The unique landscape of Perak
So Perak, here we come. Equipped with our trusty road map (nyeh! not enough money to invest in GPS yet..) we set out journey and headed north. hhmmmm.. Simpang Pulai exit, and then it should not be that far, unless there were signs to the waterfalls.. not! Berpusing2 jugalah mencari junction, we almost given up hope when we saw the exact signs we saw in WOM website.. through some palm oil plantations and quaries, not long enough we came to a spot where there were parked cars and a guard hut. After almost 2 and a half hours, we have arrived.
So we parked under one of many palm oil trees after paying a cover charge of RM2, parked at our own risk and headed straight to a beaten path we assumed would lead us to the falls. It was a very hot afternoon indeed, and you could imagine how terribly humid it was being in a middle of a palm oil plantation.. soon as we started the short trek and saw the murky greenish-terracota colors of the water in the river, i knew my choice of waterfalls this time was a terrible one.. the trail was uphill and you could tell how much it has been 'visited' by the smooth surface of the terracota trails, how
unmistakenly often it was trampled by human feet and motorcycles..
this place IS popular among the locals, obviously. So popular that I think some of them even made this place either their permanent lepak place or their home/hideout..
After about 3-400 meters of walking, we could hear the roaring sounds of the waterfalls and there it was! The twin waterfalls of Lubuk Timah.. it was quite a sight, slightly more spectacular than the photos I've seen on the net. It was bizarre sight to me because 1) did the people actually built the dam before it was a waterfall then? or 2) was it actually a natural waterfalls and how on earth did they managed to build the dam? .. such a mystery, but not mysterious enough to make me go ask around..
We did manage to climb till on top of the dam, not much of a view, just a slow flowing river of moderate width. It only became interesting when it hit the broken walls and the water started to fall quite aggressively on each sides of the dam. The water that fell created a large and slightly deep pool, suitable for swimming. But we were warned that it was quite deep for children at certain areas.. the water was warm, the sun on our heads were scorching and besides of all that, there was just this one thing that kept us out of the water.. the RUBBISH!
It was everywhere! At the parking area, along the trail, in the bushes and even in the water itself! There were styrofoams, plastic bottles, broken glass liquor bottles and omg!, can u imagine what kind of idiots would throw thorny durian skins in the river??? A sore and sad sight it was, the kids begged to have a quick swim, and later hesitated when we pointed out to them the possibilities of getting hurt and sick from swimming in the heavily polluted river. Oh yes, the place was an eternal mosquito kingdom, food containers were discarded everywhere making it a perfect nesting grounds for the blood suckers..
An alarming disrespect to mother nature plus stupidity.. a lethal potion to destroy our nature.. who can we put the blame on? I seriously do not know, after all, it was private property Though its easy to say that both should share the blame, the public and landowner, but it does help if the local authorities would check on these private places that opens to public to ensure safety and public awareness...
*sigh*.. Lubuk Timah Waterfalls.. quite beautiful, but for how long? more photos, click here.
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