20th June 2009- It was a Saturday. Set my alarm at 6.10am but manage to get up earlier. Eyes still so sleeping as i slept last night at 12 only. Why must wake up so early on a Saturday I thought.First time waking up and it's still so dark. The day before i was thinking it wasn't too early when they said need to meet up at Seberang Jaya Hospital at 8.15am. Plus need to gather at 7.50 in Terrence house first before going there. My house to Terrence is about another 10-15 minutes. I had to leave my house by 7.35am. When i start doing all the maths then only i realize i need to get up pretty early, plus i need to eat something & prepare all my gears. Even for work also i only wake up at 6.55. At 7.50am Terrence called, "Where are you" he asked. Lucky I was on my way already no means i'm screwed.
All 5 of us had gathered rite on time at Terrence's place (Me, Terrence, Uthaya, Andy & Vijay). The first plan was to take my car, but last minute change of plans we took Vijay's car (Not sure why thou). Anything goes for me. As soon as we left both me & Terrence started to realize how slow Vijay was driving. Just too slow for our standards. But thank god that among of all the 3 cars meeting up at the hospital ours was actually the fastest.
Soon we were on our way to Teluk Bahang, Penang. First thing that was on my mind is where to have breakfast. I was hungry. Few biscuits & tea wasn't enough for me. Terrence suggested a place in Teluk Bahang, in front of Kahlels Nasi kandar. A mamak shop, with some chinese stalls nearby. It was the stop where finally all members of the team had gathered. We had some Roti Canai & bought some extra for lunch. Soon all 13 of us move on to Taman Negara which is the start of our hiking journey. As there is no place to buy food in Pantai Kerachut we had bought food earlier. All are contributions from the team such as mineral water, roti canai, fruits ,nasi lemak & maggi mee. We had no worries about food.
Everyone heading up the hiking path need to register first at the Taman Negara office prior to the journey for tracking purpose. Had a few pics & a little discussion before we were off for hiking to Pantai Kerachut which was 3km from Taman Negara. At first I thought it's going to be a tough 2 hours hike to the beach but that I realize it wasn't as hard. There's basically a walking path most of the way there & most of the time it's like a walk in the park. If i've know how easy it was i would have had Shogi bring his guitar there. We thought it was going to be hard to carry a guitar thru a hiking trail, so decided to leave it in the car.
As we were going thru the path the two military veterans was talking about hows their life was those days. Living in the jungle for sometimes almost 3 months. Only ammo was provide & food they had to find for themselves. Atmosphere so tense that opening a can would trigger the battalion on alert. Those were the days when they had to guard against the communist.
There were convenient sign posts & rest stops along the way. Quite a number of people also traveling to Pantai Kerachut. Just earlier a group of Chinese people went past us, we started earlier but had to slow down to wait for the others. Some were old & some don't have regular exercises. One of the reasons to go on a hiking trip of course is to promote a healthy life style.
As soon as we were closer we could hear the strong waves of the ocean. Just hearing that give you energy to go faster. Just could imagine a beach side & the waves pounding the sides. There was a clearing and we were there. There was a suspension bridge crossing the river mouth. We were finally there.
It's my first time there with many others. I just can't wait to get the the fishing spots. Just a day earlier i've bought my fishing gear, always have been my interest to fish. Nothing near a pro of course. It was hot out there as it was nearly 12. Our friends brought us to the spot which they previously used during their last trip. It was shaded and had rocks near by. Can see about 6 people fishing by the side of the rocks. There was washrooms to bath & toilet facilities. A jetty where we can hire a boat back & do some fishing. Vivek already contacted the boatmen earlier in the morning on what time we will be leaving from pantai kerachut.
We gathered all our stuffs & food in one place & having some lunch. Within minutes there was a bunch of monkeys hiding & looking form inside the jungle. They were hoping for food. They were kind of our entertainment as we were resting from the trip.
