KNYR + Kelah Sanctuary Day 2 of 3

Day 2 started of with the buffet breakfast. Once again it was a let down. Nothing special and worst still the pastry tasted like it was baked last week. The others was just so-so. 5 out of 10 score from Amad. Later on Faidi (KNYR driver) joined us while waiting to send us to the station. It took around an hour from the hotel door to the station with the station Naza Ria. Really loved that van.

On the arrival, everyone was amazed by the beauty of the station. From the security post you can see the huge dam and spillway while enjoying the fresh jungel air. Kabus2 lagi.. tengah2 hutan lah katakan, really tengah2 hutan. I was secretly a little worried... kalau dam pecah, we are the first to go. Thats why they are one of the Sasaran Keselamat kategori 1. Faidi drove us straight to the door of the station. About 10 steps away from the meeting room where Yuzeiry (Mat Yi) was waiting and welcomed us.

Mat Yi gave us the routine visitor talk. The GM, Nasron (Wak: satu batch) and Wan joined us a little later. It was very informative. We also took this oppurtunity to clarify certain issues. Everybody has issue with us (NLDC). Later on Mat Yi took us on a station visit from underground level -5 (Draft tube level) to the top of the Dam about 145M higher. There were a lot of technical things but lets not bore everyone but here are some pics where people can appreciate better.

Ohh yaa.. one of things when we were going around, people were surprised to see Mahes to be indian. They taught his name was Mael (permanent nickname from then on) due to his flawless Bahasa... tu belum cakap utara lagi - he is from Alor Star. The shift charge even mailed this to his co-workers "Tuan2, selama ini yg kita ingatkan encik Mail sebenarynya adalah en Mahes.. sila betulkan document selepas ini - while attaching a pic of us".

After the site visit, we had lunch. They treated us with ikan baung masak tempoyak and others. Great and abundance of food. They knew 5 of us coming but naturally being TNB ordered for 10. Orang lain boleh tumpang.

After lunch we were ahead of schedule. meaning more time for going into the lake.. the main attraction - ikan kelah sanctuary. The boat was ready by 2. The most powerful/fastest boat on the lake - 2x250hp V6 engine. We were extremely lucky to visit the kelah sanctuary. Zahari a clerk in KNYR who is very well known around the lake being local and an extreme fishing man (masuk ceruk2 tasik malam2 sorang2) had contacts with Ketengah (authority of the tasik). With his cable we were able to go in. Its very well guarded. Another issue was because the Menteri Besar was coming the day after... thats why the bosses of Ketengah were there. At first one of the Ketengah ppl didnt let us in. So we waited at the guard post (about 45 minutes while enjoying their fishing farm: huge ikan toman >6kg, baung etc) for the boss Razi if he will let us in (looks like the Malaysian crocodile dundee). He looked sympathetic at us and brought us in. Mat Yi's ufti (buah and cenderamata) was also an icing.

A little on the boat ride and journey, it was really far inside the lake (more than 1 hour boat ride)but the natural landscape was breath taking. We even passed Petang Island Resort/Camp (our first choice stay - tapi bagus jugak tak dapat [need>10ppl] cause memang betul2 tengah tasik). We were wondering why the boat was going zig-zagging. Later we found out they were following the alur sungai to elak the tunggul. During low lake level boats cant go in and the trekking inside would take 1.5 hours instead of our 40 minutes. During the trekking, several incidents happen including putus selipar and insect bites. Brader guide siap ejek "macam tak pernah kena gigit je". Pacat semua cukup lah. We had to go through denai and wooden bridges which brings back memories to the good old OBS days. To keep encouraging us, they kept saying another 5 minutes. The longest 5 minutes in our trekking lives... diorang pakai jam matahari kot. Another frustrating thing, some guides took the shallow sampan so they had a shortcut while waving us as they go by.

