Pumpfest XVIII Subcommittee Trip: Berkelah Falls

Photo credits to Sean

Berkelah Falls: The place where I did my first ever trekking trip with 7rek comm exactly a year ago. This year, I'm back there again for another subcommittee trip. But this time, it's with Pumpfest XVIII ! Once again as a subcommittee member but with a whole different committee and seniors. I was pretty excited to be back at Berkelah once more even though in the beginning, I thought it would have been better if we went for a more chill trek. Turned out to be a good decision to go Berkelah in the end! Thankful for all the seniors who came along and helped us along the way.

Crossed customs on Friday night after dinner & grocery shopping at Sheng Siong Supermarket near Woodlands custom. Took a midnight coach from JB Sentral to Kuantan. Tried to sleep on the way but as usual, it was impossible for me to fall asleep on the bus.

Went to some Prata house for breakfast before taking cab to the entrance of Berkelah Falls.

We had walk about 5-10min and crossed a shallow stream before reaching the "official entrance" of Berkelah Falls.

The weather was blazing hot, which was good I guess, since if it rained it would be rather dangerous to be trekking there because of the slippery rocks.

Berkelah is a relatively dry trek which doesn't have any river crossing even though it is a waterfall trek. The only part you'll have to get in contact with water is in the beginning where you have to cross a small stream. But other than that, the rest of the trek is dry. I personally dislike waterfall treks because my feet has to be soaked in water for the whole trek. But oh well, waterfall treks are good for hot and sultry weathers like in the summer. You get to cool your body down in the water.





Anyway, we made last minute preparations and did some warm up before starting on our trek. It was about a 20 minute trek to our first rest point, which was the twin waterfalls. We decided to climb up the side of the waterfalls instead of jumping into the water, which I have no idea why since the weather was so hot. Haha.

It was my first time climbing up the side of the waterfalls too actually. Trek comm didn't do that last year.

Climbed even higher, all the way to the top and discovered flat ground. Wonder where does this path lead to...

After about 30 minutes, we continued on with our trek.

We pitched our tents at the first/second campsite before heading up to the main waterfall on top with our day packs. While pitching our tents, it was about 12 noon/1pm so the sun was at its hottest. There wasn't much shade at our campsite and I really felt so drained because of the sun. But we finally got the tents up and quickly set off for the main waterfall.

The thing I love about Berkelah is that you actually trek beside the waterfall. You're less than a meter away from the waterfall. And it's rather scenic along the way up to the top rather than just trees and more trees. It's a pity though, both the times I went Berkelah, the colour of the water wasn't blue but brown instead. ATC went 2 days after us and the colour of the water was really pretty!

Anyway, spent about 1 hour plus trekking up to the main waterfall and yay, the pretty waterfall! We quickly went into the water and it felt sooooo good cause the water was so cold. Hahaha.

Most of them went to do the "cliff-jumping" which is beside the waterfall while some remained at the other side just soaking their legs in the water.

Played in the water for about an hour or two before we had to head down to cook our dinner.

Group photo before leaving!

Thank God for the good weather. It only drizzled for a few minutes while trekking to the top with our day packs and it remained hot and sunny throughout the rest of the time when we were there. And because of the clear skies thoughout the day, cooking dinner under the stars was awesome.

Oh and did I mentioned, all the way up and down, Me, Bob, Guan Ri and Ekkiat had our mini Kbox session HAHAHA. Just that GR and EK kept changing the lyrics of every song to BOB. Trekking is more fun with music I feel! So it was really fun singing with them while trekking.

After dinner, we had a mini campfire and played with sparklers! Wheeee. So here's PUMPFEST XVIII <3

 Photo credits to Limying

And this is truly the view we got to see at Berkelah at night. The stars were magical.

Photo credits to Limying

Oh, and our SPOs Richelle and Jianhui even prepared Sky Lanterns for us to release together that night. We released 2 and both actually flew really far! Stayed up till around 3am with Bob, Yuanyuan and Aidan cooking instant noodles, Milo-Coffee and just sitting around the fire looking at the stars.

So in the morning, we cooked breakfast and started packing up and cleaning. After that, we had our photoshoot session. Hahaha.

 Photo credits to Sean

 Photo credits to Sean

 Photo credits to Sean

 Photo credits to Sean

Pumpfest XVIII <3

 Photo credits to Sean

 Photo credits to Sean

And here's Richelle pose:

 Photo credits to Sean

PUBS <3

 Photo credits to Sean

Photo credits to Sean

Photo credits to Limying

So after our photoshoot, we made our way back down where the cabs were waiting for us at the entrance. The cabs brought us to the old Kuantan Bus Terminal where we had our lunch and waited for the chartered coach bus to bring us back to JB.

On the bus, some went to sleep while the rest were playing Bridge. The aircon on the bus wasn't really working so it was literally impossible for me to even try to fall asleep. So I ended up watching them play Bridge. Hahaha. Roughly learnt it last subcomm trip but I had forgotten how to play. So after watching them play a few rounds, I got the hang of it and joined them. Hahaha. It is such an addictive game!

Crossed customs and took train back to Pioneer MRT to get supper before walking back to NTU since we couldn't catch the last bus. We went back to SRC to have our supper and then split off to bathe before gathering again at 3am. Hahaha. Played a few rounds of Bridge and some other games before those who wanted to sleep went to sleep while the rest of us continued playing.

Few of us stayed up all the way till morning cause it was pointless to sleep for an hour I guess. Hahaha. We started store wash earlier in hopes of ending it earlier. More of them joined us as they woke up. The whole thing ended around 11 plus and we went to Canteen 1 for lunch. After lunch we all dispersed back to hall/home.

And hence, that concludes our 3D2N subcomm trip! (: It was a fun-filled trip with such awesome people. It's the start of something new. Can't wait for our next trip together already! Hehehe