Near Death Experience-Kota Tinggi Pelepah Fall

What drives a person? Goals? Ambition? Money? Fame?

According to my Jap friend, its a "Coffin". He explains, what a person at the end of his/her life should leave behind is a "coffin".

Not money, not property, not gold or valubles for the next generation but a "coffin". Not your average solid teak wood or mahogany, gold plated handle wooden coffin but a piece of "knowledge".

Thats what he meant by coffin. Something that we can pass on to the next generation to share with everyone so that they can perhaps gain some insight on our history or their future.

In his case, to pass on the knowledge of his findings about butterflies, fish and plants. As some of these might be extinct in the future. That might sound like a noble cause to some but I can't help the skeptic in me thinking that its all just an effort to live forever, just living through a different media thats all.

I had a taste of that power or should I say that desire to live forever last weekend.

It was another usual weekend trip with my driver friend to Kota Tinggi for Crypto collection. He showed me an sms from a friend of his had seen Crypto like leaves in the streams of the Pelepah falls at Kota Tinggi. We had been to this location once before. We did not go all the way up previously as we were not well equiped and had come to a conclusion that there was no crypto growing in this habitat type. But because of this sms, he was sure that there is a possibility of it occuring there. Now nothing could turn him back. The picture of him discovering a new species with the waterfall as background was just too over-powering for his weak body to fight.

We reach Kota Tinggi entrance at close to 11am. Armed with only a bottle of 500ml mineral water, my net and camera I set off with him into the valley between Gunung Muntahak and Gunung Panti. Unknown to me at that point in time was that this was not going to be an "ordinary" day of Crypto collecting and a big mistake.

As we reached the last point that we had previously turned back, we saw that there was another path on the side leading up. Nakamoto was sure thats the way. So we went straight for it. It was a 45 degree slope up and it was slippery. About 10mins into the climb, Driver friend started complaining about tiredness and wants to rest so we took a breather. At this point, we had been treking for about 40mins. Peanuts for us as we've been through worse.

The sound of the waterfall was getting further from us as we ascended the edge of the hill to which point that I suggested for us to turn back as the likelihood of Crypto in this habitat was unlikely. After a few exchange of words about sense and confidence we pushed on. Now we were about an hour and 10mins into the hike. The hill was getting steeper. At some parts we were on all fours to ascend. My friend was taking a lot more breaks and really look horrible by now. He was asking about my age at this point, wondering why I did'nt seem tired at all. I gave him a lecture on not exercising since he is so free nowadays at home. He rebuted with an excuse that people his age don't need exercising. He will eat those word later on in the day.

After an extremely difficult climb, we reached a clearing. The sound of the waterfall was near once again. We bash through to reach it downhill and was welcome with a magnificent view. The water was cooling and the sound was refreshing. A group of hikers had reach the same point by a different route, my friend ask them about the route up and they gave him some pointers. We followed them up albeit slower because of my friend's condition. In my mind, I was thinking, hey this is not too bad, it seems my weekly cycling stint has paid off, I did'nt feel tired at all. What a mistake.

As we reach the summit, it was surreal. There was a white pile of fine grain beach sand on top! how did it get there I have no idea but it was quite a sight. There were streams flowing on top too! Weird. Later we found the source that it came from, it was a natural spring and its amazing that such a small pool of water became such a big waterfall! We took a long rest at a clearing and the group of hikers offered us some hot coffee. They explained that they had just returned from Mount Tahan, Malaysia's highest peak on the west Peninsula. No wonder they could move so fast. Best part is, they are Singaporeans!! We chatted for about 40mins and decided to descend. It was about 1pm now, hungry and with no food we made our way down following the hikers. What I thought was just 1hour of collecting plants is now beginning to take longer. Unknown to us, going up was the easy part, getting down was a real challenge.

As we begin our descend, it is becoming more and more clear to us that this is not going to be easy. We are taking 2 to 3 feet drops and some of the steps have ropes on the sides to help hikers descend. These were not many in numbers. Only 10mins into the descend, my friend was beggining to show signs of stress. 20mins into it and he is really exhausted now. By sheer perseverance and hard headedness he managed to drag himslef through down the steep slopes, constantly stopping to rest and hydrate himself. He was not his usual self of confidence and proudness. The age in him is now very obviously showing like a neon sign glowing in Tsim Sa Tsui,HongKong. Problem was it was a bloodless, glowless pale white face with sweat pouring down greying hair and very short breaths. I was beginning to worry that he might not make it. We pushed on.

