Date: 28 Apr 09 – 5 May 09 [8D/7N], this includes Sapa+Hanoi Vietnam as well
Location: YuanYang, Yunnan China
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens 1: Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC
Lens 2: Tokina AT-X 124 AF Pro DX 12-24mm f/4
Filter: NIL
Post editing: PS CS3
Members: Dan, Si Fong, Thomas and Sam
My reason to go there: Seen some really nice pictures of YuanYang, it is still relatively unknown to the major tourist crowd.
The town of Old Yuanyang is a Hani minority settlement atop a ridge of the Ailao mountain range at an elevation of around 1570 metres. It is a popular destination with photographers due to the vast areas of nearby mountains which have been cultivated into terraced rice paddies for at least the past 1300 years by the Hani people. Despite the overwhelming scenic beauty of its landscape and colorful local minorities, mass tourism hasn't developed in this region as yet, mainly due to its remote location, lack of a nearby airport, and until fairly recent, relative inaccessibility due to bad road conditions.
The terraced areas of interest to visitors are mainly found between 1000 and 2000 metres above sea level. The winter temperatures here, although never freezing, are such that they only support one rice crop a year. After the harvest, from mid-September till mid-November depending on the elevation, the terraces are filled with water until April, when planting begins.
SLIDESHOW
The vast majority of the ethnic minority women in Yuanyang county still wear traditional clothes as their daily attire. The main ethnic group is the Hani who share the region with several other minorities such as the Yi and Miao. Market days in the villages tend to be very colourful when the different minority groups in the vicinity, each in their own traditional costume, come together to trade and socialize.
In 2008, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China submitted the Honghe Hani Terraced Fields for World Heritage Site status. A quote from the justification: “Hani people have created fantastic and perfect land art of vast terraced fields in the heritage site. Integrating the terraced fields into the unique landform, forests and plant covers, valleys and streams and other natural landscapes they have developed a unique masterpiece of ethnic art which has organically fused the ethnical art, landscape art and agricultural techniques.”
The Hani and Yi, the creators of the monumental rice terraced mountains which have made Yuanyang famous, are the original inhabitants of these regions. Both their languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman group. Their villages can mainly be found between 1300 to 1600 metres above sea level.
The Dai moved here 700 years ago. The Zhuang 400 years ago. Both their languages belong to the Kradai language group. Their villages are situated in the warmer areas below 700 metres elevation, near and along the rivers. Their main crop is rice grow in paddy fields.
The Miao and Yao (of the Hmong-Mien language group) are fairly recent arrivals to the region, only settling here 200 and 270 years ago. Their villages are in the cooler and drier upland areas, between 1600 and 1800 metres above sea level, where they grow maize
Date: 28 Apr 09 – 5 May 09 [8D/7N], this includes 元阳 – Yuanyang + 河内 – Hanoi as well
Location: Sapa, Vietnam
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens 1: Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC
Lens 2: Tokina AT-X 124 AF Pro DX 12-24mm f/4
Filter: NIL
Post editing: PS CS3
Members: Dan, Si Fong, Thomas and Sam
My reason to go there: Heard that Sapa has some nice rice terraces, and it is relaxing + cooling up there
SLIDESHOW
Date: 28 Apr 09 – 5 May 09 [8D/7N], this includes 元阳 – Yuanyang + Sapa as well
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens 1: Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC
Lens 2: Tokina AT-X 124 AF Pro DX 12-24mm f/4
Filter: NIL
Post editing: PS CS3
Members: Dan, Si Fong, Thomas and Sam
My reason to go there: I have to go there, because the Airport is at Hanoi. But I have never regretted being at Hanoi, it is a very interesting city to walk around.
Thoughts about Hanoi: As said, it is nice to walk around Hanoi, especially around the old quarters There are endless numbers of shops selling everything from T-shirts to backpacks, metal wears to footwear, etc. Accommodation is really cheap there, food are really good too, those sidewalk Pho(noodle soup) and Vietnamese coffee are the best. Met some really nice Vietnamese, but those on the street are, boy, not really that nice, very rude - I'm sorry to say that, but that's the fact.
SLIDESHOW
Date: 11 Apr 2009 - 12 Apr 2009 [2D/1N]
Location: Gunung Chabang - Perak
Altitude: 1,711m ASL
Difficulty: 5.6/10
Trail length: 5.9km
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens 1: Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC
Filter: none
Post editing: PS CS3
Organizer: Dan
Members: Lucy, Uncle Yong, Ah Du(杜), Ah Dao, James, Norman and Miow chin
Guide: Dan/Ah Du(杜)
My reason to go there:
- Seen Chabang from Suku twice, and told myself I will wanna hike up there next time, that’s why I’m here now…..
