Jungle & River Trek to Kemensah Waterfall

Went for a leech-feeding session during the weekend.. keke... Okieokie, it was a mix of jungle and river trekking to Kemensah Waterfall. Went in at 9am and came out almost 4pm. That's 7 solid hours with mother nature with 3 different waterfall stops. Very nice! :)

Let's checkout the pics :)


Mossy fallen tree. I rather like this shot eventhough alllllllll my shots in this outing were really rushed! Didn't have time to do much tweaking since i need to keep moving instead of blocking people behind. The group turned out to be 29 people instead of around 10-ish. More fresh blood for the bloodsuckers!!!


Here's the part where we started off - the jungle trek. Thank goodness the ground was dry and even so there were so many leeches around! I shudder to think if it rained the night before - with the ground slippery and full of bloodsuckers... yerrgh

Newayz, I don't have many shots of the jungle trek part cause i just wanna keep moving before the bloodsuckers got a chance to stick on me! Of course, what you see here is the easy-peasy part! There were areas where i gotta pack the cam into the bag... can't have it dangling around cause we had to be on all four - think Spiderman! Very slopy and if you slipped, you'll be rolling alllllll the way downhill. If you're lucky, you'll be saved by a tree halfway down after hitting it with a sickening thud.. hehhh.. okok, none of that happened lah. We have good spidey skills :)


And then the river trek. ahh, I really enjoyed this part. Leech-free and cool water rushing down my feet. Nice!!


Another mossy log!


Watch your head!


Slippery shoes.. whoops, she almost slipped there!


2nd waterfall. Not a good shot. Vaporish lens. Lotsa fine spray of water when you're near the fall... blah


3rd waterfall - 2 guys from the other group under the fall. Another blah-shot. Neways, this is the highlight of the journey to me! Get a natural therapeutic massage just by standing under the few-hundred-feet-high waterfall!! woohoo! Grrreat stuff! I'm still waiting for the pic of me frolicking under the fall from the other camera! Now that i think about it, i'd SO do it again for this!


Crystal in the rock. As seen on the ground along the trek back from 3rd waterfall.


Our bloody souvenirs from the outing.. haha.. I got a bite at about the same place too. Managed to detect and pull out about a dozen or so leeches before they bit and drew blood. Missed one at the very end. So damn itchy... ishh.. Newayz, felt good with the outcome cause i expected to get a LOT more than one!


Got out from the jungle at 4pm so we totally missed lunch! Starving people then went for a seafood dinner at Cheras. :)


Next, PADDLE OR DIE!!!!!!



P/S: Happy 4th July!!

Hotties

I was going to post the outing pics but got side-tracked by these hotties!!! ahahha



Bumblebee, the cutiepie sidekick. Totally adorable!!




Optimus Prime is so freaking HOT!! what a BOT!! And that huge gun and sexy voice... *swoon*

Chocolate Durian Cake

I love trying exotic food and anything with durian in it is exotic enough in my book! So when i heard about this Chocolate Durian Cake from Just Heavenly Pleasures in Epicure, Bukit Damansara, i simply have to try it!

This cupcake-size Chocolate Durian Cake will set you back RM8.90. Lotsa floggers raved about this cake but to me, it's not off-the-scale-good. Just decent and different. A good change from the norm cakes. Can't take too much of it though. Well, you know how durian is.. almost like cheesecake which is best taken mildly.


Chunks of fresh durian inside the cake, covered with chocolate.

I also bought a Ferrero-Rocher-size Rum Ball (RM2.20 per ball) which i immediately popped into my mouth, so no pics on that... hehh... As for taste, um... nothing much to shout about. They are generous with the rum so you'll definitely taste it on first bite. Again, i'll say it's okay but not spectacular. After all, i set the bar high when it comes to my tastebuds :)


P/S: The weekend jungle & river trekking will be up next! Um.. mebbe tonight... or tomorrow :D

Autobots transform!!

Just came back from a midnight show of TRANSFORMERS!



omg, i love it to BITS!! Nevermind that there's no good looking guys, the Autobots are wayyyyyyyyyyy HOT!! kekkeke... oh wait, there's a pretty hot soldier! And a hot girl for the guys too! ;)

Everyone should SO watch it! Grab your ticket at a THX cinema and enjoy the sound bytes!! Sexy bot voices, Linkin Park & Goo Goo Dolls on the soundtrack, and I especially lurrrve the sound effect when the bots transform. Great stuff!!

Chiang Mai Recommendations

Got airtix to Chiang Mai in November so I'm gonna need some recommendations on Chiang Mai attractions. I know some of you have been there and are very familiar with the place. Will be there for 4 days so come come... tell me some good places for yummy FOOD, shopping (what's cheap there?), night markets, must-go places, the must-dos etc. :)

As for accomodations, I wanna stay right smack in the middle of the happening places - with most within walking distance. So I've been told that i should stay near the Night Bazaar (is this a daily thingy or weekend only?). Checked online and i've got this hotel called Suriwongse in my shortlist.

