A weekend away.... from Waterfalls to Beaches in Terengganu...

It was almost midnight. We started our drive to Terengganu on Friday 18th Sept. It was really bad traffic. Slow moving all the way till Karak Toll. But it was good to have good companies in the car. Dominic was our usual driver..

We drove all the way and stopped by in a small town at 0300hrs . Some lemang was just fresh from the firewood. A good combination with our curry chicken that Joe has cooked for us.

We reach Kg Jongok Batu around 6.30am. Well.. still early... we went around and search for breakfast. OOpss... still Puasa... NO FOOD STALLS ARE OPEN. We had to wait for another group to pack some food from us. So we headed to the carpark. Try to get a short nap after a long night drive.

Nice Tree

We started our hike up at 1100. A nice tree a long the way. The trees here are so so beautiful. We followed the trail on the left for about one and half hours.

The waterfall from far... magnificent...

We finally reach our destination. WOW... REALLY TALL.. AND AMAZING Waterfall.. One of the beautiful waterfall that we have visited...

can you see the human below the fall?

We then had our dip near the waterfalls. Beware.. very slippery... Some took a rest on the huge rocks near the falls while enjoying the scenic view of the falls.

Dom and YY enjoying a nice hydro massage.

Our group pic.

We started our hike down around 1400. Reach the trail head and started to find our nice spot to camp. We all had a nice dinner. And went to bed REAL EARLY.. everybody is just so so tired. Dom was not used to sleep early.. (well.. lucky he didn't go sleep...) saw a pair of animals that looks huge.. but like a porcupine heading towards our campsite. Dom shooed them away... or we'll have something licking our feet in the middle of the night... as most of us did not sleep in the tent.. but in the shelter...

The next day we woke up early then pack our stuff and headed to our next destination. We went to the beaches in Dungun to camp. A real nice place to camp. Nice place to look out for stars... We sat on the beach the whole night through looking at the starry night... with the breeze of the ocean...

Next morning we all woke up very early for sunrise. Then headed to a tunnel near our beach that connects to the other side of the coastal line.

Sunrise at the beach

A nice view from the tunnel.

Clarence looking at the sea...

After our breakfast, we packed up and was thinking to extend our stay for another day. But our final decision was back to KL.Before we head back to KL, we continued our journey along the Coastal Highway.. Along the way.. we saw a lot of sandy beaches. We drove all the way to Kuala Terengganu, had our lunch at the Chinatown, then headed back to the beaches for a nice swim. Joe bought some kites and we were flying the kites at the beach.

Flying the kites

Our group pic at the beach

After our beach session, we headed to Kemaman for stuffed crab. Well we were all too hungry and forgot to take some pictures for the album. After dinner, we started our long drive back to Kuala Lumpur. We reach KL around 12.30am. A real tired but fun weekend for the Waterfall Survivors.

Save Our Waterfalls Campaign 25th October 2009 - Kanching Waterfalls

Waterfall Survivors – a social group on Facebook, the most popular social online network, will be organizing a clean up campaign and a Eco Awareness Talk at Kanching Waterfalls in Rawang, Selangor.

We have selected this event venue and date to commemorate Sir Gerald Templer’s contributions to our country and the dire need to preserve the cleanliness of this waterfall to revive its identity as an enjoyable and well-known place of interest. This event will also mark Waterfall Survivors' achievements in exploring numerous waterfalls in Malaysia and your effort in eco-awareness and advocacy for community and corporate/personal social responsibility.

The event is aimed to create awareness among the public on the importance of preserving our natural heritage for our children. The SOW campaign will be the group’s main public event, which will be held at any other waterfalls in the country.

To add value to this campaign, we are also taking part in the International Day of Climate Action which is to create awareness on the Global Warming. Check out http://www.350.org

350.org PowerPoint Slideshow

View more presentations or Upload your own.

  

Besides cleaning up target to collect 350 bottles and form a 350 to Support this Cause.

The campaign details are as follow :

Event : Save Our Waterfalls (SOW)
Date and Time : 25th October 2009
Venue : Kanching Falls, near Rawang
Registration Fee: RM20

What do you get?

