Waterfall Survivors 4WD Adventure to Lata Berembun on 20th Feb 2010

All in there were 9 adults and 1 kid from Waterfall Survivors. We started our drive around 8 plus in the morning to proceed to Bentong for our breakfast before heading to Sg Klau, where the 4WD trail leads to the secluded Waterfall in Mount Berembun.

After our breakfast in Bentong, we continued our drive to Sg Klau passing through the palm oil plantations and reached Sg Klau in about 30 minutes. Our 4WD is waiting for us. We started our 4WD thrill at around 11am.

45 minutes of thrill ride all the way from the isolated town to the waterfalls. The terrain this round is rougher than the last time I was there in last May. Real nice.. rocking and bouncing all the way up to the campsite. This round, it was real real nice as we had the place all by ourselves. well… probably because it’s CNY and most people are still busy with CNY visits.. family gathering. I remember the last time I went there… there were at least 5 groups of campers and at least about 100 people there for day trip.

We all settled down pitch our tents… get ready our kitchen… A few went up to the upper falls. Nice upper falls with slides… the locals name it the Big Ice Rink and Small Ice Rink.. hahaha… well.. slides… and of course… the trip will not be complete without a slide at the falls. Waterfall Survivors members that went up to the upper falls of course had a great time up there… and was back at the campsite around 4.30pm. Everyone was hungry and took some light meal before dinner. 

Dinner was ready around 7pm. The weather was getting cold… as the sky is getting dark. After dinner, we set up the campfire to warm ourselves.

Some gather near the falls looking at the beautiful clear dark sky filled with stars while enjoying a cup of hot coffee… What a nice way to enjoy life. We call off the day at around 12am.. Sleepi ng in the cold cold tent… is one of the best thing in live.

The next day we enjoyed the whole morning of swimming while some went back to the upper falls. Had our lunch and left Lata Berembun around 3.30pm with our thrilling 4WD ride.

Lawing Falls ….. then CNY BBQ gathering on 7th Feb 2010

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I’M LATE!!! I’m seldom late.. but this round.. too tired due to the trek yesterday to Strata Falls…followed by Cindy’s house warming… then a long chat with Vincent till 12am.. William called me at 7am and asked “ JOE WHERE R U??” Oops… still in bed.. S***!!! Quickly jumped up, woke Vincent who’s at the guest room and rushed to the bathroom to brush my teeth… change… then pick up Dom at Sri Petaling. Reached the meeting up point around 7.30am.. SORRY EVERYONE… SO SO SO SO SORRY!!!! Grab a quick breakfast… then started our drive to Hulu Langat… Wow.. what a rush morning for me… 

After stopping by at the Police Station for our usual name list submission, we proceeded to Sg Lui. Drove through a small road that leads to the trail head… Hmm… sad… it must have been some kind of a recreation picnic spot.. which is already WORN OUT… With the GPS track from my mentor, Jan Stuivenberg and his write up from Waterfalls of Malaysia, we found the trail head in no time. The hike started around 10am. And there we were following the clear clear trail through the jungle. It was an easy hike… but for the exhausted me… IT WAS A HELL OF TIME… After less than 1/4 of the trail, “Guys… u guys go ahead…I’ll follow behind…I’m half dead already”I said…there left Vincent, Tiger and I behind. As I was really so so so slow.. and taking breaks in between as my calves are so so sour… “Tiger… I don’t have the tracks.. nor the description.. U not scared meh?” I asked… Tiger replied me “NO”… well the trail is really clear.. and it’s really not a problem at all for this so called “Seasoned” waterfall explorer- Joe Yap LOL:p  Vincent and Tiger gave their full trust to me… and for sure NO WAY I WOULD DISAPPOINT THEM… hehehehe…Dominic and the other members reached the waterfalls 20 mins earlier than us… William told Dominic… “I guess Joe won’t be coming up…” Dom replied in confident “SHE WILL BE HERE… FOR SURE” Dom really know me so well.. and YES!!! I WILL BE THERE FOR SURE… I have NEVER abandoned any waterfall trips half way…so far…UNLESS we could not find the trail or the weather is bad… “THE SPIRIT OF WATERFALL SURVIVORS – Determination & Endurance…” (well.. i think it’s my spirit.. LOL)

The Lawing Waterfall is not big.. but it’s nice and pristine.. has a small little pool there… and a hydro massage will be very rewarding after the one and half hour trek through the nice jungle.  We had a rewarding massage at the falls, then back trek to the trail head. Along the way, we met some hikers on the way in to the waterfalls and one of them told us that they actually lost their way. But anyway, they are almost there already… I told them.

