Lepok Fall

It's been a while since my group of friends make our last waterfall trip, everyone's been busy with all sort of things. So a few of us decided to make a trip to one in Hulu Langat, to a waterfall call Lepok falls.
Lepok Falls is located near Kampung Pangsun, or rather very near Gunung Nuang's entry point. this waterfall is frequently visited, it may be because of it's easy accessibility, an hour hike was all thet require if you know the way.
There was 6 of us in this trip and of the 6 only Aurelius had been to the waterfall, still I was appointed to lead the group.

Opening a Durian

The trail can be quite confusing if you are not careful exspecially at the part where a uphill climb is require. There are plenty of side tracks here and there which the durian collectors used, make sure you come across a abandon pipeline at about 30 minutes of the trail.

Lepok Falls

Lepok Fall is a nice place to hang out, the water is clear and clean. However traces of human destruction can be found at the waterfall surroundings.

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Conquering Strata Falls: Part 1

On 17th May 2008, a group consists of Seng Keong, Aurelius, Josen, Henry, Eu Jin, Linus and I made an attempt on Strata Falls. It is an elusive waterfall that is located near Tanjung Malim, and if you read my post a year ago you will know that I did not make it up to the falls and I had an accident which caused me to faint, reason why I didn't continue on to the falls while most of the group was because a friend of mine was too tired to move on, I didn't want to leave him there on his own. If you've actually experienced being left alone in the wild before you'll understand what I mean, that feeling of being left absolutely sucks.


We left from our meeting point at almost 7am, and had our breakfast at Tanjung Malim, not far away from our starting point. We arrive at our starting point at 9am, took us a while to prepare and start trekking. Aurelius was our Navigator this trip, he already put on the effort to understand the map and hook up the coordinates on his GPS for this trip. Aurelius had me in as Group Lead and Scout, giving me the duty of finding possible trail when none can be found and to make sure the group is motivated and sticks together. Ah Ping was our Trail Sweeper who makes sure no one is left behind and Aaron was our group photographer, one who is responsible for snapping the nice pictures.


We hiked on in the oil palm estate, till we reach the open field where we made on crucial mistake, we took the wrong trail that leads us to a river where we started water trekking too soon. We spent 1 and a half hours trekking in the water, sometimes got out to dry land seeking for possible trail; we were indeed getting nearer to Strata Falls however our progress was very slow.



Aurelius and I think that it’ll be wise to head back as it will be too late and too risky to continue on to the falls, so we decided to stop where we were and enjoy the water right there. It wasn’t a tough choice to make at that point; we had too many people at the time and bringing everyone up will consume time and energy, even if we could make it up there I’m sure it’ll be really late when we get back, it was not worth risking it since most of us do not carry a flash light.


As we head back, the voice in my head keeps on nagging to me, telling me that I had to come back again and finish this off once and for all.


Have A Great Day,
Dennis

Endau Rompin Day Two: The Hike to Buaya Sangkut

Legend had it that there was once a family of natives who lives at the foot of the mountain, one night the man of the house had a dream that a giant crocodile is coming to devour his son, seeing it as bad omen he quickly moved his house up hill.
Just like in his dreams, the crocodile came but it got itself stuck while climbing the waterfall. The man took the chance to kill the crocodile, used it's skin to make a big drum and hang it in the house.
However, one day while the child was playing under the drum, it fell and kill the child.

It's morning, everyone is busy either making or having breakfast, all I had was a cereal bar and oat meal.
"Everyone be quick, you got 15 minutes left before we go."
The distinct voice of Aurelius shouting for attention is heard, this means we better move soon or else we'll feel the wrath of the "Fluffy" one.

All of us assembled in to our own teams which Aurelius fairly arranged, my team is the first to go, not sure why but I guess that's because I am given trek leading duties. It's actually quite a simple duty especially when you have guides to lead, the only problem is that you won't be very popular at the end of the day for all the shouting and screaming that had to be done to keep the group together. Not gonna be funny if someone decides to stray ahead and get themselves lost, that will waste quite some time.

