LandscapeShutter

My first 3 month in microstock photography

2012-01-03T14:36:00.011+08:00

Well, maybe not exactly the first 3 month... as i already have an approved shutterstock account since 2008, but never really try to upload something sale-able until now... since 2008 i had about 25 picture but only a bunch of it generate sale... most probabily because the subject lack commercial value (that time i upload bird photos,insect macro photos,etc) .. at that time i didn't try microstock seriously because in my perception.. only those talented with lots of good creative idea will excel in stock photography .. and i'm far from those description.. (it is true, but you can slowly nurture the stock perspective into your head, and effort count more than talent in microstock) .. as you can see my portfolio size graph below where it had only 25 pictures in September (which is the numbers for 2 years!) before it start to increase steadily since late october 2011

Its all started in late September with an arabic calligraphy vector (i'm taking arabic calligraphy class since February 2011.. until now) which i draw to learn vector tracing and since its a vector i try to upload to Shutterstock and it surprise me when it is sold a few times ... the curiousity encourage me upload few more vectors... with most of them sold immediately after approval... and since then i started to upload regularly and by end of 2011 my gallery portfolio grew to 269 pictures from 25 pictures before September..

and here is my montly performance chart after 3 month

As you can see from the chart.... total of download follow closely the total number of pictures available for sale in my portfolio .. which totally make perfect sense...i read somewhere in microstock forum that a good quality portfolio should have at least USD1.00/picture monthly average.. the average one should be around USD0.50/picture per month average... mine is lagged behind at a mere USD0.40/picture and that figure if minus the single extended license download (USD28) i got in Dec would push my average to only USD0.30/picture per month ... so there is a lot of work need to be done to push the quality and also the quantity at the same time to get some decent income from microstock

Type of download also affect the income considerably... the major income for my portfolio is the USD 0.25/download at 63% followed by the On Demand download (USD 1.88 or USD0.81/download ) at 23%. Of course you will feel better reward with the higher pay per picture like On Demand download or even the Extended License at USD28/picture but the major contributor with more consistent pattern would still be the normal USD0.25/download

My first ever Extended License/Enhanced License download at USD28/download.. is the following buah tunjuk langit (alternative herbal medicine for diabetes patient). Extended License/Enhanced License is required when the advertiser/user intent to use the picture in their product or maybe in advertising campaign exceeding 250,000 copies etc..

3 month in microstock is like newborn baby... too many things to learn.. the lingo.. buyer preference.. reviewer hurdle... quality control... type & style of images that sell.. etc... luckily i had so many friends and mentors with similar passion in this field .. breaking your ego would be the first step as rejection is the middle name in this industry.. the faster you overcame the rejection phase.. the better stock photographer you would be...

Among my best seller at the moment

if you haven't started... its better late than never.. Shutterstock is a good place to start as it is among the major earner for most microstocker... the others would be istockphoto, fotolia,123rf and dreamstime. If you like, you can have a peek at my humble portfolio but i wouldn't say its a good portfolio for reference... but i hope it will be soon... :D

Average income per picture... what does it mean
Someone asked me to clarify the monthly average income per picture.. what i meant is

the total monthly income divided by the number of images in porfolio=average income per picture

So if the monthly income is USD100.. and the number of images is 200 .. then
USD 100/200 pictures = USD 0.50 monthly average

microstock is purely numbers game... good quality will push the average numbers higher.. the world most profitable microstocker Yuri for example had over 50,000 pictures and because of the high quality he should also has very good picture average (nobody knows.. maybe USD10/picture?).. his monthly income few years back is already more than USD50k per month.. now it is definitely higher

so what is the point of discussing the montly average? it will go back to you on how much you want to earn from this field.. if your target is USD 100 per month and you average is USD0.33 per picture then having 300 picture with similar quality and commercial value in your portfolio might be just enough for your target.. of course there are some picture that will outsell other picture 10x more but there will be picture that rarely see any sales.. and there is also seasonal sales pattern trend.. average income per picture is just to simplify it

in short

higher quality or higher commercial value = higher income per picture
higher numbers of picture available for sale = higher overall income

how much you want? just do your own calculation :P

Shooting remnant of a temple at Sungai Sembilang, Selangor

2011-02-08T14:25:00.001+08:00

Temple remnant at Sungai Sembilang, Selangor

Few weeks ago I with few of my fren went to look for sunset shooting spot. As usual we will normally seek new places by scouting the seaside area for any interesting spot for sunset. This tedious brute forcing alike method sometime allow us to find good new places such as this one (sometime zero result also.. :) ).

The more popular spot at Sungai Sembilang is actually its angler/fisherman jetty. We were targeting a different structure by the seaside near to this jetty but unable to look for the correct entrance from the road. Trekking by the seaside would be too far so we just shoot another location in between which is this temple remnant location.

It seem that the temple has fall viction to waves erosion as its location is too near to the shoreline. Apart from this tree you can also compose your shot from the mangrove tree around the area.

This location is located between Kapar and Jeram. To reach this location, go north from Kapar. After passing Tambak Jawa area, look for Al-Naim Mosque to your left or for the Sungai Sembilang signboard. From this mosque you can safely take any left junction (eg Jalan Kolam Pancing) and go towards the direction of an apartment called Pantai Indah Seaview Resort which is the highest structure there. Ask for permission to park within the vinicity of the resort area and then walk to the seaside. You'll see the jetty area. The remnant location is situated about 100m from the jetty by the seaside. The jetty is famous with angler during weekend. Since the location is quite secluded makesure you took some safety precaution (go in group, torch light, etc).

To our luck, the sun setting gloriously that day, alhamdulillah

Composing picture behind the unique tree roots

Framing the sun

This is my 50th post on this blog.. personal achievement for me.. :)

Redang Island, Terengganu

2011-01-17T22:43:00.002+08:00

Learning to capture long exposure seascape photography

Few months ago had the opportunity to visit Redang for a workshop organized by my faculty. During our stay, we stay at Redang Holiday Beach Villa. To be honest, if it is for leisure or family then it would be a good place, but for workshop environment .. the place is not suitable at all.. no suitable conference/meeting room.. no suitable equipment... nothing at all.. but we adjust a long the way and manage to proceed with our objective successfully..

The beach that we were facing is towards the east so only sunrise can be observe from our place. Sunrise only appear on our first morning and then it hide the next day. :D

Here are some of the picture taken during my visit there

The view from one of the chalet hut. simply beautiful

For some, this construction barge spoiled the sandy beach view .. For me.. its a subject :D

Redang Island is definitely a beautiful island with unlimited possibility for seascape. I hope i would able to repeat this location with more flexibility (not for workshop/working) and hopefully the weather would be more nicer then .. since our visit is exactly before just before the monsoon season it keep raining especially during sunrise/sunset (even half of the resort along the beach is already close down for monsoon break)

Fishing village, Pantai Kundur (Pantai Puteri), Malacca

2011-01-16T02:12:00.003+08:00

Fisherman boat & vessel along the Pantai Kundur shoreline

Located along the shore of Pantai Kundur is a tranquil & peacefull fishing village, approximately 17 km from Malacca Town. You can observed how belacan is make here. Not far from Pantai Kundur is the petroleum refining industry facility owned by Petronas. The petronas jetty is prominently part of the sea landscape in Pantai Kundur. People of Malacca still remember how penny compensation was given to those who had to relocate in Tangga Batu to make way for that development (RM5/sq feet?). There were rumours that the larger budget meant for them were embezzled before reaching the intended receipient.

I fondly remember Pantai Kundur as my scout camping and training place during primary school. I remember camped there twice while i'm in Darjah 4 & 6 (think so) learning tying ropes, basic cooking, and singing scout song and even song from neighbouring countries (because there are participants from neighbouring countries). Today's parents overprotective of their children and teens . Even PLKN scared the hell out of them.. But saying so, i also not so sure whether i will accord my son/daughter the same privilege... let see.. we'll cross that bridge when we come to it..

Dead tree by the shoreline

Pantai Puteri is a new name given to enhance the 'commercial value' of this beautiful beach. Good place such as this serene and tranquil beach doesnt need new name with no historical/local value. Might as well you rename all places such as Tanjung Keling.. Pantai Klebang.. Pantai Pengkalan Balak.. or even Melaka! (Last time i heard the ADUN is still ADUN Kundur.. not ADUN Puteri) ..

Sorry for being a bit emotional or even sarcastic but our leader need to learn how to preserve our heritage.. not replace it with fake identity.. we lost too many of it already..

The Secret Passage, Ujong Pasir (Malacca Part 6c)

2011-01-13T16:04:00.002+08:00

During my third visit to Anjung Pasir (1st with Jasni, 2nd with Qamar & 3rd with Rajesh), we went looking around the area scouting for alternative site. I rarely repeat the same location too many times as i believe there are so many other places to explore. Or as Mr Rajesh put it, the first shot is always the best shot. For seascape i might repeat during different tide height as different tide height bring different view/composition and new feel to the same place.

Rajesh spotted this site and i agree with him that this place would be a very nice photography subject. Since i already shot at the abandoned jetty twice, i decided to shoot at this new location while Mr Rajesh shoot at the jetty place. He came later to this place also before the sunset light went off totally. Would love to repeat this location when the tide is lower.

This would be the last entry on Ujong Pasir, meanwhile, today i'ved started my own personal blog at http://www.emranmt.blogspot.com/ I just need a place to put my opinion/perspective on certain thing and i dont think its good to mix that with the landscape photoblog i had in here. Feel free to visit it. Cya there!

Ujung Pasir Revisit : Malacca Part 6b

2011-01-12T18:37:00.000+08:00

New Year Eve - found a couple of bottle dumped along the shoreline and decided to make a composition of them

This part is a continuity from previous part which i describe about an abandoned jetty found in Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir. Since then I've been receiving inquiry on how to reach the jetty by fellow photographer which i happily respond.

Apart from the jetty, the area next to it is also picture worthy. During low tide you'll be able to reach a lonely tree area about 50m from the shoreline. During high tide these area would be submerged under the water but it is still a great landscape to shoot. Just need to find a good angle and composition, then shoot!

The picture below even manage to hit Flickr Explore front page briefly. Flickr Explore is only a feature by flickr to select the 500 most interesting picture on a daily basis from all uploads around the world. Few of it would make it to the front page during that day. This is my second explore front page i get (the first one is in 2009 for the earth hour picture - here it is)

The final afterglow of 2010

The final light of 2011

Dangerously abandoned, An Old Jetty in Portuegese Settlement, Ujong Pasir (Malacca Part 6a)

2011-01-03T11:16:00.008+08:00

Its been a while since the last time i update this blog.. which is why i choose the title dangerously abandoned... when you leave it too long you might loose the drive or passion to update it.. hopefully it wont happen here.. :D ... got a lot of things to do in December and had to prioritize... now i'm queuing up few post for the next several days :D

For this post & few more i'll continue to cover several location in Malacca ... i had written five series on various location of Malacca previously [Part I - Limbongan, Bandar Hilir,Part II - Selat Mosque, Pulau Melaka,Part III - Al Azim Mosque, Solok, Bukit Peringgit,Part IV - Bachang, Batu Berendam,Part V - Pantai Pengkalan Balak, Masjid Tanah]

This is an amazing new found for photography heaven. Last Nov when I'm scouting around along the seashore of Malacca (yeah, thats the way i hunt for seaside location nowadays), i stumbled upon this old Jetty in Ujong Pasir. And then with Jasni (his result here)& Sofian Boe (his hdr result) we shoot this location during sunset. Since then i already repeated this place twice upon request by fellow photographer friend (2nd with Qamar and 3rd with ragstatic (i idolized this man's artpiece)from singapore) - his result here. Even though its already three time i've been here there are a lot of different subject, different composition and angle that you can try along this short seashore. I'll cut the blog entry to three part for this location :D

Here is the Jetty picture (both images (the top and the one below is explored by Flickr :D)

From the 2nd visit with Qamar

To reach this place, you just need to follow the direction to Ujong Pasir or St John Hill(just next to Bandar Hilir, southern part - if you shoot Selat Mosque before then its only few km apart, you can even see selat mosque from this area) and then follow the direction to Portuguese Settlement, you'll reach this area.

Seaside photography hunting at Jeram, Kuala Selangor

2010-11-29T17:20:00.005+08:00

An angler jetty by the seaside during high tide (30sec exposure)

Selangor is blessed with diversified landscape from jungle(eg Hutan Lipur Kanching) ,mountain (eg nuang), rocky hill (eg Bukit Tabur), paddy field (eg Sekinchan) and even coastal landscape along the seaside (eg Jeram, Kelanang). Jeram is located between Kapar and Kuala Selangor. Jeram is more famous for its seafood such as fresh grilled fish (ikan bakar), squid, and so on.

As with most seaside area, you can always find photography subject. These two picture is taken at Jeram beach along the seaside inner road.

To reach Jeram, the easiest is from Kapar. After around 15-20km you will see Jeram mosque beside a traffic light (there is only 2-3 traffic light along the way after Kapar so you couldn't miss it), take left, after few hundred metre before the jetty area there is a junction to the left, take left, then you'll see aroma ikan bakar on your right, along the way is Jeram beach.

These picture were taken during high tide. Both taken after the sun fully set. I intend to return to this place later during low tide. Credit to few photographer who has been here earlier than me such as Zilzal,Acid,Shazral, Arabischenab (especially zilzal who pointed the exact location of this subject).

An interesting rock formation which form a leading line to the sea (30sec exposure)

Basic google map showing the direction to Jeram beach from Kapar or from Kuala Selangor

Sunset & sunrise around Malacca - Pengkalan Balak, Masjid Tanah - (Part V)

2010-11-10T16:44:00.005+08:00

An angler waiting patiently for his catch during sunset at Pantai Pengkalan Balak

Sunset/sunrise around Malacca
Part I - Limbongan, Bandar Hilir
Part II - Selat Mosque, Pulau Melaka
Part III - Al Azim Mosque, Solok, Bukit Peringgit
Part IV - Bachang, Batu Berendam
Part V - Pantai Pengkalan Balak, Masjid Tanah

Within the previous weeklong hari raya , this day is the best sunset of all. Its the last day spent in Malacca. So before heading home i went to shoot sunset at Pantai Pengkalan Balak, near Tanjung Bidara at Masjid Tanah, Melaka. Firdaus Mahadi , (my great photography fren, whom i idolize his work, visit his website at FirdausMahadi.com or his callidesign) recommended this place. His main selling point is the several human made 'anjung batu' (rock structure.. wonder what is the exact translation, tell me pls ) along the Pengkalan Balak coastal.

Lucky for me, apart from the good sunset of the day, i also lucky to be able to potret several human subject which include some angler and also another photographer who busy shooting his beloved wife during sunset.

This was also the first time my wife follow me to shoot sunset. I discouraged her initially as it would be a long session from 6:30 until 7:30 but she still want to follow. While i'm shooting sunset she attended to our son who request to play along the beach. We went for a seafood stall afterward before heading home and back to KL.

The colourful and amazing sunset

An HDR picture of the 'anjung batu' at Pengkalan Balak. Even though i'm not a big fan of HDR, i did use HDR technique in several occasion such as this one when the dynamic range is simply too big. Most of the time i prefer a light tone blending.

The lovely couple, a beautiful wife & a passionate photographer. A perfect silhouette subject for me :D .

Sunset & sunrise around Malacca - Bacang, Batu Berendam - (Part IV)

2010-11-04T09:14:00.002+08:00

Sunset @ Batu Berendam, Malacca (IR)

Batu Berendam is my hometown since early 1980's. The picture above was taken on 19th June 2010, the next day after my father return to his creator. I would say on that day my mind is quite unstable and i simply need to do something to soothen my sombre or maybe confuse mood.

The next picture is a startrail picture taken in my house compound during the recent Eidul Fitri. While this picture is not related to sunrise or sunset at all, it is still taken in Batu Berendam, :P . The picture is a combination of around 120 picture taken in 90 minutes (each frame @ 30 sec with F/4.5 & ISO 800).