-EARLY BIRDS REGISTRATIONS: FIRST 100 PARTICIPANTS will receive a SPECIAL GIFT.
-Goodies Bag with T-shirt and other gift worth more than RM50 (limited to first 350 participants only)
-Food and drink provided on campaign day. (Breakfast, Tea Break & Lunch)
-A certificate of participation
-Personal Accident Coverage for 1 day please refer to http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=9667&uid=17696439707#/topic.php?uid=17696439707&topic=9667

Guest of Honour: TBA


Itinerary:

6.30 AM - Meet Up at Meeting Points to CARPOOL

1) Tesco Ampang
2) Subang Jaya SS17 Petronas (next to Police Station)
3) Mcdonald’s Taman Connaught (Next to Giant Hypermarket)
4) Tesco Mutiara Damansara
5) Old Klang Road- Central Hypermarket Entrance
6) Mcdonald’s Rawang
7) Templer’s Park Car Park (7.30am)

7.30AM- Registration & Breakfast (Food Provided)
8.00AM-Speech by our Founder and Chairperson
8.10AM- Speech by our Honorable Guest 1
8.20AM- Speech by our Honorable Guest 2
8.30AM- Safety Briefing
8.40AM- Get to know your group members
8.45AM- Group Picture Session
9.00AM- Talk on Eco- Awareness
9.30AM-Start Cleaning Up
10.30AM- 15 mins Break (cakes provided)
10.45AM- Continue Cleaning Up
12.30PM- Lunch Break (Food provided)
1.30PM- Continue Cleaning up
2.30PM- Start Human Chain and bring rubbish down
3.30PM- Tea Break (Food provided)
4.00PM- FINISH


HOW TO REGISTER:

Cut & Paste
Name:
NRIC No.:
Contact No.:
T-Shirt Size:

send to saveourwaterfalls@gmail.com

T-SHIRT COLLECTION:
Date:September 2009 (TBA)
Venue: TBA

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE OLD CLOTHINGS OR ITEMS THAT U DO NOT WANT, PLEASE BRING ALONG. WE HAVE A COUNTER TO COLLECT OLD ITEMS FOR ORANG ASLIS. THANK YOU.

For further information, please contact:

Joe Yap - 019-6787460
Dominic Koo- 016-3230230
Cindy Ho - 016-3758235


Official Sponsors:
KEEN Footwear - http://keenfootwear.com
SIGG- http://www.livingwing.com.my/
World of Sports
BROS- http://bros.com.my

Official Support:
Tourism Selangor Sdn Bhd



Things to bring
1. Extra set of clothes
2. Gardening gloves
3. Shower size towel
4. Small backpack/sling bag/waist pouch to keep your personal belongings i.e. handphone, wallet. Please do not bring valuables or handbags (ladies). There will be no facility/service to safekeep your belongings. We shall not be responsible for any loss or damage.

Things that we provide.
1. Food (breakfast, lunch and tea)
2. Drinking water
3. Trash bags
4. Insurance coverage for campaign (ages 16-70 only)
5. First aid
6. Goodie bags (limited to first 350 REGISTERED participants only)

Attire
1. Trekking shoes/sandals (for upper falls)
2. Sports shoes / trekking shoes (for middle and lower falls)
3. Sports pants/shorts
4. Campaign t-shirts will be provided to all participants
5. Cap/hat and socks (optional)
6. Medication for personal ailments/allergies (if necessary)

Waterfall Survivors @ Warisan Taiping - Waterfalls and Eat Eat Eat....

Today, we went to Taiping to proceed to Air Hitam Waterfalls. First stopped by at Taiping for breakfast. Passing by the town that is full of history. Mun Tip who's originally from Taiping told us lots of stories about Taiping. The first Railway Station.... A Town that was once in consideration for Malaysia's Capitall... A town that has the most rain in the country... and so many many more that I cannot finish telling here. The drive around Taiping was so so nice as there's so many rain trees in this area. Really beautiful and scenic.

