(Pleasant) Trip Around North 1 - Gunung Jerai
DAMMIT!! Blogger ate my post! Argh!!
The travel mate this time is Hon, a sweet plus-sized teddy and he is mine! Most of the friends who know about us think that it is so quick of me to jump from a relationship to another, but well, when you are looking for a float on the ocean and you find yourselves a big luxury yacht, you know you MUST grab it! LOL! Although he deserves a special post in my blog, I don't want certain people to snoop around my life, so if you are curious about him/us, you know how to reach me *wink*
He started his journey up north at 9.30pm driving, stopped at few RnR to sleep and shower, and showed up at my place at 9am. We had our breakfast at Kangar, and off we went to Gunung Jerai.
We checked in The Regency Jerai Hill Resort, the one and only resort of top of the hill. He booked the cheapest chalet (cheap being the price, not 'cheap' cheap) yet our balcony view is superb and awesoooome! It has an open and blocking-free panoramic view of the paddy field and coast line. One downside was that the weather was cloudy and hazy.
After we threw our stuff in the chalet, we went downhill for our lunch at Gurun town, since we'd gonna have our dinner at the resort's restaurant (also, one and only restaurant on top of the hill), and the driver said it's only 10 minutes driving distance and he was totally OK with the hilly drive.
After lunch, we headed to our main event of the day: Lubuk Naga. Here, I provide you the direction to the waterfall, but please bear in mind that: I've been there once, guided by Yujin, but neither he nor me remember the trail to the waterfall; there's some uncertain part of the trail that you need to take note of; some parts of the trekking trail can be dangerous and challenging; there must be an activity going on not long ago, so there's a laminated signs hanging on some of the trees, so we kinda follow that signs too; there's orange color wooden direction signs too along the way; it's very secluded into the woods, so please do not go alone or go with someone you barely know (Hmmm... Well, I did go with someone I barely know, but this is different case!!)
Direction (driving + walking + hiking):
1) Drive uphill until you reach a junction with a significant signboard showing to the right is the resort and to the left is Padang Tok Sheikh etc. Go left.
2) The road is narrow, curvy and looks spooky. Don't worry, stay calm and keep moving. Along the way you'll see stream, nursery, some gated orchard, abandoned house, and whole lot of jungle.
3) Up til some point you'll see a square-shaped abandoned house on your left and the road is curved around the house, keep going...
4) ...until you reach a junction as shown in picture below:
To the left is going uphill and on the right is a vacant spot and a concrete walkway.
Park your car there.
Reverse parking is advisable so that you can easily get out of there later.
5) Start walking. Walk on the concrete path until you reach at the end of it, where there is a pondok on your left and a huge rock with staircase support at the center. Take the right path.
6) Go around the rock, and there's a stream on the left (the side of the rock). Take the right going uphill (here, we followed the laminated sign) and entering the woods.
7) Walk and walk, and there's a concrete path again ahead, with signs on the gate saying:
8) Of course, following the sign, entering the woods again and we bumped into another junction.
Follow the orange sign (go left)!!
9) Here's the tricky and uncertain part. We could already hear the sound of the waterfall, but we came upon another concrete path, with a small pavilion on the left and there was no access way to reach the waterfalls. So we took a U-turn, saw a laminated sign, followed it, saw a muddy/jungle-y path going downhill with ropes attached at the sides as support, went down, saw some rubbish (HUMAN!!) at the end of the path and came to this beautiful little falls with a small pool. From there, we could hear a louder falls further down the path, but since it was late and the weather ain't that good, we settled there.
The water is frizzing cold; the pool is small and shallow; it was nice!! When we sat still at the side of the pool, I spotted some fishes swimming around me and told Hon about it. He didn't buy me at first but when there's more swimming around us, he was amazed!
Until I started to shiver so badly in the pool while chatting, Hon suggested us to get out of the pool and headed back. On the way out, we saw another path with also ropes attached, so we jotted that down as the next mission! Hehe!
