A Hike in FRIM (deeper into the jungle)

The Forest Research INstitute of Malaysia (FRIM) with it’s established hiking and mountain bike trails has been a fovourite place for me since I discovered it some years ago. It is visited by many who live in the Klang Valley who wish to escape the concrete jungle without having to drive too far away from the city itself.  So over the long holidays I planned another hiking trip with a friend of mine from Australia. You could say he is an avid hiker.

We started the day with some breakfast of toast, butter and jam, two out three of which were homemade. Before we left for the hike, I had Dennis promise to teachme how to make the excellent bread he made. Were arrived at FRIM’s gates at about 8.05 A.M by which time we could see some joggers leaving FRIM for home or a well earned breakfast.  This is my first trip to FRIM with Dennis and he promised to take me to the reservoir deep inside this park. Normally I would head for the parking areas nearby the main offices and the staff canteen, but this time around Dennis guided me to drive up to the end of the Rover trail and parked my car there.

The first part was actually a walk up to the water treatment plant at the end of a rather steep but sealed road. That’s “tarred” to those who didn;t know what a sealed road is.  I have been up here many times on previous hiking and even on my mountain bike trips. The last part of this road makes a sharp 180 degree turn before the gates of the water treatment plant.  The oath tothe reservoir starts where this sharp bend. But in the past I remember there being a sign forbidding “unauthorised” people form venturing up the path. Dennis, being Australian, said he doesn;t read signs in Malay. But I said it was also in English. Well, like I said, he’s Australian. There are some pretty wierd animals on that continent. Hahahaha!

The trail actually follows an old cast iron pipeline that channels water from the reservoir to the processing plant.  Along the way we could see exposed parts of the pipeline where the soil has eroded. At various intervals along the pipeline we could see many types of valves which are part of the delivery system. One of them is pictured above. According to Dennis, it’s called a clecker valve. He had rightly pointed out that this valve is placed at the highest point where a pipeline has to climb up a slope before running downhill again.  The only motive force deliverung water from the reservoir to the plant is gravity. These valves lets air into the pipe to allow the water to run downhill smoothly.  I imagine this would prevent high pressures from building up in the pipe downstream which might  damage the pipe. According to Dennis, these valve are also equipped with a metallic ball valve which closes the orifice when there is too much water rushing downhill form the upstream supply. The clacking noise of the valve opening and closing is what gave the valve it’s name. Not bad for an Aussie farmboy! I’m impressed.

It took us about 45 minutes to an hour to cover the 3 kilometres to water catchment area where the small reservoir was situated. The was nobody else there but us. Still there were signs that there that had been others here recently. The heavy rainfall of late has also filed up the reservoir to the brim. Water can be seem to overflow the lowest part of the dam walls. The area was very green with lush vegetation. The rain had also made the banks of the reservoirs very muddy and slippery. This made trekking quite  tricky.

Here is a picture Dennis took of me standing on the water intake for this small reservoir. Below me would be where the pipe starts it’s long journey downhill to the plant. Just behind me and out of view is a wheel which opens and closes an overflow valve which at the time was closed or nearly so. If you needed to “relive” yourself (as i did) in an area like this, make sure you know where the water intake is and do it at a point below the intake. Otherwise you would pollute the water!

Above are some picture I took with my phone camera. Yeah I did not bring along my DSLR again but instantly regretted it when I entered the trail. It presents great photographic oppurtunities. I promised myself I would come back up here with a proper camera soon.

Curious as to where all this water came from, Dennis and I tried to get up to it’s source. At one point we had to climb up above the level of the reservoir itself. Holding on to trees for support and handle hold is quitenormal when you are hiking up a slope. But one must really watch out which tree one is going to use. I made a mistake of reaching out to this nasty looking bamboo and it “reached” backout at me….with it’s thorns! No nice.

We gave up after a few minutes and decided to make our way back to the car.  The walk down was quite pleasant but on the way we met this unfortunate lost soul.

Lost sole … lost soul get it? hahahaha! Nevermind.  The hike took up the whole of the morning and made me quite hungry. Mind you although this is the first time I am hiking in a long time, it nowhere near the longest nor hardest hike I’ve done. But I am also nowhere near my healthiest. This hike is meant to be a starter to my “road to recovery”.

Texting Tragedy – A Welsh safety message

So how many of you out there have been in situation as depicted in the video which I posted in my last article? Gives a new meaning to the word “close call” huh? hahaha! Just the other day I was driving home when a police patrol car was driving quite erratically in front of me. As I overtook  I looked at the driver hoping to get his attention, but hos attention was on another driver who was driving on the slow lane whislt talking on his mobile phone. Apparently that dirver had veered into the path of the police car which in turn veered into the overtaking lane which I was in. Needless to say the driver was pulled over as I pulled away.

While the video in my last posting depicted some very hairy situations we can get ourselves into, they were what we all tend to call, “close shaves”. Even the rear ender was probably not a fatal accident. But if you still think ” I am a safe driver and can handle this phone call” just watch this next video. I don’t think you would want to be in tis situation . . . . ever.

It was produced in Wales and is to date one of the goriest road safety video ever made for national television. But in a world of information overload, it’s probably the only way to get some messages across.

Drive . . . Just Drive.

How many of us can actually say that we have not made or answered a  phone call whilst driving a vehicle? I am definitely guilty of doing so myself. In fact I am quite able to compose an sms from behind the wheel of a moving car. I thought  I was good until I saw a few motorcyclist sending messages from their phones whilst riding their machines! If you’ve been driving in Malaysia long enough then you would know what a hands-free motorcycle phone kit looks like.

So far I have been lucky not to have crashed my vehicle while doing so but time and luck is not always on my side.  Then a few weeks ago my friend sent me a few community message videos aimed at driving safety with an emphasis on driver distraction. I really opened my eye as I have been in one of these situation before.

Think back, have you been in a similiar situation before?

Zee Avi

Is she our next superstar? Earlier this evening my sister told me about this young girl from Miri in Sarawak who had put up her video on youtube for all to see. Apparently she has been noticed by those in the music industry. Catch one of her very first songs here.

She sounds ao much like Norah Jones, another one of my favourite singers. Does anybody know when she recorded this song and where she is right now? Here she is agian with  another one of her songs – Honey Bee.

A search on wikipedia reveals that she is now an up and coming recording artiste in the United States and currently on a tour. All the best Zee. I guess you’re another one of those promising talent that Malaysia has missed….again.

Blue Skies are back

For nearly a month of the West coast States of Malaysia were covered in haze brought on by smoke from Sumatran fires set off by farmers and plantations who illegally practice slash and burn farming techniques. Thankfully the current spell of hot days coupled with heavy afternoon rains have brought back clear blue skies over the place where I work.

Again I wished I had brought along my SLR but this time it wasn’t really possible (thought not impossible) as the company I work for has banned the use of cameras on it’s premises. A policy which it cannot possibly enforce with any conviction nor success as so most mobile phones now come with some sort of photographic capabilities. The pictue above was taken using the camera on my mobile phone (again).

The Eggcident

Earlier today, on the way to the AAM to buy some insurance for my car I was caught in a massive traffic jam. Normally the road leading toward USJ does not clog up until much later in the evening. There must have been something out of the usual that caused this jam.  Half an hour later I came across this Eggcident . . .

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men, couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again!

What a waste! All those eggs would have made a great huge omelette. According to the driver he had to swerve to avoid a car which came out from a side road.  I am gueesing that the truck driver was also speeding. The section of the road leading to this spot has a rather steep downhill  gradient and a slight right handed bend.

That him there in the red t-shirt. With  a crane from a tow truck attached he and his rescuers tried to get the truck upright but to no avail.  Apparently the weight of the remaining eggs inside the truck was too heavy! I tried to help by pointing out that they should try to attach the chian higher up on the overturned truck but they siad it would rip the top off the truck’s chassis. Seeinghta I could not help any further I left the scene.

The last few days has taught me a valuable lesson . . . never leave home without a decent camera! If only I had my DSLR with me today.  Little did I know what was in store for me further up along the road.

Hardly 3 minutes later I came across another accident! What a day. Lucky for me I had completed my business with AAM and was on the way home. (I took the pictures of the eggcident on the way back from the AAM). If you look at the road on the hill in the back ground and to the left of the picture, you will see that the traffic had built up all the way back into Subang Jaya from the earlier Eggcident.  As for me, I just came out of that tunnel you see in the middle of the picture at my normal “lovely cambered corner, empty road ahead” speed when that guy you see in the picture waved me off. I managed to slow down and avoid being a casualty myself. Hahaha!

I told myself I must get down and get a picture of this.  So again I found a place to park and set off with my phone camera.

I figured out quite easily who the driver was. You can see him in the picture above standing in front of the car.  This time I did not approach and make conversation. But looking at the crash I am guessing he entered the corner at too high a speed and slammed his brakes. That was when he and his car did a stunt called “Attempting to gift wrap a  lamp post while moving in a rearword direction”.

Another lesson learned, the next time I come around this corner, make sure I have slightly deflated tyres to give the car more traction.  Hahahaha! Just joking guys.

20th Anniversary

Last Saturday I attended a lunch with about 18 of my colleagues to celebrate 20 years of joining the training scheme which would see us become engineers 3 and a half years later. That was 3rd July 1989.  20 years have passed by so quickly.

Group Photo

That’s us. Some came back from as far a Abu Dhabi and Singapore to celebrate this event. Bong Choon Ping made a day trip flying from Kota Kinabalu and back over a period of 12 hours. Holding the cake is Ronald Eward Whiting (everyone calls him Ron) who was our instructor for the whole duration of our training while in Malaysia. We owe a lot to this man for passing on his knowledge ungrudgingly. To him teaching was not only a vocation but a passion.

Cycling again

Woke up early this morning, very early….I was up by 5.15 a.m. But it was for a good reason. For the fifth or sixth time in the last 2 weeks I found myself on a bicycle again. This morning I will be meeting up with Tzy Wen for the second saturday in a row. He plans to cycle from his house to the Central Post Office in Shah Alam where he has a parcel waiting to be collected. I packed both my road and a friend’s mountain bike (shod with road tyres) into my car and was on the way to Tzy Wen’s house by 6 a.m

Arriving at his house in Subang Murni, I proceeded to reassemble the bicycles and waited for him to come down. Starting off at about 6.30  our slow ride to Shah Alam took us about 50 minutes, 38 minutes of riding time and 10 minutes stopped. We did not proceed directly to the Post Office as it only opens at 8.30 a.m. Instead we stopped at a restaurant near the Shah Alam Stadium to have some breakfast.

After breakfast a short ride brought us to the Shah Alam Central Post Office. Here is Tzy Wen getting ready to pick up his parcel. Apparently, you have to “go thru the window” to get your parcels. Wow, I  heard of government servants making it tough for the normal citizen to get decent service but to make you climb thru a window just to get what’s yours? hahaha! Well, that was what Tzy Wen told me anyway.  He must have succeeded since a few minutes later he was out with the parcel in hand. I guess some people will do anything just to get what is theirs!

As we had a little bit of time on our hands we decided to visit the Shah Alam Mosque. I think it’s Tzy Wen’s first time here as he was quite impressed with the building. He took some photos using his F65 film camera. At this point I realised that I did nt insert the memory card into my camera and was using it’s built in memory which did not allow me to take many photos.  Ahh well, luckily I only wanted a few pictures to document our ride today.

SSoon we were on our way home. I had to be back by 10 a.m, so our ride back was a little faster then our ride out but still quite leisurely.  We made it back on time and found Woon Hwan awake but still in his pyjamas working on his new model aircraft. Our ride this morning covered a distance of about 39 kilometres which we did in about 2 hours. Not too bad for a leisurely ride.

Fasten your seatbelts

This evening I decided to go for another jog around Subang Ria Park. This is the second time in a week that I ran around this lake. Last Saturday I managed 7 slow circuits around the lake. By following first a lone jogger and later a small group I managed to run 4 laps and walk 2. This is surely a big improvement. I even got invited to run with the group that I followed.

On the way back form the park I passed by an accident along jalan Jengka in Subang Jaya. As usual there were many people milling about but doing nothing. I turned into the inner road and stopped my car not far from the accident. I happen to have a camera with me so I decided to take some pictures.

At first I thought the vehicle had smashed into the wall from jalan Jengka which is the lower road but apparently not. Look at the tree in the background. I then realised this MPV was first “introduced” to that tree before it ended up in this position. Here’s a close up of the two sides that met each other.

The tree had just lost it’s bark but it had managed to bend the chassis of the MPV and leave an imprint of itself on the bonnet. But here is where I realised that the tree had probably saved the occupants of the vehicle! Since the vehicle had come from the elevated road, had it not hit the tree first, it would have continued over the embankment, pitch down and either hit another tree (where the boy with the bicycle is standing) head on or worse still end up on the busy Jalan Jengka onto oncoming traffic. Would you make the same assessment? That the tree actually saved them?

I then looked around for the driver of the vehicle. With luck the first person I approached happened to be the person behind the wheel. She said she tried to avoid someone, panicked and before she realised it she ended up here. I had noticed blood on the passenger door and asked if anyone was hurt and if i could send them to get medical attention. She said there was a child in the front passenger seat who suffered a cut on his forehead but he had already been sent to a nearby clinic. I asked if she needed any assistance but she said her neighbour and friends were already at the scene.

As a testimony to technological advancement in vehicular occupant safety, both the occupants of this car managed to walk away from this nasty accident with minor or no injury at all. All thanks to the three point seat harness (more popularly called the seat belt) and and newer invention called the airbag.

However I suspect the child who was on the front passenger seat did not have his seat belt fastened. Firstly there was blood on the airbag, which meant he had probably been thrown forward and hit something. Then there was the  seat belt. It was still in the stowed position. If he had been wearing it, the belt’s inertia reel would have activated and locked the belt. You can see that the driver’s side seat belt had not retracted from it’s last position (after the reel had locked) and as a result it was caught in the door as the driver exited the vehicle.

It really pays to fasten your seatbelt even if it is for a very short journey. We should not wear the seatbelt out of fear of the law but out of respect for the unknown.  This driver had just left her house which is less then 2 minutes drive away before she met with an accident. It is said that most accidents happen inthe first and last 10 percent of the journey. So wear your seatbelt, it may really save your life one day.

United breaks Guitars

Yup, another song. This one is different and  really proves the power of the internet. Over a year ago in the spring of 2008  Dave Carroll and his brother Don, flew United Airlines from Nova Scotia to Nebraska. The brothers are part of a band which call themselves “Sons of Maxwell”. While on transit in O’hare Airport in  Chicago (United’s main hub) , the brothers witnessed dave’s US$3500 guitar being handled roughly by United’s ground handling agents. As a result the guitar was broken.

Dave tried to get United to reimburse him for the cost of the guitar but the airline refused to accept any blame nor pay him for the damage. Bad idea! Dave Carroll wrote this song for United. Within days United Airlines shares fell by 10%! That’s over US$100 million. And now the airline suddenly wants to talk peace. Here’s the song.

I wish I could write a song and post it on the internet everytime I get angry at someone. Ohh for your information Dave Carroll promised United he would write not one, but THREE songs in their honour! hahaha! I’ll bet they cannot wait for the next two installments. I wonder how much more their shares are going to plunge?

Update: Apparently song number two has already been written! And Dave Carroll makes a public statement about his experience with United.