A trek up Gunung Jerai from Merbok.

That's the archeology museum in the background


And here's the map at the parking lot showing the route to Gunung Jerai, Kedah, Malaysia.


This is the river we had to cross to the starting point of our trek.





The starting point.


A bridge over that river.


My partner walking into a rubber estate.


Liquid rubber flowing into a cup at the rubber estate.



A living beauty! A little one but full of grit and strength. Certainly adventurous!


We met one of the inhabitants of the jungle.



This is a part of the way to the top.



Art through the light drawn through the trees onto the floor of the jungle.


As we reached the higher parts, light came shining through.


The fantastic view at one part near the summit.




From the jungle into a man-made road about a kilometre from the summit.


And here's a little stream just outside the jungle.


Here is the directions to a number of place about a kilometre from the summit where there are chalets and a dining place as well as a number of attractive planted areas.


This is the Telaga Tok Sheikh.(Telaga means 'well' Tok Sheikh is the name of a person.)


Another part of the Telaga Tok Sheikh.


Here is a spider. Dangerous? Well, harm it not and it will never harm you.


The entrance to Padang Tok Sheikh.


Is this a snake i see on the road? But then, looking at the scales, it cannot be.


This is what i first thought is known as Batu Kapal which means 'Stone ship', but I am told that it is not. According to the friend Batu Kapal is a huge rock very near to Telaga Tok sheikh.


What a beauty! An orchid!


Here's a red beauty!


Have you seen a fern like this!


On Saturday, 11th of June, a friend and I decided to trek up Gunung Jerai (Jerai Mountain) from the archeology museum at Merbok, Kedah - a trek which was approximately 13 kilometres to the top - a route known as 'Jejak Warisan'.

We reached Merbok at eight in the morning and from there crossed a river to a path. Soon we came to a fork in the path and here we chose what appeared to be the more often used path which turned out to be the wrong path resulting in us reaching a rubber estate. Here we saw some campers. We had to retrace our steps and took the path on our right. Then we still had to look for the right way up and eventually found it across the river further up from where we started.

Fortunately for us, since then there was this yellow strip of plastic sign that led us all the way to the top. At certain parts of the way it was fairly steep and one of these parts took its toll on my thigh muscles. The muscles started to cramp and that slowed us a lot. My partner had this liquid known as 'Yoko Yoko' which I applied to the painful muscles. Initially, the pain and cramping became worse but after a short while the pain subsided and it was bearable enough to continue. I also discovered that a stick did help to take the weight off the legs and prevented further cramps.

The jungle was beautiful with its many beauties, some of which I photographed to enjoy at a later date. It was up and down three, or perhaps four, hills before we reached the summit of the mountain. About one kilometre before the summit we exited the jungle onto a tar road.

It was a wonderful trek of calm greenery with great huge trees and a few orchids attached to their trunks which was only spoiled by the wriggly leeches which constantly attacked us all the way to the tarred road. There were so many of those leeches that we had to forgo stopping at half past twelve although we were really hungry then. The sight of the leeches on the floor of the jungle was sufficient to drive us on. At the top, I removed my bloodied socks and shoes to find more than thirty of those fat well-fed creatures, some of them still stuck to my feet. I had certainly donated a good quantity of my blood to them. That was alright except that at the time of writing this i am still suffering the itch that their vampire-type punctures have left behind. In fact my bed-sheet and floor was stained with my blood that Saturday evening and night. My feet were swollen the next morning as a result of my scratching the whole night.

Nevertheless, it was an unforgettable experience for me. Never had I had so many guests in for dinner at my feet. And the itch they left behind will certainly be remember always. And there was a record 29 tiny punctures in my feet! Well, that part of the thrill of challenging oneself on a trek up a mountain. At the end of it, I could tell myself that I made it in five and a half hours, discovered my weaknesses which I intend to overcome as soon as possible and enjoyed the scenery from the jungle and the top of a mountain. That's great for this sixty-four year old - old in number but young in spirit and flesh.

Ah! The wonder of nature.

