Gua Damai located north side of Batu Caves, near Kampung Melayu Wira Damai. Coordinate: 3.2477904, 101.687463. Last few month, I have the chance to spend some evening there, at the place, and did some bouldering with the kids, and of course, cycling. Here are some pictures

We depart from Tanjung Gemuk jetty, at about 7am, the earliest ferry to go to the island. On top of the ferry ticket, there was also a marine park permit, that cost us RM7 each. From some articles I’ve read, they said that the ferry should stop at Tekek, then move towards south from it. If you plan to go north, you have to either walk, or rent a boat from Tekek. Our ferry that day start dropping passengers from south to north, starting from Kg Genting. BTW, Tekek is like the main town of Tioman. You will find the only ATM machine (BSN) and airport in Tekek.

We stop kat Kg Air Batang, where there is a lot of small hut, which were suitable for backpackers. The room rates there is almost the same, just tell what kind of hut do you want, either with air-cond or not. However, we have decided to go to Panuba Inn Resort. You have to do some jungle tracking from Air Batang to Panuba Inn. If you have decided to go to Panuba Inn, tell the ferry to drop you straight away at Panuba’s jetty. Yes, jetty for the resort. And dont walk from Air Batang.

Panuba Inn is quite isolated from other resort and huts. If you want to go to other part of the island, or want to do any activities, you can just ask the receptionist for boat with some fees. They also have a diveshop, and also snorkeling gear for rent.

I must say, i really enjoy snorkeling there. The area around the jetty is not really nice, as there was not much corals there. But we took a long snorkeling trip, from Panuba Inn, to Marine Park (300-500 meter north of Tekek). Along the way, we have the chance to see many corals, and some colorful fish, that really stunned us, and take us some time along the way. Please be careful with the corals were very sharp and it can cut. I cut myself when I’m going to the shore, and it was deep.

In snorkeling, actually I enjoy going deep and deeper to the bottom. At marine park, there’s a lot of fish, but I’m more attracted to the deep, and the buoy that they have at the area. The buoy is just a nice place to rest, and launching myself to the bottom There’s alot of fish there, and dont forget to find something to feed the fish. We spend quite some time there.

The next day, we spent snorkeling just around the jetty at our resort. Its about 4 meters deep, and just good enough for me. Luckily that day, we found a friend, a 5 years-old girl. She’s talkative, and brave. She tried to dive from the jetty, and try to dive deep as well.

Tioman have a great water. Clear, and I never find anywhere like it yet before, because I never been to all island in Malaysia yet. Its better than Kapas Island and Pangkor Island for me. I dont know about Redang and Perhentian Island. Hope I could have some time for the other island as well.

The place is quite remote, and you have to drive past villages, but its quite easy to find. Just exit at Lanchang, and just drive straight, until you can see signboard to the sanctuary. There are free tickets to be distributed, but they have color scheme for the tickets. The red ticket is for most people, and with this ticket, you can just see and say hi to the elephant. With green ticket, you can have a shower session with the elephant. But, this ticket is limited to 100 tickets issued per day. So, you have to be there as soon as possible before the tickets runs out.

There are few sections where you can have different experience with the elephants. The first part where there are 2 baby elephant, aged 3 and 4, named langsat and pandan. They are friendly, you can take pictures with them, and feed them with your hands. They will just grab what you offer with its trunk. You can buy some foods from there, there is a shop where you can buy some foods for them.

There are also one section where you can have a shower with the elephants. The elephant at this sections i suppose were quite big, not sure the elephant’s age. Unluckily, we dont have the chance to see the elephants in action that day. With the right ticket and the elephants in the right mood, you can go into the small river, and have a shower with them. There is a signboard, mentioned, “no bikini”. You might want to take note of that

I’ve been looking for a place to climb. Its been quite some time since I last climb, and I found a place not too far. Its in Putrajaya, Extreme Park. I’ve heard there are off-road bicycle trail near that place, but not really sure where is it. The climbing place is not too far from Putrajaya International Convention Center. The coordinate is “N 2 53.318, E 101 40.082” or “2.889, 101.668“, you can find it yourself of you have a GPS.

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They do provide equipments for rent to all visitors. Its quite a convenient for me to bring my friends who do not have any gears to start climbing, and the rates are quite affordable. Its just that some of them are worn out, and not really convenient to use, like the shoes. The entry fee is RM 6 for adults, and RM 3 for student (provided you have a student card)

The climbing section were separated into 4 sections, Easy top rope wall, lead climbing wall, beginner boulder wall, and expert boulder wall. You can start anywhere you want, but make sure you have a good belayer for yourself and your group. You might want to ask the instructor if they have anyone to attend you. I’m quite sure they are quite helpful. They have grades on each route, which tell the difficulties of the route. Make sure you know your limit, try it slowly from easy route to harder route.