Then proceeded to our trail head in Batu Kurau, Perak. We took less than 30 mins to reach the waterfalls. This round there's quite a number of leeches. We scrambled down from the stream and reach the waterfalls. WOW.. really beautiful... and it's looks ferocious too. Due to strong volume of water and the weather is not promising, we left after we took our group pic.

Later we proceeded to Bkt Jana falls for a dip. We will come back to this place again during dry season. For sure. We had great fun at the small pool in a small little waterfall. Small but the water was so clear.. and so cold.. Posing with all sorts of funny pose at the pool. Today's group is real real FUN and CRAZY...

Group Pic at Bukit Jana Falls

After dipping, everyone was so so hungry. Mun Tip suggested us to a place call Kuala Sepetang. Wow... a real nice fisherman's village. We went to this restaurant which is at the side of the sea. From far we could see an island full of mangroves. A lot of fisherman's boat coming back with their catch.

 Fisherman with their catch of the day... Fresh fresh fresh...

We all had a great meal. Crabs, prawns, squids, clams.. all fresh from the sea. Full Full Full... real satisfactions to the max.

It's a real nice place for photography. We all took the opportunity to grab some nice pics. Check out our album on our Facebook

 just by using a point and shoot.. If a DSLR it will be great effect.. :)

Then we proceeded to Ipoh to get some Salted Chicken and Pamelo of course which is the local specialties of Ipoh.

We are going to plan for another trip to this place.. doing some waterfall hunt, food hunt and photography.

A real nice trip that all of us enjoyed so so much.

 
 

Waterfalls around Pahang

Today, as a usual weekend, WS goes for our weekly expeditions. Today instead of going to our planned destination Lata Meraung, we changed our plans to Chamang Waterfalls and Sg Dua Waterfalls both nearby Bentong.

The ferocious Chamang Falls

We started our day with our breakfast in Bentong. Then headed to Chamang Waterfalls. As early birds, we enjoyed the nice waterfall views by ourselves. Tooks lots of pictures. The waterfall is really ferocious. I remembered when I was there last year, the death poll has not been any changes for many years. But this round, I saw there's 1 incident this year. Well... proven that this place is really dangerous as it has under current. Of course non of us wanted to swim here as we take safety precautions very seriously.

 The fall and I

While we were taking pictures, a swallow fell right infront of Loo Sin. Then she pick it up on the hands. The baby swallow was learning to fly. I took a picture with this baby swallow too... Then Dom took this baby and put it at a safe place at the side to make sure no one will step on it.

 Me and the little Swallow

 Group Pic at Chamang Falls.

After taking pictures, we decided to continue our journey to Sg Dua Waterfalls near Karak.

Sg Dua Waterfalls a.k.a. Lata Khong

We had a nice swim at Sg Dua Waterfalls. Dominic pulled a rope and bring all in the cave behind the falls. Still as chilling and cool as before. 

Group pic at Sg Dua Waterfalls

We had a great time having this fall alone which is usually packed during weekends. After the nice dip we were all hungry and headed to Bukit Tinggi for lunch.

Our Lunch at Bukit Tinggi.

After lunch we left Bukit Tinggi and head back to Kuala Lumpur. A nice day with a group of great people. Like Sifu always say.. Small is beautiful :)

Exploring the Salan River in Jerantut.

A long long adventurous weekend for 8 of us.

5 Sept 09

We started our journey early in the morning. Reach Jerantut around 1000hrs for our breakfast.  We started our adventure about 1100hrs. In exploration...chances of taking the wrong trail... and we ended up in a Orang Asli village. Detour back to the main road. A nice Pak Cik showed us the right trail. Here we go. Following the palm oil plantation. The terrain is not too rough. A nice bumpy ride... bridges made by trees log... and muddy holes.

Crossing the Bridge built by tress

We were almost there.... The winch nuts are loosen... No way we could winch our vehicle through the big mud hole. We had to detour back to town to get it fix. When we reach the main road, the other car condemned. WOW... Lucky we detoured... or we will be stuck in the jungle...

