Gunung Senyum 2007 Day 2

The second day was fantastic..... my whole body was aching, my toe was sore and painful... and i was raring to go.. We had hired a guide to take us to Jebak Puyuh to make sure we did not miss a few caves like we did the last time. His name was Husin, a nice friendly chap whom if i remember correctly was karoke'ing his heart out in a sarong the last time we were here.

(*Gua Rangkak)

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The hike to Jebak Puyuh toke some 45 minutes to reach and the first cave we visited was Gua Rangkak (Crawling Cave). Next was Gua Terewong (Tunnel Cave) and Gua Kapal (Ship).

(*Gua Kapal)

(**Gua Terowong)

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We bypassed a few caves to get to Gua Straw and Gua Jandi. These two caves had the most interesting formations i have ever seen... the sad part was that there where visitors who either did not know or where ignorant about how fragile the 'straw' formations where and they touched it and it broke... so when we were there we did not see any which were more then 2 or 3 inches long. Husin explained that one which was 3 feet long can take up to 60 years to form.... woah...

(*Gua Straw,.. howlong did this take..................................... *Meditating in Mayat)

(*Can you see the mayat)

Gua Mayat (Dead Body) was next... was not to keen to stay too long in Gua Mayat if you know what i mean. Did not have good memories of this cave the last time I was here.

The last cave of the day is a cave i have not visited before. It was called Gua Ular (Snake). It was the most interesting cave in the whole trip. From the first chamber we went trought a small opening which lead up to another chamber which then lead to a Garden... Something about the place felt so peaceful... we all dub the place 'Secret Garden'. Donovan and Daniel explored the place well... Donovan especially was always eager to explore ever crevice.... hmm that didnt sound right...

(**Gua Ular)

(*The Secret Garden.......................................*The MARS like features of Gua Ular)

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Anyway... the place reminded us of MARS... too bad this was the last cave because i was too tired to explore it further... it didnt help that i had kicked another tree stump and my toe started to bleed again just before entering Gua Ular. The funny thing is in the jungle trail i had kneeled to check on my toe... there in front of me i saw 4 or 5 leeches heading towards me from different directions... i quickly jumped to my feet and hopped out of there..... Husin and YanKeat came back to get me and helped me reach Gua Ular... it was a really funny sight seeing those leeches heading towards me like that...

Talking about leeches all in all there were 40 over leeches between the 12 of us. I had five bites. Donovan and Lee Wen had the most, 8 bites each!!

(a 200 year old ARA Tree)

From Top Left: Wan Shen, Anelie, Lau, Kam, Donovan, Chelva, Andrew (endrooG) , SzeLin (Tihtahpah)

Seated in Front: Lee Wen, Daniel(The Gallivanter) , Chin Yan Keat, Me

Gunung Senyum 2007 Day 1 part 2

Some pics of the first Day...





These taken by Chin Yan Keat

Senyum!!......................................Gua Taman Dua

Tripod setup........







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...and these taken by me.

Telaga Tujuh

2 seconds without flash........... 2 seconds with flash

The ceiling of Gua Terang Bulan

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A few bugs..........

Cave Cricket

Spider 1

Spider 2

Spider 3... this one crawled up my leg and scared the gejibers out of me..

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Mo

Gunung Senyum 2007 Day 1

Senyum was fantastic. I got to visit 3 new caves which I didn’t go the last time and it was the best among all the other caves there. We totally were smitten by Gunung Senyum and Jebak Puyuh and despite the leech bites, insect bites and the aches and pain; those who went on this trip can’t seem to stop talking about it.

We wanted to leave at 5am but some (actually one) as usual woke up late and we landed up leaving past 6am. It was a lovely drive and the weather was not too hot. Altogether there were 4 cars in the convoy (Daniel, Me, Andrew and Kham). We all kept to the speed limit except for Kham who insisted on driving at 80Kph on a 110kph highway so naturally he was left far behind. That was until we reached Karak highway, with its steep inclines which was not good news for my car… Not enough my car is slow on the slopes, it was also packed to the brim (overloaded) food, camping gear, Chelva and Dono. I couldn’t even pass 50kph at one point. So eventually all the cars over took me and Kham eventually very slowly over took me too. Damn Satria 1.3….

(*the sunrise on the way there)

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I caught up with Kham once we past the hilly area and tried to encourage him to get up to speed …at least to the speed limit. I gave up after a while and decided to catch up with the others. After some TOP GEAR style driving maneuvers through some tantalizing corners we caught up with Dan and Andrew.

We reached Temerloh at about 7.45am but had to wait about half an hour for Kham to join us as we continued on to the Senyum turnoff where we stopped for breakfast. It toke about 45 minutes to reach the Senyum campsite and we immediately got ready for the first days hike at around 9.45am

(*Temerloh!!!!.Daniel clowning around while we were waiting for Kham)

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Gunung Senyum is very close to the campsite so it wasn’t long before we were in Gua Angin a windy cave massive with luminescent moss and plants. Next was Gua Terang Bulan which was an even bigger complex with an opening where light streamed in. The last time I was here, a single beam of light came shining down to the ground…. Now that was cool…but this time it wasn’t as dramatic.

