The hardest, most time-consuming and tedious part before I write a blog entry is the chronological ARRANGEMENT of the PHOTOS!!! -.-" Haha...test of my patience...that's why I'm so lazy to blog...HAHA! Anyway.......
It's yet another trip with NTU ODAC! :D How long ago was this? Oh...we left for Rainbow Falls on the 26th of February! HAHA! Yet another 3 month old post...LOL.
Nevertheless, it still warrants an entry as it is one essential snippet of my life's journey :) Haha!
Rainbow falls is located in Sungei Lembing, 28km from the state capital of Kuantan, Malaysia. Its self-explanatory name means we're going there to see RAINBOW and WATERFALL!
Well the waterfall is 100% guaranteed...but the rainbow? You'll see it only around 9am to 11am+ when the angle of the sun is just right - right enough for the light to refract through the waterfall's water droplets to form a rainbow. Pardon the scientific garble...Couldn't help it. EEE student here...HAHAHA!
I remember hesitating going for the trip because I had a LARGE CORN ON MY RIGHT LEG!! Of all times, the stupid corn HAD TO GROW at the side of my right small toe!! It's just before I go for a hike for Pete's sake! LOL!
Anyway, I just plucked out the whole corn so there was the open base of the corn...I fear it might get infected at the waterfall or something...But oh well, I'm still sittin' here typin' this post eh? Haha.
Yup as usual, I shall let the pictures take us through the trip with NTU ODAC :)
As usual we'll meet at Woodlands checkpoint Sheng Siong. From there we'll take bus 170 over to Malaysia's Larkin Bus Terminal where our indented coaches will pick us and bring us to our destination :)
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| Starting the trip with a picture of me will always brighten up the whole journey :) HAHA! Me posing at the customs...haha |
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| Gladys, Chor Seng & Me...The photo was supposed to only include NBS students...HAHA! |
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| NBS students! :D Non-Business School students! :D LOL LOL LOL!! |
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| At Malaysia's Larkin Bus Terminal :) |
As usual...the arduous 4-5 hour overnight coach journey is our sleeping time...So, no pictures...haha...Well, upon arrival there's always someone who'll whoop out a camera and take picture...This time, it was Ros...She took an individual/couple shot of everyone! HAHA!
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| ME! :D At our pit-stop in Malaysia after the coach ride...I still don't know what's this place called...LOL |
From there, the 4-wheel drive came to pick us up...or rather...pick-up truck came to pick us up...Haha. It was early in the morning then...around 5am?
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| Posing with our pick-up truck :) |
We then had breakfast at some Malaysia coffee shop :) It was around 6am++ I think...and the STALLS ARE ALREADY OPEN!! HAHA! Thank God they're open! LOL. I had yong tau foo along with many others :)
The food and drinks there was very much like Singapore...just that Singapore's stalls are more hygienic and the food quality locally is still better. Haha. But if you're talking about cheap, needless to say...50% default discount in Malaysia...LOL
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| At the breakfast table! :) From left: Yi Li, Jun Kiat, Me, Steven, Priscilla and Zhi Xin :) |
After a hearty breakfast, we're gonna set off for our BUNGALOW!! :D HAHA! With heavy stomachs we all hopped on to the pick-up truck...It was around 7.30am by then if I remember correctly...The sky is already lit :)
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| After breakfast! From left: Chor Seng, me, Zhi Xin, Giri, Steven, Mayhwee, Priscilla, Untung, Rosalind :D |
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| ODAC pose! Haha...Can see that Giri isn't all too keen on joining ODAC...LOL!! HAHAHA! |
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| Bumpy ride to our BUNGALOW :D |
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| See the wind direction from our hair? Haha.. |
FINALLY...we arrived at our BUNGALOWWWWW!! :D HAHA! It wasn't too bad. Of course you can't compare it to Singapore's standard of a bungalow...haha. It was a tad lower class than our local Aloha Loyang chalet...the big one by the swimming pool.
Anyway this bungalow is actually the pick-up truck driver's house! HAHA! He has 2 houses...so rented this one out to us to stay. Ok, there are two pick-up trucks...One driver is the uncle and the other is his worker. Haha. Yup...I realized we didn't take much photos inside the bungalow...Here's one rare one taken by my handphone camera :) Haha.
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| Monopoly Deal-ing in the chalet's living room...ok, it's not really living room...cause the living room is behind where I'm standing...Ok, never mind. LOL. |
Yup, upon arrival we promptly put our stuff down, packed our needed equipments and got changed to visit RAINBOW FALLS! :D
Remember we need to be there between 9am and 11am to have the highest chances of seeing the rainbow?Haha. I think it was around 8.30am+ when we left for the waterfall.
