Scattered Seeds

I suppose this is a sequel to my first piece, “What Not To Do On Merdeka Day,” in the Merdeka Series (Yes, I shall attempt to write a piece related to the Malaysia National Day annually; how patriotic, eh?). I wouldn’t have written this if not for Enid and Samuel for reminding me of what I did last year. Enid made a little reference on her blog. Samuel sent me a text message. He was one of those who made up the crowd waiting for the midnight fireworks display at Putrajaya when he sent a text message asking what I was doing. I replied, “At home playing Bejeweled 2.” He followed up with a question, “So what’s the high score now.” He had to ask. I ended up playing Bejeweled 2 until 4 a.m.

Some things never change on Merdeka Day, I suppose. I’m still that sucker for challenges.

I was playing Bejeweled 2 with the aim to beat my own high score–which is not really high by my standards so I’m not revealing it here. I had had a few go but I am my own worst enemy, and I couldn’t beat myself. If I did, I’d felt bad being a loser as well. So I turned on my MSN Messenger and preyed upon unsuspecting victims. Aha! Amir and Nisita Monkey Moe were online. They asked if I ever played the game, and I told them “It was my first time.” It wasn’t a lie despite the fact that I’ve played the game, and I have played against others online before. But it was my first time playing Bejeweled online against two persons in two separate windows at the same time. They just didn’t know it.

Bejeweled Score!

When all was done I still had the highest score… It always feels good to be on the winning side.

In an attempt to demonstrate that I am more patriotic than most people think I am. I decided to explore the streets of KL in a car. I started with a drive to the zoo. Too many car, too many people. So I drove on and was on my way home when my wife suggested some place else. I hadn’t planned anything so I thought, “Why not?” Bad idea. I nearly became the epitome of a Malaysia road driver. I was honking at almost every driver who was trying to cut queue in a massive traffic jam. Having burned fuel for nearly 4 hours in a car got on my nerves. I missed lunch without being prepared for it and that really ticked me off. I got on the nearest highway, breathed never to drive on any national public holiday ever again and sped home.

I then sacrificed my lunch and dinner to to dream of what an ideal Merdeka Day celebration should be. I wanted to put those thoughts to show the world what magnificent ideas I have. I sat in front of the computer, ready to key in every word to describe what I had in my head.

But I saw the Bejeweled 2 icon.

I forgot about Malaysia, and was chasing after my own high score again.

Up until now, I have yet to beat my own Bejeweled 2 high score. But thank goodness Amir is online as I am writing this. So many others, too. And there’s still one hour before Merdeka Day is over.

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Related Links:

Related “What Not To Do On Merdeka Day” Links:
• What Not To Do On Merdeka Day (The one that started it all)
• Things Hasn’t Changed On Merdeka Day (the sequel)
• What Not To Do On Merdeka Day Part 3

Batman has Robin.
The Lone Range has Tonto.
The Prince has the Blue Cow.

I have my duck.

For many eons, my duck has accompanied me on many mountain treks – almost all. As far as I can remember, the times when I did not make it to the peak, my duck stayed home. We conquered the world together.

But in recent months, it has been recuperating at home. It lost an eye;I do not know how. It tells me stories. Once it was because of the epic battle it took upon with the three eyed monster of G. _______. My duck once said it sacrificed it’s eye to save me from the clutches of the black furry animal of Nuang. Then there was the time when it was peering through a tiny hole to spy on the Wizard of Carr. OK, you got me there. I made the last one up: the Wizard of Carr is a character named by Shieh Reine in the the long-running Prince and the Cow Story Series. There are other stories of how it lost its eye. I cannot remember all.

But anyway, it is true that it has been a one-eyed duck for the last few months (maybe even more than a year!). Today, I took it out for an outing to Sungai Tekala. My duck came into the car with what it calls fashionable. When I saw it I thought it must been watching my Pirates of the Caribbean DVD one time too many. Yet at the same time, I thought it was a rather kind gesture to camouflage it’s scary Cyclop-look.

Savvy?

Update August 27 2006: My duck just revealed to me that it found my Muppet Treasure Island Soundtrack CD lying around and had been listening to it. The duck is hooked to the song “A Professional Pirate” and that could explain it’s frantic foray into professional piracy these days.