Had an apple first before me and a few other head out to the rock side to do some fishing of our own. I had no bait with me as i couldn't find any live bait yesterday. I can't buy and keep prawns also as I had no fridge at home. Luckily Uthaya brought some prawns but the skins was already taken out. That made the prawns soft and easy to be eaten by the fish. As time past we had no luck. Sashi moved into the water to get a better location. In a few minute wallah he caught a fish. It was small but a fish none the less, Ikan Bunting they call it due to it's over sized stomach. Uthaya made quick work off the fish into bait. Time passes by but no luck at all after that. We then went back to our spot to meet up with our friends and see what are they cooking. Thanks to Vivek we had a small reusable stove which we used to boil water & add to our maggi in cup.
I took nasi lemak for lunch which was more then enough as i drank too much water earlier.
We rested again. It was already 2pm. I was eager to try fishing again but this time from the jetty. Some of them went swimming, I knew if I hit the water that's it for fishing. I march past them and headed to the jetty. Few fellows already fishing there and they were getting small Sting Rays or Ikan Pari. I join in the hunt for fish but this time using my artificial bait. A small rubberized fish which would be suitable for bigger fishes. I manage to improve my throws, throwing further & further every time. But no bites at all. Too hot i thought myself. I had no live bait to try also till a group left leaving for some of us their bait. Now's the chance to catch some sting rays i taught. What I find happening is that the bait is munched away but none took the hook. Small fishes eating for free. Uthaya & Kunen joined me after a while but no luck also. It was already 3 plus, not a fish from the ocean. It was very hot outside & strong currents. Vivek came to take over what Uthaya left off. after few minutes suddenly the fishing rod dropped. We were too busy talk till it dropped. It was a fish foe Vivek, Bawal Putih they call it. Small but beautiful. It was a small hope that there was fishes around.
The boat journey was pretty nice with strong waves pounding the boat.Water splashing from the sides. Able to view the coastal side from afar. A beautiful sight in deed. Had some words from the boatmen. Telling us about the stone faces by the sea side. It was of a turtle & a crocodile. Huge were the sizes of these rocks. Amazing to see something so naturally crafted by the sea.
On the way he showed us Monkey Beach & USM own research center by the sea side with it's own jetty. We even saw a large black lizard swimming away from us luckily.
We later reached the Kampung Nelayan, where our cars were parked. We were hungry so we went to Miami Beach which is behind Park Royal. It's a place where there's a beach side pub & a lot of sea activities such as para sailing, jet ski & horse riding. We were there early so the Indian shop was still close. So we choose to have a drink first. The other cars had other appointment so they head home straight. Sitting on the beach chair admiring the view, although the sea was quite bad there but a lot of beautiful people were there. Had some datin's visiting the beach side with their bodyguards. Chilling with a few Tigers in hand by the beach is a statement some would always dream about.
We were approach by some of the promoters there promoting para sailing. Terence agreed to give it a try. It was his first time. We were just wondering what could go wrong as terence was pretty thin. We watched as the boat took him up high. He had his legs stretch out as though he was scared. As though a balloon was in the sky.
We watched as he made a large circle covering the whole beach front. Then it was time for him to come down. He was suppose to pull the string. He pulled it with both hand but to no avail. He was still sky high. They were shouting to pull the string from below. He couldn't hear them. He was supposed to actually pull only the left side of the para sail to bring it down, a fact he must have forgotten or not realize. They went around another time. This time one of the people in charge took the jet ski to get close to terence and tell him to only pull one side. He manage to do that but terence started pulling too much making the sail drop down. Luckily he let go of it and he was once again high up in the sky. He would have drop to the sea if he didn't let go. It's a pretty dangerous situation to drop in the sea as the chances is high that he can get tangled up with sail & landing in the sea can be pretty rough as you'll stop immediately. This time around he pulled the string correctly but he had to use 2 hands as he wasn't dropping much. Second time lucky I guess, he did a perfect landing. Had some people cheering for him as he landed there.
That was basically most of the journey we gone through the whole day. We took or dinner at Ananda Bagawan in Tanjung bungah. We had a last minute foot massage then headed home for kulim. Thanks for Vivek & Uthaya in putting effort in organizing this trip to Pantai Kerachut without whom we couldn't have made this journey.
