Journal of Life (2008 - 2009): February 2009

Several days after the trip to Sg. Klah Hot Spring Park, the body felt itchy again.

This time, we wanted to go to Cameron Highlands. The last time we went there must be 20 years ago. Heard my brother said it only takes around 1 hour time by using the new road. Cool. How could we miss that too?

Just the night before departure, KS had a nightmare. It was so terrifying that when he told me about his dream, immediately I said we should just forget about going Cameron Highlands. He raised his legs to second me.

So, to compensate the void here, we execute our contingency plan. After taking lunch with my parents in a restaurant, we grabbed them to go together with us too. Couldn't stand to leave them behind at home alone.

So, this is our contingency plan, Hutan Rekreasi Kuala Woh. It is about 13km from Tapah town, along Jalan Tapah-Cameron Highlands.

(When we were driving on the old road of Tapah-Cameron Highlands, it reminds me of the dream that KS told me, and that made me felt creepy. Why on earth we still do the thing that is related to CH though we had tried to avoid it at the first place? Thank God, nothing happened!)

Got the 'hutan' feel or not?

How about this one? (nope)

And this one? (nope)

The main attraction in this forest park is the shallow water of the Batang Padang River.

This isn't an ordinary river. It has a hot water pool formed by a hot spring. The water is not hot, but we can feel the heat of the sand at many spots when we walked along the river. At certain part, the sand is very hot, I couldn't even stand on it for more than 5 seconds.

I don't know why he deliberately gave me this look?

Naturally, we all would want to climb up and sit there for a while, for no specific reason. The greatest challenge is not to fall down on the very hot sand beneath the trunk.

The father-and-son even stand up there to show their 'kecanggihan'.

(suddenly I remember some of the long-forgotten Malay words).

Yes, my awesome kid-model.

My mom seldom get in touch with the natural habitats, but she seem to enjoy herself very much that day. I'm happy to see that too.

But none of us enjoy as much as this little boy did...

For me, I enjoyed myself by looking around this place, and taking photos at every different directions. Standing in the middle part of the river, this is the view from my right hand side...

The left hand side...

Strange thing is, I've started to see Malaysia's landscape and many other stuffs as from the eyes of a foreigner. I think I've really left this country for long enough. For example, those tall trees look very special to me. I took quite some time to admire its beauty.

Some of the flora and fauna in this tropical forests.

And the insects...tell the boys to MUST stay their nose out of these red ants.

I think we saw some butterflies flying around the area. But I was not aware it's called Rajah Brooke Butterfly at that time. Cool name !

Oh, this place got a 'muzium' (museum) too. Feeling curious, we went to check it out...

A small trek that lead us to the 'muzium'.

Another attraction in the area is the 30-metre long suspended bridge hung across the Batang Padang river, providing an opportunity to observe both the river and its surrounding scenery from this high vantage point.

Looking right...

Looking left...

Over the end of this suspension bridge takes visitors to a museum that displays photographs of forest produce.

The museum opens only from 9am-4.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. It was closed by the time we reached there.

That's it, nothing else for us to see. Besides, it's time to left and drove to our next stop then...

After all the CNY's hassles and bustles, finally we have more free time to sit back and relax, like watching TV and reading newspaper.

But, people like us who like to explore would not be contented to spend time just like this. Very fast, the body felt itchy and wanted to run around again. Yes, jin-kuat-tou, we are.

When my sister get to know we were looking for places to go, she suggested we should pay a visit to this hot spring resort in Sungkai. She said the place is well developed and getting increasingly famous to our neighbour Singaporean now a days. Sounds cool. How could we not to check it out?

This place isn't hard to find. Just drive to the right direction and then travel 1km along the trunk road follow the signage to Sg. Klah Hot Springs Park. Then, pass the Sungai Klah FELDA village before reaching there. Easy.

Operating hours: 8am - 10pm daily. Entrance Fee : RM10/adult and RM8/child.