While Eidul Fitri is no longer the same with my father is not around.. Life must move on... My father's good deeds and amal jariah shall continue with his son & daughter .. ameenn .. My doa will always be with u abah.. insyaAllah..

90 minutes startrail @ Batu Berendam with cactus tree as the foreground

Sunset & sunrise around Malacca - Al Azim Mosque, Solok, Bukit Peringgit - (Part III)

2010-11-03T16:16:00.001+08:00

Silhouette of Al Azim mosque during sunrise

In this third installment of sunset/sunrise around Malacca, i would like to share sunrise taken at Al Azim Mosque, Solok, Bukit Peringgit. This is the official state mosque officially opened in 1989. The architecture is based on 3 tiered architecture of most ancient most within the state which had some chinese architecture influence in it (Pagoda like building).

I had a fond memory of this mosque as almost every friday i would spend my time here after the friday prayer. Even though my real kariah is Batu Berendam.. since the incident where i fainted in Batu Berendam mosque my father switch almost completely to Al Azim mosque except for once every month. Sometime instead of following my fathers back to the office immediately after friday prayer, i opted to stay here and would go home by myself. I remember catching either the Tuah bus (50 sen) or Batang bus (80 sen) from my home to this mosque during school holiday and spend my time leisuring around the mosque and the library for few hours before the friday prayer. Then after the friday prayer i would go to eat ABC or mee rebus across the street. I even in several occasion walk home from this mosque to my home just leisuring around passing from one housing area to another housing area. At that time it still far safer for a nine years old kid to ride a bus alone to go to Bandar Melaka (without handphone for sure). I wonder whether i would allow my son/daugther to do the same five years from now.

Round shape of sun rising, taken from a compound near the Al Azim Mosque, beside the Malacca Post Office

Sunset & sunrise around Malacca - Selat Mosque, Pulau Melaka - (Part II)

2010-11-03T09:21:00.001+08:00

Sunset @ Selat Mosque, Malacca

Selat Mosque is among the modern icon of Malacca now. It somehow had become among the subject that most visiting photographer would like to capture especially during sunset. Even though Malacca is my hometown, I'm yet to photograph this beautiful mosque during sunset until last Eidul Fitri.

To capture the mosque during sunset, you need to be there a bit early as the traffic around Bandar Hilir is quite unpredictable. Just go to Bandar Hilir and follow the signboard to Masjid Selat (or Selat Mosque). This mosque is located within Pulau Melaka, an island built from reclaimed sea land connected by a bridge.

Small group of people watching sunset from Pulau Melaka within the Selat Mosque compound

Sunset & sunrise around Malacca - Limbongan - (Part I)

2010-11-02T13:59:00.001+08:00

An afterglow with nearer composition to the ship, not really feel secure here as you are far from the public eye so need to be alert with your surrounding for your safety.

Its ironic since i have'nt publish anything yet from around Malacca since its my hometown. Normally whenever i went back to my hometown, i prefer to relax and laze around at home. Only on a few occasion i went birding behind my home and another occasion shooting sunset at Muar. Other than that i just spend my time at home or went around to shopping mall with my family. During the last Eidul Fitri however since the sunset during that week seem to be very good i went for sunset shooting almost everyday. After shooting landscape for awhile, you can almost accurately (i would say 80%) predict whether it will be a good sunset or not by looking at the sky condition 2-3 hours before sunset. So during my journey from Kuala Lumpur toward my hometown it seem promising for a beautiful sunset.

Therefore immediately after arriving at home i went straight to Malacca Town. I initially decide to go to Selat Mosque but as somehow bandar hilir is quite jammed, i detour to another nearer location by the seaside at Taman Laksamana, which turn out to be a good spot also. This area is not actually a port, its more like a place for ship repair (maybe). This area maybe is an extension of another area at Limbongan at neighbouring area. The Limbongan location name itself imply it is an area for ship repair (limbungan = shipyard). Another possibility is that the ship is actually carrying construction material for the development in that reclaimed area. Need someone to clarify this. Whatever it is, this place can be a good alternative to the nearby Selat Melaka Mosque. I'm planning to return to this place for startrail. Just need a partner for safety. Join me? :D

The sun already setting by the time i arrived at the 'port'

Mount Semeru (Part IV) - Ranupane to Bromo

2010-11-01T19:34:00.000+08:00

Bromo from Mount Penanjakan

Mount Semeru (Part I) - Ranu Pane to Ranu Kumbulo
Mount Semeru (Part II) - Ranu Kumbulo to Kalimati post
Mount Semeru (Part III) - Kalimati post to Semeru Peak to Ranu Pane
Mount Semeru (Part IV) - Ranu Pane to Bromo

After spending the night in Ranupane, we ride the open jeep back to Ngadisari (or maybe Cemoro Lowong village.. wonder what is the actual difference). On our way back we stop for a while at the Ranupane viewpoint, the savanna area and bromo mountain area itself. We reach our homestay at Ngadisari around 3pm.

Pita Looka, the daughter of our jeep driver

Dramatic sky @ Bromo

At night, after having dinner few of us went to the Cemara Indah chalet to capture startrail. Some of us didnt even sleep for the whole night for this craziness. Hehe.

Startrail @ Bromo

Early morning we went to Mount Penanjakan for sunrise view of bromo, and it is magnificent as usual.

Cemoro Lowong during sunrise

Sunrise from Mount Penanjakan

Mount Semeru (Part III) - Kalimati to Semeru Peak to Ranupani

2010-10-29T17:01:00.000+08:00

Compared with previous entry, this entry has the least picture in it. Which would self explain the difficulty in ascending this mountain peak.

Kalimati Basecamp at midnight

We start from Kalimati post (2700m) around 1am. We reach Arcapada camp (2900m) 1.5 hour later. Arcapada is also sometimes spelled/pronounced as Arcopodo. Between Kalimati and Arcapada is a mildly dense pine forest. At some point the trekking path remind me of the path between Kem Pacat to Puncak Pengasih at Nuang Mount back in Malaysia although the Nuang trek is far more extreme.

The dangerous part is when you nearing Arcapada (upper) as there is several dangerous ravine on both side. There is a notorious 75m drop ravine not far from Arcapada camp (nickname Blank 75) which had claim several lives previously. But as long as you stay within the designated track you should be safe. You should keep a close distance with your trekking partner/group all the times here.

After reaching Arcapada, the next point is Cemara Tunggal which is about 45 minutes from Arcapada. Previously there is a lone Cemara tree here (which is why the place called Cemara Tunggal, Tunggal = single/lone) but the tree has fallen down few month ago as reported here.

From here the nightmare begin. High altitude compounded the difficulty. Because of the loose soil combined together with the steep slope, it is difficult to hike for a few step without sliding down back. Loosing 1 step for every two step taken is common. At one point i loose several metres sliding down. Such scenario will leave you fully exhausted by the time you reach summit. But the greater the effort the greater the victory feeling. Some of my friends even thought I wont make it as I take longer time to reach the peak compared to them.

View wise.. the landscape & panorama during the sunrise & early morning is the most amazing view i ever witnessed... It is far more magical and breathtaking compared to rinjani/sibayak/kawah ijen.. the feeling is inexplained.. (even though each of this location is special in their own way).. there were one instant i sit for several minutes just enjoying the breathtaking scenery.. badluck my camera bag is not with me as one of the helpful guide already took my camera bag due to my slowness in hiking up.. :|

I should credit my success to the ever helpful guide especially Mas Candra who patiently accompany me in my ascend (& descent) and also Mas Kaboel & Mas Danang who help in every possible way that they can. I am deeply indebted to them.

Semeru peak (3676m) with small eruption from Kawah Jonggring Saloko

After enjoying the peak for a while,and as thick cloud and fog already surrounded the mountain peak, we descent down. Rest for a while at Kalimati and then proceed going out from mountain area until we reach civilization back at Ranupani village.

My conclusion, it was a tough mountain, but not too hard to hike as long as you prepare yourself physically. Two weeks prior to this trip i went jogging for at least 10-15km/day but for me it is still not enough as i was in leisure lifestyle for several month (fasting month followed by aidilfitri festival month).

I also realized later that my body suffer from AMS due to dehidration as dehidration deter your body from acclimitazing. I slowly get back to my normal hiking/trekking rhythm/speed when my body get adequate water. Always make sure that your body had enough water supply. Learn more about AMS before climbing any mountain more than 3000m height. Sleepless night, dizzyness,queasiness, inability to breath properly is among the AMS sympthoms.

Edelweiss, Bunga Langka nan Abadi - a common flora within mountaineous area in Indonesia

Mount Semeru (Part II) - Ranu Kumbulo to Kalimati

2010-10-29T09:46:00.000+08:00

2nd day.. after few hours of photographing the tranquil Ranu Kumbulo, we start to trek toward Kalimati Post. Ranu Kumbulo to Kalimati just need around 3 hours of leisure trekking through a beautiful open savannah (45-60 minutes).. mythical pinus jungle (1-1.5 hour) and edelweiss flower area (called jambangan edelweiss area) (45-60 minutes)

This trekking section is very mild and leisure as the kalimati post is only at 2700m and Ranu Kumbulo is already at around 2400m. Just an additional 300m of vertical height added through out 3 hours of trekking.

In this picture hiker climbing Tanjakan Cinta, the starting point from Ranu Kumbulo towards Kalimati post. Maybe this is the only mildly streneous part en route to Kalimati from Ranu Kumbulo.

Immediately after Tanjakan Cinta, you will be presented by an open beautiful savannah. You will also able to see Mount Semeru at the backdrop. Seem near but require another 3 hours of leisure trekking.

Savannah

Kalimati post which is often foggy. But when its clear you can see Mount Semeru peak clearly from post.

Kalimati (2700m) is the common basecamp for people summitting to Mount Semeru. There is another alternatif higher camp called Arcapada (2900m) (sometime spelled/pronounced as Arcopodo) which is a basecamp within the final part of pinus jungle before the Peak but rarely the local porter would like to go there as there is no water point available there. Within Kalimati there is a nearby waterpoint called sumbermani is is 20 minutes away from the post. Observing the porter (either from our team or other team, immediately after arriving at this post 2/3 would go to cut some firewood while another 1/3 would go fetch some water.

Mount Semeru (Part I) - Ranupani to Ranu Kumbulo

2010-10-28T17:20:00.000+08:00

This is unplanned hiking expedition in 2010. What i mean by unplanned is the decision taken to hike is less than 3 month. The original plan by the original team is actually to go to Bromo and Kawah Idjen. But due to some poison.. they 'upgraded' their plan to hike semeru and later i join their expedition team.. What a wonderful experience.. For this expedition, Mas Huda aka Mas Kaboel is our guide assisted by his friend, Mas Candra and Mas Danang.

The first part of the expedition to Semeru is a 12km jungle trekking from Ranupani to Ranu Kumbulo. The path goes along the zigzag hill slope where the steepness is minor to moderate. There is four hut erected along the way. The trekking duration is around 3-5 hours depending on your speed and resting time. (first hut is about 4km from the entrance.. 2nd hut is a mere 2km from the first hut.. the next is located at about 3km.. and the last hut is facing ranu kumbulo lake - this is only estimation)

Ranu kumbulo is a beautiful place with a medium large lake. The place is surrounded by other high hill with a V shape at the east side. Located at a relatively high altitude of around 2390m, this area feature alpine like fauna. It is far more picturesque and beautiful if compared with the small lake of Ranu Pane and Ranu Regulo (blogged here during previous trip) at Ranupani Village.

Ranu Kumbulo is the common first camp site for hiker going to Mount Semeru. There is two small house available here which can be used by camper. We camped here. During the night, if the sky is clear.. you can enjoy seing the star.. if you want you can try to do startrail too here (which we did at around 1am until early morning.. :D)

The view of Ranu Kumbulo from the V shape entry point

Side view of our camp site

Another side view of our campsite

Startrail during the night.. taken for about an hour duration

Next day.. while preparing to go for the next destination (kalimati).. found a memorial for Andika Listyono Putra just before tanjakan cinta.. you can read more about him in the news link.. Every mountaineering expedition would involve some risk. What we can do is to minimize the risk. Saying that, after successfully scaled Semeru to the peak.. i would say that Mount Semeru is not an ordinary weekend mountain. You need to prepare yourself physically and be careful not to stray off the safe/correct path. Must always stay in a group especially between kalimati-peak area where you can easily get lost and might be fatally stranded in deep ravine.

In memory of Andika Listyono Putra, may him rest in peace
News 1 | News 2 | News 3 | News 4

Another scenery of Ranu Kumbulo just before Tanjakan Cinta.. you can see the V shape clearly from here.. that is the entrance from ranupani direction

Khai Nui Island (Phuket Part III)

2010-10-10T13:35:00.000+08:00

Rocky structure at one part of the Khai Nui island

Khai Nui island is the final island we visit in the island hopping package.. An interesting pristine small island with white sandy beaches... with the colourful fishes follow until the edge of the sea... scrambling to get a bite of our bread ..

Crystal clear water along white sandy beaches

You need to pay the rent for each seat... didnt remember the price though..

My family feeding the fish with bread.. my son became scared abit after awhile.. hehe

Island Hopping to Phi Phi Island (Phuket Part II)

2010-09-10T00:07:00.000+08:00

Long Tailed Boats @ Phi Phi Island

On our 3rd day, we went for island hopping package. The island hopping package include boat, hotel transfer, elephant riding and food. One thing that you should not ask around while waiting at the Chalong Jetty is the pricing as everyone would pay a different price for the same package. That depend on where you bought your package from and what season. Some bought from hotel which is the most pricier,travel agent,taxi driver, and independent travel booth scattered around the city. The season also determine the average pricing as during high season the price would be normally higher and during low season you should pay lower price.

The fisherman loading something from his truck to his boat, Chalong Bay Jetty

Maya Beach, Phi Phi Island, East of Phuket

The island hopping package is a must for anyone travelling to Phuket as it is the main attraction there. During the island hopping you'll be at some of the best beaches in Thailand and perhaps top 30 beaches in the world.

This is where Leornado Dicaprio filmed killing a shark for the movie

The first visit is the Maya Bay at Phi Phi Island. This is where the movie The Beach filmed featuring Leonardo DiCaprio. The surround was indeed beautiful but taking picture for landscape photographer would need different approach as the beach stretch is full of tourist and speedboat. We then proceed to the Phi Phi Island main jetty and have a lunch there. Here the Long tailed fisherman boat is far more colourful than the one in Phuket Island and can be a very good photography subject.

A row of long tailed Boats @ Phi Phi Island

Long Tailed boat , Phi Phi Island (IR)

Phuket Island, Thailand (Phuket Part I)

2010-09-09T13:00:00.000+08:00

Wat Chalong, Phuket

In 2009 me,my wife,my sister in law and my son went for a family holiday in Phuket. We brought my sister in law together as my wife family is currently residing in the US (short posting) and she is the only one still in Malaysia apart from my wife. We managed to get a very very cheap ticket from AirAsia . I didn't remember the detail but the total ticket price for three of us is less than RM200 including airport tax,food & fuel surcharge. Only my sister in law ticket is a bit pricier as we bought her ticket later.

During this trip also i bring my first IR camera. A goldie IR version. Was so impressed with the result. But the camera didnt survive long. My sister in law accidentally make it swim at Khai Nui Island.

Patong beach fisherman going to the sea (IR)

Phuket is an island by itself. It is connected to the mainland by a bridge at the north side. In 2004 this island was also hit by the tsunami that originate from the earthquake at Acheh, Indonesia. We stay at Patong Seaview Beach resort at Patong Beach which is where the focal point of Phuket tsunami tragedy. Staying there is convenient as it is among the main tourist spot in Phuket.

