bungalows dotting the surroundings, the town center is formed by a clinic, a police station, a post office, a large foodcourt and a golf resort. Ok, well enough about history... ;)

Ho-hum... who says Fraser's Hill got nothing to do? Look at the list of things you CAN do! :)

Pui Voon finally called us about half an hour later. Coming out from her bungalow, she guided us to our home away from home a 10 minute drive away from the town center at a bungalow called 'Arundel'.

The entrance to KLK's bungalow in Fraser's Hill. ;) Thanks KLK! :)

A typical English bungalow in the countryside...

More English 'cottage's... how exciting! :D

It is joined by it's smaller sister 'Bunge', both of which are connected to a central building where the workers who take care and tend to the place now live. Around the two bungalows were gardens of beautiful flowers, coming in a variety of colors aside from a rather secluded open air badminton court a short walk away from the bungalows.

The LONELY looking badminton court a distance away from the bungalows... Eeeee :p

Entering our English abode, we were introduced to Pui Voon's colleagues (as well as spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends and daughter of her colleagues, no pickings here... ;)).

Interior of the bungalow: The hall. (Notice the bookshelf behind... ;))

"Care for some supper sir?" The bungalow's dining room... ;)

A relic from the past! A radial phone!

Wei Han and myself took a short nap thereafter, exhausted from our hike at Gunung Kutu. We awoke just in time to attend the BBQ dinner, which was served at the bungalow's main long dinner table by the attendants.

Pui Voon's colleagues chipping in to cook up the BBQ (Wei Han and myself were in dreamland then... sorry guys ;))

The meal, consisting of BBQ chicken, lamb, beef, sausages and complemented by generous servings of homemade coleslaw and fried rice was indeed food for the soul, especially after the tiring hike! Wei Han however, was noticably 'reserved' with the food, although I wolfed down a fair share despite initially trying to 'restrain' myself from over indulging (what the heck! one glass of Coca Cola down the hatch!)... :p

Enjoying the fruits (of other people's labour :p). BBQ dinner served with fried rice and egg! Yummy!

After that, we all hung around the hall, some of Pui Voon's colleagues unfolding a couple of 'Kung Ming' lanterns! We were asked to write down our 'wishes' on the lantern sides, after which we would let them off in a hot aired powered ascent to the heavens where hopefully, the Gods shall receive them and grant us our wishes! Great idea right? :D Well, believe or not believe, what's there to lose? Plus, it's fun to watch those lanterns fly in the mountain air! The night was starting to get chilly when we were ready to release the lanterns.

Releasing the Kung Ming lantern. May our wishes come true! :D

We watched as both lanterns rose into the air, until it's light was as faint as to mistake it for another star. The one with my wish written on it, flew the highest, the longest and the furthest, the latter perhaps due to it being caught up by the jet stream. Only when the faint glimmer that was our lantern faded did we retire back into the bungalow. Frankly there isn't really much to do here, but then again that's precisely the point isn't it? Wei Han, Vincent and Fei retired to bed early, while I joined Pui Voon and her colleague 'Candy' for a round of mahjong. Aside from being 'slaughtered', I was also subjected to a barrage of questions from Ms. Candy as well, one of which requiring to use my 'oil and gas' expertise to reply. ;) I retired to bed myself a little bit pass midnight, sleeping till morning with not the beacon of the World Cup 3rd/4th place fight enough to rouse me from bed. ;) At night I was assailed by mosquitoes, requiring me to change my 'feng shui' position and bring my head away from the window as I laid on the matress spread out on the wooden floor (what to do? have to accede to driver's priviledge mar :p). I was aware when Wei Han, Vincent and Fei snuck out of the bungalow to have their English RM30++ breakfast at the Old Smokehouse.

Fraser Hill's Old Smokehouse, where Wei Han, Fei and Vincent had their RM30++ English breakfast...

Is he our jockey? Nah, it's just Wei Han near the 'stables'(?)

I didn't bother waking up to join them though, sleeping in an English countryhouse till morning was too much for me to pass up! :p I rejoined the world of the living at about 830am in the morning, discovering the remaining inhabitants were mostly sleeping as well after a full night of 'Lami'. One of Pui Voon's colleagues was preparing sandwiches, to which I helped myself two pieces. ;) At length, I was joined by Pui Voon and on an invitation by her colleague Candy, tagged along for some early morning sightseeing of the area.

"Above all the rest, feeling so free and high, freer than the clouds, we touch the sky...", that's the medley for Salem's cigarette advertisment... HIGH indeed! ;)

We went pass the town center to another food court area with a large playground, trying to find breakfast at one of perhaps TWO Chinese shops, Hillview restaurant. It was closed when we came at about 830am so we had to settle at one of the nearby Malay shops instead.

Having my RM1 breakfast with the ladies...

While Candy, her husband and daughter had nasi lemak, I helped myself with 3 pieces of curry puffs for RM1 fried by a surprisingly Chinese speaking Malay lady! Pui Voon and another colleague which joined us just had drinks despite my pleas to help me finish the 2 other curry puffs (and avoid me piling up the guilt) :p. We adjourned to the playground for a while where some of us decided to 'relive' their childhood. ;)

Ah... isn't it nice to revisit our childhood once in a while? ;)

I also found out how much more work I need to do at the gym when a boy completed the monkey bars which I only managed to achieve but two with my scrawny arms. :p Wei Han and gang made an appearance at the playground moments later, seated in Vincent's MyVii. They called out to me and asked me whether I wanted to tag along with them to the Hill's only (artificial) waterfall (Jeriau waterfall). I waved back at them in a gesture I thought meant 'hi', which unexpectedly resulted in them driving off! I was to find out later that they interpreted my gesture as 'Go Ahead, I am not interested' instead. :p With my 'alternative' option literally 'driven off', I had to make the best of the situation. ;) Our group headed over to Allan's water, a small lake that what was once the hill's source of water.

Allan's water (opps, I am reading of the picture right?)

The lake was once a reservoir to store drinking water for the inhabitants of Fraser's Hill...

Today, the district office runs a recreational facility offering paddle boat rides at RM5for a 15 minute stint. Hoping to reduce the 'guilt' of ingesting 3 oily curry puffs, I invited Pui Voon to join me on a paddle boat cruise across the lake. Candy got on another boat with her daughter, and poor mummy had to do all the work for her little baby because for safety reasons, only two can board the boat no matter how small (or young) you are. ;)

... now it houses a facility for me to burn my accumulated calories! ;)

We returned back to the bungalow when one of our member needed to answer the call of nature. Once there, it was another round of lazing about. With nothing much to do, I checked out the dusty bookshelf in the hall. Remarkably, those books are the real 'McCoy' (ie real books and not just decorations). As I flipped through this very dated World Atlas by Lufthansa, I was also trying to figure out it's age, taking note of countries now vanished from the world map (Rhodesia, Czechslovakia, Yugoslavia, East Germany). I had better luck with the next book, when I happen to come across the glued on library slip on the reverse of it's front page. The earliest date chopped on the slip was 31st December 1962!!

This book is OLDER than ALL of us in the house!

The next book I pulled out from the dusty shelves was another surprise. Reading a biography of Sir Winston Churchill on wikipedia a few days before, I didn't expect to come across one of his famous books, 'Marlborough, His Life and Times', here! The book was about his most illustrious ancestor, John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough which he had written during the 'wilderness' (out of parliament) period of the 1930s, prior to World War II. Wow, another 'dash' of 'Englishness'. ;)

Interesting, and I was playing Empire Total War right around this time...

By the time Vincent, Wei Han and Fei returned, it was almost time to go home. For the entire BBQ dinner and lodging, the cost per person was a mere RM45, very cheap if I do say so myself, which we duly paid to Pui Voon. :)Wishing the now awoken denizens of the bungalow goodbye, we headed down the hill at about pass noon. Wei Han had initially aimed to have 'lunch' at Ulu Yam's famous 'loh mee' shop, but a quirk in his GPS took us close to Selayang instead. Resetting the GPS took us to 'Lan Jie's' famous patin fish shop in Rawang and upon reaching there at about 2:00pm, we ordered two of their famous fish dish. (They were out at 2:15pm and close at 3:00pm)

There is only ONE style of cooking this fish here. You get to choose the depth of spicyness though ranging from 'zero' to 'mild' and 'HOT'!

The shop isn't really hard to find, located as it was on the main road in Rawang town that led to/from Kuala Lumpur, a short distance drive from Kanching waterfalls.

If you are in Rawang, look out for this shop with THIS signboard!

Fei and Vincent enjoying the fish... Mmmmmm...

The last time I was there more than a year ago, I had the opportunity to take a photo with 'Jason' from Astro's Chinese 'makan-makan' fame.

A previous trip, caught with Ah Sien (Jason) from Astro AEC makan makan fame...

We went home from here, me to come out again at close to the wee hours of the Monday morning to watch the end of the 4 year gala at Subang's Little Balley, the WORLD CUP FINAL between Spain and Netherlands! Try as I did to defy the odds, Paul (the octopus) was right, making our Mr. Eric a very happy man (before realising that he had to 'pay' for our 'free' seafood dinner). Hahaha... until next time, Cheers! :D

The Winner(?) of our World Cup bet, Mr. Eric! :)

Gunung Kutu, between Suffering and Relaxation! Part 1: Suffering!

