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Friday, April 3, 2015

#TravelholicAwesome Blackout is BACK!

Curious much?

Monday, May 5, 2014

Day 2 | Royal Belum Sg Tiang Campsite

Photography session at Royal Belum.
Failed with flying rainbow colours.
Ahaks...(My rule of thirds ke laut, in this case, ke tasik)

Earlier entry
Day 1 | Royal Belum Houseboat & Rafflesia
Day 1b | Royal Belum's Jahai Tribe (Orang Asli)

Since we have baby on board, I reserved a room in the houseboat, instead he booked a lovely chalet for us at Sg. Tiang Campsite for those who prefers to sleep in a proper amenities and not close/open to nature ie houseboat. Unfortunately, the generator was faulty hence the best thing to do was to sleep in the houseboat. So sleep in the houseboat we did, and it was fun-er too.

For those who wanted to stay here or organise a offsite session, this place is not that bad really. There a several chalets and rooms that can be rented out. The room come with attached bathroom where else the chalet does not. It also have other facilities like kitchen, dinning hall overlooking the lake, surau and which can accomodate 30-50 guests comfortably.

Understood that there is a juggle track nearby for those that love mother nature and wild animals. Yes, you can see them if you are lucky enough; tapirs, elephants, tigers etc roaming around. Sg. Tiang Campsite is being patrolled by rangers from time to time, to ensure safety of Royal Belum visitors.

Ah...! Almost forgot to share with you how the bottom floow of this house boat looks like. Well, this is obviously the kitchen where the kakak cooks fabulous meal. Remember that RM150 per/head that I mentioned in earlier entries, it includes delicious, sumptuous, fabulous meal that if anyone whines about the food, you can (and I approve) kick that person into the lake. Seriously sodapppp!

Ahoy Captain Jack Sparrow!

Hammock is located downstairs and always being occupied by them. #Eh

For those lazy bums, you can do skinny dipping in the lake (life jacket is a must) before breakfast. You'll see #TravelholicAwesome with all kind of act - kuak lentang, kuak kupu-kupu, kuak dugung pun ada (apa tuh??? I mean, siapa tuh????) Zara and I opted out as we prefer to laugh at them dugungs (giler jahat kan).

For those opted out (from swimming sebab nak simpan lemak-lemak tepu untuk bekal gi Antarctic nanti) were taken for a boat ride. The boat where Kak Anash, Hasrul, Sami and Suci took went to feed them leeches (one of the informal and ad hoc activities) and our boat went for a joy ride (boat untuk activity orang penakut).

Oh yah! We saw another houseboat docking along the bank, this one with more rooms.

Post maut untuk Majalah Mangga.

Awat bila I tangkap gambar bakau ni jadi tak lawa. Awat???

Last activity before we head back to our jetty is to visit a waterfall which they claim is beautiful, first question pop to mind "ada pacat tak?" (any leeches?). If ada pacat, kirim salam, I dok dalam bok je... I was rest assured there were none and so I said ok, but if one ever crawl up on me, the whole 20 people from the houseboat better come and rescue. Better! Hahhahahhaaa... demanding tuh.

A short 10mins hike to the waterfall.

When sharing tips the night before, we were given a task to see whether we understood and able to apply what we learnt. We were on a mission to implement our learning. I decided to try the diagonal rule of thirds as I feel that was the hardest of all.

First attempt : Horizontal rule of thirds = fail!

Second attempt : Diagonal rule of thirds with macro (kononnya) = fail (obviously lah kan)

Third attempt : Diagonal rule of thirds = confirm fail.

No rules for them, they decided to go for a dip instead which I think is a better move. Hahhahaa...

Only one rule, no no no.... not Shah-rule! One rule, the only rule; HAVE FUN!

#TravelholicAwesome
(hyperlinked)

Globetrotter

Kaki Berangan

Janggeltrekker's Life
Beauty in Darkness
Chawanna
CocoNutz
Kaki Jalan
From Malaysia To The World
Journey of Life
This is Our La La Land
My Story Is On Lifetimes
Traveller Anatomy
Travelista
Pengembara Tumpangan

Friends

(hyperlinked)
Time Traveller

Living To Explore
Hang Dhamin
The Province of Chroma

Belum Outdoor Adventure (BOA)

Tel : +6017-451 4939

Email : belum.outdoor@gmail.com
Facebook : Belum Outdoor Adventure
Special package : RM150 for 2D1N

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Day 1b | Royal Belum's Jahai Tribe (Orang Asli)

Jahai tribe.

'Orang Asli' or indigenous people in Malaysia consist of Semang or Negrito, originated from the northern portion of the peninsular Malaysia, Senoi, residing in the central region and Proto-Malay or Aboriginal Malay from in the southern region. The Semang or Negrito are the earliest inhabitants of the peninsular Malaysia.

And I am fortunate to visit Kampung Aman Damai in Royal Belum, a settlement for the Jahai tribe.

Earlier entry
Day 1 | Royal Belum Houseboat & Rafflesia

This is one of the most looked forward activity in the itinerary, well, for me at least. You see, I am always mesmerize with portraiture of 'Orang Asli' or indigenous people and keen to try my hand at capturing the moment, the depth, the expression and yes, I did fail with flying colours when it comes to portraiture. Bila nak pandai nih? Ke kena beli camera RM10k macam Hang Dhanim atau lens RM10k macam Masnona? Confirm tak travel 2 tahun kalau gi beli.

No red carpet service di sini, come as you are katanya.

Finally I caught a glimpse of them waiting for our arrival, at this point I was practically doing jumping jacks 50 times ok. Some of us brought some titbits to share with the kids and the BOA folks brought some as well.

TravelTips : You can bring preloved items such toys/shirts/books that is in good condition to be donated. Do be mindful that this is not a dumping ground, make sure the stuff that you wish to donate can be recycle/reuse.

