Berkelah Falls: Fall for the Walk, when you Walk for the Fall (Y2012 Intro Trek)

BASIC INFORMATION

Trek: Y2012 Intro Trek

Date: 15 -16 September 2012

Location: Berkelah Falls, Pahang, Malaysia

Elevation: 884m

Duration: 2D1N

BRIEF ITINERARY

Day 0

Overnight transport to Kuantan

Day 1

Transport to Trailhead

Half day trek to campsite (near a waterfall)

Day 2

Half day trek back

Transport back to SG

Day 0

With much fanfare and excitement, we all met up at kranji at 10pm and to my surprise, nearly everyone was there!! : o thank you everyone for being on time!! To my 2nd surprise, Elsia won the competition of the smallest bag in the entire team, closely followed by xuejuan with their mega small bags, as compared to everyone’s 45/55/65/70/75L bags! Naturally our master chef cum zichar chef, Wei bin, carried the biggest bag with his famous mega huge wok! YUMYUMYUM! Can’t wait for his yummy food : D Shaoxuan, our logs IC for this trek, gave me a third surprise when I found 2 cans of red bull in his bag!!!! HAHAHA so sneaky nvr share!

Us at Kranji MRT!

Thanks to many people who rushed here despite having things on before meeting, like Kenneth and Shyanne!! : D

Esther’s group was so early/on time that they left even before seeing the TM and our team’s admin IC SMUX PREZ NOW (hahaha) arrive. Good job, Esther’s group! One By one the groups started leaving and our next destination was Larkin bus terminal!

The various groups before leaving Kranji MRT!

At Larkin terminal, the groups waited very long for group 2 and 6 who arrived abt 45mins after group 1. Some of us shared some really really specialchicken nugget meal ^^ hehe :p upon reaching Larkin, some people (coughcheraik&jasoncough) were saying they’re totally shagged from all the walking and one felt “faint” cuz of the weight of the tent LOL!!!

Special nuggets meal ^^

Finally the last 2 grps arrived, ate some yummy and cheap MEE soto at the coffee shop recommended by Zephan! They devoured the food really quickly and soon all of us left to board the bus to…. KUANTAN! Oh wait. Before that, some people (coughjason&cheraik&jiamincough) were expecting to sit 草原快车 to Kuantan. However, I had to lower their expectations VERY significantly lest they get too disappointed.

The bus was super dark and eerie and the driver didn’t wanna switch on the light when we first boarded!! The aircon was too hot! But during the night, it became SUPER cold haha anyway we embarked on our journey to Kuantan where Berkelah falls (pronounced as ber-ker-lah) is located at! Most of us were very shagged and KO-Ed while the rest couldn’t sleep. Nick&jasmine who were right in front told us that a couple of times the bus driver dosed off while driving!!! : O TSKTSKTSK!!

Day 1

Finally at 630am, we arrived at a breakfast place, ate some yummy nasi lemak and super filling roti prata!!!! Having our tummies all filled up, we were ready to CONQUER BERKELAH FALLS!

All knocked out!!! Except SMUX Prezzie, Eugene Yeo, with his signature handsome smile and peace sign : D

The bus dropped us at this restaurant along the main road and we boarded a small truck to enter the small road to reach the trailhead. The ride was so fun and a couple of us screamed cuz IT WAS REALLY FUN!!! The branches kept hitting the taller ones while we drove past really quickly : D

Group shot before leaving for Berkelah Falls (:

Group 1 to 3 ready to be sent to slaughtered! LOL.

Group 4-6 all prepared too, on another truck!

Our very first obstacle of the day includes a collapsed bridge which we had to cross. Some werent sure if they could do it but all crossed it safe and sound anyway a safety drill soon followed and some light warm up led by our safety ic, Desmond cum Li Ye! And group one moved off with great speed right after that!

Crossing the bridge!!