2010-07-12T19:37:00.017+08:00

I have not really hiked since visiting Gunung Stong back in February and to tell you the truth, I am starting to get kinda lazy. :p So when Wei Han floated yet another idea to go on another 'tough' hiking trip, the 'Eddie' that once leapt up at the challenge and said 'GOOOOOO' only managed a faint whisper at the back of my mind. ;) It was also at the same time that Pui Voon suddenly had a few 'vacancies' in her 'company' trip to Fraser's hill, also on the same weekend, which placed me in a REAL dilemma: should I take up Wei Han's offer and 'suffer' a total 7 hour hike up a mountain, dirt, mud and leeches galore? Or should I accept Pui Voon's offer and have a relaxing sojourn up the cool mountain top, sitting in front of a fire place, reading Hemmingway while the scent from the English garden around soothes the tired nerves? ;) Kinda 'hard' to make a decision isn't it? I was admittedly sort of leaning towards the more 'relaxing' trip when our Mr. Wei Han kindled the slumbering hiker within by labelling me a 'retired hiker'... :p Coincidentally, in a surprise call from my long lost friend, Maxx, the day before, one of the points brought up in our conversation was also my supposed 'retirement' from my hiking escapades, with the label, 'retired hiker' being suspiciously reused(Hmm... one wonders whether the term originated from the same source)! In any case, an offer by Mr. Wei Han to drive us both to the base of Gunung Kutu and then proceeding to Fraser's Hill to link up with Pui Voon and gang sealed the deal and so, in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, I found myself travelling once more down the road through the gathering dawn, clad in my trusty grey sports shirt, blue Adidas pants and worn badminton shoes with a mission yet to conquer another mountainous feature in the Titiwangsa range. :p But before the 'conquerer's are going to conquer anything, we have to first satisfy the resistance from our hungry stomachs! And to do this, we stopped at Kuala Kubu Baru town for a much needed breakfast.

A place of a 'hundred' rendevous'es'... Perhaps the ONLY famous mamak shop in KKB...

It was also the rendevous point where we met up with the organizing group of the trip consisting of Sharon Chow, Weng Woo and Real Ho which I have met on previous outings and a series of other 'new' faces. Surprisingly, we were also joined by 3 ELDERLY men whom I found out later were on average more than 60 years of age! After introductions, eating our breakfast and packing our lunch to munch at the top, we set off for the trail start point, located just inside the orang asli village at Kampung Pertak. The entrance to the kampung, just one stop away from entry to Chilling waterfalls on the road to Fraser's Hill and over a bridge (with so many pointers, can you miss it? ;)) is graced by an elaborate wooden arch, still 'adorned' by an election banner urging the natives to vote 'Blue'... :p

The arch adorning the gateway to Kampung Pertak, with some recent by-election 'leftover'...

We followed the tar road pass the kampung into the wilderness until there is no more tar road left before we parked our cars. We started off from the parking lot at 9:00am, heading up a dirt and gravel 4 wheel drive track.

Hi-Ho! And so we set off from the car park!

The 4 wheel drive track...

We soon arrived at a metal suspension bridge spanning over a small stream. This was one of two bridges on the trail, the next one having partially collapsed at the midspan. ‘Partially’ collapsed meant that at the midspan, the angle of tilt for the metal walking plates was almost 45o, therefore a certain amount of agility is required to navigate over the other side. OR, you could just wade across the shin high waters (and get your shoes wet in the process, which you will eventually do anyway!) :p.

2nd suspension bridge, where you get to emulate Michael Jackson's inclined (45 degrees) moonwalk!

We were introduced to the three elderly gentlemen whom we found to be around their 60s and originating mostly from Klang! There was another much wider stream cuts across our path after the bridge. The water here is knee deep, enough for a cool dip in its running waters. Of course, this is really not the ‘official’ dipping spot for most people coming here. That was closer to the parking lot. Apparently, the shallow bottom boulder strewn river not far away is popular among weekend visitors and picnickers who enjoy bathing more ‘natural’ types of water.

Boulder strewn riverbed... well, the waters are still cool to dip in... ;)

As we were still rather ‘fresh’, we didn’t stop at this point to dip, although most of us wearing socks and shoes (and also those who didn’t bother to remove them, me included) got them pretty wet.

Getting my feet, socks and shoes WET!

Leaving the stream behind, we found ourselves still on the 4 wheel drive track (though thankfully no 4 wheel drives in sight), passing rubber and fruit tree groves. The sun was peeking out from behind the heavy clouds by now, casting rays of light through the overhead tree tops.

A 'magical' moment, the sun rays peeking through the leaves of rubber trees ;)

There were a few branches of road, although quick questions to the locals passing by in their motorcycles will set you on the right path to Gunung Kutu. Some of these branches are blocked off as well, whether to prevent 4 wheel drives from destroying the paths or simply stopping trespassers (like us) from going through their private property is unclear. We soon found our way to the trail start marked by the familiar red and white striped ribbons tied onto the surrounding trees. Another small stream passes through this starting point as well. This will be the last water point from here to the summit, so it’s time to get our shoes wet one last time.

On the track! Sharon and Steven strikes a pose...

The track starts rather leisurely, the red and white striped ribbons leading us over mostly flat ground. At length, we passed through this rather peculiar area of felled trees. A number of shirts and children clothing (in particular, a little girl’s dress!) were hung on makeshift hangers among the fallen branches. From the random way they were hung, it didn’t appear that someone had left them to dry to come back and collect later. Rather, it could have been some innovative method of marking the area to the locals or more disturbingly, they perhaps might have been some form of ‘offering’ to you know what (it could also have been a graveyard, you wouldn’t know)! :p

Brrr! I wouldn't want to pass this area at night! :p This place gives me the creeps!

Regardless, we left them clearly alone and proceeded onwards. Lulled by the ease of travel so far, the first steep incline came as somewhat of a surprise. It was time to ‘engage’ the 4 wheel drive. The water sodden slope made it slippery and muddy, at certain points I had to grab the roots of trees or tree trunks to pull myself up the close to 30o (or more) inclines.

4 wheel drive on! Powering up the slippery slope...

After more than an hour of slogging, we reached somewhat flat ground although not before having to get down onto my haunches to pass through the mud beneath fallen bamboo trees! If I had thought the bamboo trees had fallen low the first round, mother nature wasn’t finished with us as she provided us another chance to perform the ‘lambada’ by giving us another bamboo obstacle with a much lower clearance!

Time to do the lambada! After working your leg muscles, it's time to work your back! Oh!

I really had to get my hands dirty this time as I had to practically crawl through the mud beneath, trying my best not to get my hiking bag muddier than it already was. The glimpse of the blue sky through the overhead canopy seemed to imply that we were making good progress and we’d be reaching the summit soon. I was wrong, because there was still a few more spells of inclines and flat walks before we finally reached the ‘just-past’ mid point that was represented by this outcrop made out of one gigantic boulder with a large ‘C5’ sign painted on it’s side, indirectly ‘christening’ the place.

C5! (Guess it couldn't have been named 'C4' because it's probably named after a certain jungle spot in Selangor where... :x)

Here, we found two other groups taking a break. One group appeared to be campers heading down while another, a group of mostly Klang Valley people like us, heading up. We paused here to catch our breath and also to take a few photos.

Most of the group, minus myself who was holding the camera... ;)

It’s about 2 and half hours after we started. About 15 minutes after the group heading up left ‘C5’, we ourselves traced their footsteps. Again, I had thought we were close to the summit, the widening window of blue sky among the canopy deceiving me yet again. Turns out, the journey from here is somewhat similar to what you would expect between Puncak Pengasih and the summit of Gunung Nuang. It appears that we had to ‘cross’ over to Gunung Kutu from the hill we were at, descending slightly a moment before going up again. Inevitably, unit cohesiveness broke down and we found ourselves moving in small groups. I was moving with Wei Han, Chang Ying and Chee Ying. The path forked again with two sides showing red and white stripped tapes tied around tree branches. The difference was one path seem to head up another steep incline while the other sort of skirted around it. We chose the ‘skirting’ path after being told by Chee Ying that both leads up to the summit anyway. 3 and half hours after starting at 9am, I finally caught a glimpse of the chimney over the fireplace that formed the landmark that was the ‘summit’ of Gunung Kutu.

At the famous chimney at last! Yippee!!! :)

In actual fact, the leftover brick fireplace was not really the ‘summit’. The summit was about a hundred meters away up two huge boulders that had very robust constructed wooden ladders conveniently provided. Because the 1st group was on the summit, we rested close to the abandoned fireplace.

Sharing the fun with my fellow 'conquerer's! :D

As we did, it was no surprise that anyone would wonder how on Earth the presumably British explorers would manage to haul up the bricks and mortar to build a house up here! Careful deduction and a little bit of research would surmise that they obviously would have had some help from coolies and the reason why they would venture into the hinterlands here to build a house would be the same as they did successfully on Fraser’s Hill and a host of other ‘English’ countryside hills that dot the country; that is to initially set up a trading post to deal with tin miners of inner Pahang and later to develop it into a cooling highland getaway for the Europeans. ;) In any case, the outpost at Gunung Kutu was not very successful and all that is left today is the fireplace along with two deep wells to draw water.

The well... with two covers (before I accidentally made it one, sorry but the cover was loose!) :p

The latter giving would be campers a good reason to climb up here to weather the night. I was told there was an abandoned ‘mansion’ not far from the summit on the other side of the mountain. However, we did not visit it this time around. Swarms of sand flies infest the area around the fireplace and whoever wishes to camp with them better have something to ward them off! We took a few minutes to catch our breath before pulling out our packed lunches from our bags which ranged from apples to cup cakes and even char siew pows! I ate the roti canai I bought back in KKB while Wei Han helped himself with a healthy dose of crackers.

Having my 'roti canai' lunch at the top, with an 'extra' in the frame...

Having done with our lunch, Wei Han and I were encouraged by the other seasoned trackers to head up the summit proper, a proposal we would definitely take up after al the effort. The group ahead of us gave us enough space to maneuver up the wooden ladder to the second topmost boulder. A stainless steel sign declaring that we were at the right place was perched nearby. A second more ‘official’ looking sign set up by Perhilitan was also not far away.

The signboard proclaiming for all to see... 'Gunung Kutu'!