At about two thirds down the climb, I stop to take some pictures of the waterfall and its surrounding. My friend was in front of me ahead. I took about 2-3 mins, max. I put my camera back into my pocket and continued. I reached him in just a few steps, he was again sitting down, shacked out. I noticed the rest of the group had disappeared so I ask him which direction they headed. He pointed down a drop, I asked again and he confirmed that they headed down. At this point, I know that he had already lost it totally, as my experience in the army had taught me that, that was definitely not the choice of pathway for descending. I followed suit to satisfy thinking we could get back up if it was wrong. I regretted that thinking immediately when we dropped into that ledge. Worse thing was, my friend threw his net down to facilitate ease of dropping down and the net flew all the way down to the falls because of his bad judgement in distance! Two of us was standing at a ledge no bigger than a bicycle laid down flat. There was no way down as we look over, it was a clear rock face all the way down to the falls. The only way was back up. We could'nt get back up as we dropped down from the top from about 8-9ft. With only one tree behind me I signaled to my friend that I will push him up with my leg against the tree. If the tree fall, that will be the end of us right there. With a heavy heave, I managed to shove him up while he groped for roots to pull up. He managed and was up on the path again. Now it was my turn. I looked up and there was no one there, My friend had left me there alone as he made his way up. I called out, no answer. I was thinking that I probably would be spending the night here now, on this little ledge or slip and fall to my death. With such negatitive thoughts, I will myself to grab whatever roots that was available and pull myself up. The first attempt failed and I almost swing backwards. Lucky for that only tree that stop my rearward movement. After struggling for about 2-3mins I managed to dig my hands and feet into the soil and pull myself up. It would have help if I was'nt so heavy. I reached the top and found my friend sitting down again. I wanted to ask why he left me there but his face shows it all. Lost and pale. I noticed a track upwards a few steps beside where he was sitting. This time I insisted that, that was the correct path and we move forward again. We reached a break in the waterfalls and the group of Singaporeans was there waiting for us.

After some rest we moved again. Knowing that we were somewhere halfway down, we moved slightly faster. Reaching a deep valley part of the falls with very tricky terrain. This is where My friend almost died. We were at point where there was a steep slope behind a Big fallen tree trunk. Only one person could stand at the ledge for descending and there was a rope on the side to aid. My friend was in front of me as I was busy taking pictures again. I waited behind the tree trunk while he went over first. As he went down using the rope I was taking a video of him and the surrounding. I turn behind for a shot and as I turned back, he had wrong footed and tumbled down!!! From the video playback you can't see the 10 meter drop below of that slope. I shouted and saw him coming up from behind the bushes after a long while. Thank god! I thought he was a goner this time! He is really really lucky to have survive that!

Thank goodness that, that was the last incident of the descent. With a lot more resting here and there, we manage to reach the foot of the hill unscathed. After cooling of at the foot of the falls we made our way back to the car, changed and headed for Kota Tinggi town for dinner. It was already 6:30pm. We had trekked more than 6 hours up and down the hill. I only had a bottle of 500 ml water with no food, unprepared and with no fitness. My friend commented that at least now he didn't have to come back again as there's no Crypto here. He wants to climb the mountain beside, Gunung Panti. After today, I told him he could go ahead but I will definitely not be around when he does that!

I have learn from this trip that sometimes when we are so focused on our own desires that we neglect what the reality of our actions are.

It enforces the Buddhist line of thought that the Middle path is how everything should be done. In other words Balance. As age catches up with me, the more I appreciate this universal truth. I see it in all things material or immaterial. It amazes me how the Buddha realized this so many thousands of years ago in a time that is so much more less complicated than ours.

I hope that I will be able to choose a life of balance in the next few years of my life and continue to understand myself and others better.

Malacca 30th May 2009

Went to Malacca on a whim last weekend. My last trip there was about 8 years ago. Took the 8:30am Bus from Kallang depot opposite Singapore Casket. It was the first day of the school holidays, so there were many people there.
I reach Malacca central bus station at around 1:30pm as the wait at the customs was quite long and the bus was going slow. I bought my return ticket immediately upon reaching. The latest bus back was at 6pm so I had no other choices. After securing my ticket back I took the local bus to the town city area to look for a hotel.

It did'nt help that the weather was hot when I was looking around for a hotel. I was looking for the hotel that I saw on the net, it was also recommended by a friend who stayed there before. It was located at a very convenient location, just opposite the biggest mall in Malacca!! yet it was on a quiet street full of rows of shop houses! The name of the hotel was Fenix Hotel. Its a nice little hotel, the interior was very new, simple and clean looking. I managed to get a room which was a twin room as all the single rooms were booked. I was glad that I got a room as walking around looking for a hotel in the heat would definitely spoil my day.

