Ulu temburong Canopy Walk, Brunei

Ulu temburong

As stated by lonely planet and other guides, It really is not advisable to enter ulu temburong independently. But hey presto! according to the lonely planet website- here

Tour companies in BSB offer a variety of packages. The standard rate is around B$245 per person for a two-day trip to the park, including an overnight stay at a Murut village on the way up the Sungai Temburong. There’s plenty of scope for group rates and other discounts, though it’s cheaper by far to get the boat to Bangar and either book at the tourist office (B$85) or hang around and try to negotiate a ride-along with an existing group.

It turns out that this is the current situation here. (from my personal observations)

there are 4 operators.

only Ulu-ulu has a resort within the park.

Those located outside the park are Freme, Sunshine, Trandie Marina

Trandie is the oldest, running the tour for 12 years

-they have an obstacle course for the adventurous individual/ teambuilding exercise

The others are quite new, but they all have additions such as the rapid rider service ($15)

The boat ride up from BSB is still $6. The Water Taxi takes around 45minutes to arrive at the new jetty in Bangar. You can find the Jetty easily. Its a 5 minute walk from the local bus terminal.. just walk towards the big body of water and turn left.. just after a row of kedai makan, you'll arrive at the jetty. There are 2 companies running the water taxi, however the price is the same. the red taxis arrive slower, I heard. but the difference isn't that much ~5-10 minutes

Once you get to Bangar,
-the new bangar jetty

the tourist office is located just across the road.. in a non-descript building. Flanking the office, is the youth centre. (you can stay @ the youth centre by informing them before hand)

Your choices at this point is-

1) enquire at the Tourist office (they have pretty weird opening hours.. on some days they open at 10 and close at 2?!!)

2)Wait for other tourists groups to arrive and see whether you can tag along. But its quite a gamble. You need to pre-book your stay in the park, and from my experience, the price is the same- ie you won't be able to get the group rate by virtue of "joining" the group.

3)You can push your luck even further, though that will inadvertently making it even harder to turn back, by hitchhiking/ finding a taxi to send you to Batang duri (around ten minute's drive)

If you're all for adventure, I think the distance is fairly walkable. you can visit one of the few remaining longhouses- AMO longhouse- along the way. I estimate walking will take 30 minutes. Once you're there, you may book your stay/ day trip with Freme/ Trandie Marina Resorts.

4) Other options to get into ulu temburong is via the Outward Bounds Brunei (below is the yet to be completed OBB building)

or via The Universiti of Brunei Darusalam, Biology Department... and book your stay at the Kuala Belalong Field Research Centre. You need to contact Dr Zora, The lecturer in Charge.

It will be possible if there is a concurrent research group going though, they won't be able to cater to an individual going there. the research centre is located 1km upriver away from the park HQ..

What type of activities to do while in there?

1) Waterfall tours- there's Mr Small waterfall (where you can swim) and Mr Big waterfall ( photography only!)

2) Canoeing

3) Suspension bridge walk..

4) BUT OF COURSE, THE CANOPY WALK!

5) Drift down river on floats, back to park HQ.

do discuss with the tour operator and see whether they can include all of that into a cheaper package.

As my main aim to be here is for the Sunrise canopy tour: here's some additional info:

Sunrise tours to the canopy is better done by the Ulu-ulu resort as they are located nearer.

you should get up at 5 am and should be able to get to the canopy within 30 minutes.

For Trandie, you need a minimum of 4 pax before they consider taking you on the sunrise tour.

Its actually quite a hassle for the Tour operators who need to pay their own workers overtime (they usually start work at 730am)

Thus if they wanna cater for guests at 4, their workers need to arrive by 3! and the forestry officials need to be notified 1 day beforehand

regarding the need to sign guests in at ungodly hours.

These inconveniences will be translated into costs which will be transferred to the consumer.

That said, It is still recommended that you take a sunrise tour should there be one.

The magnificient sight of mist covered can only be seen that way.

The Animals rise with the sun. Especially gibbons and I gather that you can hear their calls crescendo and reverberating throughout the forest when they rise and shine.

Hornbills, if they do fly in front of you,
will do it early in the morning as well!- from what I heard.

however, the climb to the canopy isn't that tiring, if you make it the first event of your day,

instead of some ppl opting for the waterfall first. "Sheesh!"