To reach the topmost boulder however, requires you to toughen your nerves as you had to negotiate across a small cut out 2” piece of wood that linked the two boulders. Thankfully, someone also provided a makeshift rail, although I was still worried that the piece of wood beneath me that was the only thing preventing me from plummeting over the sides to oblivion would hold my weight. :p I was reassured by the fact that Wei Han went ahead of me, so if it could support him, it could surely support me! ;) The view from the top was breathtaking, a lot better than at Gunung Stong. Completely unobstructed, we had a good view of the lake that was formed by the damming of Sungai Selangor, the surrounding mountains as well as a piece of apartment development somewhere towards Rawang.

Apartments being developed in Rawang(?)

A portion of the Titiwangsa Mountain range...

View of the lake formed by the Selangor river dam...

At the TRUE summit! :)

We hung around there for while savoring the vista. When we came down to the level the first group was at, we were offered slices of pumpkin pie to eat and share with the rest of our team below, who were at that time busy taking group photos, realizing that they have left Wei Han and myself out when we returned. :p The three elderly gentlemen had already gone down ahead of us. We participated in the next session of photos, this time taken by the famous fireplace before gathering clouds warned us that it was time to head down. The journey down seemed like a breeze compared with the climb up, mainly through the assistance of Newton’s old friend, gravity. :)

A jungle 'pine' cone...

Sharon, Shang Za and Ti Mei were flying down the hill, while Joey, Wei Han, Weng Woo and myself followed behind closely. We still had to contend with the fallen bamboo obstacle down the road but we managed to cover the track down in fewer than 2 and half hours at close to 4pm. This time, we paused at the large unbridged stream just outside the trail to freshen up and wait for the others at the rear to rejoin us.

The river! Time for a refreshing dip!

Sharon however was not at the stream. We presume (rightly) that she had gone all the way to the car park. The water was still as cool as it were in the morning and most of us took the opportunity to immerse in it. The ‘brief’ stop became and ‘full’ stop soon enough as the inviting waters convinced most of us to linger on.

Beautiful ladies by the river... ;)

We were also told that there was usually a crowd of weekend bathers downstream so apparently this was a good place as any to wash up. Wei Han and I couldn’t tarry long however, because we had to proceed on to Fraser’s Hill to meet Pui Voon, her colleagues, Vincent and Fei. There is also this unique gate system enforced which allows vehicles to move only one way up or one way down at certain preset times, with the nearest window for Wei Han and myself being between 5pm to 6pm. There was a brief spell of drama just before we left when one of the girls had one of her red slippers float downstream, until it was successfully retrieved by our gallant policeman! :)And so, with the conclusion of that drama, it was also time for Wei Han and I to bade our hiking group farewell, hiking back to the car park and setting off to our next destination, Fraser’s Hill! (but not before handing Sharon an umbrella to shelter herself from the already falling rain when we found her at the carpark). :p :)

Tasik Bera, Day 2: Sojourning by the lake

2010-06-09T20:00:00.020+08:00

The cool, crispy morning air of the jungle I was expecting to be greeted by didn’t quite materialize as I awoke to the sounds of chatter. Come to think of it, the last time I had a 'chilly' morning was back in Endau Rompin more than a year ago. Since then, all my subsequent camping trips didn't really give me that same ‘fresh’ feeling. The night was HOT and at one point, I had to take off my sweaty shirt to relief myself of the heat! :p Signs of global warming perhaps (or maybe poor ventilation)? In any case, it was close to daybreak when my mind 'returned' to my body. A few people were prancing around the campsite, notably our insomniac, Eric, whom I hear was unaccustomed to the night time harmonics from our band and fled the campsite to the air conditioned refuge of his car. Although 'awoken', I remained in the tent, my eyes stubbornly shut though my ears was unconsciously tuning to the snippets of conversation between Jady and Eric. ;)

Tranquility by the lake...

They were recounting the individual contributors to the orchestra of noise (Jady, you’re one of them ok? ;)) as well as the attempted ‘invasion’ by a herd of furry non-halal ‘visitors’ into our camp. Eric prepared more bait balls for a round of 'solo' fishing by the lakeside. True, it was a wonderful time to go fishing at 6:30am in the morning, but I haven't yet got full motor control of my body. :p By the time I got out of the tent, the girls had woken up while Eric had left for the lake. Jiun Hoe was found in Wei Han's *one* man tent after having (purportedly) slipped in to shelter himself from the roaming herds of wild boars (hey at least it’s better than being hunted by Baskerville hounds in the English moors) ;).

Caught 'red handed'! Jiun Hoe in Wei Han's tent! ;)

Vincent was still with the sandman although in the end, Yee Wei was last to awake.

Young bodies need more hours of sleeping... ;)

Having done my morning routine, it was time for breakfast. Wei Han and Jiun Hoe was fiddling with my bunsen burner when I returned from the washroom, figuring out how to fit the gas tank onto the stove. An impossible task, because I told them the gas tank they were flipping around wasn't for the stove. Rather, it was for the gas powered lantern I didn't use the night before. :p Guess we have to prepare breakfast the 'old fashioned' way isn't it? Walking back to our cooled down BBQ pit, I arranged the charcoal pieces the way I remembered from Port Dickson, building a roughly square structure with room at the center for the fire starters which Wei Han recommended we used all of what's left. The next thing on the list of starting up our warm stove was a fire to burn the starters, something surprisingly rare in commodity among non-smokers apparently! (Our resident smoker at that time was still at the lake trying to catch our morning breakfast... :p) No problem really, because I went over to our neighbor and borrowed a box of matches, enduring a bout of “Do you have some matches to spare?” and receiving the “Sure, but you’ll have to pay for it” joke. :p Still, the matches burned out too fast for the starters to ignite and only when our smoker returned (empty handed ;)), did we managed to get the starters 'started' with a flick of a lighter! :p

Lessons learnt! This is the way to set up a BBQ pit fire! (With a little help from a lighter of course) :)

Stoking the flame under a 'Sea Scout's' supervision (hmm... one wonders how on Earth do people from an inland town like Taiping becomes 'SEA' scouts?)

For some reason, we were more conscious of our hygiene than yesterday when preparing our food. Whereas yesterday, we were laying down the steak, sausages and chicken patties on the bare wire mesh, today we were laying our food down on the same wires with the notable difference of having a sheet of aluminum foil wrapped around it. This in effect presents itself with some problems. For one, the smoke from the fire beneath couldn't pass through the wrapped up mesh. Instead, coming up along the sides of the pit and stinging the eyes of our 'cooks' ;). For two, we have the problem of our foils having the tendency to catch fire, basically more to the fact that our rumbling stomachs didn’t allow us the patience to wait for the charcoal to settle down to warm embers, allowing the still lively flames to lick the aluminium sheets from beneath.

Eric 'helping' to prepare burger patties prior to being 'shooed' away by Pui Voon on accusations that he is preparing mince meat instead!

Barring a few mishaps (Eric attempted to convert our burger patties to mince meat until Pui Voon shooed him away while Ching Li experimented an egg with Ribena combination), we managed to conjure up the required burger patties, scrambled eggs and sausages.

Enjoying a morning breakfast...

My stomach rumbled again right after breakfast and regretably, it was time to visit the loo ('toilets' are so 'Midlands' class, so says Mr. Jiun Hoe) again :p. Fortunately there were no giant spiders skulking around the 'throne' this time. I came out from the loo to notice Eric waiting outside. He was adjusting his hair in the mirror as he waited for the loo to do his business. His hands though were suspiciously devoid of a toilet roll (Eeeee?) :p.

Cries of anguish greeted me (from Pui Voon and Jady) when I returned to the camp minus the roll of toilet paper I took. Believe it or not, it was revealed (by Vincent) that 'most' people manage to clean their behinds with a mere FIVE squares of toilet paper! SIMPLY INCREDIBLE! (which explains why Eric went in seemingly 'empty handed' perhaps? :p ;)) In any case, with nothing else to do, our eyes went over our fishing rods. A few suggestions were bandied about by our anglers as to how best to fish out the elusive fishies, ranging from renting a motorized boat with a guide (RM120/boat) to take us to the center of the lake, renting a row boat (RM4/person) and row ourselves out or just fish by the lakeside. Jiun Hoe sort of settled the issue when he appeared at the supposedly VIP exclusive jetty a short distance away from us. :p

Jiun Hoe among the reeds still trying his luck at getting the 'BIG' one...

This beautifully built jetty/platform is reserved for VIPs only! :p

We got ourselves over, hauling our fishing equipment. The area was actually fenced up although a gap in the fence allowed Jiun Hoe and us to get through. There were fishes in the water, although they were pathetically small fries :p. We cast our rods and after about an hour still got nothing. Jiun Hoe and Yee Wei spied on a boat lined up against the jetty and the ‘devil’ perhaps whispered to them to take it to the small floating fish farm just about 100 meters away from the jetty. Wei Han, Vincent, Eric and myself (with a little bit more wisdom(?)) politely refused their invitation and soon these two ‘pirates’ were onboard the farm. As always when these things happen and seemingly like clockwork, that was cue for the absentee guard to show up. Maybe hesitant to approach the four misfits sitting at the platform alone, the guard zig-zagged his way to us, scoping us from different angles. On our part, none of us attempted to turn around to look back, pretending as if nothing was going on. After judging that we didn’t look like ‘violent’ people, he finally threw the question, “Macam mana kamu semua ni masuk ke kawasan ini?” ("How did you people managed to get into this area?" - Ahem, in Queen's English). It was Wei Han who broke the ice by saying that we came through the gap in the fence from the ‘resort’. The guard reminded us that the jetty we were on was for VIPs only and owned by PERHILITAN, the gah-men’s department of forestry. Further questions on the missing boat revealed that the fish farm was for fry to be released into the lake and the two ‘pirates’ onboard had to return immediately or the guard will call ‘reinforcements’ (read POLIS!) to evict us from this ‘restricted’ area. We packed our stuff and left, after calling out to the ‘pirates’ to come back to shore. They initially thought our call was a hoax but eventually joined us on the other side of the fence before being potentially ‘caught’ by the authorities. ;) Frankly, as a freed ‘Selangorian’, it kinda cheeses me off when we are told utilities built on tax payer’s money (I meant the platform and not the trespassing of the fish farm :p ;)) are reserved for a certain ‘elite’ few to use. Which part of ‘Rakyat DIDAHULUKAN’ does it mention that there exists segregation of amenities built on public funds for VIPs? :p How many of these ‘VIP’s actually come over to fish at the platform and how frequent (if at all)?

