Team Profile - Fallschaser

Team Name: Fallschaser

Peak Conquest: Berkelah Falls (N/A)

Group Leader: Choong Sook Yin

Registration Date: 22nd August 2008

Conquest Expiry Date: 27th September 2008

Conquest Status: Successful with peak conquered on August 2008

Team Members:

1. Choong Sook Yin (L)
2. Chew Hiu Chow
3. Chanut Pontayapasut
4. Passara Chawankon
5. Lim Han Beng
6. Lim Joo Pei
7. Ong Kah Wee
8. Ng Chai Heong
9. Cheng Siang King
10. Melissa Tan Mei Lee
11. Chong Tuck Sum, Joyce
12. Mervyn Hii Sing Hui

Lafuma Inventory:

1. Extreme 600 Sleeping Bag
2. Trekking Warm Socks

Conquest Log:

Camping at Berkelah Falls

Dawn of August 30 – Mervyn wakes up at the

ungodly hour of 4 a.m. to pick Joyce and Mel T up, then realizes he’s got to dismantle his stereo thingy-majigs from the car boot as though any of us were to try to fit in one hiking boot. Long story short, we finally got going and experienced a rare Malaysian morning – fog, along the highway with limited visibility! That made the drive enjoyable and matching with the day’s plan.

Hutan Lipur Berkelah – the formal name - a

once-cheery but weather-broken signboard

greets us happy campers. “We’re almost

there!” Well, at least almost to the car park

whence we would commence the 3-hour trekking.

Apportioning food, equipment out.

Mental note to self for future trips: the bigger

the bag you bring, the more space you have

to carry stuff…; This note is also filed away

with “The bigger the brawn, the more bags

you can carry”. Ample parking space for all,

size is big enough even for excursion buses.

Cheng is all set up!

Ricky was entrusted to port the Lafuma

banner, as seen held up securely at the side

of his backpack.

And off we go, heading to the main entrance!

Happy campers filled with enthusiasm and

excitement.

Along the way, we were teased by little falls

and ice-cold, clear waters! We stopped a few

times, excited as we were at the prospect of

something even more majestic than these

little ones.

The cascades grew gradually in size, with a

stronger gush…

… as did the difficulty of the trek. Weariness

and heat were starting to set in and we were

faced with fairly steep ascents along boulder

faces. Mel T for one, turned “Chicken Little”,

when she decided to scale along a rock face

with a 50-foot drop! The others went along

the top – slightly more arduous but certainly

a lot less life-threatening!

Let’s not forget the beauty of the vast forest

surrounding the waterfall. Let the wild boars

roam!

We wasted no time in setting up the camp

site. All tents were erected. More thinking

required for the fly sheet, especially where

to tie the ropes to – North, South, East,

or West?

Voila! The fall we longed for – nature at one

of its best behaviours! Clear skies and

thunderous waterfalls. The chill waters are

so clean you can drink straight off it. In fact,

this is one of the cleanest falls in the country.

Merv’s timepiece tells us we are at 245 metres

at this point.

This is our favourite spot for dipping in, going

against the strong currents, leaping off rocks,

washing up, sunbathing and, this is the best

part, star-gazing at night!

Twilight’s coming, and the campfire is up to

welcome it. Few of us had to walk a distance

to collect a decent volume of woods to last the

night. Cooking will soon begin, and mosquitos

will have dine with us!

An interesting night to chat in the dark, with

ambient light from the campfire, and with

awesome sounds of nature from the falls.

We certainly kept our standards even though

we were “at one” with Mother Nature: salted

chicken congee, sweetened by carrots and

onions. Can this taste any better back in the City?

A good night’s sleep needs aid from the

experts – Lafuma.

Giant millipedes such as this are common in

deeper forest. See and appreciate its there

but don’t disturb.

This is a must-do – dipping in it! Care to be

exercised when walking along the shores –

they’re slippery. The water, as mentioned earlier,

is spotlessly clean. Fill up a water bottle and you

will know what we meant.

Finally, one for Lafuma, at Berkelah!