Journal 5-7-2013

Posted on July 6, 2013 by janstu

Some mixed news

I bought a new camera. Again?, you may ask. Yes. I am not very careful with cameras and I also use them often under difficult conditions, near waterfalls, crossing rivers, etc.Here is a collage of the cameras I have been using the last ~10 years. Most of them are no more. Only the Nikon 5100 DSLR is still ok. Nice camera, but bulky, not suitable for jungle trekking.

The last addition is the Olympus Tough TG2. A water- and shockproof camera. I am still testing it. It has a nice Macro option. Here are two examples

Last week our friend Rani invited us for dinner. He recently bought a “big” bike. Here I am posing as the owner..:-) And Aric of course has to try the helmet.

We had our dinner in an Ikan Bakar restaurant at the seaside, in Jeram. You first had to choose the seafood you would like to have. The restaurant is popular and can be crowded. Rani had booked in advance, so we had a “private” dining room! Here is a collection of pictures

: Aroma restaurant in Jeram

: Near the sea

: A nice place

: Choosing our food

: Our selection, fish, prawns, sotong

: Our private dining room

: Butter prawns and flower crab

: Enjoying our food

: Relaxing after a nice dinner

As I have mentioned in an earlier email, I monitor the traffic on my waterfall website, since November 2011. A few days ago the visitor count reached 500.000, on average 800-900 visitors daily. Half a million visitors from 173 different countries (of course mainly from Malaysia and Singapore).

In another post I mentioned the Malaysian way of parking in a crowded area: far away from the curb, to avoid that you will be blocked by double-parked cars. Here is a crazy example of such a double-parked car, a big one, blocking more than half of the road. Malaysia boleh!

Trip with Pat and Roger

Posted on June 30, 2013 by janstu

Our English friends Pat and Roger live in Melbourne, but visit Malaysia regularly. It has become a tradition to organise a trip during their stay. We have been to Gunung Jerai, to Fraser’s hill, to Pulau Ketam and more.

Where to go this time? We decided for the coastal region, south of Klang, visit the Chinese temple in Jenjarom, a few historical places, Jugra Hill and of course have nice food.

Then came the haze, see my separate post Haze, haze, haze . A few days before our trip Klang recorded an air pollution index of ~500 (> 300 is considered hazardous), schools were closed, people were wearing face masks. Change our plan? We decided to take the risk. As you see Pat came well prepared..:-) We were lucky, of course it was hazy, but a lot less than the days before.

A detailed report of the trip can be found here. Some highlights:

The Fo Guan Shan Dong Zen temple in Jenjarom. This is the main hall

The Istana Bandar, former palace of the Sultan of Selangor, located in the middle of nowhere and recently renovated. It will become a museum.

Nearby, on the slopes of Jugra Hill, a mausoleum of the Selangor Sultans, a tranquil oasis, well maintained. We also went up the hill, the haze was not too bad, but of course the view was limited

We had planned to have lunch at the foot of Jugra Hill in the famous Beggar’s Chicken restaurant, but it had its weekly closing day. So we drove on along the coast, passing romantic fishing villages, to Kg Batu Laut, where we had a seafood lunch

After a short visit of Tanjung Sepat and the “iconic” but overrated Golden Palm Tree resort in Sepang, we returned via the highway. On our way back we had rain. Hurrah, everybody happy, because it meant the end of the haze, at least for the time being.

A Memorable Trip

Posted on June 23, 2013 by janstu

Some friends call me jokingly the godfather of the Malaysian waterfalls. And being a godfather, of course I have godsons…:-) Actually four of them: Siang Hui nr 1, Teoh nr 2, Harry Nian nr 3 and Nic nr 4.

Last year August, Harry Nian went to Terengganu on a solo expedition, looking for new waterfalls. On August 17, coming back from the remote Berdebu waterfall, he was stung by a swarm of bees and died. His body was found in the Kelemin river only a week later.

Last weekend I have been back to Terengganu with Aric, Siang Hui, Teoh and Nic. We wanted to visit the waterfall where Harry had his fatal accident. A detailed report about this trip can be found here: Terengganu trip, June 2013

The Berdebu fall is located in the Kelemin river. To reach this river you have to follow a (good) logging road for more than 20(!) km to a big logging camp. Around here Harry’s car was found by the Search and Rescue team. It was Hari Raya, probably the camp was deserted at that time, nobody noticed that something was wrong.

We camped a few hundred meters past the logging camp, a perfect spot near the Kelemin river.