The trek to Buaya Sangkut takes 4 hours to complete and another 4 to return, I'm quite sure that I could manage that but I'm not too sure for the rest in the group. Of all 22 people, Henry was the only one to decided to stay at the campsite as he wasn't feeling too well at that time. I thought it'll be a good idea to have him at the camp site so that he could keep an eye and stand guard there.

Our trek started from a suspension bridge that is located right at the camp site, while crossing I yelled to the people behind not to cross with more then 3 at a time, for safety reasons.
The first 45 minutes of the trek came surprisingly easy, we arrived at a rapid where our guides signal us to take a break, some of the people in the group begun to head to the rapids to get themselves clean up, washing away mud and clearing leeches that might have got on them. I was more eager to move on so I asked the guides where is the trail? He pointed at a steep slope next to some sign boards to indicate the trail, I was shocked by what I saw, a very steep incline heading uphill and I wasn't too sure how far up it goes but it sure looks like one hard hike, we pushed on anyway. Crossing streams and rivers, the hike was long I try not to think much about it and kept my focus on the goal.

About 2 hours later, it is clear that almost everyone is stretched to their limits. Still we have an hour or more before we arrive at our destination. While taking a break I was told to allow the faster moving people to move on first. Not sure why I agreed to it but I guess I am also tired. When we continued on some of the faster moving people were going ahead, I stick back for awhile so to maintain visual of the people who's far behind, without realizing that a mistake has been done. The formation is broken, people were scattered along the track. This isn't good at all, we are at the risk of losing people. I pulled out my whistle hoping that it's not too late to signal the people in front to stop, as I was searching I realized that I only have my annoying duck whistle and it's not particularly useful in this situation.
I ran and shout, hoping to get a respond and estimate how far front those guys are, unfortunately I got nothing, no reply to indicate their directions or to estimate their distance, I tried shouting for a few more times, but stopped running entirely, don't wanna be wasting my energy now, got to save some strength to reach the waterfall and for the trip back too.

When I arrived at the falls, some of the group members were already there and about half a dozen were still missing. I asked the guide where were the other, and asked him to go find them while I put down my bag and head in the water to cool off from all they running, that's is all I wanted at that point other then lunch.
When the rest finally arrived, we had a little discussion about the issues we faced earlier. We both agreed that a bad decision was made and we had to do something about it. The solution was rather simple. We just stick to the old formation but have the slower people to the front, this is one of the method I am used to as it is easier for the faster moving people to slow down their pacing then to make the rest move faster.

The hike back was a mind game, it is another 4 hours to reach the base camp and we have dark clouds threatening us above our heads. Instead of telling myself not to think much about it, I kept my focus on keeping the group together, as a matter of fact Kenny who was having trouble previously is now hiking like a tank! Plus he is actually playing the role of trek leader, checking on the people behind him and getting the guide to wait for the rest.
Not even half way down the trail, it started to rain. The leeches will love this, it's wet and the whole group was getting tired, most will barely notice if they got bitten.

The rain stopped, we managed to arrive at the first check point 45 minutes away from base camp, this is when you can see the joy in our faces. Some of us are already seen by the river cleaning up or swimming around, it was an achievement for some of us and it is something to celebrate, not everyone could manage 8 hours of hiking.
As soon as we arrived at the base camp, we all started checking our tents for leaks. Most of the tents were badly flooded due to the lack of rain cover when it was raining earlier. Most of us weren't too happy having most of our things wet, lucky for me, my tent didn't suffer that much even with the rain cover partially opened.

After drying out the tents some of us decided to head to the blue lagoon for a proper swim/clean up. Blue Lagoon is a 10 minutes walk from base camp, it's actually a river but with clear blueish water, dive down and you can see the fishes swimming around you, an excellent swimming spot as the water is really deep.



Back from washing up, we started making diner for ourselves. Timmy and I decided to mix corned beef with pork cooked with some eggs to put in our bread, before we even started cooking Charlene offered me some rice with some of the food they had already prepared, I shared that out with Timmy so that I won't feel guilty eating while cooking. Our corned beef and pork turned out quite well, Charlene said that it looks like dog food, she don't have a clue what she is missing

After dinner we all started doing stupid thing involving a camera and a couple of flash lights. It's quite entertaining to think of what to draw and see the result, at least that didn't lasted the whole night, we did play werewolf too.