At the starting point, each grp took a photo with the sign board. We started our trek at 930am, led by 10th time Berkelah Falls conquerer, WEI BIN! Not too long after, we reached the very first beautiful twin fall!! The water was very very clear and people like Gabriel had their solo shots taken with the falls as their background!!

Jason: “LEMME GO HOME!!!!”

Resting at the first waterfall!

Group 4 Looking Good eh! with the twin waterfall as background

Group 2!!!! Nice (y)

After a long rest, we proceeded on cuz we knew there was a greater reward ahead of us The terrain was the usual msian trek style – foresty and a couple of rocks! It was very manageable but was pretty humid. OHYES! Thank God for the really really awesome weather! (: soon after, we were faced by MASSIVE AMOUNT OF ROCKS!!!! Thank goodness the rocks were not slippery due to the scorching hot sun WOOHOO! And not many people slipped and many were very confident of their footing. Sometimes we had no choice but to step into puddles of water While some zai people quite get past them without their shoes getting soaked!

Sylvia’s bag was taking a toll on her stamina due to the massive size and weight!!! When we insisted that she passed us some of her weight (but AS USUAL SYLVIA DIDN’T ALLOW!! >( ), we opened her bag and found tons of yummy food plus snicker bars in her bag!! Welfare for everyone T.T Sylvia why u so nice!!!

Marie: ‘like a chill pillzzzzz, easy peasy lemony squeezy!!’

The infamous twins having fun!

Some rocky areas were really scary and having experienced it before, I was really afraid that people will not dare to go past them. BUT EVERYONE HOW ZAI! Claps claps! (: girls like Lingyu, Itsuka and Angelina were so confident and quick with their steps!!! Jasmine also!! She said it was scary but a lot of fun (:

At a rest point, Eugene, Meilin and Gabriel had so much fun hiding under a rock, while Elsia, Jiamin, Jason, Yuhang and Weibin (group1 peeps) were far ahead and they enjoyed some light swimming over at their rest point

Xue Juan looking good eh!

Hiding under a rock to avoid the sun!!

Me, Sylvia, Eugene, Liye resting at the.. rest point..

After less than 30mins, we finally caught a glimpse of the main fall located diagonally across us and WOOHOO! All that was left was to cross some rocks and we’ll reach the campsite in no time!! Lingyu and I didn’t wanna jump across the small river gap so we walked by another way, removing our shoes. To our dismay, we realised it was a more difficult route. Kena scammed T.T LE SIGH~

Reached the campsite at 1230-1PM and we were really sad to find out that nearly half the campsite was taken by other people and we only had half to ourselves but nevertheless, careful planning of situating our tents by Zephan, allowed us to maximize usage of whatever space that is left for us to use.

After setting up our tents, we headed to the main falls abt 3 mins away to enjoy the hot sun and some swim!!!!!!!

The fall was so beautiful and the water was so nice! Sleeping beauty Joan even slept on the rocks for more than an hr! Toh Xin, Ling Yu slept side by side, with an extra lightbulb ELSIA PHUA.

Spot the Extra!!!!!!!!

Joan: ‘Where is my prince….?? Please wake me up!’

Suntanning like a boss (y)

Some revealed their HOT BODS like Li Ye, Jason, Cher Aik, Yu Hang, Gabriel, Giorgio, Dustin, Dixuan. But the most highly anticipated one was of cuz…. -drumroll- EUGENE YEO!!! All the girls couldn’t take their eyes off his hot bod, especially YOONG Mei Lin (sorry Wei Chong!!) who even wanted a photo for memory’s sake!

Playing in the huge pool!

Freshies!!! Vanessa Xinfang Xuejuan

More fresh meat!!!!! Marie & Meryl!!!! (M&Ms haha.. oops lousy joke ><)

Awwwwww

Semi Trek Exco!!!!!!

