The jungle of Teluk Batik and Teluk Rubiah

The canyon in between Teluk Batik and Teluk Rubiah

It's just sad that with the destruction of Teluk Rubiah also a chunk of jungle is no longer accessible for day hikers. Having done quite a few hikes in the area, I think I know what I am talking about. It's always sad nature has to take a step back for "progress".

Will this be transformed in a 4 lane road? My info says YES.

Why those in power didn't consider changing Teluk Rubiah into an eco friendly tourist area will always be a mystery unless we find out who really get profits out of the present deal. Since I started hiking in this area I have loved it. Although the jungle here is secondary jungle and no longer primary rain forest, it houses a large amount of plants and animals. Will this all be destroyed too?

One of the beaches near Teluk Batik

Accoding to CM Zambry it will all stay but ... he in October 2011 he also stated that Teluk Rubiah would stay green. We know how little value his words have.

Thus earlier this week I went for a hike again. And again I was astound by the beauty. Have a look yourself at my photos I shared in Facebook:

Jungle in between Teluk Batik and Teluk Rubiah

The jungle of Teluk Batik and Teluk Rubiah
Hiking from Teluk Batik to Teluk Rubiah
Hiking with children in this jungle area

The forest of Teluk Batik

The story of Teluk Rubiah

A fairy tale (all characters in this fairy tale are fictional and eventual similarities with existing people or places are pure coincidental.)

Once upon a time there lived a rich Sultan. He was very happy with his life and family but there was something he missed. He had some land and wanted to connect his land to a popular beach. So, he started building a road.

The road the Sultan intended to build but never finished,  which left a bare canyon

Unfortunately the government of the nation didn't want to finance the road as it went straight through National Reserved Land. The building process was stopped.

Teluk Rubiah Golf Course

For years nothing was done in the area until one day the Sultan was back with a new plan. He wanted to change the status of the land from National Reserve to Tourist destination. it was no 15 years since his approach for building the road and governments had gone and come. The Sultan however was still there. That's the benefit of being Sultan, he thought.

It was 1984 and the land we talk about was converted into a resort and golf course and because it was his idea the golf course would be Royal.

Teluk Rubiah Resort

The Sultan was happy. At first it seemed a success. But in the years it turned out to keep the golf course in perfect condition, a lot of money was needed. needles to say the Sultan didn't want to spend his own money, so again he went to the government who told him to make the golf course and the resort more profitable.
For a while it worked not too bad but the Sultan, by now an old man, was no longer interested in golf and least of all in the resort.

Fortunately by that time a foreign company came around in search of land to build an iron ore. The Sultan saw his chance to get rid of the land but there were problems. First there was a graveyard. He knew the locals would not appreciate they wouldn't be allowed to visit anymore. "What the heck", the Sultan though, "I am the Sultan and people will listen and obey me".

Teluk Rubiah Beach

The company needed a license license and to start a company in his land, ownership needs to be 51% national. Not a problem realized the Sultan. "I have many relatives so I will start a company and make one of my siblings chairman. That way the road is free for the company to obtain the land and start the business PLUS, we would have a share out of it."

There was a snag. During the elections his favourable party was squashed out. The opposition was less willing to cooperate with his ideas and he didn't trust the opposition too. The solution came easily because the winning opposition parties were not able to create a coalition government.

Secretly some parties went on the table with the Sultans favourite. And when the turmoil became a little too chaotic, the Sultan declared his favourite party the winner and let them form the state government. After all, what did it matter anyway, the ordinary people wouldn't understand it, that was clear, how could they have been so stupid to give so many votes to the opposition anyway! Fortunately in this democracy, the Sultan could overrule the election results.

Teluk Rubiah's former resort chalet

Now the road was free. The leader of his favourite party was a man who knew the value of money so all the Sultan had to do was to make this man rich. 

A few years went by and the townsfolk of the surrounding town had still no idea what was going on until late 2009 when rumor went out that the land was sold. The land, no longer untouchable National reserve but still a tourist destination would be closed in August the next year.

Jungle trekking from Teluk Rubiah to Teluk Batik

Some where making noise, but others said... this is our country, our government would never sell our land out to foreigners. Our government does what is good for our country, don't worry! And so the people in the towns slept peacefully further.

Until August 2010 when the piece of land was closed! Uproar and turmoil! How could this have happen. The Sultan didn't care much, he was free of the burden of the land which now lay on the foreign company and his protégé who now first minister. 