I slept out on the hammock that night, it was kinda scary but it is something that I wanted to try.

To be continued

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Endau Rompin Day One: Getting There

Somewhere in Endau Rompin National Park, a herd of wild boars quench their thirst by drinking the placid brown water, then quickly disappear back into the green as they heard a disturbance. The rising sun illuminates the landscape giving the river a beautiful glitter. The dark green from the mountains far ahead is covered by a thin layer of mist, one could only wonder what mysteries awaits there. Traveling back downriver, the whirring noise from the boat engine may be annoying but the beauty that's in front of me did what most things or people cannot do. Render me speechless with mind clear only to enjoy the beauty that my eyes could see.
3 months ago, Aurelius proposed the plan to go camping and his location is set for Endau Rompin where we could visit the Buaya Sangkut waterfall which involves 8 hours of hiking, or the blue lagoon and such.

Preparing for the trip is a challenge in itself, firstly I had to do lots of shopping because it's been years since my last camping trip, some of my stuff are either unreliable or missing. When it comes to packing, I needed to make sure I packed everything that I need but still maintain a reasonable weight, I for this I've repacked at least 4 or 5 times, I even measure the weight of all the items I'm bringing. In the end, my pack weights about 18kgs, this does not includes the 3kgs from the tent.



Personally I had 2 units of 6 men tents, these are bulky, heavy and a real killer to bring for this trip, so I decided to look around for a 2 men or 4 men tent, however I ended up borrowing one from a friend (Thanks Kak Nadia). I setup the tent before to trip so that it could air out and I could get an understanding of how the tent is set up in case of sticky situations. it's also to make sure that I have everything in place, it won't be funny if I missed out the rain cover and find out only when I need it.



At 3am people were already starting to gather up at the meet up point in Taman Tun. Final checks were made to ensure we didn't missed anything or anyone. Slightly after 3.30am our bus arrived, we started to load our packs and gears in the bus and be on our way to Kahang... the wrong way.



About 2 hours later the bus stopped at a rest stop, a chance for us to take a leak and stretch our legs. Chris decided to ask the bus driver our current location, that's when some of us started to panic, Chris realized that he's back in his home town, Temeloh. That came clear to us that we are now heading the wrong direction, there seems to be a mis-communication between us and the transportation company, they thought we want to go to Pahang while our actual destination is in Kahang.
We spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out the best way to take from that point on, personally I have no clue about the directions, the GPS shows that there is a way to go using an old road but it seems that this is not a popular choice, I have no more suggestions to give so I choose to ignore and gave myself a blindfold so that I could go to sleep.

When I woke up we were in Yong Peng, Johor and it's about time for some food, the bus driver drove us to Yuan Yean Fish Ball Eating House for breakfast. We enjoyed the last bowl of luxury as we are not going to get any meals like this for the next few days.



We finally arrived at the Taman Negara Johor Endau Rompin office in Kahang at 12.40pm, we register ourselves and made the necessary payments before loading our stuffs into the jeeps and from there it's another 2+- hours of mud road and oil palm plantation. The road is fine at first even thou it's just some dirt road but it is well maintained by the oil palm plantations, there weren't many holes but when we reach the edge of the plantation the damn potholes started to appear, the 4 jeeps drove on the bumpy road bring the 22 of us to the jetty where we met our guides, the guides got us up on the boats for an hour and a half boat ride up the river, unlike the 4WD ride the boat ride up stream is relaxing, the water is cool and clear, and the scenery is quite something to enjoy.





The boat stopped at a river bank for us to unload, there were other visitors there on their way back home. They warn us about the leeches but motivate us by telling us how beautiful the place is. It's a good thing that most of us came prepared with leech socks, but even with that we'll still get a few leeches on us.



Carrying our gears and backpacks we hiked on to a trail which leads us to a chalet, however this is not our stop, we are here to camp so this doesn't cut it. As we were walking away in to the forest it started to rain, everyone quickly got their rain cover and ponchos on and continue the trek for another hour or so. That hour was one of the toughest hour I been through, with roughly 20kgs on my back and 3kgs in hand I could feel the fatigue kicking in, but there is no way in hell am I going to stop, I kept telling myself that if a man with no legs can managed to summit Everest and if I can't do this, I gotta be the biggest loser there is.



