Life's Beautiful~Embrace It

8.1.08

Berkelah 2

Back from my Rovers com trip to KL! Eh not too bad a trip actually but maybe I have been running around too much this holidays and hence fatigue is finally setting in. Anyway lead my Rovers Berkelah Trip up 2 weeks ago and here is the entry: (A bit lagging behind though)

Went for 4 trek + 1 recce this holidays. Suppose to have another recce to Berkelah but the flood was so bad that the 2 main expressway leading to Kuantan was closed. Luckily for us, one of them was reopened just the day before the actual trek was suppose to take place. A bit of a nail biting episode as we kept calling the terminal to get the green light for the bus.

Nevertheless, it was a successful trip with a lot of fun participants ( can't be help that more then 3/4 was from this year Rovers FOC Juntos haha ) a capable fellow trip IC haha (p.s. you know who you are). Although this is the 2nd time up Berkelah (first time was with geri and friends during August) , I must say its like a totally new trek for me because of the drastic increase in water level due to heavy rainfall.

One portion of the road that fall victim to the rain. Used to be able to take the taxi right up to the base of the trek. Now have to walk about 45mins before reaching the starting point (Pic courtesy of carrotcak)

Went shopping with my com for "happy" food at Causeway and after the not-so-good experience with food up at Gunung Datuk, we are definitely going to be more prepared this time round. Introducing *drum roll* nata de co co, chocolate fondue, peanut soup, chunky, pancakes, mee goreng, french toast, eggs, luncheon meat and a whole list of their "happy" friends.

Homely fried egg with luncheon meat

French Toast

Sausage and pepper

Mee goreng with luncheon meat

Omelet

Choc fondue

Met the participants early with the intention to go over to JB for dinner but sort of mis timed the timing. End up had a lot of rubber time hanging around and slacking away. Point noted: Not a good idea to meet for dinner if the bus is 2359. Anyway had dinner at Kenny Rogers. Not spectacular but still not bad and its 1/2 price! haha but then again was a bit stunned when they charged us RM 50sen for a glass of ice water. Point noted no. 2 : Ice water in Malaysia are not free.

Kenny Rogers

Took the Transnational coach from Larkin and I must say that its looks new and comfortable ~ ( I take back my like for the bus later on). Quite an event night on the bus as I was sitting right behind the driver and manage to catch all the action. Over taking at 130km/h without signalling and tail gating at the same neck breaking speed. The bus ride ended in quite a drama fashion with our "new" bus breaking down about 20 mins from Kuantan. Imagine trapped in the middle of the dark expressway ( there is no such thing call road lights ) and raining cats and dogs outside. To makes things worst, I want to pee! cause throughout the whole night the bus didn't stop for any toilet breaks. At one point was really contemplating whether to go into the bushes to do it. =X

Trap in the middle of the road in total darkness

Met Abu aka the mafia boss of the taxis in after fianlly reaching Kuantan (waited for 1/2 hour for a backup bus. Luckily we are only 20mins away from the main ternimal) and almost couldn't recognise him. Think from the last time I saw him till now he must have gain at least another 10 inches round the waist. Must be earning good money $$. Anyway he later brought us to a coffee shop that serve roti chanai aka roti prata in Singapore terms. Notice a unique way of them taking orders. Say we order say 2 plain 1 egg, and instead of putting them all in the same plate, they are separated into 3 plates and served. Didn't make sense to me till the end when I realise that they billed according to the number of plates on the table. (Sounds similar to Sakae Sushi =P )

I ate all these by myself =) seems a lot right? but its only 2 plain and 1 egg

Differences between by my first and second Berkelah experince.

Same spiderman-ly trek up to the main waterfall. But this time round a bit more scary for the faint hearted cause the what use to be a fast stream beside the route we took become a raging rapid. I hate to imagine anyone dropping into it =X The route is more challenging too cause due to the rain and stuff there hasn't been trekkers up there for sometime and hence there was alot of overgrown that cut us like free.