Update March 17 2007: Sadly, my duck has had it’s last trek with me. It actually survived the trek up and down Gunung Ledang from March 2 and 3, 2007. It even made it home. But something transpired and my dear duck has ventured into other adventures on its own to places I know not where. The duck has been with me for more than 10 years, and sadly it is gone.

The Lepok Waterfall. © Khoo Nee On

9:53 a.m.
Whoo-Hoo! If all goes according to plan (Oh, how I just love the word after what happened last weekend), I’ll have another waterfall added to the list of places I’ve been to later today.

Nee On, Adrian, Bang Qin and I are off to look for the Lepok Waterfall.

We just can’t wait to have four guys splashing water together. Should be fun.

10:53 a.m.
Oh-No! Nee On has left his house and Bang Qin informs him that he can’t go! What are we going to do! I can’t just have three guys splashing water together. That is so wrong. And if it’s just Nee On, Adrian and I, we might not even reach our destination!
I must call someone. I must have the fourth person to break the jinx…

10:55 a.m.
Whoo-Hoo! Kourosh “Sunshine” agrees! I tell him to meet us in half an hour.

11:33 a.m.
Lunch! All four of us gather at the food court for lunch. Except from Adrian, we all order a Claypot Chicken Rice each. Don Mah, Bodhi the kid and Amos join us a while later to do a little catching up with Adrian who will be heading to Hawaii to complete his degree in Visual Comm. It’s the last time some of us see him before he leaves this weekend. When we see him next, which is probably two years later, he might be a surfer dude already.

About 1:30 p.m.
We–Nee On, Adrian, Kourosh and I–finally reach the starting point of out trek in search of Lepok Falls. We weren’t exactly sure of where the junction to the falls was and so we did make a few U-turns looking it. And we did ask strangers for directions.

Kelly’s Slippers and Sandals Brigade

Just before we start the journey, I notice that we are going up the mountain in sandals and slippers. The first thing that runs in my mind is Kelly’s injury from wearing slippers last Saturday. I quickly ask everyone to pose with their sandals and slippers. I am thinking I should name us as the Kelly’s Slippers and Sandals Brigade in remembrance of why we should not wear such things on our feet when trekking. But I don’t care; wearing sandals in the jungle is comfortable.

Five minutes into the trek, Kourosh changes into a pair of shoes. Oh well, he is, after all, not a veteran tropical jungle trekker like the rest of us.

Seems flat, but the trail has a gradual slope.

We knew this might be a two hour hike before we reach the falls. Rather than taking a slow walk, we start the journey in quick paces and short spurts up gradual slopes.

Taking a Breather Along the Way

If today’s trek is any indication, I think I am out of shape. The last few treks to Bukit Tabur and Sungai Chiling had been easy and slow walks for me. Running in the hot and humid jungle is killing me. I seem to pour out buckets of water through those pores of mine. I am glad I am not the only one. When I stop and look at Nee On, we is drenched, too.

It’s my first time here, so I take particular notice of the surroundings. I like big trees…

Big Tree #1

Big Tree #2

About 3:10 p.m.
We reach the waterfall!

It’s pouring!

And we see a natural water slide. Nee On and I look at each other and say, “Kourosh, you can go first. You slide we slide.”

He slides. We have no choice but to follow. I go next. Then Nee On. Then Adrian. It’s all the same: once we get onto the slide, we have no control of our actions. We get caught in the rapid flow that washes us down into the pool of cold water.

Ready, Set, Slide!

Nee On on the Slide

Adrian has a go. © Nee On

Nee On holds my camera hostage. He takes some pornographic images of three guys having fun at the waterfall. This is my blog. So I shall not post any pics here.

About 3:46 p.m.
We hear the sounds of thunder. We pack up and run out of the jungle.

About 4:20 p.m.
We run like the wind; almost. It takes us only 30 minutes to run out of the jungle from the waterfall to the car. The rain comes not to us. We change and start our journey home.

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Lepok Falls is a beautiful place; very different from Chiling Falls. It’s a waterfall that’s tucked away in a secluded pocket of the busy city of Kuala Lumpur. It’s relatively easy to get to; only about a half-hour drive from KL and it serves as a great getaway. Though there are a number of waterfalls in the area—Gabai, Batangsi, Chongkak and Tekala—this particular one ain’t advertised or commercialised as the others. I hope it’s kept that way.

