Showing posts with label Week 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 8. Show all posts

Day 56

Had my final ‘luxury’ breakfast after waking up before I’m tight on cash again. Took a bus to Gunung Ledang.

Walked a short distance from where the bus dropped me and one of the Gunung Ledang Resort staff gave me a motorcycle ride there as he was heading the same way. Enquire a little from the entrance staff at the resort and walked to Gunung Ledang National Park afterwards. The road I took made me felt that I was climbing the mount already haha.

Reached the National Park after a pretty tiring walk. Was about to rest awhile but the tourism staff there kinda greeted me and started to converse with me. In the end, got to know each other better and she kinda gave me a guided tour around the place.

Was brought to Sungai Air Putih Waterfall. It was certainly nice but I was actually distracted by the conversation more instead of enjoying the nature. Guess my action of not bringing a camera was right after all since I’m not a good multi-tasker. Was taken to Kolam Mahligai later on and then a place in which there are Theraphy fish or “ikan Kapi”. Tried the ‘treatment’ and it helps a lot especially since my feet have been in bad condition for quite some time.

After hanging around at the National Park for awhile, ‘tumpang-ed’ some ‘big shots’ car to Segamat. Very interesting people especially the Chinese ‘boss’.

Was taking a stroll at Segamat to look at the results from the recent “banjir” as I was just tagging along. Didn’t notice at all from yesterday’s walk and this morning about the condition of the town. The flood really caused a big loss to the town’s citizen. Was pretty ignorant about natural events such as this because newspaper and radio were out of my reach during the travel. Now I know how difficult it is for unlucky people like them.

Was dropped at railway station and I took a bus to Tampin from there. Time to say farewell to Johor. Reached Tampin, the town that is located at Melaka/Negeri Sembilan border. Looked around for job and accommodation as I was tight on cash. Met this Indian Muslim family at their restaurant and received help and dinner. Continued walking around town and now gonna sleep at railway station again. Left exactly one week.

Day 55

Woke up. Did some stuff to finish off what I started. Then it was adventure time.

Walked to Gunung Lambak Eco Resort from Kluang town. The place was nice and many people gathered here to climb the mount (walk would be more appropriate). Scouted around the area and found out that there are 3 trails and 2 peaks accessible. 2 trails lead to one peak and another trail leads to a different peak. Nonetheless, all trails are pretty much connected. There’s another peak actually that is not allowed entry apparently because the trail to that peak has many wild animals along the way.

Used the trail that seemed like many people were using. Don’t wanna get lost on a hill again haha. The trek was quite challenging. Met many people along the way. Managed to reach the peak in quite a short period despite the ‘steepness’ during the climb. Either the trail is short or the mount is short. Nice view above. Although there weren’t much options on what view to look at.

Hanged around at the peak for a moment and a pair of uncle and aunty whom I met earlier caught up with me. Became a little closer to them despite language barrier. In the end, followed them down the hill using a different trail which is longer but easier. Record check (it’s been quite some time):
Gunung Lambak – Start: 0922, Reached: 1015, End: 1125, Duration: 2 hours 3 mins

Took a simple bath at the eco resort after the climb as I was pretty dirty from the dirt and sweat in addition to not bathing for several days already. Totally refreshing despite simply bathing only. Had a relaxing lunch and walked back to Kluang town.

Walked around in town under hot sun sorting my plans out in a pretty relax manner. Guess I really had no idea on what to do after Gunung Lambak. In the end, was just chilling around waiting for train to Segamat at night.

Took the train to Segamat. Reached Segamat. Walked around town for awhile. Gonna sleep at railway station.

About a week left. Money finishing soon again. Wonder how will my journey ends.

Day 54

A memorable day worth remembering. Although there are some not so nice things that happened as well, it’s still a great day.

Left Kampung Nelayan Air Masin and Kukup to head over to Tanjung Piai. Passed by Serkat on the way, another small village in Johor like Kukup. Few kilometres before reaching Tanjung Piai National Park, a “Pak Cik” gave me a motorcycle ride there.

Tanjung Piai National Park deserves its title as a National Park. Really nice and well-maintained. My student ID helped me in paying less for entrance fee; glad I brought it along. Walked around, looked around, hanged around with the staff, and chatted around with other visitors. Finally, reached the southernmost tip of mainland Asia:
Time: 1234 hours (no joke, seriously), Date: 6 February 2011, Sunday

Time to end my travel after so long. As quoted at the monument in Tanjung Piai: “Veni, Vidi, Vici; I came, I saw, I conquered” (if I remember correctly). Two of the quotes I remembered pretty well along the walking trail was “Success is not a destination, but a journey” and “You can’t change others, but, if we change ourselves, we may change the world.”

Walking to and back from the southernmost tip monument was ‘challenging’. I hanged around too long that the water level rises so high and the waves actually ‘drowned’ the pathway. Made my shoes and socks all wet. Also had a ‘war’ with monkeys at the entrance on my way back. They saw my biscuits and grabbed the plastic bag but I managed to stop it from taking the biscuits away. Then it was ‘patience contest’ in which we stared at each other and it was 3 on 1. Had help from staff and managed to secure my biscuits.

Had a free “bas pekerja” ride on my way out all the way to 5 km before Pontian Kechil in which I walked there later. As said before, typical big Johor town. Foolishly took a bus back to JB and then KTM to Kluang. Kluang is another big town.

Passed by an Indian wedding and ate for free after asking. How lucky. Helped to clean up and experienced the night life of Kluang when looking for bus station. Chinese community here seems to be dominating Johor towns.

Had a few little incidents at Kluang bus station. Sleeping here now.

