Perting Falls Hike

Planned hikes
The Malaysia Knife Forums is entering its sixth year in existence.
This is by far, one of the longest surviving interest group.
The group is also on Facebook where its even more active than the forums. I know this for a fact because I set it up.
So, fast-forward to our outing last month in Templer's Park: I suggested a follow-up hike and Lye Choon Keong, the Forum's secretary had singled out the Perting Falls in Pahang as the venue..

Serene: A scene from the falls

 I've never heard of this place and as soon as the mention was made, I posted a thread on the forums to round up the usual guys who are interested for the hike. Similarly, there was a campout at Batu Dam by another group. So, the numbers were pretty even.
The final tally was five people, which was a solid head-count.

Familiar route
I suggested to meet up at Bukit Tinggi, later, Keong re-adjusted the rendezvous point at Genting Sempah R&R and also offered a 4WD transfer to the trail head.
This was a welcoming move as part of the road leading to the entrance of the falls were really banged-up.
I later found out that the Perting Falls was located off the Gombak - Bentong road.
Michelle and I had cycled around this area and are familiar with the routing.
Keong led the drive with Kenny Ho and Walther trailing in another 4WD vehicle.
So far, Keong, Walther, Kenny and I are the only fellas who followed-up on the hike from the Templer's Park trip.
We had a new guy Ray who tagged along..

Lead tracker: Keong on the trail

Serenity: Scenes like these makes me pine for a hike in the jungle..

 Medium-difficulty course
Templer's park was peanuts in terms of difficulty.
Perting, on the other hand, is a little bit challenging.
Basically, its a 3.5km hike towards a drop which is pretty steep.
It took us about 45-minutes to get to the falls.
While we were hiking, Keong made mention of a Hash runner who got lost in Templer's Park.
Lost? What was the guy thinking? 
Kenny made a theory that the guy was injured. Which is quite possible and it turned out that he did got hurt and was found a couple of days later when rescuers combed Templer's Park for the missing dude.
The first leg of the hike in my humble opinion, was really interesting as we had to plough through a fern bush as tall as our heads.
Along the way, I noticed that the path which was cut in the secondary jungle was a former timber trail.
Remnants of heavy vehicle passing through this track was evident with steel pipes used as drainage.
When we arrived at a campsite near the falls, we noticed a large group of campers, about 20 people including men and women chilling out at the spot.
Some were washing their hair with shampoo on the water while the rest were just hanging out.
I spent most of my time capturing some slow-shutter shots of the falls.
Keong took out his stove and made some hot drinks for the rest of the gang.
After spending about an hour there, we began to hike out.
In total, we walked for 7km and I must say that it was an educational experience..

Educational trip: Keong explaining about the forest plants to the hikers

River crossing

The steep drop

 After hiking out to the trail head, me made a detour to the Perting Valley teambuilding camp. Keong knew the caretaker and told us that the place is a regular venue for companies to train their staff.
Later, we made our way to Bentong for ais kacang and Bukit Tinggi for a late lunch..

 

Back to basic

Boredom...
My off days are coming to an end.
I spent the first two days doing my chores, cooking and some laundry.
Then, I had this inspiration of giving Ah Pan, my old buddy a call.
Later in the day, he rang me up and ask if I am coming over to Karak, which is about an hour's drive away from Subang Jaya.
I said 'yes' and went looking for my fishing gear.

The old faithful
I found my obsolete Shakespeare travel fishing rod and my Shakespeare Dimension ultralight reel which I had purchased many, many years ago.
Till now, they are in perfect working condition.
I packed these up and loaded it into my car.
"You going fishing?," Michelle asked.
"Yeah...," I responded.
I haven't been fishing for at least two years. 
Been busy with cycling and photography and had forsaken the most basic hobby.


On the road again...
I found myself on the East Coast Highway.
Destination: Bentong, Pahang.
Arrangements were made to meet Ah Pan at Aik Huat coffee shop in Bentong.
Now, this place is a favourite gathering spot for cyclists, and its also our meeting point.
Before I proceed, I had to drop him off at his mechanic's workshop in the outskirts of Bentong.
"Mr Sam! How are you?," asked Ah Hou, the mechanic.
This successful young man who runs a workshop had just invested in a Polygon Helios 900, and is a regular cycling kaki of Farmer Wong and Ah Pan.
I made my way to Farmer Wong's place in mukim Sertik and was surprised to find so much change has taken place.
The government is building a concrete bridge linking his farm to the outside world.
Farmer Wong's wife, Maggie, has moved out and is living in town with her son Wong Fei.
At the farmhouse, I found out that Ah Pan had inherited Farmer Wong's Colnago road bike, which is worth about RM20,000.
His room is full of bicycles now. I guess the cycling craze had gripped Farmer Wong.

Ah Pan and the bikes

Walking the dog and checking out the new fish pond

Plenty of catching up to do
Farmer Wong is a happy man.
His growing plot is the only Good Agricultural Practise (GAP) farm in Pahang.
Now, he is the prime example of hardwork.
I was also glad to see my article on his effort being pinned on his wall.
Wong told me that he had invested in freshwater fish aquaculture.
This is expected to generate about RM100K a year during harvest.
I am glad that things are working out for my friends..


A skill that will never go away.. 
I learned to fish at the age of 9.
And as far as I could remember, my first catch was a Tilapia (Tilapia mossambicus) landed on a handline at an abandoned housing project in Kampung Baru. 
I have fished in streams, lakes and the ocean. 
This outing is no different. 
I call it a refresher course..

My catch: A red Tilapia

The patience game

A decent lunch: Curry wild boar and a fried egg

Fishing is fun!
Ah Pan led me to a pond at the other side of the farm.
It was inhabited by an old farmer, who was paralyzed after a stroke some months back.
Today, he is in a great shape and to my surprise, the old dude speaks fluent English!
We spent a couple of hours fishing there, while the old farmer wanted some manure from Farmer Wong's place.
Ah Pan landed the most Tilapia which was released back to the pond.
I managed to land a few and before we knew it, the weather had ran foul.
We went back to the farm as I made my way back to Bentong to drop off Ah Pan at his mechanic's workshop.
Spent the evening in Bentong exploring some food stalls which I never knew existed and later head back out to the highway home.
To me, it was a weekend well-spent with friends. 
And Sunday, its back to the grind!