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| All ready to go...Photo taken outside the bungalow :) At the driveway or garage...haha |
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| All smiles as we were on the way to Rainbow Falls! :D |
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| The front seaters...haha...And for the previous photo, Pang Ngee was the photographer...haha |
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| Ok now Steven is the photographer...haha |
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| I have absolutely no idea what this pose is all about...haha |
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| Still on the way.... |
The journey wasn't all too fast...we had plenty of time to SING, talk, make fun of each other, etc...With Steven around, singing and cheering was just so spontaneous...HAHA!
Talking about singing...they made me sing the super high whistle range of the song "Loving You" by Minnie Riperton...-_-" HAHA! They gave me a key and nailed the highest note! LOL! So they were like "WHOAAAA"...LOL...but I think the key I hit it in was probably 3 to 4 keys lower...like in F# major? The original key is Bb major.
Ok whatever...LOL! But that was still quite an achievement because I was not in a singing mood...HAHA! LOL!
But really, any car or coach ride with such enthu people will never be boring...from singing to cheering with actions, to jokes, etc...We don't even need a destination! HAHAHA! LOL! Anyway......
We finally arrived!! :) Even before we all got off, we had to do a "cool" pose...check it out...LOL!
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| Our cool pose before alighting from the truck...HAHA! And the brand of the vehicle "STORM" really does help add to the "cool" effect eh? HAHAHAHA! |
Before we left for our mild hike to the waterfall, we took a group photo! :D If I didn't count wrongly, around 20 of us went for this trip :)
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| 2012 NTU ODAC Rainbow Fall-ers...LOL! |
The first thing we had to do was to CROSS A RIVER!! Haha! Why is that bad? Remember my right leg has a CORN on it? YEASH. Ok, the corn was gone...I just peeled it off..so it was a raw corn base there...I put a corn plaster over it to prevent infection.
However, after crossing the river...guess what? THE CORN PLASTER CAME OFF -.-" Well, like that lor...I'm a sergeant man!! Can't because no corn plaster wait for them to return right? LOL! I'D NEVER DO THAT...I PAID ABOUT $120 for this! HAHAHA!
Anyway, the hike up there wasn't a tough one...It was really mild with gentle gradient but NOT WITHOUT SLIPPERY ROCKS!! THOSE ROCKS WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME!! Haha!
But having been Berkelah Falls trained, no slippery rock can take me down! LOL! The trek up Berkelah falls was at least 2 times harder and more physically strenuous. This one's a breeze :)
Yup, after about 40mins of trekking...we could see the waterfall from afar...What about the rainbow? See the picture below for yourself :)
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| Before we reached our destination, we could already see the RAINBOW!! YAY!! :) LOL! |
Unlike Berkelah falls, the destination was CROWDED. Ok, that's because Berkelah falls is MUCH HIGHER and we stayed at the 7th tier...so those families with small kids couldn't get there.
Rainbow falls? It's an easier destination so there were MANY FAMILIES THERE!! One particular family REFUSED TO LEAVE THE PHOTOGRAPH AREA!!! HAHAHA! You can see the 4-5 of them in the background of the 2 pictures below...
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| Our first shot with the Rainbow! With the irritating family that refuse the leave the hotspot...LOL! |
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| Take 2 with ODAC pose :) The family is STILL THERE -.-" Haha! |
It was the hotspot for taking pictures and there they were...LEPAK-ING under the waterfall -.-" We waited....and waited...AND WAITED...and finally, Steven was pissed.
Steven went to ask them to "get lost" nicely...Haha! He told their family member who was sitting near us to tell them to shoo...haha! So she screamed something at them in malay and the next thing we knew...WE TOOK THEIR PLACE...LEPAK-ING UNDER THE WATERFALL...LOL LOL LOL!!!
As some of us dived in to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the rest of us set-up base at the other end of the waterfall...putting our bags and all...