The next morning we started our hike around 9 am. First an old logging road, later a trail. We crossed the river twice, current was strong, so we had to be careful. After about two hours we reached a point where we could see the impressive Berdebu waterfall. From here we had to follow the river and the going got tough. Huge, often slippery boulders, difficult river crossings. After I had slipped from a boulder and bruised my thigh, I decided that I would go no further and leave it to the others to continue to the fall. There were quite a few sweat bees around, so Aric stayed with me to keep an eye on me, as I am allergic for bee stings. And of course I knew that Harry had probably died by (a lot of) bee stings. We had to wait almost two hours before the other three returned, which gave me time to create my usual marker. Actually I had already decided before we started the trip, that this marker would be for Harry.

We were quite relieved when we saw Siang Hui, Teoh and Nic return. They had managed to reach the bottom of the fall, it had been tough, they had to circumvent a huge boulder by climbing up a steep slope, reaching a mossy ridge, then finally scrambling down to the fall

Jeram Berdebu (picture by Siang Hui)

Before we went back, we took a group picture, with the waterfall and the marker.

It took us another three hours to get back to our camp. End of story? Almost.

Back home I saw for the first time the two pictures taken by Harry during his hike and retrieved from his mobile phone after his death.

Here is the picture taken by Harry, 17-8-2012 at 2:29 pm

Picture by Harry Nian

Take some time to compare the two pictures carefully. Notice the fallen tree, the big rock with some green plants, the smaller, lighter coloured rock left from it, and try to locate them in our group photo. Then guess where Harry must have been standing when he took his picture.

Harry took that picture on the spot where I, unknowingly, erected a marker for him!

When I pointed this out to friends, several got goosebumps. Of course the rational explanation is that the rock where I built my marker, is the obvious spot to take a picture of the waterfall. But I am really happy with the coincidence.

Harry also continued to the fall, same as my three “godsons”. Here is his last picture, taken on 3:18pm that fatal 17th of August 2012. An impressive picture!

Picture by Harry

Apparently Harry stayed on the left side of the Kelemin river, and he did not go down to the pool. Siang Hui took a picture when he was on the mossy ridge (to the right of the river) and indicated a possible location of Harry when he took his last picture

Picture by Siang Hui

What exactly happened after he took this last picture, we will never know for sure. He must have disturbed a bee nest, so it was probably not during the river trekking, but after he entered the jungle again. His body was found in the Kelemin river, not too far from his car.

A memorable trip.

Journal 8-6-2013

Posted on June 10, 2013 by janstu

A long post with a variety of topics.

One of Aric’s cousins got a baby recently and she and her husband invited us for lunch in the Fitou Brasserie (Desa Park city). Good Western food. Long time ago that I had a Rack of Lamb!

In my last post I have written already about my Wesak celebration in Taiping. As it had been some time ago since I visited my “hometown”, of course I had to enjoy the food! My friend George always knows new places to try out. This time we started with a dinner at the New Club, where the food is not that special, but the ambiance is nice. In the picture below you see also a dim sum breakfast, chicken/duck/pork rice and dumpling noodles.

We visited Kuala Sepetang, walked around in the fishing village, and went to the Matang mangrove forest, where we looked for birds, but we were not successful, as we were quite late.

And of course we visited the Lake Gardens. The most beautiful park of Malaysia. Early morning, in the afternoon, always fascinating. Here we saw more birds, a pair of hornbills, dollarbirds. Of course flowers. And quite a few couples, taking wedding pictures..:-)

: The lake gardens

: Always beautiful

: Flowers

: Fruits of the Cannonball tree

: Relaxing with a good book

: Afternoon atmosphere

: Hornbills and dollarbirds

: The famous crooked bridge

: Raintrees in the foreground

: Nice reflections

: A nice couple

: Another one

: getting lateBeautiful

: Taiping: it rains a lot!

George came with me on our way back home. After earlier “scary” adventures he had vowed never to go on waterfall trips with me. But I convinced him that a nice waterfall near Beruas was easy peasy…:-) A less than ten minute walk. After that I brought him home in Shah Akam, where we visited the shop recently opened by his daughter, and named after his wife Mary! I wish them good luck.

When my waterfall friend Teoh told me he could take a weekday off for a waterfall trip, it was no problem to suggest a nice destination: Ulu Rening, see my recent post. Edwin was also eager to go again, and another friend, Chadel, joined too. Again we had a fun time, beautiful weather! It was only when we took a picture “for the album” that we realised that we were all wearing a blue shirt! Four shades of Blue…:-)

During my earlier visit, I had a few anxious moments, when I was caught in the turbulence, sliding doen the last tier of the waterfall. So this time I did not take any risk, which gave me the opportunity to video my friends while they were sliding down.

