Getting to Tasik Temenggor, we have to cross such 3 fast flowing rivers.
Day 01 (19.08.2016) – Sitiawan to Temenggor Lake (195km)
The route: Sitiawan > Bercham > Chermor > Sungai Siput > Perkampungan Orang Asli Kemar on the southern Temenggor Lake in Gerik, Perak.
92km (1h 45m) Sitiawan to Bercham
27km (40m) Bercham via Tg Rambutan to Chemor to Sungai Siput
22km (30m) Sungai Siput to Lasah
54km (3h) Lasah on road A19 to Orang Asli Kemar Village, Gerik
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195km
Getting there was a 195km and 8hrs drive to our destination of the Orang Asli village in Kemar on the southernmost point of Temenggor Lake in Gerik, Perak (N5.20116 E101.39763). The hardest trail was the 54km mountain dirt road from Lasah to Kemar and the three river crossing along the way.
The six on adventure from Sitiawan are: 1) Beh Jun Han a reporter with Sin Chew Daily, 2) Boss Ng Kong Fah a highway sub-contractor, 3) Cheah Bee Tiek a former principal of ACS school, 4) Fokky Wong a former marketing manager with Tiger Beer, 5) Tan Yoke Tian a proprietor of Moh Kee Enterprise and yours truly Ching Neng Bin a former banker with Public Bank. We started our road journey at 6am in two 4x4 vehicles from Sitiawan to Bercham in Ipoh to meet the rest of the other 11 participants. There was one vehicle each from KL and Ipoh on this adventure.
Cheah Bee Tiek
Fokky Wong
Tan Yoke Tian
Ching Neng Bin
Other participants: Ah Hoong (战强), Ah Thai (章凯), David Phong, Francis Choong Ah Fatt, Ong Hui Min (慧敏), Siow Jun Ying, Wong Kee Leng (启莲), 欣明傅, 海英, 迎上
8.40am - We all met at Francis Choong Ah Fatt's house in Bercham, after our breakfast in a nearby coffee shop. We then loaded all the fishing gears as well as the live bates for fishing into the vehicle.
Besides artificial lures, live and dead bait are used for toman fish while oil palm seeds are used as ikan kelah bait. The 3 large plastic bags contained small live fish as baits for fishing kaloi (giant gourami), belida (giant feather-back) and the powerful toman (giant snake-head).
We saw this Malaysian Ninja on motorcycle.
10.35am - Driving on Lintang Road to Lasah.
11.13am - Our first encounter with a huge timber lorry.
11.22am - Our second encounter with another huge timber lorry.
Each time we slow down our vehicle for it to pass, we could feel how dangerous it would be.
11.32am - The 4th view of this super-long timber lorry coming down the hill.
So far this was the largest lorry as it had two fully loaded trailer behind.
The hardest trail was this 54km mountain dirt road from Lasah to Kemar with three river crossing along the way.
12.33pm - The 1st river crossing.
12.33pm - Our 4x4 vehicle driven by Boss Ng getting into the water at the 1st river crossing.
12.33pm - The view of the fast flowing river at the middle of the 1st river crossing.
12.37pm - The 4x4 lead vehicle driven by Ah Hoong at the 2nd river crossing.
12.37pm - Francis Choong Ah Fatt's 4x4 vehicle at the 2nd river crossing.
12.37pm - Tan Yoke Tian's 4x4 vehicle slowly getting into the water at the 2nd river crossing.
12.37pm - Tan Yoke Tian's 4x4 vehicle getting into the water at the 2nd river crossing.
12.37pm - Tan Yoke Tian's 4x4 vehicle getting out of the water at the 2nd river crossing.
12.41pm - Arrived at the timber logging company office cum workshop.
12.47pm - The 5th view of the huge timber lorry coming down the hill.
Yes, we all had to make way for them. They are king of the dirt trek. Any way we should not complain, they made the road possible for us to reach our destination.
My GPS shows that we are driving at 1,140m above sea level pointing to the southernmost point of Temenggor Lake.
After reaching the height of 1,150m it was all the way down to our destination at 250m above sea level.
12.58pm - Taking a toilet break here. Men in-front and ladies behind the vehicles.
1.04pm - Our 6th view of a timber lorry passing by.
1.07pm - At the highest point (1,150m) on the dirt trek for a scenic view.
1.17pm - All the way downhill to our destination at Kemar.
1.36pm - At the 3rd river crossing.