Fisherman village at Patong Beach , this village is a bit hidden at the end of Patong Beach

While the island is small, you will need to rely on taxi to bring you to the attraction within the island. Most taxi has packages for you to choose. You can even bought island hopping packages from them. Another alternative is to rent motorcycle and tour the island by yourself (which is easy as the island is small enough, IMHO very similar to Langkawi Island)

Low tide at Chalong Bay (While waiting for food i went to capture this)

Among few attraction within this island itself is the Wat Chalong (Chalong Temple).. Chalong wat is considered as the important Buddhist temple in this Island. It is also the biggest and most ornate of Phuket's 29 Buddhist temple. Nearby to Chalong Wat is Chalong Bay which has some of the popular (but pricey) seafood restaurant by the beach.

Fisherman boat at Chalong Bay, Phuket

Few of us went to central Phuket Town. Nothing much there unless you looking for cheaper shopping location than tourist place such as Patong beach. It is just a mid size town. Among the location that we go while we were there include Surin Circle and Dalmiyah Mosque. There is a muslim restaurant beside the mosque which is very delightful for us (as we have'nt eat any chicken/meat for the past 3 days when we visit the mosque :D). There is a sizeable muslim community at the mosque (they speak malay also in Kelantan dialek). From there we we introduced to Awang who later bring us to several muslim food restaurant within the island and also to the Phuket Royal Marina .

The Dalmiyah Mosque dome, Phuket Town

Surin Circle

Phuket Royal Marina

Human interest around Surabaya - Kembara Jawa Timur Part VI

2010-08-31T00:33:00.000+08:00

Sunset at New Kenjeran beach

Kembara Jawa Timur Part I - Mount Bromo from Mount Penanjakan
Kembara Jawa Timur Part II - Mount Bromo & Ranupani Village
Kembara Jawa Timur Part III - Bromo from Gardu Pandang & Madakaripura Waterfall
Kembara Jawa Timur Part IV - Kawah Ijen - A mountain of surreal pain and beauty
Kembara Jawa Timur Part V - From Kalianyar Village to Papuma beach
Kembara Jawa Timur Part VI - Human interest around Surabaya

This shall be the last entry that conclude my Kembara Jawa Timur series. As been told earlier, this series cover my recent photography trip to Jawa Timur which cover Bromo-Kawah Ijen-Surabaya. Surabaya is not actually part of our main itenary but it is more like a resting stop before boarding flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

In Surabaya, we cover certain area such as Kya Kya Kembang Jepun and the nearby Sunan Ampel Mosque, Masjid Cheng Ho and also Kenjeran. The only place that i might want to repeat is Kenjeran as it is a traditional fishing village with the backdrop of Pulau Madura bridge with nearby pasar. I believe the human interest there would be fascinating to be captured and we could spend a full day there. Sunan Ampel Mosque definitely should be dropped from any photographer itenary as they didnt allow any picture to be taken there.

During our visit in Surabaya, we were accompanied by Ms Farida, a friend of Mas Kaboel, our guide. She is a very intelligent girl with a good knowledge of his city history and attraction. The most memorable part is when she explain the origin of Surabaya name (Sura = Shark , Baya = Crocodile) as it is believe in local myth that these two creatures once dwell and fought each other to gain the title of the strongest animal in the area.

An interesting observation is how cycling is part of daily lives here. I manage to capture a series of cyclist around surabaya.

ps: while it has been a while since this trip ended, few picture that is relevant for this entry has yet been processed/published in my flickr (eg Cheng Ho mosque picture,ambang kya-kya,kenjeran). Whenever i manage to publish few more related picture this entry would be updated with it.

With these picture series i conclude my Bromo-Kawah Ijen-Surabaya trip series. Would really recommend both Bromo and Kawah Ijen as your destination. Bromo is an accessible tourist destination and Kawah Ijen is a bit hard to reach but not impossible. Both place is fantastic for any photographer that interested in landscape and also human interest. And of course i definitely recommend our humble guide, Mas Kaboel / Aruna Asa.

I'm planning to go back to Mt Bromo to scale Mt Semeru this October with few hiking friends, may God bless our journey. Ameen.

Other blog entry by fellow photographer in this trip
Dr Jamal - http://www.tembeling.com/blog/?p=1262
Shahreen - http://shahre2n.blogspot.com/2010/09/expat-2010bahagian-7episod-terakhir.html

From Kalianyar Village to Papuma beach - Kembara Jawa Timur Part V

2010-08-30T06:30:00.000+08:00

Belawan Waterfall

Immediately after returning from Kawah Ijen, we rest at our guest house Catimor Homestay. In the evening some of us wander around the village looking for photography subject. An interesting observation is how all the kids love to play badminton and their idol is Taufik Hidayat. No wonder Indonesia able to produce world champion for every generation. If every kid in every village in indonesia strive to follow taufik's example definitely whey will find another world champion soon or later.

Camera friendly kids in their school uniform

The kids also would shout about Upin Ipin whenever they know where we came from. Betul betul betul became their favourite quote in communicating with us.

In the morning afterward majority of us went to a Belawan Waterfall. Initially we though the waterfall is another waterfall that we found in the brochure which is very scenic. This waterfall is perhaps just a big waterfall gushing from a very high place 30-40m down.

A portraiture of an elder in the village

Kalianyar Village, Sempol, Bondowoso doesnt have many thing to offer for a landscape photographer like us. Apart from the camera friendly kids to the oldies in the village,they also has a natural hot water pool. Adventurous photographer might explore their coffee plantation but its off season now. When it is their harvesting season their activity would be interesting to be photographed. I interested to scout the waterfall that is featured in the homestay brochure, perhaps next time.

Some fisherman doing routine maintenance work with their boat

After breakfast, we continue our journey to Papuma Beach. Papuma beach is scenic cape located at the tip of Jember. It house the traditional fisherman village. We were told that the fisherman here normally set out early in the morning before sunrise.Here you able to catch both sunrise and sunset. However we didnt wait for either and proceed to Surabaya.

Panorama of Papuma Beach

Kawah Ijen - A mountain of surreal pain and beauty - Kembara Jawa Timur Part IV

2010-08-08T05:10:00.000+08:00

Kawah Ijen with its scenic green acidic lake amid the blue sky

After the visit to Madakaripura Waterfall (see Part III), we went straight for our second main destination, Kawah Ijen. Well.. not totally straight, our guide thought we could make it to Papuma beach for sunset so we try to go there first. Luck is not in our side as we were at least 30 minutes behind the time. So we end up shooting sunset at some paddy field not far from Papuma Beach.

Sunset at a paddy field at Jember, Jawa Timur.

After sunset we continue our journey towards Kawah Ijen. We stay at Catimor Homestay Resort at Blawan, Sempol, Bondowoso which is a luxury resort to our standard (normally we only stay at budget hotel to minimize our cost) but at a very affordable rate. To my surprise when i do a google search on this hotel, i found few bad review about this resort at tripadvisor. I believe most of the visitor that wrote bad review about this homestay at tripadvisor forgot that they are not in the middle of any city, instead they are at a rural area which depend on agriculture product such as coffee for a living.Its akin to someone who expecting five star motel/resort with world class service at Kg Bantal, Ulu Tembeling, Pahang (incase you didnt know, Kg Bantal is a village that you can reach after 4 hours journey only by boat from Kuala Tahan, Malaysia National Park). If you expect five star hotel with super comfort condition then stay at your home or go travel to London instead of a rural district at Bondowoso, Jawa Timur, Indonesia. Period.

Sulphur miner/carrier amid the sunrise at Kawah Ijen

Kawah Ijen (2386m) is part of volcano complex in East Java that include Mount Merapi (different from the central Java Merapi).It is part of several volcano complex within the 15km diameter Ijen Caldera. It's heighest point is at 2,386 meters high from the sea level. Among the distinctive feature of Kawah Ijen is the green acidic lake within its crater. This beautiful lake is more acidic from your car battery acid due to high level of sulphur within it. The sulphur dioxide combined with the air and water became sulphuric acid.

B&W of Kawah Ijen Crater

Kawah Ijen is also the site of a gruelingly labor-intensive sulfur mining operation. A total of around 200 miners collect and carry pure yellowish physical sulphur from the bottom of the crater until a weighing station (Pondok Bunder - 2214 meters) through a 4km of hiking up and down. Each trip the miner carried about 60-100kg depending on their strength and ability. The more they can carry the more the money they can get. For 100kg load they would be paid around 60,000 rupiah (roughly about RM18). Normally they would be able to do only two trip per day.

Capturing the photo of this human labor intensive industry is the main reason why i longing to visit Kawah Ijen since last year after viewing photos taken by my friend, arey. I definitely wonder how they could survive as i cant even carry their 60-100kg of load for more than few second - tried it- but they need to carry it for several kilometers hiking! [Being there watching this would make you more grateful of your life and you'll stop complaining about your own job environment,promotion, etc. - Bosses should sponsor a trip to Kawah Ijen for their worker.. hehhehe]

A worker with his keranjang (basket)

The next day, early morning around 3am we already on our way to the crater. I initally thought the journey to Paltuding Base Camp from the resort would only take 45 minutes maximum as the driver and the guide say its near already. Instead i believe it took almost 2 hours to reach paltuding. We start to trek immediately before stopping midway for Subuh prayer. I trek as fast as i could as among our main target is to capture the sunrise at Kawah Ijen but it seem time is not on our side as we were told the hike itself will took almost 2 hours.

Dr Jamal Rahman.. our inspiring trip leader for this Bromo-Kawah Ijen-Surabaya trip under the Luarbiasa Photography umbrella.. Visit his flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/jamalrahman/ or his website www.tembeling.com

After approximately 90 minutes of brisk walking from our starting point (the starting base at Paltuding basecamp is already at around 1850m) .. we finally reached the volcano crater. The beautiful lake and perfect sky waiting for us.. we missed the sunrise.. next time we must try to reach the caldera before sunrise. To achieve that, next time we should start at 1am from our homestay to catch the sunrise. The path was easy as it is not steep at all with 3m wide almost all along the way. There is several hut provided along they way if you want to rest for a while
.

Dr Jamal amid the background of Mount Raung. I'm interested to hike this mountain but when told there is no water source there (which mean we need to carry water) i lost my interest.. heheh.. better to target other mountain..

Another setback is on the day that we hike it is a libur (holiday) day for the worker. So there is far less worker than usual. Only around 15-20 harvester work that day. When its libur day, the worker can still gather the sulphur but the weighing station will be closed and they wont get their pay that day. So anyone keep working on any libur day must store their sulphur somewhere temporarily. I actually wonder why wouldnt they keep working as their effort would still get paid albeit later.

Pak Rudi on his way out from the Kawah Ijen volcano crater to the weighting station.

During my hike i coincidently keep trekking with a worker called Pak Rudi.. He worked here for at least 15 years carrying the heavy sulphur for a living.I first met him when i'm running away from the thick sulphur smoke that head to my way while i'm almost near the mining area (i wish i just continue to the mining area.. but i'm scared to death to see the thick poisonous smoke heading towards me.. but if the worker survive years of working in this hazard condition then i should survive few minutes of it ..hahaha.. my eyes burning like crazy when the smoke finally reach my position...) .

A dead tree around the crater at Kawah Ijen. The continuous sulphur smoke make life for the tree harder here.

A documentary by National Geographic state that the average lifespan of the worker here is only 41. Not surprising considering these miner work under great duress within inhuman condition extracting sulfur from one of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world. Back to Pak Rudi.. as i trek down along with him, i took a lot photos of him. I wish i could be back to Kawah Ijen in time and hand printed photo of him to him. I even met him again at a stall operated by his sister at Paltuding basecamp.

Pak Rudi, the sulphur miner/carrier with his 70kg of solid sulphur startimg to descend Kawah Ijen from its edge..

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page - Saint Augustine"

Kawah Ijen is definitely special mountaineering expedition and for some it might be a lifechanging journey. Watching those people working to their maximum capability for a living definitely wreck your heart and make you more grateful of what you have. I will 'bookmark' this page of mine and hopefull would be able to revisit it next time. And i wish my wife would join all my future travel.

Some other link/travalogue about Kawah Ijen:
http://www.indovolcano.com/gunung-ijen.php
http://www.tembeling.com/blog/?p=1262 - blog entry by Dr Jamal, our trip leader/organizer

Bromo from Gardu Pandang & Madakaripura Waterfall - Kembara Jawa Timur Part III

2010-08-03T23:54:00.000+08:00

Beautiful sunrise from Gardu Pandang, Cemoro Lowong, Bromo.

On the 3rd day, some of us went to another view post located at another hill near the village where we stay. Assisted by several ojet, we went to the start of the few hundred metres hike (i think the hike is around 300m vertical up). Unlike Mt Penanjakan where the sunrise and bromo is at different location, from this hill you can see both location combined (provided you reached the peak before sunrise). We were late a bit and the sun rise first before we managed to reach the peak (me myself even went to a wrong jalur). A total of 3 person managed to scaled to this mini peak which is Azri, Jasni & Zali. Few other friend scouting around the village for sunrise scenery.

Compared to Mt Penanjakan, this view point has its own strength also. From my observation this area were once used as the view point as there were some structure built there for this purpose.This abandon place should be revived as an alternative to the view point at Mt Penanjakan. I personally prefer this place more. From this location you can also catch and capture the misty atmosphere at the Cemoro Lowong village. Below is the picture series taken from this view point.

After shooting sunrise, we continue shooting around the village. Vegetable farm, trees and people became our photography subject.

Vegetable farm at Cemoro Lowong Village

Beautiful scenery OTW to Madakaripura Waterfall

Beautiful tree formation around the village

After taking the breakfast, we went to Madakaripura Waterfall , a great waterfall not far from Bromo. After a short trekking about 20-30 minutes when we finally reach the waterfall everyone suddenly became amazed with elegant waterfall. Some even said it were more like the scenery from avatar movie. Sadly the picture wont do justice to this magnificent place. The rain and water spray made it almost impossible to capture the beautiness of this place without exposing your camera to the risk plus with the wide range of exposure needed. One point that might be helpful for potential visitor is about the help extended by the villagers there. The help is not for free and they expected some tips from their help. During our trip most of them requested 50,000 rupiah. Their asisstance is very helpful considering the risky and slippering surface but agreeing on the rate at the beginning would be better than when you suddenly came into a situation where you dont actually need their help but requested to pay for it.

Mount Bromo & Ranupani Village - Kembara Jawa Timur Part II

2010-08-03T16:50:00.000+08:00

A scenery OTW to Ranupani Village, we'll be back for Mt Semeru :D

After spending a few hours at Mt Penanjakan (until every tourist gone back already), we went straight to Mount Bromo area. The jeep stop a about 500m distance from the crater and then we continue on foot. Some of us opted for horse riding towards the crater.

One thing that our authority should learn from them is how their local government distribute the wealth of tourism.The villager provide the accommodation, built some stall/warung for breakfast & lunch. Others provide the transport (jeep) from the accommodation to the Mt Penanjakan & Mt Bromo .. and then at Mt Bromo the jeep can only send to a certain distance only so villager with horse can provide horse riding services... everyone get a share of the cake..

In Malaysia how they do it? They simply privatised everything (accommodation,food catering, local guide & even porter) (read: MONOPOLY) to a single company that will dictate exorbitant price making local hiking far more expensive than oversea hiking.

Upon reaching the crater, instead of hiking the Mt Bromo crater, i with Jasni decided to venture to another part of the area. We scout the canyon like area between Bromo & Batuk. After spending around an hour in Mt Bromo area, we proceed to Ranupani Village. Ranupani village is the highest village in East Jawa. Residing at 2100m, it is the starting point to hike Mt Semeru. I always dream of hiking Mt Semeru but this hiking trip is simply not for beginner. We were told that hiking Mount Semeru is among the toughest hike compared to other more famous volcano mountain in Indonesia. Well, next year we target to hike Mt Merbabu (& most probabily Mount Merapi as well) followed by Mount Jade in Taiwan and then a repeat of Mount Rinjani. If all successful then can start thinking of Semeru hike in 2012 maybe. :D

The canyon like area between Mount Bromo and Mount Batuk

Horse rider at Bromo

Ranu Ranupani Lake

Regulo Lake

Ranupani is just an ordinary village. Located strategically at 2100m above sea level provide it with agriculture advantage coupled with its fertile land. There is two small lake here, name Ranu Ranupani and Regulo. Both are just an ordinary lake. Unlike Ranu Kumbulo Lake which is really beautiful with majestic scenery. I take this opportunity to snap some macro picture here.

