Kalapattar (13 Oct 2006)

13 Oct 2006, we woke up at 4.30am. After having some simple breakfast, we started our trekking to Kalapattar(5545m) around 6.00am. It was very cold early in the morning. Hai Poh told us that the temperature drops to -7 degree Celsius last night. The ascent was very steep. The weather was extremely cold. My body was shivering. I almost can’t feel my fingers. Dee also felt the same but she still gave me another pair of gloves and shawl to keep me warm. She is a very kind girl.

Mt. Pumori was clearly seen from the Kalapattar trail. On the way up, I looked at the mountains that slowly brighten up by the sun. The view was wonderful. However, I still have half way to go. I was hoping that I can trek faster to the ground that had received the morning light. The coldness demoralized me. I was extremely slow. It took me 2.5 hours to reach summit. Usually, others will only take 1.5 – 2 hours to reach.

The sky was clear. No cloud is hanging there. We get the most magnificent mountain panorama. We are very excited. We shout, laugh, and keep on pressing shutter of the digicam. When playback the photos taken, they seems unreal. It’s like those in the postcard or magazine. I couldn’t believe that I am seeing it with my eyes.

Kalapattar is a peak in the centre of snowcapped mountains like Everest, Nutpse, Lhortse, Pumori as well as hundreds of other beautiful peaks. We were amazed by the majestic view surrounding Kalapattar. We stayed in the summit for almost an hour before made the way back to Gorak Shep. It was almost 10.00am when I reached the lodge.

Hai Poh and Teck Long started to complain headache. Teck Long wanted to get down and out of Gorak Shep as soon as possible. He describes it as “escape from 5180”. (Gorak Shep is at height 5180m). We packed our things and trekked down to Lobuche after lunch. Teck Long disappeared in just a short while. I think he really afraid that AMS will hit him.

1.30pm, we arrived Lobuche(4930m). Hai Poh and Teck Long seem better. We saw the message left by Peng Meng, told us that they descended to Dhuglha(4620m). After having the most expensive Vege + Egg Nara noodles (240 Rupees = RM 12.50), we trekked down to Dhuglha. Nara noodle in other word is instant noodles. We were regret that we didn’t bring Maggie mee cups from Malaysia.

After half an hour trekking, I saw a familiar face from far. It was Kok Ming! We are so glad to hear that Foung Yee was recovered after a day rest. Kok Ming was very “busy” today. He went down to Pheriche(4243m) with Peng Meng to ask about Kok Yuen’s condition. He was told that Kok Yuen had descended to Pangboche (3985m). Then, he trekked towards Lobuche to find us.
We continue to go downhill, to the steep hill behind Dhuglha. I refresh the memory of the difficult climb 2 days ago. The descent is much easier. Photo on right is the lodge that we stayed at Dhuglha. I reached there around 4.30pm.

A meeting is carried out to discuss about our schedule on the following day. Team mates are considering of crossing Cho-La pass. The pass is very steep and involves glacier crossing. It required us to hike up faster to height 5400m, and then go down. According to the guide, the pass is quite dangerous at some point and will trek on the barren area. There will be no village for rest between Zongla and Thagna. It will be at least 7 hours trek.

Since some of us are not doing well, we had made the decision of not crossing the Cho-La pass. We will separate into 2 groups. Foung Yee, Peng Meng and Kok Ming will made their attempt to Gorak Shep and Kalapattar again. Hai Poh, Dee, Teck Long, Sui Jing and I will go down to look for Kok Yuen. We will then meet up again after 2 days at Pangboche. After that, we will continue the trek to Gokyo - the west part of Khumbu region via Pangboche.

However, there are 2 things that still bothering us :
1) Our flight from Lukla to Kathmandu is scheduled at 21st Oct. We need to re-schedule it in order to have time to go Gokyo. Our guide told us that he will try but couldn't promise anything.
2) We have no idea how's Kok Yuen doing and the exact location of him. Hopefully will be able to locate him tomorrow.


This is definitely unforgettable day for me. All the way up, my stamina is the weakest among the team. I couldn’t believe that I was able to make it to Kalapattar. I am very tired but also excited and satisfied.

