A trip to Rainbow Waterfall in Sg Lembing

My partner in crime Cheong is around and we decided to make a trip to Sg Lembing , an abandoned mining town. There are many natural attractions in this sleepy town so we decided to take along two bicycles and camping equipments. We started late and arrived sleepy Sg Lembing in time for a good dinner at the only Chinese restaurant in town. After dinner we decided to head towards the river to set up camp for the night. On reaching the end of the road towards the river we decided to set up camp for the night.Equipped with folding camp beds we had a very good night's rest. The air was cool (about 18C) and after some bullshitting around the campfire we dosed off.Next morning at dawn we heard distant sounds coming towards us. We quickly got up and there was an approaching truck. Without us knowing, we had camped in the middle of the road!. The trucks would just drive through the river to cross the other side. Upon enquiring from the truck driver we were told of the Rainbow waterfall which is just over an hour's drive away. We decided to look for a safe place to park my car and ride our bicycles to the waterfall.My car was parked near this river and we cooked a good breakfast so that we have energy for the ride.The simple meal of canned tuna, eggs and rice tasted very good in a place like this.The ride in was undulating and there were a lot of stones on the road. I was not equipped for a ride like this so I had to dismount and ride on many stony sections or when it gets too muddy. We were feasted with views like this so there is no complaints about the ride. After all this is not a race so we took it easy and enjoyed the ride.

At the end of the bicycle ride it was a hike up to the waterfall. We had to cross a stream and hike parallel to the stream. I believe during the rainy season the water level must be high.
The hike up took us about 45 minutes. On some parts we had to go through the slippery rocks.
The were a lot of good pools along the way for a dip and a spa massage nature's way.Soon from a distance we could get a glimpse of the waterfall.But before reaching we have more slippery rocks to climb.And this is how the waterfall looks like . We could not catch the rainbow as we were late but because of the spray of water hitting the rocks at a certain part of the morning a hugh rainbow could be seen across the waterfall.

The water droplets acts as a prism which refracts the light into its 7 colour spectrum.It was a good outing and weekend. As usual, not much money was spent for the trip. With fuel for the truck and food, possibly only RM 50 was spent.

We had consumed a lot of fresh air and oxygen but most important we had left nothing except our foot prints and took nothing except photographs for the trip. The place is still clean and relatively unspoilt and is worth a go.

My Shih Tsu dog is now blind!

Three days ago my wife noticed some blood on our veranda and remarked that our Shih Tsu bitch could be on heat. I went around the house to look for her so that I can isolate her from the other dogs.When I found her to my horror I saw her eyes dangling out of the socket! I yelled to my wife to call our vet immediately to do whatever I can to save her sight. There had been a similar incident like this a few months back when I was away in East Timor. I felt very sad and helpless!This Shih Tsu was purchased by my wife last year and when she came home i noticed that it had weak sights and also bad hearing. Googling on the Internet shows that this breed of dog tends to have bad sights and hearing. As a result of its bad hearing I nicknamed the dog "STUPIT" because it does not respond unless we shouted. Over the months STUPIT grew very attached to me and my daughter Alicia. Although it was their dog, I was the one doing the feeding and trimming to make her look pretty.

Seven months after the arrival of STUPIT to our family I decided that we needed another guard dog as our Alsation bitch CIKU seemed a bit lonely and needed a mate. So MATA, an Alsatian puppy was bought. STUPIT was the elder sister to MATA and they get along fine, always involved in some dog plays. They were just like brother and sister.

MATA grew fast and in no time it became a huge dog . The doggy plays continued. One of their favorite plays was STUPIT trying to bite MATA's mouth. Very often the whole of STUPIT's small head was inside MATA's head. They can play like that for hours and kept each other entertained. My other Alsation bitch CIKU would never join in their doggie play. On the night of the incident I believed MATA could have applied a little bit of extra force and it s teeth could have bit the eyes. I believe this is how my STUPIT sees the world now.......Dark. We have to cage her so that she does not get sand into her eyes . The first two days she would be still wondering around and bumping into obstructions but today she just sits when she is out of the cage. Poor thing!

As the head of my family I had to gather everybody together and talk about responsibility. During this period we have to show extra love and affection to the poor dog. Are we going to abandon one of our family members just because he/she becomes disabled in an accident? Th e answer is NO. Alicia is trying her best to cheer the dog. Right now she is playing the piano with the dog underneath. But as I had mentioned earlier her hearing is not too good as well but she does seem to treasure the moments under the piano. I can see her limp ears tweaking a little at a time What a dog's life she had. I am very disappointed. I hope STUPIT recovers and be happy again even though I know it may be impossible.

She may never be able to be accompanying me like she used to but I hope her other senses will grow stronger.

Question: What would you readers have done in a situation like this? Please comment generously!

