Teoh’s Canyon

Posted on March 4, 2014 by janstu

My friend Teoh has been talking several times about a beautiful canyon in Negeri Sembilan, where he would like to bring me and my waterfall gang. A canyon in Malaysia! It was not easy to find a suitable date, that everyone was available, so finally we went only with three people, Teoh Edwin and I.

After breakfast in Batu 9, Cheras, we went on our (long) way to the region of Lata Kijang. This waterfall was almost destroyed by a severe flash flooding in September 2010 and is officially still closed to the public. With a 4WD you can reach the fall, we had to park our sedan at one of the Orang Asli kampungs along the access road and walk from there.

It was a few years ago that Teoh had been here, some development had taken place, it took him some time to find the right trail. It was a hot and sunny day, so it was really refreshing when we finally reached the river and could start river trekking!

It had not been raining for some time, so the water level was relatively low and the trekking easy. In the beginning the riverbanks were still walkable, but gradually they became steeper

It was amazing to see how some of the trees were clinging to the rocks.

And then there was the canyon! Quite impressive. This is not a safe place to be when there is a risk of rain!. We noticed debris several meters up in the tree branches

The canyon becomes narrower and at the end we saw a small waterfall. Huge tree trunks and branches in (and under) the water. Here the water became also deeper, we would have to swim to get nearer. It might be interesting to find out if the canyon continued after the fall, but we considered it too risky to go further.

Another reason that we did not stay too long, was that not only there were quite a few bees, there were even bee hives up against the rocks. With my bee-sting allergy I did not feel comfortable, so we returned.

Here are a few more pictures. This is the only canyon I know about in Malaysia, a quite interesting experience. Also a bit overwhelming.

: Our guide Teoh

: One for the album

: Another one

: So atmospheric!

So it was also nice to be back again in the green forest, with nice flowers…:-)

On our way back we decided to have a look at the Semeniyeh reservoir, where last year a massive landslide took place. The road is still blocked, they are working on it.

Here is a video of the canyon:

Chingay Johor Baru, 2014

Posted on March 2, 2014 by janstu

I had never heard about the Chingay parade before I recently watched the movie The Journey. In this beautiful movie, the daughter of an old farmer in the Cameron Highlands comes back from England with her boyfriend to get married. Big clash between conservative Frankie and naive, young Benji. Frankie reluctantly agrees to the wedding, but on condition that the wedding invitations will be handed over personally to the wedding guests. This brings them to Johor Baru (JB) where at that time (three weeks after CNY) the Chingay parade is held.

I was fascinated by what I saw, so we decided to go to JB and watch it for ourselves. To break up the long way to JB, we first spent a night in Muar. An interesting town with good food and a lot of beautiful old architecture. I have published a detailed report about this trip on my Adventure Site, so here only one picture of Muar, the iconic Masjid Jamek Sultan Ibrahim, completed in 1930. The British knew how to create spectacular architecture!

In JB we had booked a room in a hotel along the route followed by the parade. A JB friend of Aric had also provided us with T-shirts we should wear when following the procession. So for the time being a Kwai Loh and a Teochew became Hakka, LOL. A bit of information about Chingay in JB might be useful:

In the Old Temple in JB, five deities reside, belonging to five different Chinese clans/dialects, Hakka, Hainanese, Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew. During Chingay they are carried through the town, in sedan chairs, carried by devotees belonging to that clan. Here is the Hakka deity

During the parade the deities are jostled and tussled often, so they have to be expertly bound to their sedans. Here you see one passing. Of course people are taking pictures, but many, often young people, are also praying. It is not just carnival, but religious as well.

Chingay parades are held in other places as well, for example in Singapore. But the JB one is different and very impressive. After the Five deities have left the “Deities’ Depot in Jalan Ulu Air Molek, their sedans are interspersed with a variety of activities, dragon and lion dancers, stilt walkers, giant puppets, floats. A popular float was this time dedicated to the Journey movie, and main actor Frankie was present.

Here is a collection of pictures, for more pictures, see the report mentioned above. After watching the parade and having our dinner, we went back to our hotel room (on the 15th floor!), where we had a last view of the parade. We will come back next year.

