Phnom Kulen & Beng Melea 14 Jul 2007

Continued from: http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2007/07/kbal-spean-13-july-2007_22.html

Phnom Kulen is the original capital of the Khmer Empire before Angkor Wat. It is 50 km from Siem Reap and is only acessable by motor vehicle (not tuk-tuk). Before the construction of road, the people used to hike up the hill to pray to Buddha located at the top of the hill (360m). Our proposal to hike up the hill was ditched when told that it would take 3 hours to hike up the trail. At the hilltop, there are hundreds of linga stands in the Seim Reap River, a waterfall and a pagoda. Entrance fee to Phnom Kulen is steep at USD20 pax.

Beng Melea is a sprawling jungle temple over 1 sq km. It is located 63 km from Seim Reap and it takes over 1 hr to reach there by car. The temple is overrun by vegetation thus giving it a 'lost temple ' feel. A nice place to photograph trees growing from the broken towers and galleries. Wooden planks and ladders have been put up to assist tourists to climb over the ruins. A local showed us the right trail through the ruins - which involved lots of risky climbing and scrambling over stacks of tumbled granite blocks, some as high as 20m and ducking through openings. It was fun... a nice departure from the standard temple fare. Our taxi driver Mr Chhon Chhoub (+855012822128 hp) is a very informative person well versed in world affairs also.








For more photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/798.

Kbal Spean 13 Jul 2007

Continued from: http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2007/07/siem-reap-july-2007.html

Aka 'The river of 1000 lingas' is situated in Phnom Kulen National Park outside Seim Reap. It takes about 2 hours to travel by tuk-tuk from Siem Reap. The last 45 minutes is on laterite road filled with pot holes. From the parking area, one needs to trek 45 minutes uphill through the woods to reach there. The trail is wide and clear. Along the way, we see very 'ancient' trees with thick long vines twisted into many shapes. There are also carvings of Buddha and Buddhist images in the riverbed and rocks.

For the photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/770.

Next: http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2007/07/phnom-kulen-beng-melea-14-july-2007.html

Siem Reap 10 Jul 2007

Spent 7 days in Siem Reap and find that it a highly touristy place and USD is the king currency. Siem Reap Angkor Visitors Guide book which is available freely in hotels is a very comprehensive and accurate book. Surprisingly, it is well written in good English. Visited 17 temples and nearly got “templed out”. Luckily, our itinerary included interesting hiking trips to Phnom Bakheng and Kbal Spean as well as an outstation trip to Phnom Kulen and Beng Melea. In my opinion, the best temples are Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom.

I like to highlight a frightening experience with the Lolei temple (part of the Roluos Gp) comprising 4 brick towers on a double laterite platform. While taking a snapshot of a brick tower against the sky I experienced a weird feeling of bricks moving and collapsing on me. This was also experienced by my friend. Later, we comforted ourselves and attributed the optical illusion to the white clouds moving fast backwards against the blue sky.

For the photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/797.

Next: http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2007/07/kbal-spean-13-july-2007_22.html

Sungai Lembing 2-3 Jun 2007

Arrived at Sg Lembing late at 10 p.m. Stayed at Sungei Lembing Resthouse located along the Main Street. The rooms are air-conditioned with clean sheets and beds. Woke up early the following morning and started off at 6.15 a.m. in a 4WD to the head trail of the Rainbow waterfall. The bumpy ride along the logging trail took 11/2 hour to reach a riverbank. Crossing the river was a task because of the strong current and slippery riverbed. From here, we took another 1 hour to trek to the Rainbow waterfall.

The trail took us through a couple of river crossing and jungle trails to avoid certain stretches of steep river gradients. Luck was not with us for we saw a faint rainbow due to the weak sunlight. Our driver took us back using a different route via a riverbed crossing and through Sungei Mas aborigine settlement. That night, after a seafood dinner at the famous Muhibbah Restaurant in Kuantan, we went shopping for the famous Mui Heong Ham Yee.

The following morning we trekked up the Panorama Hill at 5.45 a.m. Reached the summit at 6.04 a.m. This time luck was with us as we saw the sun rising beautifully over the horizon at 6.52 a.m. The sun resembled a dark yolk of the salted egg. The view from the summit was simply breath-taking; we had an orangey sky on the East and a fading moon high above magnificent floating clouds on the opposite side.

After breakfast we visited the Charas Cave and Pandan Waterfall on our way home.

For the photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/965.

Green billed Malkoha May 2007

Pix 1

Photos taken at about 11 a.m. near lamp post no 28.

Pix 2

Pix 3

Pix 4

Pix 5

Pix 6

Pix 7: Long tail hidden

Pix 8

Pix 9

Pix 10 

Link: http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/15893

Gunung Angsi 20 May 2007

We gathered at Senawang Toll at 8.45 a.m. and proceeded at 9 a.m. to Ulu Bendol Recreation Park using the road heading towards Kuala Pilah. A 15 minutes drive transported us to the Park which is clearly visible by the roadside. When we alighted from our car, we saw that activities were already in full swing at the Park. There were plenty of food and drinks available for sale.

We entered the Park Main Entrance at 9.30 a.m. After walking along the pavement path for 10 minutes, we came across a big concrete signboard explaining the origin of the park. The head trail (157m) is situated between this signboard and the river. We trekked along this river trail (The trail literally follows the river upstream) for about 40 minutes until we came across a pavilion-like resting (aka Jeram Kak Lang) place. After a short rest, we came across a shallow river within 5 minutes. Here we had to use our balancing skills to hop between boulders to cross over. For the next 15 minutes, we walked along a gentle slope until we came to a logging trail. Here we turned left and trekked for a short distance before re-entering the forest again. From here onwards, the ascent got more and more challenging.

After trekking for another 2 hours, we reached the false peak at 12.20 p.m. Here, we had to use ropes to haul ourselves up the heavily eroded slope. The next ½ hour saw ourselves puffing up hill until we hit the peak (825m) at 1 p.m. Total time taken, starting from the Main Entrance to the Park was 3 ½ hours compared to 2 hours taken using Bukit Putus way.

Needless to say, our descent was shorter. Took 2 ½ hours from the peak to reach the Main Park Entrance.


For more photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/931.

Bukit Lanjan 13 May 2007

This is my third trip up Bukit Lanjan.

USING THE HEAD TRAIL NEAR TO PERDANA DAMANSARA
Following the wide laterite road behind Armanee Terrace, we took 10 minute to reach the headtrail, located at the end of the road railing guard. From here, we took less than an hour to hike up to a small tar road leading to the Telekom Tower. This time we have tied red plastic ribbons along the way to mark the trail. On our way down, we took a very clear trail through a temuan settlement. The trail ends near a roundabout. Views from the top was hazy... dry weather.

This trail is less interesting compared to the trail starting from Sri Damansara's side.

For photographs, please refer to: http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/15876.