Day 53

Didn’t sleep much last night. Was practically shifting my sleeping spot most of the time. Sat at the restaurant for really long. It seems I’m getting used to sleeping a few hours only as I’m as energetic as usual after waking up.

Headed over to “Hutan Bandar JB” and the walk was interesting like many walks I’ve had. The city forest was generally nice. Many people especially those that come with families are there enjoying themselves. Nevertheless, more maintenance work need to be done consistently in order to make the place better. After all, there are flawed places which are pretty ugly to look at due to lack of maintenance.

Moved on to Tasik Merdeka. On the way there, some funny incident occured. Found a signboard leading towards a Malay wedding and “kenduri”. Followed it as maybe I can eat for free if I ask. However, as usual, couldn’t gather the courage and forget the shyness to ask for food because it’s such a weird thing to do. Continued walking and somehow kept getting lost and reaching dead ends. In the end, need to return all the way to the Malay wedding house and then follow the big road to go Tasik Merdeka. Hopefully you get my implications haha.

Tasik Merdeka was nice too. However, something happened that distracted me from fully enjoying the view and environment. Plus, once again, the place needs consistent maintenance work, seriously.

Continued my walk and both nice and not so nice things happened again. Passed by Dataran Merdeka with many minor events happening along the way. Reached back JB city centre and finally leave the place by bus to Pontian. Then another bus to Kukup. Pontian was typically like other towns in Johor, really big. Could tell it’s a nice place to hang around, but, I moved on to Kukup regardless.

Finally, a small town in Johor, Kukup. In fact, too small to be a town; more like a village. It’s a really nice fisherman village and the atmosphere here is great especially with CNY mood. Received help at Kampung Nelayan Air Masin. Chinese community here are really nice. Nonetheless, they still had to be alert around strangers. Can’t be blamed. And there are always this really small percentage of minority that are bad or weird. Guess there’s always at least a spoilt one in a group.

Sleeping in some abandoned looking temple which has turned into a ‘hand around’ spot. Firecrackers, fireworks, floating tang lungs, etc are really nice.

Day 52

Really glad that I can ‘recharge’ myself after meeting this newly made friend and put up a night at his house in Kulai. Completely ‘freshened’ up.

Today was an unproductive day. Spent the whole day doing pretty much nothing. Hanged around at Mr. new friend’s house till late afternoon as he wasn’t feeling very well so I couldn’t get a ride back to JB without waiting for him. Really glad that I get to meet him. A nice person with nice family.

Spent the remaining time at JB City Square area watching people here. Somehow not in the mood to walk. People in JB are similar to KL. Really all sorts of people can be found here. Seriously need to be careful around here.

Nonetheless, watching people’s behaviours can be really interesting. All sorts of funny little stuff can be observed here.

Haven’t figure out where to sleep yet. I’m just so lazy haha. Hopefully it doesn’t ‘cost’ me later.

Random note: The bus station I first ended up in when I arrived in JB is Larkin area.

JB is a big city with confusing roads and lots of construction work going on at certain places. You can find all types of people here which also means you need to be aware of weird and bad-intentioned people. Generally, similar to KL but you can find distinctive characteristics that distinguish JB from KL. Kulai looks like how Subang Jaya and Damansara area are so you can imagine Kulai and other neighbouring towns are like how Subang and Damansara are to KL area. Just my assumption anyway. JB is unique on its own because of Singapore’s influence probably. After all, Singapore is just a stone throw away from JB so it isn’t surprising to find Singaporeans’ features and elements on JB buildings and all.

Tomorrow is a new day. My journey is ending soon too. It’s been long. Even after my journey ends, I believe there would be many things for me to do and fix. Nonetheless, I will be able to move on; at least, I’m hoping and believing so. As of now, lets focus on completing this journey first. I’m getting a hunch that there will be more obstacles ahead. I really want to achieve my objective.

Day 51

It’s Chinese New Year and I’m out here instead of home. Slept at some random “pondok” I found in Danga Bay. Woke up in the middle of sleeping to change sleeping location as half way during my sleep, some random person popped out of nowhere sitting nearby me. For safety reasons, better to stay away from suspicious characters like that. Continued sleeping at the main stage after looking around.

Woke up late. After-effect of not sleeping one night. Took a bus to JB city centre back and performed normal morning practices by bumming into public facilities. How inconvenient.

For some reason, my memory is kinda hazy about what I did. Probably because of lack of sleep or that I didn’t really planned my route and simply bummed into places. I’ll just write what I remember nevertheless.

One of my ‘main event’ for the day was visiting one of the oldest Chinese temple in JB. As it’s the first day of Chinese New Year, many people went to the temple to pray. The traffic jam was bad and the RELA team helped to control the traffic. One of the thing I dislike seeing was how many people were gathering at the front entrance of the temple to receive donation from people visiting the temple. Can’t they look for other alternatives to look for money in a better manner? Gosh….

Temple were congested with Chinese. All sorts of ‘mini events’ were going on. It was worth visiting just to feel the Chinese New Year atmosphere. Being there reminded me that I should be at my hometown relaxing and enjoying Chinese New Year and not out in a place with no company at all. Nonetheless, this trip will reward me greatly.

After a little chatting and looking around, went lunch and headed to my next destination: ZON JB, a place with duty free complex. Walking there was mentally-tiring. The roads were crazy in JB. On a different level than other cities such as Ipoh, Alor Star, etc. Probably because of Singapore located nearby.

Passed by some beach at Tanjung Puteri before reaching ZON JB. It was nice as usual. The waves are slightly different probably because it’s a “tanjung”. Walked a little and bought cheap biscuits at ZON JB. Took bus back JB city centre. Some events happened and later, ended up at a church looking for a place to sleep. More things happened with the guard and some people at church and now ended up in a new made friend’s house. Really glad.