Wow. Hasn’t it been awhile. Tons going on in the month of October, and I just missed posting stuff. The loss of a 13 year friendship, and an 8 month friendship, and the seemed failure at building a working relationship with someones. And all within a few weeks, phew, it really can take an emotional toll on a person.
Anyway, every day is a new day, and with it comes new stories and new people. So here’s me hoping for sunnier days ahead.
Speaking of sunny days, I think we all need to get out into the sun once in a while. Go to the seaside…go to the playground… or Maybe a jungle?
I had heard from people at work and the beloved Pabi that there was a retreat getaway into the wilderness about an hour’s drive from KL. The Tana Aina resort is located in Bentong, Pahang and is definitely a place built for city dwellers to take a weekend away from all electronic gadgetry and just lounge around a river like an iguana. Tana Aina is actually 88 acres and is owned by a Puan Sri Sabrina, whom we had the grace of meeting on our stay at the resort. A robust lady, she has divided the land into 5 different areas and each of the area is named after one of her 5 daughters. The resort is named Tana Aina Fara Soraya. The resort comes with a camping ground, chalets and dorms so guest can choose their accommodation style and price is at per person per night.
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| Campsite |
Day 1
Thinking that the camping would be more of a challenge, diplodocus, chooz, pekster and I decided to try it out. The journey to Bentong took us about an hour’s drive to the 808 exit off the PLUS. Now be sure to call the driver and inform them of your exit as the phone line gets pretty bad after this. We then drove on a smaller road, bypassing small towns..be sure to look out for Kampong Sang Lee, the Durian King Kampong as the turn off to the resort is about 2 km after this kampong.
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| Kg Sang Lee |
Fofi had to go onto a gravel road of about 400 meters before we reached the parking lot of the resort. From here we had to take a 4 wheel drive into the resort itself. If there are many guests, some of them will be ‘placed’ on a small lorry for the ride into the resort. Don’t get me wrong here, am sure its loads of fun, but in my personal opinion, it’s Like chickens going into the market.
Anyways, the minute we got down from the 4 wheeler, we were greeted with welcome drinks(lime and mint, my favourite!) and cool towels. There was only one other family there, who was checking out, and after signing our indemnity forms, we were informed that for today, we would be the only guests in the entire resort. Couldn’t get any better than this…
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| Toilets are very close the camp..but pls keep clean folks |
Our bags were brought down into the tent. So much for roughing it, we didn’t even need to carry our own bags! The tent had power supply in it, so we had a fan and a socket to charge our phones. Looked like the best tent in the house as it faced the river and had the best way to get down to the river and laze on the rocks. As we sat (jumping for joy) at the being the favored guests, we got the call for lunch( boleh pergi makan sekarang ye kak, music to our ears) The communal dining hall is about 50m from our camp and is situated next to the river. Our plates and cutlery were laid out on the table just next to the river and there was the most amount of food we have seen in a while. 5 different dishes, rice, fruits and 2 types of dessert. For a second, it did feel like we were chickens to be taken to the market. But the food was amazing and something about eating outdoors just makes one more hungrier.
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| Our tent |
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| Free Durians! |
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| Our lunch- fit for a king |
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| Durian Pudding |
The first afternoon is meant for trekking to a nearby waterfall. We had to forgo this activity, as some of us were not very well, but the trek goes through 2 rivers, the first is about knee deep and the 2nd is about 6 feet of water. Guest are provided with life jackets and even pelampungs to get across the 2nd waterfall and is quite safe. Though we only lounged about the river in front of the camp, and ate durians by the riverside, it was more than relaxing to just soak up the sights and sounds so its okay even if you miss any of the activities.
Diplodocus did manage to get a real Iguana’s attention and though the chooz tried to get closer to the guy (maybe she thought she could make a new friend), one of the staff managed to shoo him off the rock that was near our tent. Plenty of frogs (many princes’ for Pekster) and watch out for the colorful butterflies and dragonflies. Lucky enough, you might catch some blue birds on the trees in front of your tent.
