The Submerged Rainforest

Lake Kenyir, Terengganu, Malaysia

A quick picture post again. Busy time at the office. Always seems to be the case here, towards the end of the year, for tendering work anyway. It’s like a punishment for those in Tenders. When everyone’s thinking of Christmas and New Year, you’re holed up in the office, at night, pounding away on the keyboard. Shite!

Still on Malaysia, this is Lake Kenyir, a lake made by damming up the Kenyir River to form a hydroelectric power station. That act effectively flooded 260 square km of rainforests, wiping out scores of trees (and I suspect not a few animals), making it the largest man-made lake in South East Asia. The trees are long gone now, but there was a time when the lake was an eerie maze of dead trees poking out of the lake surface. That was what one fellow visitor told us. I wouldn’t have known since this was our first visit to the lake.


View from the Lake Kenyir Resort


A boat chugging quietly on the lake


A fishing boat / lodge i.e. a house boat where visitors stay to fish, cook and eat – popular with fishing enthusiasts


This was where we stayed – chalets at the Lake Kenyir Resort, but don’t ask me which one


There’re as many as 340 islands in the lake which were once hilltops. Here’s the ‘Waterfall Island’! Dunno the real name, just know that it had a waterfall in it!


Waterfall at Lake Kenyir (see a picture of Justin bathing at the waterfall in my previous post)

Then there’s ‘Herbal’ Island, where you can get tongkat ali, …to boost your male libido! (This’ll be a favourite among some of the friends I know!!)


The Harmony Hut (Pondok Harmoni) (don’t ask me why they name it this) at ‘Herbal’ Island, where the tongkat ali, kacip fatimah, etc brews are prepared for sampling by tourists – bitter to the core, whatd’ya expect? These are …potions, OK?


A shelter on the lake at ‘Herbal’ Island


Another view of Lake Kenyir, with the Lake Kenyir Resort on the left


A view of the Lake Kenyir Resort main building, from the swimming pool, yes there’s a swimming pool there. Dunno why people don’t just swim in the lake. Didn’t see anyone do that, actually, strange!


The road there, from Ipoh – just past Gua Musang, Kelantan. We decided to take the never-before-travelled route to Terengganu this trip, across the spine of Malaya, through hills, forests and plantations. The route will take you from Ipoh, uphill to Cameron Highlands, then downwards to Gua Musang, Kelantan. From Kelantan, we drove across Felda estate roads (government planned palm oil plantations) straggling the boundary of Taman Negara (National Park) into Terengganu and Lake Kenyir.


Just past the Terengganu border, from Kelantan

When Love Was Younger

A tea estate in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, 2007

This November marks our 8th year together as a couple, and a family. And I’ve never been happier. I wish it’ll last forever …really! This year also saw an addition to our little family, our red baby, Jayden (coz he turns bright red at the slightest irritation).

Here’re some photos of a time when our relationship was younger, right after our first anniversary. Then, we’re free birds, without kids. Kinda miss the freedom of those times. We could like, hang out anywhere, have some drinks at a pub, watch a movie whenever we like to, go on a backpacking trip or a hike… Longing for those days. Maybe when our kids turn 20, …not too long to wait, 2034…




No, this is not Assam, nor Sri Lanka. It’s Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. This is Anu’s first time there, and my err… 80th time?! (I honestly don’t know – have been going there since I was a teeny toddler).

Ever wonder how plantations and farms become an attraction? I do. What’s so cool about visiting a tea estate? Call it whatever, but it’s essentially a farm. Maybe it’s because the world’s become so advanced and urban, that a little bit of rustic rural farm is just the thing you need to unwind and relax. Never mind the buzzing flies, the muck that you have to wade through and the fresh smell of fertilizer, which I suspect is made of shit (it sure smells like it).

But tea estates are different! No muck, no flies, no signs of fertilizer. Just acres and acres of green stunted trees, pruned to perfection (by the constant picking of their leaves), growing on slopes. And the cool weather, and fresh air!

If you’re thinking of visiting Cameron Highlands, do so before it’s too late. Last I heard, it’s no longer cool. Global warming, and the indiscriminate clearing of forests will surely put an end to its charm. Heck, just the other day, there’s a story in the Malaysian papers that a landslide killed 3 people in Cameron Highlands. I’m not surprised, with the way people are chopping down trees. Don’t believe me? Just drive from Cameron Highlands to Gua Musang, Kelantan. Horrendous sight, hill after hill of bare brown earth, devoid of trees, miles and miles of ugly plastic sheets strung up as shelters for the new vegetable farms… That was what we saw in 2013.


Family picture, Cameron Highlands, 2007


Anu and Hazel at our hotel (forgot the name) in Cameron Highlands