Some remained fully clothed and stayed near their girlfriends like TOHXIN, VERNON and NICK due to the careful watch by their significant other half LOL. The guys and some hamsup girls (like Meizee YOONG) also were blessed by some bikini babes, Livia and Martina! HAHA Esther wanted to wear bikini for Vernon but didn’t have the courage to, as her other sisters in the trek didn’t own a bikini. HEHE :p

Some aunties also appeared at the waterfall where they used their towels to cover their head. Their identities need to be protected so cannot reveal who.

It was another funny moment when Marie and I went to sit near sleeping beauty (awaiting for her green shirt prince) Joan, and Meryl joined us soon after. A butterfly kept flying to Meryl and she was screaming out of her lungs. But the butterfly didn’t wanna leave lol and kept flying back to her HAHA. The funniest thing was when the butterfly first flew away, Meryl was like “FLY TO MARIE!!!!!” who was beside her! Haha finally Meizee the brave girl helped her to chase the butterfly away.

Some of us chilled in the pool and some on the rocks. Others like the twins (Linda and “Lindy”) didn’t wanna get wet but got pushed into the pool and also had fun waking up people like Eugene who was sleeping on the rocks by splashing and cold spring water on him. Haha we had a really great time HTHT-ing there as well. The exchange students, like Dustin, also shared with us some of their experiences as well as their plans to travel! (:

Others started to get tired and itsuka and angelina decided to take a nap in their tents while weibin started to get busy with his cooking yum yum!

The most epic moment was when Zephan yuhang kenneth and Eugene were swimming in the pool and.. SUDDENLY while Eugene was confidently swimming near some rocks, A GIANT HUMONGOUS MOUNTAIN LIZARD APPEARED OUT OF THE RIVER!! All of us were screaming Like mad!!!! ahaha. Cuz it was such a rare sight!!!! It was SO SO SO SO FUNNY cuz it was super near Eugene and it could have eaten him up HEHE :p

CAN YOU SEE THE KOMODO DRAGON/MONITOR LIZARD!!!! Came back to SG and saw this..

OHMYGOOOOOSHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! SMUX PREZ ALMOST LOST HIS LIFE!!

We spent a good 4hrs+ at the waterfall!!!! The highlight being Eugene’s hot bod. Hehe. We were very blessed to have other peeps there as well cuz we saw them do flying fox across the waterfall and some of them did cliff jumping as well. Due to our very responsible safety ic (Li Ye) ‘s strictly-no-jumping-off-cliff policy, none of us attempted it, thanks for coorperating guys!! (:

But anyway, the sky started getting dark and we all retired to the campsite for some awesome field cooking! The highlight definitely has to be the many course meal that weibin whipped up! Curry chicken, oyster sauce broccoli scallop, sambal Kang kong, teriyaki chicken! With all these gd food, my group didn’t even have to cook plz!! Haha but we did, all in the spirit of camping! We cooked yummy spaghetti with sausage, seaweed chicken and mushroom soup! Yum yum yum! Yuhang the pig ate all the curry chicken >( while Jason insisted that he cooked a lot for the team. HAHA but we nvr ate our Maggie MEE in the end I heard all groups had mega a lot of leftovers, with group 6 returning all their veggies back to nature. Hope y’all had fun throwing it back!

MASTERCHEF – WEIBIN!

Having fun cooking!!!

All of us cleaned up and there was also a queue at our natural toilet hahaha! Some people needed to do big business but I’m not too sure how many did. LOL!!!

Yuhang showed off to me his powerful headlamp to me with 7 different type of lights LOL. Showoff!

Anyway the Berkelah Fall Trekkers then gathered at 815pm for a very special segment called “Tonight with Zephan”. While waiting for it to start, eugene and meilin’s group started sitting in an arrangement as if they’re watching a movie. Haha super funny!!!!!

