Explore Nature

Hello! I am so exited to write on my latest #explorenature activity.

My friends and I have been planning to try white water rafting since last year but we never got the chance to do so until recently. Last weekend, 8 of us went on a nature adventure at Gopeng, Perak. We booked a package with Riverbug.asia and we were so glad that we chose them. We have to thank Thiru for organizing the trip and everything went on smoothly. 

The package that we took included white water rafting, waterfall abseiling and caving at Gua Kandu. Lunch and tea were provided as well. We paid RM290 each for the package. 

On Saturday, 27th August 2016, we gathered at Gopeng toll exit and waited for the tour guide from Riverbug.asia to meet us there and lead the way to the Ulu River Lodge where we parked our cars. 

The 5 of us car-pooling to go to the meet up point

Upon arrival, we were asked to fill up a form and given a locker to put our precious belongings. Then the fun began! We took a lorry to go to Riverbug briefing/storage area where the white water rafting will begin. 

The journey with the lorry took about 10-15 minutes. It was a new experience for us. I have never stand at the back of a lorry as such before. 

Gearing up for our white water rafting adventure

We were given a clear and thorough briefing on white water rafting prior starting our adventure. The safety measures and the commands that were used in rafting were explained to us. Basically, all we have to do is to listen to the guide's instruction and there were only a few of them which made it easy to remember. Forward paddle means to paddle forward, backward means paddle backward, Boom Boom means danger so we have to sit in the raft and hold tight to the safety rope, Jump Jump means to bounce on the raft in case the raft get stucked in between the rocks or someting. Pretty easy huh.

Geared up and all ready!

As can be seen from the photo, there were a lot of people doing white water rafting on that day. We had to queue and took turn to start the rafting and also to go through the rapids. The waiting was pretty time consuming. As the water level on that day was a bit shallow, we were separated into 2 groups. Soh Nam, Bany, Sashi and I were in a raft together and our guide was Han. Thiru, Hidayah, Lini and Aishah were in another raft and their guide was Jerry. 

The Riverbug person took a lot of shots of us along the way but I have not gotten the photos from them. They said it would be up in their website and we can purchase them online but the photos are still not available. 

The 2 photos above were taken with my Gopro camera. Those are the photos of Thiru's raft. I was in my raft about 20 metres from them so the photos are not very sharp. There were water droplets on the lens thus making some area of the photo a bit blurry. I can't wait to purchase the photos from Riverbug. I saw the photos in their laptop the other day. The photos are amazing. 

After white water rafting, we had lunch at the Ulu River Lodge. The food was amazing! Or perhaps because we were so hungry, we ate heartily. 

After lunch, we went for waterfall abseiling. It was my favourite activity of the day. I bruised my knee as I slammed on the rocky wall and I was bitten a bug or maybe a leech but the experience was worthy. 

Look at the waterfall. Beautiful! 

That's me! I nailed it!

Feeling so excited and super proud of myself after I abseiled down the waterfall

The awesome gang who went for #exploranature adventure 

After waterfall abseiling, we went caving at Gua Kandu. Gua Kandu is a limestone cave. It used to be the hideout place for the communist back in the days. Some part of it was very dusty. It was pitch black inside. We each had a torch light/headlight to help us move in the dark. Most parts were dry. Helmet is a must as we have to crawl/squat at certain area and I bumped my head multiple times.

We saw stalactites and stalagmites which took centuries to form. There were rocks that resemble the famous 'ThunderCats' but sadly it was too dark inside to capture any photo with my Gopro camera. 

The entrance of Gua Kandu

After caving, we went back to Ulu River Lodge to shower and change to clean and dry clothes. 

It was already dark by then. The lodge does not have electricity supply and depends on generators. But on days where there are no guest staying in for the night, they do not turn on the generators. So we showered in partial darkness, using the torch light to give some light. 

After shower we had some cakes and coffee. To our surprises, the guides brought out a birthday cake! We wondered whose birthday it was and had to see the names on the cake to find out. 

