Good Bye 2009... WELCOME 2010!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Dear Members and Waterfall Lovers,

Time flies and it has been 1 and half years since WS was formed. Along the way we’ve been to many awesome places and I believe the more active members have made many new friends during the excursions. WS members come from all walks of life. Even the committee has people from very diverse fields. It sure has been fun when everyone got together, hiked up hills, fed the leeches (bet that got your attention, probably met a cute snake or two, now we get double your attention), enjoyed the waterfalls and shared knowledge during these trips. We, the WS committee truly enjoyed knowing you….

WS MEMBERS ROCKS!

WS will soon reach another mile stone another few members to 4000 mark and thanks again to your support.

In the coming year of 2010 we promise you more fun-filled cum challenging destinations. We hoped you’ve had a jolly good Christmas and we wish you’ll have an equally good time come New Year.

We truly value your support as it keeps us going. Please look up our events more often and to those who hasn’t try out any trips yet, we urge you to come along.

Last but not least, may the year of 2010 bring you more fun, friends, wealth, bliss and more smashing good trips to where else but WATERFALLS!

Once again HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Serving you always,

Joe Yap
President - WS

“SAFE, COOL & CRAZY” – our motto always.

WS Members at Jewel of Selangor

Who knows there lies an unspoilt and pristine beautiful waterfall in the heart of Selangor. When waterfalls are mentioned in Selangor,the usual culprits will be Gabai, Lepok, Tekala, Apek Hill,Chilling and Jeram Perlus.

WS decided to bring loyal and new members of WS for a special treat this time and it is to the Jewel Of Selangor. The title for this waterfall has to be credited to our recce member, Mr Lim Siang Hui for coining
this enchanting waterfall as he was the one to locate it and bring it to the attention of WS.

We started off quite early and the turnout was pretty impressive. As we have conducted a recce on Friday, we estimated that it would only take less than 2 hours to reach the Jewel Of Selangor. Everyone was excited to be on their way to an absolute private, unknown and mysterious waterfall, hence everybody was on time.

The best part of this trek was there was absolutely no leeches at all. Only at the falls there's a few of these culprits. To add to this comfort, bunches of pitcher plants were found growing along the trail which we have set earlier. WS members enjoyed the morning trek especially with the sound of a roaring river at the bottom side of the trail.

Everybody knew we were close to the waterfall when the sound of a thunderous waterfall was getting more louder. The best part of this trip was the moment WS members laid their eyes on the Jewel of Selangor. Some were speechless and some were in a hurry to trek downhill to get nearer to this secluded falls. Ropes were laid the day before by our Godfather Of waterfalls, Mr Jan Stuivenberg so that the members were able to negotiate this slightly inclined slope.

The Jewel Of Selangor is probably a 8/10 in terms of beauty, location and surroundings.

Beauty = when the sun shines directly at the waterfall, you can view an amazing effect of silver white lining on certain sections of the fall

Location = Only 1 1/2 hours of trek and still in the Selangor region.

Surroundings = A U shape of rock beds will give visitors a place to sit and marvel at the JOS and this bed of rocks provides a lot of standing and mingling space. The water is deep at certain section and at certain areas , you are able to stand, even in the middle. However, the current is strong and it is advisable to be within safety limits.

We spent almost an hour there absorbing nature at her best. Most of the WS members started to get to know each other and to witness this event brings joy to WS because all WS wants is for WS members to truly submerge themselves back to nature as well as to forge new friendship.

We reluctantly left the Jewel of Selangor by 3pm and on the way out, we saw a spectacular double rainbow. How lucky were we? To add to that spectacular effect was the mountain view.

All in all, the WS members really enjoyed their Sunday trip and vowed to come back for the next waterfall trip organised by WS and WS never felt prouder than to see WS members having a genuinely fun time with the Jewel Of Selangor.

Our Recce to an Almost Unknown Falls in Selangor

Today is one of the tiring trip for me... 4 of us... Teoh from our recce team, together with Nic, Ping and I. We went on a recce trip for our pre expedition on coming Sunday.

The trail is not tough, but due to the terrain was basically covered by all the ferns in one path, we actually CHOP all our way through... 

It's a nice trail that we could tell that not many people been there. And of course, Teoh, Siang Hui and Harry was the only people that been there from WS. Hence Teoh was leading us there today.

The trail now near the fern path is basically cleared... and it would be easy for our members to go on Sunday.

There's one thing that I really want to express.. I been to many recce trips, but this one.. first time I'm really doing the chopping.. So I really respect our 3 recce gentlemen.... I had some cuts and thorns on my hands.. and my hands are still shaking after chopping quite a path... And they are practically doing it most of the time and didn't complain about it... Thanks guys.. you guys really ROCK!

A Round of Applause to our Recce Team...

