Tabur Extreme

I heard a lot about Tabur Extreme but somehow I really had no idea on how to get there until I met a hiking friend at the peak of Tabur East.  She was excited about the idea and had the trip arranged.  Unfortunately, she couldn't join us on that day.  The entrance is located deep inside after exiting at the entrance of Zoo Negara, I think it's about 5 km.

We started off at about 8am and completed the hiking about 4 hours later.  My verdict is the place is nothing to shout about, Tabur Extreme/Tabur 3 offers scenery that is similar to Tabur West and East.  There was nothing extreme about the except perhaps it's less hiked.  The treks were not clear as the place and someone in the group had to use 'parang' to clear the treks. 

Ar the peak, I could see the peaks of West Tabur and East Tabur.

Enjoy the pictures.

MSN Swimming Pool - Shah Alam

I was so happy when I found out that MSN Swimming Pool Shah Alam has completed the repair works on their swimming pool.  It's now open again for the public.  I am planning to go there again with my son this week.

Perhaps the rates stated in the picture is outdated.  I will snap picture of the the swimming pool and their new rates when I go there again. 

Tanjung Tuan Forest Reserve

I've been to this place and it was for raptor watch last year.  I was here again during the long weekend  break for camping and jungle trekking.  Before leaving, I checked the PLUSTrafik Update and found out that the traffic was slow moving on PLUS highway to Seremban and I decided to drive here using the old road instead, passing through Bandar Enstek and Sepang.  I enjoyed the road trip!

We were on the west coast of Malaysia but we couldn't see the sunset as this place was located in a bay area facing the east side.  Nevertheless, the weather was good and I enjoyed the sunrise instead. 

This campsite was well maintained and it has the basic facilities including gazebos, toilet and kitchen.  However, we have to inform the management if we want to use these facilities.  I didn't inform them and in fact I entered the area without registering.  As for fresh water, there's a well that supplies clean fresh water.  It was so clean, we can drink the water straight.  I didn't dare to try though.  

I was here for one night only. I could hardly sleep as it was warm inside the tent.  It was cool outside the tent but then there were a lot of mosquitoes and sand flies.  

After breakfast of scrambled egg and sausage, we packed our things and put them in the tent before starting our jungle trekking.  The trek was right at the end of the campsite, near the well.  The trek led us to the Tanjung Tuan Light House and it took us about 20 minutes.  We stayed there for a few minutes before heading to Pulau Intan.  

The above picture was taken near Pulau Intan and apparently this was one of the areas where it's not muddy.  I should've taken a dip here instead.  We met a few campers here and apparently they brought in their fresh water from outside.  It was a nice spot but I prefer the proper campsite with fresh water supply. 

Upon reaching the campsite, we took a dip into the sea, it was a short one as it was muddy and I felt so 'geli' and not comfortable stepping on mud.  After a shower from the well, we left by using the trek along the beach.  It was another experience by itself and this route is only accessible during low tide. By the time we reached the parking lot, it was past noon and it was rally time for lunch.

I enjoyed this trip as though I was here for the first time and I'll come back here again and again. 

Swimming - Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan

Jan 23 (Mon)
It was the first day of Chinese New Year and my back was still in pain.  Carrying my son on my back crossing the river at Sungei Chilling had its toll on me.  I was walking like a robot and could hardly walk straight.  I did my physio work-outs (perhaps I should blog about it too) to alleviate the pain.  It helped a lot as I always did whenever the back pain relapsed. 

I wanted to go swimming as that's the only exercise that I could do in that situation and also it could help further to strengthen my back.  However, the swimming pools were mostly close on Monday for maintenance.

Jan 24 (Tue)
Today, the swimming pool was open.

There are only two public swimming pools in Shah Alam.  I go to both of them; Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan (PADE) and MSN Swimming Pool. 

I am only good at breaststroke and I normally do 20 laps in the pool.  I learned to do freestyle but I could never get my feet coordinated.

