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Month: October 2014

OFFROAD : Jerangkang Waterfalls in Pahang, Malaysia

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This project was in fact a jamboree organized by AMAL 4X4 Club in March 2014.  The venue is Hutan Lipur Jerangkang in Pahang. AMAL 4X4 is an NGO, active in reaching out to orang asli (natives people) and other hard-to-reach community doing charity work and dakwah (spreading message of Islam).  Our other missions are recreation and rescue. Visit AMAL 4X4  facebook for details what we are doing.

HOW TO GET TO THIS PLACE?

Jerangkang Waterfall aka Hutan Lipur Jerangkang can be reached from the KL-Kuantan road. If you drive along East Coast Highway aka LPT, you may exit at Sri Jaya into old KL-Kuantan road. Then take Kuantan-bound direction after the exit. About 30 km after passing Maran, turn left at a signboard ‘Hutan Lipur Jerangkang’. The road leads through rubber plantations and passes under the LPT.  For the most part of the stretch a 4WD is needed. The terrain is not meant for a city car. A standard 4×4 is good enough, during hot dry season.

If you don’t drive, you may take a public transport like bus. The bus will drop you at Kampung Gelugor, a ‘port’ before going into the jungle. There is a restaurant and a mosque next to it. Transport to the falls can be arranged from this port. Ask around at a restaurant next to the mosque. I was not type in this trip, so I dont know the fares.

WHAT TO DO?

Well, you cannot do things you do in the city here. It is back to basics. Suggested activities here.

 1. Camping. Basic camping facilities are provided: toilet with water source from the fall via PVC pipes, campsite, huts. Set up own tent and cook basic meals. Camping is made easy these gas. To eat, just heat up pre-cooked canned foods on portable stoves, powered from butane gas. To sleep, just pop up the tent.  Leftovers must be kept properly because wild dogs stray at night in search for foods.

2. Trekking. You can track up to higher level falls. A local we met said there are 43 levels up there. I wish I could verify his claim but at the end just believed him. Words of caution — you must have basic knowledge before trekking in the jungle. What tp bring in the backpack and what to leave. Navigation skill is crucial.

3. Offroad activities. In case you drive 4×4 here, like myself, you could sharpen your offroad skill by maneuvering steep hills and stream crossing.

4. Or just take a dive into the natural swimming pool.  The waters so pure and cooling.

No mobile phone signal here. So you are cut off from the civilization for a couple of days. It is a bliss indeed — no calls from boss and colleagues.  But do not forget your camera. Nights in the jungle can get very cooler. Bring light jackets just in case.

Enjoy the photos below.

Some of the 4X4s participating

Some of the 4X4s participating

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Group photo before dismissal

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A Pajero which turned turtle when scaling Bukit Tegak (vertical hill). The driver Pak Kiyai was fine anyway. Well it really served its purpose.

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A doctor among us treated a Mak Cik orang asli

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The amal part of the trip — visiting orang asli in the Jerangkang area. with basic necessities and medical supply.

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Ziarah ke perkampungan orang asli berdekatan Hutan Lipur Jerangkang.

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Mud tyres needed most during rainy season

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Adam Bahari — probably the youngest participant from KL

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Some of the machines taking part in the jamboree.

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Jabatan Hutan closes the track up to the higher falls, in view of so many unauthorized vehicles going up. Now you have to backpack all the way up to enjoy all the 43 falls.

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Camping site right in the middle of the nature.

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No call is more urgent than the call for muslims to pray. Muslims must pray 5 times a day wherever they are.

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A dive into one of the falls. Local said there are 43 such falls, the most beautiful one is at the top-most, unsurprisingly.

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Fall no. 3 in Hutan Lipur Jerangkang, in Pahang, Malaysia.

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Families can setup their tent here, under the tall trees.

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One of the activities called for each group to prepare best food from the live chickens provided, and no other tool or spices.

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An official camping site built by the relevant government agency.

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A briefing on survival in the jungle prior to the jungle tracking.

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A toilet was provided with water source from the waterfall via PVC pipes. I saw some came with families with small kids.

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An underpass. LPT is up there.

Non-moslem friends from Kuantan also joined us in this trip.

Non-moslem friends from Kuantan also joined us in this trip.

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Masjid Kg Gelugor along Kuantan-Maran old road is the starting point into Hutan Lipur Jerangkang.