An afternoon sojourn, killing time before heading home...

'Happy' feet? Eric fulfill his missed appointment with the sand man the night before...

We left the ‘resort’ at a little pass mid-day, heading back to Temerloh. We were initially targeting to have our lunch there before crossing over the Titiwangsa range for home but finding food in this town remains as elusive as the last time we were here after our Sungai Lembing trip in May. Despite the fact that it’s a holiday weekend and a school holiday to boot, few shops were open in this town. Our second attempt at finding the ‘famous ikan bakar’ stall by the side of the main road didn’t reveal any results, confirming my nagging hunch that perhaps it might have been moved from the place I last time had. I’d doubt a ‘famous’ stall like that would CLOSE and I don’t think I’d had ‘ikan bakar’ with fairies either (Maxx was far from looking like a fairy, to me at least :p). At the same time, our search for a ‘river’food restaurant proves futile as well. We finally stopped for a meal at a café called D’Island instead.

One of the few shops opened in Temerloh. :p Again the perplexing conundrum of references to 'marine' features in an inland setting... (the nearest sea is about 200km both ways!)

Strangely, ‘Loh Mai Kai’ seems to be the MOST popular dish here because when we ordered for it, we were told they were out of supply. Knowing that we will be frequenting Restaurant ‘126’ at Kampung Bukit Tinggi later on, we ordered light, Jady and I sharing a plate of Chicken Parmagiano (as in the case when sharing with a lady, the ratio always seems to be 75-25 rather than 50-50 at my ‘advantage’). ;) We left Temerloh at about 3:30pm, entering the East Coast expressway at about 4:00pm. This time around, Eric put the pedal to the metal, zooming ahead of Wei Han. The millionaires and millionairesses were surprisingly quiet today, because his phone wasn’t buzzing (except for a few smses) every few minutes like it did the day before. :p I took the brief lull to catch up on some sleep and when I ‘returned’ we were already at the toll by the entrance to the Karak highway. Here, Eric asked me whether we were about to enter the ‘speed trap danger zone’ and I told him regrettably, we had just passed it (the region from the Karak toll to the East Coast Expressway toll). :p We reached Restaurant ‘126’ at about 5:00pm and already it was beginning to fill up.

Restaurant 126 (sometimes mistaken for '555') ;)

Ordering our dishes which included two plates of their signature honeyed pork bellies, we made sure we didn’t leave out a dish of steamed ‘Patin’, to ‘avenge’ our futile attempt at getting any ourselves. :p Encouraging us to practice ‘chilvary’, Eric proposed a staggered seating arrangement between the ladies and the guys, which ended up Wei Han and myself having to ensure Ching Li’s plate remained sufficiently full with food. Jady’s was taken cared for by Eric while Pui Voon got Jiun Hoe’s attention. ;)

The food served is tasty and surprisingly cheap!

After thanking our organizers, Jady and Wei Han, we left the place with a further proposal (from Fei) for a trip to Teluk Intan in the works. Perhaps by then the smell of fresh vinyl might accentuate the driving experience (we’ll make sure Kam Keong is available for us to experience his new ride)? ;) The remainder of the evening was spent ‘educating’ me on the political complexities of girl-girl relationships by the two ladies in the M3, an after trip ‘yum char’ session in Subang to (further) wind down the night and a surprising discovery that one of our drivers have an outstanding ‘saman’ from PDRM (for speeding)! :p ;)

Next stop... Island Hopping in the South China Sea! :D See you then! ;)

Tasik Bera, Day 1: Takde Ikan pun! :p

2010-06-07T20:12:00.003+08:00

It's been a while since I went fishing and I have to admit, this is probably the first time since I came back from the United States that I am going fishing in a lake (Yup, it has been a long, long, long time ago! :p). Admittedly, I was a tad bit 'confident' in getting something from this lake having been 'lucky' at the paid fishing ponds in both Kota Kemuning and Port Klang. As such, when our band of 'brothers' and 'sisters' left Bandar Utama for the drive down to Temerloh and finally Bera lake, I was still clinging on to the belief that my 'beginner's' luck will continue to hold and was already entertaining thoughts of having dinner graced by slices of 'Patin' and 'Tilapia'... Mmmmhmmm! ;). Not that my musings is going to distract my attention from the road. I needn't place my attention there for a change, for the lovely fact that for once in quite some time now, I wasn't behind the wheel. ;) Rather, for perhaps the '1st' time, I was behind the dashboard of Eric's M3 on the 3 hour drive to Tasik Bera! :)

An M3... isn't she pretty? ;)

Behind, was Vincent (shhh... he is Eric's boss), Fei (the boss's wife) and Pui Voon (the boss's wife 'hiong har' friend), Hahaha... Ahead, leading the way in the champaigne gold colored Vios is Wei Han at the driver's seat (co-organizer), Jady (organizer), Ching Li, Yee Wei and our brand new friend, Jiun Hoe (from the UK, ok?! ;) and it's NOT Ulu Klang). Our first stop in this 2D1N camping/fishing trip is a common and familiar stoppover for us 'experienced' hikers Wei Han, Yee Wei and myself; that is the small quaint mountainside village of Kampung Bukit Tinggi, located along the Karak Highway pass Genting Sempah.

Kampung Bukit Tinggi by the Karak highway

Our regular wan tan mee shop

What is it that attracts us you might ask... well, it's none other than it's FAMOUS BBQ pork of course! Sold by a man from a motorcycle parked outside one of the village's hardware shops (don't worry, the village is small enough to the point you won't need to go around in circles looking for him), the crunchy, succulent slices of roasted and BBQ pork is a must have if you were to pass by this section of the Karak highway early in the morning.

Digging into Bukit Tinggi's famous char siew and siew yoke... in the PAST! ;)

By early, I meant EARLY. Because by the time we reached there at 930am, the man had already absconded himself (with his tasty slices of meat) for almost an hour already! :p Thereafter, resigned to the fact that we're not going to have a chance to savor this mountainside village's signature morning dish, we ended up instead having 'wan tan mee' served with some 'yong tau foo' at the side in the one same shop us hikers have always been going to in our waterfall adventures close to this particular portion of the Titiwangsa range.

No siew yoke this time around :p. It's gonna be wan tan mee alone...

There was a 'slight' delay in our departure from the village, as our 'weekend warrior', Eric, had to entertain a potential (couple of) million ringgit call from a buyer/seller of prime real estate. Not that Vincent is complaining though. ;)

Where's our driver? Why, he is busy trying to close a multi million ringgit deal!

The very fact that today was the Yang di Pertuan Agong's birthday wasn't going to deter millionaires and millionairesses from calling their friendly, neighbourhood real estate agent. 20 minutes later, we were back on the road leaving the East Coast Highway at the Temerloh exit pass noon. From here, we followed the signboards towards Bera Lake, passing Temerloh town itself and over the mighty Pahang river. Being the so called 'Patin/Tilapia' capital of Malaysia, there were no shortages of roadside stalls with signboards saying 'Patin/Tilapia untuk dijual (for sale)'.

You know you are in the Patin/Tilapia capital of Malaysia when you see signs like this dotting the roadside

Although curiosity (and a little bit of apprenhension) made us halt at one of these stalls eventually, we paused first in Temerloh town proper at an aquarium shop to stock up on bait.

Temerloh... ;)

Wei Han decided to change his reel line, while the other anglers went about their business as the ladies stopped to admire the fishes. *I* paid a courtesy call with Mother Nature, my 'iron' bowels strangely unable to hold its contents this trip. With me for company was a nest of GIANT daddy long legs, deceptively still as I 'desludged'. :p I left Temerloh feeling slightly 'lighter', the group of us stopping by the roadside at one of those many 'fish for sale' shops. With money to spend on buying some 'stand-in' fishies, there wasn't anybody to receive them! We lingered around the shop, looking at the swimming Patins in the pool and fending off the urge to commit a sin as we waited for someone to show up.

Nice little fishies swimming around in the basin unattended...

... while we fight the urge to commit a 'sin' ;)

We left empty handed after a good 15 minutes. Unfortunately, that was the very last shop on the road before the 'kampung' scenary gave way to oil palm plantations that dominated the landscape the rest of the journey on. From here, it took us another hour before we reached the Tasik Bera resort.

Our destination: The lake!

Here is worth noting that despite looking as if the lake is a short distance from the highway, in reality, it is almost 70km from Temerloh town, located perhaps close to Muadzam Shah by the Pahang/Johor border! We registered the drivers at the guardhouse on arrival prior to entering the lakeside itself.

Tasik Bera at last!

The small parking lot near the resort's restaurant was almost filled with cars when we arrived. Despite it's seclusion, it seems Tasik Bera still manages to attract it's share of visitors. Quite a number of the people that come here have fishing rods in one hand (and ominously nothing in the other :p) while the rest seems to be either school/university kids on holiday or families out for a camping/picnic stint by the lake. A concrete jetty was being built at the center of the resort, the all too familiar 'weighing scale' symbol adorning a wooden board showing details of the construction nearby (and advertising which political coalition is responsible for the 'development' perhaps?).

At the 'resort' with the rising jetty on the left...

A few chalets dot the resort, all of them booked if we are to hear what the counter staff is telling us rightly.

The chalets look relatively new although few in number...