These days, I go to the pool with my youngest son as I want him to learn swimming and it's for him not to be scared of water.  

However, as I wanted to focus on my swimming and to do 20 laps non-stop I went to PADE alone.

Yup! I did my 20 laps non-stop.  My twitter friend didn't believe that I did that.  My comment was in actual fact, with the right technique, swimming is slightly more tiring than brisk walking!

The operation hours of the pool and it's closed on Monday.

There are four pools in this swimming complex; two outdoor pools (Olympic sized pool and wading pool for children) and two indoor pools (Olympic sized pool and diving pool).  As I was here alone, I opted for the indoor pool.

As for the ticket price, weekends and Public Holidays - RM3.50 for Adult (indoor), Tue - Fri (RM3.00).  Outdoor Pool - RM2.50 (weekends and Public Holiday) and RM2.00 (Tue - Fri).  The ticket counter can also be contacted at 03-5511 1648. 

The toilet facilities used to be very dirty and it was okay now and when it comes to cleanliness I'd rate it as 2.5/5. 

Happy Swimming!

Sg. Chilling Campsite

I haven't been updating this blog for ages.  Somehow the urge to update it hasn't been there.  I still do a lot of hiking activities.  However, there was a long pause during the last monsoon season. 

Just to show that that I still do the hiking activities, I have just been to Sg. Chilling Campsite over the last weekend.  Below is my diary!

Jan 21 (Sat)
It was a busy day for me and I had to say 'No' to a breakfast invitation by a friend.  A plumber was coming to the house and I had to send my wife's car for repair.  By the time, everything was done, it was already 3.00pm.  And I had to rush for last minute grocery shopping before having my lunch and doing my last minute packing.

There were four of us in this trip, my two sons and my elder's son's friend.  We left at about 4pm and it was a mistake! The road was jammed from Sungei Buloh Hospital all the way to the exit of Bukit Beruntung.  My only worry was I didn't want to reach the campsite when it was dark.

We had our dinner at about 8pm and dinner was roast chicken sandwich.  We decided to retire early and it was a good decision and it started to rain at about 10.30pm. It was a heavy rain and it continued for about one hour.  And it rained again the next morning.

Jan 22 (Sun)
We started trekking to the waterfall after having breakfast of scrambled egg, sausage and hot milo.  Due to the heavy rain, the trek became more like small stream.  And I could see that that the water level was high and the current was strong.  Nevertheless, I wanted to give it a go. 

We did the first crossing without any problem at all.  And my eldest son lost one of his slippers in the strong current.  It reminded me of the same incident happened to a friend in my previous trip.  As for my youngest son, I had to carry him on my back to cross the river. 

When we reached the second crossing, a group of 8 trekkers who were ahead of us were struggling to cross by putting up a bamboo across the river.  It helped us as well but I could really feel that the current was strong and a slip could just end up being swept by the current.

I decided not to proceed and turned back as it was too risky to take my children along.  We decided to have fun in the water at the campsite instead.  For my children, they enjoyed themselves there.  That was the important thing.

It was a good trip nonetheless.  We enjoyed the camping despite the heavy rain.  As for me, I had the excuse of not worrying about diet and had those camping foods!

I'll go there again later on this year definitely.

Sungai Chiling - Before Ramadan

Two days before Ramadan, I went to Sg Chiling with a friend and we planned to explore the second and third level waterfalls.   All the while when I went there, we never explored the other levels.  I know that people can go up to the other levels as I saw them up at the second level at one time.  At the last crossing, we didn't cross, instead we hiked up following established trek until we reached the second level.  It was very high and I guessed that the water was deep too.  I don't think people can swim here unless Via Ferrata team of Mount Kinabalu do something about it!  Standing at the edge made feel aerophobic!

After a few snaps on the camera, we went up further to the third level.  Wow, it's just as beautiful. It was raining when we reached here and we took refuge under the trees and at higher ground too.  I have read and seen video of 'ibu air' and I didn't want to take the risk. 

