Kalumpang Resort & Training Centre

I have been doing a bit of net research on this resort for about 3-4 months before finally decided to make any bookings.. i was apprehensive because 1) i have never spent overnight by the river and 2) i had no idea where Kalumpang was :P  I stumbled upon this resort's photo from a blogger 'Beruangmadu' and found the photos were quite intriguing, and so I googled and googled some more.. very typical of me, I would google endlessly till the photos and directions stuck to my brain like chewed chewing gum on the hasty cemented ground.. well, while I am still unable to drive, I figured I could at least be a good co-driver, a walking GPS as I would preferred to be called nowdays.. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the resort's office was just 3-4 doors away from our favourite restaurant, Restoran Hassan, at section 13, Shah Alam... all this while, it was just there, a scream's away! 

But no matter how hard I yelled, it didn't help me much in getting the exact chalet I wanted to stay, that place is literally fully booked for 4 months! I was considered so very lucky to get a chalet at all, especially on CNY holidays, and some words of advice, don't bother going there on Sundays cos it's jammed packed and you might find yourself in quite a parking situation.. So off we go, on Saturday morning, taking the North-East Expressway exiting at Tanjung Malim, when we could've taken an easier route of going through Rawang-KKB old road..

Zafree and Zachwan upon arrival around noon, there were groups of teambuilding participants and registration was quick and we were sent straight to our chalet before the actual check-in time of 4pm!  Plenty of distractions in a form of feathered kind, this one in the photo greeted us and the kids had so much fun trying to teach it a few simple words.. with no success of course!

So first things first! After checking in our 

chalet which was just 40 steps away from the river, almost immediately we set up our mini BBQs while the kids jumped in the water under the hot afternoon sun.. not many people yet, and I think from this side of the river, our picnic spot had the best view and cleanest grounds.. under the shady bamboo trees and right in front of the Tempua 1/2 units.  By the way, we stayed at the Merbah 1, much to my annoyance.. we had to climb quite a flight of stairs, but we had the nice overview of the hills and river down below..

They spent many hours swimming, sampai next day masing2 demam!  The water was cool but not freezing, just the right temperature :)  The best thing about the river was the deep pools (between 3- 5 feet deep) with so clear clear water!  Ada ikan jugak.. and the resort itself was meticulously maintained with beautiful landscapes and well spread huts.  There's a main bridge right in the centre of the resort and we had fun around the resort, watching the cute ducks,  exploring the mini streams zigzagging across the resort and wished we stayed there a couple more nights :)

The long stretch of clear river offers plenty of picnic and lepak spots from both sides, so every families or groups have their own private picnic grounds. The glistening river rocks under the hot sun were inviting and so many small pools and steady rapids to have fun with.  No leeches here, hardly any damp grass or semi-composed dead leaves along the riverbanks, the place was spanking clean and shady on both sides :) I think we have finally found our little piece of jungle paradise, only 2 hours drive from Shah Alam..

Semi deep pools with fishies swimming about.. tengas kot..

The area and small hut under the lights on the left side was the picnic spot we had earlier.. on the right are the Tempua units.  See how clean the place is and its wonderful to have short walks around the resort in the evening.  There is also a nice Surau nearby with endless flow of river water for taking wudhu' and during our stay, there were a few family groups having evening BBQs.  I couldn't really sleep well cos I was not used to the thundering sounds of the rapids (I had to go to the loo a few times that night and kept on waking up in the middle of the night thinking there were thunder storms!) and also some noise (karaoke and group yellings) from the cafeteria across the river..

We weren't quite prepared with dinner and didn't quite know where to get one since it was the first trip for us.. we tried sitting at the cafe right in front of the resort, after 5 minutes we were totally ignored.. x nak bisnes ke??? tapi x leh nak marah sebab diri sendiri yang tak reti, but it doesn't hurt also to put a simple sign that says 'makan malam tidak disediakan'...

Nasib baik, Al noticed a sign 'Kolam Pancheng & Restoran Permata Bonda' just before the resort, a short walk of about 400m we saw a very large fish pond and some colorful lights, indicating that there was hope, after all, for us to get a decent dinner that night.. yay!  So OK.. that night was the first time also in my life that I had to choose a live fish for dinner, spooked me up a bit, but as soon as the Talapia was served on our table, the guilt disappeared almost in an instant! 

Very good food, cheaper than around Shah Alam, but as you would expect from a restaurant right in a middle of nowhere, the service wasn't that speedy. But hey! it's a place to unwind and relax, and we didn't mind waiting cos there were nothing else to do for the rest of the night anyway.. the night was starry, our stomach were full and we were crazy tired from the swimming and screaming...

More photos, click here.