Afterwords: It's a tough job uploading this many photos in blogspot... bugger. To the point that I tire of writing about the trip at one go. Words slowly drain out from mini essays to one liners, but the good thing is that my photos are up, at long last, though just some selected ones. Will fill in my thoughts and more words as and when I find time, as well as photos from others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Went for another trip organized by NTU ODAC, this time to Gunung Stong. Apart from her nice name, Stong is also home to Jelawang Falls, arguably the tallest waterfall in Southeast Asia. Gunung means mountain in Malay, as verified by my trusty Malaysian translator, Weiweiwei. So Gunung Stong = Stong Mountain, and it resides within the Dabong Forest Reserve. I did my homework.
~~~~~~~~
Which got me thinking.. maybe this is what Anwar asked his alleged gay partner: “Awak mau pergi ke Gunung Pecah Belakang dengan saya, sayang? … boleh minum dari air terjun saya”
“Do you want to go Brokeback Mountain with me, sweetheart?… can drink from my waterfall”.
~~~~~~~~~
In all, 36 of us travelled, split into 3 groups. Here’s the wise and noble Group 1, which includes a Swedish exchange student and a Princess from Swaziland:
Most of us used the backpacks provided by the school. Ugly shit, but you dun have to bother too much about them getting dirty.. and it works anyway. I affixed a DIY adidas logo on the front flap for easy recognition among all the ugly bags. Hooked up a strap to the cumbersome tarpauline that I was assigned to carry. Smart.
Met the whole lot at the Woodlands Sheng Shiong supermart, the traditional groceries shopping point before most Malaysian trips. The rain dampened our mood somewhat. From there we crossed immigrations, took 170 to Johor Bahru then walked to the nearby train station. First time I’m taking a proper train, the choo choo kind. Omg omg..
First time i see a real train in front of me, like I was living out a scene from Tickets which I caught not too long ago.
Tickets was good.
Voyeurism from outside.
Now this really reminds me of a typical film scene.
The journey took about 11 hours each way.
Our group took Cabin 1 which was at the end of the train. Right beside my bed was this door which you can open and jump straight down onto the tracks and die. Or not die but lay dying among piles of splattered shit and piss coz that's where the toilet waste ends up.
"Keep the door closed". yeah that's right.
Iris and Yanqing at the train cafeteria at the other end.
Weisiong got hooked on their Roti Bakar.
Everyone got excited coz i ordered Tongkat Ali. It's like they were the ones drinking the aphrodisiac instead. It's just milky coffee. And I swear it did nothing to my libido that night.
The empty aisle of our cabin after we finally decided to sleep. We were travelling on sleepers on the ride to Dabong, and sitters on the trip back. We played cards for a while and really made hell of a racket on the train which i felt went kinda overboard. It was a night train afterall and there were people trying to sleep. A pair of chinese teens who got the unfortunate beds next to ours couldn't take it and left for some other cabins. I do feel apologetic. and i lost rm$6 on cards. damn.
No la, only 11 hours. time flies when you're sleeping.
Arrived at around 6.30am
Dabong station is nothing but a small little shelter with some seats. You could have been in some rural outskirts of Mexico and not tell the difference.
Breakfast at the coffeeshop around the corner.
Kelantan is a Malay state in Malaysia. It sounds like i'm stating the dumb obvious but it's not the same as saying Shanghai is a Chinese city in China. Malay state as in it's under some Muslim political party so there are hardly any non-malays there, unlike JB or KL.
Ke Rui, or Princess as she prefers it, literally jumped into the picture. it's her party trick. she is Princess Cam-whore and will attack any cameras that are brandished within her sight. But funnily I hardly took any shots of her. I think she gave up trying to make me shoot her.. now that i think about it, i feel kinda bad..
Exploring the little town as the sky lightens up.
That's Gunung Stong in the misty background.
Wooden boards to close shop like the good old days. The numbers when put together correctly gives you free pizza delivery.
They were looking for coins on the ground to make a phone call back to Singapore.
Johan the Swede talking to Asian midgets.
Johan and his gangly frame. Everybody wanted to play with his...... camera.
While we are still slaving away for our degree and slogging towards that first pay check that will ignite the repaying of numerous study loans, he at 24, have explored more of Asia than most of us Asians did, travelled through US and other countries, and still have enough to fork out for that D80 of his. Such is the difference in society. Oh and he's somewhere alone in Borneo now, prolly diving at Sipadans.
I can't even figure out where Borneo is. Always thought it's some ancient city.
sometimes I get to have my photo taken
We can't sing, we can't dance. We are S Club 7.
The local guides for our trip. Fauzi and Wan?
From the little town, we took mini-bus-like vehicles to the Dabong Nature Reserve which wasn't too far away. But before that, we stopped in the middle of the road, flanked by limestone hills, and went caving.
Briefing and an intro to the area. Starting off with one of our main activity, caving. The area is populated with numerous natural caves.
Descending down the slope towards one of the cave entrance.
This was when I discovered that my camera lens cap was missing. I back-tracked to where we alighted from the van and weisiong offered to help me find it. Failed to see it, but we found something else instead. One of the guide who was near the van asked us if we wanted to see a snake..
