Monday, October 15, 2007

Appreciating the beauty of Earth

I admit! I was a little lazy and busy at the same time to update my long-overdue blog. Many have came to me asking when on earth am I going to update my pathetic blog. So now, here am I updating..

Many of us have been living in Malaysia since we were born and always looking forward to travel overseas because other countries seem to be much better and comfortable (and they take care of their citizens pretty well). Malaysia is always spending too much money to proof that 'Malaysia Boleh' (lets take the 'angkasawan' case for example) and breaking some weird world records. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is, how many of us actually take out some of our time to appreciate the beauty of nature that God has given to us Malaysians? Well, I'm sort of in the guilt bench but during the Hari Raya festival holidays, i managed to visit a 'reserved' forest with some of my friends and it turned out not bad..

It was a pretty warm Sunday afternoon when a bunch of us were discussing what to do later in a restaurant after Church Service. From going up to Genting for a cup of Starbuck's coffee, exploring 'THE GARDEN' in Midvalley, to visiting the much forgotten Zoo Negara. Much ideas have been brought out but none can satisfy all the different personalities around the table. It has been a common problem among us when we are planning for something.. too many ideas, too many people, too hard to please everyone..In the end, desperate to get out from Klang, we finally decided to pay Templers Park a visit..

Templers Park is located in rawang which is (according to my friend) only 45 minutes (normal speed) drive from the land of Bah Kut Teh. Along the way, we missed turnings, stopped for late lunch (or was it early dinner), made few U-turns and after 2 hours (or more), we finally reached Hutan Lipur Sungai Kanching. At first, we passed by another reserved forest- Taman Commonwealth which looks pretty grand from the outside, but we were unable to find the entrance.. So, we were thinking that most probably they have renamed Templers Park to Hutan Lipur Sungai Kanching (H.L.S.K), assuming that there won't be 3 reserved forests in one area, we just turn in to H.L.S.K.

Happily we parked our car and all earger and ready to climb up the hills to see the water fall. It is quite a serene place to be after a long time living in the city..

There are different types of trees and plants all around.. I actually felt peace in my heart when i was walking along the pathway in the park before entering the forest. The place is just so green and calming...








We were greeted with this sign before entering the forest.. 'Kebersihan Hutan Lipur ini adalah tanggungjawab kita bersame'.

Direct translation- ' Cleanliness of this forest is our responsibility'.

In short, 'Do not litter (you irresponsible people)!'






The entrance look really small beside all the tall gigantic trees and bamboos (are those bamboos? It sure look like bamboo to me.. Or are they rotans?)..Many people are walking out as the day is getting late.. Only 'sesat' people like us who arrive there so late and unable to really enjoy like they do. All of them came down smilling, laughing and some soaking wet. It really gave us the motivation to speed up our steps..




BUT..............




Climbing up the stairs to reach the water fall is really no joke especially when all of us did no do a proper warm up. Even before we can see any sign of water, we can hear the sound of water hitting the rocks as we climb up the stairs panting.. It was one of the best music nature can give to us. I just love hearing it (but nothing beats the beautiful sound of waves of the sea while you are walking bare-footed at the beach)






Parts of the forest look pretty creepy and I wouldn't wanna walk alone when the sky is dark. Reminds me of some scarry stories I've read and heard. But always be reminded that, thou shalt not speak simply when thou art in the woods! The orang asli-s always believe that, you might offend the god or spirits of the forest if you simply curse or talk nonsense! You can always try out if you don't believe but don't blame anyone if you can't find the way out after that.



There are actually few stops along the waterfall that we can stop and have fun but the water doesn't look really clean. Though this place (as shown below) looks pretty nice but there are quite alot of people there and we decided to hike further up to seek a better view..


The thoughtful developer had built a few 'pondoks' along the way for us to rest and take a breather. But the irresponsible visitors just feel so at home that they just leave their rubbish there. I didn't get to take the dirty side of this park coz i just feel that its not neccessary but felt angry at the same time.. Why people only know how to use the facilities and enjoy themselves but do not know the simple rule which is to keep this place clean in order for the future generation to enjoy as well?

All they can think is about themselves and the convenience of just leaving the leftover waste anywhere they like... *sad*






This picture was taken when i was hiking further up.. I know you can't see much from this picture (i'm not a pro photographer k).. But nothing compares to you being there yourself and experience it yourself.








This is the highest point we can reach on that day and the waterfall is just beutiful! (though we have to try our best to ignore the rubbish that is thrown by the public that came earlier) It wasn't easy to take this picture as almost every corner beside this pic, there is rubbish!!! So angry!!! Hope all these irresponsible people will get their punishment.. like their house will be filled with rubbish all of a sudden.. or they will get serious headache for every piece of rubbish they throw on the ground... (i know this sound super childish but i'm very angry with these people)


I love this picture!!! But my sisters said that it looks like those white hair ghost.. *cry* Don't you think this picture looks so cool?

We stayed around there for one hour and adjourn down back as the sky was getting darker and it is not wise to stay in the forest which will be a total pitch-black when there's no sun. The percentage of you getting lost will be much higher and that's the last thing we want it to happen to us.

Overall the whole journey was quite a fruitful one as we did not expect such nice waterfall to be in Rawang. However, i hope i can do something for the forest in the future so that it will not be so dirty and that the public will be more aware of the importance of keeping all these reserved forests CLEAN!!

After cleaning up ourselves and saying goodbye to the park, we head down to KL to find good food. Just few KM after we came out from H.L.S.K, we saw a signboard- 'Taman Templer' on our left-hand side. GERAM!!!!! But look at the bright side, we have another place to explore on the next holiday.. so.. YEEPEE!!!

-Pamela- In support of a cleaner environment..