Taman Negara #7 - Taman Negara Sunset.

The food was ready by the time we got back to the restaurant. That was just great for I was so hungry that I could eat a horse, or at least a leg of a horse. That food was not great but pretty decent for the price we are paying and the quantity is large enough to fill our stomach.

On the way back to our room, we spied the amusing sign on this toilet – “Don’t Go Here – Snake Inside”. This is understandable as there are not enough bathrooms to go round and there is a long wait during peak hour unless you want to take bath with a snake.

As we will be going jungle trekking at night, I decided not to take a bath. It will be slow going as eight of us were waiting for his turn. So I took the opportunity to hunt around for photo shoots. I took this shot on the high bank looking down at Sungai Tahan partly concealed by tall ficus tree with their overhanging roots.

Another shot of the Sungei Tahan showing the Ficus leaves.

At times, today the sky was a clear blue but most part of the day it was cloudy. But as I looked for the sunse, I was not sure where was west as I lost my orientation with jungles all around. I believed this was west and that is the light of the setting sun just above the tree lines. It was not much of a sunset but it was still something to remember by. I have no time to just wait for perfect moments.

When I look around, I was surprised to see an even brighter spread of orange and gold at the opposite end. Which is the real sunset? It only took me a second to ponder before I trained the camera at it. Who cares as long it is beautiful, right?

The river reflected back the sunset gold but the greedy jungle absorbed it and would give nothing back.












My attempt to capture attracted other photographers with much better gears. This photographer took up position in front of me and clicked away. He seemed quite pleased with his effort. I asked him how was his shots and he proudly showed on the LCD screen.

The Caucasian with his girlfriend was not too pleased with his shot though. He lamented that it did not look great without the tripod stand. It was not a great sunset but it was the only sunset during this trip for it rained the next day. I will take less than perfect pictures over nothing any day.

The light faded but new lights came on. The floating restaurant took on a new look, looking sexier in half light. It has just the right alluring look to welcome you onboard.

Over at the other bank, the dim lights of the restaurant looked trapped by the dark. Everywhere lights were failing and the jungle rose up to consume everything.

It was time to return to the hostel. A white cat with jade green eyes rimmed by yellow lids questioned our presence before her equally white kittens drew her away.

The night now ruled the Earth. Boats and lights swimming in the ink black river illuminated by shimmering lights.

We crossed the other bank to go The Mutiara, the only five stars hotel in Taman Negara with suite costing up to RM1,000 a night. We had our torches ready for the night jungle trekking.

The river can rise many meters during the rainy season. This sign near the entrance of the hotel marked the record it achieved – a staggering 74 meters!

Nights are especially dark here. This was a shot of the river bank from which we came and the white streak is a boat coming in to moor. A serene scene punctuated by boats in a hurry.

Armed with torches, the group took a photo before setting off to search for our jewels of the night...

To be continued...

Taman Negara #3 - The Batek Forest People.

Once we dropped our bags in the room, we hurried down to river; everyone raring to go.

The bank where the houses are built consisted of two levels, we were at the highest level. The reason why they are built so high up is that you will amaze by how high the river can rise during the rainy season towards the end of the year when the monsoons starts. It is also the reason why all the restaurants at the river are all not on permanent legs but are floating.

We made our way down this rickety wooden stairs with missing steps which swayed precariously under our combined weight. Over the next few days, we will be climbing up and down this stair several times a day. But we did not break it, we left it for some else to do it. See the single strand of flimsy wire that is supposed to be our guide rail but we still hand on it for support and to some it seems like for life.

One after another, we planted our foot carefully taking care not to tumble down like Jack & Jill and brought the others down in a chain reaction.

Our heart started pounding when through thick foliage and flowering plants, we saw the river where Sungei Tahan joined Sungei Tembeling. It was like we have found our long lost love if you know what I meant. This is what we came for and the view did not disappoint.

There was a wide stretch of sandy beach, and a number of floating restaurants all lining just off the shore greeted us. You do not have to worry about getting a decent meal any time of the day or night.

This restaurant ran by our tour company is the focal point of all our meetings and starting of our activities as well as our meals. A narrow plant is all that connects it to the beach. One wrong step and you will have an early drink.

These are our trusty boats that will take us to all our activities. As all round us are dense tropical jungle that are almost impassable (at least to non-jungle dwellers like us). The main and in many cases only mode of transportation is by the river boats.

This is our first boat ride and you can see the excited expressions. The powerful motor kicked to life and pushing us off to our first adventure.

