::Speed Is Everything::

September 24, 2006 9:00 AM

Endau Rompin National Park

Back from another trekking trip. This time, I signed up for Endau Rompin organised by NTU ODAC. Initially, the number of participants was about 10, somehow or rather another 10 participants just poped out of the sudden. Most of them are Nic's friends. Endau Rompin was a get away from my studies, urban life.

Day 1
We gathered at Kranji MRT station at 9.00pm to distribute equipments and food. Doing last minute check and writing the arrival forms. We left the Kranji MRT by boarding bus 170 to Woodlands/JB customs. From that moment onwards on the bus, Xueling kept on talking and 'entertaining' herself during the trip. I was called as Ah Pek all because she started introducing me to rest as Ah Pek. To 'counter' her, I called her Ah Siao (her surname is Seow) whenever someone called me Ah Pek.

We boarded the 23.25pm train to Bekok Town at the JB railway station. Surprisely I was awake through the night as I had Xueling sitting beside me talking non-stop. At some points, I kept on yawning while talking to her. Luckily I had Shu Hong who was sitting in front to entertain her at last half-an hour or so and I was able to relax for a while. During the train ride, one of the participant, Alice was complained of feeling very cold no matter how many layers of clothing she wore. She tried to figure out how to increase the temperature in the cabin.

We arrived Bekok Town at 3.00am, a guide was waiting for us at the railway station to bring us to the National Park Office Dormitory to sleep. This is most the relaxing trip as there were beds and toilet in the Office! On top of that it was air-conditioned. Back in poly days, I remembered those trips we had to camp overnight at bus interchange or railway for the trek next morning.

Day 2
After the breakfast of Roti Chenai at the makan shop beside the Office dormitory, we took the 4-Wheel Drive to the Endau Rompin Campsite passing by Kampong Kemidak and Kampong Selai. We reached an hour later at the campsite and pitched our tents. The campsite has basic ammenties like toilet, cooking shed, tables for you to eat and play cards.

Guided by 2 rangers, we started our trek to the first waterfall: Takah Tinggi shortly. The fall is big and powerful but the pool was not inviting for a swim to the bottom of the fall. We could see the fishes in the water. Mischievious me, I took a plastic bag and placed some biscuit crumps in it to lure the fishes to enter into the bag. I managed to caught one but bad omen came immediately after, the sky suddenly turned grey. I guess God must be telling me not to take any things from the nature and I quickly returned the fish back to water. Hoping it won't rain so heavy once I let go it.

At the breakpoint, the garang people proceed for the second waterfall (Takah Tempaang) while some return back to campsite fearing of leech bite. The route to the second waterfall was relative harder than the first one we went as there were undergrowth covering the trek. The ranger had to cut down some growth to make path for us. This also implied that not many people visited the Takah Tempaang using this trek. The waterfall was not as great as the first one. But Jeremy and I took some candid shots there. Wondering why Huimin asked Jeremy to bring back a bottle water from Endau. Time was short, we couldn't trek on further to Takah Berangin which is right to the end after Takah Tempaang. Hence we trekked back to our campsite for dinner and arrived on the same time with those who never go for the 2nd waterfall! They have taken "a short cut" proposed by the ranger. Indeed a short cut that need to cross river and got leech bites along the way. Whahaha.

Dinner Time
Couldn't bear Xueling doing the cooking as I have some doubts about her. Most importantly, I don't want to eat food that taste bad. I helped out as her assistant in dishing out spaghetti pasta / carbonara, pineapple rice and the weird cooking method of corn soup. Had Yonghui and his girlfriend to cook egg omelette. I preferred to cook as I don't have to wash up the mess tins, utensils after that. Played a game of DaiDi for 5 players with Jeremy, Munir, Dorothy and Xueling. This version of DaiDi have roles to play like God, King, Human, Dog and Ass. Kept on losing through the night becoming Dog or Ass all the time. Dorothy and her 'animated' face during game, must be too much of hongkie tong shows.

Day 3
Woke up just right on time to trek up the third waterfall : Takah Pandan. This time round, only Shuhong, Munir and me went together with the ranger. Most were not game into it or some were still sleeping in the tents. Takah Pandan as the name implied you can see pandan leaves there. The route was harder than Day 2 with steep slopes and you have to hold on to the rope and ascend up. Takah Pandan was worth the effort to climb as the waterfall was virtually vertical with steam of water falling gently down and a deep pool of water at the bottom. Shuhong was saying the view of the Takah Pandan will be perfect if there's a naked babe swimming in it. Since we were fast and there's some time, the ranger brought us to Orchid Island to look at plants. We didn't get to see the Orchids as the flowering season is in Feb. The ranger also brought us to Arboretum where oldest trees are.

Back to Singapore
Break camp, took the 4-Wheel Drive back to Bekok Town to have lunch. We couldn't take the train back to Singapore as the train has been delay by a few hours due some tree falls on the railway. Munir arranged with the Guide for 4-Wheel Drive to drive us to the nearest town to take a public bus to Air Hitam bypasses Yong Peng. From Air Hitam, we took Transit Link to Larkin interchange and Bus 170 back to JB Customs. Had to walk across the causeway as the queue for the bus was long at the JB.