In my case, I had to tag along with another group, and they went for the Sg Apan waterfall. After that, my legs became wobbly due to the uneven trek to the waterfall had my legs contorting into different positions, straining rather untrained muscle groups.- photos along the way to the waterfall:

Unique rock patterns

The canopy walk is extremely safe, I did not experience any sway with the wind, maybe because there was no wind at 11am!!

the way up to the canopy walk

Tension cables holding the tower in placeNote one single unit of the aluminium tower is about 2m in height


multiply that unit by 20-30

do climb up the observatory instead of going up and down the aluminium towers straight without once looking down, like some did! It defeats the purpose if you make the event a who gets down the fastest sorta test

It's a looooong way down

Do you have fear of heights?
bring a pair of binoculars..

but if your cam lens has a zoom function of at least 400mm equivalent, you'd do just fine.

(as I was on the tower @11am.. there were no misty sights, no hornbills, no gibbons, just swiftlets, bees and the occasional fly..lol)

pack at least 1 litre of water, you'll need it.

You won't get to see mount kinabalu though! Despite the sign.

Now the boat ride into the National park is really something to be savoured.

you get 3 different types of experiences

Riding in the cool wind, with water splashing onto your face now and then,

riding into some turbulent waters... giving you lil pumps of adrenaline

You'll see different species of riverine plants... some stretching up to 50 metres into the air...

you'll feel that you're in a canyon sometimes, boxed in by the two riverbanks that climb straight up into the air.

The air is fresh, you'll want to remind yourself to take in a few extra breaths!

If you're really lucky, gibbon/monkey troupes would swing past and hornbills will fly over head.

Its pretty safe to carry a DSLR on this boat trip, just make sure that you point it downwards and use the person sitting in front of you on the longbaoat as a shieldm Like I did!

You do not need a stabilizer in the form of a tripod/ monopod on the canopy, so save yourself the trouble of lugging it in, @$#$@&%&*. Yeah I did just that.

wear sleeveless clothing if you're not too fond of your own bong, and lather on some sunblock unless you wanna have JAX like arms like me () ()

Get a pair of amphibious shoes like this pair of ZABA northface trainers- sans socks.

Alternatively, your tour operator will provide you with a pair of Jungle adidas- One piece Rubber shoes that have magnificent grip although not something you'll want to appear with in KLCC.

Rapid Rivers should be fun!

The river currents aren't that turbulent that they will throw you off. and the water isn't that deep at all. Still, should the conditions be less than ideal, the operators shall withdraw the event, and money back guaranteed.

Mosquito repellants aren't that high on my list- I don't think they really work anyways.

DON't forget to SWIM in the river! you must. once the equilibrium between your bodyweight and the downstream current is achieved, you'll find yourself slowly drifting underneath the canopy,looking at the underside of gigantic leaves.. an extremely soothing sight.

Fishing can only be done by locals, so don't think about it.

Here's a map for you!

stay the night at Batang duri/ Go straight it for a night at the cabins of ULU=ULU.

I heard that there are cabins in the park, but since the tourist office has since moved from the general post office, I couldn't find it, and couldn't book a night there.

Maybe you can save more by informing the tour operators that you wish to camp instead of chalets, you'll be bringing your own meals etc.
I chose to camp instead of staying in the chalets
It depends whether you've tasted local food. Trandie's fod is yum yum!!

For more photos of Brunei/ Ulu temburong, please visit My facebook album (1), (2)

I hope what I shared here has been useful, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me at willow.by.the.well@gmail.com

The Pretending Lion- Of Casinos, Universities, BTN and Medicine-

I recently went on a trip to Singa-Pura, as a promise to my darling little nieces made in January.

I doubt that they remember it but as parenting experts will tell, Never lie to a child or go back on your promise to them, It will have far reaching consequences, and so I kept my end of the bargain.

One thing I found funny was when I approached my friends in Singapore to get a 'visiting ticket', many other non-sporean friends popped up on the facebook post and asked :why do you want to go to Singapore?"

Um, I'm kinda puzzled by this Q and this will be my rejoinder-
Why do I need a reason to go to Singapore?

