Wednesday 18 July 2007

Batu Dam - Part 2 - Leeches, Bikers and a Cold Hard Trail

NOTE: A lot of our videos have been deleted when Google Video died!!! So some of the text may not make sense.

Batu Dam Trail, it was really an excellent trail for hiking and/or mountain biking. The trail was very scenic, beautiful and serene. So many times along our journey we had to stop and enjoy the view.... and of course to catch our breaths... LOL

Anyway, there were in total 7 of us; Azril, Izaini, George, Daniel, John, Ken Wei and me.

Aside from Azril and Izaini, the rest of us are all newbies to mountain biking. Well... George, Daniel and I have had some experience... if you can call it that... at the Rubber Research Institute... LOL Ok, ok... I am stretching it.

Everyone was very excited as this was our first visit to Batu Dam. The only information we had on Batu Dam was from reading the articles and viewing photos on the Internet.

As soon as everyone's bike was ready, we set off to climb the very first slope leading to the dam. Man... what a slope it was... Check out the location on Google Earth and photo here.

Since I was a self-designated video camera man, I had to do my duty by cycling ahead so as to be able to capture the geeks as they rode pass just like on Discovery Channel... LOL.

It was a pretty gentle climb that stretched on and on... at least that's what I felt. Finally we made it to the top. Lo and behold! The dam was really beautiful and calm.

Not quite getting over the sight of the dam, we continued and headed along the trail still beholding the view... LOL.

Then came the first obstacle... a puddle of muddy water... which made us realized that this ain't no sightseeing tour... there were obstacles to over come.... LOL. Anyway, this was a piece of cake for everyone to cross. Check out the location on Google Earth and the photo.

More Discovery Channel footage of the riders... Hahaha...

Around the next corner, I just had to stop to take in the sight and sound. Everyone was ahead of me. But what the heck man... it was serene!

Then I caught up with Azril. He had stopped to take some photographs. Man... I wish I had brought a better camera rather than depending on my Dopod D810. But I needed the GPS photos more, just so we can later refer to Google Earth for our locations through those GPS embedded photos.

Anyway, Azril the naturalist was showing me what a "Jambu Mewah" was. A non-edible fragrant fruit... LOL. Check out the location on Google Earth and a photo of "Jambu Mewah" here. Also, check out the panorama photo that Azril took! Magnificent!!!

As Azril and I continued down the trail, we came across some "cempedak" and "rambutan" trees. Seems there were some people planting a mini orchard.

To be continued in:
Leeches, Bikers and a Cold Hard Trail - Part 3

2 comments:

micol said...

nice clips... enlighten my day in brunei!! haha.. i think jack should sing this song while taking the clips..

'take my breath away...' ;)

Jack Hii said...

Hahahaa... if I sing, I think everyone will not let me cycle with them again... LOL...