OUR 3 HANDSOME MUSKETEERS!!!

Our Mr. Crazy Explorer - Siang Hui

Mr. Red Speedo -Teoh

Mr.Harry the Potter..

Along the way.. we saw a lot of pitcher plants.. really beautiful.

To reach this falls we really had to scramble down a steep slope.. basically NO TRAIL. And this is the most difficult part of the terrain. Well... beginners should not try to attempt this. As footing is very important technique for this part.

We reach the waterfalls around 11.30am. A nice private pool. The undercurrent is not strong.. but the falls is definitely very powerful...

After a nice dip at the big pool, we scramble up the steep slope...and continued our way back to the trail head.

It was a nice 2 hours trek to reach the falls. Well.. of course with all the obstacles we faced.. it took us more than that for getting in... hahaha... But coming out.. it was not that long.

We then headed to WK for our Curry Milk Prawns.. delicious as ever...

A real nice way to spent our Christmas...

Our Cameron Highlands Trip 18th-20th December

It was a WET Cameron Trip for the 6 of us. We have Kala and Basky with us on this trip. To add on I brought my mom, my 4 yr old daughter and Eva (my maid) along with us.

We had a long slow drive up to Cameron Highlands as the traffic jam started all the way from Kg Raja. Half way was feeling so so hungry cos it's way pass lunch time. 4.5km to Brinchang was like more than 45km. It took us more than an hour to reach Brinchang from Kg Raja. Some of buses and lorries are crazy. Overtaking to the opposite lane without bothering about the oncoming traffic.

We finally reached Brinchang town and settle down for FOOD! So so hungry at that time.. we had some Chinese food for lunch then headed back to hotel to rest.

In the evening, we went down to Tanah Rata for our nice Steamboat... It was the best meal we had in Cameron. Basky for the first time eating steamboat loves the Tom Yam so much.. After dinner, we drove back to Brinchang and headed to the night (wet) market. Strawberry Ice Cream was good in the cold cold nite...  The grilled sweet corns made real good supper. We then headed back to hotel to sleep.

We will never take the hotels in Brinchang EVER AGAIN! It was so so noisy cars, ppl without hotels walking on the streets talking... lorries, buses... OH GOSH... OUR WORST NIGHTMARE and 5am the mosque prayers really gave us a nice wake up call.

We woke up about 8am then headed for breakfast and started our journey of the day. MOSSY FOREST was our first destination. WOW...It's an ICY COLD DAY! It was a real real good experience at the mossy forest. So cold.. and nice...

The next place we headed was to the Sg Palas Tea Plantation. Really nice.. so so much of pictures from there..

We visited places like the Raaju Strawberry Farm (not a recommendation), The Butterfly Farm, The Bee Farm, Rose Valley, The Big Red Strawberry Farm (must visit.... real big STRAWBERRIES), The Kea Farm Market Place and last the Blue Valley...

This trip was a real fun trip. Although we canceled our waterfalls excursion due to the weather. But all the non stop food.. non stop shopping of veges and strawberries... was just so nice... with the icy cold weather in Cameron.

But bear in mind.... DON'T GO DURING PUBLIC HOLIDAYS... Traffic jam will waste a lot of your time.. and DON'T EVER STAY IN BRINCHANG TOWN... SO SO SO NOISY!!! You won't get any good sleep AT ALL!

The World Wants a REAL DEAL

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: December 12 – Hundreds of Malaysians from all walks of life gathered together for a candlelight vigil at Astaka Sports Complex this evening.

Held as part of over 500 events around the globe, the vigil was a part of a Weekend of Action coordinated by 350.org as a show of support and solidarity for the nations most affected by runaway climate change like Maldives and Tuvalu. The worldwide vigil is also a hope the COP15 talks at Copenhagen will bring 15 years of deadlocked negotiations to an end so that a fair, just and legally binding global climate policy can be agreed upon.

“We as Malaysian should stand together as one to protect Mother Earth and reduce the CO2 Emission. Many Malaysians still don’t know how big the impact on Global Warming that will affect our children and future generation” said Waterfall Survivors President and Founder Joe Yap and initiator for the Malaysian vigil.

“Every one of us contributes to the carbon footprint in our daily lives. Driving, disposing of rubbish, eating, and using an electrical appliance all adds to our carbon footprint. What we as a living creature on Mother Earth should do is try our level best to reduce the carbon footprint to be responsible to Mother Earth” said volunteer Sean Lim.

The vigil was organised by Waterfall Survivors and other attendees included members of the Malaysian Youth Climate Justice Network (MYCJN), Eco Warriors Malaysia, E=MC2, Help Our Penyu (HOPE), Green Drinks Kuala Lumpur, and other concerned members of the public.

Photo Credits to Ethan Tan