Wednesday, January 10, 2007

An afternoon in Ulu Tamu



We had our picnic at Ulu Tamu in Batang Kali. The place is actually at the foot of Genting Highlands. The place is rather unknown and least likely choice among picnickers. Many other places are widely publicized as the spots for recreations within an hour driving radius from Klang Valley, but not Ulu Tamu. I prefer to be at the secluded areas where we may not hassle with too many people and some sense of privacy for the family.

So, on that Sunday, in the last few weeks, when my wife was away on duty down south, I brought my kids to Ulu Tamu. Yeah it was Ulu Tamu but the exact location we went to was a private property. It was some 45 minutes drive from our place in Saujana Utama, Sungai Buluh, using Guthrie Highway to Rawang and the road leading to Kuala Kubu Baru.

Well, I wouldn’t have brought the kids there if my friend Cikgu Azmi didn’t invite me to see his fish ponds nearby. He is farming out fish in 4 big fish ponds at the place and by the way it looks he is very serious in it, with tens of thousands of ringgits of investment, complete with necessary equipments & gadgets and Indonesian workers to take care of the ponds 24-7.

It was very much to the liking of my kids to be at that place. They started to pump up and got excited when the first impression of the “adventure” was, crossing the creek of 2 feet deep using 4-by-4 Ford Ranger when we got there. My saloon family car had to be parked next to the Orang Asli settlement before hopping on the pick-up truck. I kept reminding the kids to hang tight on the bar and not to lean too much outward, afraid they might fall off when the truck had to endure the rough terrain. They screamed with excitements when water starts spurting to the sides and the truck quivering and wobbling while tolerating the rough surface. It was yet another scream when the truck starts climbing more than 30-degree slope, and down. It was still safe for the kids to be at the back throughout, if not I would've not allowed them to be at the back and have them wrapped in the seats instead.

Reminds me of my hunting trip in Muadzam Shah years ago when we were tracking a deer on the back of Toyota Hilux with our double barrels. Well, this one deserves an entry of its own. I digress.

Soon after, we were greeted with breathtaking view of a watercourse amidst the thick jungle with the mountain at the back. My boys, Sam & Edrin hurried with their swimming suits and goggles once we settled our things at the makeshift hut next to the fish pond, some 20 meters away from the stream. In no time, they hit the water before their sister Fara was ready.

Nice and cool. The water was so clear, the rocks were beautiful and the water flows down to Ulu Yam, a favourite spot for picnic not far from Kuala Lumpur. Hence, my kids pissed on other picnickers down the stream on that day :-)

My three kids had a whale of time playing in the water, until such time I called them back again for another 4 x 4 ride around the fish ponds, feed the fish. Jump into the water, a break in the hut for snacks, back to the water again, holding breath underwater competition, dried leaves regatta, running around, 4 x 4 ride yet another round, creeping down the brook, chasing after small fish, hauling and stacking rocks to make a beaver dam, crumble them up, play silly games… It was heckuva time for them.

They dozed off in a car only after minutes of ride back home. All in all… it has been yet another happy time for my kids for their list.


24 comments:

silversarina said...

Wow, such a splendid Sunday picnic/outing you had. Bestnya!!

Picnic like this makes me homesick, it's been berkurun tak berpicnic(malaysian style !! )

Anonymous said...

Ruginya tak bawak Mak diorang sekali. Kalau I, akan merajuk 2 minggu.
Tapi dapat dibayangkan kalau Mak budak-budak ada, separuh sakit jantung 'dup','dap','dup','dap' risaukan anak-anak ~ mana nak risau ada yang jatuh tebing, yang menyelam tak timbul-timbul....opps lupa, anak2 dah besar-besar ya?

simah said...

ur description is so vivid ..i feel as if i was there myself...

love the view..

miss the gigantic trees of our country...
nak terjun dalam air jugak!

thanks 4 the permission. u r linked :0)

Anonymous said...

