A friend of mine recently invited a few of us to join him for a 3 day hiking / waterfall adventure in Perak. The trip covered 3 different locations and quite far from each other. It turned out to be an adventure of "never to forget"..... albeit an interesting and challenging one
Day 1 - Lata Tengkoh Penyel at Sungei Siput
The entrance to Lata Tengkoh Penyel
We passed Bukit Berekeh, a 454 m high hill with 5 peaks to conquer. Probably will make that my next hiking destination
Bukit Berekeh with 5 peaks
As we were getting close to our destination, we came across a landside and there were workers trying to repair it.
Landslide and with the Parliamentarian for Sg Siput
Making our way pass the narrow road we finally reached our destination. The waterfall is located within a Orang Asli Settlement. Parking is available albeit only a few and there's a RM10 fee for parking.
The walk to the main waterfall is a short (only 15 mins) and an easy walk. You can hear the roar of the majestic waterfall once you arrived at the place
Lata Penyel Waterfall
The huts and the easy path (right)
However, we did not stay at the main falls for long as we wanted to hike to the upper falls. To get to the upper falls, we crossed the stream to the other side and the trail is clearly marked with ropes. It was a 45 min steep incline hike and infested with leeches!!!!😖😖😖 Thankfully there were ropes available to assist in our ascend to the upper falls, a tough climb.
Thankfully for the ropesThe upper falls is not as spectacular as the main falls but good enough to get a hydro massage in the cool rushing waters after a hot humid hike
The Upper Falls
Some interesting fauna and insects encountered. Part of this trail is also a cocoa plantation
After some time spent at the upper falls we made our way down to the main falls to enjoy our time, only to encounter more leeches!!!! There are changing rooms available at the waterfalls, so there's no worry about changing
Overall, a beautiful waterfall to soak yourself in and a not tedious hike if you stay at the main waterfall. However the journey to get to the waterfall is quite long.
We managed to get back to our cars in time before the sky opened up in thunderous applause and we headed off to Taiping for the night.
Day 2 - Bukit Larut (aka Maxwell Hill)
After a good night's rest and hearty breakfast, we were off to our next adventure, hiking up Maxwell Hill in Taiping. There are 2 routes that you can take, ie the road track which is clear and no worries about leeches or mosquitoes or the jungle track. We opted for the latter...😁😁😁
The adventurers at the foot of Maxwell Hill
The trailhead - Cross the old rickety bridge
Some parts of the trail is quite steep and occasionally some leeches
We came across some small waterfalls and interesting fauna as well. There was a huge rock surface that looked exciting enough to climb but decided against it as it was wet and looked slippery
The huge rock surface and mini waterfall
The pondok at KM 3.2
From here we decided to take part road and part jungle trail to descend. It's quite a nice walk along the road and managed to spot some nice fauna
We did an advance booking for this as it was a weekend but thankfully not many people came. After paying all the necessary entrance fees and briefing by our guide, we were off to the 5 platform walk first. Basically it is walking on staircase all the way.
After about 10 minutes we came to Platform 2 where we see a huge opening in front of us. You can shout and the echo will bounce back at you. Quite an astonishing experience. Again you will see some natural formation of animals and people
Platform 3 is an interesting stop, called the Golden Flowstone. This is a slope with shiny minerals on it and it's bright orange. The golden color appears when there's water flowing down especially during rain. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the slope change color
At Platform 4, this is where we took a long stop and rest to feel the cool air blowing through. It's actually wind coming from another opening in the cave and it blows through.
This is the end of the dry tour where we are at one of the highest point in the cave. From here you can get a good view of the whole cave and you need a powerful torch to shine around else it'll be quite dark 
After going through all the bending, crawling and sliding, we approached the stream. Unfortunately I couldn't take any photos as it was best to protect the cameras. For this section, we were once again crawling under narrow cavities, some enough to have your head just above water while some places you had to duck walk or bend 90⁰ to get through but it was a rewarding experience. We soon approach the other end of the cave.
