Tasik Chini

Some of the attractions in Pahang are its great lakes.  So that weekend (18 January) we decided to go to Tasik Chini.  I did some research before that but was still a bit vague on the roads to reach there although I did have a little bearing of the area.

 

  

It turned out that the road was through plantations after plantations, some small kampungs, plantations again and so on.  Then we came to some hilly areas and in the end the road became narrow.

So we finally arrived. Tasik Chini - full of myth.  It was said that at the bottom of the lake, a dragon (thousands of years old) still lived there.  Maybe... But then again after the trip, maybe not.  The road ended at the Tasik Chini Lake Resort.  The PLKN camp was right next to the resort.  Zoey saw the playground and as usual....

Papa and I headed towards the resort because there's no way around.  No visitors.  Just us and two employees.  So, Papa headed straight to the cafe and ordered coffee.  While waiting for the coffee, we were greeted by this small furry creature - coming down from the big tree next to the cantilever/deck and started eating palm fruit which I think was placed there by the resort's management. I was able to go very near to it and snapped its pictures.

After asking around, we headed down because the boat operator to tour the lake was stationed down below.  We paid RM75 for a 12-lakes boat trip.  And yeah, I still believed the dragon myth.

The boat ride was exciting!  There were lots of aquatic plants near the banks and also on the lake itself.

There were many instances that we had to go through this small opening between the aquatic pandanus plants to get to another lake.  The boatman had to slow down to maneuver through the small opening.  Do not try to touch the leaves - pretty sharp edges and Nina had a dose of it..

It's like going through a short cave or tunnel.  It's exciting, really!  Most of the sceneries were almost similar so we had now idea how many lakes we actually went through or whether we did go to all 12 lakes. 

The  boatride also included a package to the orang asli village.  This is Kampung Cendahan of the Jakun Tribe.  A tour group, mostly foreigners, were about to leave when we arrived.

We went to a hut built in the middle of the kampung as a tourist attraction.  They were selling mostly barks and cut-offs of the Kacip Fatimah and Tongkat Ali trees.  Some blowpipes were also on sale.  There weren't many villagers around.

Tourists could try the blowpipes as they also prepared a dart board for it.  It wasn't interested to try because I was imagining and trying to count how many people have tried using the blowpipe and how much saliva was left there.  Yucks!  Then we saw some orang asli children and we moved towards them.

They're not very different from any Malay children.  I asked them about their school and some questions about other villagers.  Most were actually living inland, away from this area, in the wooded area visible from here. They went to school by boat.

Kami yang perak! As if we've never seen other human beings before. So teruk!  They spoke good Malay.  The children just enjoyed life like any other children.

I did not see any electrical lines.  So i guessed they're self-sufficient.  The houses were small.  The area was clean.  It was also quiet.  Not much activity going on.  I took loads of pictures here.

Then, we hopped on the boat and expected more to come.  It turned out that that was our last stop.  And the orang asli village was just around the corner from the resort!  Hahaha... Tipah tertipu!  No wonder they went to school by boat - it was less than 5 minutes ride away from the main land.  Adus! And there I thought they were far away from civilization!  Talk about being prejudiced and stereotyping others. My bad!

During one of the openings and after passing through this opening, the boat was stuck on something.  I was actually anticipating the emergence of a dragon!  Hahaha... It seems that most areas of the lake were filled with tangles of pandanus leaves and roots.  So they're just quite shallow. And therefore, quite impossible for dragons to live in (or under).  So, definitely no dragons.

Just wanted to put some pictures here.

After the orang asli village we arrived back at the mainland.  More shops started their business now.  Nina, Asha and Zoey stopped for some beads.  Then we headed back to the car.  I brought food for a picnic.  Jimat duit!

While eating, Papa and Zoey ventured away.  These were the results of their venture.  Watch out Tyra Banks!  Zoey's here.

Zoey's beads for her bracelet which she turned into an anklet because it's too big for her wrist.

The view of the jetty from the deck.  The opposite island was where the Jakun tribe lived! So near and yet so far away (or so I thought!)

Yes! Yes! Yes! It was awesome!  Something quite different from our normal venture.  We're looking at Tasik Bera in the near future.