Lepok Falls may not be as scenic as Chiling Falls (then again, I’ve been into so many jungle trails that I may have lost sight of some of the common beauty). Still, what it lacks in character and atmosphere, Lepok Falls makes it all up with that superb natural water slide. I wish the drop point would have been slightly deeper–I hurt a toe on my left foot and my right heel when I landed wrongly on my second slide down–but that’s just a complain of a 6-footer.

The trek to the waterfall is also a little more challenging when compared to Chiling Falls. This trek takes one along a well-trodden path with a gradual slope, with one short steep section only. On average, most people would have taken two hours to get to their destination. We took only an hour and a half; taking that into consideration, I’d rate this trek as moderately easy.

At this moment in time, I am still more inclined to choose Chiling Falls over this one if I am asked to go to a waterfall again.

But then, that may be a biased opinion because I have been to Chiling Falls three times now, and with so many other people. Perhaps it’s this all guy outing thing that didn’t quite rub upon me. Also, I was going to this waterfall just to find ot how the trail is like; so this was more like a trek with a mission than one where the aim is to have absolute fun. I shall re-evaluate when I come back to this waterfall in 2007.

On the Lepok Water Slide. Video Capture by Nee On

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Lepok Waterfall Overview
Latitude: 3° 15.03′
Longitude: 101° 51.94′

By a sheer stroke of luck, unforeseeable incidents that occurred, and reasonable decisions made in the morning, a possible arduous trek up a mountain was turned into an almost free and easy outing at Sungai Chiling. Trekking up a mountain this weekend–be it Gunung Bujang Melaka or Bukit Kutu–was just not meant to be.

Sungai Chiling Waterfall. © Nee On.

Sungai Chiling has now joined the ranks as one of my favourite destinations. This was my third time in twelve months. My first was in September 2005 when I camped overnight (with Jing Zi, Enid, Noelle, Samuel, Ben, Daniel, Tseng Yang, Mark and my two faithfuls Nee On & Adrian). Then, I only knew of one of the three waterfalls. The second visit took place in February 2006 (with Nee On, Adrian, Amos, Candice & Noelle) when I decided to make a return trip to capture images of the three falls.

This time there were 17 others with me: Don Mah, Nee On (I believe this is his fourth trip to Sungai Chiling in 12 months!), Leon, Marianne, Ker Soon, Nee “Nissan” Sern, “Pinocchio” Amir, Judith, “Sunshine” Kourosh, Gabriena, Kamini, Faris, Carolina, Joe, Wai Chien, Farah “Nanii” Hanani, and Kelly “Mitshibushi”. Wait, there is one more; there were 18 people with me. There’s Nisita, too (it’s funny how I keep missing her out in my count).

Quite a bit happened in the 12 hours of this trip. Rather than write a chronological account of everything that happened, here are seven selected highlights of the trip:

1. SOME TRADITIONS LAST A LIFETIME
Everyone who went was gathered at Sunway University College by 7:15 a.m. It was then that I got the worse type of 11th hour disaster news: I lost a car as transport. Into panic mode we I went, but I still kept my cool (I’m sure of that). Thankfully, there was Judith who came to the rescue. All she had to do was to get home so she could drive her car and provide us with a transport. It was that simple; it was done. So when we left the campus for the road trip, we were fashionably late by more than an hour. After all these years, one of the hallmarks of the CIMP Trekking Club tradition remains: If we’re providing our own transport, we’ll always be late.

Photo by Nee On.

2. BLAME THE DELAY ON THE ROTI SARDIN!
It was not intentional that all the girls would cluster together and leave the guys at other tables. After putting in our order, it seems the cooks at this restaurant have a gender bias. After a speedy delivery of Kelly’s mee goreng, the rest of the girls got their roti telur and roti canai. Then everyone else had to wait and wait. Thet meant that the guys had to wait and wait. And it didn’t help that I ordered a roti sardin that seemed to have taken almost forever to cooked. We spent some 40 minutes at the restaurant (should have taken a photo of the place!) before we got on our way. The cooks in Kuala Kubu Bahru seemed not to have ever anticipated such a flood of human bodies, and so were slow. And so it was that this long wait for food brought about a delay that eventually swayed the decision to switch destinations.

The Girls Eat. © Kourosh.

The Guys Wait and Wait and Wait. Photo by Kourosh.