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| A gentlemanly me transporting everyone's bags over to base...haha! :D |
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| Yan Xiang, Chor Seng, Pang Ngee & myself unloading our stuffs at our "base" haha... |
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| Our lepak base...haha. |
The next 20 over pictures are just random photo-spammings of ourselves at the waterfall...Haha! "Spamming" is an understatement...Haha...The photos shown here are only a fraction of the actual number of shots we took...LOL! Enjoy :)
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| Ignore the people at the left side of the picture...HAHA! See the 3 handsomest guys doing the ODAC pose on the boulder beside the rainbow? Yeah, that's the attraction...LOL!! |
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| Take 2 :) |
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| Take 3 :) |
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| Me, Gladys, Pang Ngee & Chor Seng :) |
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| ODAC pose with the rainbow :) |
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| At both ends of the rainbow trying to find the pot of gold...LOL!! |
Talking about finding the pot of gold...I made an interesting but amateur science discovery...Haha! As I approached the rainbow, not only did it get lower but it BECAME A CIRCLE!!
I walked towards the rainbow until I came to a point where it was no longer a rainbow...it became a multi-coloured ring! HAHA!
So what our physics lecturer taught was true...When you stand below the rainbow, you'll discover that it will "become" a circle. Haha! Cool huh? This is one lab experiment that you can only have with ODAC. LOL!
After wading until the waterfall and finding no pot of gold...we went back to our "lepak-base" to have our cup noodles, milo and other snacks we brought up :)
Oh and remember the uncle who drove us around in his pick-up truck? He also went up with us to the waterfall and COOKED NOODLES for us! :) What an awesome tour-guide cum maid! HAHAHAHA! Just kiddin! :D
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| 4 of us having our snacks and milo at our lepak-base...Haha. |
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| Once again, gentleman Jonavan is helping to clear up the rubbish...HAHAHA! :P |
The funny thing about Rainbow Falls is that...the name is not only self-explanatory, it is self-descriptive...HAHA! Why? Because the rainbow ACTUALLY FALLS!!! LOL! "Falls" as in it gets lower and lower - the action of falling...haha
As time passes, the rainbow got lower and lower...that's because the sun is getting higher and higher...once it reaches a point where it's rays are normal (90 degrees) to the waterfall, there will be no more rainbow :( Haha!
The rocks behind the waterfall act as a screen for the light to disperse and get captured. So once the light is normal to the screen, i.e. above the screen the image is formed on the floor...in our case...the pool of water...OK...I shall not get into the details...LOL!!
So before the rainbow fully FALLS, we got our last few photo-shoots :)
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| Rainbow is falling!! HAHA! |
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| Take 2 :) With the rainbow getting lower and lower... |
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| One last group shot with the rainbow at its SUPER-LOW point...Haha |
Before I left, I whooped out my handphone and took a photo of the waterfall...from bottom view...It was gorgeous :)
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| Rainbow falls - without rainbow...LOL! |
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| Edited version with my handphone app PicsArt :) |
OH! Almost forgot! Before we left we were throwing rocks into the pool and guess what we discovered? When we threw a rock (of substantial mass) into the water, the splash of water also MAKES A RAINBOW!!
If you're not Steven's friend, I don't think you can view his facebook video...Haha. If you can, you'll notice at 3-4s of the video, the splash of the water actually creates a rainbow lasting for as long as the water droplets stay due to the splash. Haha. Again I'm getting kinda technical...LOL!
Yup, that was about it for Rainbow Falls :) After that we left for a small town with a few rows of shophouses... :)
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| On the way to the shophouses... :D |
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| Take 2...Portrait version...haha |
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| Only Mayhwee & I spotted the camera and smiled! :D LOL! |
We had to cross a pretty long suspension bridge to get to the rows of shophouses...It looked quite primitive compared to today's bridge-building technology...HAHA!
There was nothing much at the shophouses...mainly foodstuff...we bought some flour crackers which the aunty named "蛋伞" haha. Egg umbrella...LOL! It was pretty nice...thin, long and crispy flour crackers. I bought 3 packets...1 salty, 1 sweet and 1 spicy packet at 3 for RM10. Haha. That's the only stuff I bought back for my family...HAHA!
ODAC trips are usually like this...not much shopping time...but A LOT of bonding time and bonding with nature. Haha.
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| All of us crossing the bridge :) With Chor Seng & myself leading the way :) |
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| Take 2 without the both of us stealing all the photo space...HAHA! |
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| Bridge shot of everyone :) |
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| ODAC pose at the suspension bridge :) haha |
Yup, after that we got a ride back to our bungalow...That was all for the day's itinerary. The next day we had to set off at 4am to catch the sunrise at Panorama Hill :) Ok, the smiley face was for the catching of sunrise... :( goes out to the 4am REVEILLE TIME!!! :( :( :(
When we got back to the bungalow, there was a HUGE, weird FLYING INSECT on the floor of the living room. I thought it was a GIANT COCKROACH. It was the size of a big, matured grasshopper. It was near a chair...So I attempted to kill it by kicking the chair at it...So I did it...and FAILED.