If anybody is curious, it appears that reasons to go to Singapore fall under the following categories

1- To go the recently opened Casino- Sources say that the Casino has difficuly breaking even due to the high cost of construction. It's estimated that they require a daily patronage of 3500people spending averagely $5000 to cover their initial investment, in the first year

(the cost was $6.59 billion)

the funny thing is that- not only did they not achieve the expected numbers, the universal studios grand opening with lotsa fanfare reached an anti-climax one week into it when the roller coaster ride was honourably X-ed by red and white security tapes. Authorities claimed a technical error needed inspection and tinkering before deemed safe for the public.

To keep These two major setbacks in perspective, whatever number of visitors they maybe boasting, it is important to keep in mind this is prior to the opening of the 2nd casino. hohum... not a very bright outlook, aint it?

2) To buy electronic stuff or to shop down orchard road

3) To study/ or work

4) visiting

Well, I fulfilled numbers 2, and 4 :-)

Met up with Gene in JB where he scooted me oof to his Hostel at the speed of 120km/h (luckily, heavy traffic thwarted his plan to go at 170km/h, his: "usual- everyone in JB use this" speed.
My eyes were tearing at the end of the ride.

while he packed, I got my hands on Starcraft 2! Wooo
apparently somepeople hacked into a demo version and made in widely available for download, albeit without LAN support-

I'm a stickler for copyright, but this time I fault Blizzard for titillating the fans since 2008 with the promise of a :

"summer release", "coming fall 2008", "early 2009", "late 2009" and now its HELLO! we're entering the 2nd quarter of 2010! The fans have been waiting for 12 years GDMT!



I played Protoss, was impressed with the dragoon turned immortal, the warp gets (something like the nidus canal of the Zerg, and of course the arbiter turned Mothership. So far, other than the colossus, there isn't much difference in the units, the zealots got Bruce Lee's Intercepting Fist but having played Dawn of war, their charge is mellow compared to the Kroot's death leap!

And as a disappointment to the many control freaks out there, you no longer have the dark archon, so no more controlling minds for you :-(

Popping down to Singapore, I went over to Orchard road, looking for Ali's electricals in Centrepoint. But, centrepoint has been bought over by another developer who chased all but a few of the original tenants out, and poor Ali was deemed "retired" by the concierge, oh well...

what I'm aiming to buy from Ali, is a spy pen that can record conversations or video, something useful for me to get hard evidence of the hush-hush going on at BTN camps as I will be headed there very very soon.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/44775-btn-taught-me-the-chinese-are-the-jews-of-asia
http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23431:-btn-dipenuhi-propaganda-politik-umno-unsur-perkauman-sempit&catid=1:utama&Itemid=50

I had a taste of it in Year 3, and this time I shall come prepared.


Turns out that my uncle Steven bought a similar pen for $145, which was over my budget. I was pointed in the direction of Sim Lim Square near Bugis, but on the last day I decided to purchase it over here instead due to price and warantee issues

Arrived at my aunts place much later than I intended as I dropped by a Skater's park and tried catching shots of enthusiasts in action. Bought some Marshmellows, A bottle of Coca-cola Zero and a stick of mentos in Cold Storage. What am I planning for my nieces? not hard to guess!

2nd Day, went to NUS to meet up with E-fly, toured the engineering Fac. As these photos show, they have been very prolific with research and have lots of achievements to stand for it. being holed up in HUKM, I do not know whether our own unis are as productive. I was reassured by Kim Hoo that UTM almost went into the Finals of the Fuel-Cell race but was DQ-ed because they were 2 second off the target time. :-(

This is my 2nd time to NUS, my prior visit being 5 years ago when I interviewed for the medical course. Hmmm, that time, I had 2 rounds of interviews with an Essay thrown in with the title- "your view on Aesthetic Medicine. " that was really tough, I think many would have trouble understanding what the question wanted, including me.

Oh well, I was offered Science in the end, which I did not take up. I felt lucky I was not chosen, for UKM gave me ample freedom to pursue my interests in a relaxed, slow-paced manner. It really is a blessing, and I cherish it.

Photos will be included soon,also in the pretending Lion Part 2.