One more thing: After the waterfall, we returned to this same restaurant for a quick bite and drink. Most of us dared not order any rotis. At one point, Nee On was looking for the toilet. He looked around, and saw the word TOSAI written on a piece of paper pasted above a mirror and sink. From now on, few of us–and especially Nee On–will never think of toilet TOSAI the same way ever again.

3. SWIMMING SLIPPERS
POT¹ 13: Some Things Are Just Meant To Be Left Alone To Drift
Carolina slipped at the second river crossing and her pair of slippers got swept by the current. I saw that her had another pair of shoes in her hands and was prepared to just let those slippers drift. But, no. Don “the horse” Mah wasn’t going to let those slippers go. He saw the first slipper drift and immediately ran after it. What was I supposed to do? I followed after him. I just couldn’t let the old horse get all the glory, right? Then I saw Carolina had let loose the second slipper, too, and it was moving quickly downstream near the other bank of the river. So Don chased after one slipper while I kept an eye on the other one. We chased after the slippers for some some 250 meters in the river. Don caught both slippers. Bravo for him!

Some twenty minutes later, the entire group was gathered at the fourth river crossing. Kelly had sprained her ankle and was resting when she said, “Ask Nee On what happened.” Nee On said that they had slowed down because he was chasing after one of Kelly’s slipper in the river. My reply, “Yeah, right. You were not the only one doing that.” On this one trek, three trekking veterans were chasing after a slipper each for about the same distance at about the same time at different places.

Next time, I’m just going to let things drift away.

4 THE CLIMBS, SLIPS, JUMPS AND DIVES
The water at the deepest point is only about 6 feet deep at the waterfall. Not really deep enough for one me to dive in. But having jumped into that pool of water at Gunung Bujang Melaka, I didn’t think this pool would pose much of a problem. I just had to lift my legs a little higher.

Nee On and his brother started the jumps. I went next. To get to the jumping platform, one had to climb up a near-40-¦ slope of wet slippery surface of hard rock. Nee On had no problems going up. Neither did Ker Soon and I because we were used to climbing outdoors. Almost instinctively, we knew where to plant our fingers and toes in the little cracks in the rock. Knowing how to climb does come in handy in such tricky slippery situations. But the others had difficulty. And it was a laugh seeing a number of them slipping off the rock and sliding into the water below them.

Once on the platform, the only way down is to jump. Or in some cases, get pushed by someone from behind. Grrr! Nee On pushed me once and I will have my revenge next time! In total, I went into the water about six, maybe seven times.

On the way to the Jumping Platform, “Sunshine” slipped and slided down the slippery wet slope right after this picture was taken. Photo © Nee On.

As much fun as it seems I was having, I really hate jumping into the water. I am scared of getting in the water–probably because I nearly drowned when I was a really little kid, but that’s a story for another time. I still do it anyway. Maybe I’m trying to get over the fear. Maybe that is why I give a loud yelp when I jumped (see a 1 second video of me jumping captured by Kelly) Maybe I jumped again and again just so everyone else would try it, too.

Jumping into the water can be quite quite infectious, and many followed suit. For some–like Kourosh, Amir, Nisita, and Farah–they jumped into a natural pool of water for the first time in their lives. But try as I might, I couldn’t convince Don and Leon to jump. Instead they took it upon themselves to fight the current to get to the waterfall’s drop point. They waved their arms and kicked so hard they could have won any 100m swim competition; but against the current they did not move. It was a stunt that was not worth doing. So there I was, aged 3_ jumping into the water with the 17-18 year olds. Pretty soon, some of there were doing sommersaults and landing on their backs. Ouch! I’m not sure if it made me feel like a kid, or it made them all feel like some aged-old adult. It was fun though.

“Pinocchio” Goes “Geromino!” © Nee On.

5. TMC’s PASTA SHOPPE REOPENS FOR BUSINESS!
As with most overnight trips, it has become somewhat of a ritual that I concoct some pasta sauce. Because I had bought ingredients for the now-postponed Gunung Bujang Melaka overnighter meal , I thought I’d just cook anyway. I finished cooking at 1 a.m the night (or early morning) before, but waited until 2 a.m before I packed 3 servings into the freezer for the trip.

Nee On had the honour of boiling the pasta. He wanted to cook in some secluded shady corner, but when I saw that I pulled him and everything — ingredient and utensils — and placed them onto a rock. Long ago, I subscribed to the thought that humans lived to eat, not eat to live. And so it is that if we were to demonstrate the art of eating camping food, we had better eat in style! Once set upon the rock, all we had to do was cook and eat for the world to see.

