Sg. Lembing Trip

This is going to be a very long post as I put off blogging this outing due to the excessive blogging and photos that I would have to upload.

I went Sungai Lembing (in Pahang, 1 hour drive from Kuantan) on 31st May till 1st June with the Shutterasia group and 3 of my Secondary School Gal Pals (LK, LY and EC). We were going there to view the rainbows at the rainbow waterfall. It was a fun, exhausting, somewhat painful and scary trip for me. The reason being that I am a totally city gal with an office lifestyle and I am a creature for comforts.

I was also quite hesistant to go for this trip if it haven't been for me prior asking my galpals to come along...I just couldn't leave them there with a bunch of strangers. I was still recovering from bad food poisoning and I still had the toilet runs. My BF worried that my tummy would still be upset ordered these cute pig baos from dragon-i restaurant to eat as breakfast.

LK picked me up from my house at around 6am and we went to Sri Petaling to meet up with LY and EC. We then transferred our bags to LY's car as she was the designated driver for the trip. After a light breakfast at the mamak, we then proceeded on the MRR2 to our meetup point at the MC D's just before Genting Toll...as luck would have it, we got lost as we couldn't find the MC D's as indicated by my SA friends and we went 1 round and somehow missed a turn and then somehow managed to find the MC D's...we were so lucky!

At about 8am, we started our journey in a 3 car convoy to Kuantan. We reached at around 11 plus am. We then met up with QQ (our Kuantan based SA member) and we went for lunch at a seafood restaurant called Muhibbah Seafood Restaurant. Lunch was RM13/pax for 17 people.

Baby Shark Stir Fry with ginger, spring onions, a touch of wine and bean sauce

4 Heavenly Kings (Brinjal, Okra, Petai and French Beans)

I forgot what this is but the middle was some sort of shellfish sliced thinly. It was a combination of hot and cold dish.

Sizzling Tofu - served on aluminium foil...so that they can clean it easier but I found the tofu somewhat lacking in flavour as it didn't have the hot sizzling pan scent

I didn't managed to snap a good shot of the "3 Cups Chicken" and I didn't taste it as my tummy was still misbehaving then.

In the end, my table managed to clear 3 plates and 2 plates were brought over to the other table for them to finish.

After lunch, we went to Kuantan's latest shopping mall called East Coast Mall to shop for our BBQ dinner. Groceries for the 20 of us cost RM27 per person. We bought fishes, squids, chicken, sausages, drinks, snacks, liquor and many more stuff.

We then proceeded to Sg. Lembing. We stayed at a bungalow that was converted into somewhat homestay type of accomodations. The Bungalow was huge in the sense that there were around 14 bedrooms and each bedroom had their individual bathrooms (very small though)!!! The 4 of us stayed in 1 room. The room's base was RM65 nett per night and we added 2 more mattresses and the total bill for 1 night for 4 of us was only RM89!

We were supposed to go out for a short while to buy ingredients to marinate the chicken but we (8 of us) ended up with Pete driving to explore the abandoned underground tin mines in Sg. Lembing, a suspension long bridge, caves, crystal house, and abandoned mines. Instead of a 15 minute outing, we were out for 2 hours!

Quiet Sg Lembing Town

The Grocery Store at Sg. Lembing Town

ABC and Rojak at Sg. Lembing town

2 Lazing Cats

The 4 of us at the suspension bridge

Crystal House - The owners had many crystal collections and even their own crystal cave. The owner used to work in the mining shafts as a rock blaster.

EC and LY at the Crystal Cave Entrance

At night, we had bbq (sorry no pictures) and after that Joyce asked me to macro the many moths in the house. This is my one and only moth shot that came out clearly.

Then it was early bedtime for all of us as we have to wake up at 4am the next day to go for our waterfall hike. I was the first one to wake up at 4.00am. LK woke up at 4.15am, LY woke up at 4.30am and Elissa woke up at 4.40am...we were out of your lodgings by 5.00am. On that day, Sg. Lembing food center were having a charity drive for the Sichuan Earthquake victims and all the food and drinks were based on donations. I donated RM10 and got myself some yummy yong tau fu and a hot barley.

I didn't feel like eating much as it was too early in the morning for my tummy. I had a fish paste stuffed okra and 2 springy fishballs.

LK was not feeling well and decided to join another SA member to climb Lembing Hill to catch sunrise. QQ mentioned to us that it would take 1 hour by 4WD into the forest and 1 hour jungle trekking to the Rainbow Waterfall. 4WD to me at that time was a jeep but to my amazement, the 4WD turned into trucks with planks as seats! This was so not in my imagination of a comfort ride...we felt like plantation workers seated like that...!!!

LY, EC and I sat on the white one. 2nd row.

We were in high spirits as we rode on the Motion Master like bumpy ride into the cool dark forest at around 6am...we were so noisy and our butts began to ache as the journey continued.

Our Drop Off point...really fresh and scenic and that's when my nightmare began....

We reached our drop off point and lo and behold...we had to cross a knee deep stream. It was easier said than done. The under current was really strong and there were slippery rocks beneath the river. We had to manipulate the ground carefully. LY slipped and fell halfway crossing. Her mobile phone got soaked but she was lucky that her Sony DSLR was alright. Next we had to traverse many rocky streams, go over and under huge tree trunks, climb up and down hilly muddy terrains and rocky hills for the next 1 hour.

As I was slow and scared and shivering, my friend, Freaky, lend me his steady hand and guided me halfway thru. We lost the leading group and luckily we were still on the right trail. EC had Pete and his gf to help out with and LY had help from the Hyundai guy (Han Loong, if I am not mistaken). Halfway thru, EC's shoes decided to play out and she lost her shoe soles along the way which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We reached a really rocky hill and we weren't sure if we were on the right track or not and EC and I were too exhausted to continue. Luckily Freaky still had energy and climb ahead...Meanwhile, EC, wasabi and I decided to take a breather and that was when wasabi discovered 2 to 3 leeches on his foot....

YAYYYY!!! We were on the right track and he came back with our guide to help the rest of us up. Part of the rocks that we had to climb up. Halfway thru, my guide suggested that I take off my shoes and climb up in my socks...he was so right...finally I could feel and grip the rocks more steadily. Hence, I would strong recommend thin soles shoes or soft flexible slippers to climb up this trek. Therefore, EC's soles who came off were a blessing in disguise.

One way up...One way down...

The waterfall...unpolluted due to the lack of visitors to this spot.

Lembing Models

Bunny's Lembing Hero

QQ checking how many baby prawns are nibbling him "under there"

Wasabi and QQ having a snack.

A group photo taken by wasabi

More pictures can be seen in SA and EC's facebook

Freaky guided me all the way down with clax following me from behind. I fell in the stream on the way back to the truck. When we got into the truck, LY suddenly realized that there was a leech on her left leg and she screamed loudly whilst qq and Joyce had salt and someone with a ciggy ash removed and flicked the leech away. It was another bumpy ride back and most were exhausted. It was also uncomfy as the weather was really hot at 2pm plus.

We got back to the lodgings, took our turns to bathe and then we paid the owner and left for Kuantan for our very late lunch cum early dinner. I didn't take any photos as I was too tired at that time. The meal was fantastic but we were too tired already.

Afterthat, LY drove us back to KL safely eventhough she herself was exhausted whereas LK, EC and I had short naps in between.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The trip only cost us RM150 per person including toll, petrol, guide, food, groceries and lodgings. I will look forward for the next SA trip but hopefully not too extreme one like this trip.