Jalan-Jalan Cari Sungai - Ulu Tamu

 
A few weeks ago, me and a bunch of close friends came up with the idea for a family weekend trip, preferably over the weekend. I had originally mooted the idea, because that was one of the reason why I bought a 4WD...to have a bonding time with my kids. Well, to tell you the truth, we didn't quite got around to that. So I was looking forward to this trip.

Last minute cancellations includes my significant other because she has to have Internet access to complete her work, my daughter because she's helping out her auntie who's appearing on TV3 for cake decoration thingy and my eldest son whom had to study for his exams. Well that left me with just my youngest son. That will do...for now.

We departed quite late from KL, around 4pm. In a convoy of 4WDs (4 wheel drive), we headed towards Batang Kali. We arrived at the resort aka base camp at 1830hrs. Abg Hamzah was waiting, smiling as always. After some brief introductions, we headed for our chalets to freshen up. At 2000hrs, the BBQ was ready comprising of prawns, chicken, sausages, nuggets, rice (special fried nasi goreng ulam) etc.

After eating, some of us wanted to stretch their vocal cords, thus a few rounds of karaoke was in order. The resort had quite a decent karaoke system, and what started as a stretching exercise soon developed into a marathon.

At midnight, we decided to have a dip at the local hot spring. All of us went, including the kids. There were 3 pools, with different temperatures. I classify it as half boiled eggs, hard boiled eggs and frying eggs. We first tried the coolest...the half boiled egg....great for the kids, but kind of wimpy for us 'men'. Thus, we moved on to the next hottest...the hard boiled egg. A quick dip of the leg and I could have sworn some hair got burnt.

There was a group of teenagers there, dipping and showing off their high level of tolerance to the heat. So us, being men (which simply means a slightly older version of the boys), decided to stay and show off our prowess as well. After much hair loss (chest, arms, thighs etc), just as we were leaving, the last car in our group from KL arrived. Perfect timing.

Wow, a dip in hot water certainly is one of the most relaxing thing. It kept me wide awake. I went on chatting with the guys until 0530hrs, when my 'screen saver' mode was activated.

At 0800hrs, we had breakfast, followed by more karaoke (can you believe it?). At around 1030hrs, the jockeys brought the horses out and the kids has a whale of a time riding them around the corral.

At 1230hrs, we headed of by 4WDs to the next camp, having to cross 2 rivers to get there. This camp could only be reached by 4WDs, unless you can drive a sedan through the rivers. Mind you, if the rain is heavy upstream, the rivers get swollen that even us 4WDs wouldn't be able to cross them. After setting up camp at our usual spot, the resort personnel came on 4WD to set up lunch by the river. Everyone had fun bathing in the river, especially the kids. Of course us dads had to accompany them...not that we want to (La La La). Then we came up for food, then went down to bath, then came up for food...and the vicious cycle continues...haha.

Around 1530hrs, we started preparing the 4WDs for the journey over slightly 'rougher' terrain. Tyres were deflated to almost half, wheels were locked and the 4WD engaged. Through hill climbing, mud and uneven tracks, we drove on. My jalopy being at the front, had to act as backup recovery vehicle for those at the back. Some of the vehicles were standard ie no modification, AT (All Terrain) tyres, standard height. We had planned this very 'light & easy' trail to let the 'newbies' get some thrill under controlled conditions.

After all that, we went down to the river and much like the Mahouts with their elephants in Thailand, that's how us 4 wheelers with our jalopies. We parked them dead smack in the river, and wash and bathe them. Hmm...maybe that's why the wives get upset ... like the wives of the Mahouts.

As we said our goodbyes, plans were underway to plan another slightly farther trip...maybe over 3 days. That one involves river tubing, slightly longer 4WD trail...and this time, I hope to have the whole family there.  There's already inquiries from friends whom are interested to try it out...so hey, maybe I would just package these weekend family outings for them. Interested? Come on.... get off that sofa, the air conditioned room and head into the outdoors. Enjoy the greenery while we still can. Don't have a 4WD? Don't worry, I know a few Mahouts...oppss...4 Wheelers whom would be glad to take you on board.