The river is quite busy with many boats traversing to and fro between destinations. The boats traveled quite fast and sometimes it appeared a bit recklessly. But these are experienced boaters who do not like to take it slow. Amid the sleepy jungle and languid river, the only things roaring to life are the fast boats.

We passed by interesting scenes and I kept my camera busy. I liked this shot which I called ‘waiting’; for it will make an interesting story. The man is waiting for a fish to bite, what is the lady waiting for? Write your own story.

This picture shows how lovely it is taking a boat down the river. Clear blue sky overhead, a wide river, fresh air, dense forest on both banks. Our tour guide took the best seat of the house, at the front of the boat.

As all activities starts at the river bank, boats are busy ferrying passengers to the various points.

We arrived at ours to go to the “Ear Cave” or Gua Telinga.

After a short walk, we reached a Batek forest people village who just happened to camp off this track having moved in recently. They are nomadic people who never stayed long in one place. They lived off the jungle and once the surrounding area is exhausted, it is time to move. A death or sickness in one of their member may also cause them to move as they are highly superstitious people. Our guide is explaining to us the lifestyle of these gentle people who took life each day as they come.

There are only less than a thousand of the Batek (which meant original people in Malay) left and they are mostly concentrated in Taman Negara. They are shy people who kept very much to themselves living a way of life thousand of years old. When we came across them, we felt like we are intruding into their world which is the truth.

To be continued...

Port Klang Views #19 - Super Dredger & YTL Cement

We saw some structures ahead and sped on. By this time, the sea was getting quite choppy and sitting in front, the plank I was sitting on was whacking my buttocks. Couldn't take any good picture like that. So I shifted to the back where it was more stable. At that point I realized that there was no safety vest on the boat and I won’t last long in the sea. But it is kind of late to realize that, right? So best not to think of it and continued to enjoy the journey.

As we're heading towards the super-dredger, the clouds opened up and rays of lights broke through. A spectacular sight.

This is the super-dredger's drilling head. Massive, isn't it? You can imagine that when those teeth are turning, could chew up anything. This is a floating dredge and can sail to wherever it is needed. The drilling head cut the bottom and the ship pumped up the debris and spewed it out the other end for land reclamation.

A drill worker was leisurely perching on the side of the vessel staring curiously at us. He was pleased we were there to release the boredom during his break.

We passed the dredge and you can see how far we are away now from the Star Cruise Terminal. This journey we are taking will trace almost the entire coastline of Pulau Indah from South Port. What you are seeing in the photos was what we saw all along the way. The photos are in sequence so it will be as if you are traveling with us.

The next structure we came across was the YTL Cement Factory. The two cylindrical structures are concrete silos which are used to store cement. They are used as temporary storage before being pumped into ships for export. Transportation of heavy materials were still the cheapest by sea.

Kurau enjoyed going under low places to force us to duck our heads. He wanted to prove to us how good his estimates are. He almost did not make it one time but that was much later on in our journey.

We then headed for this gigantic arm that reached high into the air. The green panel must be housing a belt conveyor that carried the cement to the end. From there the cement lifted by a chain elevator (probably, sorry don't much about the cement business and I'm not an engineer) to the top to drop into the ship that came to carry it. It has to be high enough to accommodate the height of the ship. The jetty is stretched far out to sea to get the desired depth for the ship to dock.

Another shot of the gigantic arm against the evening sky.

We went under the jetty to head to our next destination which are a number of storage tanks in the distance.

To be continued...

Port Klang Views #17 - Round The Island Of Pulau Indah.

We passed by this boat fishing near the beacon. They must have lasted through the storm. These fishing kakis are really hardy guys. Wind and rain does deter them not as long as they get a bite from the fish.

On the opposite side of Pulau Indah is North Port which is mainly a container port and those are huge unloaders for unloading containers.

We have now passed by the mangrove swamp area in Pulau Indah and reached more developed parts. I am not familiar with some of the construction and if did not make any comments is because I do not know about it. But I will show the pictures anyway for you to have a complete photographic journey and hopefully filled in the information later in the picture. Any help from readers would be appreciated. This I believed is a ship repair yard.

This looked like another government marine department.

Ship repair yard.

We now sailed to deeper water and the water was getting choppier.

We could see big ships either sailing to either one of the ports. There was a large container ship and we headed towards its direction for a closer look.

Photo from Kurauking gallery.

That’s me being caught taking photo of the container.

After rounding it we left it and once again headed for the shoreline of Pulau Indah.

A jetty but we do not know for what purpose. Was surprised to see a few children there.

We left it to continue tracing the coastline of the island of Pulau Indah.

To be continued...