Doing a whoosh before the start of trek

On top of that, what use to be a simple rock hopping, 2 minutes , wade across stream to our campsite became a challenging river crossing operation that took use about 15 mins to get everyone across. From calf level, the water has now increase to waist level and it didn't help when we totally can't see the bed of the river. In the end the guys formed a human chain to support the ladies across. Totally never expect this out of a 2 star armature Berkelah trek. BUT saying that, I must emphasize that it is still dam* fun haha. Come on~ its in the spirit of friendship and adventure ya?

Some pictures to help in appreciating the sheer size of the river/stream or rapid whatever you call them

River crossing on the first day

River crossing on the second day when the water level has subsided significantly

The view however was much more magnificent this time round. When I was there in August, the first waterfall was hardly in existence due to low water level. But because of the raging water, we couldn't venture to the pool right smack beneath the main waterfall without risking being sweep away by the strong current. We found an alternative site to view the main waterfall and I must say its a better site to photograph the entire fall with its raging beauty. There's also a fast flowing stream there and we manage to try out a revised version of jacuzzi in the icy cold water. Haha not very comfortable though with the bone biting cold water and jagged stone to sit on. But super refreshing and almost got my pants swept away under the strong current =P

Stream beside our campsite back in August

Same spot where the previous photo was taken this time round

The first waterfall

Group shot

Nature's Jacuzzi

Berkelah's main waterfall

I got to know my camera better and was able to take a few more better shots compared to previous treks.

A few of the marco shots I took. Beginning to take a bit of interest into photography after all the treks haha =)

两只蝴蝶

Take 2 glowing splint, rub them together and switch on the camera's night mode

Finally how can Berkelah end off without A&W? I admit its over rated but then again the root beer + float and fries make up for the hard and dry chicken patty in my chicken burger =)

Root beer float!

Berkelah is always a fun trek to go due to the the endless water supply and bath/water playing points along the way. Sadly the current campsite which we uses are too littered and is showing signs of soil erosion. Luckily I already have another alternative campsite in mind and I'm not revealing it as yet =P