Have you ever gone into a wide open space filled with plants, trees and flowers?
Well, that was exactly what I did this morning. I woke up at the unearthly time of three-thirty in the morning in order to join my friends from the Art of Living to travel to Penang Youth Park to celebrate the 'Women's Conference 2011'

And so it was that I found myself in the midst of so much greenery at about five o'clock in the morning. I did not expect to find anything different from the usual happiness of being with friends and having a great new day to enjoy my life with. I did not expect the wonderful fragrance that beautify my senses as I stroll and enjoyed the greenness at that time of the morning. It was indeed a strange calm feeling as this unbelievably appealing perfume enveloped me as I stood there wondering where its source was.

Gradually, I realised that the scent came not from some human but the very surrounding plants and their flowers. How did I verify that? Well, I saw the flowers in the trees and I moved towards them. As I went nearer, the peculiar fact that struck me was that the fragrance recede and almost disappeared the closer I was to the trees and their floral display. To test this observation, I retraced my steps and moved further from the flowers. Again, the perfume became stronger. It was my first delightful experience. It is an experience I would not have the luck to enjoy had I not been out among nature at such an early part of the morning. It is something I hastily set on record upon reaching home so that others may some day have the same pleasurable delight I encountered this day.

At the age of sixty-four, I still find so much new pleasures in our fantastic world. Of course, this is not the only thing I enjoyed at Penang Youth Park today. I also learned how to make pancakes with Korean Kimchi as well as potatoes and had fun selling them, meeting all kinds of people in the process. Life is indeed beautiful and all it takes is for us to go out there to enjoy it.

A trip to Penang National Park.

Sometimes, things just go wrong but that does not mean happiness cannot be ours. Tough no doubt but there are still times and places in between which makes life interesting.

Yesterday, a Sunday, after trekking round Bukit Semarak for an hour, I felt an urge to go somewhere and make the day different. So, I phoned a friend and asked her what plans she had for the day. She had none but was eager to join me if I had any intention to go anywhere. Then, all of a sudden, she suggest Gunung Jerai or Kedah Peak, a mountain in the central part of Kedah State. Why not! So we decided to meet at nine-thirty that morning. I packed an extra set of clothing so that I could have a change of dry clothes at the end of the day. Then some water and food, and I was ready for the trip. However, when it came to mu camera I found that the shutter had been damaged. What a clumsy fellow I am!

Unfortunately, she discovered that it was raining at Kedah Peak. So, we changed our plans and headed for Penang National Park at Batu Ferringgi, Penang Island. When we reached the place at about 11 o'clock we had to register ourselves. We were asked whether we were there for trekking or camping.

From the starting point we could choose one of two paths. We chose the one leading to Pantai Kerachut and Teluk Trampi. The path to Pantai Kerachut was straight-forward and there was no way anyone could get lost. There was a lake and according to the information given on a signboard it is one of a small number of such lakes where the higher density sea water is below while the lower density fresh water is above the sea water. It was a beautiful lake and it was then that I wished I had my camera with me. My dear friend pacified me and said one camera was enough. (She di have her camera with her.) There was at least two places marked as turtle crossing. Further along that beautiful beautiful of soft, beige coloured sand was a turtle sanctuary with nets and a white stick stuck in the sand to indicate where the eggs were. There was also a long jetty for boats to take any exhausted tourists back to the starting point.

As it was still early, we decided to head towards Teluk Trampi. The path was not as clear as the previous one bit we managed to reach the place after slightly more than an hour. There were no tourist met along the way, only found a few boatmen having some food. Nothing much of interest there, so we made our way through the forest. Then as we reached the top of the hill, we were lost. But we could hear the waves crashing onto the rocks. So we made our way towards those rocks. Oh, no! The tide was coming in and Teluk Trampi beach was a little distance away. So we were forced to climb from one rock to another to reach the beach. It was precarious but that was where I had my thrill of overcoming the obstacles.

Again, we headed up the path towards Pantai Kerachut. And of all things I experienced pain in both my legs, both thigh muscles threatening to cramp. I knew it must never happen. So I slowed down, massaged my legs while my poor friend, Boey, had wait. When my legs recovered slightly, I used the better leg to carry the weight of my body, allowing the weaker leg to trail behind. After some time, I had to give the stronger leg a rest while I put more weight on the weaker leg. It was quite a torture having to bear the pain, yet move along up the slope. Again, we lost our way and this time we went on taking a new direction from the previous path. Well, we have never gone through many thorns and vines; yes, vines that held onto our legs and body, entangling us with such strength that I could not break apart any of them. They made us stumble and fall a number of times. Fortunately, again by heading towards the sound of waves, we managed to reach Pantai Kerachut again. Then it was back to the starting point, the Penang National Park's office. It was already closed by then as it was about six o'clock in the evening.

