Kruzer by the Lake - Tasik Chini (17th - 19th June 2006)

a bumper turnout this trip is...a total of 20 bikes, one car and 34 people all cramming into a quaint little nature reserve past its prime but still guarded fiercely by a champion of its cause...

Lake Chini

tasik chini is located in the state of pahang, north of malaysia's great nature reserve, endau rompin. this ride is a return of sorts for both me and dear cos it's the first long trip we've ever done with the kruzers, den known unimaginatively as the Cruisers. the first time we met larry the hairy. also the first ever trip for the ex trip manager, benny. having so many firsts, naturally this is a nostalgic spot for some of us.

handing out the goodies

the boys at yong peng

the beautiful lotuses bloomed all over the lake when we were last there and i only remembered munching away on the lotus seeds on the boat ride. and of course the beautiful pictures taken.

I'm pretty sure there are many new memories brought back this time round not only for the many new members but the long lost old timers.

laa-ry and tricia on their new "baby"

was really excited cos pple like larry and take how bringing their new bikes along and new faces like shamen joining the whole big motley crew for the first time. this is also cy's first as a trip manager handling so many pple. but a job well done ah.

the crew just before the turnoff to Chini

Cy trying to say he's good....

the trip this time includes trekking around the jungle in chini's vicinity, plus a stay in a bare bones sorta place. quite an adventure for an old guy like me. and so the preparation started a week b4 the ride. army insect repellant, mosquito coils, etc were all hastily bought and prepared. I had this inkling that the path be strewn with those wormlike cuddly creatures called leeches but forgotten to bring the salt. anyway, as u would see later, the army insect repellant is another world-class product from singapore.

This ride would take us through the night till Yong Peng on the NS highway, and taking highway 1 up to Segamat and turning northwards on highway12 to muadzam shah and subsequently lake chini.

sunrise along muadzam shah

close to Chini

lake chini is steeped in malaysian mythology. in the still, dark waters supposedly lies an ancient kingdom that the khmer legacy left behind in the 5th century. in fact, some aerial photographs shows unusual formations that depict canals and structures, but they were never verified. perhaps, it's best that such claims stay as they are, adding to the mysteries and wonder when one sits atop a boat slicing thru the still waters into the lotus ponds. the indigenious people living there told of legends that the city submerged itself so that its enemies cannot plunder its gold. sounds stupid to me, but hey! the dumber they are, the higher the probablity that it's true..u decide.

when we reached our guesthouse, it was 830 in the morning, with the sun bearing its harsh rays on us. the guesthouses actually look pretty comfortable to me, with mattresses strewn on the floor and mosquito nets covering the area. the zinc roof would make it pretty unbearable in the afternoon but we would be out trekking, so it wasn't a problem.

at Rajan's Guesthouse

our toilet

my throne

a memorable personality on this ride is the irrepressible Rajan Jones. sounding like a hindi hero from the overly animated bollywood movies, he is anything but that. in fact, when i first saw him when i was exploring ard the guesthouse, he just came out of the toilet in his sarong and scratching his b*ALs.

"ahhh!! welcome! how many rooms do you need?" poor old rajan seemed lost at our early arrival but swiftly got the keys from his humble abode next to the longhouse we were staying.
by the time we unpacked, we were bushed and still managed an hour's worth of sleep.

the day trek was something to look forward to. while the Kruzer slackers were off in their beds sleeping the afternoon away, almost 20 of us gathered at Rajan's Diner further down the road from the longhouse next to the lake. breakfast was served and we had delicious home cooked food from Rajan's wife, an orang asli, in the diner. these simple meals of nasi lemak and hot tea for the next 2 days were simply some of the best i've ever tasted on a tour of such nature.

waiting at Rajan's diner

mamajo ready for the trek!

after lunch was packed, we headed out onwards, not knowing what awaited us.

part of the diverse wildfire found in their backyard

black and white squirrel

the jungle is a place where Asia's diverse wildlife concentrate. the dank, humid air and the suppressive foliage can unsettle the weary and cause panic to those lost in its undergrowth. however, rajan is a champion of the jungle. His passion for the jungle sees him taking long walks at least 3 times a week, exploring and studying the flora and fauna that the jungle provides. he has been studying the orang aslis living in the region for almost 30 years, quitting his sales manager job in KL before relocating here in tasik chini. how ironic that he, an indian, helps them preserve their culture and backyard and educating the masses such as us on the abundance that nature provides.

rajan jones - a man of 65

trek starts

along our walk, we learned about the oil palm and many different wildgrasses and their medicinal properties. it is enlightening, just like a kid seeing a live chicken for the first time, though he's been eating it for years. "Ma, why the chicken got feathers one? we eat one no feathers one leh." doh!!

orang asli climbing up the tree - helping us get water vines!

shamen loves the natural liquid discharge

besides those plants, we also learned about the trees the asli's chop to make their homes, the potency of tongkat ali roots (we ate a little of those..sadly to no effect) and even chopped a nibong palm tree just so we can eat its' "heart", the soft centre of the spinely tree.

the price we pay for learning all these is the ardous long walks, up and down slopes, thru thick undergrowth and at times, balancing on narrow planks. the walk was made more exciting when the leeches started appearing.

