Roaring Forties

Nov 2, 2008 – It was our second outing with the Waterfalls Survivors. Rendezvous was set for 7.00 a.m. at the Zoo Negara car park but as usual Malaysians tend to be tardy. The numbers finally came to a total of 34 before we proceed for breakfast in Kg Kemansah at 8.00 a.m.

The old faces from the first outing were Joe, Leo, Hong, Nur, Harris, Mandy, Esther, June Yee and Gary. Amongst the new faces whose names I could remember were Ee, Ben, Vaani, Lian Kee, Soo Wei, William, Andy, Thomas, Elaine, Alexx, Mei San, Louie, Chee Wyi, Sean, Jin Chang and Alind.

Our destination for the day was the Sg Ampang Waterfalls. To get to the waterfalls, we had to travel through the side road beside Zoo Negara. After about 3 km, the road ends on top of a hill where the Institut Budaya Baru Melayu (IBBM). There is no choice but to bypass the property of IBBM, in order to get to the trail to waterfalls. We were charged RM 10 per person use a 75 meter stretch of land to get to the trail. Being ardent waterfalls fans, we paid the highway fee of RM 340 despite the feeling of being fleeced.

From IBBM, it was a brisk trek through some secondary jungle and a bamboo forest before we come to a fork junction. We took the left turn and proceed until we reached a camp site. After the camp site, there was another fork where we took the right trail to get to the 1^st waterfalls.

The 1^st waterfalls was a small one without sufficient space for a group of 34.

After a picture stop of the gushing waters against the morning sunlight and of an abundant fruit tree, we left for the second waterfalls. We backtracked about 30 meters and took a right up hill trail which took us up beyond the 1^st waterfalls. From there, we started our river trekking.

It was truly an interesting experience as we had to navigate up and down boulders while slogging our way through one to three feet deep of flowing waters. The shades provided by the jungle foliage overhead and the chilly cool waters made the journey most pleasant.

We soon reached the 2^nd waterfalls

We had to go through a trail upwards to get to the 3^rd waterfalls. This was the spot where we were swarmed with leaches. They were everywhere but since there were 34 of us, the feeding grounds for the leaches were pretty widespread and the damage was minimal.

From the 3^rd waterfalls, we had to hike up a 60˚ slope to get to the 4^th waterfalls. At certain parts, we had to go on all fours but surprisingly 32 of us made it without a problem. A pair of love birds opted to stay behind at the 3^rd waterfalls for their quiet time together.

Thanks to Thomas and his GPS, we managed to take a short-cut from the 4^th waterfalls to main jungle trail which took us back to the camping site.

Overall, it was great river trekking experience and a real leech extravaganza but most memorable of the trip was the oportunity to new friends.

Nov 9, 2008 – 5.00 a.m. Have not woken at such ungodly hour except when we had to catch the early morning flight to Hanoi last November. Nevertheless, the alarm rang to remind me of my intention to catch the sunrise at Broga Hill. Thought of snoozing for another 5 minutes but Mei wouldn’t allow me to do so.

Honestly I have not heard of Broga Hill until I received an invitation from Hong, my Waterfalls Survivors mate last Saturday. Since I work Saturdays, I couldn’t join him but the pictures taken during that trek flamed my interest. Since it is so close to home, I had to check it out.

Left the house at 5.30 a.m. for our sunrise jaunt. We got lost in Semenyih and wasted about 10 previous minutes. Finally, found the correct junction and arrived at the starting point at 6.35 a.m. We were rudely shocked to see about 6 cars arriving at the same time just ahead of us. Soon there was a long queue in front and we decided to fall back and take it easy. The only sad thing is that we will not reach the peak when it is still dark. The silver lining is that we won’t be lost.

The trek to the first summit took 30 minutes. The first 5 minutes was through a palm oil plantation, 20 minutes uphill trek through secondary jungle and the last 5 minutes was through field of “lalang”.  The first summit is a great spot to catch the sunrise.

It is another 3 minutes to the second summit. It is much windier here than the first summit and offers a great view of the surrounding rolling hills.

The real and 3^rd summit is just another 3 minutes up. The 3^rd summit offers a spectacular view of the 2^nd summit.

Beyond the 3^rd summit, lies a trail down the hill through a field of fern, some secondary jungle, a durian orchard, a rubber estate, a fruit farm and a palm oil plantation. It was an endlessly long walk and we finally reached our car after a one and a half hours trek where we were relentlessly attacked by mosquitoes. Insect repellents helped repelled some of the mosquitoes but in the end, Mei had more than 50 bites while I had at least 30.

11.00 a.m. we proceed to Broga town for the famous Pan Mee and Ice Kachang. Found out that the stall is only opened for lunch. A little wait wasn’t going to stop us so we just sat and relax watching the small town idling its time.

Our verdict

 The Ice Kachang is a bit diluted. The Kachang however is really good.

The Pan Mee was a disappointment. It is above average but nothing to die for.

The bonus was the Yong Tau Foo where the pork stuffed chili was really delicious.   

Broga Hill is a nice short outing for a morning work out.

The close proximity to KL is just perfect as we were home by 1.30 p.m. to catch up on our sleep.