Other Pictures
James - http://jamesfong79.multiply.com/photos/album/114
KL Tan - http://powerofnature.multiply.com/photos/album/145
Lucy - http://lucyng.multiply.com/photos/album/85
Journey
Day 1
07:45 am Meet at Juru tol
08:30 am Breakfast at Old town Ipoh
11:15 am PG gang meet KL gang at Pos Slim
11:40 am Hike Starts 500m
01:14 pm Reach Waterfall 825m
02:23 pm Lunch Break 1,223m
02:51 pm End Lunch Break 1,223m
03:27 pm Reach LWP 1,450m
03:57 pm Leave LWP1,450m
04:30 pm Reach False peak #1 1,660m
04:39 pm Reach False peak #2 1,680m
05:16 pm Reach Gunung Chabang’s summit 1,711m
Day 2
0930 am Break camp
1010 am Mandatory Group photo at summit
12:21 pm Reach Waterfall 825m
01:23 pm Leave Waterfall 825m
02:05 pm Reach Starting point 500m
04:30 pm Makan at Simpang Pulai, PG & KL gang say bye bye
Rewards of this trip
- Cold 15.5c at night, which is nice
- All good hikers and good teammates, everything went smooth
- The waterfall was very nice to bathe in
- Beautiful view near False peak region
- Good food again
- Very steep trail, but very nice because it goes up all the way
- LWP is not too far from the summit, brownish but clean water
Challenges of this trip
- Weather wasn’t that well, rained on and off on both days
- Sandflies again!!!! Kanasai still itchy until today, woke up 3 times on Sunday night(at home after the trip) to blow those darn itch with a hair dryer….
- Some leeches, normal population(not too much)
- Steep trail + rain water makes descending really slippery
Cost
- 4WD Fee: NIL
- Entrance fee: RM45.00 (volunteer amount paid to the Asli to take care of our cars)
- Camp site fee: NIL
- Guide fee: NIL
- Food: RM12.00/person
- Porters: NIL
Summary
- Day 1 – 5.5 hours hike up
- Day 2 – 3.5 hours hike down, exclude breaks
- The campsite near summit is not very spacious, 2 flys + 1 tent is the max
- The false peak may be able to take 1 fly + 1 tent, but it is very open and rocky
- Guides + porters can be hired from Pos Slim, the Orang Asli settlement
- We can see Irau, Brinchang, Suku, Yellow, Korbu, Gayong, Yong Belar, Chamah, Ulu Sepat, Tangga, Challi, Yellow, Pass, Yong Yap from here
- Met some students from Ipoh on the way down, they hiked 1 hour up for the nice little Waterfall
- The waterfall was awesome, I really wanna go back for the waterfall
SLIDESHOW
Date: 22 Jan 09 - 28 Jan 09
Location: Pulau Weh, Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia
Pulau Weh is a small active volcanic island to the northwest of Sumatra. It was originally connected to the Sumatran mainland and became separated by sea after the volcano's last eruption in the Pleistocene era.[1] The island is situated in the Andaman Sea. The largest city on the island, Sabang, is the westernmost outpost of Indonesia.
The island is known for its ecosystem; the Indonesian government has declared 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi) of inland and sea around the island as a wildlife protection area. A rare megamouth shark species was found on shore and the island is the only habitat for the threatened toad, Bufo valhallae (genus Bufo). Coral reef areas around the island are known for their large variety of fish species.
Weh Island is located in the Andaman Sea, where two groups of islands, the Nicobar Islands and Andaman Islands, are scattered in one line from Sumatra to the north up to the Burma plate. The Andaman Sea lies on an active moving small tectonic plate (microplate). A complex geological fault system and volcanic arc islands have been created along the length of the sea by the movement of the microplate.
There are four islets surrounding Weh Island: Klah, Rubiah, Seulako, and Rondo. Among those, Rubiah is well known for diving tourism, because of its coral reefs. When traveling to Saudi Arabia was only possible by sea, Rubiah was used as a place of quarantine for Indonesian Muslims during the Hajj pilgrimage season.
Dive information
Accessibility to dive sites: 8.8
Marine Animal Density: 7.5
Dive site terrain Quality: 8.8
Marine Animal Diversity: 7.8
Visibility: 6.8
Overall Score: 8.0
No. of dives: 11
Entry: Boat
Difficulty: OW - AOW
Dive Sites: Fringing reefs/Wall/Deep/Wreck
Favorite dive sites:
- Pantee Peunateung
- Canyon
- Batee Tokong
- Sea garden
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix F100 fd
Underwater casing: Fuji WP-FXF100 Underwater Housing
Underwater strobe: Fantasea Cool Flash Nano
Post editing: PS CS3
** Special Thanks to KL Tan who was generous enough to lend me her Fuji F100fd camera + underwater casing. My old friend the Canon Powershot A80 passed away 2 weeks before this trip, I was heart broken….. RIP my dear friend.
Cost:
Firefly: Penang-Banda Aceh-Penang - RM390.00
Dive cost - 11 dives: RM695.00
Food, accommodation, transport, tax, etc: RM410.00
** We saved a lot on accommodation, coz the beach hut cost around RM15/night. … food price was reasonable, we had all our meals on Iboih beach at “MamaMia”, run by an elderly couple who cooks splendid Acehnese dishes. Dinner was especially warm every night with the company of other divers and travelers, exchanging stories and experiences made dinner a time to look forward everyday…
Beach huts at Ibioh Beach – Fatimah’s beach huts, run by Mamamia’s sister; Fatimah
Guest house at Banda Aceh – Hotel Prapat , run by local Hakka Chinese, they speak Hakka, Hokkien(like Penang) and Mandarin, they are very friendly and helpful...
Dive center – Rubiah Divers, run by the legendary Pak Dodent and sons. Pak Dodent is the founder of scuba diving at Pulau Weh and has been diving there since 1987.
SLIDESHOW