Overall, it was a good caving experience and I must say that we were fortunate to have a knowledgeable and experience guide like Tajol who was patient and ever willing to answer our queries.
After a short break, we initially wanted to walk up via the road but managed to find another trail on the left of the pondok, near a changing/toilet hut. A short distance from the pondok you will come across a sign that leads you a waterfall. We went ahead to explore the falls but its not an easy hike as you have to cross a few mini falls and steep slopes.
Thankfully there were ropes to help us maneuver with ease through some of the steep slippery slopes
Along the way we came across a huge Lingzi fungus....and a few other black fungus as well.
After about 30 mins of hiking, we managed to reach the upper falls of Maxwell Hill. Quite a majestic fall and there is a small pool for you play in. The view of Taiping Town can be seen from this waterfall.
The view of Taiping Town
After a short break and frolicking at the waterfalls, we headed back on the same trail but towards the viewing point and Tea Garden. During our hike back, we managed to spot a baby snake that has just finished it's lunch....judging by the bulk on it.
From the signpost (as shown earlier) its another 20 minutes to the "Great Wall and viewing point. The trail again is quite steep albeit a short one
The Great Wall and the adventurers at the viewing point
From the viewing point, its a short distance to the Tea Garden and another waterfall. The hike is an easy one and from the tea garden, its just a short distance away. Unfortunately, the Tea Garden has been left abandoned and dilapidated for quite sometime now
The Tea Garden and waterfalls
And that concluded our hiking outing on Day 2. By the time we descended it was quite late and we took a simple late lunch before meeting up later for a nice dinner at New Bee Guan Seafood restaurant
Our dinner comprised of 2 veg, signature Tofu, Deep fried fish and Sotong........all cleaned out after the hiking trip!!!!
After a hearty dinner, we decided to head to family mart for macha ice cream. Unfortunately, there was none😒😒😒 and we settled for another flavor!!! Then it's back to the hotel for an early night.
Day 3 - Gua Tempurong Tour 4 (Wet Tour)
Another exciting day awaits us after a well taken sleep. We checked out after another hearty breakfast and we were off to Gua Tempurong. Another 3 friends met us there for this adventure, a different energy zapping adventure
The Adventurers at the entrance of Gua Tempurong
Info board regarding trip and prices to Gua Tempurong
Platform 1 is where the guide will lead you up to see all the bats in the cave. There are 2 species here, the fruit bats and insect bats. From here you need a powerful torch to shine at the bats. We managed to spot a few. Besides the searching for bats there are some natural formation of stalactites and stalagmites plus images of animals and people but you need to use your imagination to spot them
From here on, it's pitch dark and you will need headlamps and torch to guide you. We started to descend, still on staircase, towards the rock surfaces. Once we got off the staircases there's where our adventure starts.
We came across a stone with some chinese characters written on it about 3 men who explored the cave and came out in 1957
We were also fortunate to meet some residents of the cave as well
Further on deeper in to the cave we had to slide down as well as climb up a few steep rock surfaces and crawl through some narrow gaps. You literally need to be on all 4s when attempting to navigate through
The other side
After a brief stop for lunch and rest, we headed back in to the cave via the stream. Again more crawling, bending and duck walking. At one point we had to crawl through 5 low cavities, soaking yourself fully in water. It'll take you another hour or so of caving before you exit at the main entrance.
The victorious adventurers with our guide Tajol
Some of the rock images formed naturally
I would give this a "must try" experience once in your lifetime. But be prepared to get wet and dirty. You must make sure you have sufficient water, food, headlamp, powerful torchlight (waterproof if possible) and spare change of clothes. There is toilets and shower areas (RM1) for you to freshen up and change in to dry clothes.
The overall tour took us 5 hrs as against the normal 4 hour plus.
We headed for a late lunch and drove back to PJ after an exciting 3 day hiking experience. Looking forward to my next trip !!!
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