Justin's the first

these long skinny creatures survey the air, waving its head (or tail) round in circles on the ground hoping to latch onto its target. One by one, screams sliced the silence through the dense jungle floor, as the girls started rolling up their jeans and pants to find thick blobs of worm stuck on the skin. it gives a slight itch after a substantial amount of blood is sucked and imagine the surprise when you feel a soft bump on your skin...

powerful army insect repellant!

what's worse is that some more leeches find their way up to the same spot after the original one is pulled off. we were pretty lucky no one fainted during the walk but we came close.

call me daddy!

4 hours later, the heavens opened and a torrential rain poured upon us, dropping more worms onto us. William even had one almost crawling into his mouth! ewww....

the lucky thing is that the end of the walk is near, allowing the heavily traumatised ladies a huge sigh of relief. The heavy rains also left many of us drenched and morale sank to an all time low. The tiredness of riding through the night also showed. a boat ride back to our resort signalled the end of it all and we gratefully gulped down the simmering hot tea at Rajan's Diner. More leeches were found i was pretty glad i didn't had any, except for perhaps one that fell off before i could feel anything. the secret? a combination of the amry insect repellant, bygone and probably my constantly moving around, not allowing the critters a chance to latch onto me.

well deserved rest for the orang aslis for their patience..keke

heading back to base camp

when night fell, we staggered to a fire-making demonstration, still groggy from the insufficient sleep. the physics of rajan's firemaking tool was pretty cool (a combination of pressure and friction), but the time spent on crafting his tool and making sure the moving parts fit astounds me. His research into this has probabaly led better way of making fire for the orang asli's when they are out in the jungle and also a bit of time saved. respect for this man is long overdue.

chilling out at the longhouse

early next morning, we were scheduled for a boat ride, but had a blow pipe competition first. naturally, all the hotshots came up and gave a good blow. some were weak, most were ok and one wanted to murder someone standing behind the target, unintentionally of course. in the end, gavin and Cs were tied for first place and a tie breaker was devised. in the end, the best blower won and gavin was crowned the blow king.

children of lake chini looking at the blowers

scorekeepers for the day -tricia and laaary

he sucks

i suck

he blows - pretty darn well too

the boat ride is a most relaxing ride, sitting in the boat, skimming the water surface and looking at the vast stretch of lotus flowers. Tasik Chini is famous for its lotus clusters but it has lost its lustre the last few years. decisions to dam up the seasonal lake was to be its downfall . traditionally, monsoons would flood the lake, allowing nutrients from the land to nourish the swampland and thus an abundance of fish for the native Jakun orang asli.

more children frolicking by the lake

The deterioration had set in when the local authorities decided to make Chini a designated eco-tourist spot, thus damming up the lake without any water control sluice. this hurt the low lying trees which couldn't take the continuous flooding and died. these are the mysterious dead naked trees lining the lake shore. Also, the seasonal fishes also could not make their way back to the lake to spawn, endangering the orang asli's livelihood. It is with a tinge of sadness when rajan apologised for the state of the lake. you could almost feel the despair of the villagers themselves.

waiting for the boats

loading up!

off we go!

lake chini with dead trees

navigation required

orang asli's got nice pressed pants

chini's beauty

nonetheless, we still managed to catch some clusters of lotuses, and the boatmen obliging plucked put a couple of leaves and made hats out of the lotus leaf for the rest of us in our boat!
This is a souvenoir that is hard to forget. the cool breeze in the morning sun is really one of the best way to start your day.

orang asli wading for the choiciest bits

jester hat coming right up

admiring the lotus

making the hats

the 2 clowns

as our stay at rajan's came to a close, he presided over a simple ceremony to give out his custom made blowpipes for the top 3 blowers and the organisers themselves. this was a gesture that is totally unexpected but greatly appreciated.

when it was time to move off, we bidded our gracious hosts goodbye and left witha truckload of experiences and some tire marks.

saying good bye to the rajan hospitality

we'll be back...

the ride back was less tiring given that we had an easy morning of activities. we planned for diiner at a herbal tea restaurant, which serves a mean plate of nasi briyani, at pagoh and this would mean travelling about 150km on the crowded trunk roads cutting across muadzam shah and segamat on highway 12.

the group seemed more confident riding now and the interesting route along J14 an J32, through some kampongs along the highway, make the ride quite an experience for the new riders.

by the end of the ride, Kruzers can be proud of successfully completing yet another trip with new experiences along the way.

