No, I did not trek and black out :P

My sister just had an appendicitis operation last week and is still recovering from it. So yesterday morning, I followed my brother-in-law to FRIM's (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) forest reserve for his company's family day outing, mainly on a mission to help look after his son and maybe for some photographic opportunities :P

Initially, I thought family day outing was gonna be something relaxing and fun. Ya'know, something like a picnic by the waterfall! Little did I know, we all actually had to trek the forest. Not a short one, but a 3-hour trek just to get to the canopy walk and back out!! Anyone who knows me well definitely knows that I am so not an outdoor person, not to mention one who hardly exercises at all :P (Hmm, wash toilets on weekends considered exercise or not ah???!!!)

Trigger-happy I am, but I think I did not even manage to get more than 50 shots that morning! Yep, and those that I took are all crappy because I just did not have the breath nor energy anymore to think of composition and all *LOL* But I guess I'm still ok considering all that I had to carry was just a knapsack of my nephews necessities like water, bottles, food, milk powder, clothes, etc. My bro-in-law had to endure the entire journey carrying his 2-year-old son in a backpack carrier (the hard-framed kind!) on his back! *claps hands, salutes* All we got was probably a few stops of 5-minutes for some rest and to catch our breaths!

We started the journey around 9.30am, rather relaxed and fun, with some basic introductions to the trees and plants by a tour guide. According to the guide, there are 2 or 3 fishes in this pond that measure about 7ft and can grow up to 10ft long. In natural habitat, they feed on baby monkeys that sit on the branches because they are naturally good jumpers as well. Dunno true or not, but indeed they were big!!!

Looking at the monster fishes *LOL*

Moving on, he showed us a tree which I forgot the name. But the thing I did remember was him telling us that the tree was a female. How to tell? He picked one matured leaf, and gently opened up the center of the leaf near the adjoining stem, showed us, then said "See? It looks like the female's genitals, no??!!!". Indeed it resembles the labia of the genitals *LOL*



And then this was when the real trekking really began, when we moved on into the forest.

Last stretch of cemented pathway before the real trekking began!

The beginning was a breeze. A few stops here and there to check out some trees and plants. I even had the chance to see this tree which many claims that clusters of the leaves do not touch each other, thus forming vein-like openings in between. It's called the Dryobalanops aromatica, locally known as kapur or camphor. The other which I remember is a tree/bark that curls like my hair *LOL*

Dryobalanops aromatica

Looks like my hair, man! And I mean those on my head :P

After this, I just don't remember much anymore. Like my bro-in-law said, it was more of looking at the ground than looking up and around to enjoy the view :P And finally, we reached the canopy walk! I thought my legs were gonna tremble as I walk on it, but surprisingly I was ok *LOL* They had stations/stops in between the canopy walk for you to enjoy the view or to take photos.

Oh, lookie! You could get a view of the city from here!

The forest from the top.

After the canopy walk, we had to trek a while more before we finally reached the waterfall. Which we did not even stop at at all to soak in the water or to take photos *slaps forehead*. I've been here to the waterfall once, so I knew our trek had finally come to an end *phew* After which, the rest proceeded with lunch while my bro-in-law, nephew and I went back home!

It was around 12.30pm when we finished. That poor little boy, he was so tired and sleepy that he actually fell asleep on the way to the car! Tiring experience, but it's still an experience :)

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Then later in the night, there was blackout in my condo. At first, I thought my hubby was pulling a prank on me by turning off the lights when I was in the bathroom washing my dirty shoes (from the trek!). But I quickly came to my senses when I noticed that even the lights outside, in the corridors, were turned off! Apparently, quite a number of areas suffered blackout that night - KJ, SS2, Ara Jaya, etc. Even street lights on some stretches of the highways in the areas also went out!!!



I just realised I have no emergency lights stored in my home. Not even a torchlight!! *makes reminder to buy some during the weekend*

And I thought maybe I didn't have to report in for work today *hee hee* But too bad! The power came back on about half hour later (not bad, quite efficient!).