We reached the trail head in about 40 minutes.. going downhill all the way… And I sprained my ankle 3 times. I guess it’s because of the earlier injury at Puteri Falls when I tripped, fell and sprained my right ankle. After the trek, we headed to Lui’s Cafe to have our lunch then headed back to KL. After dropping Dom off…Vincent and I headed to the market to buy some last minute stuffs for the Waterfall Survivors BBQ gathering at night. Reached home around 5pm then started cooking… Then by the time I finished cooking and took a shower, guest was arriving… OH GOD!!! Can I have 5 minutes break?? hehehe… One after another came.. and by 8pm my house was PACKED with members from Waterfall Survivors!!! I lost count on how many turned up.. but for sure a lot… I have a rough estimation of more than 40 people at my house. Some were first timers… which we have never met… It was so nice to get to know some new members. Everyone was chatting and eating away… some BBQing and some were drinking… My house was like the market.. hahaha.. But I really love the “NOISE” hahaha…

Around 10.30pm, Ah Bee came with a bottle of VSOP… well.. an ex bartendar… what can u expect?? COCKTAIL!!! Mixed with the bottle of Johnie Walker that Vincent sponsored. We all drank till some was almost ….DIEDED!!! hahaha… Many left at around 12am… The last one.. Leo… left at 3.30am… chit chatting away with Vincent and I until Vincent DIEDED too… hahaha…

There goes my weekend.. PACKED WITH ACTIVITIES… really exhausted.. I NEED ONE WEEK REST!!! But how can I take rest... when the CNY is so so near… a lot of preparation to be done. I can rest during CNY….Hehehe…it’s ok… I like what I’m doing… seeing all the Waterfall Survivors members enjoying themselves at waterfalls is the best thing that I’ve done in my life. NO REGRETS.. hehehe…

Pictures are from the courtesy of: Gerald Lim and Vincent Leong.

Waterfalls are beautiful but extremely DANGEROUS.

Only attempt with experience guides.

Take Nothing but Photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints

Our Strata Adventure....

This trip is a trip of many firsts for me and probably to my gang of err merry makers. In the car sat Marco, my Swiss colleague, also a first timer with Waterfall Survivors, my sis, my BIL, meaning brother in-law (not the Malay term for invoice) and Miss Chan. It is the first time that my wife sat in another car on the way to a waterfall cause I “over” invited my friends and family. It is also the first time I have so many insects buzzing around me while hiking in. Okay enough of firsts. By the way it is also the first time I trudge through a muddy oil palm plantation to get to a waterfall. Okay that was the last first I am going to talk about ..

 Trekking on the way to the falls

The day started of well enough with me going to the toilet and bombing whatever I didn’t like, if you get what I mean. Maybe I inadvertently killed the cousins of those dratted insects that they get back at me when we started to hike to Strata Falls..I swore one of them said to me..”You killed my brother!!!” Before he could do anything further I sprayed on him some sweet nectar called Ridsect. Kidding.. I guess when you do not have enough sleep you tend to blab nonsense..

Serious now..

We arrived at Diamond Creeks at nine plus and already we could feel the sting of the merciless sun when we alighted from our cars. Joe started the briefing quickly. I think she’s also melting under the sun. There were twenty seven of us. I added to what Joe said by advising the members of the numerous forks on the way in, hence we need to stick together. One guy asked me ”Fox? Here?” I need to answer in Malay, “Cabang”. Maybe my pronunciation sucks..

We roped in Edwin to help as he uses the parang like a samurai uses his sword. Plus he is keen to re-discover the trail he followed last time. By the way this handsome chap is Edwin:

Edwin with his camera

I know you readers are waiting for pictures of cute chicks. Please be patient.

Arriving at Strata Falls

The following showed how we started, what we saw and what we did:

Chun Mun trying to save her shoes

 

It was an enjoyable trip overall. It was a very good mix of people. We have the reserved ones like Vincent, the experienced ones like Ong, the SURVIVOR Chun Man, blah blah blah....Our timing couldn’t be more perfect as it started to rain almost right after we boarded our cars to leave.

Final Score - Leech 1: Nick (which is me) 0

By the way, about the pretty chicks I’ve mentioned earlier..

I forgot to take their pictures.

By: Nicholas Tan

Waterfalls are beautiful but extremely DANGEROUS. 

Only attempt with experience guides. 

Take Nothing but Photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints