Tasik Banding/Temenggor
Gerik, Perak
17-19 Dec 2021
It all started when my sisters suggested that we go somewhere during the school holidays in Dec. We had the MCO due to Covid19 lifted middle of Oct and we went to Langkawi first as it was announced as the travel bubble destination before other places are open. Langkawi was so boring this time, I end up feeling not in the mood to do anything.
We tried to ask for a few places in Melaka just for our family to gather, but all places are full and the ones available are too expensive. One fine day I had an idea, I liked my previous Royal Belum trip with my company, so why not this time I brought my family there. It will be fun and a new experience for them.
So I contacted Ju from UMW IPS and Ita from UMW Toyota asking for contacts and was directed to Dila, the sales agent for Caravan Serai Holidays. I asked for quotation and was given 2, one with transport (RM449) and the other one without (RM389). After consulting my family they choose to go with the bus as it would be a hassle to drive to the jetty and we might have to book a homestay coming back from Tasik as it would be dangerous to drive late at night. The bus would cost RM2,200 more and we agree to it as it would be convenient.
The plan does not always run smoothly as I wish and there was a lot of drama along the way before the trip materialised. I was told by Dila on Friday the 10th of Dec that their boats run into problems and were confiscated by the government as some of their participants break the SOP of Royal Belum. I give them until Monday 13 Dec to confirm whether the trip will go on or not. After much difficulties I managed to speak to Bella, Dila's boss that finally clear up all the actual issues that crop up and I give her the chance to look for an alternative by Tuesday's afternoon, 14 Dec. By about 3pm Bella did not call and I called her and was told that she did not managed to find a boat for me and asked for the deposit of RM5,700 to be refunded. I was of course frustrated but came to accept the fact that the trip had to be cancelled. I told my family the same afternoon and everyone redha.
That night at 10.40 Bella called me and told me she managed to ask a group to change their date and I can have the boat on the dates that I planned! Subhanallah! My tears actually came out hearing the good news and I whatsapp my family to let them know. They were ecstatic of course :) Bella said we had to pay extra RM80 as it was a new boat but RM40 will be borned by the company. In the end I only paid RM700 extra as half of it was discounted by Dila. I requested Bangmok as the tour leader as previously engaged in the UMW trip.
So the bus came to an area near my house at 10 and we load everything by 10.32pm. Departed at 10.40pm and reached the jetty at 8 am after a stop at RnR Sg. Perak and solat subuh and breakfast at Masjid Gerik. I was raining heavily that morning but luckily it reduced to a drizzle when we reach the jetty. We upload all the bags onto the boat and carefully treaded tebing sungai to go inside the houseboat.
The boat was pretty new but not that clean I guess. And it was leaking at a few places when it rains. There were 8 rooms at the top level of the boat and 2 downstairs. So Mak and Abah stay in the room downstairs and the rest of us are on top. There are 4 bathroom upstairs that is so convenient. The old boat had 4 baths, all at lower section of the boat.
First Day
The boat was running for 5 hours to a place they called Pulau Tujuh. As it was the monsoon season, the water level increased and we are able to go until Pulau 7. Otherwise the boat had to dock at Pulau Lima. That afternoon, we swim in the green lake and play with the raft and kayak. Fazil joined my family in this trip and we had fun swimming. I am happy seeing all my nephews and nieces happily enjoying themselves. The food served was delicious too. Although it rains the 3 days we were there, we still had fun.
Second Day
Was told that we cannot go to the waterfall today as there are 'kepala air' coming from the top of the hill and the water is actually brown as it brings debrises with the force of the water. We went to see Rafflesia flower in the jungle but there's a lot of pacat that I hate! I actually had to pluck them away from my shoes as they go crazy looking for their victims. The pacat climbed onto Ariana's hand and Dini was crying and panicking. Danish and Afrina were also scared. I quickly went back to the boat with hubby as I can't stand the pacat. Hubby later discovered that one pacat managed to climb to his yummy and bit him hahahaha.
We managed to see a half bloom flower which is lovely. After that we continue swimming and playing with the kayak and rakit. The boat also pulled the kayak and rakit and they had fun!
Third Day
We went to the waterfall as it had stopped raining for a while. The water was so cold and one pacat managed to jump to my finger on the way to the waterfall. Seeing the pacat Abg Aiman refused to go inside the water but jumped when I told him that 'kat batu tu lagi byk pacat!' hahahaha.. Coming back from the waterfall we swim and played with the rakit again. The speedboat pulled the rakit again and the kids like it. I just sat on the speedboat watching the kids enjoying themselves.
The boat head towards the jetty at about 12 noon and my swimsuit was blown away and fell into the water *cryyyyyy* It was about RM260 per set huhuhuhu.. I was so sad but could not do anything about it. Might have to buy a new one.
The boat reached the jetty at about 3pm just after I finished my lunch as I was busy packing things upstairs. This time the boat parked at the jetty and we climb up and load the bags onto the bus. We took photos at the jetty area and departed soon after. After a few stops we reached Bandar Nusaputra at about 11.20 pm as there were traffic jams along the way. It had been a good trip after all.
When I had internet connection, I discovered that I had 999++ messages and came to know that Selangor was flooded in a few places including Shah Alam.
Slept late that night and woke up late too :)
(Will upload the photos later)
No comments:
Post a Comment