My First Try: A Haibun

Under The Invisible Boulder

In this little room, lies piles of loneliness, fear, sadness, and frustration of shattered dreams and hopes being covered continually by smiles, laughs, friendly greetings and jokes that usually bogus.  Out there, many beautiful things can be seen and enjoyed, the greenish trees, kittens playing, children smiling, bird singing freely, and hearing others sharing their dreams while reminiscing my own broken dreams slammed by the hands of the protector claiming my dreams were poisonous that vigorous enough to plague the entire humanity, the population who unconsciously and coiling a belt to their own neck.  Me, in this little room, ought to do something, just standing still, like a tree in the center of civilization.

In this tiny room...

Looking above...

Thinking when I could lift... 

This invisible boulder...

Gunung Mulu National Park

Hi all readers.  How are you? Christmas is just around the corner.  For those who celebrate it have you all finished all the planning and preparation?  Anyway, in this entry I will tell all of you readers about Gunung Mulu National Park.  Gunung Mulu National Park is located near Miri, Sarawak.  You can see the map here.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that covers caves, and karst formation in a mountainous rainforest setting.  The park is famous for its caves and expeditions that have been mounted to explore them and their surrounding rainforest.  The most well known expedition in this place was the Royal Geographical Society Expedition of 1977 to 1978, which saw over 100 scientists in the field for 15 months.  This national park is named after Mount Mulu, the second highest mountain in Sarawak.  Gunung Mulu National Park is famous for its limestone karst formations.  Features include enormous caves, vast cave networks, rock pinnacles, cliffs and gorges.  Mount Mulu is a sandstone mountain rising to 2,376m.  Gunung Mulu National Park has the largest known natural chamber, the Sarawak Chamber, found in Gua Nasib Bagus.  It is 700m long, 396m wide and at least  70m high.

The view inside the cave.

It has been said that the chamber is so big that it could accommodate about 40 Boeing 747 jets.  The nearby Deer Caves is one of the largest single cave passages in the world.  Other caves worthy of visiting in this area are Benarat Cavern, Wind Cave, and Clearwater Cave.  The Clearwater Cave contains one of the world's largest underground river systems and is believed to be the largest cave in the world by volume at 30,247,540 cubic meter.

View inside Clearwater Cave.

In addition, there are many species of animals live in this area.  About eight species of hornbill such as Rhinocheros Hornbill which can be seen on Sarawak state emblem and about 27 species of bat.  Moreover, you also can found some mammals species like moonrat, shrews, Bornean Tarsier, long-tailed Macaque, gibbons, squirrels and deers.

The Sarawak emblem.

Cute little sun bear cubs.

The most practical way to reach here is by air.  There are flights between Mulu and Miri, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.  Alternatively, it is possible to travel by river from Miri, which is about 100km away,using a boat which will takes long 12 hours.  For your information, before the opening of the airport and the opening of a helipad in 1991, this was the only way to reach the national park. Alright readers.  I think that's all I wanna share.  Until next time.  Stay raw and ready for more Fantastic+Merapu Adventures :D

Payar Island Marine Park

Hi again readers.  How's life?  I bet must full of ups and downs right?  Mine more to the down section.  But anyway, in this entry I will tell all of you about Payar Island or Pulau Payar.  Payar Island is one of the many islands off mainland Kedah, in the Straits of Malacca.  It is situated south of Langkawi, a more famous archipelago.  You can see the map here.

View from the above.

Payar Island status as a marine park offers protection for its diverse marine life.  The marine park is situated in the northern part of the Straits of Malacca, 35km south of Langkawi, and encompasses the islands of Pulau Payar, Pulau Lembu, Pulau Segantang and Pulau Kaca which are surrounded by coral reefs.  The marine park teems with a diversity of marine life vegetation.  Many endangered species of fishes and marine organism live within the sanctuary.

Snorkeling....

Some view of the beautiful Payar Island:

 Measuring 2km long and 250m wide, Payar Island is the most popular of the islands as its sheltered waters are ideal for snorkeling, scuba diving, coral viewing and swimming.  Its beautiful white sandy beach about 200m long is ideal for those who love sunbathing and beach walk or simply enjoying picnic.  Among the dive spots is the "Coral Garden", an area covered with bright and colourful soft corals.  Moreover, you have the chance to feed and play with baby blacktip reef sharks just off the beach.

Feeding frenzy:

 Baby sharks usually love to swim in shallow area.  If you has extra guts and wiling to take the risk you can swim along with the adult sharks.  This species of shark never prey on humans.  They have timid nature.  But be careful, might bit you if they mistakenly thinking you are their food.  So avoid holding shark food while swimming.

Cute little baby sharks.  But beware, it might bite you.