As Wei Han paid our camping site fees, we unloaded our tents, foodstuff and bags, bringing our luggage to the cement platform that was to serve as our campsite first before venturing into the ONLY restaurant for our lunch. It was about 2:30pm in the hot afternoon. Lunch was served slowly, as the overwhelmed resort staff seemed to struggle to cook for 10 hungry people. Jady informed us after making some enquiries to the staff that there appears to be some logistics problems in the supply of cooked rice, the restaurant having to cook more of it to cater for us. After waiting for more than 30 minutes, we dig in hungrily into our stir fried ginger chicken, asam curry patin, mixed vegetables, tom yam soup and generous amounts of fried eggs.

Asam Fish! Yum... yum!

Bellies filled, we went back to the campsite to set up our night's abode before making a beeline to the boats that will take us to a small floating house nearby where we will finally fulfill our trip's primary objective and cast our lines for RM4/person.

Our campsite graced by our 4 leng luis... ;)

Beginning our fishing trip! Spirits are high... ;)

Our 'pre-booked' 'kelong' however appeared occupied as we got onboard, a group of Chinese guys were already there fishing.

The 'kelong' by the lake...

The boatman (and resort worker) apologized (?) to them and said that the place had been pre-booked, resulting in the removal of 2 of them into a small boat but leaving one other determined 'squatter' with us. Not that we minded of course, because like visitors to Rome, we observed what the 'Romans' did. Fishing for 'Toman', they were using lures made out of slabs of red meat while at the same time, sprinkling the surrounding waters with chopped slices of the same. Snatches of overheard conversation between Eric, Vincent and the dude chopping more of the red meat revealed that it was not of the 'halal' variety. :p The fact that they are fishing 'Toman' also revealed that there were probably no other variety of fish nearby, since this particular species of fish is known for it's aggresive and carnivourous tendencies. :p Eric was already outlining the 'doom' of our efforts as he revealed to us a recipe to prepare bait for Patin, consisting of a combination of chicken feed, flour and water.

Bait for Patin: Chicken feed, flour and water... too bad there aren't any to eat them :p

We nevertheless cast our lines anyway, using balls of the crushed mixture aforementioned with predictable results. We initially tried the recommended method of weighing the bait down so that we may catch the bottom feeding Patin, before some of us opting to switch strategies by either using crickets as bait instead or fishing closer to the surface using the bait balls in combination with a float. Of course, 'sifu' Eric had more than one trick up his sleeve when he pulled out his 'fly' (in fly I meant the plastic looking fish bait and not his imitation of being Michael Jackson :p). Telling us that he was out to catch 'Toman' like the other dudes, he casted it a few times into the waters close to growing marsh brushes beside our kelong. When I saw him suddenly changing his bait from the fancy RM14 'fly' to the much lower costing bait balls, he told me that 'a Toman bit his fly and ran off with it into the undergrowth'! (Yeah right! ;)) Yee Wei pointed me towards a cut line suscipiously snagged among the floating growth instead. Hahaha!

Mr Eric smirking as he thought he had 'fooled' me about his lost 'fly'... ;)

While the guys fished, the ladies occupied themselves chatting and taking photographs, with the exception of Jady and Jiun Hoe.

Beautiful ladies by the lake... :D

Commandeering a kayak for RM30, they paddled off towards the farthest reaches (they could manage) of the lake joining us at the kelong about 30-45 minutes later after we started fishing. Jady switched places with Pui Voon for an approximately shorter stint before the kayak returned for another lady to jump aboard.

'Macho' man Jiun Hoe showing Pui Voon his chivalrious nature...

Ching Li and Fei wasn't in the mood and Jady took Pui Voon's place again for a 2nd time. The 4th time the kayak returned, the sky was darkening ominously as lances of rain fell in the far distance. That prompted a call to return to land which was entertained by the waiting boatman by the shore. Jiun Hoe and his kayak returned with Jady, while the ladies hopped into the arriving boat. 'Sifu' Eric took the opportunity to jump together with them, leaving Yee Wei, Wei Han, Vincent and myself on the kelong to wait for the boat to return. The boat did not return because it's motor went bust! :p The 4 of us remaining could only watch in dismay as the boatman dismantled the motor to supposedly haul it off to the workshop for repairs, promising to return to get us. Minutes passed, then tens of minutes before we realized the guy wasn't coming back! :p In desperation, Vincent called Eric to search for the missing boatman or anybody onshore to get us off the kelong. From our vantage point, we saw Eric made a few rounds, sometimes holding his phone in an apparent attempt to get some help (right? ;)). The others also returned to the lakeside a number of times to observe as well. Eventually, knowing that the boat is not going to return anytime soon, I decided instead to reassemble my rod and cast again for those elusive patin.

Marooned in the middle of the lake, we have nothing else to do but cast our fishing lines into the water again...

The rest followed soon after with nothing much else to do. While we waited futilely for the fish to bite, we took photos of the gathering sunset with the SLR cameras which Wei Han has with him and Jady conveniently left behind. We were not really roused by the sound of the motor from the boat that was finally going to ferry us to our camp probably because we have already by then gotten numb by the frequent thru and fro goings of other boats whizzing away close to the center of the lake. But roused we eventually did and soon each one of us were boarding the small craft that will take us back. A 'slight' mishap occurred during that boarding rite which resulted in a wet SLR and a wet handphone among others, but I have been told not to elaborate beyond that. :p

Saved! (at least for most of us) ;)

Suffice to say, Jady's asset left behind with us was handed safely to her from my hands. ;) Our BBQ pit fire was already burning when the 4 of us reached camp, Jiun Hoe and the ladies diligently flipping and tossing the pieces of chicken wings and cocktails over the heated charcoals.

Iron chef Jiun Hoe showing his British culinary skills now...

Vincent, Yee Wei and myself took over from them to cook up the lamb and beef steaks while Wei Han went to shower off Tasik Bera. The washrooms, connected to one of the chalet units were amazingly CLEAN, having both bathrooms and toilets! We finished an entire bottle of Jack Daniel's Swing whiskey, greatly appreciating Mr. Eric's contribution while I pulled out my supply of Vodka to support.

Enjoying the fruits of our labor (minus the fish!)

... while Wei Han 'mourns' his lost... ;)

As the fires of our BBQ pit cooled and our stomachs filled (not to mention our bodies WASHED of course), we moved on to our favourite game of psychology which to me at least, meant nothing else but werewolves! ;)

Aw, come on! Werewolves isn't boring! :D :)

Our new 'addition' Jiun Hoe and Jady brought new 'spice' to our game, Jiun Hoe earning 'Sunday' as a nickname for being particularly prone to lycanthropy while Jady confounding the Gamemaster as she insisted on whacking an already very dead wolf with her trusty broomstick, TWICE. The role of rabble rouser and stake stoker that was usually filled by a certain long haired person was occupied instead by Eric. ;)

'Sifu' Eric in his element... ;)

Yee Wei, myself as well as some of the girls couldn't help notice the similarities. Conspicuously missing was Vincent, who was already having a date with the sandman. As usual, time flew by as we sent peasants and wolves to burn and soon it was time to go to join Vincent in dreamland. Well, at least most of us did. One particular person (whom I heard haven't camped in more than 10 years) had to sleep in his car instead, away from all the harmonious music (in which I was told I was a cellist) emanating around the campsite. :D

Sunset by the lake... BEAUTIFUL!

Our anglers, leng luis and renaissance man from Britain! ;) From left: Jady, Pui Voon, Yee Wei, Wei Han, Ching Li, Jiun Hoe, Vincent, the author and Eric.

Day 3: Telaga Tujuh at Jelawang Waterfalls and 'Drama' on the return home

2010-03-10T16:58:00.001+08:00

Despite it being our last day in Stong and that there are no major ‘events’ scheduled for the day, I woke up early in the morning, shortly before sunrise to catch a repeat of yesterday’s spectacle that I missed. The crowd of sun watchers was markedly less today and as the minutes passed, it was soon clear that the sun has decided to go into ‘hiding’.

Waiting for the 'rising' sun... what else? :p ;)

People were starting to leave but I lingered on, the girls, Linus and Sum as well. Instead of viewing the blazing red orb rising from the horizon, we were treated to a different spectacle, the view of the sun’s rays peeking through the clouds, an awe inspiring effect Linus calls ‘God’s sunrise’.

Sunrise in Dabong Valley

Dabong Valley bathed in the morning light

Breakfast today was what’s really left of our food, consisting of another round of instant noodles and eggs. My ‘tank’ was already quite full and I restrained myself from gorging more than I could manage.

Breakfast! :D

At 9:30am, Dek came over, ready to take us further along the stream to another set of falls called Telaga Tujuh.

There are actually many more 'holes' than Telaga TUJUH seems to imply ;)

It’s not really that far. In fact it is only beyond the 5 minute walk to the waterfall we had been going to all along. Reaching it however, required a little bit of climbing and after about 15 minutes we were there and greeted by the same large group of people that were doing the ‘sliding’ down from waterfall stunt a day earlier.

A slippery climb up to Telaga Tujuh...

As we await our turn, I took the opportunity to survey the surroundings. Like I have mentioned earlier, Telaga Tujuh is another waterfall upstream of Jelawang. What distinguishes it from the rest were these underwater ‘holes’ located right underneath it. Two of these stands out, one being large enough to accommodate a single grown person with a depth as high while another , a larger hole enough to accommodate three to four people in one go!

One of the 'smaller' holes at the falls

This one could fit THREE! :D

Both are covered with water and it is rather fun dipping your whole body into them. For those opting to have a very good and hard massage, you are welcomed to lean against the side of the falls while allowing your back to be smacked by the onrushing water falling from the top.

Wei Han and Yee Wei having a good massage...

Wei Han looks suspiciously 'satisfied'... ;)

The gang at the falls... ;)

We did all this when we had our turn and after taking a few pictures most of us returned down to our camp. Linus and Henry however, chose to try another level up, finding a small pool above and another smaller fall pass the slippery slopes.

Some of us manage to clamber over the top of Telaga Tujuh Falls...

... revealing jumping 'natives' below ;)

By the time they returned, it was time to pack our stuff and head down. Bidding Baha Camp goodbye, we commenced our descent down at 1:30pm.

