ku sangka 1...rupanya 2...

(kak tek tulih bahasa omputih, ai tulih BM plak..hehehe...)

Well, this is actually something that we (a bunch of colleagues and I) did over last weekend. I signed up for this expedition last 2 months and that is why I missed a wedding. The XPDC was to conquer Gunung Irau (in Brinchang) and Gua Tempurung.

We started from PD on Friday afternoon around 5pm, right from the office. We got stuck at the PLUS highway KL-Damansara stretch during the peak hours and only reached hotel in Brinchang around 12 am. We settled in and grouped back the next day at 8.30 am to start our journey. A bus took us to the 'starting point', and we started walking uphill from there. Some 1.5 hours later we reached the actual 'starting point'. Reason that we were dropped off at the bottom of the hill is because bus could not reach that place. So the flipside of it, we already had our warm up!! And yours truly has already been in and out of breath countless times!! 



me at the back, catching my breath!!

And then, after reaching the real starting point, the guide somehow was explaining a trail that will lead back to the hotel, we were like ??? Aren't we supposed to go all the way up to Gunung Irau? Apparently there has been miscommunication between him and his office about our detail itenary. We decided there and then, that we want to go to Irau, it will be 3 hours climb up and another 3 hours journey back down.

At ~10.00 am we started climbing and stumbled upon few other climbers going down. Around some 30 mins from the peak we were told by the downcoming climbers that Gunung Irau has two peaks!! One is 'baby' Irau and the other one is the real Irau. Both are at the same height. So we got to 'baby' Irau around 12.30pm and took some 30 mins break. We took a vote how many people wanted to proceed to real Irau, and majority were. The catch is we have to go down at certain point and climb up again, for another 40 mins. Some of the guys decided to stay put in 'baby' Irau till we came back and get them. 

muka maintain lagi ni...

all the ladies during the expedition ;)

yeay!!! kami sampai!!



So by 2.30 pm, we reached the real Irau peak!! After having some group photos, we went back to 'baby' Irau to pick up the others and start our journey back. This is when all the leg muscle starts to response, its a bit pain here and there and I was glad that I completed the journey without any drama. My last mountain climbing activites, I have people help me carrying my backpack when we are almost to the peak, or we got lost on the way down. We reached down to starting point at around 5.30pm. This time we were too tired to walk down to the bus pick up point, so we took a ride on local jeep to get down :)

tukang kutip sayur baru nak start shift...

That night, we had a steamboat dinner, walked through Brinchang's night market and retired with very painful muscle joints. The next day, we are up for another adventure, Gua Tempurung.

By bus, we depart from Brinchang at 9.00 am and reached there around 10.00 am. After some briefing, we were guided in at 10.30am. We took the dry and wet route and there were a few points that is quite challenging. 

dengar briefing ke mengendap?? hhmm...



 

Lighting were not so good, but we cavemen manage to look good still :)



There is this one point, they named it 'Top of the World', it a 9m solid rock and we have to slide down. The tricky part is there is certain techniques we have to follow and failing that, you'll risk breaking your leg, scary huh?? but Alhamdulillah , we all managed to go through. Then we are off to the watery part of the cave, we crawl, we slide, we squat, we squeeze in between those wet rocks, we did everything just to get through, and of course, no camera inside. I actually did not brought my camera as in the group, there are lots of pro photographer, we just waited to be shot ;)

At around 1pm we got out and after cleaning ourselves, we head back to PD. Reached PD at 7.00pm with some stops in between. Now my body is still aching, but still bearable, will I go again? Maybe..hehehe...

So in the end we thought we are conquering 1 peak, but turns out we got 2 (yang baby pon kira tau..;p)

Day Trip : Worth It!!

1st July 2010

When we consulted the house admin on how to get to certain places, we found out that we could not go to this one particular place, Cape Point, which I really really really wanted to go. Reason being is that there is no public transport going there and both of us do not have international driving license to hire a car. So she suggested we follow on a day tour. I found out about that in the net but at first I thought it was not worth it. But seeing the difficulties that we faced, I am willing to take the tour.

So we paid R545 for a day tour. The driver pick us up at the house around 0830H and later went on to pick up the rest of the pack. We have with us 2 French ladies, one American guy, 2 Indian guy, 2 more American (a guy with his father..sweet kan? but he's married, - yup, I checked the finger, boleh? hehehe...) 2 German guy, a Korean kid (he's still in uni) and a Columbian lady.

Our tour guide, Alex, is very good, he was willing to answer all kind of question. From him we found out that the train rail to Simons Town are out of order, that is why we could only got to Fish Hoek the other day (even people at the station didn't think to tell us that..)

So off we go to our first destination, Hout Bay with options to go to seal island. Both me and Ija went there already via Blue route yesterday, but we did not go to the seal island. So this time, we did. The boat is big but the waves are more nasty, turbulent waves to get to the island. There were few moments that I thought I would have thrown up. The island is not actually an island. Its just a big rock where most of the seals rested.

We bumped into a group of Indonesian that is being sponsored by Coca Cola to watch the World Cup (they won contest maybe..)