: On their way to the parade

: Theochew in Hakka disguise

: Start of the parade

: One of the deities

: Dragon dancers

: Stilt walkers

: Giant puppets

: View from our hotel room

The next day, on our way back home, we visited the Tanjung Piai National Park, the southernmost tip of mainland Asia.

More pictures and a travelogue here.

Upper Damak

Posted on February 16, 2014 by janstu

It has become a nice tradition: to visit an “unknown” waterfall during CNY with a few of my waterfall friends. In 2012 we have explored Lata Naga Air and last year we hiked to the Ulu Licin falls, near Beruas. This time Siang Hui, who probably knows dozen if not hundreds of unexplored waterfalls in Malaysia, suggested a waterfall in the Gopeng region, upstream of the Damak waterfall. He had done a recce to this fall a few years ago, could already hear the sound of falling water, but returned because there might be a “Big Cat” around!

The Ulu Geroh region is famous for the Rafflesia flowers that can be found in the region and for the large concentration of Rajah Brooke butterflies. Since a number of years the Semai Orang Asli community has been actively involved in the protection of these natural treasures. Guides will bring you to the Rafflesia and Rajah Brooke locations, or to the Damak waterfall. A good initiative to give the community some income and make them aware of the importance of preserving the natural habitat.

So, we did not mind taking a guide to this virtually unknown upper Damak fall. But we were shocked when they told us that we to had to pay per pax. That is very unusual for guides! Of course when your group is big, you may need more than one guide. We had a long discussion, they showed us the official price list (!). Finally we agreed to pay RM 75 for two guides. Very reasonable

It was very useful to have guides, as they took a better route to the fall, than explored by Siang Hui a few years ago. We followed more or less the river, only vague trails, a lot of chopping needed. It took us about 1.5 hour to reach the Upper Damak fall. The rock face is visible on Google Earth.

As it had not rained for quite a few days, the water flow was not very big. Halfway up there was a nice pool, where we took a rest. The guides explained that the name of the fall was Lata Seli, where Seli means Cobra in the Semai language. And that the Damak fall should be called Lata Jemon, while the name of the river is actually Sg Kundur. Here are some pictures taken during our hike.

: Lata Jemon (a.k.a Damak)

: Lata Pendek, a small fall on our way

: A Wild Boar den!

: Lata Seli, the Upper Damak fall

: Me and the fall

: My reward

: A refreshing bath

: Time for a rest

: Back along the logging road

: No shade!

: Jacuzzi

: Back in Kg Ulu Geroh

On our way back we took the logging road used by Siang Hui during his recce. Hot, no shade, so it was nice that we could take a refreshing bath in the river before going back to Gopeng. Here is a GPS track of our hike.

I also took a short video of the waterfall

Abandoned

Posted on February 13, 2014 by janstu

Once upon a time there was a plan for a new International Airport between Rawang and Tanjung Malim. Adventurous and greedy developers started already to build a new town at Bukit Beruntung. But the plans changed, the new airport was built far away, near Sepang, and the development bubble burst.

This is what remains, an abandoned township.

When you go to Fraser’s Hill or Chiling waterfall, and want to avoid the traffic jam in Rawang, a good alternative is to take the highway exit at Bukit Beruntung, from where you can reach Rasa on the trunk road nr 1. I have done that numerous times and was always intrigued by the many desolate and neglected residential areas along the route. Recently my Dutch friend Paul and I decided to explore these abandoned and often never completed neighborhoods. It was a fascinating trip

Some streets looked just unfinished, like the first pictures shown. Other parts were already overgrown with bushes and weeds. People were using it as rubbish dumps. When nothing happens, the jungle will take back these parts of town in a few decades.

The unfinished residential complex in the picture below has a kind of strange atmosphere. Notice that there are a few apartments with sunshades. So there must have been people who have dared to move in here!

And some people must still be living here. A dog was barking behind the gate. The fencing looks recent. Not surprisingly this part of Bukit Beruntung has a bad reputation regarding crime. I would be very reluctant to go here at night.

What I like about these desolate places, is that you can often take quite nice, scenic pictures. We had perfect weather during our recce, misty weather with some rain would have been even better…:-). Here is a collection.