Part 2 - Joint Training Exercise

Part of the Technical Team

Continuing from Part 1....

On D-Day, I had to join my team later on Saturday after work. The team had three 4WDs and 2 scramblers.. all privately owned by its members. It was a good mix in our team, whom had worked together in various Ops.

The participants were broken into 'syndicates', of which each syndicate was made up of members from all 3 states and with different areas of specialty ... medic, survival, map and compass, high rope rescue. From the starting point, they were given the grid reference (GR- Golf Romeo) of checkpoint 1, where they shall be given GF to food dump and check point 2, where finally the GR to check point 3 (Dubai) is given.

The knife is used for rogue teams unwilling to cooperate...hahaha

I was attached to check point 2, from the off road track, go off that off road track (is this making sense to you?), go 45 degrees downhill to the river down below. My task was to ensure that no team passes the river without reporting to check point 2, which was situated across the river 100m from where I was.

Natural Jacuzzi

Since it was warm and the river looks soooo cool and inviting, after I had finished my task, I went for a quick dip in the crystal clear river.

Tech team after a meal of 'rendang landak'

During the exercise, the tech team had a taste of 'rendang landak' and BBQ Lamb. I was happily eating when a sudden discovery of a few strand of fur automatically shuts off my appetite. Luckily it  happened after a plate of hot rice had gone down my esophagus.

A brief closing ceremony was officiated by Senior Asst Commissioner II (CD) Roslan bin Wahab, Pengarah Bahagian Pengurusan Angkatan JPAM. After that, its the Technical Team's photo session...and as evident by the pictures, though tired, we all had a great time...as always.

The 'Official' picture

The 'Relaxed' picture

The 'Variety' pictures

Part 1 - Joint Training Exercise

 
Recently, a joint training exercise was conducted by the Malaysian Civil Defence Department (JPAM - Jabatan Pertahanan Awam Malaysia) involving 3 states, namely WP Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Perak. Its a series of joint training required to be conducted every 2 months to enhance the capability and agility of its members, especially in standardizing and addressing cross boundaries operational issues.

Since this time around, WP Kuala Lumpur was the host of the event, I was involved as a member of the Technical Team, comprising of 20 team members. Our task...was to design, implement and supervise the training, a daunting task since the total participants was 200 in strength. Nevertheless, in the true 'esprit de corp' spirit, we accepted the task with great enthusiasm.

Barret HF Man pack

Weeks before the event, on a beautiful Sunday, we went in for a short recce trip, a one day trip to Batang Kali. Since communication is essential in any training exercise, we brought along the newly procured Barret HF man pack to test out. There were three 4WDs... mine (Isuzu Trooper), the camp's (Toyota BJ) and JPAM's (Hilux). From the Orang Asli kampung, we had to cross 2 rivers to get to Kem Hamzah, the forward base camp.

After having 'Durian Hutan' courtesy of the Orang Asli, we started to head for Dubai...off road style. Abang Hamzah had warned us that the road has deteriorated tremendously. Being 4WD enthusiast, that's like an irresistible invitation to pitch our skills and knowledge against mother earth. Little did we know that it has been raining for a few days, making it super slippery and muddy. As soon as we made it pass checkpoint 2, we came to a very large boulder. The BJ almost tilted over sideways. Never mind, we thought, it has a PTO winch. Alas, the winch didn't work as the gearing  went kaput. Thus, what else to do but do some bicep building manual winching.

The BJ and my 'anak gajah' facing their respective challenges

Then a decision was made to leave the BJ and Hilux at checkpoint 2, and went ahead using my 'anak gajah'. From the boulder onwards, most of the movement was by winching. Since I was using a high speed winch, it uses a lot of battery juice. I made a dumb mistake when I forgot to switch back the secondary battery with a higher capacity battery. After 7 times winching and in 4 ft of mud, the batteries just gave up, right in the middle of nowhere.

The calm face of a guy with his 4WD stuck in 4ft mud with no winch power

To cut the story short, I had to call in 4WD friends to help me out...and they came, recovered my vehicle and left, without any payment....try to beat that.

To be continued......Part 2