Packing up for the hike back!

Farewell Camp Baha! :D

Getting down was a breeze and opting for the ‘official’ track, we were back at the bottom within an hour, or at least Kam Keong, Wei Han, Yee Wei and me. The rest took a little while longer to get down, delayed slightly by ‘sum’ drama of Sum slipping and falling down on his butt that resulted in a few scratches.

Ching Li having a 'snack' on the way down ;)

By the time they were down, I had just exited the toilet, having emptied the 2 days worth of contents from my stomach! :p

Back at Base Camp! Looks like the track down is more strenous than it looks for some... ;)

There were very nice bathrooms at the park office, except that only ONE of them was truly working. While I was in the toilet, Wei Han, Kam Keong and Yee Wei had already taken their turn at it and my very timely exit from the toilet coincided very nicely with the schedule. After a long and very refreshing shower, I returned to the staging area near the registration office to have a go at some deliciously prepared Ramly burger. Coupled with generous gulps of 100 Plus, Pepsi and iced water (in order of consumption ;)), it felt like a meal made in heaven… Mmmm. The arrival of advance elements from the other group who started off after us, hastened our departure.

Refreshed and 'unloaded'! It's time to show how happy we are at a mission accomplished!

When Henry finished his bath, it was time for us to have a REAL meal, the van already ready to pick us and transfer us to Jelawang ‘Café’, located on the road to Dabong town. It was standard Malay fare but nevertheless, we ordered like nobody business. We had two servings each of ‘telur dadak’, seafood tomyam, mixed vegetables, ayam masak merah and sweet sour beef to cater to 11 people. Sadly, they were out of fish. We spent RM156.00 for the meal with some of us suspecting that its inflated price might have something to do with providing a little of ‘commission’ to our guide. :p

Sum displaying his chivalric inclinations! (To the cheers of the other guys!)

We had to return to the station by 5:30pm, the van having to take up more people waiting at Stong park. As we neared the station, I caught sight of a train coming out from under an overhead bridge, little knowing that it was a prelude to an ‘extension’ of our trip.

Time to head back!

We got down, I heading to the agency office to collect the stuff I left behind. When I got out, people were running about, there was a strange excitement in the air, uncanny for a town this sleepy. :p “The train derailed!” said Sum as he ran by. Oh-boy! I supposed it was really wishful thinking that we could still board the train home on schedule at 8:36pm, but at that point in time I was still hopeful. Not wanting to be left out of the ‘excitement’ I joined the growing crowd to ‘observe’ the debacle. Apparently the last coach slipped of the track, damaging the sleepers and yanking out the restraining clips in the process.

Time Extension???? Train derailment in Dabong!

There’s going to be a lot of work to be done. First was to set the coach back on the track and second to repair the track itself. Only then did I understand that I am going to spend a little bit more time here in Dabong.

Hello? Hello?! Train Derailment! Train Derailment! :p

The hour of our departure came and went. The moon was high and people were starting to get agitated. Everyone was huddling at the station now and milling about the two small ‘makan’ stalls nearby. Thankfully, one of them had a large TV, from which we watched the Carling Cup final between Man Utd and Aston Villa.

Nightfall at Dabong... the hours tick...

The usually sleepy local 'makan' shop has suddenly become the most HOTTEST spot in Dabong!

Others without an interest in football had to find ‘other’ types of entertainment and while some would have been contented with playing cards and chatting, Linus decided to take a step further, one resulting in a shouting match between the KTMB station master and himself.

Newest GSC branch in Dabong! :D

Actually, our tickets did mention that ‘should the train be delayed more than 2 hours before departure’, we are entitled for a FULL REFUND. Typical of Malaysian ‘gah-men’ service, the guy doesn’t know anything and at first adopted their standard ‘tidak-apa’ attitude. That riled Linus up and the result was that he managed to coerced the station master to chop, sign and leave a remark on our tickets saying that our train was more than 2 hours late, so that we can later bring the issue back at KL Sentral. We boarded the train at last around 3:30am in the morning, after teams of KTMB workers worked (and drank their share of teh tarik/teh o’limau) to remove the obstruction.

The train arriving AT LAST!

I made a short visit to the galley, got a bottle of water before heading back to my bunk. I slept lightly, remembering the train hurtling pass Kuala Lipis station then Jerantut, Kuala Krau, Mentakab, before I finally woke up as we approached Bahau, Negeri Sembilan.

Murder on the Orient Express? ;) I was so tired, I might as well be a corpse!

Ah... the comforts of air conditioning... ;) Not! :p

It was close to 9am then and the fact that we were already in Negeri Sembilan seem to imply that we’ll reach KL very soon! Those merry thoughts were dashed when we found out we still had to go south towards Gemas, Johor before the train headed back north.

Gemas leng lui... ;)

At Gemas, we stopped for almost an hour, some of us actually entertaining thoughts of paying a visit to the station’s Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant to grab a bite but all fearing that the train might just suddenly leave, stranding us behind!

Gemas leng chais and leng luis... ;)

We did manage to wander about outside the train and with so much time in our hands, some of us decide to conduct a somewhat interesting ‘experiment’. :p

The result of the experiment... if you think walking along railway tracks is 'romantic', look down at your feet. Because that's where all the excrements from the toilets are deposited!

We left Gemas at about 1:30pm, finally heading north towards home sweet home. As we approached KL Sentral, the electrical circuitry decided to play tricks on us, switching on and off at intervals of 20 to 30 minutes, reeking havoc on the lights and most importantly the air conditioning! :p Kam Keong happily got off at Kajang, relieved that he could short cut the agony and head home from there. Strangely, the air conditioning turned itself ‘on’ the moment he stepped out the train!

Kam Keong happily leaving the HOT train... strangely, the air conditioning turned itself back on the moment he stepped out of it! :p

Thinking that we might have perhaps gotten rid of the jinx, we soldiered on. The electrical circuitry gave up again as we approached KL Sentral at 3:30pm, plunging us into total darkness as we entered the tunnel where the arrival platforms were. We quickly got off the train. Still, there was some ‘unsettled’ business to attend to. Being the so called ‘organizer’ of the trip, I had to at least put some effort in ‘trying’ to get our refunds from KTMB. I approached the counter and made a preliminary enquiry. I was not surprised to be informed that there was no refund forthcoming. Their reason was simple, they might have been late, but despite that you still ‘used’ their services to get yourself back and therefore there should be no refund. :p Things begin to simmer when the ‘long haired’ one came over and helmed the ‘negotiations’ with KTMB.

The long haired one having a 'civilized' chat with your friendly KTMB staff...

Starting off by asking the female clerk whether she understood English, he demanded for our refund pointing out that vague ‘clause’ on our E-tickets. He was eventually asked to write a letter to the clerk’s superior who was not there. In it, he threatened to take court action against them as well as publish our experience in various newspapers should the refund isn’t forthcoming :p. He then asked *me* to sign the letter, which freaked me out! I mean, I support your crusade to make Malaysia right and all that, but putting me in the forefront ala ‘Rosa Parks’, well, that’s a whole different ball game altogether! :p Nevertheless, I signed the letter after getting Linus to sign on it as well. “Don’t worry dude, we’re right! They’re wrong,” reassured Linus. ;) As he submitted our signed letter, we found out that among the ‘supporting documents’ stapled to it, Linus, Yee Wei, Henry and Sum’s e-tickets were not among them.

The last time that document was seen... ;)

Apparently, the custodian of their tickets had left it under his pillow in the train rendering the possibility of the 4 getting their refunds (should there is any) slim to say the least. I guess Linus must have been very tired, because surprisingly he bit his tongue on this and we were all ‘released’ to head home. We parted ways, each of us taking separate modes of transport home. Like the way we came, Wei Han and I chartered a taxi to bring us to where Wei Han parked his car, his office. My mind was so wrapped up thinking about court cases and such that regrettably, the taxi driver managed to drive off with my unpowered Nokia N82! Goodbye my dear phone… you’ll be truly missed! :p This unceremoniously made the trip to Gunung Stong/Jelawang the MOST EXPENSIVE hiking trip I have ever been done so far! But one very good thing I gained out of all this though… I could now fit into my size 32 jeans again. And that my friends, made ALL that hard work WORTHWHILE! Until next time… ;)

Day 2: The Hike up to Gunung Stong

2010-03-07T01:33:00.001+08:00

9:30am, February 27th, 2010, Baha Camp, Jelawang: After watching the magnificent sunrise from the top of Jelawang waterfall (well, admittedly everyone EXCEPT ME. I was still in dreamland at that time) and having breakfast consisting of a combination of Maggee mee, Cream of Mushroom soup and some black bean fish in a can, we set our sights for the summit of Gunung Stong. We had loaded our bags with drinking water, two loaves of bread and cans of sardines, tuna and baked beans for the anticipated 4 hour hike to the peak, 1390m above sea level. Realizing the extent of my stamina this time around, I had shed most of the back breaking weight I brought along with me to Baha Camp. I was also secretly appreciative that a vote to stay another night at Jelawang instead of shifting camp to Gua Bogor as per original plan was passed by the majority of our participants. This was mainly due to the fact that we were informed by the guide that there was no water there, which in hindsight was not very accurate information. Retracing our way out from the camp via its sole entrance, we arrived at the fork in the road we encountered yesterday that led uphill. Any illusions that the hike up is going to be an easy one was quickly dispelled 5 minutes on the trail. Like the way up to base camp, it was virtually uphill ALL the way, the incline getting steeper and steeper as we approached the top.

Resting by the wayside on the way up to Stong

The first 30 minutes of the trail resembled the track from Kem Pacat to Puncak Pengasih in Nuang, as we waded over a literal trench, carved out in the middle of the laterite slope by down flowing rain water.

Jungle trail... can you see it? ;)

These upward sloping tracks were punctuated by brief patches of flat ground overgrown with ‘paku-pakis’ that probed into the track, it’s groping vines, leaves and stems threatening to entangle and virtually strangle anyone moving through it like something out of a B-grade horror movie.

