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Date: 23-24 AUG 2008
Time: 8AM - 6PM
Venue: Ulu Yam
Cost: RM20/pax
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Attendance:
1. Tua (Driver)
2. Chee Seng
3. Levin
4. Chew
5. Desmond
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Schedule:
07:00 Breakfast: Eat at home
08:00 Depart, Brief
09:00 Arrive, Scout Campsite
11:00 Setup
14:00 Personal Activities
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Clean up
21:00 Personal Activities
02:00 Supper, Night Watch
09:00 Breakfast
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The propose trip was on a budget yet well-fed* (If by any chances that we catch a fish) trip to find a camping ground near the river or the lake and fish there. It was a raining season and water level rise rapidly, the original campsite that I spot was flooded, by the looks, up my ankle; and eventually the river level was up my chest.
As proposed, the only thing that was following the plan was reaching home at 6PM. A good question, what happen in between? We are on time as follow the Malaysian-way-timing; 8:00AM have our breakfast, a nasi lemak to get our engine started, and follow by departing at 9:30AM after all the member at the pickup point. We take the MRR route that would be the shortest way, detour to Gombak to pick up a few sheets of banner, check the tire pressure and off we are back on track:
The giant ad that says puspel water comes from nowhere and you are charge for it.
How to go:
Head towards Selayang, take the route towards the direction of Selayang Primary 1&2, Bandar Baru Selayang or Kampung Panglima. It will be a single way, drive all the way straight. Along the route, you will by pass the below buildings;
A swimming stadium (on your left),
A entrance back to Bandar Baru Selayang (on your left),
A few entrance to different kampong (on your right),
A Petronas petrol station (on your left),
A RapidKL bus giant workshop (on your right),
Less than 1km from the Petronas petrol station you will saw the RapidKL giant workshop, you may see the signboard pointing towards right with Balakong or Ulu Yam. Turn right and you will be an light industry area like place with a steep climb uphill, yes. Steep, if you are like me, having the weight of 6 fellers in the car, you can have a bet on how fast the temperature meter can runs up to.
By 12:00PM we arrive at the camp site which I spot (a years ago), an entrance from RiverStone EcoResort, go further inwards along the lake. Hike in to the area and found that it was flooded and we came upon a conclusion where me and desmond to scout further up the ulu yam road. With time pushes upon us, we will have 2hours to scout and get every settle down before 3pm while we still have 2 more hours to gather firewood.
Going uphill towards ulu yam from RiverStone, will by pass the 1st picnic zone in about few hundred meters, the 2nd picnic zone will be slightly bigger about less than 1KM from the 1st zone, 1more KM later will be the 3rd picnic zone, with a big gate of welcome and incase you lost your way. After 3 picnic zones, will be reaching a Sg. Tua campsite entrance that is few hundred meters away. About a KM apart will be a second campsite, much privatize for functions if you need a pool and afraid if people drown. A hundred meters away, will be a steep entrance to another camping zone, much bigger space and provided off road track. If you have missed all these, you will be heading towards ulu yam, while you can see people taking the mountain water beside the road, factory and a school or sort.
The Sg. Tua campsite, much commercialize with all the cemented campsite, small pondok, cement seats, BBQ stove and dustbin placed all around the track, going upstream will be on par with the track and you soon will reach an end and to continue which is not advisable, you will reach a small clearance of campsite beside the river, further deep, with are muddy and with thick groves around leads to the camping zone that has the 4x4 trail.
At near 2:00PM I reach back to RiverStone, show the pig some of my slippers skills after he tell me that he suggest to camp at RiverStone. RiverStone has chalets of various size, a dining hall and a camping zone, which is well terrain. To rent a tent or chalets there cost about 60 to 100plus, which is worth the price. The electricity cuts off at 12:00AM so do bring some lights if you do not plan to sleep early.
RiverStone EcoResort for those that want to get some fresh air for a day or two
Well prepared tents and terrain that give you more time to have an afternoon nap.
Around 3:00PM we have our late-lunch, some bread with Levin made sardine sandwich and we started working on logging while some of us prepare stuffs.
Lev with his signature sardine sandwich that tastes better if we have other bread
Coils baby, they burn good
Decks of cards and a music player, kills the time in the rain
The rain soon stop around 4:00PM, all of us are out looking for firewood, all 5 of us are working like a lumber mill, chopping wood and breaking them into pieces. Well before 5:00PM comes another down pour. Hiding in the tent, which its suppose to be safe, suddenly the pig says:”Hey, its damp here la.” I swiftly reply:”yup, that’s a ground sheet. Come think about it, did any of us do the longkang?” A silence came, and all 3 of us put up our rain cloth and went out to channel the water away. Once everything is complete, we ask chee seng and desmond who is in the tent to check the bags. Chee Seng suddenly says: “Hey its dripping in the tent”. Out of the blue, our faces go pale, and for once in our lifetime we know that a flysheet is important. Building a tripod in the rain and putting the sheet up was a disaster, The banner that I brought to sit and lie is long, yet not broad and the ground sheet that Levin brought was wide, yet not waterproof, with no choice we pitch everything up, and soon settle the dripping problem by sacrificing all our rain cloths.