OFFROAD: Ziarah Dakwah ke Ulu Slim, Perak

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Pada 27-28 September 2014, AMAL 4X4 menganjurkan program ziarah dakwah di kawasan pendalaman. Kali ini, destinasi ialah Pos Tenau, Ulu Slim, Perak, di mana kumpulan sasaran ialah orang asal (asli) yang menetap di sini. Majoriti berugama Kristian.  Anda memerlukan kenderaan pacuan empat roda untuk sampai ke sini. Perjalanan memang mencabar dan menarik terutamanya untuk 4X4 enthusiasts! Kena melalui beberapa batang sungai.

Lihat gambar-gambar dibawah. Detail aktiviti boleh di lihat di FB Amal 4X4. Kami mengalu-alukan sumbangan dana untuk aktiviti kami akan datang. Kalau anda ada kenderaan 4×4, lagi bagus. Boleh  join program kami. Misi kami ialah AMAL, RIADAH, RESCUE.

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Pengalaman naik LRT di Kuala Lumpur

Mulai Jun 2013, aku telah ditukarkan ke ibu pejabat di Kuala Lumpur. Aku mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepada Miri, bandaraya kedua terbesar di Sarawak, yang terkenal dengan maskot kuda laut.

Aku tak pernah kerja lama di Kuala Lumpur. Kalau datang untuk mesyuarat atau update bos sekali sekali adalah. Masa kerja di Yangon, Myanmar atau Miri, Sarawak, memang selalu turun ke KL. Masa tu duduk di hotel 5 bintang sekitar KLCC. Pernah bermalam di hampir semua hotel-hotel ternama di KL.  Antaranya Hotel Traders, Mandarin Oriental, Maya, Nikko (nama baru InterContinental), Sheraton Imperial, Hilton PJ, Hilton KL Sentral, Le Meridien, Ritz Carlton, Prince Hotel, Renaissance, Shangri-la, Impiana, Crowne Plaza, Park Royal, dan lain-lain lagi. Amboi banyaknya. Timbul rasa riyak pulak. Astaghfirullah. Tapi itu semuanya atas dasar menunaikan amanah. Menjalankan tugas. Itupun syarikat yg bayar.

Berulang alik dari rumah di Taman Melati, Setapak ke KLCC, pejabat baru aku adalah sesuatu yang mencabar pada permulaan tiba di KL. Sekarang menjadi rutin harian yang suka tak suka terpaksa di lalui. Aku memilih pengangkutan awam, iaitu menaiki LRT, demi menyahut saranan kearah mesra alam sekitar. Satu lagi sebab aku naik tren ialah kesesakan lalu lintas. Banyak pembaziran, masa dan kos parking kereta.

Jadi dalam posting ini, aku ingin berkongsi pasal rutin harian baru ini.

Ini adalah tipikal stesen LRT. Tren akan tiba dan berhenti sekejap untuk mengambil dan menurun penumpang di setiap stesen. Tiada drebar dan kalendan yang aku nampak. Pintu terbuka dan tertutup dengan sendirinya apabila sampai di stesen. Semua kena cepat. Masuk dan keluar. Jika tidak, terkepit kat pintu tak leh gi kerja. Bos akan marah.

Stesen Setiawangsa

Stesen Setiawangsa

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Tren bila kosong. Ha ha boleh main bola..

Tapi selalunya sepert ini.

Tren bila penuh. Senyumlah sikit bang.. Nanti stres kang

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Manusia berebut nak balik rumah di stesen KLCC.

Perjalanan dari stesen Taman Melati ke stesen KLCC mengambil masa 20 minit.  Tiada traffic jam semasa tren bergerak. Guaranteed.  Yang ada hanyalah kesesakan di stesen-stesen tertentu semasa waktu puncak. Kesesakan yang ketara sepanjang perjalanan dari stesen Tmn Melati ke KLCC ialah :

1.       Semasa menaiki tren di Tmn Melati

2.       Semasa turun dari tren di KLCC

3.       Semasa menaiki escalator selepas turun tren di KLCC.

4.       Semasa di checkout counter

5.       Semasa beratur mengambil suratkhabar percuma, The Sun

6.       Semasa menaiki escalator selepas terowong ke Suria KLCC.

 KAT MANA NAK DUDUK DALAM TREN?

Jarang aku dapat tempat duduk walaupun stesen Tmn Melati hanyalah stesen kedua terakhir (atau terawal? – bergantung kemana anda menghala). Kalau dapat tempat duduk pun, macam rasa bersalah saja melihat orang lain berdiri.  AKu juga belajar beberapa perkara mengenai memilih spot yang baik semasa dalam tren (kalau kena berdirilah. Kalau dapat tempat duduk, selesailah masalah).