When we finally arrived at the camp site, the first thing we all did is try drying ourselves to no avail, it's the curse of the jungle, once you got something wet it's very hard to get it to dry. It was getting dark at the same time, the tents had to be put up quick before night, we managed that fairly quick took our dinner which consist of what we could bring, it's mainly dried or canned food but at this point on, any food is good food.

To be continue

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Gunung Nuang: A Taste of Whats to Come

I think there is something that goes against me sleeping early and having a good rest for my out door trips as of late, last one for Broga I couldn't sleep, and yesterday before I was about to go home to rest, Footstool had to make the decision to run off, leaving frog at a angry and emo state. Tried to look for him for sometime but decided to give up since this is not the first time the dummy ran out and I haven't packed yet plus I need to go to bed for Gunung Nuang trip on the next morning.
The Description of the trip was simple... go to Gunung Nuang, Pangsun, hike up to Lolo Camp and return, the 4 hours hike don't seem that bad.
We had 8 person with us on the trip out of the initial 10 person, 2 decided to become pilots and became non-contactable, so the eight of us left Devi's Corner after having our breakfast in 2 cars, one driven by Eddie and the other was me, I got Eddie to lead us to the place as I'm not sure of the location.
Followed him all the way to Cheras but lost him as traffic was heavy at that time, took me quite some time to figure out the way to Gunung Nuang myself, phone kept ringing asking for my location, ETA and such, telling me that everyone is there already except the people in my car when I manage to arrive there, they were there entertaining themselves with Chris' hunting bow, using garbage as target they play while waiting for my car to arrive. Pity Terrence and gang thou, 4 of them arrived on the location at 7.30AM and waited for us since then.
We started the track at 9am walking on a path that has been properly laid all along the track. before we started I thought that this is gonna be quite easy, but after finishing the first incline I was already panting but I know I can finish this.

The hike usually takes 2 hours one way for someone fit, not really much of an issue for myself however I stopped once in a while to wait for the people who are really far behind. I usually play the herd dog, getting everyone to walk in one big group, but this time it was hopeless. trying to run to the front is insane, I can run for some time and couldn't catch up with the people in front as they are too far away, and I still had maintain visual of the people behind, felt like a dung beetle rolling his ball of dung uphill, literally... should had brought out the walkies.

At one point of the trail I stopped with a few others to wait for the rest who are far behind, while we were there chit chatting. I realized that there was a loud buzzing sound above our heads, I look up and found a huge swarm of bees coming out of a tree right above our heads. "Holy SH!T!! RUN! RUN!! RUN!!!" without thinking that line that came out my mouth and in a blink of an eye I started fleeing with the others following right behind. We manage to catch up with the people in front stopped and tried calling the last 2 person behind to warn them about the bees. Luckily, they couldn't find it along the trail.


About 2 and a half hours later we finally found ourselves at the Dam of Camp Lolo, bad news is that this is only the first check point to reach the peak of Gunung Nuang. Good news is today we are not going to the peak. We are just going to rest and play in the water here until everyone is satisfy and ready to head back for another 2+ hours of torture.
Feels like we are not yet ready for Endau Rompin...

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Broga Hill : Endau Rompin Evaluation Trip

Zombie Hikers

Gone up to Broga Hill this morning, I personally wasn't well prepared for this trip reason being that I've not slept for 2 nights already and I didn't have a flashlight, I only got them 3 hours before the hike. As usual we meet up at Linus place, 4am this time but somebody was late so we had no choice but to make a choice and that was to wait for the late comer at Devi's Corner down the road, should make it a custom for late comers to pay for everyone's breakfast next time.
At about 5.20AM (I think), we moved out, meeting 2 more cars while on our way to Broga Hill.
6.15AM, after a long and unexpected wait, we finally arrived at the starting point where we parked our cars and started hiking up. I was surprised at the amount of cars there at that time, it was as if somebody is having a wedding up the hill.
Due to some "unforeseen" circumstances, we were behind schedule and some of us was worried that we might miss seeing the sun rise, Linus who was confident actually said that he want's to go off in front, I thought since he's confident with the trail I'll let him go while I stayed a while for everyone to pass and run back to the front later, making sure that no one is left behind. A few were having trouble catching up but in the end we all managed to make our way to the top, slightly late but just in time to see the sun rise.