Ranupani village boy, every boy bring sabit with them as they need to cut grass to feed their livestock

Before going home, we ate lunch at one of the houses in the village then proceed back to our hotel. I promised myself this would not be the last visit to Ranupani village, but we'll return to conquer Mount Semeru later... insyaAllah.

The Bromo jeep

Mount Bromo from Mount Penanjakan - Kembara Jawa Timur Part I

2010-08-02T21:29:00.000+08:00

A villager carrying grass with Mt Bromo, Mt Semeru & Mt Batuk as background (IR)

In early April 2010 I join the Luarbiasa expedition to Jawa Timur. Our main destination is Bromo and also Kawah Ijen. I have always wanted to go to Kawah Ijen since i saw interesting human interest picture taken by a fellow fren Arey.

Our journey started from Surabaya. After landing we being picked up by our loyal yet humble & honest guide, Mas Kaboel aka Aruna Asa. Our first stop is Ibu Nuraini restaurant at Sedati, Surabaya (nearby the airport). My fellow friend had some fond memories of this restaurant since it is among the main pitstop whenever they visit Jawa Timur. The main popular dish in this restaurant is its Rujak Cingur (dish make from cow nose). After booking hotel at a nearby hotel for our stay later, we went straight to Bromo. The journey is quite a long one taking about 6 hours (if not mistaken).

Since we charted a mini bus (it was only 9 of us.. yet we charted this mini bus for comfort) , we need to change the bus midway as the bus cant go further through the steep road. We check in to a posh hotel Cemara Indah Hotel in Cemoro Lawang. It was among the most expensive hotel within the area (300,000 rupiah per room per night) but it is well worth it as it located just beside the crater overlooking Mt Bromo,Mt Semeru and Mt Batuk.

Ibu Nuraini preparing the rujak cingur herself

After arriving, we had only few hours to sleep as we need to start the journey to Mount penanjakan at 3:30 am. Mount Penanjakan is the main view point of Bromo. At 2770m, it provide excellent view of Bromo, Semeru and Batuk. The jeep bring us very near to its view point location. Just need to hike the cement staircase for 15 minutes and you'll reach the view point.

Mount Bromo is a very popular tourist destination in indonesia. The mountain is located witin the Bromo-Semeru-Tengger National Park. Bromo & Semeru is one of several mountain within this park and Tengger is the people tribe that exhibit this land. Some of the main mountain include

-Mount Bromo (2392m)

-Mount Semeru (3676m)

-Mount Batuk (height not sure but similar height to Bromo)

-Mount Penanjakan (2770m) - the main view point of Mt Bromo

Some of the pictures taken while we were in Mount Penanjakan

Mt Bromo, Mt Semeru & Mt Batuk during sunrise from Mt Penanjakan (IR)

Our humble guide, Mas Kaboel pointing to Mt Bromo from Mt Penanjakan during the sunrise

Bromo in B&W

Group photo at Bromo (IR)

After spending few hours at Mount Penanjakan , we proceed to Mount Bromo itself. I'll continue this entry in second part of Bromo.

Sungai Timun, Linggi - Tasting freshwater lobster & smoked sembilang fish

2010-08-02T14:04:00.000+08:00

On the way from my hometown Malacca to KL, we stop by this fisherman jetty at Kampung Sungai Timun, Linggi which is famously known for its freshwater lobster (udang galah). This area were once highlighted in Majalah 3 documentary. Bought half kilo of live udang galah for RM25. My son damn scared when i put the plastic bag of the live lobster beside him.. hehe..

Panorama picture of the river at the Jetty

Apart from freshwater lobster, Sungai Timun is also famous for crocodile sighting and fireflies (kunang-kunang). Its pristine mangrove swamp that fringes the river definitely a perfect habitat for both creatures. The last survey by Perhilitan count the number of crocodile at Sungai Linggi (which Sungai Timun is part of it) at 3000+. The number might has dwindled by now but their number is still significant.

I arrive at this jetty at around 5 PM, take a look around for 15-20 minutes,chat with an elder who is fishing for lobster with his son (got few tips for lobster fishing also.. :D) , before heading back to KL. Planning to revisit this place next time maybe for fireflies sighting and also fishing :D.

After exiting this place, we bought a kilo of smoke sembilang fish by the roadside for RM16. Managed to get around 14 sembilang fish. Judging from its look, my wife said it is keli.. not sembilang.. from its taste i said its not keli.. and finally when we reach my father in law house, he said it is sembilang laut not keli. After being smoked their look seem similar. :D

Some other link about Sungai Timun

http://kota.pid.net.my/article.cfm?id=12
http://jelajah-xplorer.blogspot.com/2010/02/quest-for-udang-galah-sungai-timun-and.html

How to reach Sungai Timun

-Easiest way is by from Pedas Plus Highway exit. After exiting Pedas, take left (go towards Pengkalan Durian). At the end of the road (at Pengkalan Durian) you will reach a T junction.Take left towards Linggi. Drive slowly and lookout for the junction to Sungai Timun on your right. There is supposed a large billboard about Jeti Nelayan Sungai Timun. The road towards this jetty is currently under upgrade exercise. After several kilometers you will see the jetty area on your left.

You can also exit earlier at Simpang Ampat if you are coming from south but the journey through kampung road is much longer (i think it is almost 2x longer than from PEDAS exit). From Simpang Ampat exit, take 9 o'clock (left) at the round about. At the first four-way intersection, take right. From here you just need to go straight passing through Kampung Brisu, Kampung Lendu, Lubok Cina,Kampung Sungai Jerneh and Kampung Pengkalan Pauh. After Kampung Pengkalan Pauh, look out for the Jetty Nelayan Sungai Timun on your left. Follow the new road for few kilometers and you'll see the jetty are on your left.

Please note that since you using kampung road, there is a lot of sheep, goat and buffalo wandering around by the roadside so becareful.

Lata Berkoh of National Park - Beautiful Tropical Nature Place

2010-07-29T23:55:00.000+08:00

Lata Berkoh

Kuala Tahan at Dusk (IR)

Early this year, under the luarbiasafoto.com umbrella, we went for a short trip 2D1N to Lata Berkoh at National Park, Jerantut, Pahang. The trip intenary include canopy walk.. boating... bbq... short trekking to Lata Berkoh and swimming at the kelah sanctuary..

The main transport along the river is by boat. In this picture is Orang Asli (aborigines) with their boat.

On our first day, we went for the canopy walk. To reach the canopy walk starting point you need to follow the wood stairs for several hundred metres (total elevation is around 50m). A good cardiac exercise :D. I took the opportunity to shoot macro photo along the way. If i remember correctly, at that time i havent shoot macro for almost 7 month already. Macro shooting need a steady hand which you can get after you keep shooting macro. During evening, most of us went for photohunting around Kuala Tahan and shooting either nature subject or landscape scenery with houseboat.. boat.. river.. etc.

Probabily a wolf spider at 5:1 magnification

Lynx spider

At night, we had a big BBG feast. The grilled squid is simply delicious.

On the 2nd day we went to Lata Berkoh and a kelah sanctuary nearby.

Some tree along the way towards Lata Berkoh taken from the boat

Some of the trees picture taken along the way (IR)

Lata Berkoh is one of the beautiful but very accessible waterfall in National Park. You just need ride a boat for about 45 minutes followed by 20 minutes of jungle trekking to reach the waterfall. Along the way through Sungai Tahan, you can see many huge leaning Neram trees forming an archway over the water which is simply wonderful.

Small black heron

Kingfisher

During the journey, the group in front of us managed to capture a photo of Kijang by the riverside. Our boat only manage to shoot few kingfisher along the way.

After reaching the final boat point, we need to trek a bit to the waterfall. The jungle trekking is very easy and not demanding at all . You will walk through walking path along the river bank until you reach the cascade. There is a small area with toilet and facility in between if you want to take a break for a while. Half of the group (our group) keep stopping for picture taking session during the 20 minutes walk to the Lata Berkoh.. so instead of 20 minutes.. it became 30 minutes ++ due to numerous stop by us..hehhehe.. those already in front surely miss all the ke'poyo'an moment.. hehehhe... The destination, Lata Berkoh is more like a big and large river cascade instead of waterfall.

A beautiful leading line of tree roots

After spending around an hour at Lata Berkoh, we went for swimming treat with the malaysian mahseer (kelah). Here you can swim together and feed large size of kelah. You can also observed that some of the big kelah fish has some large scar at their body. Our guide told that it is because of the eagles that try to catch the fish but failed halfway.

The astro satellite belong to the boat restaurant. Because the house boat keep moving , they need to put the astro dish inland.

After that we went back to our chalet, check out and went to our place. Hope to revisit other part of Taman Negara someday.

Old abandoned house at dusk, Kuala Tahan (IR)

Leaves (IR)

Swallow.. taken from the boat restaurant

Nature (IR)

Floating house (IR)

Boat (IR)

Kuala Tahan (IR)

Boat (IR)

Boat panning

A more detailed itenary wrote by Dr Jamal (in malay)

Day 1 (Saturday)
9:15AM - Dr Jamal, Ali & Andy sampai di Jerantut
10:30AM - Rombongan KL sampai - Abah & family, Emran, Hakeim, Kingmarul, Azli, Firdaus & Zilzal
10:45AM - Khaidir & family sampai
11:00AM - Kami terus memandu ke Kuala Tahan
12:00PM - Sampai ke Aki's Chalet (owner baru Ekoton)
12:45PM - Menaiki 2 bot besar ke Pejabat Perhilitan utk ambil permit.
1:30PM - Sampai di Canopy Walkway (perjalanan ke entrance canopy lebih sukar dari canopy walkway itu sendiri wakakakaa.....50m aje vertical)
2:30PM - Ramai yg sudah selesai menyeberangi 330m canopy walkway...and layan makro sambil turun
3:15PM - Menaiki bot balik ke Kuala Tahan - layan makan tengahari....& then free & easy
4:00PM - Waja & Mat Saiko sampai.
5:00PM - Ada yg shoot makro, skodeng awek orang putih & burung
7:30PM - Nyalakan api utk BBQ
8:00PM - Gotong royong membakar BBQ - melantak sampai tak larat telan
10:00PM - Ada yg layan star trail - tak tengok pulak hasil nya, ada yg borak2

Day 2 (Sunday)
7:00AM - Jemaah taam yg diketuai oleh Azli telah memanaskan nasi goreng & ayam bakar lebihan semalam punya BBQ.....semua layan.
7:15AM - Turun ke restoran sebab nak minum. Makan tadi takde air :D tapi ada yg mengelat....order roti canai pulak walauoun dah makan nasi goreng.
8:15AM - Bertolak ke Lata Berkoh - ada yg dapat shoot rusa & kingfisher - saya dapat shoot Kingmarul aje....hampeh tul.
9:00AM - Sampai ke entrance Lata Berkoh - start trekking sejauh 700m - santai jer
10:00AM - Layan 'slow shutter'.....f18, 1/250s....takyah tripod pun takpe....ish....
11:00AM - slow2 jalan balik ke bot sampai layan makro.
12:00PM - saya, Hakeim, Azli & Abah sampai dulu....& terus naik bot ke Kelah Sanctuary
12:10PM - lain2 sampai...& memulakan acara mandi bersama kelah.... tunggu hasil video Hakeim, OP kita :D
1:00PM - Balik ke Kuala Tahan - layan patin.....ada yg layan nasi goreng pattaya.....& then balik ke hotel.
2:00PM - Mandi....tidur sekejap & check out.

Going home

Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Mosque - A Majestic Architecture

2010-07-29T02:20:00.000+08:00

Malaysia Federal Mosque.. I always admire the mosque architecture and design.. Located nearby my house (i can actually see the mosque from my condominium unit), the design is inspired by the Blue Mosque at Istanbul, Turkey. Build started at 1997 and completed at the end of year 2000. It is surrounded by Goverment offices, Court Complex, Matrade building and few new commercial area. It can accomodate up to 17000 prayer at the same time.

I started to take the mosque picture since 2008. I remember during my first night photography of this location after terawikh in Ramadhan 2008, i was questioned by a mosque official whether i had applied for any permission to take photo of this mosque. He keep requesting whether i had any permission letter. I was very puzzled by the way the young mosque officer acted. Maybe he prefer photographer to take pictures at Lorong Haji Taib or semi nude people at any beach instead of taking a beautiful mosque photo which can be part of small syiar. The mosque officer questioned me like i'ved commit some sort of crime taking the night photo of the mosque 'without permission'. Since when i need permission to take an outside photo of Rumah Allah. Even the strict Arab Saudi allow anyone to take a picture of Masjidil Haram or Masjid Nabawi from outside. And at that time i was taking photo from far outside of the mosque.. not from inside which i can understand if they didnt allow it. To avoid any untoward incident i just complied (albeit unwillingly) and went home. The incident repeat itself few weeks later when few friend from Pahang came to KL and while we took the night photo of the mosque the security guard keep harrassing us asking us to stop taking picture of the mosque. What a joke.

Since then whenever i want to take photo of this mosque i will ensure i wont attract any attention from the mosque security/officer.. so first rule, i wont bring a tripod..

Last week during Friday prayer i bring a visible IR camera to the mosque and thank god the sky was beautiful on that day. Here are some of the picture (some picture still not yet uploaded.. will update this page when i upload the picture at my flickr)

Beautiful mosque framed with the tree leaves

Silhouette of male muslim entering the prayer hall

My feet is burning like crazy when i want to take this picture as the marble is damn hot

The mosque minared frame by the one of the door

View from mosque balcony

Front side view of the mosque

the mosque dome & minaret

the central square area

Putrajaya Lake @ Precint 6 - From marinas to boating and the lakeshore landscapes

2010-07-26T18:07:00.000+08:00

From 9th July till 11th July 2010 i went to Putrajaya Lake at Precint 6. The reason is to capture the Putrajaya Sailing Week competition which feature sailing boat. Previously I didnt know that there is a complete and modern marina facilities available at Putrajaya Lake which include a great grand stand facing the lake. The hotel by the lakeside (Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel) complement the world class facility. I would credit such gigantic achievement to the visionary Tun Mahathir, who without his guidance i dont think this would be a reality. At the sametime i also ponder whether Malaysian is ready to utilize such facilities. Kuala Kedah Yacht Marina is a fine example of a failed marina which became another joke for the local community. However another new marina Avillion Admiral Cove Marina at Port Dickson seem to be doing fine. I'm hoping to visit another marina at Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya, Johor Darul Takzim.

Therefore to avoid this location became another white elephant they simply must promote the place especially by organizing several event in a year. Event such as this regatta would help them to achieve that (other event include dragon boat, watersport, waterski, etc). This regatta is organized by Kelab Tasik Putrajaya with Putrajaya Corporation under the auspices of the Malaysian Yachting Association (MYA). This is the 3rd year they run this event.

The scenery around the Putrajaya Lake is beautiful complemented with modern buildings & facilities. So this entry would include the landscape around the lake and also some picture from the sailing competition. Hope you'll like it... Enjoy..

