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...