THE LOST WORLD

My Guiness Explorer Award winning article published

in the June 1999 issue of Rod and Line Magazine.

      "Why are you walking like a duck?" asked one of my colleagues last Monday afternoon. "Oh! I had being to the Lost World." was my reply. He gave me one of those "Mr. Bean look" which made me laugh and told him it was a long story.

      When I first heard about The Lost World, I was in standard five, Clifford Primary School, Kuala Kangsar. It was a book I got from the school library. This Lost World was a plateau isolated from the outside world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle really wrote a winner there.

     The second time was the sequel to director Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. This Lost World was hidden from the outside world by vertical cliffs on all sides. It being an island isolates it further. Access was only by helicopter.

     Therefore, last Sunday when I was standing at the edge of the pond, which was surrounded by sheer vertical limestone hills in Perak, my first thought was, "God, this must be The Lost World."

Wong Kai said the leaves from
 this climber can be made
into lengkong drink.

      My friend, Wong Kai, was the first to tell me about his place. Being crazy about herbal medicine, he goes round climbing hills and trekking through jungles looking for them. The picture he painted of this place was very mystifying and exciting. All of a sudden I was extra nice to him (Some people call it jacking). It took me three days of pestering before he finally agreed to take me along.

     A trip was arranged and I was told to bring the barest minimum. Different people have different standards. Barest minimum to me was a tackle box full of all sundries including panadols, Band Aids and even safety pins. The horror on Wong's face was enough for me to start throwing everything away. Finally I did indeed settled on the barest minimum of two spinner baits, three hooks, a bottle of 100 plus and a piece of bread. Of course the indispensable light rod and reel. Not forgetting my SLR camera too.

Watch out for poisonous creatures
 like his cobra.

     We all parked our bikes under a tree at our designated meeting place at 7.00a.m. The walk of three kilometres to the foot of the hill was very educational as Wong Kai was showing us medicinal herbs along the way. Sure there were the usual streams to cross, leeches, holes and poisonous snakes to avoid, but these were all part and parcel of hiking.

      At last we reached the foot of the hill where we were supposed to climb. One look at the sheer face of the limestone hill is enough to turn my face pale. My concern must have shown for when I turned around there were three smirking faces grinning from ears to ears. This reminds me to be more selective on who to put on my friends' name list. My pragmatic side told me to go home as my wife is still young and I still have two school going children. My Kiasu side admonished me for being a chicken, and be sure not to jatuh muka in front of everybody. In the end, the "want face" half of me won and I shouted with false bravado, "Let's go!"

This is one of the
 easier part of the climb.

      Ah Ngien led the way, with me following. Coming from the rear was Ah Koo and Wong Kai. Ah Nien was giving me advice and warning on where not to put my feet. I had to hold on to tree roots, tiny shrubs and rock crevices to pull myself up. Certain stretches were relatively easy. Easy in the sense that there were many steps cut into the rock and I could get quite a good foothold. Others were just like the movie "Cliffhanger" where I had to pull myself up, jamming my feet into crevices to get some leverage. Most of the rocks were slippery, as they were damp and covered with moss. All my friends were giving advices and encouragement to me. At one point, the 30 meter-mark, maybe, my feet began to have a mind of their own. Messages from the brain didn't seem to be getting across. My lungs were on fire and tongue was hanging out like a panting dog. Luckily I had my camera with me. Sitting down, and meddling with my camera was my way of getting a breather without losing face. With shaking hands I shot off a few frames. My friends refused to move on without me, even though I protested as I was slowing them down (Not bad friends after all.).

      Slowly I began to get use to the climb. Just tackle the next obstacle without looking anxiously to the top will ease the pain a lot. I didn't know how but I managed to reach the top. Summit was just a two-meter wide ledge. Drops of water were pattering on the dried leaves around me. Oh no! It must be raining. Raining yes, but not water but salty, smelly sweat. My sweat! Half of my 1.5 litre bottle of 100 plus was gone. Real teruk man!

Ah Ngien with his king-size
tilapia which are aplenty
in this wonderland.

My bujuk taken
 on spinnerbait.

      Going down the other side after a short rest was like eating tow foo fah when compared with the ascent. Of course, care must be taken if you want to delay meeting the Emperor of Hades. At the bottom of the hill was a piece of flat land no bigger than a basketball court. Here was more like the tropical rain forest, very shady, because of the trees. Unloading my haversack and dropping on the ground, I just couldn't move, but laid on the ground panting. What do you expect lah? 100 meters of dragging my overweight body and haversack up and another 100 meters of going down is no picnic. Only after half an hour of gasping and heart pounding before my body could really regain itself.

Rain drops keep
falling on my feet.

Not a bad haul.
Those in good shape
were released later in the
spirit of Guiness Explorer.

      Looking at the pond from the edge, I could see big tilapias nesting everywhere. My aim was to go for wild haruans, bujuks and sebaraus. After torturing myself this far I was not going to waste my time on tilapias. Climbing on to a fallen log, I began to cast my spinner bait to some dead tree trunks. At the third cast a dark torpedo rushed out. Maybe it was because of the crystal clear water for it turned back without hitting. Another one followed Wong Kai's spinner cum frog for some distance before turning away. On the fourth cast, it followed as expected, but this time it rushed forward and grabbed the frog. Everything happened like those documentaries in slow motion. The haruan jumped and shook its head. Water droplets were spraying everywhere. Very interesting! It was very unceremoniously hoisted up to the log after three short runs. Nothing to shout about though, a haruan of only 1.5 kilos. I was casting along the log where we were standing, when a dark shadow grabbed my spinner bait. A bujuk of about 0.9 kilos was the culprit. Wong Kai moved over to the end of the log and started casting near some overhanging bushes when he was connected to another fish. I nearly lost my balance when he shouted excitedly that he got a big lam koh (marble goby). On looking closer, it was another bujuk. Some people just refused to wear glasses.The other two guys managed to catch four tilapias between them. Not too bad, as the average weight was about 1.5 kilos each. All in all we caught three haruans, four huge tilapias, a baung and eight bujuks.

Wong and his bujuk
 on spinner com frog.

      While having my long deserved rest, I noticed a few whopper grass carps cruising nonchalantly at the far end of the pond. Wow, bigger than my thighs! I noticed too that the bottom of the pond was covered by some aquatic weeds, half submerged in about 1.5 meter of water. Most of the fish were hiding underneath the weeds, except for some big nesting tilapias. The pond itself was about the size of three football fields. Fishing was only confined to a small patch of land at the bottom of the climb. The other areas can only be accessible by small inflatable. Maybe we will bring along some tents and a cheap inflatable so as to cover the other areas. The main problem is how to lug all those equipment over the ridge?

      The tranquillity of this place was really therapeutic for the nerves. Once in a while, it was broken by loud splashes of giants chasing after their preys from the other end of the pond. Troops of monkeys were heard making raucous noises, and jungle birds were serenading us with their melodious songs. If this Lost World is not Shangri-La, I don't know what is.

      Soon we could see dark clouds above. As the rocks will be very slippery when wet, we decided to pack for home. The way back was even worst than coming in as the climb was more vertical. Thanks God we all reached firm ground safely.

      On seeing that I was walking with a funny gait, Wong Kai gave me a bottle of his own concoction to rub on my tired muscles. The herbal ointment must have worked wonders for I only walked like a duck on Monday. By Tuesday evening the pain had subsided. I even played ping-pong for one hour non-stop! Okay, okay, I lost all my games......And very badly too.

Note: I am rather sad as my friend Wong Kai has left this world a few years back.