Scenery taken few hours before the race start

The Marina Bay taken from near the stand

The Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel, seem to be a five star hotel, its lemon tea juice cost us RM15.. :D

Taken from a spot where i shoot the boat (2nd day)

The jetty

Another jetty

The big grand stand facing the lake.. currently it is empty as this picture is taken few hours before the first race start. However this grand stand remain empty afterward... perhaps the authority need to promote this event harder.. i was told the dragon boat competition manage to attract bigger number of visitors... pity the trader

Boat launching to the lake for the Putrajaya Sailing Week opening race

The boat started to sail toward starting position

Solo.. Duo.. Trio

Picture with some 'sob' story behind it.. :)

Ulu Kemapan, Endau-Rompin - Its Kelah trip!

2010-07-22T21:14:00.000+08:00

In mid July 2010, a total of 33 comrades (19 from luarbiasafoto.com, 4 guide, 2 porter the rest is kaki pancing (angler) from various forum). This is the biggest outing i ever organized under luarbiasafoto.com umbrella (the rest if much more smaller scale outing such as the Bukit Tabur outing or Broga under JJCF)

Panorama of Ulu Kemapan stream, halfway toward Air Terjun Kemapan

The idea to Ulu Kemapan pop up during Buaya Sangkut expedition (you can read the blog entry here). During Buaya Sangkut expedition, we were enthralled to see various sizes of kelah fish. But since we were in a kelah sanctuary, we were not allowed to do any kind of fishing there. During the trip, we were told by Pahat, dRali & abg naim (our Ulu Kemapan guide) about Ulu Kemapan where they said the trail is a bit easier than the whole Buaya Sangkut trail and we were allowed to catch Kelah fish there. Well...yes , it is a bit easier compared to Buaya Sangkut trail but the trekking duration is much longer as we need to trek for a total of 12.9km for about 7 hours (including rest).

Air Terjun Genat

So from there we started to plan properly to go to Ulu Kemapan and finally total of 19 comrades from luarbiasafoto.com join this expedition. Few close angler friend and friend of friend of abg naim and his circle also join this expedition up to a total of 31 people. Add with another two porter the total is 33 people.

Initially we were scheduled to start trekking at 12:00am, but due to several circumstances we were only manage to start trek after subuh prayer. It is a blessing in disguise and the initial trail is very confusing even to seasoned guide as some large part of the trek has been disturbed by elephants. One main reason why we start late is one of our car from KL been sabotaged where the radiator lower hose has been cut (most probabily during our stop at R&R Seremban as the car were park a bit far from the cafetaria). After a 'mechanic' (which we suspect were part of the syndicate that sabotage the car) replace the hose for a RM125 (normally the hose should cost only around RM30 only), the car owner sent the car to a friend house in Senawang and we manage to continue our journey by polling with another few car which coincidently and luckily not far from behind us (friends of abg naim-abg din). Thank god finally everyone manage to continue to the destination safely.

Air Terjun Kemapan

In term of photography opportunity, there is a lot beautiful river stream after Bukit Taubat but most probabily when you reach there during the trekking you're already damn tired and has no appetite for any kind of photography and your only wish is to arrive to the camp site ASAP. There is two waterfall, one is Genat Waterfall which is exactly before the start of Bukit Taubat and another waterfall is Ulu Kemapan Waterfall which is around an hour from the camp site. There is another interesting place which is called Akuarium but most of us didnt manage to go there as it is about 2.5 hour from our camp site.

The main reason for most of the comrades joining this trip is the attraction of Kelah fish. And we were not dissappointed as abg naim with his crew and other angler manage to land about five large kelah fish on the 2nd day.

For some of us (including me) it is the first time we tasted kelah and the experience was amazing. Another interesting fact is even the scales of kelah fish is consumable and it tasted great!

About the trek, from the resort to sungai sekinchin (which take approximately 45-60 minutes), there is a lot of elephant trek (and their pooh!) and some part of the trek is very muddy. At one point even the guide became a bit confused when a large portion of the area is disturbed by the elephant group. Imagine fallen tree is everywhere and there is no visible human trek. Only elephant trek is available and its not going to the same destination as ours. But their experience is indispensible and after few minutes scouting the hectic area we on the right path again.

Bukit Taubat is relatively easy for most of us as it is not that high (highest point is around 220m only) and its not that steep going upward (majority of us has some mountain climbing experience) - but for first timer they definitely suffer, so never underestimate. If compared with Buaya Sangkut the trekking i believe only about 65% of the difficulty even though Ulu Kemapan is much longer. A friend of mine even quipped that 'tak sempat bertaubat dah sampai bawah bukit'.

In term of guide, abg naim and his crew is simply fantastic. Not only he & the crew setup the big tent for us, he also cook and even went fishing with large catch. His cook is simply fantastic and delicious even with scarce resources. If you ever think you want to go here, abg naim & his crew will surely enhance your experience. His rate is only RM200/head (inclusive of entry permit, parking fee, basic large tent with ground sheet,trekking guide and cooking - raw material not included)for 3D2N - minimum is 10 people.

In the following widget you can watch and study our trail recorded and uploaded by Dr Jamal. If not mistaken the trail is as follow

Resort --> Taman Herba --> Sungai Sekincin --> Kem 100 Plus --> Kem Bygon --> Genat --> Bukit Taubat --> Ulu Kemapan Camp Site .. total 7 hours including rest.

Everytrail - Ulu Kemapan 2010

We plan to make Ulu Kemapan an annual trip. We also plan to go to another location within the same area known as Batu Dinding which is heaven for angler. Most probabily in Jan 2011. Lets see whether there is any photographer opportunity there. And now i think i want to buy my own fishing rod.. hahahhahaha.. :P

Our Ulu Kemapan itenary (written originally by Dr Jamal.. in malay)

D1 - Jumaat

11:30PM - Jemaah Kuantan sampai ke Kuala Rompin - 2 kereta, 6 orang, belasah makan lewat malam

D2 - Sabtu

12:30AM - Jemaah Kuantan dimaklumkan Jemaah KL ada masalah - so Jemaah Kuantan iktiqaf kat masjid

1:30AM - Amir Sab Taam (Abg Naim) sampai dgn konco2 nya - buat bising kat masjid

4:30AM - Gerak ke 7-Eleven sebab Jemaah KL dah sampai

5:30AM - Lepas pack barang, gerak masuk Taman Negeri

6:00AM - Solat Subuh

6:30AM - Gerak masuk hutan

7:30AM - Sampai ke Pit Stop pertama (Sg Sekinchin)

11:30PM - Sampai ke Air Terjun Genat - first pseudo-lunch
1:30PM - Sampai ke campsite

4:30PM - First official lunch

5:00PM - Lepak & tidur

6:00PM - Mandi manda

8:00PM - Dinner

D3 - Ahad

7:00AM - Slow shutter sekitar campsite

9:00AM - Bertolak ke waterfall
11:00AM - Sampai di waterfall (tak semua sampai awal - ada yg melencong - ni jemaah yg dipimpin oleh dR Ali)
12:00PM - Lunch dalam hujan
2:00PM - Balik ke campsite
3:00PM - Kebulur kat campsite, mandi dalam hujan

4:00PM - Pasukan pemancing & memerang bawa kelah balik - Sesi fotografi bermula

9:00PM - Dinner kelah

10:00PM - Sesi foto & videografi (saya dah tidur)

D4 - Isnin

7:00AM - Ada yg layan slow shutter dgn fesyen beragam

9:00AM - Breakfast

10:30AM - Bergerak balik

3:30PM - First team (diketuai oleh Jusoh) tiba di Taman Negeri

5:00PM - Last team sampai (diketuai oleh Abu)

6:00PM - Bergerak ke kedai makan

8:00PM - Bergerak pulang ke destinasi masing2

Group photo before heading home. Taken by our porter using Dr Jamal's camera.

Another comrade (Dr Jamal) wrote about Ulu Kemapan here

Some tips for trekking
1- trek light.. if you are a photographer then bring minimum body/lenses.. because of photography equipment i normally bring around 19-22kg but this kind of weight would make your body suffer and prone to injury.. less than 15kg is ideal.. PNS with interchangeable lens (such as sony nex3/olympus pen/panasonic GF-1) might be a good alternative to your 10kg photography equipment.. if you are not sure then hire a porter for RM100/day to bring your load.
2- trekking pole might help when trekking up/trekking down a moderate hill
3- use a good shoe with stat.. the adidas kampung (only around RM6-RM8) with stat is the best option.. no sport shoes as you will need to cross 18 river and by then your sport shoes will add another 1kg to your feet load..
4- you might need to buy or sew your own leech sock if u cant stand the leeches.. BTW leech is fren... hahahha
5- Never trek alone as you might went to the wrong path alone!

Kuala Selangor - A fascinating diversity of landscape

2010-07-16T13:06:00.000+08:00

In May last year, under the umbrella of JJCF we went for a photohunting trip to Kuala Selangor. Few car convoyed searching for photo opportunity along the coastal of Selangor. Kuala Selangor is an old royal capital of Selangor Darul Ehsan

Kuala Selangor Nature Park, our first stop

We start our journey from Shah Alam. Our first stop is the Kuala Selangor Nature Park, a mangrove reserve managed by MNS. The mangroves and mudflats area covers approximately 800 acres and is the home to various wildlife such as monkey, migratory birds and amphibian.

The photographer team heading into the park

Panorama view from watchtower

Kak qool, looking for photo opportunity

Monkey crossing the bridge

After spending few hours in the park, we went for a quick lunch at the town and head toward our second destination, the paddy field around Tanjong Karang. We choose this site as the paddyfield at Tanjong Karang area is nearer than the Sekinchan area.

The paddy .. to ripe soon...

Kids fishing

Abemie fishing

Villager netting fish

Some kid going home after evening class

Soon afterward, we went hunting for the sunset at Pantai Remis, also within the vicinity of Kuala Selangor. We initially hunting for a fishing jetty called Bagan Tengkorak (if not mistaken) but instead of Bagan Tengkorak, we found other jetty which is not favourable. So we went direct to Pantai Remis for the sunset.

Taken at a jetty near Bagan Tengkorak

Azli

The sunset

after a hectic day, we all went back to our meeting point at Shah Alam (the mosque) and went home afterward.

(will rewrite this entry with more detail afterward..)

In conclusion, Kuala Selangor offer a diversity of landscape. From mangrove area , to paddy field, fishing jetty and even the beach are available within single vicinity. I'm sure to return here to recapture the beauty of Kuala Selangor.

From Semporna to Mabul - An unforgettable memory

2010-07-14T11:58:00.000+08:00

The stilt water village at Mabul from google earth

Mabul is simply a photographer heaven for both landscape & street shooting. Located near Semporna, it is near the Sipadan Island, the diver's heaven. In fact Mabul is the the nearest accomodation available for diver that would like to go to Sipadan.

In 2009, organized by my close photographer friend Azli under JJCF umbrella, a total of 12 people went to Mabul Island. In this trip i went with my beloved wife & son. Since this is our first time to Semporna & Mabul, everything is new for us. The scenery of Sabah seascape is simply breathtaking and wonderful. The kids of Mabul which happily entertain visitor is a unique and unforgettable experience. And these kids is very photographer friendly.

Our experienced were greatly enhanced by the hospitality of our homestay, Spherediver Homestay. Azhar, one of the spherediver partner has been a great host during our stay. He even poisoned us (maybe i only.. hahahah) with his underwater macro pictures which is superb and marvellous. His photo is inspirational and from that moment i'm determine to explore underwater photography one day (and i hope that day is soon enough). Since he (azhar) is a SDARIAN, he also know my eldest brother Azmi which is his junior.

Me & my wife arrive one day earlier as we would just like to browse around Semporna city for a while. We stay at Semporna Inn . This hotel fronting the jetty at Semporna. When we arrived its already late so we just relax at our hotel until the next day.

Day 2, early morning i went searching for a good spot for sunrise around the jetty. I'm a bit late as the here the sun rise an hour earlier compared to West Malaysia.
After that i walk around and found the fishing jetty behind our hotel. After taking few picture went back to the hotel for breakfast.

After having breakfast with family and while waiting for our fellow friend to arrive from Tawau airport, we take a walk around the market at Semporna near the Semporna Mosque. It is an interesting place for street shoot photographer. A lot of independent seller begging us to buy their item such as peanuts, salted fish (colourful salted fish!) and fish cracker. I didn't take much picture as the aggressiveness of these seller make my family a bit uncomfortable.

At noon, when the rest of the expedition team finally arrived, we went to Mabul Island. The view a long the way is very fascinating and beautiful. We immediately went for our first snorkeling trip after lunch.

At Mabul, there is two distinct village. One is the Bajau people stilt water village (where most of the homestay resort is located) and another is Bajau Laut (Pelauh) village fronting Sipadan Water Village. The Bajau people is very similar to Malay culture with Islam as their religion. The people of Bajau is much more educated and most of their kid will go to school located at the centre of the island.

Bajau Laut is an excellent sea farer tribe

Bajau laut kids in one of the bigger boat cum house

The Bajau Laut is actually sea gypsy people which roam the Southern Phililippines and island around Sabah. These bajau laut are sometime referred as people with no land as they normally dont have any identification and does not belong to any country. Traditionally they stay in their boat but over the years some of them have settle in the land (while still maintaing ocean as their source of living). In their transition from sea nomadic to sedentary village life, they also slowly integrate with the local people and some of them also start to understand the value of education as witness by us during our visit there.

Kids from both village is very photographer friendly and would do any pose that you request of them.

Now lets see some of the picture taken there during this trip.

Sunrise day 1 - thick cloud

Sunrise day 2 - better

Note: After our first trip there (Jun 2009), few of our photographer friend's group has visited this the Spherediver Homestay upon recommendation by us. While most of them is happy with Spherediver service, recently (June 2010) there is an instance where a photographer group of my friend report an unpleasant experience during their stay where the service extended to them is not what they had expected - eg no snorkeling trip, boat promised not arrived,etc (a very contrasting picture from another story of my friends which stay there in April 2010 - they report everything is good ). My friend noted that most probably the reason is because they paid a much lower fee through his friend's scuba company. For me, if its true it would be sad and look very unprofessional. Personally i believe my friends' bad experience is an isolated incident. But for whatever reason, the damage has been done and those disappointed people would probably spread their experience.

For me, i would keep revisit this place if i ever go to Mabul again. Especially if i want to take my scuba license - hopefully soon by 2011. I prefer to learn scuba diving with someone i knew. :D . Recommending? Not sure. Perhap yes perhap not.

Your client is your asset and their words is your free promotion.

Spherediver Contact Info
Website http://www.spheredivers.com/
One of the partner FB - Azhar Adnan - http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1049689585&ref=ts

siestanley@yahoo.com Tel no: +6019-668-3731
azhar@spheredivers.com Tel no: +6012-285-7043

Hidden Gem of Port Dickson, Marina Bay at Avillion Admiral Cove

2010-07-13T21:20:00.000+08:00

The marina with fisheye effect

Between 25-27th June 2010, me & my family went to this place called Avillion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson for my faculty family day. It was love at first sight. The place is amazing. The hotel wing just recently opened in April. One of the main feature of this place is the boat marina bay. The hotel is located beside a human made bay which made the sea water as calm as millpond. You dont need ND400 to get the millpond effect. Just put your aperture at F22 will be enough (not at noon of course). This place is a hidden gem of Port Dickson and i'm sure this place will attract a lot of photographer in the future.

Admiral Cove Marina Bay from google earth

Just a quick note. At the lower deck, the guard seem not so friendly towards photographer. It will be fine if you want to take your memory picture (or your fren/spouse/son) together with the marina but they didnt allow you to take the marina alone (eg take the bay view only without you in the picture is not allowed). They explain they were just following orders. A weird one of course. Maybe they dont want paparazzi shooting VIP in the luxury boat maybe? hahaha. Dont know. But hey... as long they didnt bother us at other place it should be ok. Just pity i wont be able to capture lower angle or silhoutte of the boats in the marina during sunset. (Thats why i only has a high angle picture only of the marina during sunset).

