Lembing Trip Part 3

After descending from Pancing Cave, oh yea it is also called Charas Cave if you follow the signboard along the road, we started to feel the toll of lembing hill and pancing cave on us. It is now time to hunt for food, of course after cleaning ourselves up.

For dinner, we had planned to try out Hover Restaurant famed for its frog, tomato noodles and chinese-style steamed chicken. Too bad there was no frog for us, we had to settle with Mango fish (deep-fried african fish), tofu with brown gravy, kangkung 2 plates, tomato noodles and chicken. We were really waiting eagerly for the food because we were all famished! What not, with so many activities in a day, imagine the amount of calories burnt. I didn't bother wasting time taking photos of the food, the only thing i could think of when food arrived was to gobble them up.

The tomato noodles was good, it's really something different as we don't get dish like this over here. The steamed chicken was soft and tender and the chili sauce, garlic sauce that were served with it went well with the chicken, yummy. Even the plate of kangkung was too small for us, we ordered a second plate, the amount of belacan used was just perfect, there is the tantalizing taste and aroma of it but not too strong till it covered the taste of the fresh kangkung. The dinner was just finger-licking good, left us lip-smacking.

After dinner, we went around hunting for more food, typical us. We stopped by to purchase the popular and talked-about coconut biscuit. We got to try it before we decided to buy. They have very delicious kaya puff as well. I think we just made the owners very delighted with our purchase. Not to forget is the main star of this trip, roast pork. Even though we were informed that the family will only start their business at 9pm, we still went there earlier just in case there was a long queue. Surprisingly, when we arrived at 8.10pm, there were already other customers there queuing up! The lady before us almost bought 1 whole pig! We weren't that ambitious, we merely wanted to satisfy our taste bud. The total amount we bought was even less than 1kg.

We retired for the day early as the journey to Rainbow Waterfall starts very early the next day.

We woke up to the banging of the room door, this is their morning call service, it was only 4.30am. We gathered at the lorry that will be ferrying us to the waterfall. We had a quick but satisfying breakfast of lembing noodles and yong tau foo again. After that, off we went to Rainbow Waterfall. We had been warned that the road would be bumpy and rough but we were not prepared at all for what we were about to go through.

There was no sight of sunlight at all, we could even barely see the track ahead of us. What we could do was just to hang on to our dear lives, either by holding onto the cushioned seat (specially padded to absorb all the bumps) or by holding on to rope tied across from one side of the lorry to the other side. Not only that, we had to look out for twigs, branches, leaves along the sides as you might just get slapped right in the face by these obstacles. To avoid those, we had to dock, bend down, lean towards the right/left and move them aside using our hands (this is not advisable though as some branches or leaves are sharp and contain thorns). Thank goodness we had a "conductor" seated right in the 1st row who would shout out instructions as to where the coming "obstacles" would be, middle, left or right so that everyone behind were prepared to duck. It was an unforgettable ride. The lorry had to go through muddy pot holes, rivers, stones, rocks etc. The ride carried on in the total darkness for around 1 hour before we saw the break of dawn.




We stopped for a pee break and i believe it was more for a break for the driver as the literary uphill task was going to be a tough one. How is the lorry going to rev up the slope with 12 of us in it? I took a big gulp as i thought about the task. The driver instructed us to move towards the end of the lorry for this stretch of slope to ease the process. We obediently obeyed his instruction. At the same time, we prepared ourselves mentally, physically for the worst. As the engine was revved up, gear was engaged, we held onto our breath. The lorry went for the plunge, the driver stepped on the accelerator as though he was stepping on the face of the most despised man in his life. Not only did he have to ensure the lorry could lunge forward without sliding back, he had to also avoid huge rocks or stones or potholes along the way. Luckily the tough stretch lasted for only 5 or 10 minutes. All of us, including the lorry heaved a sigh of relief before we carried on with our journey. We eventually eased into our original seating.

Just as we thought that the ride was never-ending, the lorry jerked to a halt suddenly. We have arrived, the driver, Loh announced enthusiastically. We were so glad to give our aching buttocks a break and let our legs do some work. The first obstacle was to cross a very shallow river. You just have to beware of slippery huge flat-surfaced rocks, instead opt for small stones or sandy bed to avoid slipping. He warned us of leeches, always inspect your ankles, legs and toes for any sign of them. That was enough to make me alert. And lucky me, they spotted 3 on my leg. Thank goodness they weren't fat and juicy when spotted and it was easy to yank them off. The trek was really slipper, mainly due to the heavy downpour the night before. My slippers didn't make it any easier as it was so easy to slip out of your slipper or lose your grip. There were a few incidents where i almost sprained my ankle too. It is advisable to wear strapped sandals instead of flip flops for better grip and comfort.

After slugging along in mud, water and leeches, with the only encouragement coming from Loh who never failed to lift our spirits up when it started to look really bleak, we arrived at our destination. By feasting our eyes on the waterfall, whatever that we went through dissipated into thin air. Who would even remember the leeches , the mud, the sticky cobwebs when you rest your eyes on world's miracle and magic? The waterfall was vertically tall with a slow fall of water cascading off its cliff. This creates an illusion that there is a piece of thin lace cloth covering the rocky surface. I used to be very awed by powerful, gushing waterfall but this one totally took my breath away. It is so subtle, quiet and demure compared to those loud waterfalls. At the bottom of the waterfall, there is a lake that holds the water and channels it down to lower ground by a stream. Where we stood were stony ground with shrubs and grass here and there. Surrounding us was rocky terrain with small plants and short grass.



The water was really cold, it sent shivers down our spine. My friends attacked the food we carried all the way up here. Trust me, it was no fun to carry plastic bags of food when you were trying your very best to balance yourself. I gathered my courage and warmth to swim across the lake to the bottom of the waterfall. Teeth clattering, body shivering, i crawled out of the water to feel the droplets of waterfall beating on me. Brrrr this is really really cold.

Of course, the best was yet to come. We were waiting for the rainbow, yes ,the rainbow that would spread across the rock behind the waterfall. As the sun slowly rose, we started spotting the splatter of 7 colours. It started off weak, barely noticeable but as the sun gained more strength, the rainbow became more and more visible. This is just so awesome. You can even sit down to view the rainbow growing longer and longer, and slowly arching itself.