Lobuche to Gorak Shep (12 Oct 2006)

12 Oct 2006 3.30am, our guide Man knocked the door and told us that Kok Yuen was sick. He got fever, felt dizzy and not able to walk in straight line. Foung Yee and Dee went out to take a look at him. We were then back to sleep and hope that his condition will be better in the morning. Early in the morning, Kok Yuen was not recovered. So, he descended to Pheriche(4243m) with a porter. There is a hospital in Pheriche where he can get the treatment. If he has recovered, then he will hike up and meet us at Lobuche after 2 days. Else he will go down and meet us at Namche Bazaar after 10 days. We thought that porters should be immune to the altitude sickness. But we were wrong, one of our porters was not feeling well but he insisted to continue the journey with us. So, 8 of us follow the original plan to Gorak Shep (5180m) with our guide and 4 porters.

Kok Ming, Dee, Peng Meng, Foung Yee, Hai Poh and Teck Long were ahead of Sui Jing and me. But after certain distance, Hai Poh will stop and wait for Sui Jing and me. The trek to Gorak Shep was a subtle set of ascents and descents. The ascent was not steep but at this point, trek on the flat trail was also tiring. We trekked in a barren area where only rocks, sand, glaciers and mountains were around us.

Around 1.30pm, valley with several lodges came into sight. I pointed the valley and asked a Sherpa “ Gorak Shep ? “. He nodded his head and said “Yes, yes, Gorak Shep”. Eventually, I had reached the last village of our trekking in east part of Khumbu Region. Gorak Shep is the highest / last village that provides tea house accommodation for Everest trek. We checked in Snow Land Inn. The tea-house was quite nice, have inside toilet and big restaurant.

Foung Yee looks tired when I met her at the lodge. She had arrived earlier. She sat on the bed with her eyes closed. Then, she lay down on the bed. I thought she only needs some rest, so didn’t disturb her and went down to restaurant to meet with others. Due to altitude, afternoon sleep is not good, so team mates wake her up and brought her to the restaurant downstairs. She told us that she felt very cold. Even after taking the hot garlic soup, she doesn’t seem to get better. Hai Poh and Teck Long hold her and could feel that she was shivering. Her condition seems to get worse. She went back to the room for rest and had become nearly unconscious in a short while. After consult the lodge’s owner, from his experience, he told us that Foung Yee condition was very serious. He suggested giving her oxygen for half an hour to temporarily relieve symptoms of altitude sickness and then descend immediately. At this moment, we had to take his advice. After taking the oxygen, she told us that she felt better and she doesn’t want to descent. Team mates advice her accordingly and finally she agreed to go down. Porter carried Foung Yee on his back and descended together with Peng Meng, Kok Ming, our guide and another porter that carried their backpacks. It was nearly 3.30pm when they descended. We were worried about them as the sky will get dark around 5.30pm and the temperature will drop very soon.
In a day time, 2 of our friends got AMS and descended. Our team had separated into 3 groups - Kok Yuen descended to Pheriche, Kok Ming, Peng Meng and Foung Yee descended to Lobuche and only left 5 of us (Hai Poh, Dee, Teck Long, Sui Jing and I) stayed at Gorak Shep. It really made us sad.

After some discussion, we decided to continue the trek to Kalapattar(5545m) the next morning and then descend to Lobuche to meet with others. But if anyone of us is not feeling well, we will not go to Kalapattar and will descend immediately. We have to cancel the plan to Everest Base Camp as it takes longer time (at least 3 hours from Gorak Shep to EBC).

Our mood was down. What happened to Kok Yuen and Foung Yee now? Will the remaining 5 of us able to go up Kalapattar? I can only pray everything will be fine the next day.

Dingboche to Lobuche (11 Oct 2006)

11 Oct 2006, the day started off with hiking up the ridge, and then trekked on the flat trail. Pheriche that located in the wide valley can be seen clearly. From now on, the area is desolate, with only some grasses and some small flowers. Foliage is hard to grow at this height. We met the two trekkers - Lisa and Stephen, from Hong Kong again. We first met them at the day we wait for flight at domestic airport. They have the same schedule as us.