Night came soon, by 6:00PM; it is still drizzling while we prepare the dinner, 5+ cups of rice with baked beans with eggs, sardine and an A-B-C soup, that we can’t finish until the next morning. Finally by 8:00PM the sky is clear and we are able to move around. A chance to dry ourselves and smoked our cloths by the fire.
Dinner in making
This is how you look when dinner is not served on time
Chef coming back with a big smile say: Rice is ready and its finger licking good
This is how you look if dinner will be served in the next minute
Chef; an essential in a camping trip
Nice warm A-B-C soup, keeps you warm while you enjoy the great meal
This is how your food will be like if you just want everything
Drying the shirt by the fire, flames not really big, but they can really smoke your cloths.
Drying the pants by the fire, this is not how you should do it, well.. not for beginners.
Group shot! Levin, Chew and me
Group shot! Cheeseng, Chew, Desmond and me
Air pacat; something not for beginners as well, yes the bamboo is floating on air!
Night in ulu yam is not really dark due to the light pollution from the klang valley. Walking to the fishing spot by night is adventures when the water level reaches your knees after the down pour and there will be small snakes or lizards nearby.
Our first fishing spot have a good view towards the Batu Dam. The night sky after the rain is colored with a dark blue sky looming the top, while red cloud on the lower skirt lighted by the lights from the city. The fishing spot has only 3 places to stand and can allow about 6 rods to be placed at various points.
Levin putting up bait for chee seng
Fishing by another spot, yes parang is an essential if you are going to set foot at night
Our luck seems no good for this trip, rain before we set up the tent, rain after we prepare the firewood and NO fish for the day (Lucky I never promise fishes will be served for dinner). We moved to another fishing spot, slightly bigger than the prior one and it is located on the opening of the river to the dam. Our luck continues go sour, waste a couple of baits and got some of the hook tangle around the river. We went back to the camp, light the fire from its amber to keep ourselves warm and prepare some light supper before we went to sleep.
This is how the tent looks at night, not really cool, but do indeed cover from the rain
Teaching cheeseng to light the fire from its amber
The next morning, with all of them awake, we had pancakes, eggs and coffee for breakfast before we again try our sour luck at the river. Time passes, and there is not ever a slight bite on the river and we soon spot some white markers, thanks to some villagers that net all the fish to his advantage and we pledge never going back there.
The view of the fishing spot by the bank
Yes, Chew got one!
OMG, Levin got one as well!
Slumber guy who say, you all fish la, I want relax only..
Before noon, another down pour came, we hid ourselves back in the tent while we start packing our belongings, with some leftover food that we brought, we cook everything in one shot, apparently there is only few eggs and a pack of sausage left. Once the rain stop, we start to move by keeping the flysheet, tent and every other thing that lie around.
A rack to place the rods and the lamps, pretty useful indeed
Mist in the mountain right after rain.
Useful things in a camp
This is how you should leave the campsite after you pack everything.
By 3:00PM we are prepared to go on our way back home. The way back seems smooth at first, with some evaporation of the kerosene from the kerosene lamp, some of us soon was dizzy and dose off, meet up with the never ending traffic at MRR2, and took us about 2+ hour to reach desmond place, dropping him off seems a great help to my poor little car, that already sent sparks flying all the way on the way uphill.
Stop at cheeseng place, we have our so-call dinner after all the exhaustion and the great load of kerosene. Slight discussion after that and soon we are on our way back.
Quiz: Find where are the white markers?
Score for the RiverStone EcoResort camping site:
-Ease of access: 7
-Hygiene: 9, the admin guys at there do really keep a clean site, Bravo to them
-Security: 4, no thieves, and there will be people around the hall until 12:00midnight
-Resources: -5, No much firewood around, No river to bath or fill water, NO FISH!, thanks to you bastard villager that live on the other bank! No thick bamboo grove, although there is pre-chopped ones around
-Adventure level: -6, very-the-safe place, only found a centipede during the longkang digging, and some house hold cats rooming around
-Miscellaneous: 1, Nothing much fun to do if you are on a camping trip, though they are going to upgrade some facilities, such as kayaking, archery and flying fox, yet it’s a great place to be there with the whole family.
