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
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 28 Dec 08 [3D/2N]
Location: Gunung Benum - Pahang
Altitude: 2,107m ASL
Difficulty: 8.3/10 (http://danlow.multiply.com/journal/item/50)
Trail length: 12.3km
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens 1: Tokina AT-X 124 AF Pro DX 12-24mm f/4
Lens 2: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Filter: none
Post editing: PS CS3
Organizer: Lucy
Members: Lucy, Uncle Yong, Dan, Ah Du(杜), Khor, Uncle Law, Doreen and Ang
Guide: Tengku Azlan from XplorerAdventure
Crews: MarkCheng and Zulfar (Chowfun) - also from XplorerAdventure
My reason to go there:
- Because of the gigantic pitcher plants, I guess they are among the largest in the world.
- Because Gunung Benum is at a different mountain range, not on the Titiwangsa
- Wanna see the waterfall Lata Berembun
Journey
Day 1
7:30 a.m. Breakfast at Kuan Nam, Butterworth
8:30 a.m. Leaved Butterworth for Raub
1:00 p.m. Stopped for lunch at a small village near to Kuala Kubu Bharu
2:00 p.m. Reached Raub town, did last minute food shopping
3:30 p.m. 4WD from Sg. Klau town to Sg. Chalit (45 minutes ride)
4:30 p.m. Set up tent, prepare to overnight at Lata Berembun Waterfall (610m)
7:30 p.m. Dinner
11:00 p.m. ZZZZZ
Day 2
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:40 a.m. Started to hike from a trail before the Lata Berembun Waterfall (620m)
3:15 p.m. Reached Kem Dingin, 1670m
5:00 p.m. Celebrated Uncle Yong's birthday, 70th birthday! (Chinese 71)
9:30 p.m. Dinner
11:00 p.m. ZZZZZZ
Day 3
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:40 a.m. Started hike from Kem Dingin (1670m) to the summit
4:40 p.m. Reached the summit (2107m), after so many false peaks!
Day 4
6:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Started to descend from the summit (2107m)
5:30 p.m. Reached Lata Berembun Waterfall (610m)
6:00 p.m. Clean up, bathed and changed
7:00 p.m. 4WD leaved Lata Berembun to Sg. Klau
8:30 p.m. Dinner at Sg. Ruan
10:00 p.m. Leaved Sg Ruan for Penang
4:00 a.m. Home Sweet Home
5:00 a.m. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Rewards of this trip
- Saw the largest pitcher plant I have ever seen, great !!
- Rhino hornbills encounters
- Good weather
- Beautiful view along the trail and from the summit
- Cold! Very cold … but it was damn nice man !!
- Celebrated Uncle Yong 70th B’day at the summit
- Lucy, Uncle Yong, Ah Du, Doreen and Uncle Lau completed their peninsular G10
- All good hikers and good teammates, everything went smooth and on time
- Good food, although slow Azlan cooked us some great meals
- Good guides, 3 of them were great..
- For the first time I can bring 2 lens and a lot of other stuffs to a big hike like this coz the guides carried all the food and flys
- The 4WD ride in and out of Lata Berembun was thrilling
Challenges of this trip
- Day 2 hike to the summit was energy draining, there were so many false peaks it made the final hour felt like forever
- to make things worst it rained at the final 20 mins before I got to the summit, fortunately it stopped once we got up there
- Water points were scarce – only at Lata Berembun and Camp Dinging, none in between
- Day 1 we have to collect water from Lata Berembun and hike for 6 hours
- Day 2 we have to collect water from Camp Dinging for 2 days and cooking at the summit
- I carried 5.5 liters of water all the way from Lata Berembun to the summit, coz I tried not to drink the water at Camp Dingin, but I ran out of water on day 3 and have to drink the teh-o-ice water from Camp Dingin on my way down to Lata Berembun
- There are quite a lot of leeches between Lata Berembun to Camp Dingin
- There are some sandflies at Camp Dingin, especially at the water point
- Kena a painful sting from a Euclea stinging caterpillar, pain comparable to a bee or jellyfish sting, but I'm glad I got it so I now know how it felt like ...
Cost
- Guides: 1 guide + 2 helpers
- 4WD Fee: Included in package
- Entrance fee: Included in package
- Camp site fee: NIL
- Guide fee: RM175/person
- Food: Included in package
- Porters: Included in package
Summary
- Day 1 - 6 hours hike was long, but ok
- Day 2 - 7 hours hike was energy draining
- Day 3 - 9.5 hours down was pretty ok
- Gigantic pitcher plants can be found rite after Camp Dingin and along the way
- Camp Dingin is pretty nice, large and flat, good for 20 hikers or more
- Summit is cold and nice, campsite fits 20 or more easily
- Water point at Camp Dingin is 2 mins down on the left. Water is yellow and not much even during raining season
- Water must be collected at the one and only river crossing 15 mins from Lata Berembun, next water point is Camp Dingin and no more water points after that.
- View from the summit is spectacular, Gunung Tahan, Genting and Rajah can be seen from there
- A certificate of completion was provided by XplorerAdventure, cool
SLIDESHOW
