We've been planning this route for quite a while but never got the chance to realize it until the end of January of this year, on our way back from Kedah to Kuantan.
We started our trip a bit late due to Pak Jan's demise. So, the 8am trip was postponed to about 11.30am. Papa and I did the calculation on the time we expected to arrive in Kuantan including some stops along the way. We're pretty confident with the length of time.
This was in Jeniang. The trees were beautiful with so many bright colors.
The colors were a bit of an eyesore actually despite the beautiful hues they have.
The trip was uneventful. You guys were mostly sleeping. Syok la tak yah bawa keta. Well, I napped for a while too, hihihi... We stopped at a rest area for lunch - I don't remember the name of the place. After lunch we had a chat with one of the sellers there. He was selling some Tongkat Ali seedlings and his primary-school son was selling some book marks. Zoey wanted one and I bought it for her for RM2 which she threw away somewhere now.
So Papa was chatting with him and I was listening. He could arrange a small group tour if we wanted to check out the Rafflesia flowers in his kampung, about 5-10 minutes away. But we refused because we needed to continue our trip. He informed us to be careful driving between Jeli to Gua Musang because of the many potholes.
We're always excited with new uncharted (at least to us) routes because there'll be many new things to see. And the view here... beautiful!
To keep Papa company, I chatted with him and suddenly we found ourselves in a kampung. Both of us were confused how we ended in the kampung but Papa continued driving. and we came upon a gravel road. The road led us down to a very small clearing a few feet from a river and Papa drove passed (underneath) the railway track.. It was weird. But Papa continued despite the confusion.
Then we found another gravel road in another kampung. The villagers were staring. Then we came upon a bigger road and decided to just continue driving. A blue proton wira overtook us and we decided to follow the car since there's no intersection on this road. It was driving very fast and left us behind. On the left and right were only trees, forests and hills.
And after a while we saw the car again and many people ahead. Aiyooo... ni gangster ka apa ka ni? The car stopped. It's actually the end of the road and we had to stop. A lady came out of the car and another lady rushed to her and they started crying. Pulak!
So, Papa got out of the car and asked around. He came back and told us there's an accident. A car plunged into a river and someone died. So, ada jalan nak keluaq dak ni? Yes. Lega. There's actually a very narrow path just enough for 1 car to pass through and covered with weeds. Papa had to drive slowly. It was almost or more than 20km away from the main road - the Gua Musang-Kuala Lipis stretch.
Yah! We're diverted by some unforeseen forces. We just didn't see that coming though.
This was the road we're supposed to use. What a relief to be back in civilization. Both Papa and I were very very very nervous back there. But of course you guys weren't aware because you slept all the way, which was good especially for Zoey.
Then we continued to Kuala Lipis. We stopped for a while for dinner. We left after maghrib. It started to become dark. There were many vehicles on the road towards Jerantut. Papa was driving again. Luckily (again!) you guys fell asleep right after we started the next stretch of our journey. Memang Allah pelihara bab ni. Zoey was quiet when she's asleep.
The very dark road between Kuala Lipis and Jerantut where there were still cars.
After a while, we stopped at a 7-11 store. Tareeq asked them the way to
Jerantut and they said the road we're using was rarely used but
accessible to Jerantut. So we continued the journey again. The road
was winding! No cars or houses along the way. Then, we started seeing
the streetlights of the Jerantut town in some sort of a valley - because
we're looking down at the town. So we followed the road, to what
seemed to Papa and I, down towards the town. After a while, we lost
sight of the town. I actually panicked. I asked Papa if we could stay
the night in Jerantut instead of continuing the journey but he said it's
only a few more hours to Kuantan.
We came upon an intersection and Papa turned right to what he felt was towards Jerantut.And we found a midnight stall and stopped there. Papa ate some fried rice and I ordered coffee. You guys were still sleeping in the car.
About 10.30pm I started driving towards Maran. The map showed a road around the Jengka Plantation which was okay with me because I didn't want to have to drive through the palm plantations. It turned out that the Jerantut-Maran stretch that we used was the scariest part of our journey.
I drove like crazy. The road was winding and winding and winding and I was driving faster and faster and faster. I started reciting ayatul Qursi and asked Papa to do the same. At one point Papa asked me to slow down because I was driving very recklessly.
There's nothing on the left or right. Only trees and trees and trees. And two or three midnight and jungle animals with bright red eyes staring back at us. Something was knocking the door on my side, of which Papa didn't hear after I asked him the next day. I turned my head to check whether Asha was the one doing the knocking but she was sleeping. Scary! The ordeal lasted until about 1.00am when we finally reached Maran.
Upon checking with friends I found out the no-one uses that stretch at night because it's dangerous, not only the winding road but bad people always stop cars using that stretch and rob them. Alhamdulillah we were spared. Allah indeed loves us.
It was a traumatic journey for me because it kept playing in my mind for a few days. So many things people told me of that road after that and they're as shocked as I was because we came out safe. Again, alhamdulillah.
So, we were detoured during the daylight and we detoured ourselves at night! What a journey that was.
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