Definisi spot yang baik ialah yang mana kita tidak diganggu atau dipaksa bergerak banyak. Bayangkan tren akan berhenti di 7 atau 8 hentian lagi sebelum sampai KLCC. Dan di setiap hentian penumpang akan masuk dan keluar, walaupun sudah penuh macam tin sardine. Spot yang baik untuk berdiri semasa dalam tren ialah menghadap penumpang yang duduk, sambil memegang tali pemegang. Ada akan dapat menikmati pemandangan di luar semasa tren bergerak dan melupakan sementara ‘jiran-jiran’ anda dalam tren yang majoritinya sangat egoistic dan individualistic dan plastic. Apa taknya. Semua ‘jiran’ anda akan membelek gajet ditangan, jari menolak skrin dan selepas tu tersenyum sorang-sorang. Itu kategori pertama. Kategori  kedua ialah golongan yang mendapat seat dan menutup mata menyambung mimpi yang terganggu pagi tadi. Yang baik sikit ialah ada juga yang membaca. Kategori ketiga ialah penumpang yang naik dengan kawan-kawan atau jumpa kawan yang sebulu atas tren. Golongan in akan bercakap tak habis-habis dan ketawa berdekah-dekah. Tak ramai golongan seperti ini, kalau adapun di waktu petang. Di waktu pagi, semua muka masam dan serius. Maklumlah terpaksa pergi kerja.

Kembali kepada cara memilih spot yang baik.

Spot yang perlu dielakkan semasa berdiri di atas LRT ialah:

1.       Depan pintu masuk. Aku belajar sesuatu mengenai pintu ini. Pintu gelongsor (sliding doors) ini agak ganas. Mengapa aku kata begitu? Sepatutnya bila masih ada penumpang yang masih berdiri nak masuk, ianya boleh mengesan sendiri akan kehadiran badan manusia dan tidak ditutup terus begitu saja macam pintu lif. Tetapi sepanjang pemerhatianku, ia tidak begitu. Ia terus tutup selamba saja.  Ianya seperti tiada sensor keselamatan.  Berdiri depan pintu akan menghalang orang naik dan turun. Dan anda kena banyak bergerak. Nak texting dan wasap pun susah sebab kena himpit orang naik dan turun.

2.       Berdiri di tengah ruang masuk. Ada satu tiang stainless steel di tengah tengah laman masuk, yang memang direkacipta . Kebanyakan penumpang akan berkumpul memegang tiang ini. Berdiri di sini juga menghalang penumpang keluar dan masuk.

3.       Berdiri di joint antara dua gerabak. Aku banyak kali berdiri di sini. Ia agak ekslusif tetapi bila tren membelok, lantai di kawasan joint ini juga akan bergerak dan sesiapa yang duduk di sini akan terasa gerakan ini. Tempat ini juga tiada pemegang atas kepala.

4.  Berdiri di penjuru pintu masuk. Tempat ini sempit dan muat untuk seorang saja. Masalahnya ialah anda tak boleh memandang keluar sebab dihadang oleh dinding tren. Anda terpaksa memandang ke dalam tren, iaitu penumpang di sebelah anda.

5. Tempat dikhaskan untuk OKU dan wanita hamil. Kalau anda sihat trang tang tang, cobalah jangan duduk di sini. Kesian kat depa.

Jarang aku nampak muka-muka yang memberi motivasi dalam tren. Kebanyakannya muka-muka sedih dan toya. Muka-muka ‘stoned’ yang terpaksa bangun awal dari tidur. Muka-muka yang macam baru lepas bergaduh dengan bini atau anak pagi tadi. Muka-muka yang takut kena marah dengan bos kalau lewat. Muka-muka yang terpaksa kerja sebab nak bayar sewa rumah, ansuran kereta dan broadband. Muka-muka terpaksa menarik kaki ke tempat kerja setiap pagi. Tak seronok langsung. Tak hairanlah ada hari hari aku salah seorang dari muka-muka itu.

Waktu berehat -- kalau dapat seat lah.

Waktu berehat — kalau dapat seat lah.

 

APA ADA DALAM TREN?

Nothing entertaining. Tiada TV atau video player macam dalam bas ekspres KL-KB. Radio FM pun tak ada. Yang mengeluarkan bunyi adalah sistem interkom. memberitahu ketibaan ke sesuatu stesen dan pengumuman keselamatan.

Seatbelt pun sik ada.

Tempat duduk adalah terhad. Prioriti kepada penumpang istimewa seperti orang tua, OKU dan ibu mengandung. Tetapi bukan semua paham Bahasa Melayu atau Bahasa Inggeris. Maklumlah orang Nepal atau Mongolia atau Ukraine.