Kalau bebudak kat rumah baca entry ni, sure dorang pun sibuk nak pergi gak...

m i n e r a l . . . said...

ada kolam ikan besttt... cita-cita tu nk buka kolam ikan.... hehehe coming soon.

loveujordan say : Picnic like this makes me homesick, it's been berkurun tak berpicnic(malaysian style !! )
jejejeje malaysian style ker? aku picnic tepi higway jer...err...errr tu pun leh kira picnic tak? ahaks

nanies said...

wahhh bestnya gab tempat tu..ish sure air dia sejuk n fresh ek..ermm...ulu tamu...hermmmm

mommy@lif said...

never heard of ulu tamu.. my last trip to waterfall was months ago, we had lunch @ lata rek en route to pasir tumboh.

pesal tak bawak wife sekali? sure lagi seronok.. mama jadi juara tahan napas dlm air !

psstt dulu² i selalu berkubang ngan the boys.. we all suka main kejar╡ dlm air.. nak tau sape yg kena kejar?..yg jentik air paling slow bunyi dia

Anonymous said...

pissed on other people eh...hahaha. my former lecturer brought us students for an excursion to this place called pertak in kuala kubu bharu back in the 80's. it was nice to plunge into the waterfall until i saw some poop floating nicely along the stream. we, the girls terjerit2 maki hamun and scurried back to land and later we found out it was of the boyz whodunit. celaka betol!

ManaL said...

Sir, one thing i DO notice is that, u r a father who loves to include ur kids in ur many entries. A father normally isnt that good at expressing himself in words not until something pressured him to do so and that usually made the children listen in awe. But in ur case, hmmm...., perhaps a lot of other kids wud want a daddy like u. I hope u stay cool with them coz i know quite a few of my friends who're "chummy and kamcing" with their father.

Gab: a doting father, a persevering husband, man's man who like it heavy at the top, and resourceful nonetheless. There, now you can upgrade your "About me" description.

Lollies said...

waahh the best. ulu tamu ya. nak gi lah
and the ford ranger looks so cool.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Gab,
refreshing to know that such a treasure of a place is within reach for us in KL and PJ.
Let's hope greedy and crooked property developers dont take notice and decide to turn it into a massive housing estate.
i am waiting for the next school holiday to go there.

Idham said...

:) wahh...bapak mithali...salute!

idham

Unknown said...

You know Gab, it is such times when parents bond with their kids that helps boost character building in them. Such times too boost their confidence about the good that still exists in life and make them sensible and kind beings at the end of the day. Well done.

About daddy bonding with their kids as Manal mentioned, I totally agree here that kids need emotional bonding with their daddy just as much, especially boys. I have all boys and they grow up well balanced when their daddy becomes their buddy too.

~ GAB ~ said...

RINA JORDAN --> There must be places in Jordan as well like Wadi and those things in Lollies blog.


AMARIA --> The mother's on duty, can't help it. It happens every now and then, when their mom's not around, I'd find way to occupy kids' time and thus reduce the feeling of missing in 'em.
And the mother is sure a good sport when we are in any rough "adventure" though less likely she's too excited over it.


SIMAH --> Sure it is a nice place there, the jungle is nice.


KOPI O --> Once in a while I'd suggest you to take your kids to those kind of places with 4x4. It's gonna be fun for them.
Last Saturday night, 13 Jan, I brought the boys for fishing at Northport, Klang. We went there at 10 pm and back home at 5:30 in the morning. Regardless of the fish caught (of which we had a bad luck, :-)), they had so much fun.


TUN --> Yeah... Nice to have fish ponds... I love it too.

Don't make a fool having picinic next to highway TUN. I did that before... wehehehe. Actually we were on our way to JB and the car broke down on highway. While waiting for the car get fixed, we looked for nice place, we open up our "bekal", spread out our "tikar" and we had our impromptu picnic.


NANI --> Sure it's a nice place. I am not choosy when it comes to jungle. As long as the place is full of natural greeneries, that's enough for me to feel good.


MOMMY ALIF --> Hey, LATA REK is a nice place, we went there before. And I do have an autie over at that area after all.

hehehe Now I know, you were the one... "berkubang" with the boys back then.


KC --> Hahaha... Why didn't you do the same. You just go upstream, give them a good pood. An act of revenge... heheh


MANL --> I am the type of person that not easy receiving compliment even though I love recieving it. Surely I do love my kids so much. Not just my own kids, I love all kids, babies. I'm the type who'd stop a stranger with babies, ask about the babies, pinch on the cheeks, give acompliments to the parents and I can see the parents are proud of it and I am in turn feel so happy making others feel great. There are a lot of truths in what you said. They are "kamcing" with me. I treat them as friends.