: Transformed into a swift house

: Rubbish dump

: More rubbish

: Remains of the construction

: Even more basic

: Good that someone put a plank there

: Some signs of life!

: People have tried

: Who will buy this for 40k?

: Inside an apartment

: Another swift house

: A real optimist!

Here is a GE map of the region, with red markers at the location of abandoned projects.

After Rasa there is a green marker. That is another abandoned project, but not related to Bukit Beruntung. A number of low-cost bungalows, unfinished and almost completely overgrown now.

Houses of Worship in Kuala Lumpur

Posted on February 11, 2014 by janstu

On the first day of the CNY of the Horse, my friend Joe Yap and I decided to spend the day in Kuala Lumpur, visiting as many Temples, Churches, Mosques, Kovils, Viharas and Gurdwaras as we were able to find…:-)

We had a wonderful day and managed to have a look at 21 (!) Places of Worship. For a detailed report about our trip, click here. In this post I will only show pictures of the places we have visited. If I had to choose a favourite, it would be the Holy Rosary Church, built in French Gothic Revival style and completed in 1904. A real beauty, although it is a shame that next to it now high-rise condominium complexes are being built.

Here is a gallery of the other locations we have visited, in chronological order. Some of the well-known ones are missing, the Thean Hou Temple because it was too crowded with people, and several mosques because it was Friday.

: Tamil Methodist Church

: Kaliamman Alayam Temple

: Buddhist Maha Vihara

: Zion Lutheran Cathedral

: Vivekananda Ashram

: Sri Kandaswamy Kovil

: Sze Ya Temple

: Guan Di Temple

: Mahamariamman Temple

: Gurdwara Sahib Polis

: Chan See Shu Yuen clan hous

: Wei Zhen Gong Guan Yin temple

: Wesley Methodist Church

: Masjid Al-Bukhary

: St Anthony Church

: St Andrew’s Church

: St John’s Cathedral

: Tatt Khalsa Diwn Gurdwara

: Masjid India

: St Mary’s Cathedral

We had prepared a map with the various locations and I also recorded the GPS-track of our route. Sometimes a bit complicated with one-way streets etc..:-) And the town was much more busy than we had expected on a CNY day.

Penang Food

Posted on January 25, 2014 by janstu

When you are not interested in food, you can skip this post..:-)

Penang is a paradise for foodies. Do a Google search for “Penang food paradise” and you will get many pages with hits. Our last trip to Penang had the Murals as destination and the Thaipusam festival, but of course also FOOD! Here is part of what we had during our stay. Makan Non Stop..:-) For my non-Malaysian followers: Makan = Eating in Bahasa. The traditional welcome greeting when you arrive at a friend’s or family house is: Sudah makan? Have you eaten already?

On our way to Penang, we had dinner in Nibong Tebal at the Law Chang Kee restaurant. Famous for its Crab Porridge and its Boiled Baby Octopus. Don’t say aargh, the octopus was delicious. We paid RM 38 for our meal for two..:-) That is about 8-9 Euro.

: The restaurant

: Our food

: Eating a baby octopus

: The cook in his kitchen

We arrived in our hotel quite late, but after a shower we decided to have an evening walk. Visiting some of the murals, and ending at the China House, really a surprise for me. Beautifully renovated old houses with a marvelous selection of coffee and cakes! Really worth a visit…:-)

: The China house

: Beautifully renovated

: Large choice of delicacies

: Our choice

The next morning we had breakfast in a mamak stall near to our hotel. A friend of us, living in Penang, had suggested it to us as possibly the best Roti Chanai in town at Transfer Road. It was crowded and basic but very VOF (Value for Money)

: The Roti Chanai at Jln Travers

: In action

: Many customers

: Enjoying our breakfast

For our lunch we had planned to go to Balik Pulau for the Assam Laksa, But it was not our lucky day, the Chuan Hong stall, Aric’s favourite, was closed. So instead we had to go for Mee Rebus, in a nearby stall, also not bad.

