Waterfall Hunting (18-20)-2-2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
During an earlier visit to Kelantan I had been looking in vain for Lata Berangin. At Lata Rek I met some locals who told me they could guide me there, but I had not enough time. Recently an acquaintance from Kota Baharu sent me more detailed directions how to reach this fall. Then there still was an 'unfinished' job in Terengganu, the Cemerong Fall, which I had seen from far away only. And another friend had told me about Lata Jarum, a waterfall near Raub in Pahang. Time for some serious waterfall hunting! So Paul, Karl and I left KL at CNY and, after breakfast in Bentong, found Lata Jarum without any problem. A nice cascade with lots of water. In the past there must have been attempts to 'develop' the fall, but it looked quite neglected now. After lunch in Kuala Lipis, the former capital of Pahang, we continued our trip to Gua Musang, where we took rooms in the Evergreen Hotel for RM 72. In the afternoon we visited the Pulai Swee Nyet temple in nearby Pulai. This is one of the oldest temples in Malaysia, rebuilt in 1970 after it had been destroyed during the Japanese occupation. On the other side of the river is a very interesting rock temple, still under construction. We observed a beautiful snake there. The next morning we first had a look at Lata Rek. Quite a big river with powerful cascades and a nice sandy beach. Finding Lata Berangin turned out to be easier than expected. No off-road driving, just a good, although narrow, tar road. But NO signage at all, so you have to know which road to take! Strange, because this is quite a spectacular waterfall. We tried to find a way to climb to the top, but gave up half-way. Local people told us, that several people have died here. With a feeling of "mission accomplished" we continued to the East Coast, where we could not resist the temptation to have a refreshing sea bath, before we went to K. Terengganu, where we took a room for only RM 55. We had dinner in Chinatown, where it was unexpectedly crowded. The next morning we first visited the famous Floating Mosque and then continued to Hutan Lipur Cemerong. When I visited Cemerong in 2004, the park was officially closed for renovation. Now new buildings had been constructed, although it did not look operational yet. A new over-sized bridge had been built across Sg Cemerong, and we decided to use this bridge and follow the trail on the right side of the stream, leading to Gunung Berembun. A strenuous climb followed. Two hours later and more than 400 meters higher, we could not hear the sound of the stream anymore. We decided to backtrack and, following a very steep trail, managed to scramble down to the river. There we saw that the waterfall was still above us. :-( We took some rest and prepared coffee, while Karl checked if it was possible to follow the stream. No way, big steep rocks everywhere. So what to do? Give up? Suddenly Paul saw two people on the other side of the stream, apparently following a trail! We crossed the stream, climbed up to this trail and followed it upstream. After about ten minutes, wow, there was the waterfall! A spectacular sight. Could be ~300 meter high. Lots of water. Might be the most beautiful waterfall in Peninsular Malaysia. Now our mission was really accomplished.. :-) Reluctantly we finally left this wonderful place. We will come back to explore the fall further. Probably the trail we took first, to Gunung Berembun, will eventually reach the top of the fall. This was a very successful trip. Malaysia Boleh! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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