Gua Tempurung - My first cave (22nd April - 23th April 2006)

me and my dream bike in ipoh...this baby can prob buy a decetn car in malaysia

"Hidey Ho! I've decided not to write about the last malacca ride cos it's like the 16th time i've been there! besides, it's more of a shopping trip for farewell gifts for my crazy bunch of colleagues in my soon to be ex company. And also acted like a tour guide in herding the fairly new bunch of kruzers around the place." - I wrote this about a month ago....im a procrastinator i know.

so, i'll be writing about the fantastic caving experience i had many weekends ago instead! - this one too...

as u prob realise im been writing this for more than a month...and if not for the fact that the next trip is next week...i prob wait till im 80...so here goes....

the Gua TEmpuRung Ride

caves are places where the dark creatures of the netherworld lives. From the dark elf cities in the forgotten realms series to the orc and balrogs infested palace of moria in lord of the rings, caves are the things of fantasy and evil in my mind.

the preparation before the trip made the cave seemed more intimidating. flash lights and lightwear are advised and stories of claustrophobic seizures in the cave only served to unsettle the mind. but first, we had to get there.......

gua tempurung is really very conveniently situtated near the north-south highway. in fact, im pretty sure one face of the mountain that gua tempurung is carved out from, faces the highway itself. having said that, ipoh is still a pretty far place to ride for some of the old-timers and new-comers.

andrey and yasuko are first timers to the group having only travelled to malacca the week before that with us to "acclimatise" to his new Vmax. having ironed out the initial problems, they are ready to roll with confidence oozing out from every of andrey's pores.

bat is gg 50 and his wife ida also gamely joined for a wholly new experience in the caves, while cysiong, my new gay buddy, rounded up with his first trip as the trips manager for the Kruzers.

gavin and joyce had a fren, mark, driving up with us in a subaru forester and the motley crew gathered at GP esso for the briefing. as usual, the few clowns in kruzers, namely raymond and william the first never fail to turn up and wish us off for a safe ride.

william inspecting the stores

filming it all down but haven see his work yet..muahahahah

with 11pm approaching, we saddled up and set off straight for the caves. Apart from a few sleepy moments, the ride on the highway was as sterile as a needle and we exited simpang pulai at about 630, ahead of schedule. hats off to this bunch of pple who have really taken a beating having rode without windshields and wearing half face helmets. guess im too pampered by now. the hotel was also easy to find, being situated on a slight hilltop beside the main road.

the hotel in ipoh

hanging ard the lobby of the hotel

having dumped our luggage and changed into trekking wear, we were raring to go though we hardly slept much the day before.

but first up was breakfast! i ain't gg no river with an empty stomach....

all cheery for breakfast

this tsunami nasi goreng prob took many lives too...

almost 15km down that same road, we approached a huge mountain with no signs of a gap and in no time, were standing in front of the cave entrance. now, gua tempurung has been designated as a showcave, meaning it's one of the rare caves that are showcased to the public. It is also one of the bigger caves, thus having a larger number of pple to visit wasn't a big problem at all.

a rare nice pic for cy

leaving the light for the darkness within....

parking outside the cave

the nearest pic to a group photo taken b4 entering...

no limits indeed

we had initially thought we were the only ones going in for the tour, but the cave's burgeoning popularity (CNA's rated it as one of asia's best kept secrets) meant that we had to share the tour with another group of cantonese- chinese spewing group. it wasn't very pleasant at first, but we got more comfortable as the walk continued on and on into the darkness......

the imitial part of the cave was very well developed with concrete paths, metal railings and stairs and electric lighting. this brings us the the highest point of the cave, built into gunumg tempurung. (mount tempurung) even as the highest point was reached in the huge volume of space, there was another 300 metres of soil, rock and earth before one could surface through the outer fabric of the mountain. indeed, the huge spaces reminded me of the cavenous halls of moria with orcs peering from every nook and cranny.