There was another level, a smaller one but it was inaccessible.  We decided to take a dip once the rain stopped.  The water didn't look clear enough that day as the water level was very low.  Nevertheless, it didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves far from people at level 1. 

We left Sg Chiling at about 1pm and on the way back we treated ourselves to a 'durian feast' at Kg. Rasa.  We paid RM7.50 each for the feast of 101 and 'udang merah'.  It was a steal as compared to the price in KL.  We ended the day with the expensive banana leaf rice at Raju's.  Salam Ramadan to all!

Mount Marapi

Gunung Merapi or Marapi is located in Bukittinggi, Padang, Indonesia.  It's an active volcanic mountain and it normally takes about 6 hours to scale to the peak.  It's 2,891m above sea level, therefore the temperature at the peak can be chilly to most people.   It's advisable to wear three layer of clothes with thick windbreaker. 

There were seven of us, 4 guys and 3 ladies and I really looked forward to this trip as this is my first oversea hiking trip.  I have been to other parts of Indonesia but it was never for hiking.  We arrived at Minangkabau International Airport at about 8.30am after an hour flight.  Our tour agent was there waiting for us outside the arrival hall and after short pleasantries,we were taken in a van to Bukittinggi.  It's 4 hours drive from the airport.  Along the way, we stopped for for breakfast, lunch, sightseeing sthat included Rumah Gadang. 

We started hiking at about 11.20pm, local time (past midnight Malaysian time). I was really excited as it was also the first time that I hike at night.  I enjoyed it immensely.    I hiked at night before but it wasn't a complete hiking trip from the base to the peak in one day.  There was night hiking from Laban Rata to Low's Peak in Mount Kinabalu and there was also a trip in Nuang to go to campsite, Kem Lolo.  I find hiking at night as fun and very effective as we are not distracted by the surroundings and no stops for pictures.  After 5 hours of hiking, we reached the last checkpoint called Chadas and we stopped for coffee before continuing with the final push to the peak.  

We were told that it'd take another hour to reach the peak and it turned out it took more than that.  It took us one and a half hours instead.  When we reached the peak, there were already about 10 people there waiting for the sunrise.  It was an awesome feeling upon reaching the peak as the hiking wasn't easy.  The peak was covered with dried volcanic ashes and soil.  It was dusty too as the morning breeze at the peak was quite strong.  I was told there was crater at the other end of the peak but I didn't dare to go as the trail was very narrow and small. 

There were smokes coming out from the caldera.  

This is the mountain opposite of Mount Merapi and it's called Mount Singgalang.  It's not a volcanic mountain and we don't have the intention to come back for this mountain.  This mountain is very common in Malaysia. 

A close look at the caldera!

The trail from the last checkpoint to the peak was full of these volcanic stones and the surface can be very loose.  We were very careful and took it slow at the same time. 

More picture of the caldera.

On the way back, we saw the trail that we took to reach the peak clearly.  It could be dangerous if we were not careful and at some slopes, not only the surface was loose but also steep. It's really not for someone with aerophobia. 

I took the pictures below on the trip back from the peak when we were almost reaching the base.  When it comes to speed, the group was divided into three, the fastest ones completed the trip within 12 hours, followed by 13 hours by those with moderate speed and the slowest with the sweeper completed it within 14 hours.  A few of us swear that they'd never do any more hiking that takes more than 5 hours!

Bukittinggi is about 900 m above sea level.  It's not as cold as Cameron Highlands.  Avocado trees were very common and we saw a lot of them at their backyard.  It was also my favourite drink!  I had avocado juice at all meals except the last dinner. 

This picture was taken at the peak with Mount Singgalang at the background.  Will I come back to this mountain again?  Perhaps not.  There are so many other volcanic mountains in Indonesia and we were already talking about Rinjani, Agong, Batur and Bromo.  We'll decide by early next year!