  Facilities include gazebos, picnic tables, barbecue pits and restrooms.  You can visit Payar Island from Penang of Langkawi.  You can click here for more info about package and rates offer to visit Payar Island.  Okay, until next time guys.  Stay raw and ready for more Fantastic+Merapu Adventures :D      

The Caves of Darkness (Gua Kelam)

Hi there readers.  Gua Kelam is another tourist attraction which worthy visiting.  It is located about 33km from Kangar, the state capital and near Kaki Bukit town. You can see the map to Gua Kelam here.  Gua Kelam is popular for its enchanting cave walk.  You can enter the cave in one end of the cave and come out at a different location.  The only path to the limestone cave is through an eight foot wide wooden bridge.  The bridge is about 370m long.  Under the bridge, you can see a stream of river running from the other side of the cave to the place that you just entered.

Starting our journey into the darkness.

Some pictures from inside the cave:

  This place is actually a former tin mine.  Back in 1935, an Englishman saw the water pathway as a brilliant method to transport tin ore from a mine located near the stream entrance through the underground cavern to Kaki Bukit.  Now, you can still find the remnants of the tin mine operation in the cave.  While walking inside the cave, you can clearly hear the smooth sound of the flowing stream underneath you, together with the squeaking bats and dripping water from the stalactites.  The mixture of all the natural sound can soothe your soul but, sometimes it can be a little bit spooky.

Okay, I admit. It's quiet tiring.

One of the best fat burner paths I've ever encounter.

Another fat burning stairs lead to the hills.

The cave also once a home for the Stone Age men.  At the other side of the cave, you can find campsite, a few small hut,  barbecue places, and many types of beautiful flowers.  Furthermore, there are also a small stream which full of many kinds of small fishes in it.  Visitors also allowed to swim in the steam.  Beside that, there are some jungle trekking track for those who seek the more adventurous trip.  Train service also offered to those whos too lazy too walk.  The view that you can see along the train ride its quite magnificent actually.

Finally, succeed in conquering half of the hill.

I really wanna climb up there, but does't have enough gears and guts.

Useful signboard in case if you have no idea where to go.

Welcome to 'Secret Garden'.

My poor attempted to catch fish with bare hands.

In weekdays, the cave open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and for weekends and public holidays, the cave open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.    The fee entrance is quite cheap, RM1 per adult and RM0.50 for children over seven years old.  The caves are managed by the Perlis Forestry Department (Jabatan Perhutanan Perlis).  Their website does not mention the caves being closed so if you are planning a visit I suggest you contact them first to check whether there are opened or not.  You can contact them by calling 04-9776626, 04-9767901 or you just send your email at this address: forestry@perlisforestry.gov.my.  That's all for this entry.  Until next time.  Stay raw and ready for more Fantastic+Merapu Adventures :D

Trip To The Border: Wang Kelian

Hello to all my blog readers.  In this entry, I will tell you some story about my trip to Wang Kelian.  Wang Kelian is a small village located at Malaysia-Thailand Border, about 40km from Kangar surrounded by pretty limestone hills.  It is one of two border crossings between Malaysia and Thailand in the state of Perlis. The other one is at Padang Besar.  The village across the border from Wang Kelian is Wang Prachan, located in Satun province, Thailand. You can see the map here.

Amazing mountain scenery:

The sky just blissfully beautifull

This place is famous for it's Sunday market on both sides of the border.  The Malaysia and Thailand governments allow people to move freely across the border to shop within the confines of the market without the need for any documents.  The market basically lines the Wang Kelian-Satun road, stretching about 1km on both sides of the border.

Long walks and a lot of cars

The market:

You can find fruits like lychee, durian, manggo, longan, mangosteen, and rambutan.  Or food such as the famous "pulut ayam" (which actually is glutinous rice with fried spicy chicken, crispy fried onions and sweet chili sauce), "somtam" (a type of Thai spicy and sour salad made of young mango, shrimp, chili, squid sauce and young papaya), "tom-yum", Thai spicy herbs soup and many more of interesting and delicious food.


Time to fill up my empty stomach:

Spicy chicken herbs soup with kway teow

Mix "tom-yum" with kway teow

Seasonings

Fried chicken rice

"Laksa"

You can buy many cheap items there.  From clothing, fishing equipment, camping equipment, kitchen equipment, many type of colourful fishes for pets and decorative purpose,  toys, hand crafts such as bags, baskets, hats any so many other things.

Guns anyone?

Hand-craft

You can buy sport cars with unbelievably cheap here...

And bicycle too.

There are seriously so many items you can find here.  Anyway, until next time guys.  Stay raw and ready for more Fantastic+Merapu Adventures :D