If you want to go to this place, just follow the Port Dickson highway from seremban. Go until the end of the highway (until you find the round about - dont follow the earlier port dickson sign). At the round about, take 3 o'clock. After a while you will see Port Dickson Hospital at your right. Not far from the hospital (few hundred metres only) you will see the hotel sign at a junction to the left. Follow this road and you will reach the hotel.

Now picture from this place (All picture is taken either using Visible IR camera or Goldie IR camera as my normal camera is still under service at Canon Service Centre)

Afterglow sunset

Boat at the beach

The beach

Matahari ship

My son at the swimming pool

The kids swimming pool, facing the sea

Some view

Sunset

Sunset

Mount Sibayak & Berastagi (Danau Toba Part VIII)

2010-07-12T13:34:00.000+08:00

South Toba Lake Part I : Bah Butong Tea Plantation & Parapat
South Toba Lake Part II : Tarabunga Beach
South Toba Lake Part III : Dolok Tolong
South Toba Lake Part IV : Huta Ginjang
South Toba Lake Part V : Alam Bakara
South Toba Lake Part VI : Tele
South Toba Lake Part VII : Sipiso-piso
South Toba Lake Part VIII :Mount Sibayak & Berastagi

Golden hour

Finally the we reach the final installment of Danau Toba south edition 2010. Mount Sibayak at the height of around 2172m (7125 feet) is the second highest mountain at North Sumatera. The highest mountain is Mount Sinabung (2451m) which can be seen clearly from Mount Sibayak.

In this picture from google earth is the sibayak mountain range. At the far behind you can see Mount Sinabung.

Sibayak is located just beside Berastagi, one of the famous wisata (tourist) destination which started during the dutch colonization. The dutch use Berastagi as refreshment resort. Nowdays people going here for shopping and also to visit some Batak cultural museum and traditional houses. Some tourist attraction around here is the fruit market and also horse riding.

One this that make my visit at Berastagi fruit market area a bit unpleasant is the relentless of some trader to sell "ubat kuat" (local version of viagra) directly to you. Some even offer cewek (girl). Maybe this is the bad effect of tourism here. Fortunately most of them will stop when you firmly say NO.

If you would like to hike Mount Sibayak or Mount Sinabung, most hotel will has their own inhouse guide which can arrange your hike. Or an alternatively you can sought the service from the local wisata (tourist) office run by the pemerintah (goverment) with reasonable fee. The local wisata office is located just beside the round about near the fruit market. They can even arrange taxi to fetch you from Medan airport for 400,000 rupiah (one way). (I'll update this blog with the office contact number later).

A better arrangement would be to rent a car with supir (driver) in Medan (6 seated driver with supir would cost around 400,000-500,000 per day) but you will need to know where you are going with proper plan and destination especially if there is no guide to accompany you. The guide is essential to know which city has accomodation, which route is still passable with passenger vehicle (in some area, the road condition is very bad and access might be cut of if there is a landslide) and they can share local knowledge or local history with you.

Sibayak hike is very easy. Among easiest mountain hiking i ever done. Very similar duration to Bukit Tabur hiking or even Bukit Broga hiking. One of the main reason is there is a tarred road available to the height of almost 1800m. Since the highest point of Mount Sibayak is around 2171, you just need to hike another 300m-400m vertically. But not all vehicle strong enough and able to reach the highest point as the road is very steep and damaged alot. During our return, one passenger vehicle not able to go up so their passenger need to start their hiking earlier along the steep tarred road.

A normal hiking would take around 40-45 minutes to reach the peak and you can start to enjoy the beautiful panorama. During our trip few fella including me manage to do it in 30 minutes as we were hurrying to capture the sunrise picture. Watching the sunrise at 2000m+ elevation is simply marvellous as you can see the sun rise from above the cloud. You can alse see Mount Sinabung clearly from here. We planning for Sinabung trip hopefully before the end of this year

Some of the picture taken here

The starting trail from the end of tarred road

Sibayak mountain range

V shape sunrise

Sunrise

Panorama of Sibayak.. you can see Mount Sinabung at the far behind..

Me at the crater :D

Sipiso piso, Danau Toba (Part VII)

2010-07-11T14:14:00.000+08:00

The impressive Sipiso-piso Waterfall

Sipiso piso view from google earth. The abundance of photo shows the popularity of this location as an establish tourist location

Sipiso-piso is located at the north tip of Tao Toba (Tao = Lake in batak). It is one of the established wisata (tourist) location at Danau Toba (Lake Toba) . As an establish location, souvenir and food shop is abundance here. Among the main tourist attraction here is the beautiful panorama view of the lake from here and also the 360 ft high (around 120m) Sipiso piso waterfall. The long and narrow waterfall drops 360 feets into the impressive gorge below and flow towards the lake. You will need at least 30 minutes to trek down to the waterfall bottom and around 45 minutes to an hour to trek up back along the cemented trail provided.

The panoramic view from here is simply breathtaking. Another thing to note is that the wind is very strong. No wonder Sipiso piso is also listed as a place for paragliding activity apart from Huta Ginjang.

Paddy field on our way to sipiso piso from Tele

Shadow & shade framer

Among the facility provided at this place

Tele, near Pangururan, Danau Toba (Part VI)

2010-07-08T11:23:00.000+08:00

Sunrise view from Tele

Tele, located near to Pangururan, Lake Toba has the best of both world, sunset & sunrise. From here you would able to sea the sun rise from behind lake toba and able to see the sun set towards the mountain area behind the Pusuk Buhit volcano. At the height of around 1500m above sea level, it is quite cold here especially during the night (and its very windy also!).

Due to its strategic location, the local goverment has build a 4 level view tower here (gardu pandang) . Each level has their room which is suitable for taking shelter. It is also possible to sleep there (bring your own bedding) especially if you want to catch the sunrise. There is also a stall nearby where you can order hot meal and hot drinks and chat with your friend.

View of Tao Toba from Tele by Google Earth

The only major disadvantage to this place is that the road towards Pangururan (nearest city at Samosir Island) is in a very bad condition. The road condition seem to suit only for a 4WD type of vehicle and it is very prone to landslide. The view of fallen big boulders siding by the road is very scary and make you wish that the journey would be safe along the way. There is even an instance where because a landslide has yet to be cleared, so all vehicle will go over the landslide to get pass through!

Some of the picture taken here

The Tower at Tele

The sharp corner at Tele. To the left is the stall.

Sunset view from Tele. You can also see the Pusuk Buhit volcano mountain not far from here.

Beautiful hilly side fronting Lake Toba

Glossary
Gardu - post , shelter
Pandang - view
Gardu pandang - post or station for view, tower view, etc
Tao Toba - Lake Toba
Huta - traditional village / village / place
Dolok - hill
Aek - water

Alam Bakara , Danau Toba (Part V)

2010-07-06T10:56:00.000+08:00

Bakkara Valley

Alam Bakara (Bakkara) is where the history of Batak people started. The valley is located at Kecamatan Baktiraja, Kabupaten Humbang Hasundutan, Sumatera Utara. This fertile land offer a very beautiful panoramic view of a valley with the Lake Toba. There is two river which run through this valley and can be seen from afar which is Aek Silang and Aek Simangira.

Alam Bakkara view screenshot from Google Earth

It would be very interesting when you read the about the history of Sisingamangaraja and its culture. For example, the first king is born in Tombak Sulu-sulu. He initially build his palace at Onan Lombu before moving it upstream to Lumbanraja (now called as Simamora). Now there is a palace complex rebuild by the goverment located at Simamora. Visitor to Bakkara would not miss it as you will find it to your right at the start of the valley.

A Batak king would also has the ability to call rain whenever necessary. This ability is also the prerequisite for his successor therefore the king position would not automatically goes to the eldest son. There is an instance where a 10 years old nominated as the king due to his ability to call the rain (Ompu Sohahuaon - King Sisingamangaraja XI). There is also written in history about an administrative king being replaced by his younger brother due to this prerequisite as the current king failed to call the rain during draught season (Raja Parlopuk replaced by Ompu Pulo Batu - King Singamangaraja XII).

Another interesting fact is there is no tomb for the first nine King of Batak people as whenever they have a successor they would go travelling and never come back.

Here as some of the picture taken from his historical place

Lining of pinus tree along the windy road towards Bakkara Valley

Farmer at Bakkara Valley

Siraja Oloan monument beside the Sisingamangaraja Palace complex

Villager of Bakkara

Note: All picture is taken either using Visible IR or Goldie IR camera. IR camera is a modified camera which allow a different spectrum of light towards the camera sensor resulting in different picture from normal camera. Why there is no normal picture? Because i didnt have my normal camera during this trip - its being repaired for shutter problem at that time. :)

Glossary
Kecamatan - district
Kabupaten - regency
Desa - Village
Huta - Village/place
Aek - Water

Huta Ginjang, Tapanuli Utara , Danau Toba (Part IV)

2010-07-04T03:24:00.000+08:00

View from Huta Ginjang

Huta Ginjang at the height of 1600m above sea level is located at Kecamatan Muara Taput, Kabupaten Tapanuli Utara. It is only 38km from the city of Tarutung and the small Bandara Silangit airport is located nearby at 12km distance.

Huta Ginjang view screenshot from Google Earth

Huta Ginjang is famous for its panoramic view of Lake Toba. From Huta Ginjang you can enjoy viewing the Muara, Sibandang Island and also some paddy field from atop. Huta Ginjang is also famous for paragliding sport. Here is where the local play this sport (locally known as paralayang or gantole). The player would take off from Huta Ginjang and normally landed at Desa Aritonang.

Here are some of the picture taken here.

The EXPAT photographer minus me

Taken from under the paragliding take off platform

Still not yet open, a stall at Huta Ginjang

Glossary
Kecamatan - district
Kabupaten - regency
Desa - Village
Huta - Village/place
Bandara - airport (acronym of bandar udara..literally translated as air city)

Dolok Tolong, Balige, Danau Toba (Part III)

2010-07-04T00:56:00.000+08:00

Magnificent view from the top of Dolok Tolong

Dolok Tolong (dolok mean hill) is the highest hill in Tobalah area. From this hill you will be able to clearly view the Balige city and also Lake Toba. You can also enjoy the panoramic paddy field from atop here.

Dolok Tolong view screen shot from Google Earth

On top of this hill beside the telecommunication tower there is a well. The history of well is told (in indonesian languange) here. It is believed the well is connected to the history of ancient batak kingdom in Balige area which is known as Onan Bolon. Historically Onan Bolon is the trade centre for ancient batak kingdom.

Here is some of the picture taken from here

Tarabunga Beach, Balige, Danau Toba (Part II)

2010-07-03T18:21:00.000+08:00

Some IR manipulation

We spent our first night in Villa Teluk Bunga, part of Hotel Tiara Bunga complex located at Tarabunga Beach not far from Balige, Danau Toba. This place is isolated and can only be reached by using chartered boat from the jetty at Hotel Herti, Balige - there is no land access unless you willing to walk on foot for 2-3 hours.

Balige, the nearest town to this place is the capital of Tobasamosir regency. Located at southern of Danau Toba

The room is priced from around 350,000 until 1.5 million rupiah. Relatively expensive but worth it. We stay at the 700,000 rupiah/night room but thanks to Pak Sebastian (fellow photographer from Balige) we managed to get quite a hefty discount for both room and boat rates.

After fajr prayer, we proceed to the east side to capture sunset. Slightly disappointed as it is a bit cloudy and the sunrise glow is minimal but that is part and parcel of being landscape photographer. You can only photograph what is given to you and try to make the best out of it.

Some of the picture taken here

Panoramic shot... combined in photoshop using the photomerge function

Boat & sunrise

If you interested to stay at this hotel, check this link http://www.hoteltiarabunga.com/promosi.ppt (if its broken.. check the domain url)

Bah Butong Tea Plantation & Parapat, Danau Toba (Part I)

2010-07-03T17:41:00.000+08:00

Bah Butong Tea Plantation is located at Kecamatan Sidamanik, Kabupaten Simalungun, Sumatera Utara. Bah Butong is one of the four plantation located within this area. The others are Toba Sari, Bah Birong Ulu and Sidamanik. This plantation area is accessible from Pematang Siantar (the last major city before reaching Danau Toba).

This plantation is our first stop during the EXPAT (extraordinaire photography travel) South Danau Toba in Jun 2010. Guided by doc budie, the excellent host and photographer friend from Medan. This trip is the follow-up to the first edition is in October 2009 where Malaysian photographer and fellow Indonesian photographer from Medan combined to do photography hunting around Danau Toba area.

Some of the landscape photograph taken there (i did'nt bring my normal camera during this trip as it is still under service at Canon Centre.. all picture taken using Visible IR).. will update with picture taken with goldie IR later..

Me @ Kebun Teh Bah Butong

The blue sky at Bah Butong Tea Plantation, Sidamanik

Interesting earth shape at Bah Butong Tea Plantation, Sidamanik

Leading line

We then proceed toward Parapat. Parapat only served as our pit stop location for Zuhr & Asar prayer as we were heading towards Balige. Parapat is famous as it is the main location for people heading towards Samosir Island by ferry.

Few picture from Parapat, Danau Toba

Samosir Island view from land, Danau Toba (near Parapat)

Danau Toba view from Parapat

Glossary
Kecamatan - district
Kabupaten - regency

Discovering Kemensah Waterfall, Kg Kemensah

2010-06-16T12:48:00.000+08:00

Kemensah Waterfall is my first photography outing that require me to trek a bit before reaching it. And that time i'll never guess that later it would be the most easiest one compared to other remote/high places that i went for my hobby.

The waterfall's name is not Kemensah. We named it as Kemensah as the nearest village is Kampung Kemensah. A local people once told me its real name but i forgot it. I'll update this blog entry later when i found out its real name.

After a mere 45 brisk walking through ATV road, passing through bamboo jungle you will reach the first waterfall. If you hike further up the stream, there is a lot more waterfall to be found. I remember hiking until 6th level (and few fren went for the 7th level).

I already went to this waterfall for three times. At one occasion we manage to catch a very good ray of light at this waterfall. Really miss this waterfall and hope to repeat visiting it with fellow friends.

Some macro photos from this location

How to get here - Kemensah Waterfall

Find your way to Zoo Negara. Follow the road by the Zoo Negara side. After few kilometers you will reach Kampung Kemensah,drive straight. After the village area the road will be a bit windy You will pass the fishing pond (on your left) and a chalet on your left.(Do not turn left at the Kolam Memancing Junction). After few kilometers you will pass another fish pond (on your left) and then you will found an entrance to a construction site on your right. At your left is the starting trail to this waterfall. The trail is also used by the ATV operator so it is wide enough for a small ATV.

Safety Note
Please take note that the place at the start of the trail doesn't seem safe to park your vehicle (since it is deep inside and out of nowhere) but that is your only choice if you want to start track immediately. Alternatively you might park your cark at the Chalet (pay RM2) and then walk for few kilometers to the starting trail.

Swimming with the kelah at Air Terjun Sg Chilling, Kuala Kubu Bharu

2010-06-15T17:07:00.000+08:00

Arey @ Chilling Waterfall

Lineup
emran, arey & butet

Kelah (Malaysian Red Mahseer) is one of Malaysia’s precious ecological heritage. This ﬁsh is unique to our region. Chilling River is one of the Kelah Sanctuary which is near to the Klang Valley. For an hour of journey from Kuala Lumpur would drive you to the entrance of this sanctuary. No need to go to deeper forest such as the Endau-Rompin National Park to enjoy swimming with this fish.

Buttet swimming with the Kelah

Another attraction here is the Chilling Waterfall. The waterfall height is about 60m height which would dwarfed any human being. The journey itself is very rewarding. As we trek along the river, we need to cross the river for a total of six times. The first crossing is via a suspension bridge. But you'll get yourself wet for the other crossing. At some crossing the water height is at your half thigh level so you need to be very careful with your camera equipment (if you bring any). Bringing a small child is possible but you should always be extra careful. You should also always alert for "kepala air" sign as the were cases in the past that some camper were drowned due to this nature phenomenon here. (normal tips is never trek whenever you suspect there is heavy raining at upstream(hulu) of the river, watch the sky).