About 11am, we reached Dhuglha(4620m) where we stopped for lunch. At 12pm, we started to climb up the very steep hill just behind Dhuglha. I felt exhausted after hike for half an hour, have to stop for rest every 50 steps. I let a group of yaks by passed me, even the yaks that carried the supplies go faster than me. Kok Yuen offered to carry my backpack. He said even with 2 backpacks, he can walk faster than me. Well…..it’s true, without backpack, I still walk as slow as tortoise. Finally, I reached the hilltop, feeling half-dead. At hilltop, there are a lot of mani stones that served as the direction for trekkers. Besides, there are stone monuments that built to memorize those climbers that died in their expedition to Everest.

After some rest, I got back the backpack from Kok Yuen and continue the trek to Lobuche(4910m). I can feel the thin air when the altitude slowly gains towards Lobuche. There are no more steep ascents, but gradually going up. We reached Lobuche around 2pm.

As usual, after unpacking the luggage and changed the clothes, we gathered at the restaurant. Our guide asked us to teach him Mandarin and Dee also learned Nepali from him. Lobuche is 700m higher than Dingboche. Because of the coldness of the weather, we can only stay indoors. The restaurant is small. The heater made the restaurant stuffy. I can’t stand with it, so will open the window once in a while to let the fresh air come in. Tomorrow we will trek to Gorak Shep, step nearer to our target Kalapattar and Everest Base Camp. No one expect that things go beyond our control the next day.

Day trip to Chukung (10 Oct 2006)

We trekked to Chukung(4730m) for acclimatization purpose. The initial plan is trek to Chukung and then goes up Chukung Ri (5500m). It was sunny day. We had good view of snow capped peaks of Ama Dablam, Island Peak and Lhortse. The trek is gradual. It’s supposed to be quite easy but I still not able to walk fast. It took us about 3 hours to reach Chukung. Chukung is a small village with only 5-6 lodges. I guess it’s mostly catered for those that would like to climb up Island Peak.

I wasn’t doing well, so decided not to go up Chukung Ri after lunch. Foung Yee, Kok Ming, Peng Meng and Sui Jing decided to go up Chukung Ri. However, considering the time needed for going up and trek back to Dingboche, they couldn’t aim for the peak. They gave themselves 1-1.5 hours for Chukung Ri trekking. For the rest of us, we rested for half and hour and trekked back to the lodge.

The sun disappeared and the sky was cloudy. The wind was blowing strongly. The chilly wind made everyone walked faster and dare not stop. Before 2pm, we had reached the lodge, only took 1.5 hours from Chukung back to Dingboche. Foung Yee, Ming, Sui Jing and Peng Meng came back to lodge around 3.30pm.

Almost every lodge provides hot shower service. At Sonam Friendship Lodge, hot shower can be provided for 200 Rupees (around RM 10). The hot shower bathroom was a small hut outside the lodge. Once you let the lodge knows that you would like to take the shower, they will heat a kettle of water and poured into a bucket with hose and water tap that is on the roof of the bathroom. Kok Yuen and Foung Yee had tried out the hot shower here. Their advice is always test the water temperature when the lodge informs you that the hot shower is ready. The reason is if the water is too hot, then you can ask the lodge to adjust it before taking bath.

At altitude 4260m, I didn’t sweat much although had trekked for few hours. The last time I took the shower was 4 days ago when I was at Namche Bazaar. I planned to take shower only when I was back to Namche again. Although the water is hot, the weather is very cold outside. There is risk of catching fever. I couldn’t take the risk as I had only completed 30% of the entire route. The challenges are still ahead.

Tengboche to Dingboche (9 Oct 2006)

9 Oct 2006 , the sky was clear early in the morning. We get an amazing view of the Himalayas around us. Peng Meng is the one that get very excited. Early in the morning when I just woke up, I had heard his voice outside the room saying that the view is spectacular. We started the trek to Dingboche at 8.00am. We went downhill, passed the small village of Debuche, crossed the river (Imja Khola), and ascending gradually.

We passed by Pangboche(photo on right), with beautiful view of Ama Dablam ahead. After Pangboche, the landscape changed, very few trees and a lot of rocks.



We stopped for lunch at Somare. After lunch, we slept for a while before continue the journey. It was about 2.30pm when I reached Dingboche.



Dingboche is a village between two ridges. We spent 2 nights here for acclimatization at altitude more than 4000m. Our guide told us to avoid sleep in the afternoon as it may cause AMS. So, we spent the rest of the day in the restaurant. A few of us felt headache. To prevent the altitude sickness, we keep on drinking the hot water. We played chess or cards for pass time. I will spend time to write diary everyday. Other trekkers in the restaurant are doing the same, either reading a book, writing diary or playing cards.