Kuala Terengganu Trip Day 4 (21/4/2008) part 1

Up early this morn... My destination is the Pasar Kedai Payang.. in search of T'ganu delicacies... as directed by the motorcycle peddler! (2nd stop, the State Museum!)

 

his specific directions were to find Cik Ibrahim Jual kuih
and look for
1)Cik Abah Demang
2)Kek Ang
3)Peruk ayam (not to be confused with Perut ayam LOL!)

Well I did find him alright,

 

But he says those are the real traditional cakes... which he does not make...
I Hope he makes it during the Hari Raya, the Malay New Year...

Oh well I will have to be satisfied with my catch of the day

 

Clockwise from Centre:

1)tepung pelita- mildly fragrant white stuff on top... sugar water jelly mix at the bottom
2)ropah - fried kuih-- something like fried popiah.. yum yum
3)kepah - a glutinous rice tough skin that's grainy in texture with coconut shreds in the centre... too sweet for my liking.. and rather rough on the palate..
4) ??? (but something you can easily find elsewhere so nvm-lah :-p ) top white stuff smells of pandan.. could be the fragrance from the green jelly underneath embedded with small pieces of water chestnut
5)Tepung Pasong - as you can see from the picture below.. the bottom layer is paste mixed with gula melaka.. there's no filling within.

 

 

 

And these other two bites!

 

1) the golden yellow one is a type of unfried keropok with Kaya in the middle. But the kaya hor... not sweet and the texture in different from the ones we have in southern states... hmmm

2) the other one is called Paung Goreng. its fried in batches of 6-10 and the man snaps them off if you want say, 4 of them only. the middle is made up of coconut shreds and serunding ikan, or shredded fish meat (bak song) Quite nice but really too much for 1 person to handle haha

oh and one more....

 

Guess the name?
Tip... Web..... and the colour...

Yup!!! you're absolutely correct... It's called jala emas..
It's actually pure egg yolk fried in sugar water... quite unique but I guess it's an acquired taste.

Now for a little suprise...
The price of this Jala Mas equals to the price of all the other Kuihs above!!!

Literally as expensive as emas!!!

-The names of the kuih were provided by a lady I met while taking snapshots of the kuih-

The rest of terengganu kuihs like

satar, puteri mandi, bengkang, asam gumpal, nekbat etc will have to wait...

~~~~~~~~~~~


My bicycle pedal was wobbly since the day before.. with slight squeaky noises which I ignored.. what do you expect from a Bike worth about RM130? Well that little problem will plague me today... to no end...

 

Yup... the nut on the pedal fell off... sigh.. and I couldn't screw it back on...

 

Until this friendly newspaper uncle rushed to my rescue out of nowhere.. bringing out a spanner from the deep depths of his bicycle basket but alas... it wasn't the right fit.. but its once again proven to me that people from small towns are just so warm and friendly! He even went to extent of finding a penarik beca to borrow a spanner for me... well... no right fit there too....

 

so while waiting for the bike shop to open, I went to a Motorcycle shop indicated by the penarik beca to ask for help.. but they weren't too enthusiastic.. simply saying that there's no spanner size fitting my bike. Everyone knows theres such a things as a adjustable spanner... well wat to do when ppl say no?



Oh well.. that lead me to find this place!

 

Yup i think this is one of the famous stalls selling Nasi Dagang.. but his version only has beef or fish.. That didn't deter the folks from crowding up his small stall lot though... too bad I didn't stop for a try.. the morning breakfast was still filling my tummy...

Whaddayouknow? when I reached the bike shop ( which was still closed) I discovered I lost the nut and the metal washer!!!!

so the frantic me went back to where I last spoke to the Penarik beca and started combing the area... it was around 5 min of treasure hunting before I stumbled on the nut... the washer was nowhere to be found... sigh...

this time... the Trishaw man told me to try my luck at the row of shops just below the bridge to Pulau duyung... that's halfway of my journey to the State Museum.. oh well what the heck.. with 45 minutes before the bike shop opens I'll run the risk of the pedal dropping off instead of wasting my time... off I go!


turns out there are no Bike shops beneath the bridge but a row of hardware shops would do... The washer was given to me for free while I borrowed the adjustable spanner.. DONE! Off we go to the museum!