LOLLIES --> Yeah... nice. And it's nice also when it comes to your experience in Oman (Wadi Bashing with all the lovely pics you have in your blog. Sorry I didn't leave any trace but I read all your entries.


NURAINA A SAMAD --> Thanks for dropping by my humble blog Nuraina. I'm honoured when a "heavyweight" blogger comes in, regardless of old or new. And yeah, better not those greedy people get to notice places like that but we cannot stop the march of time wehn it comes to developing any places for that matter.


IDHAM --> Try my best not to be "Bapak Menyesali" heheheh cool man!



RUBY --> I've experience hard enough things and I know what I had been carrying in me since I was little. I was longing for some kind of thing as a kid and I do not want my kids feel the same. Being exposed to another culture(s) from another part of the hemisphere also become apparent in me collecting the good parental values.
Good for your boys to have your hubby as a father to them.

wonda said...

Hi Gab,
I remember you tumpang ketawa bergolek-golek at my blunder of mistaken identity and reprimanding the wrong boy. From that day onwards, I have been tracing your footsteps home, sneaking around and peeking into your home. Saw you played Uno with your kids, cooked up a fanciful storm in the kitchen for your kids when your wife was away on duty ..........
Nice to know you and thank you for your visit. I give you a red carpet welcome. BTW, hope you ketawa bergolek-golek selalu but don't fall off your chair, ok?

wonda said...

Gab,
Ulu Tamu is still not so discovered by many. But once it is publicised and developed, the natural beauty will soon be lost. Good thing you and your family could still enjoy it. Would like to visit it and Lake Pedu. Haven't been there to Lake Pedu yet. Have you? One more place I would like to visit again after umpteen years is Gunung Jerai.

aNIe said...

Gab...apa pun yang dibuat bila bersama anak2....tentu menyeronokkan...lebih2 lagi bila tengok diorang sama-sama enjoy the picnic...

'The water was so clear, the rocks were beautifull and the water flows down to Ulu Yam.....'

Dpt bayangkan keindahan tempat itu....

KopiSoh said...

Thanks for your visit, I hope you enjoyed it, bila senang mai lagi OK, kopi O always free bagi patrons kopitiam.
I also like the lesser known spots, unspoilt by vendors and such, I mean at those popular spots people will start selling things and some will harrass you to buy this and that, not so much fun, I like your pictures too reminds me of when I was young and my parents would often take me, my sisters and cousins to the waterfalls, of course we bungkus banyak food like goreng pisang, nasi lemak... hehehe

Anonymous said...

Gab - Thank you for dropping by my blog. Ulu Tamu really seems like a nice place..natural and beautiful scenery. Too bad we do not have these anymore in Singapore...sigh..

Anonymous said...

so many ulu....

1. Ulu Tamu
2. Ulu Yam
3. Ulu Bendul
4. Ulu Langat

~ GAB ~ said...

WONDA --> Thanks for dropping by. Of course I still remember about the story you made a blunder with mistaken identity that left the Japs puzzled. hahahah And I thought you were funny, I recomended for you to be in TV.

I don't know you were in here neither did you know I was in yours. heh


KAK LADY --> Benar Kak Lady. The fatherly / fatherly instinct is as such, happy to see them happy.

Sure the place is nice Kak LAdy


FATTY POH --> Thanks for coming. Perhaps you are missing that Jln Temenggong as much I miss the whole district of Kelantan. It has been years since I really stay there. Went out from the state long time ago... Love your account on east coast delicacies in your blog.


NORABELLA --> Don't worry, practically speaking if we look at the distance from where you are at to the closest waterfall, justa a matter of may be some 50 km away in Kota Tinggi. I do not sugges you to go now because the worst hit of flood over there now... I feel so bad for the people in Johore... Bet S'pore is not significant with flooding right?


BUNGA --> Right BUNGA, many ulu's we have. Of all the Ulu's which one d'ya like? :-)

Anonymous said...

i like ulu bendul at Negri 9 (waterfall).... i went there when i'm 8 years old with family outing... i'm so happy to climbed the rock & jumped to the water. It's very adventured to me.... but now, the ulu bendul is different... so many chalet build there... it was changed...

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