Chilling Waterfall in IR spectrum

How to get here - Chilling River Waterfall, KKB

Drive to Kuala Kubu Bharu town. From there go towards Fraser Hill. You will drive by the dam side. After about 15 minutes, you will pass an old small bridge (folks at KKB called it as 'jambatan kombat') at a corner bend, immediately after this bridge you can park your vehicle on the left side. The entrance to the Sungai Chilling Kelah Sanctuary is on the right clearly stated with a gate. You need to trek for about 10 minutes to reach the Chalet/Office compound. Register there (pay RM1 fee) and you can proceed to the waterfall afterwards. (The ranger office only open at 8:30am - a total letdown for those who wish to arrive early and take slow shutter picture especially during weekend where you want to avoid the crowd to get a good picture)Map board available at the compound if you need to get yourself familiar with the trek first. From here you will need about an hour to reach the waterfall.

Abseiling at Air Terjun Sungai Pisang, Gombak

2010-06-15T15:14:00.000+08:00

Sungai Pisang is a beautiful waterfall located not far from Karak Highway. You need to trek from around 20-40 minutes (depend on which path you used) to reach this waterfall. Some outdoor freelance also conduct abseiling / team building program here as the waterfall is very suitable for abseiling activities. There is minimal drown risk here as the pool there is not deep at all. (wonder how someone posted a comment at waterfallofmalaysia about near drown story there). During our trip there is an abseiling activity conducted for a student group from Mahsa College .

Some of the picture taken there

If you go in early morning , there will be lots of Ray of Light around

An old hut along the way

One the the smaller fall at the waterfall

Abseiling at Sungai Pisang Waterfall

Facilitator guiding student to abseil down at Sungai Pisang Waterfall

How to get here - Air Terjun Sungai Pisang, Gombak

The easiest way is by the Karak highway. But this method would put your vehicle under risk as it is left by the highway roadside.
After paying the first Karak Highway tol, keep an eye to the kilometer signage by the roadside. Stop at KM 28.7 , from there you can see there is a small trek by the roadside (if you found a small road by the roadside, you missed the signage already). The trek start there. After around 20-25 minutes you will reach the waterfall (you can hear the waterfall gushing sound after 10-15 minutes of trekking).

Second path is by using the old Gombak-Genting road. By this way your car will park within the private area of several chalet operator (safer i guess). Use the old Gombak-Genting road, at KM 11 you will found a junction toward several chalet. Take this junction and go further inside. When you found the chalet parking area, park there. You might need to pay few ringgits for parking there (in our case the operator request RM5/car). From there follow the river upstream until you found a twin tunnel. Walk by this tunnel. It is not recommend to walk inside the tunnels water as they might be unknown creatures such as snake staying there inside the dark tunnel. Use the sideway of the tunnel. (This tunnel is actually a river tunnel underneath the Karak Highway.)

After the tunnel, proceed further a bit until you find a trekking route. This trekking route will bring you to hike a small hill and you will also find few old hut (probabily built by the orang asli). After around 40-45 minutes of trekking you will reach Sungai Pisang Waterfall.

Or alternatively, for a shorter trekking, after passing the tunnel, hike up to the highway road using the drain path. Then go to KM 28.7, and start trekking from the small path not far from KM 28.7 signage. You will trek for around 20-25 minutes only.

Credit to Arey who guide us to this place
Credit to Azri who organize this trip under Luarbiasa Photography umbrella

Admiring Air Terjun Robinson, Cameron Highland

2010-06-13T18:35:00.000+08:00

One of the waterfall at Cameron Highland. While the waterfall itself is very beautiful, the water quality would disappoint you because drain water is diverted into this river. Trekking would take only around 15 minutes only (downward) from the starting point. The trekking path is fully cemented with tiles, a good featured if its not raining, as when it is raining the tiles trek would be very very slippery.

From the trek path here also it is possible to trek to Gunung Beremban, I'm surely would return to try to trek to some mountain around Cameron Highland.

How to get here - Robinson Waterfall

The entrance to this waterfall start from Tanah Rata town. Find a junction by the Tanah Rata bus station, just go straight until a bend/turn where there is a small river/drain running underneath. There is a junction to the right. Take the right turn and 50m from the junction you will reach the trekking starting point at your left by the river side. (There is housing around this area).

Excursion to Gunung Cantik, Cameron Highland,

2010-06-13T10:47:00.000+08:00

Gunung Cantik (1802m) is one of the smaller peak available around Cameron Highland. Less famous than most of its cousin, Gunung Cantik is located within the tea plantation of Boh Plantation between Ringlet & Tanah Rata (not the Sungai Palas plantation). The starting point is immediately behind Boh Tea Factory there.

Gunung Cantik line-up
Emran, Ainun & Moorali

The excursion to Gunung Cantik seem easier than what i predicted (thank god.. heheh) .. the starting point at around 1400m definitely help a lot.. :D ..plus the 'highway' along the tea plantation.. the view along the way (Boh tea plantation) was very breathtaking.... Moorali & ainun (my SIL) join my trip to this mountain..

Credit to john for giving a brief guide on how to reach this peak.

Some pictures taken during this excursion

Strawberry Tea (IR)

Moorali @ Boh Plantation

The tea plantation worker in this picture is Aryadi from Lombok Timur. He's checking the tea leaves he harvested earlier to ensure there is no twig (ranting) inside them.

Panorama picture

As you can see within the picture.. 80% of the trail are this kind of trail... trail used by plantation tractor.. 'highway trail'... very relax..

Young Tea Leaves

More picture here

How to get here - Gunung Cantik,Cameron Highland

If you know Boh Tea Factory, the starting point is immediately behind it.

If you coming from Tanah Rata (this would be your starting point if you are using the new Simpang Pulai-Cameron Highland highway) - Just go towards Ringlet. Immediately after the HABU power station,there would a small junction on your left (there are supposed to be a signboard indicating Boh Tea Factory / Boh Estate Teahouse and also Honey Bee Farm. That is the correct junction.

If you coming from Tapah (this would be your starting point if you are using the old Tapah-Cameron Highland road) - Just go towards Tanah Rata after Ringlet. Keep an eye to a small junction on your right. If you reach Habu Power Station then you already missed the junction.

Follow this windy road until you reach the Tea House (beware, the road is small and mostly can only accomodate one vehicle, use you horn to alert coming vehicle). The starting point is immediately behind the factory. The road is actually road used by plantation vehicle.

You will also found a small stream along the way. (Never drink any water as this stream is within a plantation area.. sure lots of toxic pesticides inside the water)

Just follow this path until the end. At the end of this road there would be small path going towards a small secondary forest. That is where the peak is. There is two peak here. One is Cantik peak and another Cantuk/Centuk? peak. I'm not sure which one is Cantik and which one is Centuk/Cantuk?.

There is nothing special about the peak. The breathtaking view along the way up/down is the one that you will treasure.

MNS has a basic Chalet 2KM from the Boh Tea factory and it would be an ideal accomodation if you target to hike Gunung Cantik/Centuk.

Immersing Air Terjun Pelangi (Rainbow Waterfall), Sungai Lembing, Kuantan

2010-06-12T16:20:00.000+08:00

Air Terjun Pelangi (rainbow waterfall) is located near Sungai Lembing Town, Kuantan. Called by the local as Air Terjun 500 (because the fall is estimated at 500f height), it is a very beautiful waterfall with the unique rainbow will always appear around 9-11am every day as the mist produced from the fall would refract the morning light

In this trip on 28th Feb 2010, a total of 31 comrades from Luarbiasa Photography group went to camp and hike to Rainbow Waterfall. The outing were combined with a one day Photography Seminar (sponsored by NIKON) at UIAM Kuantan where majority of the comrades also doubled as the facilitator during the practical session.

Roughly our 2D1N itenary is as follows

DAY 1
5:00 pm - IIUM Photoseminar ended. All comrades start preparing for the camping & start moving towards Sungai Lembing Town
6:45 pm - Convoi reached Sungai Lembing town (once famous with tin mining). 4wd & modified hilux (so it can accomodate 12 passenger) already waiting for us. Parked in front of the Sungai Lembing Police Station. The road towards Air Terjun Pelangi is immediately in front of the Police Station.
7:00 PM - convoy (consist of 2 4WD, 1 hilux, 1 storm, 1 pickup lorry & 2 kembara) started the off road journey towards Air Terjun Pelangi camp site.
8:20 PM - reached the camp site. Performed the maghrib prayer then setup camp
9:00 pm - While waiting for the lamb to be fully roasted, few fellow comrades start to immerse under the river by our camp site. It is indeed refreshing and surprisingly the water is not too cool at all. Some even immerse until 1am before sleeping.
11:00 pm - Dinner time with roasted lamb.
12:00 pm - Majority started to sleep for tomorrow's adventure

DAY 2
5:00 am - a cafe opened by Wanoridz & uDa. Breakfast consist of scrambled egg,lamb roast & australian cheese served.
6:00 am - subuh prayer
7:30 am - start trekking to Air Terjun Pelangi. The trekking is mild with few hill to climb and we trek along a river most of the time. At first everyone need to pass through a river around thigh level (those with camera bag at waist level need to be very careful at this first river crossing,later were told that normally the water is around waist level but during our visit it was draught season a bit..)
8:30 am - after an hour trekking journey we finally reach the base.. some already starting taking photograph level by level until reaching the raiwbow waterfall. But since it was draught season, the mist produced by the waterfall is so little and only a few rainbow appear for a while during our stay there.

10:30 am - start to trek back to our camping area.
11:30 am - preparing for our journey to go home
12:00 am - start convoying to Sungai Lembing Town
1:15 pm - reached Sungai Lembing Town.
1:30 pm - have a quick lunch at one of the roadside restaurant and after that everyone start their journey to go home after 2D1N adventure.

We definitely would repeat Air Terjun Pelangi. I'm hoping to hike Gunung Tapis as well.

Some of the pictures from Air Terjun Pelangi Trip

The waterfall (draught season = smaller fall)

A small consolation rainbow for our trip

Immersion ceremony

Smaller stream/waterfall along the way

HOW TO GET HERE - Air Terjun Pelangi

If from KL - Use the Karak Highway towards Kuantan direction. Before Kuantan there will be signboard indicating Sungai Lembing exit. Exit there and follow the sign towards Sungai Lembing.

If from Pantai Timur - Just go to Kuantan and from Kuantan there should be ample sign indicating Sungai Lembing direction(if you didnt find any sign go to Indera Mahkota area, west side of Kuantan).

When you reach Sungai Lembing town, find the police station at your left side. The police station should be immediately found at the entrance of the town. Immediately infront of the police station there is a junction. That is the junction toward Air Terjun Pelangi. It is not advisable to go on your own if you never been there as there will be few junction without signboard along the way. Your vehicle must also suitable for offroad drive (from the Sg Lembing town-Air Terjun Pelangi journey) and be prepared for loads of scratches.

After about an hour plus, you will reach an open area by the river. Here is where the first crossing (trekking). You can camp here or at another place further up a bit from here.

Broga Hill, Semenyih - Land of Grass

2010-06-10T12:56:00.000+08:00

"And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance."

[ Al Hijr verse 19]

Broga Hill is a love hate story for me. The first time i went there is the first hiking trip i join. During that time, underestimate proved to be bad thing for first timer like me. I remember i bring my whole complete camera equipment up there. The total weight must be about 15kg (two camera body, 4 lenses, 3 flash,1 small umbrella,1 monopod, 1 tripod). While we start climbing in early morning, scores of people keep bypassing me include a group of elderly. What a shame. Hahahahaha.. (i remember swearing i wont repeat this madness again.. hehehehe)

But when you reached the top.. Everything is different... the beautiful land of grass is so majestic and peaceful.. Peak after peak (there is three major peak at Broga Hill), you would simply admire this place. After the first trip i repeat this place for few times ( i think the total is 4 times). Once i went there during the weekday alone. Very calm and peaceful. But a major lesson learned is never bring your whole equipment on a hiking activity even thought its only a hill like Broga.

Here are some of the picture i'ved taken at Broga. I wish i have the opportunity to repeat hiking in Broga. The only thing stopping me is the distance (45 minutes from KL - Bukit Tabur is nearer!) and the crowd. Some how Broga's fame has grown quite high for the past year and crowd of people would be there every weekend making traffic jam on the single path. Some committee claimed to be representing the community even start charging for car park now (RM2) - which is quite ok for me as now there would be some people guarding around the parking area.

There is one bad memory at Broga, in one of the hiking to Broga led by me, one of our fellow hiker tear both his ligament accidentally. You can read about it here by Faiz Zaki. The incident is even featured in Harian Metro albeit with lots of factual errors. Accident can happen anywhere, even at Broga Hill where the slope & trekking path can be categorized as very safe. You need to exercise caution at all times and never take things lightly.

A friend of mine told that there is another small mountain beside Broga Hill called Gunung Tok Wan which is 3KM from the last peak of Broga. I definitely would repeat broga to visit this small mountain.

Here are some of the picture taken at Broga Hill from my several trips

Me @ Broga

Land of Grass

Ashikin Abdullah (visit her blog here)

Sir Mart exhausted after re-hike to bring ice & water for his injured niece (Visit his blog here)

Nature (IR)

Couple @ Broga (IR)

Azli from top of Broga overseing Bandar Semenyih (IR)

Me @ Broga (IR)

Entrance tree to Broga

How to get here - Broga Hill

Assuming you are coming from KL. Find the Kajang-Cheras Expressway. You will need to pay two tolls (as now - 2010 the toll stand at RM1 and RM0.90 ). Just follow the highway until you find Semenyih exit. Exit towards semenyih (left) - see google earth picture below. After few kilometers you will reach Semenyih Town.

From here you should go straight,
- you will bypass a BhP petrol station on your left,
- then a T-junction with traffic light ,go straight - immediately after the junction you can see Semenyih Police station on the your left and Semenyih Mosque on your right
-go straight until you see a petronas on your right, immediately after the petronas there is a T junction with signboard stating left is for Nottingham University & Broga. Take left here. (refer to the google earth picture below)

- from there you just proceed until you see nottingham university on your left, go further ahead until you reach palm oil plantation (here the road would be reduced from 4 lane into two lane only). Here find an entrance road to the palm oil plantation on your left. If you came during weekend normally there would be other car parked there already.
- park you car there and just follow the trail into the palm oil plantation
- at one point the trail break into a Y junction. The left trail heading further to somewhere while the right one heading upwards. Take the right one. And just follow the trail onward.
- you will reach your destination in between 30-50 minutes depending on your speed, stamina & how long you need to queue :D

Save Bukit Tabur West Wing, Gombak - The Longest Quartz Ridge in the World

2010-06-07T17:21:00.000+08:00

"And you see the mountains, thinking them rigid, while they will pass as the passing of clouds. [It is] the work of Allah , who perfected all things. Indeed, He is Acquainted with that which you do."

[ An-Naml verse 88]

Bukit Tabur is world-class geological monument located beside Klang Gate Dam, Taman Melawati, Gombak. This is my favourite weekend recreation spot due to its proximity and the moderate challenge that it posed to every hiker that scaled it... Until now I've been there five times where four of it i hike the complete circuit from end to end...

Bukit Tabur is very unique where it you can see from afar especially from MRR2 that it is built from quartz ridge... According to some sources on the net.. they claimed that the Klang Gate Quartz Ridge is the longest in the world.. at about 16km total.

However this great natural gift to our nation is under threat... the planned KL Outer Ring Road (KLORR) will cut through this Klang Gates Quartz Ridge dragon backbone citing this option has the minimum cost compared to other alternative... yeahhh.. rite! (read this article by thestar). Best cost when you failed to acknowledge the invaluable heritage of this place.. I'm deeply saddened with this turn of event.. just five years ago they gazette selangor park where Bukit Tabur is part of it and now they want to destroy it forever..

