Delayed May Updates

10th May: Did a recce trip to Kendondong Falls with Aurelius, Seng Keong and Chris.



17th May: Guide a bunch of friends to Kendondong Falls myself, crash car on the way back, got conned feel like crap after that.


24th May: Paint Ball with friends and strangers at Mud Trekkers, had fun but still feeling shitty about the crash.



30th May: Did the Skytrex Extreme Challenge at Taman Pertanian, Shah Alam, it's extremely challenging and tiring for me since I do have a fear of heights but it was fun.
Someone forgotten their locker key so I cycled from entrance to the SkyTrex place and back. Shot some arrows with Chris for practice and act for the Interns short film with Audrey on the same day.
The shoot planning was horrible and the wait was painful, did't get a scene even after 3 hours after the starting time, shoot continue on the next night with some improvement.


Have A Great Day
Dennis

Conquering Strata Falls: Part 2

Aurelius called me up on Saturday, telling me about his plans to explore Strata falls area on the following day, he asked if I was interested to join him and Chris for this trip. He is limiting the number this time to 4 heads so that the group could explore the whole trail efficiently. At that time I couldn't find any reason not to go, so I agreed to come along.
We left for Tanjung Malim town at 6.30am to have our breakfast and stock up on food supplies, we had the best fried chicken of our lives and packed half a roast duck up for lunch at the waterfall later.

Do you see a trail?

It's 9.10am, we were at the starting point hiking and chatting to a local there. Chris kept asking about the wildlife that can be found there for some reason while Aurelius asked about the trail to Strata Falls. As usual the native gave us a very vague answer "Terus jalan saja", that means we are better off finding the way on our own.
Eventually we found ourselves on the path heading towards Strata Falls, I cannot be sure if this is the right path or is it the wrong path but the GPS indicates that we were getting closer and closer to our objective.
It didn't take us long to realized that we got to clear the trail to move on, the trail was so overgrown that my machete was out of it's sheath most of the time. at one point we stopped and check the maps and our coordinates and realized that we are actually using an old trail that leads all the way to the top of Strata falls. To me it was fine, we could always find our way down from the top.

A small waterfall at a tributary

Cleaning up on the top of Strata Falls

at 11.50am we finally arrived at the end of the trail, where we found ourselves standing gloriously on the top of Strata Falls, we took a break to check our body for leeches, at that point I already had a few coming that got really close to "Private John". A quick check, some rest and a dozen of photographs later, we moved on to our next destination - the bottom pool.

Strata Falls

It was a long way down from the top, and there isn't any proper trail that leads down. At some point it was really dangerous, the cliff that we were walking on was like maybe 4 or 5 stories high, one slip could send a person down and most likely to end one's life. We had to make our own trail and sometimes follow the wild boars' path. It wasn't easy but I was confident with my partners and myself, still it was important to keep checking on each other as this is a way to boost morale and provide the necessary support to each other.
By 1pm, we arrived at the bottom of the falls, feeling the gusting wind produced by the falling water, awe at the beautiful and majestic Strata Falls.
To attempt this waterfall 3 times failing on the first 2 attempts and finally getting here, It was all worth it.

Last picture as we head back using the new trail

Have A Great Day
Dennis

Swine Flu Song

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

Morning Blood Bath

"Dennis! Wake up quick! " my mom yelled while banging at my door and it sounds urgent.
I got out of bed pushing my blanket and pillows to the floor and dash out wondering what's the emergency.
I got downstairs to the garden and found my dogs Eddie and Sandy covered in blood and stuck on to each other, somehow Sandy got her hind leg caught in Eddie's choke chain, Sandy gets panic easily, while I was there she kept on struggling and attacking Eddie and anyone that comes close. At that moment Eddie was struggling to breath and was defending himself from the attacks from Sandy. Eddie was calm the whole time except when Sandy decided to go crazy, knowing that it is clear to me that I had to pin Sandy down in order to get them loose and the only way to do this was to press her head down with my leg so that I could work on the chain with my hands.
It was a very difficult thing to do, they are both wet because my mom thinks that if she spray enough water at the dogs they will eventually be free, I guess she had no idea how Sandy actually reacts to water, giving her a bath is like a wrestling death match.
When I managed to keep the situation under control, mom ran in to fetch something to cut the chain. First she bring a small wire cutter, it was useless because it is made to cut wires. Then she bring a metal sheet cutter which is reasonable in size but equally useless in when it comes to cutting chain. Again Sandy struggled and managed to get herself free from me, right away she attack Eddie and got him hard on his tail. I thought that I could pry her mouth open with my hands but as I was trying to do that she bite down even harder and got one of my finger trapped in her jaws I watch as she put a puncture wound on my fingers, when I manage to free myself I ran in to the house to get a Lineman's pliers and a slip joint pliers. I needed these 2 because the Lineman could actually do the cutting and I could use both to bend the steel ring. At last I got them both loose, Sandy ran right straight under the car with a limping while Eddie being himself was running around the garden playing on the grass... both seems to be doing OK.
Mom convinced me and bring me to the clinic to get a doctor to have a look at my injuries, for me it's just something minor, no need for a doctor but I just do as she says or else there will be no end to it.

Have a Great Day
Dennis