I will not mention all the other places we visited during our trip, only the last one. It is the HUG restaurant in Jalan Hutton, also quite near to our hotel Mingood. Basically I am a hawker food lover, no fancy restaurants. So when a friend suggested the House of Udang Galah , my first impression was: too posh for me. But looking at the menu, the reasonable prices and the positive review of my friend, we decided to give it a try.

What an enjoyable evening we had! Excellent service, and good food. Only problem was that we ordered to0 many dishes, you should go there with a bigger group!

Here a few more pictures. We had Scallops as a starter, Seafood soup, then Peking Duck (first the skin, then the meat), the Udang Galah, and a combination of four vegetables. Finally we could not resist the temptation of the Baked Red Wine Syrup Apple as a dessert.

: Beautifully renovated

: Our main course 🙂

: Scallops

: Seafood soup

: Peking Duck skin

: The way to eat it

: Udang gala, veggie and duck

: Delicious dessert

After this delicious (but also expensive!) dinner, we decided to skip the next day’s lunch at Pulau Aman. We will keep that for a next visit. First have to loose some calories…:-)

Penang Street Art

Posted on January 20, 2014 by janstu

Since 2012 there is one more reason to visit Penang, besides the food and the cultural heritage. During the Georgetown Festival 2012, the young Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic has painted a number of murals, which have become one of the major tourist attractions. Here are two very popular ones, a combination of a painting and an existing object. These two are floodlit during the night, which adds to the atmosphere.

The next morning we visited the rest. This one is called Wushu Girl and can be found at Muntri Street. Tourist arrive with taxis or on rental bikes to take pictures.

And this is The Awaiting Trishaw Paddler (Penang Street)

Here are two more. But only the left one, called Reaching Up is by Zacharevic! In quite a few places you will find now similar murals by others, a clear proof how successful the concept has been.

The artist is becoming popular all over the world. In Malaysia he also created works in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. And of course the (in)famous one in Johor Baru, depicting a lady and a robber, both in Lego style. JB has Legoland and reputedly a high crime rate.

The JB town council was not amused and had it removed within a few days. Ridiculed of course by many, amongst them the Penang council. Art should be respected and free! But when Zacharevic decorated a pothole (which had been there for many years), framing it as a painting, the council acted quickly, and filled the pothole…:-)

During our visit of Penang an exhibition was opened of (new) works by Zacharevic. We were eager to visit this exhibition but found the door closed..:-( We could only peek through the fence. The exhibition opens from noon to 8pm daily until Feb 14. Free access. Maybe we should go back to Penang soon.

To find the locations of the Zacharevic murals, you can now install an App on your smartphone! For the other murals you must just walk around Georgetown which is a pleasure in itself. Here is a collection of pictures. The town council has placed a large number of decorative metal wire signboards in the historical center. And a bit outside the center you can find the famous UBAH bird. UBAH means change in Malay, Penang is governed by the opposition, so this bird is both art and a political statement.

: The Old Man, when it was fresh

: What remains now, faded

: Not done by Zacharevic

: Attracted by the lady

: Another unknown artist

: A nice sculpture near the bicycle mural

: Unknown artist

: Official street decorations

: Another example

: Here the artist is me..:-)

: Political art. The Ubah bird

: A smartphone app gives the locations

Two more reports will follow, one about Penang and its food, the other one about Thaipusam,

So many waterfalls!

Posted on January 5, 2014 by janstu

What better way to end the year than by visiting a waterfall!” That is how I ended my last post for 2013. So, let me start my first post for 2014 in a similar way: “What better way to start the year than by visiting a waterfall!”

Yesterday I explored with a few friends waterfalls in the Sg Rinting. This river is located in the same region as the Chiling waterfalls, visited last week. But that is where the similarity ends..:-). The Chiling fall is the most popular waterfall in Malaysia, with a crowd of visitors each weekend. The Lata Medang, the main waterfall of the Rinting river is less frequented, access takes longer, although the trail is easy to find nowadays. Here is the Medang waterfall (upper part) with my personal marker. Picture taken few years ago.

Our target for this trip was not the Medang fall, but the several falls that can be found downstream of it. With as our main interest a tall fall, named Kijang Jatuh. After having breakfast with Siang Hui and Nick, near my condo, we drove to KKB where we met Eddie. The trail head is the same as for Bukit Kutu and the Sg Luit waterfalls, starting from Kg Pertak. Well defined trail until you reach an Orang Asli (?) campsite near the first waterfall.

