Redang Island, Terengganu

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)

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Lata Berkoh of National Park - Beautiful Tropical Nature Place

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

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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.

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Going home

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Ulu Kemapan, Endau-Rompin - Its Kelah trip!

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

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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.

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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!

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Admiring Air Terjun Robinson, Cameron Highland

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).

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Excursion to Gunung Cantik, Cameron Highland,

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.

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

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.

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