1.36pm - At the 3rd river crossing.
1.36pm - At the 3rd river crossing.
1.36pm - At the 3rd river crossing.
1.51pm - Crossing a bridge to our destination at Perkampungan Orang Asli Kemar on the southern Temenggor Lake in Gerik, Perak.
Our hosts: Mr Liman Cama Kawei an Orang Asli Temiar tribe and his Chinese wife, Ms Lim (林彩英) from Ayer Tawar, Perak. They were both ex-communist during the Malayan Emergency (1947-1960) and returned to civilian life after the peace treaty of 1989. On 2 December 1989, the Government of Malaysia and the Communist Party of Malaya signed in Haadyai the written Peace Accords which consist of two portions, namely: (1) Agreement between the Government of Malaysia and The Communist Party of Malaya to terminate hostilities, and (2) Administrative arrangement between the Government of Malaysia and The Communist Party of Malaya pursuant to the agreement to terminate hostilities.
2pm - Arrived at Mr Liman's residence (N5.20116 E101.39763).
A beautiful house with 4 rooms and a large kitchen.
2.30pm - It was a sumptuous lunch after we unloaded our gears.
Lunch was well prepared by Liman's wife, Ms Lim (林彩英).
The well cooked wild pig meat tasted good.
Monkey meat! That was the first time I tasted monkey meat and I must say not bad.
This is duck meat.
Bamboo shoots is the most available vegetables. A grass family planted after 3 years a new shoot arises from the underneath root-system which is then gathered and eaten as vegetable.
At the house compound, Liman and wife are also doing some petty business like selling petrol and buying rubber latex in addition to managing a small sundry shop.
The weighing of rubber latex. Bags of rubber latex buying from the Orang Asli tappers at RM1.80 per kg.
Mr Liman planted many fruit trees beside his house like this custard apple.
Looks like wild durian, but is not. It is the wild berries rouge plum fruit.
A kind of sourly taste of the wild berries rouge plum fruit.
The mangosteen fruits from Liman's trees. His 60 year old wife Ms Lim climbed the trees to pluck it. Many thanks to Ms Lim.
This is the forest vine fruit and it tastes quite sweet.
Plenty of chicken and ducks around the house.
4pm - Our first 4km road drive along the Temenggor River to the lake for fishing.
The almost dry up Temenggor River at the southernmost Temenggor Lake.
This is the old jetty landed on dry land due to the very low water level of the lake.
Further north about 100m from the old jetty is the new jetty under construction.
Located approximately 35km to the north-east of Gerik and covering an area of 15,200 hectares, the Temenggor Lake is the largest man-made lake in Perak.
4.34pm - Arrived at the boat jetty (N5.24003 E101.38962) on the southern most point of Temenggor Lake which is 4km away from Liman's house.
Our Orang Asli guide drove the boat northward to one of the popular fishing location.
Proceeded northward of the lake to our fishing point.
One of the several Orang Asli settlement on the lake shoreline.
5.11pm - After 20 minutes going north and then turning east into a bay, we landed on this patch of sandy land by a river to try our fishing luck.
No lady luck - for 15 minutes we could not get any fish here.
5.30pm - Five of us: Boss Ng, Tan Yoke Tian, Francis Choong, Ah Thai and myself rowed our boat out to lay a trot-line among the woods. It is a rope with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called snoods. A snood is a short length of line which is attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other end. A trot-line can be set to cover the width of a channel, river, or stream with baited hooks and can be left unattended. We would come back the next morning to collect the line.
Palm oil fruit as baits.
This is how you hook the palm oil fruit.
A 5” live catfish being hooked through the upper back dorsal fin as bait is most effective for snake-head fishing which most of the time attacking from behind, hence the hooking position on the live bait.
The live catfish is a natural predator of snake-head fish like toman and therefore triggers an immediate strike.
7.03pm - We arrived at the jetty and looking for a place to park our boat.
At the jetty we could see many Orang Asli fishermen loading their catch onto their pickup truck.
After dinner and some beer, 6 person were fast asleep in this room. Many thanks to Tan Yoke Tien for the beers. Oh yes, not after watching TV: Dato Lee Chong Wei beating Lin Dan in the Olympic badminton semi-final. Yes! Malaysia Boleh!
This is another room for 3pax.
Click below to view:
Tks alot for yr adventure to temenggor lake. A very nice scene together with orang asli. Hope I can join u one day.
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