Luckily, Boey could drive as the minute I stopped moving and sat down on the car seat, my muscles cramped. As boey drove us back to Sungai Petani, I massaged my legs and got the muscles to stop pulling and cramping.

We ended the evening with a bath and then to Chennai for banana leaf vegetable rice, fruits and watermelon juice. The food, fruits and juice were tasty and it was a happy ending to an adventurous day. What an experience. It is most memorable.

Such honesty as this I'm most grateful for.

Yesterday I went to the bank to send RM100 to Universiti Putra Malaysia for the use of their gown for my son's convocation in approximately ten days' time. At the bank, I was given Ms Lau's counter. After geeting her, I extended my RM100 and the form for sending the money. Then she discovered that I had forgotten to fill in the details of my son. I had to go back to the car to get them. Upon returning with the details I forgetfully gave another one hundred ringgit which she took. With the processes complete, I went home contented that I had done the part my son had requested me to do.
He had already started work at a place where it was not convenient to get to a bank.

The house phone rang at about 5pm when I was working at home and upon picking it up, I was surprised to hear Ms Lau's voice informing me that she had found that her accounts could not tally as there was an extra RM100. According to her recollection of the day's flow of cash, it could only have come from me. As I was no more thinking of what I had done at the bank, I told her I was not very sure of it. However, she told me that it could only have come from me and she remembered how I had given her RM100 twice. So she told me to get it from her the next morning and that was what I did this morning.

It was only after her informing me about my going off to get my son's details that I remember having inadvertently given an extra RM100. Well, what honesty! I mean, I did not even realise my own mistake and she had to think of when the extra RM100 could have come from.

At that thought I was so delighted to have received that call from her. It was not just the sum of RM100. I am quite a careless person at times and have lost more than this before. Always when there is such a known loss or misplacement I just forget about my own mistake. No, I am very generous to myself. I forgive myself for any loss of money very easily. I just forget about it and there is no stress, no sleeplessness or insomnia over it. You see, that is the beautiful part about believing in God. I believe that should God want me to have it, it will come, no need to buy a lottery, although just like any human I do buy them once in a while.

I was in so high spirits since then because of the fact that there are still honest people in this beautiful world. There must be so many more Ms Laus in this warm and dear world of ours. Sometimes politicians make us angry and sad and we write things we should not have but the Ms Laus in this world sweeps away all the dirt and rubbish that some of them vomit out each day, clearing the skies with their honesty.
Thank god for the existence of such wonderful people.

A Paradise On Earth for some.

Do you know that Fraser’s Hill is not just a birds’ paradise. It is a paradise in many ways. First there is the wonderful sufficiently cool air which does not cause us to sweat at all although we may ramble throughout the day all over the hill top. However, it is not so cold that you need to wear thick clothing. In fact, during my stay, I wore just a T-shirt and slacks. So, it is so comfortable, not too cold and no sweat to bother with.

Next comes the fauna and flora. When it comes to the fauna, of course we did not have time to look for them. But you would not believe it or am I ignorant enough to be surprised at the sight of a chipmunk with its three dark stripes on its body on top of Fraser’s Hill. Unfortunately, I was not quick enough to photograph it. And there was the stick insect, certainly so slow that this old guy could be fast enough to take a few shots at it. There were squirrels too but that is something most of us would consider too common. Anyway it is definitely too fast to photograph easily. With the dense forests everywhere I believe there must be very much more if I am given the time to slowly explore the place.

Haa! When it is flora that you are interested in, there is so much to offer. There are so many beautiful plants and flowers and some wild orchids too, with at least two of them so miniature that I found them so cute. Let’s have a look at some of the plants and flowers which I have photographed. Some of them are so beautiful there were some people who could not resist taking some home. The following photographs are better than me are telling about the many beauties that abound some of the places up that hill.




















Talking about places, we just had a little time to wander around and one of those places was Alan’s Water where there were pedal-boats for people to exercise their legs as they went around a scenic lake. Then, there’s the waterfall where the sound of tumbling waters was so relaxing to our souls. Let's have a look.








There are other places that ought to be visited, something I look forward to on my next trip there. Well, see you there then.