For these days, our daily routine is wake up at 5.30am, pack our luggage, have breakfast, and then start trekking. Usually, we will stop for lunch around 11am. Food will be served an hour later. After lunch, trek to the destination. Every lodge has a restaurant and there is heater in the restaurant. We will spend the time in the restaurant and have our dinner around 6.00-6.30pm. Before go to sleep, our guide will brief us on next day itinerary. We will then look at the map and find out where we will go the next day. The last thing is order the breakfast for tomorrow and refills our water bottle with hot water. Usually, we will go to bed before 9pm.

Namche Bazaar to Tengboche (8 Oct 2006)

Our destination today is Tengboche (3900m). At first, I thought that today will only go up 400m, which is not that difficult. The first 2 hours, the trail was flat. Then, we started to go down and I knew that I was wrong. There is a river that we need to cross, which mean we need to go down all the way, crossed the bridge and then up again to an even higher altitude. After crossing the bridge, the painful journey began. The hill was steep. I climbed very slow but still felt exhausted. I started to count my steps. 1, 2, 3 ……….I reached Tengboche after counted 3300 steps. Although it’s only 1.30pm, the temperature was low. I felt cold.

After lunch, I visited the monastery(2nd photo on left) with others. After a while, I felt very tired and dizzy, so went back to Himalayan View Lodge for rest. Around 3.30pm, Hai Poh woke me up and we all gathered at the restaurant. There is a bakery at Tengboche. Teammates had bought cakes for celebrating Foung Yee’s birthday. Can you believe that we are still able to buy cakes at altitude 3900m? We sang the birthday song for her and then ate cakes. Foung Yee said this is the first time she celebrates birthday at this high altitude. It's very unique.

At that time, I had no appetite and headache. I started to “cry”. I am not really crying but tears burst out and I couldn’t stop it. I felt a bit dizzy, very unwell. Team mates found out that I had the symptoms of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) and informed the guide. I had no strength to say anything, only able to answer them by shaking or nodding my head. If my condition is getting worse, I have to descend to lower place. I was worried and did not want to descent after all this while. I went back to my room and sleep. After rested for 2 hours, I felt better. I went up to the restaurant again and drank lots of water. I was still weak, but the condition was getting better. No appetite, so only had the garlic soup and plain toast as my dinner.

I was glad I had recovered over the night and able to continue the trek.

Acclimatization Day at Namche Bazaar ( 7 Oct 2006)

7 Oct is Saturday. Looking out from the room’s window, I saw the mountains, the valley and the houses that built at different layer. It was so beautiful. Photo on left is Mt. Thamserku.
This was the day for acclimatization and excursion around the places. There is weekly morning market on Saturday. Traders came to this town and selling goods to Sherpas, as well as visitors. The market starts around 6am and ended around 12pm. We visited the market before trekked up to Syangboche.

Syangboche is on a hill overlooking Namche Bazaar. The day was pleasant and relaxing. We trekked slowly. We lay down, looked at the sky and mountains, took photos, and ran with open arms as we were flying.

In the afternoon, we went to the museum at the headquarters of Sagamartha National Park. It was located at Mendephu Hill above Namche. There is an army checkpoint where we need to write down our details. The place was surrounded by large amount of barbed wire. We are not allowed to take the pictures. The museum is small but it does provide information on the history, plants, animals and culture of this region.

Namche Bazaar is considered as “town” in Khumbu region. So, almost everything can be found at Namche, eg: lodges, shops, bank, internet café, telephone service etc. This place is in middle of nowhere. I felt strange, like this place suppose to exist only in the fantasy, not in the reality.

Phakding to Namche Bazaar (6 Oct 2006)

I woke up at 5.30am. After packing my backpack, I went down for breakfast at 6.30am. I carried a 35 liter backpack and let porters to carry another heavy bag. Our guide – Man, sent one of the porters that only carried a small bag to go off earlier to book the accommodation for us at Namche Bazaar (3440m). We started our journey around 7.30am. It’s only less than an hour trekking from Phakding, we were blocked by Maoists. They demanded Rupee 2500 from every trekker. It was equivalent to RM 130 or USD 35. This is a lot, especially when I had limited budget. I felt angry but couldn’t do anything. After paying the “tax”, they gave each of us a receipt. According to our guide, if this receipt is shown to other Maoist group, they will not ask for more money.