The Reward

Being fit enough to run the entire trail is good, however I still cannot figure out how to make an entire group hike with a consistant speed.

Happy World Thinking Day
Dennis

Between Hammers, Valentine and Tarantulas

Didn't had any sleep last night, I got no explanation to the reason why but I learn that to hike with additional 8kg on your back with no sleep will take a toll on the body later after the hike, I didn't feel any difficulty carrying the extra load, it's just plain inconvenient for me as I'm used to hike with minimal gear, the weight did manage to throw me off balance once in a while but it's not that significant.
Anyway, the group met at the meeting point at 6am leave for Kampung Bukit Tinggi for breakfast, as the lead car's co driver I helped in guiding the cars to the destination with the assistance of the GPS. At first my driver kept questioning my directions saying that we didn't drive that far in the last trip, but I assured him that we are on the right path and we'll find out starting point at a resort further down the road.
At the resort we parked our cars and an overconfident me started to walk towards the river and cross it only to be stopped by the resort staff saying that I'm going the wrong way... Bummer...
He showed us to the actual starting point and we started hiking, the trail was like a walk in the park, not much of a challenge for most of us in the group, about 40 minutes later we found ourselves at Lata Hammers.


Lata Hammers was as beautiful as expected the water is so clear and cooling that I could feel my legs turning numb just by standing in the water, swimming and cam whoring ensures for the next 2 hours there.


By the time I got back to the meeting point from the trip it was already 3 or 4 pm, I couldn't remember what time was it mainly because my lack of sleep was so tired that I couldn't think of any reason to do anything but to sleep.


Managed to find my way back home when I woke up a few hours later, back at home I found myself home alone with nothing to do, at least that's until I found out the 100 containers I ordered for my tarantulas has arrived.

Happy Valentine's Day
Dennis

Penang hill solo hike

Woke up at 9.30am today, was supposed to wake up earlier for my hike up to Penang Hill. Got up and quickly rush out. It took me about 30 minutes walk to reach the starting point, a temple right next to the clinic my aunt brought me for a jab in the bum, thank goodness it doesn't hurts as much now.



I wasn't sure about the trail at first but all I know is that my starting is behind a temple and I must cut through a few farms. Try my luck and took a small trail which I think could be the most likely way.


Only 10 minutes from the starting point I could feel the zen in the place, there were monks walking pass and stuff. After passing the temple path I found myself near a farm house with dogs barking as I go nearer. Not good I thought, time to get a stick.
As I was lookin for my weapon a dog came nearer and nearer, once I manage to find myself a stick. The dog was already next to me, nibbling on the stick I just picked up at the same time it's pulling the stick playfully. Played a little tug-of-war with the fella and for some reason I felt as if it's asking me to follow him, and strangly I did.


For more then an hour I followed the dog, taking every path it took. I was actually asking myself, what the heck is this dalmation doing in this part of the world and where is it leading me to?

It is when we arrive at this rock that I realized where is it taking me. I'm on the right path and there is no question about it. All thanks to this spotted mutt.

We walked on in the sun no shade and it's hot as hell. Since most of the path crosses the farms, the luxury of having tall trees to provide shade is kinda out of the question. The farmers wants the sun for their plants so all trees gotta be out of the way, at least that's the case for the first leg of the trip. The sun really gave me quite a beating, at one point I even considered turning back and try it again another time when it's not that hot but this is Penang, it's always hot here.
The dog lead me all the way to a tree at a split road 2 arrows are nailed on the tree giving directions, and that's where the dog left me, I took the trail and head for Penang Hill as it goes back down.

I continued on and walked for god knows how long, found myself at some bungalows. That when I knew that I'm now very near my destination. The ice kachang stall on Penang hill. Not the best but it will do for a tired hiker like me. (don't try the one at stall number 888, not happening)


My first time hiking up to Penang Hill and I learned an important lesson, the botanical garden have a much shady trail which is nicer and more cooling, don't be a hero and walk across the farms unless you wanna meet the kind spotted mutt.

