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1.9.07

Berkelah Waterfall

As promise, I will make my blog entries as interesting as possible. So what better way to start than an entry about my recent trip to Berkelah Waterfall in Pahang, Malaysia?

Entrance at the start of the trek

It has been years since I went for a overseas trek/hike/cycling trip (last went in '03 to Pengarang ,Johor, for a cycling trip) and this time round this trip was really an impromptu decision by me to join a couple of friends that I made during NUS Rovers camp (shall blog about that in future) for their trip. Strictly speaking, I was more of "crash" their trip then "join" as I only know 2 out of the whole group. But anyway I never regret my decision.

A short background to Berkelah Waterfall. Situated in Pahang state of Malaysia, its a common trekking destination for many Singaporeans and their locals alike. To reach there, first of all is a good 6-7(say:looong) hours bus ride from Singapore to Kuantan, the main city of Pahang followed by a 45mins taxi ride to the start of the trekking route. Following which will be a trek of about a couple of hours across 2 main kinds of terrain (forest and rocks) before reaching the main waterfall.

Berkelah Waterfall

I shall now cover some highlights of the trip.

Dunkin' Doughnuts
Being typical Singaporeans, we bring out culture to everywhere we go. And this time round, we brought our doughnuts craze right across the crossway to this Dunkin' Doughnut shop at Larkin terminal in JB. In short, we kind of "storm" that little shop for doughnuts upon reaching Larkin. (Wonder what the locals are thinking. I guess its the feeling we get when we see Caucasian going goo goo over chicken rice) But sadly, those doughnut aren't exactly worth "storming" for. Well maybe its becasue I didn't try the more exotic flavors and opted for the more common chocolate icing kind.

Long and Boring Bus Ride
6-7 hours! We talked, ate, slept, woke, talked again, slept again (didn't eat again cause we ran out of food*hungry*) and we still aren't there yet! But lucikly along the way we saw some interesting sights like cattle lining the road as we proceeded further up north to the more rural areas of the country and the bus uncle trying to over take those super long lorries on the expressway to the tune of our cover of Jay Chou's "der piao der piao..."

Abu the Taxi Uncle

Once we reach Kuantan we switch to a taxi and luckily for me I got to sit in the "legendary" taxi uncle call Abu taxi. Legendary? Well cause he is like the only taxi uncle in Kuatan that speaks English and according to Geraldine, he is like the big boss of all the taxi drivers there. Talking about status, he got the newest and biggest taxi of them all *haha*. (Well actaully its nothing impressive. Its just a new Proton, but is all about relativity. The rest of the taxis there are er... literally falling into bits. My return trip taxi got a leaking air con, faulty speedometer, sticky sofa, hole at the floor of the taxi etc.) To add to that, Abu actually keeps a visitor book! Its more of a exercise book but inside it contain all the well wishes of passengers that he have driven over his close to 20 years of driving. You have comments from tourists ranging from US to South America to Europe to New Zealand. Practically world wide! (less Antarctica, though I got the feeling if I look harder I might just find one *hur!*) Anyway, Abu was very proud of his achievements( oh he also have a website set up by one of his Singaporean friends) and I would too if I were him. To bad I didn't have a photo of him. But I manage to have a photo of something cute I found in his taxi.

A gift from his kids. What a happy man~

Taken inside Abu's taxi.
Only understand the "Berkelah". Guess the rest is "That way" ?

And so we eventually we finally reach the start of the trek after close to 10 hours? (Met up at Kahtib MRT at 0730 and reach the entrance like 1730? *grumble*)

Small stream at the entrance of the trek with the backdrop of a setting sun

This post is getting quite long ( literally and in terms of me taking so much time to do it. I still new to blogging remember?) and so i have decided to leave the 2nd portion of the trip to my next entry. Lastly, a group photo of all the nice people I met in the trip.