So our responsible 4WD operator called backup from Kuala Lumpur. But we could not continue our exploration on that day. So we found a nice place with a river to camp at Sg Kiol. THIS IS A CAMPING EXPERIENCE I WILL NEVER FORGET...  I was bitten by sandflies all over my my body....

6th Sept 09

We leave Sg Kiol about 0900hrs. Had our breakfast in the same town. This round we went in with 3 vehicles. Bashing through the same track we went yesterday. Cool... and this time seems so much faster. Then we reach the obstacle we faced yesterday. HAHA... this round Kerenga went and bash a new trail.. and we used the new one to skip the mud hole. In less than 200meters, we reach the campsite at 1230hrs.

Posing at the 4WD

Setting up our tents, started preparing for dinner. We had a nice dinner with curry chicken and soup with rice. After dinner everyone went for a nice dip in the river. A real cool one.

All went to sleep very early. About 2200hrs, I was enjoying my nice herbal tea.. sitting there chatting with Nazli, Kerenga and Nazli's brother. They shared their 4wd experience with me. Suddenly... we heard some sound from the river bank near us. WE SMELL MAYBANK.... oh gosh.. a tiger.... Immediately Uncle prepared his shotgun. And Kerenga grab his fireworks... and burn it to scare it away... We continue sitting there for a while but REAL ALERT...

Went back to my tent around 0100hrs. And had a nice sleep.

7th Sept 09

0800hrs. A lot of noise outside my tent. Hmm.. everyone is awake. Time for me to wake up. They were enjoying the chic kut teh I cooked last night which is for breakfast. After breakfast we started our journey at 0930hrs to search for Sg Salan Waterfalls.

We crossed the river... followed the trail... made 4 river crossing in total... after 3hrs we reach the Sg Salan Waterfalls.

 A huge and beautiful waterfall with a double olympic size pool.

Joe and Salan Waterfalls

Harry and the fall

But NO SWIMMING PLEASE... the pool is so so so deep. And the current is so so strong. It's almost 1300hrs. We have to leave. None of us brought food as we did not expect a long hike. We reach our campsite at about 1600hrs. Had a quick lunch.. AND OFF we go to search for the next waterfalls.

Crossed the river and went to the opposite side of our campsite. A tributary river. A nice setting of the forest that looks like a Japanese Garden. Very beautiful. We river trekked for about 30 mins and came to the first fall. Very nice with a nice pool. Then to the 2nd then the main fall. Wow... a very nice multistep waterfall. You won't believe this is Mother Nature. It looks like man made.... Four steps that is basically FLAT!!! I've been to 50 over Waterfalls.. but never seen such a thing.

The first Multi Step Fall

The Main Fall

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

We had a nice shower at the falls and had to get back to our campsite before dark. We reach the campsite.. and packed up to leave.

 Flat Rock.. Nice nice..

Due to time constrain we did not manage to find the Lata Manik. But I think I know where it is. :) I WILL BE BACK...

We had a nice night 4WD adventure...BACK TO CIVILIZATION...

Everyone was so so tired and slept in the car all the way back to Kuala Lumpur. We all had a great and fun experience.

Check out our videos.

It’s not an everyday affair

I always find peace in nature and able to reassess myself calmly with a clear mind when I’m resting under a rain tree with the squirrel munching nuts on the branches, the soft grass on my back, occasionally looking up the blue sky seeing flock of birds passing by, and guessing the shapes of the white clouds, and the sound of gushing waterfall not far away.

I am able to return to work or the urban life with a smile on my face, my mind, and my soul. Sadly this serene environment is not available in the city. And the sadder truth is that many urbanites only experience this in their homes in front of Discovery & Travel channel.

Honestly speaking a weekend away from the city is refreshing. Not just away to Bangkok for shopping or Hong Kong for food, it is about getting in touch with mother earth and the pleasure of simplicity. So why not give Waterfall Survivors' activities a try!

WS Celebrating Merdeka at Stong Waterfalls - one of the highest waterfalls in South East Asia

A pic from far.. The Stong Waterfalls

We departed from Tesco Mutiara Damasara at 2100hrs. Started our 7 hrs long bus ride. There were 16 of us on this trip. We reach Dabong, Kelantan around 0500hrs the next morning. Most were still in their beauty sleep. Our guide 'Uncle' and Shahril came and meet us at 0900hrs.