Spent the rest of the day sitting on the balcony, sipping coffee, enjoying the view and a good company of another chatterbox.
While chatting, I noticed some muddy thingy on my foot, so I tried to rub it off, only to realize the mud can move, and it's leech! OK lar it's not like I'm not used to leeches bite, but it was somehow amazing haha!
Had our dinner at the restaurant, a Buka Puasa Ramadan buffet. As on that night, there were a group of not-sure-what-did-they-do, so the food was clearing up pretty fast and by the time we finished our main course, there's not much left of dessert.
Walked around the resort to help digest our dinner, and walked back to the chalet when the crews of that group was everywhere and smoking! The night view was awesome as there's no cloud, and all the tiny lights were like stars on the ground...
Hang out at the balcony until it started to get cold and hid ourselves in the room for some movie. I noticed some bloodstain on my bed, and it was from the leech's bite. The blood didn't seem to clot that I had to apply a band-aid on it.
The next day, we had our breakfast at the restaurant, walked around the resort again and saw the swimming pool at the side of the resort. I would recommend them to make it a heated pool as the water is cold! I would rather dip in a waterfall than a cold swimming pool!
Came back to the chalet, packed our stuff and checked out.
Footnote:
1) There is only one restaurant on top of the hill. The price is 'resort' price and not much of options on the menu. So if you don't want to spend much on the food, you can pack your own food and have a chilling picnic on the hill.
2) There is a lot of bad reviews on TripAdvisor, which I agree with some part of it. The chalet was not WOW-ly good, but it is reasonable for that price and the view! Anyway, the resort is accessible to public, so beware of non-stayer invading the resort, and simply, avoid school holidays at al
3) Despite the awesome view and whatnot, it is very boring and nothing much to do at night. So make sure you pack along a chatterbox, some snacks, wine or beer perhaps, jackets in case it's cold, and enjoy the night.
4) In the chalet, there is a activities menu to choose from such as trekking and water rafting, which according to the done-that person, it was cheap. I didn't try any of that, but it did look worth trying.
The travel mate this time is Hon, a sweet plus-sized teddy and he is mine! Most of the friends who know about us think that it is so quick of me to jump from a relationship to another, but well, when you are looking for a float on the ocean and you find yourselves a big luxury yacht, you know you MUST grab it! LOL! Although he deserves a special post in my blog, I don't want certain people to snoop around my life, so if you are curious about him/us, you know how to reach me *wink*
He started his journey up north at 9.30pm driving, stopped at few RnR to sleep and shower, and showed up at my place at 9am. We had our breakfast at Kangar, and off we went to Gunung Jerai.
We checked in The Regency Jerai Hill Resort, the one and only resort of top of the hill. He booked the cheapest chalet (cheap being the price, not 'cheap' cheap) yet our balcony view is superb and awesoooome! It has an open and blocking-free panoramic view of the paddy field and coast line. One downside was that the weather was cloudy and hazy.
After we threw our stuff in the chalet, we went downhill for our lunch at Gurun town, since we'd gonna have our dinner at the resort's restaurant (also, one and only restaurant on top of the hill), and the driver said it's only 10 minutes driving distance and he was totally OK with the hilly drive.
After lunch, we headed to our main event of the day: Lubuk Naga. Here, I provide you the direction to the waterfall, but please bear in mind that: I've been there once, guided by Yujin, but neither he nor me remember the trail to the waterfall; there's some uncertain part of the trail that you need to take note of; some parts of the trekking trail can be dangerous and challenging; there must be an activity going on not long ago, so there's a laminated signs hanging on some of the trees, so we kinda follow that signs too; there's orange color wooden direction signs too along the way; it's very secluded into the woods, so please do not go alone or go with someone you barely know (Hmmm... Well, I did go with someone I barely know, but this is different case!!)