the opening of the cave - huge!! and wondrous

the guide was a springly man wearing a beanie and probably 40 years of wear and tear etched on his face. his indication of all the various stalagmites and stalactites as gods, animals and sexual references was amusing and clearly delighted the other group while we were busy with picture taking and taking in the sights and sounds through the cave (we hoped for silence...but it was not to be).

the staircase leading straight into the cave

various spots of the cave were also highlighted like the wind tunnel, a spot in the cave where it was strangely windy. stepping out in front or any other direction from that spot guarantees still, dank and warm air. creepy and amazing....

graffiti were also present and it is sad to see such natural beauty defaced. As much as many of the artworks were good, most were just idle declarations of love or just announcements of their presence at sometime in their lifes. a pity really, opening such a nice place up only to fall victim to ignorant pple intent on destroying everything they see.

just as we were leaving the concrete path, we descended into the darkness as our walk took a turn for better (at least to me). the concrete tracks and electric lights are gone, replaced by loose sand and pitch darkness. being at the rear really brings out the true nature of the place.

hollering in the darkness behind

it is then that our very own batman had a surprise. turning 50 on the 22nd, we bought a cake and stuck a candle to signify half a century of saving the world. it was also supposed to be his first ever birthday cake with candles laid out for him. wat a way to spend it...his very own bat cave.

the bat is 50!

the next phase of the walk consists of a underground river and squeezing into some really tight spaces. there are times where we were crawling on all fours or duckwalking thru a certain passageway.

mam jo getting wet on her shins

the underground stream in the early part of the morning

the light at one end of the cave

after a while, the water level risen causing some of us to almost wade low with a couple of inches to the ceiling. all electronic stuff were hastily dumped into our ziplock bags. i tried as much to take the pictures of us walking and crawling through but the combination of water and crawling made whipping out the camera almost impossible, unless it's waterproofed.

time to crawl and get wet!

one of my fav rock formations - an underground fountain

the 1.6km walk and crawl even consisted of sliding down a rockface about 3 to 4m metres high! as expected, a bottleneck of pple clamouring to slide down grew. As it's only possible to slide down one by one, the sliding took some time. to make matters worse, the descent is intimidating, causing a couple of pple to hesitate before alowing themselves to slide down. for the vertically phobic ah siong, it was quite an achievement, as was ida who was physically tired out after the long walk and crawl.

geronimo!

respect to IDA for this!

and right after that was the drop into a hole barely 1by 1.5m.....



the walk continued on and on.....crawling into water when necessary.....

it's depressing to be in the dark for such a long time

by the time we were out of the cave, it was almost 1pm and exhausted....but boy did we have a good time!

one of the things some pple enjoy but wouldn't admit to is to be be riding completely drenched and enjoying the cold cold ride. there wasn't a single person in our group who wasn't tired and yet we trooped down to the restaurant for a late buffet lunch.

plans to move out to kellie's castle was bandied ard and while some opted to get some much needed rest, the rest of the guys carried on and moved onto the bikes in search of the euporean themed castle nestled on ipohean lands, complete with moats.

a missed turning later, we descended onto the castle in the midst of blistering weather. doesn't really seem european in that kinda weather but nonetheless, quite a weird sight amid the kampungs.

It was bleeding hot and i was sleepy...bad combi. The castle was interesting just because it IS a castle. something u probably can find closing your eyes in eastern europe. anyway, it's just like singapore making fort siloso a tourist spot.

Kellie's Castle

the roof of Kellie's

the kinky boys and girls getting their tans

the customary bike shot

taken from the roof

cameras were out for unique angles and more camera tricks.....after a while, we ascended up the roof and the sight made up for all the castle's deficiencies. i aint gonna bother writing abt the castle's history. u prob can google it anyway.

after the customary bike shot, we headed to ipoh town for dinner. came to this english sounding cafe with english sounding food with gigantic drinks! had a nice wind down with wat else...beer...nice cool chilled beer to cool the heaty body...

one of the newest member - Andre

before i knew it, i was lying dead on the bed. wat a day.

the next day is a ride intensive one. from ipoh, we took the NS highway out and headed for Fraser's, this time heading southwards instead of the usual north. this is the first time the new route is opened to us as well...no more one way traffic and meeting timings!!! boy, i miss that now..the grass is always greener on the other side. partly cos the new route up is pretty boring and simply lacking in excitement. oh well, win some lose some.

my gay buddy

lunch was slow

not much pictures taken for the 2nd day cos it's mostly places we been and done. only the company's different and the ride is as always an extremely therapeutic experience......a biggie trip up next!!!!

Back to where it all started for vanwa, enedfea and also benny..........and the beginning of many memories for the newbies...

do the right thing..and Ride Among Us.