'Attacked' by a giant sentient 'paku pakis' organism!

We passed through two streams of cold mountain water before reaching the mid way point represented by Gua Bogor.

Gua Bogor

Not really a cave in the general sense, it is more of an enclosed area formed by a pile of giant boulders in the jungle. A stream runs right next to the ‘cave’ offering a source of water for cooking and bathing, which was actually contrary to what our guide had told us back at the camp. If we had been told that there was water conveniently available here, it would just have been ok to bring up our sleeping bags and a night’s worth of food, leave it here and continue up the mountain before returning to spend the night. We didn’t tarry long at Gua Bogor though as our guide was egging us to move on, although not before filling up our bottles with river water at this last water source. From here, the climb up only got even tougher as the incline became even steeper. Halfway through, we begin to notice the surrounding flora becoming more ‘temperate’ in variety: moss, lichen and ferns abound.

A species of flower...

Another example of fine jungle flora...

The last part of the climb required us to scale almost 60 degrees up rocky boulders for close to an hour, myself constantly looking up at how far the jungle canopy was, hoping that soon, it will open up to sky and we were at the summit. Again, as was in Nuang, the summit came up suddenly.

At the summit at last! Or is it again? :p

Little more than a large boulder, it was surrounded with coniferous trees which coupled with the mist still evident around, blocked out most of the surrounding panorama. Some would say it was quite disappointing after all the effort put in. I had then realized that I had been here before and perhaps my enforced ‘amnesia’ was due to the fact that the first time I was feeling the same disappointment I felt now for the lack of a ‘reward’ for all the effort! We were also not alone as two other groups eventually shared the top of the mountain with us, one coming before and another coming after.

Who says it's lonely at the top?

Our group's turn to stake a claim!

We lingered around for an hour and a half, consuming our packed lunch and drinking what’s left of our water.

Oh, how I long the comforts of a soft bed... ;)

In between, we were visited by a curious squirrel in search of handouts (and no, I wouldn't recommend the bushy tailed creature as a source of food for you bush meat people out there. Shoo! :p)

Having a go at our 'packed' lunch...

Sorry, no bush meat please!

At 2:30pm, we begin our journey down to the base camp. Going down was a lot easier than going up though some restraint is in order so as not to let momentum overtake you and you ending up toppling over the steep inclines. For this, you’ll require knees of steel. :p

Descending down the mountain...

Nevertheless, we did cover a lot of ground pretty fast and soon we were back in Gua Bogor taking our rest and refilling our water. Our guide seems to be in a hurry to get back and despite promising us to show how he was going to do a ‘Tarzan’ with that long overhanging vine in the center of the cave, he urged us instead to head back to camp.

Taking a breather by the stream at Gua Bogor

Wei Han, Linus and I were the last to leave and when we managed to get ourselves back on the track passing the cave, we found our group ‘gone’! :p Wei Han had initially thought he knew where they went and led the way. It only took us a couple of minutes trudging through an overgrown ‘paku-pakis’ grove before we realized we were lost. :p Fortunately, a call out to our group managed to get a response from Sum and guided by his voice, we managed to pick our way out to rejoin the main group who had started off without us.

A species of 'pede'... generally harmless

A black milipede...

Now this one you better watch out! A centipede crossed our path on the way up...

We were back in the camp by 5:30pm. Overall, I should really be grateful that the weather cooperated. It was rather cool and cloudy in the morning and only briefly warm towards the evening. Not a drop of rain fell throughout which would have made the journey harrowing, negotiating down the slippery laterite slope if it did. We cleaned ourselves off at the waterfall immediately upstream of Jelawang, close to the camp. Here we were treated to a spectacle as some members of the other group of people managed to get some hemp rope to scale up a point in the middle of the 20m high fall. At first I had thought they might have wanted to do some ‘abselling’ but later did I realized that they had wanted to climb up only to slide down it’s smooth inclined sides into the shallow pool below (at high speed)!

This is the most 'pro' of our waterfall surfers. Don't try unless you have already settled all your worldly dues...

Knowing how my rotten luck would hold in such circumstances, I chose not to participate despite an invitation from one of the ladies and Linus’s persistent pestering. Linus, the adrenaline junkie that he was, couldn’t resist not gambling a few pieces of teeth, bone and gristle for a few seconds of ‘fun’. Thankfully, none was needed to be donated to the ‘spirits’ of the falls.

Linus apparently 'has'... ;)

Wei Han, Yee Wei and myself watched Linus and members from the other group court death as we washed. Sufficiently cleansed, I left the waterfall to help prepare dinner. Tonight’s highlight was spaghetti Bolognese. ;) I don’t really know what others might think, but it is really not that hard or exotic to prepare when going camping. All you need to have are Bunsen burners, mess tins, can of sauce and generous amounts of water and voila! We supplemented our ‘luxurious’ meals with some pickled Chinese vegetables and boiled luncheon meat, topping it off with more servings of ‘Neslo’.

Tidak ditanggung halal!

As the full moon dominated the night sky, we again congregated over the rocky outcrop of Jelawang falls, marveling at its beauty. Our group was less enthusiastic about playing werewolves tonight, tired as we were. Instead we arranged ourselves to lie in a circle, our heads forming the hub and playing ‘Truth or Dare’. The ‘Dare’ was to plunge into the icy cold waters of the waterfalls ‘neh-ked’ (or so Linus says) but fortunately, it was not really enforced. One round of withering questions and soon we were off to bed, the journey home and the cool embrace of Telaga Tujuh the highlight for tomorrow.

Day 1: Train Ride, Caves and Jelawang Waterfalls

2010-03-05T11:13:00.000+08:00

8:00pm, February 25th, 2010, KL-Sentral: I find myself shuffling through a crowd of people at the local 7-11 buying up a couple of bottles of isotonic drinks to stuff into my already overloaded knapsack. The rest of the gang has already gathered at KFC upstairs with the exception of Yee Wei, whom last I heard was still hurtling down the tracks to our meeting point here before boarding our overnight train to Kelantan. Yup, it has finally been realized, our much anticipated and numerously postponed trip to Gunung Stong-Jelawang Waterfall in Kelantan and not even a bout of diarrhea, two days before, is going to stop me from boarding this train tonight! This is really not the 1st time I am heading to the mountain. I have in fact gone there 3 years before with another group. However, I couldn’t really recall ever scaling to the summit, remembering only that one of my team members had a sprain on the way up and the entire expedition had to turn back. The fact which dawned on me later as I hiked up the summit was that I have actually reached the top the last time and upon surmounting it, only then did I realized just why I actually forgot I reached it. ;) But more on that later. Planning for the trip really started mid 2009 and with a few searches done on the internet, I managed to contact KB-Backpackers (www.kb-backpackers.com.my), the tour operator which I had gone with the 1st time I was there. I had tried to contact the guide which took us to Kenong Rimba as well but he responded a tad bit too late. The package I had chosen to opt was the same as before with the widest range of experiences to savor, the 3D2N free and easy package with the option to night beneath a gigantic overhang called Gua Bogor. Prices really depends on the number of participants going and despite putting the event up on Trail Trackers, I only managed to garner one short of a dozen people to come (Linus, Wei Han, Vincent, Fei, Pui Voon, Ching Li, Sum, Henry Lye, Kam Keong, Yee Wei and myself).

As for the mode of transport up to Dabong town, which is the closest significant town to Jelawang, we had initially thought of driving there. However, the prospect of spending more than 6 hours in the dark negotiating corners in the mountains on the same roads used by giant timber lorries seems daunting, so I opted to propose that we take a more ‘romantic’ train ride instead.

A 'romantic' ride on the train anyone?

Booking the train tickets however, needs to be done early, especially when the trip is going to be done on a public holiday. We got the return tickets via the internet through KTMB’s website (http://www.ktmb.com.my/) at RM96/person for a place in the air conditioned 2nd class bunks which were arranged in an almost ‘catacomb’ like combination. We boarded the train at about 8:30pm, finding our bunk in the 2nd coach closest to the train engine after a ‘rushy’ KFC dinner.

Staking out our bunks in the train...

Thanks to Carol’s last minute (non-refundable ;)) pull-out, we’ve got a ‘free’ bunk for us to put up our super huge knapsacks. We settled into the train pretty quickly and soon found ourselves trying to occupy our anticipated 12 hour ride with cards games, idle chatter and attempts to ‘explore’ the train with the main objective of finding out where the galley (and food) is. Facilities in the train were marginally ‘habitable’. I found a few crumbs of crackers left over by my bunk’s previous occupant underneath the mattress which I used to tease Wei Han who slept underneath. My bed sheets and pillow looked clean although a number of us did complain their pillows looking a tad bit ‘dirty’. At this point, I would like to draw some attention to the length of the bunks. They appear to be built with Asians in mind, so that if you somehow swing a little bit out of the bell curve (I am saying taller than 6 feet :p), you’re going to find that you’ll have to scrunch your long legs to fit into the bunk. I had passed ‘under’ a few gwei los during my exploration of the train, noting that a couple of them were well a head taller than myself. It is times like these that I thank the heavens that my genes didn’t make me taller than I already am :p.

Vincent seems 'comfy' in the limited space of the overhead bunk ;)

The toilets appear reasonably clean, although with all that rocking, I wonder how anybody could actually squat/sit/stand to do their business. They open up to the tracks underneath so guys and gals, if you’d think of taking a stroll down the railway tracks next time, think again. You might risk stepping on someone’s excrement dumped from a passing train! :p The food in the galley was simply EXPENSIVE. Anything in a polystyrene box will set you back RM4 while a bottle of mineral water cost you RM2. There are also not enough seats in the galley and considering the inherent instability of a moving train, you’d most likely find the tables covered with the spilt contents of food and drinks, the waiters hardly able to cope wiping them off in time. In fact, you’d have plenty of chances to gage the extent of your ‘patience’ because often times the waiters will either gruffly tell you to wait in your attempts to order food or just plain ignore you. By 1030pm, it was time for me to switch off for the night, the intensity of the corridor lighting dimmed by the shift of my bunk’s curtain. Nothing can really be done about the constant banging of the sliding coach door though, its pneumatics busted leaving it unhindered as it swung open and close with almost every hard bump of the train.