From there we started river trekking to the next tiers. Vague traces of trails, sometimes just following the river. Very rewarding hike. Here are some of the tiers we found.

: Lata Mendung

The second fall from right is called Lata Mendung. With a nice big pool. We took a short rest to take a group picture. Using the timer option. Eddie pushed the camera button and had to hurry to join us. Did not realise the water was quite deep, so he looked like a hobbit..:-) So we tried again, I took his place, becoming the hobbit. Very funny…:-)

We continued our hike and reached the Twin Falls. The next one should be the tall Kijang Satuh. But how to go there? Following the river or scrambling up the slope? Siang Hui and Eddie decided for the second option. It was a tough and steep climb up to a former logging road, completely overgrown. Thanks to Eddie’s and SH’s expert parang handling, we managed to reach the location of the Kijang Jatuh fall. However, we could not reach the bottom of this impressive tier. Halfway down the slope became too steep. Here are the Twin falls and a partial view of the Kijang Jatuh. Maybe we must come back and try the river trekking option.

I took a video of this fall, it gives an impression.

From this fall it is only a short hike to the Lubuk Mecu. Here we had a rest and our lunch. Time for another group picture. No hobbits this time..:-)

When we were ready to go back, a downpour started. It is what you can expect when trekking in the rain forest and part of the fun. But good that it did not happen during our scrambling up the slope! Here are some more pictures taken during this great trip. Not only waterfalls…:-)

: Crossing Sg Luit

: Some obstacles to conquer

: Reaching Sg Rinting

: River trekking

: Remains of an OA hut

: Huge boulder

: Eddie taking a dive

: Just beautiful

: My favourite ginger

: More river trekking

: Eddie acting as Tarzan

: SH acting as a botanist

: Going back in the rain

: Edible fig fruits

: And inedible ones

: Meeting fellow hikers

A perfect start of 2014. In a few months time I hope to celebrate my 70st birthday, maybe it is time to slow down my waterfall activities a bit. But this trip was big fun!

Journal 30-12-2013

Posted on December 30, 2013 by janstu

One more day to go, high time to write a journal about the last weeks of 2013, so I can start 2014 with a clean slate…:-)

We went back to Sabak Bernam two times, related to the passing away of Aric’s father, 20 November last year. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, many events follow the lunar cycle, so on 9 November this year there was a memorial ceremony. A meal for the deceased, prayers and the burning of gifts for him in the hereafter.

The second time was at the Winter Solstice, an important solar event in the Chinese calendar. We went to the cemetery, near Bidor. Aric took a beautiful picture of the whole family around the grave

Here are a few more pics

: Early morning breakfast, on our way to the grave

: Preparing for the praying

: Colorful

: Two of Aric’s nephews admiring the family picture he just took

We attended the wedding dinner of one of Aric’s cousins. In traditional style, with nine courses, cutting of the cake and yam seng singing.

Family picture

Of course I had several meetings with friends. Sometimes I am lazy to take pictures, but here are two. A visit to my friend Khong’s house to admire his garden and a dinner with friends of Aric in Chinese Muslim restaurant nearby our condo. Quite good food.

I made two waterfall trips with Eddie Yap. He guided us to a remote waterfall, which he had visited once before. So remote that even he, an experienced guide, could not find it back during the first trip..:-). We found a waterfall, but not the one he had in mind. It was a nice trip anyway, we had a relaxing bath in hot springs near KKB. Of course we had to come back, to find the missing fall! This time Eddie found it, a very pristine fall, access not so easy. A well hidden secret, we will keep it that way…:-)

: On our way

: Don’t touch this caterpillar

: The upper fall, but not the one we were looking for

: A nice bath in the hot springs

: A second try

: Finding our way

: Not always easy

: There it is, a beautiful, pristine fall

: The four explorers

: Beautiful ginger

: They are called Peacock Leaves

: Sharing a drink…:-)

We celebrated Christmas in the usual way, relaxing at home with a nice home-cooked dinner…:-) Poached egg on mushroom with spinach as a starter, baked salmon with pak soy as main course, blue cheese (for me only, haha), and zabaglione with forest fruits as dessert. Cleaning the kitchen later was quite a job!