We passed the village called Benker and reached Sagamartha National Park entrance (photo on left) about 10.30am. After getting the trekking permit (cost each of us USD 16), we proceed to Jorsale where we had our lunch. To save time, we ordered the same food - Dal-Bhat. Dal-Bhat is the local food that served with rice, fried vegetables and Dal soup. We can ask the restaurant for Dal-bhat refill (yes, refill the rice, vege and soup). Peng Meng had missed the restaurant that we stopped. We couldn’t find him along the way from Jorsale to Namche Bazaar.

After lunch, we rest for a while and continue the journey at about 12.30pm. The trail goes steeply after crossing a bridge. Photo on right showed the bridge. It was 4 hours trekking on the steep trail and just before I collapse, I saw Namche Bazaar. We met Peng Meng. He had arrived few hours ago.

When I reached my room at Everest Hotel, I was very tired. Foung Yee and Dee were in the room. I sat on the bed, not even have energy to say a word. Today, I had trekked for nearly 8 hours.

According to Chinese calendar, 6 Oct is the mid-autumn festival or some of us called it moon cake festival. After dinner, we light the candles and hang up the lantern in front of the hotel. Then, we shared the moon cake and dragon fruit enzyme (taste a bit like alcohol) brought by Hai Poh and Kok Yuen. It was cold at night. But we still preferred to stay outside to look at the moon and chit-chat. Once in a lifetime experience – the moon cake festival celebration at Namche Bazaar.

Lukla to Phakding ( 5 Oct 2006 )

On 5th Oct, finally, we were on the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. It’s the twin otter which can only take 19 passengers (if I am not mistaken). Cotton and candy were given to us. I put the cotton into my ears and the plane took off. Yesterday, we were waiting at the domestic airport for 7 hours, breakfast and lunch were taken there and eventually confirmed that all flights to Lukla are cancelled due to bad weather.

From Kathmandu to Lukla, it was about 45 minutes journey. Foung Yee and Kok Yuen in the front seat told me that the landing was like riding the roller coaster for them. They saw clearly that the airstrip is short and we are landing in short time from high, anyway the pilot skill is good, everything is in control. :)

We carried our bags to North Face Resort and met with our porters. We ordered the lunch and waited for an hour before lunch was served. For every meal at Nepal, we have to wait at least an hour before it served. At the corridor outside the restaurant, Ming sat on a chair relaxingly and looked at the beautiful scenery. He was joking that he will pick a land, built a house and stays here later. Indeed, the scenery here is very beautiful. I was impressed with this place from the moment that I stepped down from the flight.

We trekked to Phakding (2600m) after lunch. Lukla is at 2800m height, the temperature is cold. But we can still trek without wearing jacket. It took us 3 hours to reach Phakding. Phakding is the stop-over point between Lukla and Namche Bazaar. We stayed overnight at Khumbu Traveller’s Guest House. Before came to Nepal, I thought the tea-house will only provide a big room and everybody will sleep there with our own sleeping bag. I am a bit surprised that twin-sharing room with bed and pillow is provided. There is electricity supply at night.

I ordered spaghetti for my dinner. When it served, immediately I lost my appetite. It looks awful. However, I still try to finish it as I was really hungry. This was the first and the last time I ordered spaghetti at Nepal.

At night before went for sleep, I brushed the teeth at the water pipe outside. Brushed the teeth and at the same time looked at the snow mountain from far, definitely unforgettable experience for me.

Flying to Kathmandu ( 3 Oct 2006 )

On 3rd of Oct, I arrived at KLIA on 6.30am to meet with my friends. We took off at 8.25am to Bangkok and transferred to Kathmandu from Bangkok Airport. By 12.35pm local time, we arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu. The time difference between Malaysia and Nepal is 2.25 hours. Before that, I always had a feeling that Nepal is far away. Maybe because of the 24 days vacation that is hard to materialize, Nepal seems far away for me. But geographically, it’s only half a day time, I had crossed the country boundaries and stepped in it.
We paid USD 30 for applying the visa at the airport. My friends had told me that not to get out from the airport gate until we can identify the person that picks us up. When I saw the crowds outside the gate, I can understand their concern. There are a lot of people, some are taxi drivers, some will offer to carry the luggage for you, offer accommodation etc. We saw the signboard “Unique Path Trekking” and met our contact person – Hari.