The opening hours, they open up from morning(not sure) until 8pm. But on Wed, Friday and Saturday, they will close at 10pm. Make sure you plan your trip, if you want to stay a bit late.

Chilling waterfall located in Kuala Kubu Bharu. After reaching there, we park our car, and start tracking to the base site, where there were the management office, campsite, toilets and place to pray. The place is well maintained, as it is a fish sanctuary area. Thats why, fishing is strictly not allowed in Chilling Waterfall. You can see the signboard throughout the path.

After 40 minutes walk, just following the path upriver and 5 river crossing, we reached the fall at around 3.30 pm. The waterfall is just fantastic. I remember last time i went there, we did canyoneering near the fall. We spend around 1 1/2 hours there, and start departing back to campsite. There were some strict rules, like you cannot camping there beyond the hanging bridge, and you have to get back before 5 o’clock. You also cannot swim there if its raining. There have been a few accident there, that involves death.

The next day, the waterfall hunting. Finally I got a friend who would like to go with me. We went to Tanglir Waterfall, based on the guide in WaterfallsOfMalaysia website. I have marked the coordinate in my PDA phone, and we follow the path to the waterfall. I only manage to know the exact point, not exactly the route there. So, we asked the local people there, and they show us where to go. The waterfall is really nice, with high altitude, cold, and privacy. The water is not too shallow and not too deep, just nice for a normal day trip. There is not camping ground, as is surrounded by farms, and private lands. It would be easier to go there again by motorcycle or 4×4.

Right after that, we went for Sungai Dua Waterfall. The access is easy, you can drive straight away to the waterfall, just need around 200 meters walk. If you come with 4×4, you can park by the water. The waterfall was so nice, but its quite popular already for some local people. The time we were there, there’s alot of people there, and we just took pictures and leave. The place is quite nice for family camping, day trip picnic, and also to wash motorbikes

Picasa Album – Chilling waterfall
Picasa Album – Tanglir and Sungai Dua Waterfall

Within last few weeks, I’ve been to Bukit Tabur. Could not find more time for long trip, other than usual rock climbing during weekends, and Bukit Tabur trip. It start with my colleague, who would like to try out some adventures during weekends.

On 20th December, we start hiking the hill at 6.30, just 4 of us, because 5 others were late. We dont waste the opportunity to see the sunrise. Within 25 minutes, we arrive there. Its still dark, and we still have to use our headlights to walk. Then I returned back, and wait for the other 5 of us to arrive. We managed to reach the others around 7.30. Its not so hot yet, and we can still enjoy the sunrise that time.

The trip was planned for only to enjoy the sunrise, but we could not hold ourself seeing other trackers moving with the passion to the top. I never reach the peak, the real peak, and neither all of us. We just follow some other trackers that time.

Following few weeks, there comes another trip, for my other friends. They missed the 1st trip, because of health condition. Well, I keep my promise to bring them there Its not as early as the previous trip, but we enjoy the trip, enjoy the sunrise, and enjoy the view from there. For last few trip to Bukit Tabur, I really want to just enjoy the view, and the cold winds. Its just feels like at the top of mountains, just with 20-30 minutes walk.

Its a long time since my last mountain hiking, and I’m not sure whether I will join some other mountain trip or not. I also lost count how many mountain trip that I missed, purposely thank you for inviting anyway.. As for now, I’m doing rock climbing, and I love it.

What a perfect day.. I got an offer to handle canyoneering at Sungai Pisang, Jalan Gombak, handling around 25 students, I forgot from where.. The rope installation take a few minutes, and after all of them took breakfast, everyone tried canyoneering, at the waterfall. Some of them even ask for twice Canyoneering is actually abseiling activity at waterfall.

Sorry to make you waited for the pictures. Some pictures are already been uploaded, in my gallery, just didn’t update you guys.

You can view all the pictures here. http://www.farhanfaisal.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=41

Thanks to Fifah, Zul and Tom for the pictures.

All 18 of us have came back from International Pahang River Rafting Expedition. This is a very tiring journey, as all 18 of us do rafting all 8 days without any replacement. Most of the team there have extra team members who will take over their place. But for us, we grab all the 8 days through Pahang River.

What a nice thing about this years event is we got more days on the water, means our skin are darker. hohohoo.. Everyone I met are suprised of the skin chang, including my lecturer. He could not even recognize me! All the participans got nice souvenirs from the locals and organizers.

At every stop, we were celebrated by the local people, it was very nice. There are also concerts, mainly performing cultural activities. There are also Amir Ukays, Karen AF4, and so many more. I could not catch all the performance as we do not have enough time to manage our team. We do not have ground crew to settle our campsite and everything. Thanks to our friends from UKM who help us out with the campsite.

I dont have digital camera, and not yet manage to get all the pictures from my friends. I will upload as soon as I got all the pictures.