L-R: Me, Weili, Wei Chuan, John, Geri, June
Missing: Wei Guang (who kindly stayed behind at base camp to watch over our belongings)

SJ blogged at 20:31 0 comments


	Beautiful Day Everyday is a beautiful day Sure, there's ups and downs But, that's what makes it beautiful The Blogger SJ 22 Punggol, Singapore Links NUS ROVERS Sebrina Jiwei Jenny Charlene Weili Nazreen Sam Shi Yao Trekking Posts Berkelah Waterfall 1.1 Aug '07 Berkelah Waterfall 1.2 Aug '07 Gunung Datuk 1 Dec '07 Gunung Datuk 2 Dec '07 Berkelah Waterfall 2 Dec '07 Gunung Datuk 3 Dec '07 Archives September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 Tagbox		1.9.07 Berkelah Waterfall As promise, I will make my blog entries as interesting as possible. So what better way to start than an entry about my recent trip to Berkelah Waterfall in Pahang, Malaysia? Entrance at the start of the trek It has been years since I went for a overseas trek/hike/cycling trip (last went in '03 to Pengarang ,Johor, for a cycling trip) and this time round this trip was really an impromptu decision by me to join a couple of friends that I made during NUS Rovers camp (shall blog about that in future) for their trip. Strictly speaking, I was more of "crash" their trip then "join" as I only know 2 out of the whole group. But anyway I never regret my decision. A short background to Berkelah Waterfall. Situated in Pahang state of Malaysia, its a common trekking destination for many Singaporeans and their locals alike. To reach there, first of all is a good 6-7(say:looong) hours bus ride from Singapore to Kuantan, the main city of Pahang followed by a 45mins taxi ride to the start of the trekking route. Following which will be a trek of about a couple of hours across 2 main kinds of terrain (forest and rocks) before reaching the main waterfall. Berkelah Waterfall I shall now cover some highlights of the trip. Dunkin' Doughnuts Being typical Singaporeans, we bring out culture to everywhere we go. And this time round, we brought our doughnuts craze right across the crossway to this Dunkin' Doughnut shop at Larkin terminal in JB. In short, we kind of "storm" that little shop for doughnuts upon reaching Larkin. (Wonder what the locals are thinking. I guess its the feeling we get when we see Caucasian going goo goo over chicken rice) But sadly, those doughnut aren't exactly worth "storming" for. Well maybe its becasue I didn't try the more exotic flavors and opted for the more common chocolate icing kind. Long and Boring Bus Ride 6-7 hours! We talked, ate, slept, woke, talked again, slept again (didn't eat again cause we ran out of foodhungry) and we still aren't there yet! But lucikly along the way we saw some interesting sights like cattle lining the road as we proceeded further up north to the more rural areas of the country and the bus uncle trying to over take those super long lorries on the expressway to the tune of our cover of Jay Chou's "der piao der piao..." Abu the Taxi Uncle Once we reach Kuantan we switch to a taxi and luckily for me I got to sit in the "legendary" taxi uncle call Abu taxi. Legendary? Well cause he is like the only taxi uncle in Kuatan that speaks English and according to Geraldine, he is like the big boss of all the taxi drivers there. Talking about status, he got the newest and biggest taxi of them all haha. (Well actaully its nothing impressive. Its just a new Proton, but is all about relativity. The rest of the taxis there are er... literally falling into bits. My return trip taxi got a leaking air con, faulty speedometer, sticky sofa, hole at the floor of the taxi etc.) To add to that, Abu actually keeps a visitor book! Its more of a exercise book but inside it contain all the well wishes of passengers that he have driven over his close to 20 years of driving. You have comments from tourists ranging from US to South America to Europe to New Zealand. Practically world wide! (less Antarctica, though I got the feeling if I look harder I might just find one hur!) Anyway, Abu was very proud of his achievements( oh he also have a website set up by one of his Singaporean friends) and I would too if I were him. To bad I didn't have a photo of him. But I manage to have a photo of something cute I found in his taxi. A gift from his kids. What a happy man~ Taken inside Abu's taxi. Only understand the "Berkelah". Guess the rest is "That way" ? And so we eventually we finally reach the start of the trek after close to 10 hours? (Met up at Kahtib MRT at 0730 and reach the entrance like 1730? grumble) Small stream at the entrance of the trek with the backdrop of a setting sun This post is getting quite long ( literally and in terms of me taking so much time to do it. I still new to blogging remember?) and so i have decided to leave the 2nd portion of the trip to my next entry. Lastly, a group photo of all the nice people I met in the trip. L-R: Me, Weili, Wei Chuan, John, Geri, June Missing: Wei Guang (who kindly stayed behind at base camp to watch over our belongings) SJ blogged at 20:31 0 comments Post a Comment