My first birthday cake for year 2016 :-)

The cake was for August babies and me. We didn't expect the cake at all. Thanks to Thiru for organizing a surprise birthday celebration for us. Surprises are always nice.

The day ended perfectly with a nice piece of chocolate cake each. The guides then lead the way back to Gopeng Toll exit and we drove back to Ipoh, exhausted but happy and satisfied.

Anniversary

10th August. It will forever be and important date.

A year ago on this day, Thiru, Hidayah and I began our open water scuba diving course in Dive Downbelow, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

And today is also the day when I first met my current boyfriend @Butang.

How time flies.

You know how Facebook has this memories thing pops up on the home screen each time we open the apps. Today this came up. Saw this in the morning while running my routine elective operation. I straight away texted Thiru and Hidayah and we started reminiscing about this day a year ago. We got so emotional talking about it, I had tears in my eyes. 

From colleagues, we became dive buddies then travel buddies, eating buddies and running buddies. I have grown to love this 2 ladies so much. We have been to quite a few places together and we have plans for more places in future. 

A year ago when we decided to learn scuba diving, little that we knew that it was going to be so hard. We thought it would just be a fun activity to try but it turned out to be a serious and tough course after all. We almost gave up but thanks to our instructor (who has turned into my boyfriend *wink* )we made it through. He was so patient and really did his best to help us out. Thank you Sayang!

I still remember, wanting to pee but refuse to pee in the water although I was not wearing a wetsuit then. We were doing confined skills, the water was shallow enough for me to be able to stand up, remove the BCD and the weight and ran to the toilet. I blamed my morning coffee for that. And to make things even more funny, after me it was Thiru's turn to run to the toilet. LOL. Oh boy, @Butang sure had to deal with a lot of our nonsense back then. 

The day we were certified as open water divers

Another thing from our first trip together that I could recall was when Thiru played her violin in the living room of our hotel. She wanted to let Hidayah and I listen to the song. But Hidayah went to bed and sleep right when Thiru started to play. She had totally no idea that Thiru wanted her to listen and Thiru said "oh I must have played it so badly that Hidayah straight away went to bed". LOL. 

We celebrated Hidayah's birthday during that trip as well. We went for dinner at an Italian restaurant but we were so tired from the diving lesson that we couldn't eat at all. I couldn't find the photo where we all looked like we were going to fall asleep there and then at the restaurant. 

Thank you ladies for putting so much smiles and colours in my life. Lets cherish this friendship and make it last. 

We have decided that each year we are going to have an anniversary dive trip. So this year, we will be joining a dive event in conjunction with Malaysia Day - Bubbles of Hope. We will be diving at Pulau Tioman. The event organizer, PV Dive joins hands with an NGO 'Small Changes' to organize this charity dive where the profits will be used to provide educations for unfortunate children. 

I can't wait for the trip. I need my vitamin SEA!

Gifts for sisters

Have you heard, even the most simple act of kindness can make you feel happy?

There are many published papers that describe this. When someone lends a helping hand or maybe just smile or make others feel better in some ways, the brain reacts by releasing a hormone that send signals for us to feel elated, we feel happy in return.

The world would be a much better place when everyone is happy. 

I was walking in MPH book store the other day. I was not looking for any particular book so I took my time and walk through every aisle, checking out books that caught my eye. 

Then I saw this..

I think this would make a great gift for my sister Ati. She has been unwell lately. I hope this will help her to feel better. 

So I wrapped it up nice and pretty and gave it to her today. We had a doctor's appointment in KL. 

I hope this would be a good read for Ati. Hope she likes reading it. 

I also got something for Ira, a fiction book. Ira loves to read. She used to curl up and read for hours. Now she is more into her phone although she carries a book everywhere she goes. 

"when you make someone smiles, your heart smiles along"

Footnote : Ati and Ira are both my younger sisters. Although they can get very annoying at times, I love them to bits!