That's all i've got for now. Normally, I prefer going to islands and spend my days at the beach and snorkel all day long so when it comes to non-beach places, i get stumped! Will appreciate some recommendations ok! :)

Leech-Proof socks

Been raining lately and i've been told to "be prepared to FEED the leeches" in the upcoming outing... . Many said that splattering tiger balm all over the legs helps keep the pests away... i might do just that.. heh

"Leeches have an adverse reaction to the menthol contained in heat rubs and will detach quickly upon contact with the substance"

Neways, I stumbled on to this Leech-Proof Socks which are available in Borneo/East Malaysia but can't say that i've seen them around here. Where can i get this here eh????

Naked toe

On a thoroughly disgusting news, my right toenail just came right off today!!! euw! I guess i spoke too soon when i said "at least the toenails didn't fall right off" two posts below (Bukit Tabur climb).

Good thing it's not painful as i imagine it would be. Just that my right toe now feels really naked!! Too gross for pics so i won't post any :P

Fallout 3

omg, it's happening!!! Fallout 3 is set to be released in fall 2008!! To those who are not familiar with Fallout, the game is one of the best RPG of all time!! Set in a postapocalyptic era :) And the image above is the cover of GameInformer magazine - World Exclusive of Fallout 3!

"When we announced that Fallout 3 was on the cover of Game Informer Magazine's July Issue, the internets went wild. There's only one person outside of Bethesda that's actually seen the game, and that's Game Informer Magazine's Associate Editor Matt Miller." - GameInformer

haha.. good for them!! That issue is definitely gonna sell!! Though, I'll probably go to the bookstore and do some free reading... kekeke

Wow, seriously, i lost hope when Black Isle closed its door and the original developers dispersed. Then Interplay wouldn't sell the rights to other game developers and yadda yadda... all that drama and finally(!!) Bethesda Softworks is picking up the much anticipated classic. yay!!

I just downloaded the new teaser they released a couple of days ago. It's a short clip with the narrator going "War. War never changes.." Wow, gave me the chills.. haha

Wonder how much improvement i'm gonna see in Fallout 3. After all, the gap with Fallout 2 is like... what.. a DECADE!! gosh, that game is too funny. I love the snarky comments and smart-ass dialogues. Hilarious!! hmm, all these talk made me feel like revisiting it. Mebbe i'll go dig the game out and play! :)

Bukit Tabur climb

According to NST, Bukit Tabur / Klang Gates Ridge is the world's longest quart ridge! Surprising huh, not many have even heard of Bukit Tabur when i mentioned it.

Newayz, I went there for a climb and photo shooting yesterday. As usual, it was a last minute thingy. Had 4 plus hours of sleep and woke up at an ungodly hour of 6.30am and gathered at 8am in Melawati. By the time we reached the starting point, it was 9am.

I was actually told to carry at least 1.5L of water and i thought what the heck, it'll be heavy and i don't really need that much water in 4 hours right?! Man, was i wrong!!

Brought a small 600ml Spritzer mineral water only and i would have finish them all in 1/4 journey if i had enough supply! Had to reserve for the rest of the journey though, so i painstakingly did small sips along the way. In fact, everyone in the group ran out of water by 1/2 or 3/4 of the journey eventhough they brought the big bottle. Felt dehydrated and what motivated us? The thought of getting icy cold SPARKLING RIBENA when we get back to civilization!! kekeke

Going up was steep and then it was up and down from peak to peak along the ridge. Totally enjoyed climbing the quartz rock! The entire journey took longer than expected. Normal hike takes about 3-4 hours and we took 5 hours!! ick!

Why? Well, we stopped for pictures, human traffic jam and a lot of waiting. At one point, we waited for an hour for a few fellas cause one of the girls in the group was afraid of height and took a while to gain confidence and proceed. Glad she made it all the way!

Let's checkout the pics!


Going up


Checkout the long vein of ridge shaped like a backbone there



Hiking along the ridge



Picture taken from another peak. Once reaching the top, most of the trail is like that, you go up a peak, then go down again and up another peak. Footing is far and between here so we gotta use our arms' strength to pull ourselves up with help of the rope.





Again, both shots above were taken from one peak to another. I was like, we're gonna do THAT?! Cool! :D





Klang Gates Dam on the left.



The bunch of blue buildings is UIAM (err.. University Islam ... Malaysia) campus.


KL Tower and Twin Towers seem real tiny from here



Passed an orchard on the way down. Jackfruit trees, durian trees, etc. :)



Like this shot :) I was tempted to go back and strike a post there too but at that time, i've sweat a river and running out of water... so, lazy lah..haha.. i plan to go back there again anyway so maybe next time eh :)



Decided to make this pic smaller coz it's kinda gross... hehehe... As you can see, my toenails are now PURPLE!! :P.. Well, at least they didn't fall right off! :) Also have small blisters on my fourth and fifth toes. Got all these while trekking downhill.