I learnt that the BOA team alternate these orang asli villages so that every BOA participants get to experience different environment and the villages will get fair share of the donation. Noble.

Konon-konon rule of third, yeah right! (eyes rolling)

Kak Anash melawat tanah jajahan, ramai giler supporter.

These kids wanna befriend us but they are too shy. Hehhehheheee...

She asked us to take their pics. OK.

Gerai Haye Obet or Medicine Shop is what stated at the door, those bagged are herbs for sale.

Trying some framing technique, yes, gagal dengan cemerlang juga.

Groovy giler orang asli ni.

We were asked how do you know when the village population increases? When you see them building more houses and extending their land. This is normally due to marriage and here we saw a few houses being built, ramainya baru kahwin...

I like this scene. Really like.

Cantik kan.

They are envious of Aqilah because Kak Anash giving her the most attention. Giteww...

We parted soon after and headed to Sg. Tiang camp site where some of us skinny dip (#eh) and some fell into the lake -> Hang Dhanim. Will share the silly things we did in the next entry.

To be continued...

#TravelholicAwesome
(hyperlinked)

Globetrotter

Kaki Berangan

(hyperlinked)
Time Traveller

Living To Explore
Hang Dhamin
The Province of Chroma

Belum Outdoor Adventure (BOA)

Tel : +6017-451 4939

Email : belum.outdoor@gmail.com
Facebook : Belum Outdoor Adventure
Special package : RM150 for 2D1N

Monday, April 21, 2014

Day 1 | Royal Belum Houseboat & Rafflesia

Boathouse or Houseboat?
What is the difference?

After much planning with #TravelholicAwesome and friends, we finalised on the date, cars and route. The plan was that we depart on Friday evening to Chawanna parents' home and at around 9ish Saturday morning we will make our way to Royal Belum. And the passangers of each car have been allocated as well, totalling to 5 cars and 19 participants, including 1 infant (Suci) and 2 kids (Sami and Aqilah).

Few questions pop into our mind...
1. Mattress - Do they provide? Are we to sleep on the floor? Do we need to bring sleeping bag? Toto? Blanket? Katil? Nyamuk????
2. Bathroom - Where are we gonna bathe? Is there a bathroom? Are we to bathe in the lake? Howabout toilet? Poo-poo how???
3. Internet - No internet, we die. Period. (Memang tak da network pun)

Buzz... buzz... buzz... My Whatsapp kept buzzing.
(Semua dah tak mood nak kerja dah on Friday, dok pikir packing and nak balik je, dasar traveler kan kan kan)

Byya pinged saying she will be 'slightly' late, hence I decided to buy popiah basah, pulut panggang, cara berlauk, kuih lapis and kuih koci for the everyone (sebab confirm semua akan lapar), then I also decided to wash my toilet, feed my cat, clean the house etc before showering. Gigih dak? While doing all this, Afif called me at least 3 times worried that I got lost getting to his house (cite nye Byya sampai pun belum adek ooiii, terlebih excited budak nih, keh keh keh). Apparently Afif fried nasi-goreng-bungakantan-ikanbilis-homemadekimci-sayurcampur (dengan banyaknya) and another food that the 'name-should-not-be-mention' (as we sworn secrecy to not tell anyone, Hang Dhanim kata national security).

Once everyone on board I soon noticed one thing, semua kanak-kanak hyper dalam kereta ini and that there is an undelcared selfie and whatsapp 'game' enroute to Ipoh. The jokes started with our car ie Team Byya having the 'nur' (as we have ustaz Afif with us) and Team Janggel claimed that they have a doctor (Dr. Shahrul) in the car but the winner goes to Team Chawanna as the have 'Yang Arif' in the house (Dan Arif - "The Learned")! Terus whatsapp diam seketika.

Other than queuing for bathroom at Chawanna mom's house, we were delighted by her mom's nasi lemak and kasui (sedap giler ok) and like Chawanna; her mom is friendly and kind (nampak tak permainannya disini, ampu).

Team Byya added another passenger, Mas Kaki Jalan before leaving to Royal Belum. We are so fortunate as Mas is the kakak kawasan or territorial manager of this whole area, there isn't anything that passes her knowledge, she even knew where and when the night market in Sauk is, the fun fair in Gerik or the house where they make ikan pekasam (fermented fish). Facepalm.

We arrived at Royal Belum!

First time seeing our houseboat, besarnyaaaaa.

We were required to fill in release form and a quick briefing was conducted.

Leaving the jetty.

Perasan gambar ni lawa sebab tuh letak.

While the houseboat cruises, we roam around taking pictures upon pictures upon selfies (!?!), none was spared. Having one person owning a RM10k DSLR, one with a RM10k lense, another with a monopod, how could there not be few hundreds of our pictures everywhere right? (Sambil fliphair)

Jeng jeng jeng
Let's play a game, detact which guy below have the most move?

Pemes mereka lepas ni.

Lazing around is a must, this is the top deck. Tetami on the top deck and hammock at the bottom, memang layanlah...

Our first stop was to view the magnificent rafflesia, we were told that there were 3 types of rafflesia in Royal Belum, Azlanii, Kerrii and Cantheyii. And that they only bloom for 5-6 days during its season, hence it is highly depending on luck for one to catch this magnificent sight. It is said that the flower smells of rotten flesh hence the name "corpse flower" or "meat flower" was given.

Another interesting story we found out is that elephants eat the flower to heal themselves from indigestion (do counter check on this).

Kanak-kanak Ribena.

They are actually acting out the scene on their musical video, theme song : 'Dindaaaaa..... kandaaaa.... burung pun turut menyanyi, cinta pun turut bersemi, lalalalalalalaaaaa....'