Spot the snake..
Wriggling away from us. Nice..
Only me and ws saw the elusive creature. Heaven rewards the helpful and the bloody unlucky, sometimes.
Entering the first of the three caves that we explored.
The guide examining the interiors. It was a long wait as we proceeded in and we later understood why. The mouth of the cave was pretty cramped, sometimes having space for only one or two person and at times we had to walk bending down. A couple of disturbed bats were flying around as well.
Slightly further in, we saw the bottleneck. At the start when the guide told us to prepare to get wet, I thought we'd perhaps be wading through tiny streams or there may be water dripping from ceilings. Then in front of us, there was nothing but a tiny hole which I suppose was created by the running stream over the years. In order to progress on, we had to crawl through it flat down and half submerged in muddy water.
Damn.. didn't know i'll get so wet this early in the trip without even seeing a waterfall. Interesting caving indeed.. Definitely beats the previous Krabi experience, where caving meant that our longtail boat stops for two minutes outside some birdnest caves before hurrying off.
Posing in the more spacious part of the cave.
I didn't take much photos during caving. Pretty aversed to taking photos in the dark, since they turn out awfully bad most of the time.
The rock formation at the center is supposed to resemble a Kris, the traditional malay dagger, hence the name, Kris Cave. Bad angle that I took it from though, can't really make out the shape.
Natural soil formation and natural round pebbles in the natural limestone caves with natural shiny material in the natural rocks.
The Goddess of Mercy resides in the Dabong caves and helps people with constipation.
I couldn't let the rare bit of sunlight in the cave go to waste.
The last cave that we visited had a large rock (All natural of course) which resembles an elephant's head, tusk and body and have nothing to do with this photo. It's just Weisiong posing as instructed.
sneaking out of the caves.
Somehow everytime we see water we rush to it like some drought victims. wash hand, wash leg, look at it, splatter around. Yes, water turns us on.
One of the 3 little vehicles that drove us about. A dozen people, a dozen bags and a couple guides in each vehicle. Somehow we managed.
We like to see things that we can't usually see in urban Singapore. Cows taking a walk, roosters and little chicks checking out the rubbish on the floor, little streams along the way. Anything that moves, we shoot.
Check out the rubber shoes.. Kampong Adidas Spring Collection '07 - Rubber is Cheap - Only 4 Ringgit. Available at all leading mamak shops near you. But seriously the shoes are good for trekking.. should get a pair of those myself.
Cheery faces before the ascent. This is at the foot of the mountain. To get there, we had to first go through the official entrance of the Dabong Nature Reserve which houses some wooden 'resorts'. But why stay there when you can camp out at the base camp, beside the glorious waterfalls...?
I dun really know the people from other groups since we didn't talk much. Got too carried away with our Group 1 team bonding perhaps. But that girl in white is a little crazy. very garang..
Steps that lead to no where. Someone's idea of a joke. Reminds me of one of the Enid Blyton children book series, about the tree that leads to the clouds and habitated by Moonface and other weirdos who likes to eat toffees.
Already at Part 2 and I haven't even reach the base camp. I must learn to be brief and succinct. And Blogspot is sucha bitch at uploading photos.
Reached the first falls enroute to base camp. had to climb a thousand stairs before we start trekking.
Jealous lover found her partner taking photo with pageant contestant and ran amok.
Nice view already
Alvin packing up the remnants of Iris' bag. She was having problems with her back so the guys in our groups split up her load, kind hearted souls we are.
Bandanna girl and friend. No I still dunno their names.
Ws and Earnest. On trial for Dabong Football Club.
After around 2 hours, we reached our base camp, Baha's Camp.
The local guides live here, in wooden huts, in the embrace of nature. They lug whatever necessities they need up the mountain a couple times a week. The base camp actually leads not only to the summit of Gunung Stong, but also to a few other peaks such as Gunung Ayam and.. Gunung whatever..
Finally we reached the viewing gallery.. nice.. damn nice.
Gravity proved too strong for Alda and she tumbles over the cliff but luckily my camera managed to capture the moment.
Alvin, who was nearer, took a photo before helping her up.
Love...
Quickly take more photos before the other groups arrive
The walking advertisement for X-Physique.
Johan is a brave man. If i'm that tall I'll think twice about standing there like that.. it's really a long way down.
real clouds
I think this is really funnie.
And this has got to be the highlight of the trip.. Sliding down from the waterfalls a few storeys high.. awesome. and the speed at which you slide down was a bit scary.
This is what we did..
This is how the guides did it.. bloody cool.
pitching our tents.. couldn't figure out how to set up the rain cover. Never never throw away the instruction manuals.
Dinner time.. cooked pasta with some sausages and stuff.. pretty nice, but sadly it's nothing much compared to what other groups cooked. teriyaki chicken? .. sinful.
Happy faces. camping and outdoor cooking beside gushes of waterfalls.. blissful .. till you feel like shitting.
Oh Brilliant Shit. Left mastereye. Right masterhand, in more than one way. Canon S2 IS, UV filter and polarizer. Some old batteries. Distracted undergrad. Perpetually penniless. Let's see where we can go, or shoot.
