Category: Malaysia

Hiking Baha Campsite, Dabong

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If you want to experience waking up to a breathtaking sunrise on the ridge of Southeast Asia’s highest recorded waterfall, then you should try a 3D2N camping trip at Baha Campsite, Dabong.

It’s a clean, well-kept site complete with toilets and a surau with ice-cold water running straight from a small waterfall right next to the camp, which honestly makes the whole process of enjoying nature surprisingly comfortable. You can just spend hours lying in your hammock, enjoying the morning mist wrapped among the tall trees while listening to the gentle roar of the falls. And if you’re lucky with the weather, you’ll get to witness a soft layer of awan karpet settling over the valley below.

  • Location: Baha Campsite, Dabong, Kuala Krai, Kelantan (450m)
  • How to go: Drive to Dabong, use Waze for “Stong Heritage Eco Resort”. Another option is to take a train from KL Sentral to Gemas (ETS) and Gemas to Dabong (KTM) to experience a different adventure.
  • Attraction: Camping at the ridge of Jelawang Waterfall, the tallest waterfall (recorded on paper) in southeast Asia
  • Difficulty: Moderate and steep, vertical hiking
  • Distance: 2-3 hours hike with load. 3.4km long
  • Time spent: 3 days 2 nights
  • Caution: Not advisable during raining season
  • Tips: Arrange food ration with your guide so you can focus being in the moment
  • Leech level: High
  • Entrance Fee: Yes
  • Require Permit: Yes
  • Local Guide: PakDo +6017 908 0884
  • Hiking date: 01.05.2025
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Domesticating The Wild Bees

Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

Sitting on the damp forest floor beside Zam, the leader of the Tasik Pedu honey gatherers, I watched a shower of golden embers burst from the Mentawan torch, drifting down through the dark Tualang canopy like falling stars.

In that quiet night air, a wild, ambitious thought struck me.

“Zam,” I whispered, my gaze fixed on the glowing canopy above. “Why can’t we just domesticate Apis dorsata? What if we put up wooden hive boxes on the high branches, run a high-altitude bee farm, and harvest honey all year round instead of waiting for the Pedu flowering season?”

Zam slowly turned his head. A dry, amused grin spread across his face. The exact look a veteran forest hunter gives a dreamer with overly creative ideas.

“Sally…” he chuckled softly. “You want to put a tiny wooden box out for a wild bee that owns the entire jungle canopy?”

Refusing to surrender my breakthrough, I answered with absolute confidence.

“Yeah, why not? Nothing is impossible, right? We just haven’t found the way yet.”

It was my defiant response to his skeptical grin. But as the embers faded into the darkness, I had to ask myself: was I actually onto a clever possibility, or was I fundamentally misunderstanding the wild mind of Apis dorsata?

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Would You Climb This Tree?

Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

From a distance, the tree looks almost fragile.

A pale, skinny chopstick stuck straight up into the jungle canopy. You’d almost think you could snap it in half if you tried. Then you step right beside its buttress root and realize the rainforest just played a massive optical illusion on you. Up close, the trunk is massive, so wide it takes three people with outstretched arms just to wrap around it.

The air down here is cool, dim, and smells of damp soil, while the top of the tree lives in a world of its own, high up in the bright sunlight.

Cranking your neck to look straight up, your eyes play tricks on you all over again. The highest branches look like delicate little twigs, and the huge, heavy wild bee nests clinging to the wood look no bigger than tiny mushrooms. In reality, those branches have been holding their place up there for generations, carrying the weight of the forest canopy, wild bees and everything else that comes with living twenty stories above the ground.

Standing beneath a living giant that has outlived generations, you suddenly become very aware of your own size. And looking all the way up, a rather practical question comes to my mind:

Why would anyone want to climb this thing?

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Hiking Gunung Pulai, Baling

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Okay, let’s be real … this time, we weren’t hiking, but we were rock climbing. There, I said it out loud. Gunung Pulai may look small from afar, but trust me, this mountain is about 95% rock, basically a giant chunk of stone sitting proudly next to another chunk of stone called Gunung Baling in the middle of Baling town. And yeah, climbing it? Way tougher than it looks.

If you’re like me, the kind who’s always craving a panoramic view of the town framed by the sea of Butterworth and the Penang Strait, then you have to do Gunung Pulai for the sunset view. I know, I know, it sounds a bit odd to climb in the afternoon, but curiosity got the best of me. I just had to see the sunset from the Butterworth-Penang side.

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Hiking Gunung Alai, Gerik

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Craving a fairy-tale kind of view from high up in the mountains?

Don’t worry, peeps, we have our own Malaysia dreamy landscape here from the top of Gunung Alai, located in Gerik, Perak. Trust me, the view from up here is wow. If you’re wondering how to truly soak in its beauty, I’d suggest hiking up for sunset, camping overnight to catch the Milky Way, and waking up early for a stunning sunrise.

View chaser … this is the spot you don’t want to miss.

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