This is followed by tea break at 4.30(more food). We had doughnuts and curry puffs with Mee Hoon and more fruits. After which we decided to explore the resort. There is a TV right after the communal dining and guests can watch astro here or spend the time reading. There is a bookcase with some magazines, so if you don’t bring your own, just borrow one from the cupboard.
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| The Y would have loved this tea break |
A bridge across the river will bring you to the dorms, communal hall and the chalets. Tons of fish in the river, you can ask the staff the there for fish food(RM2 a pack) and just stand around hours on end, feeding fish. There are swings and seating areas a plenty for guests to just sit back and enjoy the view. As we headed back to our tent, we pit stopped at the dining and had our dose of misai kucing tea. Oh, did I mention? We get tea, coffee and misai kucing tea, which is an excellent antioxidant, free round the clock.
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| Biscuits are also free 24/7 |
Dinner is served at 7.30 and we had so much of barbequed meats, fries, garlic bread, spaghetti and nasi goring, and the yummiest dessert of fruits and cream and kuih koci…whoosh, I really didn’t think I could eat any more. Come to think of it now, I seriously miss that food. This is then followed by a night walk up a hill, its kind of steep to go up the hill and it takes roughly 20 minutes for a fit person to reach the top. From what I hear, the sight of a sky full of stars is worth the hike.
But then again, we for-went this activity too, as we were too beat to do anything. So instead, they put on MIB3 for us at the Dewan and we played scrabble while watching the movie. Still unsure if FIFA is acceptable, but congrats to our first time winner, Pekster. We went back to our tent around 11, after another dose of misai kucing, and I would advise to bring along your own blankets as the ones provided were pretty thin. There is no hot water at the resort and having showered with ICY cold water, the night air does not get warmer, so either bring along your blankets, or thicker nightwear.
Day 2
The morning walk is at 7am, guest will need to go up manmade steep stairs to reach the top of the hill to enjoy the sunrise. Pekster and I decided to take the walk later as we just wanted a slow day. We woke to cool morning air and the sound of the water rushing by. Then headed out to the communal for our breakfast of nasi lemak, bathura, roti bom, toast and jam, cereal and fruits. One could really get use to this, trust me.
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| Part of the breakfast |
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| Start of the trek. There is a tougher track for advanced hikers that go along the route of abt 5km into the jungle |
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| jambu air! unfortunately, not ripe |
While the chooz and diplodocus decided to get their noses into their books, pekster and I went round to check out the dorms. Being the only guests, we were allowed to go anywhere in the resort and to even go into the other empty rooms and chalets. The dorms are situated on the first floor above the communal hall, so if you want somewhere more cleaner and further from iguanas and frogs, you can lodge here. The Toilets are situated just outside the dorms and are very clean.
From the dorms, we headed up the hill. The resort has plenty of fruit trees, so we tried to guess which tree is for which fruit, and some of the fruits were only just growing. Along the way up, the bends are pretty steep, and having my knee issue, we took our time to go up. Try not to go alone as in some of the bends, there are also straight tracks that go around the hill, so always have someone with you to avoid getting lost. The view from the top of the hill is cool, and the overall trek is fairly easy..makes Broga hill look like mount Everest. Took us an hour(plus lepak time) to go up and make the journey down.
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| Stairs for the morning walkers |
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| View of the top. Jangan sesat ye |
More misai kucing tea, and we could see by then that the days guest was starting to stream in. The resort gets about 100 visitors per weekend on average and we had a really good time being the only guests, as we had the priority on every corner. After a shower and saying our goodbyes to the animals of the resort, Chooz had her goodbyes for her friend, the bees, pekster to her husband, the frog prince and diplodocus to her beloved iguana king. You will all be sorely missed..we headed back to the city, relaxed and happy.