We transferred to Thamel and checked in Hotel Kathmandu View. After we settled the payment at Hari’s office, we went for dinner. There are a lot of shops selling trekking gear at Thamel. We were attracted by these shops and spent the night for shopping. I bought a rain cover for my bag. The rain cover could cover the whole bag and only cost USD 3.5.
Early October, the weather is warm. No air-con and no fan in the hotel room, but luckily at night it was not that hot.

Nepal Trip (3 Oct - 26 Oct 2006)

The long awaited Nepal Trip finally ended with a lot of sweet memories. This is the 2nd week I back to work, back to daily routine, back to reality. I am suffering from cough since I am back. In fact, almost every teammates got sick after back to Malaysia. Looking back at the photos I took, I am not quite satisfied. The photos couldn't reflect the actual scenery that I saw with my eyes. Everything is too beautiful. It's an amazing trip, not easy for me but I am glad that all of us had completed the route.

The route was a bit different than the original plan due to some incidents happened. Summarization of my trek:
Lukla -> Phakding -> Namche Bazaar -> Day trip to Syangboche and back to Namche -> Tengboche -> Dingboche -> Day trip to Chukung and back to Dingboche -> Lobuche -> Gorak Shep -> Kalapattar and trek down to Thukla -> Pangboche ( stay for 3 nights ) -> Dole -> Panga -> Gokyo -> Dole -> Namche Bazaar -> Lukla

For the details of the trip, I will spend sometime to write it down and publish it later.
The photo below is took from Kalapattar (5545m). The left peak is the Everest and the right peak is Nutpse.

Nepal Everest Base Camp ( Before Departure )

In less than a week time, I will be leaving for Nepal and starts the journey to Everest Base Camp. The group consists of 9 persons including me.

Foung Yee is our lead. She might not want to be label as "leader" as she think everybody is playing a role in this trip. But she did contributes alot from information gathering, route determination, flight booking, insurance to porter/guide hiring.

Hai Poh translated the information from English to Chinese version and prepared booklet for all of us during our last EBC member meeting. Kok Yuen and Peng Meng had trekked Annapurna Base Camp and Annapurna Circuit before. They shared their experience during their previous trip and it's indeed useful for our budget planning. SuiJing helped to prepare the first aid kit. What have I done for the group? Well.....my job starts when then the journey starts . I will be the treasury, record and control the budget....(although I am not good at numbers :p).

We are originated from different hometown, work in different places - Selangor, Mantin, Melaka, Johor and Singapore, but with one objective, all of us will be gathered at KLIA on 3rd Oct and fly off to the capital city of Nepal - Kathmandu.

We will be trekking at the Everest Region, we choose Everest Base Camp Cross Chola-la Gokyo Trek.

Summarization of our trek : Lukla -> Namche Bazaar -> Tengboche -> Dingbuche -> Day trip to Chhukung Valley and back to Dingbuche -> Lobuche -> Gorak Shep -> Kalapathar and back to Gorak Shep -> Everest Base Camp and back to Gorak Shep -> Zongla -> Chola-pass -> Thagna -> Gokyo ->Gokyo Ri and back to camp -> Dole -> Namche Bazaar -> Lukla

The places above sounds unfamiliar to me at the moment but I will know how they looks like very soon.

I was sick for the past few days and I hope I am able to fully recovered before departure. Hopefully I am able to complete the route.

Panorama Hill, Mt. Tapis and Rainbow Waterfall

I went to Sungai Lembing again, a small town located not so far away from Kuantan. There are 3 main tourist attraction here: Panorama Hill (Lembing Hill), Mount Tapis and Rainbow Waterfall. During the National Day holiday last year, I was here to climb Mt Tapis but couldn't make it to the summit. Mandy was injured and we had painful experience of trekking more than 12 hours.

After a year, I was here again for the summit of Mt. Tapis, just to complete the route that I haven't finish last year. Same itinerary but this time more merrier as we had 11 people joining the trip. Early in the morning, before the sun goes up, we trekked up to Panorama Hill. It only took about 40 minutes to reach the top, but the scenery is very nice. Look at the photo above, Mt. Tapis can be seen from far.