Anyway, “Tonight with Zephan” is something that trek team does on the very last night of the trek. It is smth like a debrief, just a lot more meaningful

This is our dear TM’s very last time doing this segment and he was on the verge to tears sobsob!! People like Eugene and Meilin felt very sentimental as well as they worked very closely with Zephan, being in the exco and all, and started tearing… Just kidding I think Zephan should be cheering in his heart, “PANG KANG LO!”

Group 2 and 4 getting really excited for ‘Tonight with Zephan!’

‘Tonight with Zephan’

HAHA ANYWAY THE MAIN POINT IS, we all introduced ourselves and roughly explained why we came for this trek. One unique reason was “cuz I like trees” LOL. I think it was said by Marie (correct me if i’m wrong haha!) super funny. Not only will we shout a warm ‘welcome’ after each person is done with his/her introduction, occasionally, the other campers will shoot fire crackers to join in the celebrations with us. LOL, afterwhich some of us shared some feedback about the trek, such as JASON who said that he wanted “草原快车”hahha! It was really nice and cosy cuz everyone was squeezed into a very small space and we all switched off our torches and headlamps. Also, zephan prepared a pretty blue lightstick whereby whoever is speaking will hold the lightstick. Meilin’s introduction was super epic cuz she was overexcited to make her presence known. We all headed to bed at about 9pm, and a couple of us lingered around to play cards and HTHT. And with that, it concluded our first day at Berkelah Falls.

Day 2

Some groups woke up really early at 630am to prepare a hearty meal such as French toast while other groups (like Li Ye’s) nua-ed until 7am++ to prepare their breakfast. Zephan and Weibin slept in a ‘double decker’ hammock and according to Zephan, he didn’t even know it was daybreak cuz he was wrapped like a cocoon. Weibin, our master chef, did not disappoint us and surprised us with carrot cake.

Meryl with Carrot cake prepared by Chef Teo!!!

Happy group 4!

We quickly had our breakfast, packed up our tents and went to the main falls one last time to take a group shot with the beautiful waterfall!! Camwhored like crazee before leaving and we spent a good 30mins just taking photos!! LOL

Berkelah Falls trekkers :D:D:D:D

Happy happy happy groups leaving Berkelah Falls

Finally left at about 930AM (we wanted to leave at 8AM originallu LOLOL!) and continued our journey home. We went back via the same way though some paths look really unfamiliar and made some of us question if we actually, really passed by here! Haha. At the start of the way back, we had to cross this log and the easiest way to get across was to step into the river and get our shoes wet. But esther, our dear welfare ic, was so funny! She actually hugged the log to cross over so that she could avoid getting her shoes wet!!!!

Esther crossing the log, seriously A+ for effort. HAHAHA!

On our way back and team work!!!! (y)

Many of us thought that it would take much longer to descend, considering that it was much more slippery due to the morning dew. However, this group of trekkers really VERY ZAI!! We managed to descend using one hour LESS than the time it took for us to climb up to the main falls! CLAP CLAP!!!!!!!!! Heehee. Jiamin’s relatives kept calling her (cuz her hometown is Kuantan) but she acted cool and rejected all their calls. HAHA. Oh and special thanks to Zephan, who meticulously pasted yellow duct tape on the trees when we were climbing up yesterday, so that we could navigate much much much easily on our way back!!!! According to Wei Bin, we managed to take a super duper short cut!!!! HAHAHA! We crossed a dry river and VOILA~ the tarred path appeared and it was such an exciting moment for a lot of us cuz it signalled the end of the trek! WOOHOO! And within minutes, this sign greeted us……..

Happy Group 3 with ‘Selamat Jalan, Terima Kasih” WOOHOO!

Group 1: PANG KANG LO!!

Headed back via the same way, crossing the collapsed bridge and taking the small truck out to the main road. Boarded our bus and finally had our super late lunch at yummy yummy MarryBrown, KFC & WANTON MEEEEEE!!!!

And with that… 36 of us concluded our journey to Berkelah Falls. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it!! Also hope you guys enjoy yourself during the trek and most importantly… CONTINUE TREKKING!