In this article by the Edge few month ago it cite that the Selangor Goverment is pushing for the inclusion of two sites (one of it Klang Gate Quartz Ridge) in the prestigious United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) World Heritage List. I prayed for this to be a reality.

MNS Selangor has response swiftly to the proposal.. read their comment here, really hope it would be championed by MNS Malaysia as well as we need every helping hand to stop this from happening.

You can also do you part a bit.. sign a petition here .. at least

Here are some of the picture i taken while hiking there...

Tabur Hill during golden hour

Bukit Tabur East from West Wing (IR)

Petualang Bukit Tabur

Misty morning at Tabur Hill

Arey @ Bukit Tabur West Wing (IR) (the person who introduced me to this hill)

Carpet Grass at the 2nd last hill

More picture here

How to Get Here - Tabur Hill (West)

If from Gombak - Use the MRR2 road toward the Ampang direction. You'll be passing Karak Highway entrance (on your left) then Taman Melati (on your right). Go further 1-2km and you'll see Taman Melawati on your left. Take the left turn at the junction under the flyover (see picture) into Taman Melawati.

If from Ampang - Use the MRR2 road toward the Gombak direction. After a petronas station on your left you'll see signboard to Zoo Negara. Stay on the left side of the road and follow the Zoo Negara signboard. The signboard will bring you to the junction under the Taman Melawati flyover. Instead of U-turn to go to the Zoo Negara, take right turn into Taman Melawati.

Not long after entering Taman Melawati you'll see Caltex & BHP petrol on your left and also a school at you right (see picture above). Keep going straight until you found a roundabout. Take 9 o'clock at this roundabout. (see picture below)

After about a kilometer you'll reach another roundabout, take 12 o'clock. Then you'll bump into T-junction. Take right turn and immediately after that another right turn (if you miss the another right turn you'll go to Bukit Mas Apartment). (see picture below)

From here just follow the winding road until the end. You'll find the entrance to the dam (Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd). Park anywhere nearby and hike up the starting point not far from the entrance.

From the hiking point, you'll reach the first unblocked sunrise point after about 10 minutes. A better sunrise point is available along the way. The higher the better the view. If you want to do a complete circuit (end to end) you'll need about 3 hours to do it. If you intend to do the full Tabur West circuit, just follow the hiking path to the end. Immediately before the last hill there is a path to the left. This path lead to an orchard. Follow this path until you found an orchard hut. Keep to the left. (There is one case in 2009 where some hiker got lost when they take the right turn and thinking that they are lost they request for help from the authority. A whole group without anyone knowledgable about the place should never hike an unknown area or you'll risk the safety of the whole team)

While you were on this path you should be able to see Bukit Tabur ridge beside you on your left. Sometime you can also hear the other hiker at the hill talking loudly to each other. Just follow the path until you found a kampung house. The exit is very close already. Follow the tarred road downward until you reach the T junction. That is the end. (Your car probabily at the left junction near the dam entrance)

SAFETY NOTE

Tabur is not an ordinary hill. Even though its height is only merely 442m (unconfirmed height) the hiking consist a lot of rock climbing with few steep 70-90 degree slope waiting for you. Few rope will assist at several dangerous point. Any fall could be fatal. Remember the case of two doctor from a private hospital in Ampang. Both of them fall to their death here. If you scared of height (gayat) then this place is certainly not suitable for you. Read this blog posting of an another incident happen there (east side) witnessed by the blog author.

Just follow the common track and you'll be safe and make sure one of you team member has been here to guide the way.

An Extraordinaire Expedition to Buaya Sangkut Waterfall, Endau-Rompin National Park, Johor Darul Takzim

2010-06-03T12:58:00.000+08:00

A cascade part of Buaya Sangkut Waterfall

On 29-31th May 2010, 10 comrades from Luarbiasa Photography group led by dR Ali went for an extraordinary journey to Buaya Sangkut Waterfall within the virgin jungle of Endau-Rompin National Park, Johor Darul Takzim. This trip is fully sponsored by Perbadanan Taman Negara Johor.

Luarbiasa Comrades
1. Dr Jamal (flickr, blog posting)
2. Shahreen (flickr)
3. Jasni Muda(flickr)
4. Ali Tukiman(flickr)
5. Emran MT (flickr, blog posting,facebook)
6. Hisyam Rahman (flickr)
7. Abg Naim (Chef)
8. Abdullah Jones (blog posting)
9. Pahat (flickr)
10. Ali - Amir sahab (flickr)

Perbadanan Taman Negara Officials
1. En Fakhrul
2. En Herman Riswan
3. Ms Nur Amira Abd Rahman (trainee from UPM)
4. Ms Neeny Wawa (trainee from UPM)

DAY 1 - SANTAI DAY @ KUALA MARONG (Kahang-Kg Peta-Kuala Jasin-Kuala Marong)
First day went smooth when by 11am everyone is already registered at the PETA office. By 12pm we started to venture into the national park with two 4WD hired by the Perbadanan Taman Negara Johor for us. Both 4wd belonged to a family business managed by Farid (Angah) & Fahmi. Good & punctual service. Our 4wd is driven by Fahmi, the younger brother.

After few kilometers from Kahang town, we reached the main entrance to the park through palm oil plantation. After a bumpy 53km ride we finally reach the Visitor Complex at Kg Peta. An observation which is shared by everyone is the untarred red road is far better than the tarred road. This is because the tarred road is not well maintained therefore pothole is mushrooming like crazy (a friend make a remark that the pothole is similar to the pothole at Upih Guling waterfall). Whenever the 4wd reach a tarred road, the driver must be extra careful and drive slowly throughout the damaged road.

After stopping for a while at the visitor complex, we proceed our journey to Kuala Jasin, bypassing Pantai Burung campsite (a not so successful tourism project) & NERC. At Kuala Jasin we stop for Zohor & Asar jamak prayer before continuing to Kuala Marong.

The distance from Kuala Jasin to Kuala Marong is about 4KM which would need about an hour of trekking. After consulting with Fahmi (the young 4wd driver) he agreed to send us further to a point before Kuala Marong which would cut our trekking time from an hour to around 15 minutes only. After crossing the Jasin river with rope assistance, we finally reached Kuala Marong, our camp site for the night. A group from Singapore is already there greeting us. And minutes after reaching our camp site, the rain started to fall quite heavily. While few comrades preparing the tent, few others 'sneaked' to the bungalow (which is an open wakaf).. hehehe.. somehow i prefer to sleep in the open while in the jungle than inside a tent..

Sungai Jasin stream @ Kuala Marong (IR)

Immediately after the rain stop, dR lead the group to Upih Guling Waterfall for photography session. Abg Naim didnt follow as he already started to preparing our meal for the night. While they were crossing the river, i decided to venture alone to another part not far from Kuala Marong camp site.

At night, we were very pleased with the meal cooked by abg naim & hisyam.. fresh fish steam cooked, fried vegetable, and fried fresh fish..

After the dinner, En Herman & En Fakhrul discussed with dR ali about the 2nd day program... this is because in the original itinerary we intent to camp at Buaya Sangkut.. the last proper camp site before buaya sangkut is Batu Hampar campsite which is 3 hours journey to Buaya Sangkut.. En Herman explain that at Buaya Sangkut there is no level ground suitable as camp site.. he cited few risk such as fallen tree (its inter-monsun season-lots of rain) and wild animal (such as tiger) .. therefore he request that instead of camping at Buaya Sangkut Waterfall, he suggest that we camp at Takah Kunyit. Takah Kunyit is located about 2 hours journey after Batu Hampar. From Takar Kunyit we only need an hour to get to Buaya Sangkut Waterfall so if we started our final push before/after subuh it should be ok to get the slow shutter picture. Takah kunyit is the camp site used by Taman Negara renjer/officials and not actually for public use.

After dinner and taking bath, everyone started to sleep to prepare for tomorrow's adventure.

DAY 2 - THE ADVENTURE TO TAKAH KUNYIT (Kuala Marong-Batu Hampar-Takah Kunyit
As early as five o'clock in the morning few people already wake-up. I wake up quite early as i would to cook few things from my backpack to lessen the burden a bit.. four kampit of nasi himpit with two rendang ayam tesco.. nasi himpit take a while to cook.. about half an hour.. while the rendang ayam tesco only need a minute or two to heat it up.. a very practical option for future trekking/travelling needs.

Immediately after Subuh prayer and breakfast, majority of the group went to Upih Guling again for slow shutter session. Me and Shahreen went to Tasik Biru which is 500m only from the Kuala Marong camp site and need only 10 minutes trekking... Tasik Biru is indeed a very beautiful place with calm and peaceful river stream and school of kelah.. After a while we backed at the camp and eat the breakfast (mihun goreng) prepared by abg naim. After breakfast, we started to pack to go the our next camp site which is Takah Kunyit.

At about 10am we started our journey. After 40 minutes the first group arrived at Batu Hampar and after an hour everyone safely arrive at Batu Hampar. As it were raining, we waited for a while. Few minutes before 12 o'clock its still raining therefore En Fakhrul request that we proceed regardless of the weather condition as it is very unpredictable.

From Batu Hampar to Takah Kunyit is where the gruelling adventure begun.. Majority of the group carry their own backpack including me which packed around 22kg of item. The main culprit is the camera equipment which is more 8kg (2 body - one of it 5D MKII, 3 lenses - MPE 65mm macro lens is the heaviest, 1 flash and sling lowepro bag). Being a photographer its always a difficult decision whenever we need to go trekking/hiking as the camera's load would make the journey more difficult. But not bringing or stripping few important item/lenses would mean compromising on the final output... I'm for instance decided not to bring the tripod as my Benro 550 is quite heavy. I simple need to rely on other method to take slow shutter picture such as 'building a tripod' whenever i need one.

The heavy rain make the journey more difficult as we need to negotiate steep and slippery track. Along the way , rope is provided at every difficult section. Most people would do only daypack to Buaya Sangkut Waterfall either from Kuala Jasin (5 hours one way) or from Kuala Marong (4 hours one way) or from Batu Hampar Campsite (3 hours one way). We would instead bring our heavy backpack which include the photography equipment.

After a gruelling 2 hours and 20 minutes, i managed to reach Takah Kunyit. There abg naim and the guides are in the midst of preparing our camp site and two large tents using fly. Feeling relief i went to the waterfall and clean myself especially from dozen of ferocious leeches. since it were raining daily when we came here.. this creatures is everywhere... whenever you open your cloth/sock/long pant after a long trekking.. expect to see dozen of them hanging around partying like a drunken thug... even if they are fully loaded they won fall down volutarily...

After a while everyone reached the campsite with exhausting look in their face.. hehehe...some already start calculating the next day journey including me.. hehehe..

Ferocious Terrorist of Endau-Rompin

And here abg naim cooked for us 'ikan kelah dalam tin' and also the delicious steamed fish again.. at night.. everyone sleep soundly with generator working tirelessly.. hehehhe

DAY 3 - FROM BUAYA SANGKUT TO KUALA JASIN (Takah Kunyit-Buaya Sangkut-Takah Kunyit-Batu Hampar-Kuala Marong-Kuala Jasin-Kg Peta-Kahang
The final & most important day.. instead of start trekking before subuh, we start trekking after subuh prayer... around 6:30am a total of 14 people including the guides & taman negara official started to trek to buaya sangkut.. hill after hill.. ropes after ropes... after an hour we finally reached the destination..

Part of the cascade at Buaya Sangkut Waterfall

while its still early when we reached the destination (7:30am)... the sun is already out and part of buaya sangkut waterfall is already lighten up directly by the sun's light (very similar situation with Tanglir Waterfall @ Bukit Tinggi) .. which mean it quite impossible to do slow shutter without having part of your picture totally washed out.. nevertheless we enjoyed our stay here.. few of us including me crossed the river with the help from the orang asli guide to have a close look at the waterfall..

According to the legend... once upon a time .. a young girl has a dream that a crocodile (buaya) want to eat her.. when she tell about the dream to his parent, his parent decided to go to higher ground , a place where the any crocodile wont be able to reach. Feeling relief, somehow the crocodile appear again in the girl dream saying the same thing... so the family move to a higher ground with large waterfall which is impossible for the crocodile to reach due to the steep rock along the waterfall.. but suddenly one morning they saw the crocodile tried to climb its way at the waterfall.. but then somehow suddenly it turned to a stone while climbing.. thats why the waterfall is called Buaya Sangkut (loosely translated as stucked crocodile )

The Buaya Sangkut Waterfall

After refreshing ourself with the maggi mee cooked by our guide and glass of milo... we returned back to our Takah Kunyit campsite.. packing our staff and headed home to Kuala Jasin..

After several 'discount'.. i still didnt see the front group.. i thought i would stumbled upon them resting in any point waiting for the rest of the group.. with Jasni & Ali muar beside me.. we finally regroup with the front group at Kuala Marong.. while we set about 2 hours and 20 minutes.. the front group led by abg naim and the girls (nuramira & neen) managed to do it in 1 hour and 30 minutes only.. which mean they are almost an hour in front of us.. fuuhh... good thing about it is that they already cooked some maggi mee and milo for us to eat while waiting for the rest of the group... :D

Ironlady of Endau-Rompin

Less than three hours everyone already reached Kuala Marong.. some managed to repeat swimming with the kelah @ Tasik Biru.. then we continue our journey to Kuala Jasin.. throughout the journey we passed through the newly constructed jambatan gantung and need to cross the river again before Kuala Jasin. At Kuala Jasin, everyone clean themself before heading to Kahang town in 4WD with nice memory and hopefully good photograph. :D

Major Point to note
- All waterfall/stream there is very beautiful.. each is unique in its own way .. definitely worth a revisit
-3D2N is too short for a photography trip if you want to cover Upih Guling,Tasik Air Biru,Batu Hampar & Buaya Sangkut.. if we ever repeat i would prefer to do it in 4D3N so there will be more time for photography instead of trekking
-porter should be considered next time .. but if 4D3N then it would be less tiring and might not need any porter..
- Its time to start planning for other Taman Negara trek.. Selai.. Bekuk.. and Ulu Kemapan
- The best time all year round is March-April ..
- Adidas kampung is the best shoe to wear here.. only RM 6-8 per pair
- Leech sock is a must... unless you want to collect a whole load of them....

Below is the GPS trail simulation recorded by one of our trip members , Dr Jamal using his Garmin 60sx.

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=644731

Endau-Rompin National Park
Kahang Office (Tel/Fax) : +607-7882812/+607-7882813
Kg Peta Visitor Complex: +607-7021111/+607-7021100

Website: www.johorparks.com
Email: info@johorparks.com

Campsite facility guide
Kuala Jasin - Electricity, chalet, toilet,cooking area with gas
Kuala Marong - Wakaf, toilet, cooking area with gas, camp site
Batu Hampar - Cooking area (no gas),camp site,toilet
Takah Kunyit - Camp site only

GPS Point
Kuala Marong N2°30.831' E103°21.282'
Batu Hampar Waterfall N2°30.261' E103°20.645'
Takah Kunyit N2°29.563' E103°19.951'
Buaya Sangkut N2°29.841' E103°19.201'

Trekking duration (estimation only & excluding rest)
Kuala Jasin - Kuala Marong : 1 hour
Kuala Marong - Batu Hampar : 45 minutes
Kuala Marong - Upih Guling : 15 minutes
Kuala Marong - Tasik Air Biru: 10 minutes
Batu Hampar - Takah Kunyit : 2 hours
Takah Kunyit - Buaya Sangkut: 1 hour

Extra bit
GPS trail recorded by Dr Jamal : http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=644731

Credit
Thanks to En Bakar from Perbadanan Taman Negeri Johor
Thanks to abe We Jaseim who sponsor the fresh fish
Thanks to dRali for giving the opportunity to join this expedition
The utmost important.. thank to Allah