We hired a small lorry to take us from Lembing town to the start point of Mt. Tapis trekking. After an hour moving on the bumpy road, we reached the destination. The journey started with crossing the river. Then, we trekked 4 hours to reach camp 2. Just after the tents were setup, rain started to pour. From the first until the last day of the trip, same condition applied. It starts raining after we setup the tents. Everyday we had to cook and had our dinner in the tent.

However, this time timing was accurate and even better than expected. The 2nd day, we use 6 hours to reach summit. The 3rd day, we only spent 8.5 hours to go down from summit and trek to the camp site of rainbow waterfall. It was totally out of our expectation. We had all prepared to walk until the night, but we reached before 6pm.
The next morning, we trekked around 1 hour from the camp site to rainbow waterfall. As its name, we hope to see the rainbow at the waterfall. This is my 2nd time there, the waterfall still beautiful as previously. But this time, the sun was blocked by the clouds. By the time the sun shines, it was quite late and the rainbow is quite low. Look at the picture on right, it was just above the water level.
The photo on left was taken last year. The rainbow is higher.


Overall, the trip was fun. I had made it to summit of Mt. Tapis, but the scenery was not as nice as I thought. Besides complete the route that I missed out last year, it was also the training for October Nepal trip. I think I am still weak because I had muscle pain for few days after back from Mt. Tapis. :(

Dogathon 2006 (13th Aug 2006)

Since my sister became veterinary student of UPM, my parents and I will go to dogathon event which organized by faculty veterinary almost every year. Dogathon 2006 falls on 13th Aug at Bukit Ekspo UPM. This is the first time we bring the dog to dogathon. There was free physical examination provided for the dog and upon registration, a free gift will be given. However, we reached quite late ( around 10am ), the free gift was out of stock. Different competitions are held for the dogs and great prizes are giving out. Booths are set up for veterinary consultation, providing grooming services, selling different types of dog products, SPCA dogs adoption etc.

I met my friends Huay Mein and Quek at this event. Quek brought his 5 months old golden retriever here. There are a lot of dog lovers bring their dogs here to meet friends, exercise and also win some prizes.

So, dog owners, bring your dogs to UPM dogathon next year!

Berembun Waterfall (1st - 2nd July 2006)

I had a date with Berembun waterfall at the 1st day of month July. It is accessible with 4WD from Sungai Klau. Altogether 11 of us ( 3 cars) drove from KL to Bentong , then Raub and finally met our guide at Klau. It's not a smooth journey, we couldn't find the way and couldn't contact the guide as there is no network coverage. But finally we reached the destination. There is a big signboard opposite the road promotes Berembun Waterfall just after "好谊记" restaurant. But the color of the signboard is faded which made it not a good landmark.

Our guide is wearing a cowboy hat and looks very energetic. He brought us to the place where we could park the cars and we started to put our luggage into the 4WD. We hired two 4 wheel vehicles and it took us about 40-45 minutes to reach the waterfall. We passed by durian orchard, rubber estate and banana plantations. Then, the driver stopped and "locked" the car. Well, I don't understand what it means but I knew that the off road 4WD adventure is going to be kicked off. The vehicles shake violently when climbed up the slope and negotiating the huge rocks. It's an exciting journey.

From the place where 4WD dropped us, it only took 5 minutes to reach the 1st Berembun waterfall. The water is cool as ice. I just swim (with tyre) for half an hour and cannot stand the cold anymore. :p After swimming, we ate the honeydew while waiting for the "Bubu ChaCha" to get cooked. My body felt warm after having the hot "BuBu ChaCha". At night, we were having steamboat. This is the 1st time I am having steamboat in the jungle. It's such a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

Next day morning, we went for the second waterfall. We do the slides at the 2nd waterfall. The water is still as cold as ice but we are excited and not willing to leave there early. We left the 2nd waterfall at 11.15am. Around 1.30pm, we left Berembun waterfall with the 4WD again. On the way back, there is a slope where our 4WD couldn't pass through and stuck. It required help from another 4WD to pull over from another side. It was such a nice experience with this ride.

The trip was ended and we were headed back to KL with the sweet memory of Berembun Waterfall.