Roaring Forties

Sept 8, 2007 – Rendezvous was set for 7.30 am at the Kota Kubu Baru post office where the 11 of us arrived in 3 cars and a motor cycle. S. Ann, S. Leong, C. Fong & William car-pooled from Melawati & Kepong while May, Emelia, Tay, Casey, Joo T & I convoyed in 2 cars from TTDI. Thong went solo on his scooter from Wangsa Maju with an enormous back pack.

After breakfast, we proceed towards Fraser’s Hill and seek out the landmark iron bridge where the trail starts. The route was very scenic bypassing a recently built dam and some beautiful stretch of highway.

It took only 15 minutes from KKB to reach the starting point where we found a huge crowd of about 30 gathering for a picture taking session. We immediately geared up, took a couple of our own group pictures and started trekking. We were closely pursued by the group of 30 for a good 20 minutes until we reached the Fisheries Department Outpost where we have to cross a suspension bridge which could only take a maximum of 3 persons each time. We crossed the river without haste but the other group appeared to have bottle-necked at the suspension bridge due to their numbers.

After crossing the suspension bridge, we have to trek through a field of 5 feet high fern which quickly brought back memories of the horror flick “Children of the Corn”. I was imagining a child jumping out of the fern with a sickle in hand when my day dreams were quickly interrupted by the sound of rushing water. We came out of the fern wilderness and reached the edge of the river.

From here, it was trekking along the riverside until the falls. There were a total of 3 river crossings which was necessary each time we ran out of trail. Thong brought along his floatable static rope which was specially geared for water conditions. The deepest spot was about waist deep and the current was relatively weak despite a heavy down pour the night before.

After a hour and a half hour of trekking at a leisurely pace, we finally reached Chilling Falls.

The sight of the falls was quite impressive especially the sheer 100 feet height of the falls. What’s absolute special about the place was the absence of litter and the presence of hundreds of fishes swimming in its icy cold water.

Thong topped our outing when he boiled “Lor Hon Kor” using the water in which the fishes were swimming in. Even though fears of aquatic bacteria momentary flashed through my mind but what the heck, the “Lor Hon Kor” tasted absolutely delicious, even better than one from the famous stall in Petaling Street.

We spent a total of two satisfying hours at the falls, absorbing all the negative ions which was supposed to be in abundance in such a natural environment. We could hav stayed longer but our return trip was hasten by the arrival of a large group of students and the darkening skies. The return trek took us only one hour.

The finale of the outing was a detour to Ulu Yam for a late afternoon “Lor Mee” lunch.

Overall, it was quite an easy trek but not for children under twelve. Chilling Falls is definitely one of the better ones in close proximity to Kuala Lumpur and the clean surrounding it-self is worth the effort.

I would love to go there again.