A little history on the ikan kelah sanctuary. Ikan kelah as told by local ppl are the most expensive fresh water fish. RM100 per kg and RM300 for a live one. So due to this, fisherman used to go fish bombing at the area we went to. This had a negetive effect. So the people of Ketengah, Crocodile Dundee included sanctuared the place and tried to rejuvenate the fishes. They feed the fish biji sawit once in 2 days. After a while the ikan kelah came back and became very jinak but now they feed it pallets or locally known as 'meh'. I doubt theres a lot of other places like this around the world. Wak said ikan kelah if deep fried you can eat even the bones - ranggup.

So once we got there, most of the guys were already in. We were a little held behind because of the girls (lawak sexist sikit). Wak was already in his corner. He didnt move anywhere else - tak pandai berenang. Mat Yi, Zahari and kaki Mael (takde baju konon- takut kot) dah basah dah and fish all over. They kept calling for us to dive in. I took pics and amad took videos while holding on to our excitement. Everybody wanted their picture/video taken and what wonderful pics. Took nearly 200 of them - thanks Kira for being our part time cameraman. Thanks also Amad for the videos.

But suddenly I hear people shouting "Pegang Tali!!! Pegang TAllii!!!". I turned around and see Farah trying to catch air in the water - unsuccessful at that and drowning. A second later, just like in the movies ABANG HERO came running from the back jumped into the water and pushed her up. A real life hero in action. Mael was there to pull her up and console her. Surprising apart from choking on the water, Farah seemed undisturbed by the incident and resumed her cheerful self. One thing good is that she didnt panic and maintained composure.. siap senyum lebar lagi. She just lost it a little when she realized her iphone and money fell in as well. Amad knew she couldnt swim and asked " Asal kau lompat tak pakai life jacket??!!". She replied "MANNNAAa ada I lompat, i jatuh sebab terkejut ikan gigit kaki i" looking very slack at amad. ooohh that explains it, i thought she jumped too. Crocodile Dundee said "sepanjang masa saya jaga tempat ni, dia lah orang pertama tenggelam"

Yup the fishes were really biting. Mula2 manja2 cause plenty of meh but later on they got really violent biting hard (going up your pants and trying to swallow your whole finger) cause no more food. Kirah can attest to it cause she screamed the loudest and came in later than everybody. Realizing the meh was finished, we threw banana skins... tu pun diorang telan terus.

So after a very eventful evening. We trekked back (well the girls took the sampan) to the boat which seemed a lot closer without the girls. We took the boat ride back to the Sanctury entrance and took pictures with the guides especially with Abang Hero and Crocodile Dundee. One for the facebook bak kata Abang Hero. So afterwards we headed back to the Station Jetty. Tukar baju and Faidi drove us back to the hotel.

Tired and all, we took our shower while i bought some mee goreng as pre meal for us to eat while waiting for Wak to take us out for dinner. We went to First Station near the hotel joined by Shamil and Azizul (kawan Mael). The food was great especially my french toast ice cream but its like the normal Kopitiam you get here in KL. I was looking forward to a more local taste. Being deprived of culture, we decided to continue our yam-cha at a restaurant near the masjid terapung. Gives a chance for me to take pics of the masjid.

The funny thing about the restaurant was that the names of the stalls. See the pics. Another embarrassing moment for me was when i wanted to order some drinks. I got to tell you, this terrengganu accent is so foreign to me - they might as well be talking swazili.

Me: Abg.. air ape sedap?!

Brader kerja air: somo dap blako (semua sedap belaka)

Me: Haaa.. yg tu satu! (confident order power)

*everybody laughed while looking at me

Wak: Tu lagi kelakar dari Farah tenggelam.

So after catching up with wak and changing notes especially kutuk2 boss and tnb, we went back to the hotel. After another round or two of monopoly card we hit the sack. And the opera started once again. This time according to Amad, was rather out of tune compared to yesterday.

ps.. I'm posting this first cause tunggu pics upload takes too long. Will update with more pics.