Trekking at Pine Tree Hill - Part 2

This is a record for me. Blogging for 8 times in a day hehehe... Anyway, since this is the month of August and I have not blogged almost for the whole month, I'm making up for it.










I didn't make it to the top of Pine Tree Hill but pine trees are plenty around Frasers Hill :)


An abandoned house at a hill slope.


We stopped at Ampangan Batu on the way back. I have not taken this route for ages and the rest area is a good effort to allow people to enjoy the view. The problem is the people didn't know how to use the many rubbish bin around the area.

Trekking at Pine Tree Hill - Part 1

Pine Tree Hill is the longest trek at Frasers Hill. The expected trekking time is said to be about two and a half hours but I know I'll take longer than that. We started trekking at 10.30 a.m. because we have to wait for some people who has no concern for 30 other people waiting for them. We're given a cut off time at 2 p.m. Where ever we are, we have to make our way back by 2 or it would be dark by the time we return.






An interesting looking seed.
I also prayed there will not be a downpour like our Gunung Datuk trip last time. It will be very cold at Frasers Hill. My buddy from Gunung Datuk trip will be trekking with me again. That was very nice of her because I know I'd slow her down. Her excuse was she wanted to take it easy and enjoy the trek instead of sprinting to the finish line, panting and huffing.






One thing I enjoyed about Pine Tree Hill, I don't see rubbish anywhere and the trail is very narrow and overgrown at some area. There are also several fallen trees that makes passing through very difficult. People must have not favored this trail very much which is a good thing. It keeps the area clean and natural. I also loves the moss I see everywhere. I can't get enough photos of them. It looked really soft and velvety.




Migrating


Natural shelter that looked like a cave at the root of the tree.
It was uphill all the way up at Gunung Datuk, which means all the way downhill on the way down. At Pine Tree Hill, it was up and down, up and down, all the way up. That means up and down, up and down all the way down too. I have problems going uphill and it was very hard on the way back since I'm already tired. I waddled like a pregnant buffalo, moving ever so slowly, pushing my feet one at a time with whatever is left of my energy, trying very hard to catch my breath.


Wings...




My buddy kept giving advice about taking care of my health after looking at how pitiful I was. She's in her late 50s and she really didn't look like it at all. I hope I'll grow old like her. Yeah... hope! That's the word again. Hope won't happen unless we make it happen right? I always know I have to include some kind of exercise regime in my daily activities. Cardio has to be one of them. Didn't we all know that? Doing it is another matter. Sigh!


We forgot to take photos at the 3km sign. We took this sign on the way back.
Anyway, by the time we reach the second base camp, it was about 1.30 p.m. We stopped for a while and the moment we sat under the shelter, it drizzled. We had our lunch there and thank God the drizzle stop after about 10 minutes. Just before the shelter, we saw a sign 3km to Pine Tree Hill. After lunch, we rest for a while and decided to turn back. We knew we can't make it to the top by 2pm, and we're worried if it rains again.


Quite a number of people, including few younger ones, didn't even make it to the second base camp. So that was quite an accomplishment to me. I even recover from muscle pain and all quicker then when I went to Gunung Datuk last month :)

East Coast Trip Part 5

At Sungai Pahang...


Shallow water at Sg. Pahang...


I was IN the Sg. Pahang...
More shots...

East Coast Trip Part 4

More photos...


At a river mouth...


Photo hunters... :)


Snowy beach...


My ride for the trip...


Convoy...

East Coast Trip Part 3

At the paddy field...

I have always wanted to take photos at a paddy field. This is really a great opportunity.

East Coast Trip Part 2

Beaches... one of my favorite thing.


Waiting for the sunrise...


The morning sun playing hard to get but finally appears for a short while...


Trying different setting in my camera, the sunrise looked like sunset.


At Penyabong Beach jetty..


Last day at the beach near our chalet... beautiful morning.

Work Hard, Play Harder

There's the East Coast photography trip, Pine Tree Hill jungle trekking trip the weekend after that; and Bangkok and Laos trip next week. In between the trips, there's the normal training that I have to conduct and trainings I have to attend. It feels great when you can work hard and play harder.

One training session that all the trainers in my office has to attend really inspires me and I can see most of us are transforming our training sessions to make it more interesting and easier to learn with technologies from Accelerated Learning, Multiple Intelligence and NLP. It is hard work to prepare all the materials but it is worth it.

I stayed up until 4 a.m. to prepare for a class recently since I don't have much time due to packed schedule. But as a trainer, like a teacher, all we want is for our participants to be able to learn fast and apply what we teach. Accelerated learning is even more important to trainers since we have limited time to teach - 2 to 3 days at most and too many things for the participants to learn and remember for a short time. The techniques can also be useful to me when I learn something new.

Despite the packed schedule, I was able to make time for a lot of play. There's photography and jungle trekking trips and Ben makes last minute plan to Laos via Bangkok. If I didn't go to Laos, I have the option of going to Kenyir and Redang or visit a friend at Kota Bharu. But after much thinking, I can always go to Kenyir, Redang and Kota Bharu at another time. I'm very excited. The ticket's booked and passport ready, I have to exchange some currency and ensure I packed my things compactly since I don't want to carry big bags around.

I managed to renew my passport last Wednesday and the whole process was smooth except for the touts outside the immigration office offering instant passport photo service, photocopy service and the form at RM2. The original price of the form is only RM1 but since I came before the counter opens, I just pay the price and managed to get no. 30 in the queue. I collected my new passport at about 10.50 a.m. and returned to office in the afternoon. A reminder: if you print the form from the internet, make sure you print it on both side of the paper or it won't be accepted and you have to buy the form there.

This weekend I'm not going anywhere. I thought of going to Putrajaya to see the fireworks tonight but felt lazy and decided to relax at home. I need to recharge my batteries anyway :) I have to prepare a checklist of things to do at home and things to bring on my trip. I don't want to be worried about things I forgot to do or not brought along due to poor planning. On that thought, I better get started. Ciao!

East Coast Trip Part 1

I went to the southern side of East Coast for photography session about two weeks ago. We stayed at Rantau D'Rhu Beach Chalet at Kuala Rompin, stopped at various places that looked interesting along the way and went to Penyabong and Endau beach for lots and lots of photo. It was fun and relaxing. I took hundreds of photo which I am still in the process of sorting and uploading. Till later, here's a video of some of the places where we make our stops.



The last clip was taken at Sungai Pahang. The river was very shallow because it has not rain for a few days and I was so excited setting my feet on the bed of the river. "I'm IN Sungai Pahang! I'm IN Sungai Pahang!" :)