NUS Rovers: Berkelah Waterfall December 2007

SJ blogged at 14:59 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		8.1.08 Berkelah 2 Back from my Rovers com trip to KL! Eh not too bad a trip actually but maybe I have been running around too much this holidays and hence fatigue is finally setting in. Anyway lead my Rovers Berkelah Trip up 2 weeks ago and here is the entry: (A bit lagging behind though) Went for 4 trek + 1 recce this holidays. Suppose to have another recce to Berkelah but the flood was so bad that the 2 main expressway leading to Kuantan was closed. Luckily for us, one of them was reopened just the day before the actual trek was suppose to take place. A bit of a nail biting episode as we kept calling the terminal to get the green light for the bus. Nevertheless, it was a successful trip with a lot of fun participants ( can't be help that more then 3/4 was from this year Rovers FOC Juntos haha ) a capable fellow trip IC haha (p.s. you know who you are). Although this is the 2nd time up Berkelah (first time was with geri and friends during August) , I must say its like a totally new trek for me because of the drastic increase in water level due to heavy rainfall. One portion of the road that fall victim to the rain. Used to be able to take the taxi right up to the base of the trek. Now have to walk about 45mins before reaching the starting point (Pic courtesy of carrotcak) Went shopping with my com for "happy" food at Causeway and after the not-so-good experience with food up at Gunung Datuk, we are definitely going to be more prepared this time round. Introducing drum roll nata de co co, chocolate fondue, peanut soup, chunky, pancakes, mee goreng, french toast, eggs, luncheon meat and a whole list of their "happy" friends. Homely fried egg with luncheon meat French Toast Sausage and pepper Mee goreng with luncheon meat Omelet Choc fondue Met the participants early with the intention to go over to JB for dinner but sort of mis timed the timing. End up had a lot of rubber time hanging around and slacking away. Point noted: Not a good idea to meet for dinner if the bus is 2359. Anyway had dinner at Kenny Rogers. Not spectacular but still not bad and its 1/2 price! haha but then again was a bit stunned when they charged us RM 50sen for a glass of ice water. Point noted no. 2 : Ice water in Malaysia are not free. Kenny Rogers Took the Transnational coach from Larkin and I must say that its looks new and comfortable ~ ( I take back my like for the bus later on). Quite an event night on the bus as I was sitting right behind the driver and manage to catch all the action. Over taking at 130km/h without signalling and tail gating at the same neck breaking speed. The bus ride ended in quite a drama fashion with our "new" bus breaking down about 20 mins from Kuantan. Imagine trapped in the middle of the dark expressway ( there is no such thing call road lights ) and raining cats and dogs outside. To makes things worst, I want to pee! cause throughout the whole night the bus didn't stop for any toilet breaks. At one point was really contemplating whether to go into the bushes to do it. =X Trap in the middle of the road in total darkness Met Abu aka the mafia boss of the taxis in after fianlly reaching Kuantan (waited for 1/2 hour for a backup bus. Luckily we are only 20mins away from the main ternimal) and almost couldn't recognise him. Think from the last time I saw him till now he must have gain at least another 10 inches round the waist. Must be earning good money $$. Anyway he later brought us to a coffee shop that serve roti chanai aka roti prata in Singapore terms. Notice a unique way of them taking orders. Say we order say 2 plain 1 egg, and instead of putting them all in the same plate, they are separated into 3 plates and served. Didn't make sense to me till the end when I realise that they billed according to the number of plates on the table. (Sounds similar to Sakae Sushi =P ) I ate all these by myself =) seems a lot right? but its only 2 plain and 1 egg Differences between by my first and second Berkelah experince. Same spiderman-ly trek up to the main waterfall. But this time round a bit more scary for the faint hearted cause the what use to be a fast stream beside the route we took become a raging rapid. I hate to imagine anyone dropping into it =X The route is more challenging too cause due to the rain and stuff there hasn't been trekkers up there for sometime and hence there was alot of overgrown that cut us like free. Doing a whoosh before the start of trek On top of that, what use to be a simple rock hopping, 2 minutes , wade across stream to our campsite became a challenging river crossing operation that took use about 15 mins to get everyone across. From calf level, the water has now increase to waist level and it didn't help when we totally can't see the bed of the river. In the end the guys formed a human chain to support the ladies across. Totally never expect this out of a 2 star armature Berkelah trek. BUT saying that, I must emphasize that it is still dam* fun haha. Come on~ its in the spirit of friendship and adventure ya? Some pictures to help in appreciating the sheer size of the river/stream or rapid whatever you call them River crossing on the first day River crossing on the second day when the water level has subsided significantly The view however was much more magnificent this time round. When I was there in August, the first waterfall was hardly in existence due to low water level. But because of the raging water, we couldn't venture to the pool right smack beneath the main waterfall without risking being sweep away by the strong current. We found an alternative site to view the main waterfall and I must say its a better site to photograph the entire fall with its raging beauty. There's also a fast flowing stream there and we manage to try out a revised version of jacuzzi in the icy cold water. Haha not very comfortable though with the bone biting cold water and jagged stone to sit on. But super refreshing and almost got my pants swept away under the strong current =P Stream beside our campsite back in August Same spot where the previous photo was taken this time round The first waterfall Group shot Nature's Jacuzzi Berkelah's main waterfall I got to know my camera better and was able to take a few more better shots compared to previous treks. A few of the marco shots I took. Beginning to take a bit of interest into photography after all the treks haha =) 两只蝴蝶 Take 2 glowing splint, rub them together and switch on the camera's night mode Finally how can Berkelah end off without A&W? I admit its over rated but then again the root beer + float and fries make up for the hard and dry chicken patty in my chicken burger =) Root beer float! Berkelah is always a fun trek to go due to the the endless water supply and bath/water playing points along the way. Sadly the current campsite which we uses are too littered and is showing signs of soil erosion. Luckily I already have another alternative campsite in mind and I'm not revealing it as yet =P NUS Rovers: Berkelah Waterfall December 2007 SJ blogged at 14:59 0 comments Post a Comment