CNY 2023 Waterfall Trip

On 22 January the Chinese Year of the Rabbit started and on day 3 I went on a waterfall trip with my waterfall gang. A revival of an older tradition, more about this at the end of this blog. Destination was the Lata Juang waterfall, recently discovered by Joshua Tee and added to WoM. He is the new webmaster of the site and suggested that this waterfall might be suitable for a senior like me, easy access and only a short hike.

It was quite a big group, my two waterfall godsons, Siang Hui and Nick (with wife Ping and niece Yin) came from Teluk Intan. Joshua, his partner Eve and fellow hiker Ong came from Kajang. They were wiling to pick me and my Dutch friend Paul up from my condo. My other godson Teoh also wanted to join, but had to cancel last minute because he got Covid.

We met in Gopeng and managed to find a Chinese restaurant that was open (not easy just after CNY!). .We had noodles with Yong Tau Foo, not bad.

From Gopeng we took the Simpang Pulai road to the Cameron Highlands. Soon we reached a minor side road, quite rocky, not suitable for a sedan car, but no problem for Joshua’s Ford Ranger. After about 1 km he parked his car and we prepared to hike. From left to right: Yin, Ping, Nick, Paul, Siang Hui, Eve and Joshua.

After a stream crossing we followed a clear trail.

Soon we passed a house, surprisingly nicely designed. Nobody at home, but later, on our way back, we met the owner, a grumpy man who clearly was not happy that we had visited the waterfall.

It was easy going, here and there a fallen tree blocked the trail, but Ong had brought his parang.

In less than half an hour we reached the waterfall, the last few hundred meters following the river.

And a nice waterfall it was. Two tiers, with a huge pool.

Time to enjoy and relax.

When you have been following my blog posts, you know that I have slowed down considerably the last few years. The years are counting, I am getting clumsy, I have lost confidence in the jungle, also because I have an allergy for wasps and bees. So, when the idea came up for a waterfall trip on day 3 of the CNY, my first reaction was not to join. But when Joshua said it was an easy, short hike, and a nice pristine waterfall, I started to hesitate. When Nick added, please come with us, I decided to join. Very happy that I did, as you can see in these pictures. The right picture shows me with my two “godsons” Nick and Siang Hui,, really a pity that Teoh could not be present.

We didn’t stay long, about one hour, here we are preparing to hike back.

Walking back the same way.

Back to Simpang Pulai, we looked for a restaurant and found a nice one

Quite acceptable food. Pork knuckle, fish, sotong, taufu, two veggies and a few beers. As I was happy after a successful trip, I wanted to pay for the lunch. Not easy in Malaysia, but this time I managed haha.

We started our drive back to KL at 3 pm, expecting that there might be a traffic jam, as the next day would be a normal working day. But that the jam would be so bad, was still a bit of a shock. It also didn’t help that halfway heavy rain started. But Joshua was an experienced and relaxed driver. We reached my condo at 9 pm, after 6 hours.

Sungkai (left picture) was especially bad, it took us about one hour to pass the town. The right picture shows the queue for the ladies toilet at a petrol station. For the men’s toilet no queue of course. To be a male has its advantages 😉

A very rewarding CNY waterfall trip.

The tradition to organise a waterfall trip on day 3 of the CNY started in 2012. To give you an impression of the CNY trips we made, I give a list here, with a picture and a link.

2012: Lata Naga Air. With SIang Hui, Nick and Harry. Yes, that’s me in the picture

2013: Ulu Lecin, with Siang Hui, Nick and Faye

2014 Upper Damak, with Siang Hui and Nick

2015 Lata Enggang, with Siang Hui, Nick and Rani

2016 Trong with Siang Hui, Nick and Rani. The plan was to visit upper Nyior, but we found it was out of bounds because a military exercise took place in the region.So instead we revisited Trong.

2017 An unsuccessful waterfall trip With SIang Hui, Nick, Teoh and Rani. We wanted to visit Lata Jala but failed

The next few years we didn’t make a trip with CNY for various reasons, one of them being of course the Covid pandemic. Only last year a trip was organized, again to the Lata Jala fall, that we had failed to reach in 2017. But I decided not to join, as explained above. This time Siang Hui, Nick,Teoh and Joshua reached the fall.

I really hope this tradition will continue, although I probably will not join myself.

2 thoughts on “CNY 2023 Waterfall Trip

  1. So you got yourself a CNY trip (not treat,),

    I like the idea of a place easily accessible & suitable for senior citizens.

    Nice waterfall too !

  2. Ah. Such a nice report of a very pleasant
    And interesting trip.
    Very pretty waterfall
    Glad the “ grumpy old man” wasn’t a member of your “ gang” Haha.
    Thanks for this jan. Most enjoyable. .

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