Guess what's next? THE WINGED-ALIEN TOOK FLIGHT! The flap of its wings was REALLY LOUD!! HAHA! It got all of us scurrying away! HAHAHA! They were all like "WA LAO EH JONAVAN!!!" HAHAHAHA!
After it settled down, Giri took a piece of tissue and picked it up with his bare hands and showed us the insect. We were looking at it in FEAR while he was staring at it in AWE while saying "It's beautiful...really beautiful" HAHAHA! That was quite an interesting episode...LOL!
Anyway, after trekking up to Rainbow Falls and walking around the shophouses...we were all tired and shag...So upon reaching the bungalow, many of us knocked out...
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| Ros & Gui Ru fast asleep after the hectic day of being in the sun :) |
While some knocked out normally, some knocked out ROMANTICALLY :) Like the 2 in the picture below :D :D :D
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| Chor Seng & Priscilla!! Knocked out in a romantic fashion :P :D :O HAHAHA! |
Chor Seng act man only la...if not for the presence of everyone else...His arms will be tightly wrapped and woven round Priscilla already...HAHAHAHAHA! :P
Ok, scandal aside, we woke up at around 5pm+ to cook dinner! :) In the usual ODAC-style way of cooking...we took out the "bunsen burners", turned on the gas, lit the flame and put out our frying pans and mess-tins and got cooking :)
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| Chor Seng & me cooking seaweed chicken!! :) |
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| Chor Seng, Pang Ngee, me, Wan Rong & Gladys posing for the camera :) Did you observe that the seaweed chicken was all gone? :D HAHAHA! Now we're cooking nuggets :D |
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| Me & Giri :) |
Oh, Giri or rather Giridharan was one of the friends I made during the trip :) He is a PhD student from India researching his way to his doctorate in NTU :) He isn't the super Indian kinda Indian...He's the modern, speaks American english, cool-guy Indian. Haha.
While the rest slept after the tiring trek under the sun, we were chatting about what we were doing in NTU. He was telling me about the whole process of getting a PhD. Learnt some interesting stuff from him.
One thing about getting a PhD which I didn't know about is that you must be sponsored. Unless you are a millionaire dying to do research, you'll have to get a sponsor...Haha. You sponsored either by the company you're working for or you get sponsorship from a academic institution like NTU.
The most interesting and intensive and terrifying part of getting a PhD is the PhD defence. Unlike in normal primary, secondary and even tertiary education where you prove your mettle by doing well in examinations, for PhD, you prove your worth by DEFENDING YOUR RESEARCH.
After 4 years of research, you bring your final outcome to a panel of experts in the field - other professors and researchers. You do a 20-30minute presentation...and after that...They will all throw questions at you and "bombard" you to see if your research is worthy to grant you the title "Doctor". That process lasts for hours as they grill you and squeeze every formula out of you. HAHA!
Ok, I'm dramatizing it...but it's something like that. Haha. Yup, I found the PhD defense part really interesting. Imagine if undergraduates have to do a degree-defense...where your professors bombard you and grill you on your understanding of engineering concepts and knowledge of the physical world...WOW! RABAK! LOL!
Anyway, after dinner was a rush to use the toilet -.-" Only 2 bathroom cubicles...doube -_-" HAHA! So while waiting, we were clicking away at our handphones at the living room...Now this is the living room...there's a TV in front of us...LOL
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| Handphone-ing while waiting for our turn to bathe...haha |
Yup, after that we all took our much needed sleep. We didn't sleep for long though...We had to wake up by 4.15am to get ready to climb Panorama hill! :) haha.
So we forced ourselves out of bed, dressed up and boarded the pick-up truck to Panorama hill :) We didn't take any pictures on our way there because we're ALL TOO TIRED and it was ALL TOO DARK. HAHA!
Panorama hill is like Bukit Timah hill man. It was just climbing an endless flight of stairs -.-" It was serious stairs man...After 10mins of climbing, my thighs were beginning to ache...after 20mins...it was seriously aching. HAHA! It was a VERTICAL MARATHON!!
I can't remember how long we took...If I remember correctly, around 30 minutes. LOL. Upon reaching the "summit" of the hill, we set up base...or rather, we settled at the base Pang Ngee and Chor Seng set-up. HAHA!