But still the townsfolk didn't really understand the full scale until one day the jungle around the land was closed off. Blasting danger the board said. From National Reserved (untouchable) Land to industrial paradise.

But the story is not over. Despite promises of the local and federal government never to allow heavy industry in this tourist area, the foreign company started deforesting the valley. In less than a few months almost all green was gone.

Two massive pits were being cut in the hills, apparently to build tunnels. A little strange as it was promised all transport would go through water. However, behind the hills separating the former National Reserved land of Sultan and the main town in the area, new houses for the workers were being build. A total of over 5000 new jobs would be created. And as much the workers needed houses, they needed transport too. Thus the easiest way to get the workers to the factory would by by a tunnel. 

One of the beaches near Teluk Rubiah, no longer accessible for the general public

This was the first thing that had to be constructed because the factory would otherwise be impossible to reach for those who had to work here.

Over 5000 new jobs sounded good for the local townfolk. Some started to investigate what jobs would be available. It turned out nothing much was known. Upper management would be in the hands of the foreigners and lower paid work would be done by labor from cheaper countries in the region.

There was however another problem. The bay where the factory would be build was shallow, too shallow to get big ocean tankers to come to the beach. So the foreign company decided to build a pier a few miles outside the mainland. From here cargo could be transported from the big ships to smaller ships.

Government said it would have absolute no effect on the water quality but locals already found one of their favourite beaches nearby dirtier, oilier. It was of course ignored and denied by the officials.

A nearby popular island living on fishing industry and tourism some started to become wary about the situation. More pollution of seawater would result in less fish and dirtier beaches (thus less tourists).

Drilling holes in the hills, despite the promised the hills would be untouched ...

Another project nearby where foreigners would be approached to buy expensive property on a manmade island came in the danger zone. If the company would not hold their promise and cut the hills down, the manmade island project would have a serious problem. Who would want to buy property with an iron ore in their view? Let alone the dirtier water quality.

By now it's 2012 and people in the surrounding towns see the "development". Some are happy as the project brings jobs in constructing the factory and new shopping malls. Others are worried as nature is being destroyed despite promises from State and Federal government organizations.

For the foreign company and those connected to it, this is of little concern as long as they make the money. The local population will vote the politicians they blame for the disaster out in the next elections but the first minister didn't care too much. He had earned his fortune in the last few years and some other projects were also on the way. If he wouldn't be re-elected, not a problem.

And although the first minister was from the same area as where the iron ore was being build, the first minister knew he would, obviously, never wanted to live under the smoke of such a factory. He was maybe greedy, but he was certainly not a fool.

Teluk Rubiah on January 18, 2012

So in the end, the Sultan lived long and happily, the first minister knew he would not be re-elected but as he had made his fortune and he couldn't care less so everybody wins.

Except of course the towns folk who did get their most wanted shopping malls but also the right to get quicker cancer and other diseases. The Sulan however has the last wise words: "In every situation of progress there are winners and losers, unfortunately. We can't make everyone happy, so it's best to accept the situation and continue what we have always done: obey the Sultan."

More about Teluk Rubiah
Facebook Group Save Teluk Rubiah
More photos of Teluk Rubiah on Facebook here, here and here

The destruction of Teluk Rubiah has been completed

Master destroyers Zambry and Najin in cooperation with the Sultan of Perak have their job done: Teluk Rubiah is destroyed, forever. Vale Industries have flatten the area and are starting to build the iron ore. One can only wonder how much money ends up in the pockets of these people.

The destruction of Teluk Rubiah has been completed
More photos of Teluk Rubiah here at Facebook  and here more what Teluk Rubiah used to look like

 And some photos of what Teluk Rubiah used to be in the very near past, before Zambry and his gang destroyed it. 

Langkawi

Talk about Langkawi in the previous post, I realized I had not been there since 2008! Ouch... so that will soon change. Late February I will again visit and bring the latest updates back. Have just booked at Malibest Hotel for 4 nights so I have time to explore a little bit. Until than you have to do it with my Langkawi pages:

• Langkawi
• Hotels in Langkawi
• Hotels at Cenang Beach
• Guest houses and hostels at Langkawi
• Map of Langkawi
• Diving in Langkawi
• More photos of Langkawi

Overview of the main Malaysian islands

Malaysia has a lot to offer to tourists, and there's more than visiting Kuala Lumpur (a waste of time, if you ask me), Malacca and the Cameron Highlands. The islands of Malaysia are some of the most principle reasons to visit.