Little did I realise that it was pretty windy on the rock. Nee On tried to tell me that that was why he hid where he hid. I chose not to listen because it would have been too embarrassing to return to the secluded corner.

Ker Soon Savouring Every Bite. © Nee On..

I quickly got Nee On and Kelly to help form a human shield so we could get a fire going on the stove. However before we started a fire, Nee On put the pasta into the water. Oh well, at least it’s not as bad as boiling water without putting water into the mesh tin. We’re out camping, so we will eat whatever. Plus we were on a rock. We had to keep our cool in front of everyone; and we did.

But I was not prepared for the next thing. The fire was going great. The pasta was going limp in the water. And we had no fork to stir the pasta. I had a knife we could use. But after it’s cooked, how were we to eat? I shouted to ask if anyone had a fork. No one. A spoon? No one. Chopsticks? No one. Aargh! What kinda trekkers do I have with me? Gabriena had a butter knife (she lugged a bottle of peanut butter for her sandwiches). Wow! Do we need such display of enthusiasm now? But I have my Victorinox; I don’t need a butter knife! I need a fork! Finally, Amir held up a little spoon (slightly larger than a teaspoon). Aaah. There is hope yet for this group.

The Pasta Shoppe & It’s Iranian Competitor. © Nee On.

I brought in enough pasta for three but there were more than enough for many more. The two Iranians–Kourosh and Amir–brought in unleavened pita bread and some processed Iranian food. I have no idea what they are called, or what went into making those food. I saw some beans, and wow, that’s all I recognise. Anyway, they tasted OK so we all shared our food and ate.

6. 45 KILOGRAMS BEHIND MY BACK
The first person I ever carried in the jungle was Jing Zi at Bukit Kutu. I didn’t think I’d have do such a stunt again. But when Kelly hurt her ankle, I gave her a piggyback ride across the fourth river as we headed for the falls earlier in the day. Against all advise given, Kelly insisted of hiking up a sleep slope with her sprained ankle to be with everyone at the third (highest accessible) waterfall. She was fine when she got up, but she must have hurt her ankle while coming down.

Kelly’s Ankle in a Compression Wrap. © Kourosh.

By the time she limped to the first river on the way out, she could hardly walk already. There were five of us “accompanying” her at the tail end of the group — Kourosh, Amir, Nee San, Ker Soon and I. Everyone had a backpack except me. So I was the obvious choice to give her a piggyback. I crossed the river with this extra weight behind my back. I asked her how heavy she was. She said, “45 kilograms.” That’s not too heavy. Then I thought, the exit ain’t that far from here and it’ll be so much faster if I just carried her. I didn’t let her down after I crossed the river. She got a 15-minute ride on my back all the way from the first river to the car.

That night, I took Kelly to the Sunway Medical Centre to get a check on her swelling sprained ankle. It was her first time at the hospital, and so she had to fill up a registration form. She was still at an age that require a guardian. It was already 10 p.m. and she wasn’t from around KL. I was there with her, so the nurse conveniently took down my name and phone number. Then she wrote “guardian” or something like that next to my name on the form. I tried to protest but the nurse basically ignored me. Great. Just great. I’ve adopted an annoying 45kg little girl into my family.

7. BALANCING ROCK ART

The Art of Balancing Rocks by the Waterfall. © Nee On.

Rock Sculpture I. © Kourosh.

Rock Sculpture II. © Kourosh.

Don at the Rock Museum. © Nee On.

There were many incidents on this trip, but I chose to only feature 7 selected highlights. I guess some incidents will be etched only in memories. Perhaps some others will write about other things that happened. Perhaps some day, someone will make a documentary recording of events of the day.

Speaking of which, I got the Leon Varga’s version of the Klang Gates story on tape now. Whoo-Hoo! I had wanted to record this story for the last two weeks, and I finally got it. However, time and the retelling of the story in front of camera seem to have diminished the impact of the story somewhat. It’s still great listening to it; I always get a good laugh.

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Notes:
¹ POT=Philosophy of Trekking

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Related Links:
• Nisita’s Version: “Chillin’ @ Sungai Chilling on Saturday”.
• Farah Hanani’s Version: “Old Stuff, New Perspective”.
• Ker Soon’s Version: “Something I Love To Do All The Time…”.