Have a Great Day,
Dennis

Perak Trip Part 3: Surfing the Gopeng way

1 night spent sleeping out in the open, didn't sleep in the tent because there ain't enough room so I choose to sleep outside. I can't remember the last time i did that but I do remember doing it only to find how beautiful the night sky actually is, we humans with our buildings, cars, and pollution made it hard it see in the city.
Well, we all woke up to a morning of fresh and cooling air. Once everyone had their breakfast it was time to pack up, time to leave to meet our next guide.
We found ourselves at a housing estate but we are no where near the Gopeng river. Convoy lead stopped in front of a house signaling us that we've arrived and we should park our cars.
It is after I walked in to the house I only realised that this it the base for our guides the dudes from jungle geckos. We are all going to be geared up here, we are all given a kevlar padded wetsuit, helmet, life jacket, diving boots and flippers. Once we are all geared up, we are all put on to the back of a lorry with the boards that we'll be using later.



So, after some tree branch evading workout we arrived at the destination near MyGopeng resort, there were 14 of us so we'll be going in 2 groups. For some reason I got myself on the first group and I get to go in to the river first, after the guide gave us a briefing it was time to go, holding the board in front of me, I jumped in to the river where the current is the strongest and started as I was told.
I manage to reach the checkpoint the guide mentioned but some of the people in my group find it to be a little too challenging. So before we go on we were given a water kicking lesson.



It looks quite easy but doing it is actually quite tiring. At all time we must hold on to our boards even if it turn upside down, we also got to know the right time to kick specially when we get stuck and going in circles, for the guys we had an additional thing to worry about, we were told to open our legs when the board go above a rock or else we'll suffer intense pain or worst possible become the ending twig on the family tree.



I don't remember how long were we in the river riding the current but I'll tell you that it is both scary and fun when it comes to a rapid drop. There is no way to stop when that comes, all you could do is to hang on close to your board and brace yourself.
I'm definately going back for this one.

Have a Great Day
Dennis

Perak Trip Part 2: The Communist Cave

After visiting the Cathedral cave, we drove to Chemor town for some real good fish noodles, but then that's not really important to me, the journey to Perak actually became a testing ground for my new GPS capable cellphone.
Yes! I had GPS on most of the time while driving and even thou I am not required to lead the convoy but I found the need to familiarized with the capabilities of my cellphone, thou everyone believe that I've become obsess with it.


So after our meal, we drove our way to Ipoh for the famous salted chicken (Yim Kok Kai), traffic at that time was really bad and it's was really hard for me to stick to the convoy as cars kept on cutting in and out of lanes, attempts to keep up with the convoy proved to be futile. I'm not too sure but I think Aurelius was starting to get worried because he knows that I'm very particular when it comes to traveling in a convoy, little did he know that I was happily by the road side setting the GPS to guide me to the destination. It's a miracle that device I tell you, it's like a guiding star for lost sailors... erm... anyway we quickly regroup, got our salted chicken and head to south for the next leg or our trip.
Our destination is actually Gua Kandu located in Gopeng roughly 20km off Ipoh. We meet up with our guide Botak who then lead us to the mouth of the cave, the place where we are all going to be camping for the night.




Botak was real quick in getting us to pitch our tents, it seems that he's got that thing in getting everyone to work together as a team to do various task, it didn't took us long to pitch the tents, assigning tent occupants and get a whole lot of fire wood while Botak prepare the food for us.
After having our "snack" Botak's partner came by to bring us for a tour inside the cave.

The passage in gua Kandu is big enough for a person to walk into, making it quite an easy walk at the start but it does becomes a little more challenging later in to the cave when climbing up steep walks becomes necessary. As we walk, the guide begin to tell us about the history of the cave, it seems that after the second world war the communist used this cave as hideout, I'm not to sure how real it was but one thing was sure to e real to me, the amount of graffiti in the cave...






There were quite some interesting things to see and do in that cave, but I really need to go to bed now and I rather not spoil it for anyone, so I'll just leave you hanging right here.
Good night

Have A Great Day,
Dennis