(**Senyum!!.................................. *Kham on our first trail)

(*Gua Angin............................*Its huge)

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We then backtracked towards Angin and made our way up to Gua Taman Satu and Taman Dua. This place is full of stone formations which look like coral and plants. You really wonder how it got this way…simply Amazing!

Up the hill and down again will lead us to Gua Gajah, named after the wall surface that looks like an Elephant. We did not go in further because of a sign that read Caution! no entry!

A steel staircase leads us up to Gua Makam Tok Long. Tok Long was a legendary warrior (I think during Hang Tuah’s time) who used to reside in Gunung Senyum. When he died he was buried here. Out of respect I did not take any pictures of his tomb.

(**on the stairs leading to Gua Makam............*Silat Time)

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Not far from Gua Makam is Gua Silat. This is where Tok Long practiced his ‘silat’ moves. After we did some silat moves of our own we stopped for lunch at Danau Impian.

(**Where we stopped for lunch................*Danau Impian)

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After some chow and some much needed rest we headed to Gua Telaga Tujuh (7 wells, thks for the translation Fi’). The last few times I’ve been here all seven wells were dry but because of the amount of rain we have been getting this past few months it was all filled with water. Cool…

(*Telaga Tujuh..Group photo, rain enters Telaga Tujuh here)

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Towards the other side of Senyum there are two caves which I wanted to visit. But when we got to the trail leading to these caves it was over grown with plants. And to top it off the rain had formed a small stagnant river which we had to cross. So just imagine this… 11 city folk being lead blindly into the jungle by a fat, tired Indian whose legs just gave way halfway and had to sit down for awhile… kekeke… im sure they were cursing me.. kekeke… It toke me a while to find the trail again of which I found by accident …. Some actually wanted to go back to the campsite. Luckily there were a few who wanted to carry on and convinced them to continue the hike.

Well…. we finally did find Gua Kelawar. It has the largest amount of Bats living in the area and because of this the cave floor is covered with Guano (Bat popo). Billions of different kinds of bugs can be seen crawling on the floor all devouring the Guano which leaves a dark chocolate powder like earth on the floor of the cave. When you shine your light on the floor it looks like the floor is moving… way cool.. like something out of Indiana Jones… of by the way… I think I don’t have to tell you how bad the smell was…

(*Entrance to the Bat Cave.... *Checkout Chin's Sexy shorts)

The last cave of the day was Gua Nisan. There was a tough climb that some of us took to get to the top a ledge… We got a good view of the entrance of the cave from there… very nice..

(*Clearing the campsite........................................**All done)

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It took us just as long to get out to the trail which leads us back to the campsite … By the time we got to the campsite it was 3pm and boy were we beat. After setting up our tents we just lazed around resting and bathing. During that time it rained really heavy. And when the rain stopped, the girls, Kham and Lau prepared dinner. I wasn’t too happy because some of them segregated themselves from the group and ate by themselves. And the same bunch went to bed early while the rest of us sang songs as Daniel played the guitar ….Oh well…. Want can I say……

Oh yah… before going to bath I accidentally kicked a small tree stub……. I started bleeding from the inside of my toe…. And I thinking …shit will I be able to hike to Jebak Puyuh tomorrow?...

Anyway my toe did feel better later……. I couldn’t wait for next day… because the caves in Jebak Puyuh are a hundred and eleventy percent more better then the caves in Senyum.

Mo

* taken by me

**taken by Chin

Road Tax Disc Replacement

I have noticed many cars which still have their old road tax sticker stuck to their windscreen. Some are half way torn. Some have a collection of these stickers in a row from top to bottom and even around their windscreen like a frame. Well...for what ever reason it may be... i would like to show you how to remove and replace it.

(Use a plastic ruler to start the peel, ...............................................then peel slowly)

(Clean the area with hand soap, wipe with water and let dry, then place the new disc from one corner)

Finally use the plastic ruler to guide the peel straight and smoothly and you're all done..... Its that simple so stop leaving your old road tax on your windscreen already.....

Gunman kills 32 in Virginia Tech rampage

Virginia Tech students gather in front of the War Memorial on campus in Blacksburg, Va. to mourn their fellow students Monday, April 16, 2007. A gunman massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history Monday, cutting down his victims in two attacks two hours apart before the university could grasp what was happening and warn students. (Photo by Evan Vucci,Press).

I pray for the victims and their families.

Mo

Excuse Me!!

Had to wake up bright and early last Saturday because my wife signed up me and two of her colleagues for a treasure hunt organized by Sunway University College (that’s where she works lah). The hunt was opened to all ex sunway students and current staff and their spouses… We drove all over most parts of PJ and Damansara and then back to Sunway for a maximum of 5 hours. Any longer then that and points will be deducted.