This place was built at a cost of RM6 million and was opened in December 2003. It is reputed to be one of the best managed hot spring in Malaysia. It contains a Spa Village and luxury accommodation in the resort area.

The only cafeteria in the resort.

Once we entered the vicinity, it's refreshing to see all the lush greeneries, hills, streams and rivers.

Heck, it really had taken me quite some time to read and digest the information written in Malay words. Ok, though slow, I've got it anyway.

Many believed that the natural springs have healing properties that will help to heal and detoxify toxic from our body. Those with stiff muscles, stiff joints, rheumatism, spinal injuries, insomnia and skin related problems should consider soaking themselves here. I will try too if I feel desperate in pain.

The place have different sorts of pool, with different temperature. For example, this one is 50 -60 C.

This one is a very hot pool.

For the people who want to have the privacy of soaking in a private atmosphere instead of joining the crowd at the big pool, there are some normal or superior private jacuzzi available here. I heard it is RM75/hour for a standard type and RM125/hour for the superior type. And advance booking is needed to avoid disappointment, especially during the weekends.

For the people who would like to stay here for a night or two, there are 5 villas that are available as well. (The picture above is not one of the villas, but a recovery room).

Villa A type consists of 2 rooms and costs RM600/night during weekdays and RM800/night during weekend, school holidays and public holidays.

Villa B type consists of 1 room and costs RM450/night during weekdays and RM600/night during weekend, school holidays and public holidays.

Isn't that very expensive in view of the living standard in Malaysia? Maybe the villas are really targeted to Singaporean only?

This is the biggest hot spring pool amongst the all. It get its source of heat from the underground. Everyone has to wash their legs before entering, and no shoes and foods are allow inside that zone.

The water in the pool is not still, as I thought. In fact, it is running water from one end to the other. So, it's more like a river instead.

At first, the children complained about the water is too hot. After some time, we heard no complaint but their happy voices playing the water.

He looks so man in this picture. Future James Bond?

Future James B & the future Bond's girl.

I know I know, foods are not allowed in the area. I shouldn't have given them biscuit to eat. But they are so hungry and they keep raising hands to ask for more. They eat it so clean that nothing was dropped on the ground, ok.

That's how a family of 6 going to look like. Dare not to think about it.

After 40 minutes or so, we left the pool with a promise to the children that we were going to boil the eggs for them to eat. So, the kids have no problem to leave this pool fast and clean.

We just wrapped them with towel and there we go...

In fact, they ran to that place fast, in thrill.

Soon, we reached this egg-boiling zone. There are baskets provided for those who want to boil their egg. Weird thing is, no eggs are sold here.

My sister is so clever that she remember to take some eggs from mom's home. Unfortunately, she said there were only 3 eggs left in the fridge, and super unfortunately, one of them was broken after the journey. So, those are not our eggs. (pathetic to see 5 children to share 2 eggs)

A piece of good information for those who don't really know how long does it take to boil an egg to their desired cook level. For example, me.

The water temperature at this area can go up to 100°C, can see the clouds of steam coming out from it. So, we really got to keep eyes on the kids.

In the notice, it said that visitor is allowed to boil eggs only. Prawns, crabs, cockles and other types of food and vegetables are strictly prohibited. I really think the latter sentence should be deleted because it reminds people what sort of things they can boil here besides eggs. I got evidence to support this.

Just before we left this place, I saw a woman unpacked a full basket of cockles. Apparently, it was just cooked. When she saw that I was looking at her, she offered some cockles to me with a friendly smiling face. Uhuhuh...no thank you. I hope no one get sick after they ate whatever they've boiled from this polluted water.

At the end of this egg-boiling pool, there is this so-called therapeutic pool. We didn't go to dip there for the time was getting late, and we still have another big pool to go...

This pool is located near to the main entrance. The water in this pool is very cold, especially after a heavy downpour some time before we arrive here. It gets its source of cool water from the mountain spring.