All in all, it was a good experience and i enjoyed shooting along the way! Slept for 4 hours after i came back and drank 3 cans of 100 plus to kill dehydration. More pics on the private web album, lemme know if you want the link :)

Sungai Klah Hot Spring

Went to Sg. Klah's Hot Spring after white water rafting last week. Forgot to include the pictures earlier on. Found our way there thanks to the GPS. It's about 30km from the rafting place so we stopped by to checkout the place since we were in the area.

The place is very commercialised with a lot of tour buses that weekend. Entrance fee is RM5.


Hot spring pool.. some say it's good for the blood circulation... didn't bring extra clothes so we just soak our feet here. Temperature is probably about 30-40C... Felt the water was too hot at first but after a few dips, we got use to it :)



Source of the hot spring. Water temperature here ranges from 70-102C.



Walk on the pebbles (with shallow hot spring water) and get a good foot massage!! Had fun here! It was painful and hot at first but turned out to be quite nice after a while. :)



Bought a few raw eggs (with free soya sauce.. keke) from a stall and boiled them here.



Boiled eggs from hot spring. yummy!

White Water Rafting @ Slim River

Went for another grRRrEAT white water rafting trip again last weekend! Let's do the commentary with pics! :)


At the base camp, comtemplating if i should bring my DSLR along. Asked the guide and he said better not, but compact camera is fine. So one of us brought a compact and we managed to get some really cool white water rafting pics! :)



Hot spring just beside the basecamp. Can feel the heat from where we were standing. Throw a squawking chicken inside and you'll get a boiled chic!!



The escaped convicts!! lol
Okay, this is actually our ride from base camp to the starting point. Journey took about 20 minutes on a VERY bumpy offroad trail. We were supposed to be on 4WD but ended up in this since there were 9 of us, plus 4 others from a different group :P



Group photo at the first rapid! They call it "Celik-Mata Rapid" (An Eye-Blink Rapid) cause you'll encounter this rapid immediately at the starting point! Awesome! :D



Oh nooOOo, we're gonna hit the rocks!!! They said this is an 8ft drop! Didn't look like it but if it's about the raft size (which is HUGE!), i guess it's about there.



Of course we didn't hit the rocks but instead they maneuvered the raft and made it stuck there for a few seconds for them to take pics for us! Cool stuff!



All smiles as the gang on the other raft survived the rapid too.



At the end point.. No, we didn't want to leave!!


All in all, it was an AWWWESOME trip! This 6km river ride has 24 rapids as opposed to my last rafting trip at Kampar River, which has about 9 rapids only. They said this river is more 'technical' as it is narrow, but it makes the entire ride more fun cause we had to squeeze everyone to put our weight to the right/left side. This will lift up one side of the raft and keep the raft a little slanted to go through those narrow rapids.

None of us fell off the raft at the 8ft rapid maybe because we were prepared, but at some point along the 24 rapids, 4 from our group fell overboard!! hahaha.. 2 from my raft and 2 from the other raft.

I now have another layer of tan(!!!) and a Certificate of Bravery to add to my collection. SOoOO glad one of us brought a compact camera this time! Had so much fun going through the pics!! :D

Payar Island

So i had a long weekend holiday last week and i was in the mood for an island getaway. Alas, the east coast islands were all booked out and my attempt at a last minute reservation was futile. hmphh... Searched around for other islands and found one called Pulau Payar which is accessible from Penang (2 hrs by ferry) and Langkawi (45 mins by ferry). It's actually a marine park so there's no chalet for overnight stay. Day trip is all you can do at Payar. The ferry will drop you on "the 1st and only Coral Reef Platform in Malaysia" - yeah, that's what the brochure says :P.

It was a great getaway eventhough the water is nowhere near Redang's standard. Put on my snorkel and fins and the next thing i know, i'm swimming with the fishes! What fun!! Totally thrilled when a HUGE barracuda swam silently past me. Was I not told in advance that i'll be seeing such huge creature there, i'll probably freaked out!! haha... Also saw baby sharks and Nemo's nest and lots and lots of fish. :)

Came back with a tan and a Patch Adam's nose which lasted for days. I went to the island on Monday and when i get back to work on Wednesday, the tip of my nose is still red!!

Okaydoks, enough gabbing now... let's see the pics! :)





The beach! The guy was shooting on his videocam at the side and I gave up waiting for him to move himself and his ugly shirt from my picture and decided to crop it out instead - um, which i'm lazy to do now.. so there!:P



View of the beach from Reef Platform



We swam to the beach from the Reef Platform! :)



Or be transported to the beach on this! That's the Reef Platform in the background.



The sun deck



Baby shark!



Lotsa fish!

GPS Navigator

Was using my GPS navigator to route me around Penang. No need to ask for direction! :)


The setup in my car



While driving north to Penang, noticed this place on the map in Bidor - Pun Chun Restaurant, which is said to be famous for their Chicken Biscuit and Herbal Duck Noodle Soup. Made a detour and tried it. Okay ler, not bad... but not THAT great either, IMO :)



Air Itam Laksa... yep, this hawker stall is found on the map too..kekeke... again, just so-so for me.