A night in the train

Despite the constant booming of the door, I managed to get a modicum of sleep, waking up a few stations before Dabong. We were informed that we’re arriving at the station by KTMB staff, revealing a system of noting down each passenger’s destination and verbally informing them prior to arrival at their destination. It was a system to compensate for the poor condition of their PA system whose announcements were easily drowned by the noise of the moving train; nevertheless I am thankful for it. We reached Dabong at around 9:30am, 2 hours behind schedule.

Dabong at last! :D

The group on arrival at Dabong station

Our guide, Dek was already waiting at the station. Having identified ourselves, we were then introduced to the local stall for our morning breakfast consisting of local mixed Malay rice with some kerabu on the side.

Savouring the local delicacy...

Local Delicacy: Rice with Beef Curry mixed with a dash of kerabu

There were 2 other large groups at the station as well which we rightly guessed will be going to the same destination we are heading. Having finished our breakfast, we proceed to fulfill the first item in our itinerary, that is to visit the surrounding caves in the area.

Linus (the one on the right), with the local fauna at the station :)

Leaving our heavy bags at the local KB-Backpackers office, we boarded our van for a short drive down to the entrance of Gua Ikan recreation park. Along the way, we were greeted with our first sight of Jelawang Falls, waters tumbling down 305m above the jungle floor. We paused at the side of the road to take some pictures before continuing our journey.

Jelawang falls from a distance with the mountains in the background

Dismounting our van at the park and crossing the lonely single carriageway into leech infested bushes, we made a short dash to Gua Gelap. As its name implies, it is extremely dark within, the glare of our flashlight dispelling some of the gloom to reveal its primary residents, bats. Of noted significance however is this very, very tight crawlway which we all have to get through on our bellies, bringing into mind a similar experience I had at Gua Batu Maloi in Seremban.

Kam Keong through a tight squeeze in Gua Gelap

But if our 95kg+ Wei Han can squeeze through, heck anybody can I guess (unless you are a Sumo wrestler or something). The exit of Gua Gelap led us into a path up to Gua Keris, so named for a rock formation which resembled the Malay dagger.

Standing next to the cave's namesake in Gua Keris

Group photo in Gua Keris

Here, we were introduced by our guide to the usual stalagmites and stalactites, other than interesting rock formations carved out by water over the cave’s limestone.

The view of the Gua Keris outward...

Inside Gua Keris... beautiful isn't it? ;)

Crystals embedded in the stalagmite. "DO NOT TOUCH!"

We were brought to Gua Pagar next, where we were shown the ‘trap-door’ spider’s network of webs. Unfortunately, no spiders are home the day we came because triggering the webs did not reveal any of its hosts.

Our guide trying to provoke a trap door spider to show itself... Nothing came out

It was almost mid day when we finished our cave tour, finding ourselves at a drinks stall at the mouth of Gua Ikan park after a brief scale down the limestone hill housing the caves and quickly wading through the leech infested patch of bush to the road. We started our hike up the top of Jelawang Waterfall at 2:30pm, our guide doing the usual park registration and stuff for us. I took note of the rather well taken cared for toilet at the entrance to the park before leaving, knowing that I will be performing ‘desludging’ operations in 2 days time :p.

Ready to move out! Spirits are high... ;)

We passed through a series of wooden chalets at the foot of the falls, some of them appearing functional, some of them looking abandoned. A flight of steps guided us up along the side of the waterfall, a trek I found to be different from the one I took the last time I was here. Immediately, the full impact of my more than 16kg load begins to bore down on me. I was surprised how so tired I quickly became! We were barely a portion up the waterfall when the guide halted us to allow us a breather. I was tired and the welcome invitation of dipping into the cold waters of the falls is too much a temptation for me!

The author... already 'knocked out' after barely 20 minutes into the hike?!

The gang at the foot of Jelawang falls

We rested for about 10 minutes before we trudged on, scrambling along the rocky sides of the falls. About 20 minutes later we encountered a wooden hut by an uphill trail, the ‘official’ way up from the base camp. It now appears that our guide had taken us on an alternative route, a more scenic albeit more challenging route up to the top of the falls. I was dog tired, panting heavily and drinking gulpfuls of 100 Plus already. Man, I didn’t know I have been so out of shape!

"A picture says a thousand words". Ladies and gentlemen, can you imagine how tired I am looking at this picture?

A European lady came up then and we chatted with her for a while before continuing up. Soon, I found myself among the stragglers consisting of Linus, Sum, Henry and myself. The rest had parted and went ahead. From here, we advanced very slowly, pacing up a few steps before halting for a breather. The fact that the track up is almost 45 degrees angled or more wasn’t really helping either. Finally, Linus suggested to go ahead, trying to find the end of the trail and if possible, call for help from the others who had arrived to support us. Sum, Henry and I continued on.

The half hidden sign close to Baha Camp, proclaiming the area as 'Jelawang Jungle'. I was too tired to even notice it :p

But thank goodness others still had the energy to record the beautiful flora of the jungle. Above is a species of colorful flower.

Lichen... at higher elevations, it gets cooler...

Lingzhi?

We then reached a fork in the road, one trail framed by a wooden arch heading downhill, while the other heading up. It would have been helpful if the arch still had the signboard affixed to it but as our luck goes, it did not. Logic argued that we should continue up, but my residual memory of the place nagged me to take the track downhill through the arch. Linus hasn’t come back. I told the rest to let me go ahead, leaving my ‘oh so heavy’ load behind to reconnoiter while they waited at the fork. Sure enough, it was the way to Baha Base Camp not more than 10 minutes away! Pui Voon, Ching Li, Kam Keong and Yee Wei came up to meet me as I went down offering help. I returned to where Sum and Henry were, hefted my bag and passed some loose items to the ‘rescuers’ and headed down to Baha Camp. It was about 4:45pm when I arrived.

Happy and RELIEVED people arriving at Baha Camp ;)

Immediately I have had the temptation to jump into the cool water of the stream running through the camp but I was cautioned by the guide not to do so for fear of cramping my muscles. I heeded his advice and picked my way to the rocky outcrop where the waters of the stream plunged down to form the falls. Wei Han, Vincent and Fei were there.

Magnificent view atop Jelawang Waterfall

Another view of the edge of Jelawang Falls

Resting our tired legs in the cool running stream... Ahhhh... :D

Ice cool water running down the sides of Jelawang falls

Cool runnings...

Taking a brief view of the surrounding plateau, I returned back to where we had all unceremoniously dumped our heavy burden to find out from our guide where would we be setting up camp for the night. We were told to camp near this ‘chalet’ aptly labeled ‘Kedongdong’.

Setting up camp, in the shade of a 'chalet' called Kedongdong... ;)

Scattered throughout the area by the stream, the chalets had seen better days. Although I noticed some to be surprisingly inhabited, they are generally dirty and run down. A few of them seems to be still supplied with what once were ‘mattresses’, now little more than blackened moldy fungus farms. It would have been a much better option living in our much cleaner tents than risk becoming a ‘bio-weapon’ when we reach home. There is what I would describe as an ‘outhouse’ nearby, represented by a thin wooden roofed structure with a sheet of canvas as a door. Inside was an aroma that would wake a comatose ox, emanating from once a dug out hole which is now completely filled to the brim with sloshing, pulsating s**t. :p Even if I had the nose and nerve to squat over the hole, risking being splashed with living excrement as I ‘bombed Tokyo’, the gigantic spider nesting right over the hole was enough deterrent not to. :p I resolved to do a ‘Saiful’ and keep it for the toilet below. With our tents set up, it was time to prepare ‘lunch’. We dug into our bags and gathered our food, resolving to first help ourselves with our generous stocks of Instant noodles. Each person was allotted 4 packages for them to cover 2 meals, I opting to have only 1 for now (also to ensure enough storage of ‘waste’ for two days).

Portioning out our food. It's actually a science trying to make sure everyone is 'properly' (and not necessarily well) fed. :p

Others with no such qualms went for two, supplementing their meal with helpings of pickled Chinese vegetables in cans. We also prepared some hot soup, our hungry chef (Wei Han) not bothering that the paste he was dumping into the mess tins were of different types of soups (mushroom, cream etc). For drinks, we boiled some water and dumped in satchels of milo and Nescafe which resulted in a new concoction they call ‘Nes-lo’. Well, beggars can’t be choosers so I helped myself with portions from the communal pot as well.

'Chef' Wei Han touting his cornucopia of MIXED food (Neslo/Assorted Flavor Soup). Guess when you are hungry anything goes huh? :p

Lunch over, we headed up to the waterfall upstream from Jelawang, a short 5 minute walk among the chalets, pass other campsites of people already there before us. It was a riot. There were so many people at the falls. Without much energy left except to wash myself, I did just that and returned back to camp for some much needed rest. Night came fast in the jungle and when I awoke, it was getting dark. I headed back towards the rocky outcrop at the edge of the waterfall. The crowd, consisting of elements from three other large concentrations of people numbering between 10 to 30, was already there to catch the sunset and slowly leaving. My group and I lingered, wisely reserving our seats for the next spectacle… moon watching! :D The moon was a huge white ball that night, almost full being shy of 2 days from Chap Goh Meh. Appropriately, we played a few rounds of werewolves with yours truly being the gamemaster for more than a few rounds.

Care for a round of werewolves anyone? ;)

Nobody seems to want to take that role except Linus and as the clock struck 10:30pm, we decided to call it a day and head back to our tents. Our thoughts focused on the hard climb up Stong mountain on the next day.

Full Moon over Jelawang Waterfalls... Auuuuu!