Exciting Kenyir!

**PHOTO UPLOADED

I am always looking forward to do something exciting or going to interesting place during my stay in Terengganu. This is what I like about living at new places rather than staying closer to home. Thanks to God that during the phases of my life, I was placed in different new places such as Seremban, Tronoh and now, Kerteh. One day, my colleague at Central Maintenance department asked me to join them to an all-expenses-paid trip to Kenyir during the recent Deepavali break. Without hesitation I accepted his offer right away and on Friday, November 5th, we embarked on our adventure in Kenyir Lake.

Day 1

I parked my car at my colleague’s house, Mr. Fauzi the technologist and we waited at PETRONAS Service Station in Kerteh before we were picked up by bus at around 0900H. Then, the bus make a few stops, namely at PFCe Paka and Dungun to pick up other members. Then we make another stop in Kuala Berang to stock up and we reached Pengkalan Gawi in Kenyir Lake at around 1230H. We were greeted by two boathouses, Belida 1 and Belida 3. Belida 3 is bigger than Belida 1 and team Optimal boarded Belida 1. After we split up our food rations, the engine of both boathouses roared and we started our journey to Taman Negara Pahang for the purposed fishing ‘lubuk’. The journey took about 6 hours, and the boathouses slowly moving across the lake. The view was magnificent and breathtaking. Ok, that was expected from a tourist spot like Kenyir Lake. I would like to talk about the boathouse. The boathouse can accommodate 20 persons and the sleeping quarters is located at the 1st floor (yes, it is a two-storey boat) and is equipped with basic amenities like toilet, kitchen and AV system with karaoke and Astro (I’m serious). While others are busy preparing their arsenals for fishing (I’m the only non-angler), I just filling my time getting to know my colleague better, taking pictures and napping during the journey. At dusk, we arrived at Taman Negara Pahang. We hitched the boat, wire up the electricity, cranking up the 2-stroke-engined mobile generator and we were up for some fishing. However, luck was not on our side as we were managed to catch only few lampams, baungs and small belidas. I on the other side enjoyed watching Tamil movie on Astro. The title is Venghanayagam. I enjoyed the gravity-defying actions very much and the actors too. “Deyyy!!! Venghanayagam means fear, remember that!” – captured from the subtitle. :P As the night went by, I slept in the boathouse. The temperature was just nice (too bad I didn’t have sleeping bag with me) Surprisingly, there was no mosquitoes to disturb me, only at 0400H, my colleague (name undisclosed) came and disturbed me with loud snores.

Belida 1, our boathouse in Pengkalan Gawi

The sleeping deck, luckily no mosquitoes and the temperature at night was just right!

Day 2

I woke up at 0600H, and had breakfast made by one of my colleague. It was simple but filling ‘cucur’ with coffee, nice! We had decided to change place due to our bad luck of failing to catch big fish there and we moved to Sauk waterfall hoping to get big catch there. We left Taman Negara Pahang at around 0900H to Sauk waterfall. Again, the journey was boring as the boathouse sailed slowly across the lake. I took this opportunity to take a nap. I woke up for lunch on the boat and then suddenly we heard loud cracking noise form the bottom of the boat and suddenly the boat lost its speed. Upon further inspection, the propeller and the shaft had broken and need to be replaced. Belida 3 came to the rescue and towed our poor Belida 1 while the boat driver unhitched his small speedboat and sped to the shore to find the replacement part. At around 1400H, heavy downpour with storm suddenly hit the lake. For safety measure, the towing cable is disconnected and we stopped in the middle of the lake waiting for the storm to stop. During the storm, the boatman came with the replacement part, and the repair job was done in-situ with technical help from us (remember we are the Maintenance guys).

Torrential rain and stormy weather, Belida 3 was in front of us

As the rain stopped, the repair job was done and Belida 1’s naturally-aspirated V8 Hino diesel engine (detuned from turbodiesel as the boatman find it hard to control) finally roared back to life. We arrived at Sauk waterfall late in the afternoon. We tried our luck there using casting and trolling technique apart from the normal fishing using bait. I on the other hand went on the shore and dipped myself in refreshing Sauk waterfall. That night I just filled my night eating whatever left on the boat while watching Tamil movie on Astro, again. Then, I went to sleep with damp clothes (the storm ripped off the roof and soaked my backpack). Luckily, that night was not bone-chilling and I can sleep comfortably.

Beautiful Sauk waterfall

Day 3

Sunday, my last day in Kenyir. I started my day by taking bath with my colleagues at Sauk waterfall. The icy cold water was so refreshing but unfortunately it was started to drizzled so we only had short time enjoying the bath at the waterfall. After had our breakfast (on the boat, of course), we headed back to Pengkalan Gawi. It was a short journey as Sauk waterfall is located only 8 kilometers from Pengkalan Gawi. That marked the end of our adventure in Kenyir Lake.We boarded the bus and I arrived in Kerteh at 1730H. Although we were not managed to get big catch there, but I personally really enjoy the trip as I had chance to explore the beauty and splendour of Kenyir Lake. Definitely I would come again and have a trip on boathouse but not for fishing, but to spend night there at the waterfalls. :) My personal thanks to Mr. Fauzi for inviting me to this trip and for lending me the fishing equipments of his and thanks to my Maintenance department friends for your hospitality during the trip.

The Maintenance team

p/s: Blogger finally allows me to upload the pictures