Yes, Pang Ngee & Chor Seng was our advanced party...They left 20minutes ahead of us to chope the best spot with the best view of the sunrise :) Kudos to them for that! :D Haha.
We reached the top at around 5.30am? IT WAS CROWDED!! Malaysians are crazy man...They wake up so early to catch the sunrise!! HAHAHA! No wonder we had to leave so early...to fight for our spot...LOL! Something Singaporeans need to learn from them...waking up early...LOL!
Yup...I actually spammed like 12-15 photos of the sunrise with my amateur handphone camera...but I shall only upload one here...
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| THE SUNRISE!! :) |
After the sun had risen a fair bit, we proceeded to spam photos with it :) This time, it was better...It wasn't like Rainbow Falls where we had to chase people away to get a good photo-taking session. HAHA!
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| Pumpfest group shot! :) With ODAC pose :D We purposely posed with our backs so that you can appreciate the design at the back of our committee T-shirt. Haha! |
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| Pumpfesters! With our pumpfest hand-sign...haha! From left: Gui Ru, Chor Seng, Pang Ngee, Priscilla, me & Rosalind! :) |
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| Take 2 :) |
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| Group shot! :) |
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| Group shot at our "base" haha.. |
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| Take 2 :) |
Yup, after that we headed down and back to our bungalow to nua...HAHAHA! Some played card games, some slept, etc...
At night...around 12am...we played with FIREWORKS!! :) Yes, we bought fireworks! We bought it from the shophouses! HAHAHA!!
Here's the best part...There was this Indian professor with us...NOT GIRI. I forgot his name! LOL! Let's call him Dr. Indian :)
We set up the firework on the stand (the stand is dug into the ground) pointing diagonally upwards to the sky and lit the fuse...But it failed to launch! :( It simply exploded at ground level -.-" LOL.
So here comes Dr. Indian and he tried to teach us HOW TO LIGHT THE FIREWORK...THIS IS THE BEST PART!! LOL!! Can you see my cheeky grin and hear my high-pitched anticipation-laughter? LOL!
Dr. Indian took the firework and told us, you can't put it on the ground! You hold it in your hand and light the fuse..just aim it to the sky!
HE DID JUST THAT!! HE LIT THE FUSE AND HELD IT IN HIS HANDS!! HALLELUJAH!!! Ros was like "NO! CANNOT!"
When the fire trail was about to hit the firework, THANK GOD HE THREW THE FIREWORK AT THE GRASS PATCH!! If not, we'd have an injured Dr. Indian with a badly burnt hand. HAHAHAHA!
HE WAS SOOOO CONFIDENT THAT HE KNEW HOW TO OPERATE A FIREWORK! HAHAHA! Pang Ngee and I were laughing away through the whole spectacle...We're assholes...I admit. LOL!!!
Anyway, after a few tries, there was a successful burst of firework! :)
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| Professional photographer Pang Ngee managed to catch the firework!! |
Yay! Can go sleep liao! LOL! After the successful try, we all headed back to the bungalow to sleep and pack up :)
Throughout the trip they were saying that I looked like Untung...So on the last day, before we left the bungalow we took a photo together :) haha...Do you think we look alike?? I don't think so lei...haha.
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| Untung and me...Do we look alike? I think not...haha |
Yup, the journey back is the same as the journey there...so yup, not much pictures...here's the rest of the pictures of our return journey :)
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| All of us at A&W :) |
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| Take 2 :) |
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| Me chomping the A&W burger :D |
All in all this was an awesome trip :) Got to know and be friends with many people in ODAC and outside of ODAC :)
This trip also allowed me to enjoy the beauty of God's creation. The pretty rainbow and the splash of fresh waterfall water speaks of a intricate hydrological cycle and complex physics laws that couldn't have come about from random chance or from an explosion in empty space but designed by an intelligent world-maker.
The sunrise at Panorama Hill especially evoked deeply in me a sense of awe...As the sun rose over the horizon a feeling of majestic beauty simply swept over me...It is as if a greater, immensely brighter being arose from the darkness and decided to make known himself to us.
Who created light energy? Who gave it its wavelength and particle properties such that it can create a rainbow? Who fine tuned the physical constants to such precise numerical accuracy? Who put all these together to form something called "earth" and governed it with natural laws uncontrollable by its mortal inhabitants?
The beauty and intricacy of nature simply led my heart to sing the line "You are amazing God" by Chris Tomlin.
Yup, apart from the laughs, jokes and physical experience, it was also a time of discovering the creator through creation :)
Hope to go for a few more trips like these before graduation! :)