When I was in Taiping, my friends Girlie and Yeoh told me that they were coming to KL. So I finally got my chance to invite them for lunch in my condo, after having enjoyed their hospitality so many times. As they did not know the way to my condo, but of course knew where IKEA was, I met them there for the free coffee, after which we had a Western style lunch at my place, soup, bread with salad and cheese, and tiramisu as desert.

Finally something quite different. For our dinner we often go the commercial district near to our condo. Many shops and eateries. Many cars as a result. Malaysian style many cars are double parked. Very annoying when you come back and your car is blocked. Solution? See the picture below. Even when you can park close to the curb, you do not. LOL

Journal 1-2-2013

Posted on February 1, 2013 by janstu

You could say that my life here in Malaysia is a continuous struggle between gaining weight (nice dinners) and loosing weight (my daily exercise in Bukit Kiara and jungle trips). Last week was a good example.

One week ago I had a nice dinner with friends in restaurant Thong Kee, in Seapark. Famous for its barbecued “dinosaur” pork ribs.

The food was good and the company pleasant…:-)!

A few days later I went for a waterfall trip. One of my friends, Edwin, had told me about nice waterfalls upstream of the Lepoh waterfall in Ulu Langat.
Here is a picture report of the trip.

: Start of the trek

: Following the pipeline. Notice the impact of the fallen tree

: Beautiful! Butterfly or moth?

: The Lepoh Fall

: Upstream of Lepoh

: River trekking

: The upper tiers

: Enjoying my jacuzzi

: They managed to climb up. And I followed!

: The beautiful top tier

: Enjoying our lunch

: We almost destroyed this bridge but repaired it

To reach the top tier, we had to scramble up the lower tiers. At first I decided that I was too old for that, but my friends convinced me I could do it. And I did. Here is a video clip of Edwin and Eng Hoe coming down from the top tier. It was really a fun experience.

Intermezzo: parking in a shopping center can be a problem when you forget where you parked your car. Solution is to take a picture of the location with your smartphone, LOL This is the 1 Utama parking in PJ.

On weekdays I walk in Kiara before having my 1 Ringgit breakfast in IKEA. There has been a lot of rain recently, causing several (minor) landslides in Bukit Kiara

IKEA has also become my alternative living room where I meet my friends..:-) Like today a (Malaysian!) friend from the Netherlands. We walked in the Curve and had lunch in the mamak restaurant near the Curve.

It was a nice week.

Food for Body and Soul

Posted on December 24, 2012 by janstu

Last week started with a concert on Sunday in the Grote Kerk of Edam. I went to a performance of the Christmas Oratory by Bach, sung by Inez and her choir. Beautiful music.The ambiance of a church is perfect for this kind of music. But you must wear warm clothes, as it was cold!

The Christmas Oratorio consists of six Cantatas. Here is the first Cantata, directed by Nikolas Harnoncourt, an unusual performance as all the vocal parts are sung by males. Beautiful!

After the concert I had dinner with my friend Lambert in a nice restaurant in Edam. I had Duck Satay as a starter, followed by a Beef Entrecote. Coffee came with sweets and a small glass of liquor.

The next day I flew to Dublin, where Pat and Roger were waiting for me at the airport. They drove me back to Bailieborough, where their daughter Angela is living with husband John and kids Ciara and Roan. We had dinner (with my first Guinness) and then went to church again! For another kind of Christmas Oratorio…:-) Ciara and Roan were taking part in a Christmas musical, organised by their school, called “Nativity Rocks”. And rock it did!

For a detailed report of my trip to Ireland, click here. The weather was rather dismal, although it enhanced the atmosphere of the Irish landscape.

But the company was very pleasant and we had nice food.

When I came back to Amsterdam on Thursday, the weather was not much better. Here is a view from my living room the next morning. It was actually 21-12, the day of the predicted Mayan Apocalypse!

I visited Inez to have a drink and admire her Christmas tree.

Yesterday I was invited for dinner by Nico, Paul’s brother. Interesting conversation, food for body and soul…:-)

The weather remained awful. I came back home during a downpour. Here is picture of me in the elevator. Look at my trousers. This is really not my favourite season.

A week full of variety.

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Trip with Pat and Roger