I drove of cos while the others worked on the clues. I helped whenever I had the chance but its hard to navigate the directions and work on the clues at the same time. Rose help me with most of the navigation… god bless her multitasking skills. The hunt was enjoyable but the heat was unbearable… I think at one point it was 40 degress…. we were so dehydrated after the hunt.

Well… to cut a short story shorter… Out of 32 teams, our team (VERTIGO) came in 5th overall and received RM 500 buckaroos… but registration was RM150 and Petrol and toll about RM30…hmmm not much after dividing it amongst ourselves hmmm… oh well… I guess its better then nothing…

mo

Miss Leggy Scarnato

ok fine... miss leggy scarnato is out ... serves her right... She sang like shit... her hair was wrong, her outfit was ridiculous and who the hell did her makeup lah.... and what was that so called prancing she did all over the stage... it looked like she was doing a rooster walk or something.. Sad ..very sad... You know what ...I think its inevitable people... Sanjaya is the next American Idol.. :(

Seeing Red

Bought a RED Heavy duty Dolphin torch light for the trip to Senyum. The last time i was there i used the normal Eveready Torch light. It was ok but not as bright as i wanted it to be. I was excited until a friend of mine told me that those Dolphin torchlights are very bright and durable but they dont last. At most the bateries last about two hours...... I am like alamak!!!... never mine lah i will still bring it along.

... did anyone watch Formula Uno last weekend ah.... What lah that stupid Massa... he better buck up before i come there and slap him silly. Some more almost taking out Raikkonen on that corner trying to overtake Hamilton. Just heard over the radio that raikkonen is very confident with the cars setup this week and is looking forward to Bahrin. But I say bah!!...hopefully Massa gets his act together because its no use being fastest in qualifiers but then drive like a taxi driver then terbabas(lose control)... goooo Ferrari... i am here waving the ferrari RED flag high yah.......


Talking about radio... If you were listening to Hitz FM radio today morning, you would have noticed that Rudy was on holiday or something like that and Andrew Netto would be temporally replacing him for two days. Yes thats right... the same Netto i wrote about lah.... that Funny Indian feller in RED. Congrats Andrew, i believe i dont have to tell you to enjoy every minute of it...


Whats with this freaky weather lah... its hot but it rains almost everyday...Is there a RED alert on the weather.... Is Al Gore righ! of cause his right... or he could be half right,,,,,,,,,,life... will always find a way... and nature will correct itself to the planets own benefit not ours because this is and how its always been...... something even greater then what we can comprehend.... peace.

Penang Sunsets

(Batu Ferringi Penang 06)

This is one of my favourite sunsets that i took in early 2006. APM had gone to penang for a retreat and we went to Batu Ferringi for dinner the first night there... i walked out towards the beach and hidden behind the Ru' trees was this beautiful sunset.

I dont have most of my penang sunsets on digital form but i do have a few memorable shots like these three below which I took on three different days on a holiday i made with Rose and a few friends in 2005.

(.................................Batu Ferringi 2005........................)

But like i always say, you dont have to enjoy a beautiful sunset at the beach. Sometimes the sunsets right outside your front door are just as magnificent like these below.

(.......................Taken outside my office window............................)

(Stuck in a jam somewhere in KL city) ......(Outside my hse balcony)

So at dusk, stop awhile and look out your widow ...or go outside and let the colours enthrall you..... but be careful when you're stuck in a jam lah cos you wouldnt want to rear-end the car in front of you now dont you. Happy Easter by the way. I shall leave you with another favourite shot i took at the Bazzar along Batu Ferringi Road in Penang.

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MO

Do you want to smile...?

(Took the picture above last wednesday from my office balcony. The sun was pretty intense and I wouldnt recommend taking pictures directly at the sun, but it sure makes a nice shot)

Was on leave yesterday. Took the picture on the left which i kinda like. But i think the angle could be better and maybe should be taken with a better sky...(can you guess where is was taken?)

Anyway i went to a few places to check out stuff to buy for the Senyum trip.... Found a lot of camping gear going for dirt cheap prices.... Not like i need camping gear lah... just look look see only... One thing i must warn all of you about is when buying a tent... always look at the details ... The tent can be cheap but it should have a fly sheet. The fly sheet gives added protection from the rain and sun. If you want to get a tent that doesnt have a fly sheet.. you could get a cheap canvas at the hard ware store(those plastic like sheets in blue and white strips). Also when deciding on the size of the tent your getting always minus 2 , as to mean if the tent is meant for 6 people.. only 4 people will be comfortable in it... because you have to count your bag and other equipment too. So if you want to get a tent for two people, buy one that is made for 4 ..

My car just tripped the 100K mark last week.... i have heard many horror stories about cars that react this milestone... so... fingers crossed.

BTW, there are about 10 people confirmed for the senyum trip... its not too late to join us you know... so contact me if you are interested and want to smile (open invitation to friends and strangers)

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MO

:)