Direction (driving + walking + hiking):
1) Drive uphill until you reach a junction with a significant signboard showing to the right is the resort and to the left is Padang Tok Sheikh etc. Go left.
2) The road is narrow, curvy and looks spooky. Don't worry, stay calm and keep moving. Along the way you'll see stream, nursery, some gated orchard, abandoned house, and whole lot of jungle.
3) Up til some point you'll see a square-shaped abandoned house on your left and the road is curved around the house, keep going...
4) ...until you reach a junction as shown in picture below:
 |
| GPS coordinate |
Park your car there.
Reverse parking is advisable so that you can easily get out of there later.
5) Start walking. Walk on the concrete path until you reach at the end of it, where there is a pondok on your left and a huge rock with staircase support at the center. Take the right path.
6) Go around the rock, and there's a stream on the left (the side of the rock). Take the right going uphill (here, we followed the laminated sign) and entering the woods.
7) Walk and walk, and there's a concrete path again ahead, with signs on the gate saying:
8) Of course, following the sign, entering the woods again and we bumped into another junction.
Follow the orange sign (go left)!!
9) Here's the tricky and uncertain part. We could already hear the sound of the waterfall, but we came upon another concrete path, with a small pavilion on the left and there was no access way to reach the waterfalls. So we took a U-turn, saw a laminated sign, followed it, saw a muddy/jungle-y path going downhill with ropes attached at the sides as support, went down, saw some rubbish (HUMAN!!) at the end of the path and came to this beautiful little falls with a small pool. From there, we could hear a louder falls further down the path, but since it was late and the weather ain't that good, we settled there.
The water is frizzing cold; the pool is small and shallow; it was nice!! When we sat still at the side of the pool, I spotted some fishes swimming around me and told Hon about it. He didn't buy me at first but when there's more swimming around us, he was amazed!
Until I started to shiver so badly in the pool while chatting, Hon suggested us to get out of the pool and headed back. On the way out, we saw another path with also ropes attached, so we jotted that down as the next mission! Hehe!
Spent the rest of the day sitting on the balcony, sipping coffee, enjoying the view and a good company of another chatterbox.
While chatting, I noticed some muddy thingy on my foot, so I tried to rub it off, only to realize the mud can move, and it's leech! OK lar it's not like I'm not used to leeches bite, but it was somehow amazing haha!
Had our dinner at the restaurant, a Buka Puasa Ramadan buffet. As on that night, there were a group of not-sure-what-did-they-do, so the food was clearing up pretty fast and by the time we finished our main course, there's not much left of dessert.
Walked around the resort to help digest our dinner, and walked back to the chalet when the crews of that group was everywhere and smoking! The night view was awesome as there's no cloud, and all the tiny lights were like stars on the ground...
 | |
| Can't see shit? You have to come see for yourselves. |
The next day, we had our breakfast at the restaurant, walked around the resort again and saw the swimming pool at the side of the resort. I would recommend them to make it a heated pool as the water is cold! I would rather dip in a waterfall than a cold swimming pool!
Came back to the chalet, packed our stuff and checked out.
To be continued....
Footnote:
1) There is only one restaurant on top of the hill. The price is 'resort' price and not much of options on the menu. So if you don't want to spend much on the food, you can pack your own food and have a chilling picnic on the hill.
2) There is a lot of bad reviews on TripAdvisor, which I agree with some part of it. The chalet was not WOW-ly good, but it is reasonable for that price and the view! Anyway, the resort is accessible to public, so beware of non-stayer invading the resort, and simply, avoid school holidays at al
3) Despite the awesome view and whatnot, it is very boring and nothing much to do at night. So make sure you pack along a chatterbox, some snacks, wine or beer perhaps, jackets in case it's cold, and enjoy the night.
4) In the chalet, there is a activities menu to choose from such as trekking and water rafting, which according to the done-that person, it was cheap. I didn't try any of that, but it did look worth trying.
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