Penang has the widest variety in culture, Langkawi has spectacular beaches and on the east coast at Perhentian, Redang and Tioman you can get high quality diving (the west coast has Pulau Payar and Pulau Sembilan)

Overview of the main Malaysian iislands

Langkawi

Teluk Seagdas, my second attempt to hike from Teluk Segadas to Pasir Bogak

Yesterday I tried again to find the trail from Teluk Segadas to Pasir Bogak. The first part, the short trail from Teluk Gedung to Teluk Segadas is of course not a problem. It's a short, 20 minutes trek and you can't get lost.

 On top of the second hill, 300 meter alt., yesterday January 12, 2012

That is not to say about the trekking from Teluk Segadas to Pasir Bogak. A few weeks ago I attempted to do this trekking confident I would easily be able to follow the markers. I got lost after reaching the higher hill top at 300 meter. I could see Pasir Bogak but couldn't reach it.

This time I was confident I would reach Pasir Bogak, in fact I was sure I had reach Pasir Bogak until the very last moment when I saw ... the Perak mainland and realized I had hiked back to Teluk Gedung. The 6 hours trek had been difficult and dangerous. Here's why.

The markers on the path appear and disappear on and off. I had to go back several times to pick up the trail (golden rule, don't leaver the path if there is one). Here and there I stepped wrongly, fell over, got a nasty sratch on my right leg which was bleeding for bit. Later on my ringfinger kept hanging on a branch (and is (now 24 hours later) still a bit swollen.

The last time I did leave the path, this time I didn't make that mistake but... it didn't bring me to Pasir Bogak despite I kept finding markers. On the way the tropical rainforest showed me it's beauty. At one moment the wild boar were close, at least a few of them were close even though I couldn't see them due to the thick vegetation.

The first part after climbing up from Teluk Segadas is easy ...

At another point I was attacked by a swarm of wasps, defending their territory. The result of their attack were several stings in my head before I could escape. The attack put enough venom inside my system to make me partly losing my control over my body. It was quite scary and had I not seen "Pasir Bogak" (which turned out to be Teluk Gedung), I would have had much more trouble to get out of the jungle.

Top of the hill at just over 300 meter


On the way out I was lucky the trail went all the way down, I lost it here and there but found it back too. Despite the 30C temperature, I was shivering all over, as having a fever. The result of the wasp venom. My water supply was no very low too and despite the temperature I couldn't sweat much too.

The last 100, maybe 200 meters out of the jungle were more falling and rolling down the hill were on the way I got a few more scratches here and there.

Once out of the jungle, I lied down on a volleyball field for about an hour (in the rain) before I was able to find my way to a drink stall and get me a short and very cold swim (water temperature was 28C, but it felt like a very cold bath).

 

Where is the path?

Later that day when I came home, I was too tired to eat and it took some time to get my full control back over my systems. It was certainly the most dangerous trekking I have done. I would not recommend to do this trek without a guide (contrary to the Bukit Pangkor trekking).

Considering my 2 experiences to find Pasir Bogak this way, I think:

1. The trail might have existed in the past but is completely overgrown and the markers are gone
2. The trail never really existed at all. 
3. The only trail I am certain of is a trail that leads from Teluk Gedung to Teluk Segadas, from there to the highest point at south Pangkor and from there through a trail back to Teluk Gedung.

Would I be able to find this #3 trail back the next time I'm going there? It's hard to say. The main problem is that the trail appears and disappears frequently. A next time I will surely bring a compass. 

Jungle trekking Teluk Segadas and jungle trekking to Pasir Bogak
More about Teluk Segadas
More about the plans to destroy Teluk Segadas

Diving At Pangkor - Pulau Sembilan

Technically you don't dive at Pangkor (though snorkeling is possible at for example Pulau Giam). The diving takes place at Pulau Sembilan. And it's worth to dive here!Pulau Sembilan does not have a name like Perhentian, Redang or Tioman but it is just as promising. On good days (and after diving there about 60 times, I think I can say a little bit), you get a wonderful variety of underwater life that can include turtles, scorpion fish, triggerfish, leopard sharks, nudibranches and even if you are really lucky pygmy seahorses

Diving At Pangkor
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North Bali, from Lovina to East Java

Travelers to Bali seldom take the opportunity to exercise further than Denpasar/Ubud and Kuta and Lovina. That's too bad. To some extend it's because the northern region is slightly more dificult to reach (despite only 35-40 km from Denpasar). This leaves the northern coast primarily left to locals and people like me who love to figure out the less exploited parts of the world. Here is my story about north Bali:


North Bali