Nature has immense healing powers. It compels you to see it in all its beauty and along the way, slowly drop the little baggage of life behind you as you trail on.

Even with a camera it’s hard to capture the beauty of gentle rays of sunbeams peaking through a treetop canopy, making you feel you’ve discovered an enchanted kingdom somehow. Even with a million words it’s hard to describe the song of a flowing river.

Nothing beats being there. Being right there in the centre of paradise. Splashing the cool water as you trek up the stream. Squishing the sand between you toes. Feeling the pressure underneath the magnificent waterfall. Embracing the great trunk of a tree that took unimaginable patient years to grow. Marveling at the intricate detailed delicacy and frailty of a perfectly formed spider web. Feasting the eye on the great vibrancy of the fiery red wild ginger flower. All these beautiful things, all these miracles and more, can be so overwhelming I can’t say enough and thus can only try to take in as much as I possibly can. Absorbing every sight, every sound, every sensation.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- His eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

I am indeed without excuse. Without excuse to be in total awe of Him and His creation.

On the 1st of May, the Young Adults organized a trip to the Sungai Pisang waterfall near the foot of Genting. Since it was a public holiday and I am way behind my GI schedule, I was still a little unsure if I wanted to go along this time. But boy was I glad I went in the end! I don’t regret a single second spent there! The closest I can get to describing my feeling about the trip is… Breathtaking… I’ve only been on a few trekking trips but I must say this was the best! There was just so so so much to take in. So much to see, so much to hear, so much to smell, so much to experience and I still couldn’t get enough of it.

There were ten of us who made our way to Sungai Pisang. Uncle Michael Wong (our trusty guide for the day!), Uncle Michael Fun ( our super cool photographer for the day), Uncle Kevin ( our ‘macho’ lifeguard for the day), Daniel, Ian, FioOoOonananana, Jennifer, Xiao Yen, Lesley, myself and our special guest star…. LISHAN! Lishan aka the drowning cat actually came with us to the waterfall wei!! Haha…so glad you could join us girl, luckily you didn’t spend that time pigging at home instead rite? Hope you had a good time =p

So basically what we did was after arriving HALF an hour late (sorry people but you know I love you right?), had breakfast at church and then set of in the direction of Genting! We passed Bukit Jalil on the way, and so I told Lishan to memorise the road to the waterfall so we can go there on our own next time to distress after killer GI , but erm…I think tak jadi lar. Memorise road to midvalley also so susah ady.

Anyways, parked the cars near the end of the river and from then on, it was trekking all the way for us! And oh, did I mention we (FioOonana, Xiao Yen, Lesley and myself) all bought crocs specially for the trip? SO cute ler! But of course fake crocs lar, from Giant hypermarket RM15. So if you want to be cool like us with fake crocs and a big ‘asadi’ label on the top to show off, go buy k? Cheap cheap =)

So we trekked up stream, through a tunnel, and through the jungle for about an hour before we arrived at the 1st real waterfall Denise has ever seen in her life! The journey trekking was as enjoyable as seeing the waterfall itself. And off course, according to true BSGC tradition, it was accompanied with a lot of screaming and splashing of water and rubbing mud and sand into each other’s heads and bullying innocent people =p.

Call me ‘jakun’ but there were a lot of things that I was excited to see, some for the first time of my life (eg: a huge spider on its web, kids diving of rocks now THIS one I will explain more in awhile) , and some because the ALWAYS get me excited no matter how many times I see them (eg: wild mushrooms, so many size shape and colour man!). The scenery was marvelous. Like take right out of a storybook, I half could not believe where I was.

After the waterfall, we climbed up to a higher source where there was a little pool. And there were many kids there jumping and swimming and seriously enjoying life ler. I think of the way we kids spend our days back in the city and *sigh* its just such a waste to live life half full. I mean, being out there is seriously the way to live man =P

AnywaysSsss….highlight of the trip was….

I JUMPED OFF A ROCK!!!!!!!
And as though that wasn’t enough…
I JUMPED OFF A TREE PLANK!!!!!!
It was basically a huge fallen tree trunk that just happened to end right at the pools deep side.

Like *whoah* never in a million year did I ever imagine myself doing something so daring! I mean of course I’ve seen people do it in the movies and the kids at the waterfall were also glad to give us free performances. BUT ME? DENISE TAN aka chicken butt? JUMP OFF A PLANK AND DUNK INTO A DEEP POOL?

The feeling of standing way up there, looking down below me into the deep deep water, knowing fully well I could not swim, and then taking a deep breath while the others scream 1… “oh no, denise what are you doing here?” 2… “argh..are you really going to do this?your out of your mind woman,turn back turn back!” 3!!!!!! “aiyo, whatever la just heck it!”

*splash*

I remember staring at the water surface the split milisecond before I entered it with a splash and thinking “This is so unreal!”. Haha but it was mighty fun!!!! Thank you so much Uncle Kevin for volunteering your lifeguard skills to pull us out when after we splashed in. If it weren’t for him I would never have dared attempt such a bold feat! Thank you to the 2 Uncle Michaels for calming me down when I was at the top of that rock and later on plank. It it weren’t for them I would most probably have chickened out and turned back =p

Haha seriously once in a lifetime must try! Guys the next time you get the chance to, make sure you grab it ya? Safety first OF COURSE =P And I am proud to announce that EVERYONE that day jumped into the pool. EVERYONE wei! Even Lesley kekeke… =)

Anyways to sum up, it was great!! Would I go again? DEFINITELY YES YES YESssSSSss!!!!
Thank you everyone who made it possible I truly enjoyed myself =)

Haha…the pictures should be out soon. Cant wait!