First Customer for my Caravan Park

Ok , first of all I do not own a caravan park(yet!) but I have a big garden that can accommodate one or two caravans. So if friends who have caravans/motor homes who happen to pass by they are welcome to use the facilities. free water and electricity is provided and they have maximum security with my two German shepherds guarding the area. One of my sailing friends, Cheong had just purchased a VW Royale and he decided to drop in for the night. This is his pride and joy.

However in the Malaysian environment it is too hot to stay inside his motor home without an air conditioner. This is the first time Cheong is using his motor home so I prepared for him a camp bed and mosquito net PLUS I had the adjourning guest room opened just in case he needed the room.

It turned out he had a pretty good night's rest in the camp bed and later moved in to his motor home in the early hours of the morning. He was still able to work with the free wi fi that I had provided. He is a stock broker so all he needs is his hand phone and internet connection.

I am quite impressed with the VW royale but I think it was designed with the cold weather in mind so I would rather build one that is more "tropicanised". maybe a teardrop trailer camper will be ideal here. Got to stop dreaming or I will never be able to finish my building my catamaran!

Completing the Cuddy of my Gypsy 28 catamaran

After my tour of duty in East Timor I had 4 weeks Off. Now, this is a good time to continue my boat building project. From my last Off days I had finished constructing the cuddy. Now comes the not so difficult but labour intensive part..SANDING down the layer of glass to get a good finishing.

The spirits were high. I wanted to make this boat the smoothest and best looking Gypsy around. BUT the work never seem to end!

By the time I get a reasonably good finish I had already sanded too much..almost to the wood. So it is repair time again.apply another small patch of glass cloth and epoxy and then carefully sand it down again. However, the skill level improves as I get along.

I had a local fisherman Yee to help me a few days in the sanding work when he was not at sea.

But it is still a long and tedious process. I used a Bosch orbital sander to ease the process.

From the top to bottom....

At last I am almost satisfied with the smoothness. I always remember what Richard Woods (The designer of ths catamaran) told me about building a 50 ft boat....Build a boat that will look pleasant to the eyes from a distance of 50 ft! I used a 2 pot mixture PU paint from International paint.

The actual painting is actually quite easy .With a high quality roller the job can be completed in half a day.

Painting the top of the cuddy.

Hmmm it turned out to be quite nice. Feels good too.

I had to employ the services of my bitch Ciku to guard such a master piece.

The interior looks good too.

Overall I am happy with my work . Now the next stage is getting interesting..laying up the composite foams and building the hulls.

The Day my Cat Sailed Off

Well, actually it is now my previous catamaran. I had owned this Strider 24 racing catamaran for a few years and have had a good time sailing it. It was sailing this catamaran that prompted me to build a bigger and more comfortable catamaran. Over the last two years I had hardly used her as I was busy planning and building my new catamaran , a Gypsy 28 which is 4 ft longer and has a central cuddy. I passed the word around that my catamaran is for sale and there were quite a few interested parties but it was finally sold to Phillip Tinker and his wife KC in January this year. As they had to go back to Australia to settle some domestic problems, they will only take delivery of the catamaran only in May 2010. Presently they are in Malaysia on the M2H program (Malaysia my second home).The catamaran has been moored amongst the fishing boats near the bridge at Bukit Kuang so everyday when I pass by it is reflex action that my eyes will automatically turn toward the boat to see that it is still there. Actually I had appointed a local fisherman En Yee to look after the boat and nothing had gone missing the last few years. Well done and Terima Kaseh Yee. Yee was helping out in the loading of the provisions for the trip. The Tinkers are sailing the catamaran all the way back to Lumut on the West Coast.It is a journey of about 500 nm and they plan to cruise back in about 14 days.Phillip and KC Tinker.. a wonderful couple. They have a combined age of 126 years old and I thought I was a rugged and tough person BUT after seeing the Tinkers, I am no where near their category. Nothing seems to worry or scare both of them!The local fishermen were kind enough to allow us to use their jetty and also to use their boats as a pontoon.This makes our life a little easier but the sun was merciless!Fuel, Food water , maps, charts, radios etc had to be loaded up the catamaran. The boat will be home to this couple for about 2 weeks.All the items had to be stowed in its appropriate position. A catamaran is very sensitive to loading and Cof G. Riggings had to be checked.They used to say the happiest day is when a man buys himself a boat and the second happiest day is when he sells it. Well, in this photo both the seller and the buyer looks very happy! Phillip's wife KC looks happy and is looking forward to the trip. To be honest Phillip and KC are no strangers to sailing in Malaysia. They had owned and raced in a Young 88 sailboat named Mutz B Nuts in the 1980s.

The Suzuki 8 Hp started with just one pull. Ahem ..a good omen for them.Alright..bye for now..The mooring rope was then untied. Today is the 4 of May 2010 and according to the stars it is an ideal date to start a long journey. "TAKE CARE OF MY EX..." These were my parting shouts. I will meanwhile remain on land and shepherd their progress and giving local knowledge advices when required. That ends one era of my boat ownership. I looked back and saw an empty mooring lot. My new boat under construction will need another 2 years before it can get wet.