We always create our own (digital) Christmas and New Year card. This time using the Christmas decoration in our living room. Aric used his Photoshop expertise to “clean” the picture, I added the text.

What better way to end the year than by visiting a waterfall! My Dutch friend and former colleague Dick was in Malaysia and wanted to visit a waterfall. Paul was also interested. Chiling is only open to the public during weekends, so there was a crowd. I have been there so many times now, but each time it is again a pleasure to visit this most popular waterfall in Selangor. This picture was a lucky shot, it looks as if only the two girls are there!

We visited first the upper fall, as usual less crowded, then the lower fall. On our way back we had lunch in the WK restaurant in Ulu Yam. Here are more pictures.

: SThe Chiling river

: One of the river crossings

: The inaccessible middle fall

: The upper fall

: Enjoying the view

: The tour guide… 🙂

: The crowded lower fall

: Black and White

: On our way back

: At WK restaurant

: Fish head curry and Prawn curry

: Durian as dessert

Bukit Kiara: Not All Is Well

Posted on December 23, 2013 by janstu

One year after the infamous Bukit KIara fencing project was brought to a halt by then Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung, the Friends of Bukit Kiara (FoBK) received a letter from Jabatan Landskap Negara (JLN) that the fence would be completed, instead of removed…:-(

Again a protest march was organised, the third one, on 28 September 2013. I could not attend as I was traveling in Europe. According to a STAR report more than 2000 people took part in this peaceful demonstration

Did the walk have any positive effect? Not at all. Soon the bulldozers started again, trees were felled, access roads created, forest destroyed. This part of the fence is separating Bukit Kiara from the Sprint highway. Only bikers come here, they noticed that several of their trails were blocked and/or destroyed.

Here is a map of Kiara with the fence. Thanks to TRAKS. The yellow part has been recently constructed. As you see, there is a tiny part of the park fenced in between the highway and the plot leased by Berjaya.

In an earlier blog, called Birdbrains? , I had already explored this location, after the work was stopped. Here is a picture from that blog, showing that they were really planning to build the fence in this moronic way.

Now that this part of the fence has been completed, I was of course curious to see if JLN had really continued this folly. They did, this is what I found

Here are a few more pictures, taken recently during a hike with Dr Pola Singh.

: The Sri Hartamas school

: Exit to the highway

I recorded our GPS track with EveryTrail:

Click on the link Kiara Fence to follow our hike on EveryTrail.

Each red dot represents a picture

We started at the Sri Hartamas school

On our way back we went through the small gate and walked along the highway back to our car.

Personally I think that the fencing issue is a lost cause. JLN is not interested in any form of cooperation with the people who are using and loving Bukit Kiara.

More is happening these days. Bukit KIara is hilly, with some steep slopes along the access roads. Sometimes (minor) landslides happen. Like for example this one, last year, a relatively big one.

A few weeks ago JLN decided to solve this problem in a shocking, “maximal impact” way. Here are two pictures of the present situation. They call it slope reduction. Sarcastic comments galore: “If there is no landslide, JLN will create one” , “the rape of Bukit Kiara“, etc.

The location where this “rape” is taking place, is indicated on the TRAKS map above in a brown color. This is the left one in the map. JLN must have been so happy with the result, that they have created a second one, along the tar road leading from the crossroads to the Equestrian club.

There are many similar slopes in Bukit Kiara, so the rape may go on. Felling the trees at this second “landslide creation”, one of the trees damaged the fence at the other side of the tar road. Divine justice?

This may give some hope for the future. I have seen more locations where fallen trees have damaged the fence.

As usual in Malaysia there is money available to build something, but no money is reserved for maintenance. If that is the case here, slowly the fence may disappear (maybe sometimes helped by volunteers, haha).

If you want to get regular updates about the Bukit Kiara situation, you should go to the TRAKS FB page and “like” it. Or visit their website.

You may have recognised the “Not All Is Well” in the blog title as a quote from Hamlet. In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet continues: I doubt some foul play

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