Next to Simons Town to visit the penguins, yay!! But we passed by this cliff with magnificent view and stopped to take some pictures,

Nak amik mcm aida, tapi salah shot..;)

We also passed by this part of the Cape Peninsular, they actually drilled onto the hill to make road. It look pretty scary though..

We finally hit Simons Town, we passed by the stone factory that was once used during Amazin Race Asia (the challenge where they have to find 3 marked stone out of thousands other stones) but we did not stopped there. Simons Town is popular of its Boulder's Beach, that is the place where they keep the African Penguin. The birds on its own will destroy their own food by stamping on it, so the center actually put a fence to new plants and opened parts by parts once the plants are ready to be eaten. (Yes, they ate plants apart from fishes..I just knew it too..) Entrance fee is R35 but included in the tour already.

Last but not least is what I have been waiting for, Cape Point!! We got there around 1330H, just about lunch time. At it is included in the package. We did asked for vege menu, as we are not sure what kind of meat that they have. We combined with another van (same co. tour) and the other driver bought us chicken salami, it was nicely wrapped. I told Ija just take it, sebab orang dah belikan, so just being polite, we took the chicken and later left it at the house pantry.

Entrance fee to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve was R70 but it was paid for (in the package). We were driven to the cable car station going up to the light house. There is also staircase for those who opt to do a 'healthier' way. Me and Ija climbed up with majority of the people. The view from the light house was magnificent!!

Next we cycled from the Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope. It was around half and hour cycle downhill. On the way we bumped into ostrich and baboon. We were told not to stop as babboon can get really nasty. We took more pictures here, more here.

We got home exhausted, like any other day and crash to a really good nite sleep ;)

Candak Sotong Weh!!!

Always wanted to do this since I watched Majalah 3 back in school days. So when my friend Jija offered me to join she and her ex-classmate, I jumped right in ;)

We depart from KL at 10pm on Friday nite. Believe it or not this is my first time taking bus at Hentian Putra (I don't have that many east coast connection). Reach KT around 5 am and Jija's friend, Baya pick us up and we crashed at her place in Hulu Terengganu. Later that day around 3.30 pm, we made a move to Jeti Lembaga Perikanan at Chendering (some 20 minutes away from KT).

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There were 8 of us altogether, another 3 girls were Jija's classmate, and the rest were friend of one of the classmate. Simply put, I went on this adventure with total strangers (apart from Jija)

We depart around 5.00 pm. The boat is quite comfortable, handled by 3 men. It has its own pantry, sleeping place, 2nd tier sleeping place, and a place to do 'small business'. I dare not do 'big business' in the open sea ;p

We heard the pakcik were betting how long can we survived without falling sick. According to the non first timers, last time they went, they threw up almost immediately after the boat moves. This time we took the anti-seasick meds. So we were still smiling and laughing till we reach the target area, some 1.5 hours away from the jetty.

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The pakcik help us all to set up the 'candat' and taught us how to 'candat' sotong (squid fishing). The guys gets the first squid, none of the girls gets any yet, and the skies quickly turned dark.

I was getting seasick, my friend Jija has already vomitted twice. I could not look for fear I will feel sick too.

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One of the pakcik prepared dinner, it was white rice, with kari ayam and fresh fried squid. I took a taste at the squid, but I could not even finish one small pieces. I can feel that it sort of get stuck in my throat. I know that if I continues eating, high chance that I will throw up. With that I did not eat dinner. The rest was happily digging in (except for 2-3 of us). The fresh squid actually tasted sweet, its a pity I could not digest it.

Happy faces gets to eat!!

At close to 10pm, I finally managed to catch my one and only squid!! I caught the medium sized, the other guy gets the biggest. The length is from his hand to this elbow, that long!!

See how big it is? Compare to the ones that we see in the market..

After around 12pm nobody gets any squid anymore, there were few occasion, the squid was eaten by big fish, hence scared the rest of the squid to come nearby us. One of the pakcik suggested we change venue. We move to another area where he sets baits for fish. We ends up getting two big fish.

Me posed with one of the fishes, a haruan tasik, weighted 35 pounds (~15 kg)

It took the pakcik and his friends almost 30 minutes fighting with the fish before we can actually brought it up. That was around 4 am in the morning.

Come 6 am, we were preparing to get back to Jetty, again one of the pakcik (seriously I don't know their name...sorry..) fried us the squid, and this time I can eat it. The plate was swipped clean by us in no time ;)

Hungry people early in the morning....

Group pics as soon as we made on shore safely ;)

As both Jija and I traveled by bus, we could not bring back any bounty. Plus, we have to rush back to KL. The rest went on to Baya's house, and I think they barbecued the squids and fish.

Baya drop us in KT, Jija and I showered backpackers style, at a surau, before we went to Pasar Payang to buy some keropok lekor to bring back. We also sampled some local delicacies, but most of it are too sweet for my taste buds.

I left Terengganu that day with a new adventure, I plan to make a family trip back here again and maybe go for another 'candak sotong' adventure.

This is my favorite picture, taken at almost sunrise, explains one thing the best, Serenity...