The first thing I noticed in my room were these little small cockroache nymps. I squashed two of them hanging around my sandals and bed. I was starting to question the recommendation of this hotel and its seemingly "clean" appearance. Luckily no other occurance of the cockroaches happened again. I dumped the things from my bag onto the bed, washed my face and was out exploring. Malacca was a unique town with its own signature town planning. As it was occupied by 3 different colonial masters, the roads and buildings were quite chaotic. Its was also recently named as a UNESCO site, which explains its very touristy outlook. I got this huge map at the bus station which was very informative and in a very unusually "unMalaysian" logical and nicely done graphic layout way! Hahaha, being declared a UNESCO site sure brings in lots of cash and good graphic designers!

I navigated by the map and found all the tourist spots. I went through the usual A'Formosa fortress and St. Paul church which I last visited about 8 years ago. As it was a Saturday, it was packed! There was this big group of kids from Singapore on an educational tour there and I thought I can escape Singaporeans there! Cheh!

There was this big ass plane on display at the foot of the St.Paul hill. Just my type of quirky looking type.

There was also a TLDM museum with an actual Perkasa Patrol boat parked right beside!! Woohoo!! I have a chiong kit version of this craft!! Now I can take detail pictures of it!!

You have to purchase tickets for the museum which was a measly 3 ringgit only. With the ticket you get to go into the Wooden replica Portugese warship and the TLDM museum. There was a British made Wasp helicopter that their Navy use on display in the museum. I had seen one of these examples in a Pahang museum a few years back.

By the time I finish touring the museum it was around 7pm, they close at 9pm. It was dinner time and I had already completed half of Malacca's tourist spots. So I went to a nearby hawker which was called Newton hawker center. I think its a copy of our local newton circle hawker but with Malaysian fair. I ordered Cha kway tiao, satay and a local Nonya you cha kway wrap. Sad to say, this must be the few times where Malaysian food did not live up to its standard. All three dishes I tasted failed my expectations and I have been going Malaysia almost everyweek now for the last 2 months. I was disappointed as this was Malacca which was touted as a food paradise.

After the disappointing dinner I needed something to recover from the lost. SHOPPING!!!! yeehaa!!!!! Chiong ah!!!

All I can say is Shiok!!! Cheap and good!! I bought like 7 polo-T from the Factory outlet store! 1 for each day! That more than made up for the crappy dinner. It was around 10:30 after that so I went back to the hotel to shower. The shower room had the same water heater as my house with almost the same shower head, weird, I had the feeling I was showering at home!! but yet I was in Malacca!! hahaha!!!! After the rejuvenating shower I was ready for somemore exploring. I went out the room at around 11:30pm, as the street I was staying was full of cafes and massage palours, I decided to try one of the massages. I checked out a decent one and went in. They were very professional I must say, none of the hanky panky stuff here, after all its a UNESCO site!! I fell asleep quarter of the way as I was so tired. It was almost 2am after the massage so I went back to the hotel. I turned on the TV and it was Pirates of the Caribbeans 3, so I watched. There was some pretty bad acting in the show and Chow Yun Fatt was overcompensating for his bad role. Crap. I was dosing on and off throughout the show and finally gave up as the show was drawing to a close. I switched off and was knocked out within 5mins.

Next day, I woke up at 11:30am, crap, half day gone and I had to check out at 12pm! I turbo-ed brushing teeth and packing and was out the door at 12:15pm. Brunch time. This time I chose carefully for about half an hour for a decent makan joint and finally settled on a shop with lots of newspaper cuttings of recommendations. It was a good choice as the chicken rice was delicious, so was the Nonya sotong and petai and egg!!

A cute little boy took my order and I can see they were pretty busy as more people were coming in, looks like I had picked a famous joint to eat.

After the satisfying lunch, I went to the famous Jonker street. The weather was even more burning than yesterday and I was sweating like mad.

Jonker street was very packed and super touristy, not my kind of place. The only thing I like about it was the architecture and cafes. But the weather was too hot for me to enjoy it slowly, so I took a few photos and split after an hour. I went to buy a pair of Bata shoes as my sandals were hurting my legs. After that I went back to the hotel as I left my bag there and had them book me a taxi at 5:15pm while I go across the street to get a foot massage.

I left malacca at around 6:10pm from the Bus station and reach Singapore at around 10:45pm. Pretty fast.

It was a nice little trip for me, tired but fun. There was almost no "hang" time in between, so I felt that the time was fully utilised. My next trip there, will definitely be more switch off, more hang time to laze around their many cafes. Planning another trip there soon!