Aircond dalam tren memang sejuk. Jarang sekali aircond tidak berfungsi sepanjang pengalaman naik tren LRT. Aircond yang kuat dan sejuk bertujuan untuk menghilangkan bau-bauan yang pelbagai, yang terhambur keluar dari liang-liang stoma kulit badan manusia yang mortal, manusia yang makan dan berkumuh. Perjalanan di waktu pagi masih mewangikan. Perjalanan balik selepas waktu pejabat, masyaallah.

TIP NAIK ESKALATOR

Berdiri di lorong kiri. Lorong kanan ialah lorong memotong.

Lagi bagus kalau terus saja bergerak naik walaupun eskalator sedang bergerak. Cepat sampai ofis. Boleh siapkan kerja awal. Bos pun suka. Tapi lebih penting Allah suka.

KESIMPULAN

Sistem LRT di KL memang memenuhi objektifnya. Ekonomikal dan pantas. Tahniah kpd RapidKL.

Itulah pemerhatian aku semasa kerja di KLCC. AKu rasa macam nak balik semula ke tempat yang jauh dari ibu pejabat. Jauh dari KL. Satu lagi opsyen — bersara awal. Insyallah.

OFFROAD: Pos Kuala Mu, Sungai Siput Perak

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This project was co-organized by AMAL 4X4 Club, before Ramadan 2014.  AMAL 4X4 is an NGO, active in reaching out to orang asli (natives people) and other hard-to-reach community doing charity work and dakwah (spreading message of Islam).  Other objectives are recreation and rescue. Visit AMAL 4X4  facebook for details what we are doing.

Pos Kuala Mu is about 50 kms from Sungai Siput town. (Sungai Siput town is about 27 kms north of Ipoh, capital of Perak). Pos Kuala Mu is a remote orang asli settlement.  En route we passed by several orang asli villages. Pos Kuala Mu is at the end of the stretch. About 160 families including neighboring villages, half of them are Muslims, the rest are either Christian or animistic. Their livelihood is hunting and gathering forest products. Some youngsters left to work in towns and cities. Lately the Government have started initiatives to bring them to the mainstream society and introduced modern elements into their life. A new secondary school with wifi connectivity. Brick houses. Solar panel at every home to generate electricity for home use. Mobile cellular connectivity, where the telecom broadcast station is powered by diesel genset. Except decent road to connect the community to town.  The only access road now is jalan tanah merah (untarred mountain  road), rendered useless when it rains. In short you need a 4X4 vehicle to get in and out of Pos Kuala Mu. A standard 4X4 is good enough.

We set out from KL just before midnight, driving along PLUS highway. Exited at Kuala Kangsar toll plaza and took trunk road to Sungai Siput. KK was a town of light even at 3am, Reached Masjid Felda Lasah one hour before Fajr time. This masjid is our port before we started the offroad adventure  the next morning.   Few other 4X4 from Taiping and other places joined us from the masjid. Felda Lasah is a village, very quiet one, with bare necessities. A no-name petrol station, a small grocery store, couple of road-side food stalls, a primary school and of course a mosque and a graveyard next to the mosque. That is all I could notice around Felda Lasah. May be more — well I don’t know.

The weather was fine and sunny when we set out in the morning after having breakfast at nasi lemak stall in front of the masjid.  Parents were busy ferrying their children to the school nearby in the motorcycles. Some were curious to see so many 4X4 vehicles parked in the masjid compund.

We met many new friends from among suku Temiar. Probably the most forgotten tribe. Their names are very traditional unless those converted to Islam. They changed to muslim names like Rafik and Alang, the most elderly of the clan, along with Tok Batin I could not remember his name. The children were happy sokmo and camera-friendly with their innocent faces. We brought elementary children books from KL (sponsored by a brother) and read with them.

On the way out, we stopped by at Sungai Perlus waterfall. Fishing time. But no fish though.  We took out portable gas stove to boil water for coffee. And for some, snack time with instant noodle. The ambience of tresh air and the rapid and the waterfall. What a place to enjoy a cup of coffee.

We bumped into a Pakistani carpet man on motorcycle fully loaded, on the way out. Also a Chinese trader from outside (Sungai Siput)  driving in Mitsubishi Triton  into this community to sell basic foodstuff, and probably in exchange with forest produces such as tongkat ali and others.  A group of dirt bikes riders were having fun riding along the dirt road. It was raining heavily with gusting wind when we reached Kampung Bawong, at the end of the jungle road. Obviously the storm had brought down trees onto power lines. We took time to stop to clear the road.

The subsequent trip to Pos Kuala Mu is scheduled in November, to start construction of the Surau or just musolla. Just after Hari Raya Idil Fitri, Alang called to inform that durian sudah luruh.

Enjoy the photos below.

 

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