Friday, March 24, 2006
Jerangkang Waterfall
Jerangkang Waterfall is located somewhere near Kuantan, Malaysia. It boasts of a series of over 40+ cascades with relatively sizable pools to enjoy the dipping in, to swim and some jacuzzi, if you can just find the right spot. After that, all you have to do is to find yourself a relatively big, flat rock surface to catch your siesta. Ahh...heaven...Despite being sick and not fully recovered, 2 weekends ago, we unloaded ourselves right there after braving thru the 8 hour journey through the night. There were police road blocks along the way. I hardly slept. When I finally slept, it was time to wake again. It was pitch dark when we arrived at 6am in the morning. The nasi lemak is not ready yet. And so we waited, each with a different stoned expression.
At 8am, the lorry (our 4WD) came to bring us to the waterfall. We packed ourselves in like sardines. Honestly, with our backpacks and all, there was no space left. This is a good time to visit Jerangkang, where the weather is hot (so we get to cool ourselves down) and water levels are lower (so we can play in the pools and the torrential falls aren't too strong). We arrived at base camp an hour later and walked in another 20 minutes to our camping grounds.
The fun began with a short hike further in. The trail started is relatively easy, even for the beginners who were with us. Our youngest member was a 6 year old girl. A majestic waterfall greeted us 2 hours later. This is our 2nd and final rest point where we had our lunch. The water was extremely cold. And as you can guess, we made our way to the jacuzzi point right under the waterfall.
We made our way back to our camp site safely after we decided we had enough of food, fun, siestas and photos. We cooked liang teh after dinner and the few remaining souls chatted the night away while the rest chose to turned in early.
There are plenty of trees here. At last, I do not have to fight for hammock space. So happily I picked my tree and set up my 'bed'. It was a good thing too, otherwise I would probably have to fight for the side sleeping space in the tent since I was still sick. Good choice to hammock really, cos I perpetually needed to clear my nose through the night.
I learnt another thing, timber hitch. An amazing knot that can hold me in my hammock! The next amazing thing I learnt was, attempting to change in my banana hammock. Haha, interesting. I never thought it was possible.
Day break came, we finished breakfast, packed and prepared for our journey back to SG. Another weekend well spent.