Our Excitement

First we went to the caves in Dabong. Gua Gelap, Gua Ker is and Gua Ikan. It was a real fun experience for everyone. Small tunnels that we need to crawl over... Everyone was so so dirty and smelly.. hahaha...

Thank god Joe did not follow us.

After caving, we took a bus back to the train station for lunch. After lunch we started our journey to the Stong Waterfalls. We reach the waterfalls entrance around 1400hrs. The weather was not promising. It started to rain before we could finish talking about the weather. It rained cats and dogs... but despite the rain... we started our hike up at 1450hrs. Took our usual group pic and UP WE GO...

Our group pic in the rain before the hike started

First we need to cross the bridge then starts to climb up... ALL SOAKED... but we made it to the campsite by 1600hrs. About 1hrs and 15 mins. I RAN UP THE LAST 100 meters... I just can't wait to see the top of the falls... A nice welcoming message..."WELCOME TO THE TOP OF THE WATERFALLS" ... nice..

Welcome to the Top of the Waterfall

We waited in the rain while Shahril and the other guides set up our tents right in front of the upper fall. Then started cooking dinner for everyone. The wind was so strong that our stove was not working well.. the fire was low.. so it's really hard to cook. All of us had our dinner and had some games for killing the time for the rest of the evening. (THE RAIN STILL HAVEN'T STOP) We all went to bed around 2200hrs. Clarence, Dominic, KK and Joe were sleeping outside. The weather was not cold at night... We woke up at 0620hrs for sunrise.. well NO SUNRISE of course as it was so so cloudy. But it was really nice as we could see the SEA OF CLOUDS... really beautiful. Sitting on TOP OF THE WATERFALL.

No Sunrise.. but it was still very nice

Joe is trying to be immortal

Then all the members got ready for the hike to Gunung Stong. During the hike, we saw some squirrels and a tapir. Climbing 13oo over meters was all worth it.

Mr. Squirrel

We left at 0240hrs to head back to the campsite. It started raining again. During the river crossing, the river swell.. and it the current was so so strong. But we all manage to cross the river.All so so exhausted

Reach the campsite around 1530hrs. Dinner is almost ready. Thanks to Joe for a nice dinner. We were all starving. After dinner, some were so so tired and headed to bed early. And a few went to the the top of the waterfalls for counting down for Merdeka. The guides brought along some fireworks.. and we had a nice countdown.. an experience that I will never forget. The wind was so so strong near the waterfall... and it was freezing cold. We head back to the kitchen and went to bed.

The next morning.. after breakfast, we parted to THE LAST WATERFALLS. It was a beautiful falls with 2 rivers creating 2 waterfalls and joined. Mt Stong and Mt Ayam rivers joined and formed Sg Jeri that makes the Stong Waterfalls.. One of THE HIGHEST IN SOUTH EAST ASIA.The Last Waterfall

After a nice dip at the Last Waterfalls, we headed back to our campsite's waterfall. The guide told us we could do some slides there. So all of us took the opportunity to try out the slide... WOW.. it was so so fun. Our guide also showed us there's 2 holes down there.. which he went in from 1 hole and came out from another.. but wow.. it's really adventurous... and dangerous too.. haha... After the nice slides, it's finally time for us to pack up and head back to KL. We started our hike down and reach the trail head around 1500hrs. It was raining. And the caretaker was told us to look at the waterfall. WOW... SUDDENLY THE WATER WAS GUSHING DOWN THE WATERFALLS... FLASH FLOOD AGAIN... so he told us to go to the river bank to witness the flash flood. We went there... the river was still calm like usual... in less than 5 mins... SUDDENLY... A HUGE AMOUNT OF WATER FLUSHED DOWN THE RIVER... Wow.. very ferocious and scary... if someone is in the river at that time... THAT'S IT..he will never see the world again.. probably next life. We left Stong Waterfalls around 0530hrs. It was a real real nice experience for each and everyone of us. I will sure want to visit this place again...