Kuala Lipis railway station revisited after the big flood of 2014

Continuing from The limestone hill of Gua Bama - A tribute to President Obama?...

Soon I arrived at the town of Kuala Lipis. Targeting its old town section I made my first stop at the railway station.

I have been to Kuala Lipis many times before and never failed to make a stop at the station. This is because I found it to be rather quaint and full of life.

This time I found it very quiet, almost abandoned...

As far as I could remember there were always people hanging about, if not to wait and take trains, they just loiter around to enjoy its quaint feel and sight.

After some time I found out why it was quite. The station used to have 6 train services per day making stops and taking/leaving passengers here. Now it is reduced to 2... even then at midnight and very early morning.

I found out that this has been the case since 2 years ago, after a big flood had ravaged most of the state of Pahang and Kelantan in 2014. That's when I realised I have visited Kuala Lipis in as many years...

A main railway bridge in Kelantan had collapsed during the flood, Because of that frequency of services had to be reduced and certain stations not serviced.

But I was told repair would soon be totally completed and normal service should return pretty soon. Anyway here's a look at things/infomation displayed at the station...

The limestone hill of Gua Bama - A tribute to President Obama?

Continuing from Checking the condition of Sungai Jelai at Kuala Medang.

From Kuala Medang I retreated back some 10 km to get to Sungai Koyan where there is a junction for the road to Kuala Lipis and Gua Musang. I took that road until it arrives at the Gua Musang-Kuala Lipis trunk road. Turning right towards Lipis I then came across a rural road leading to a place called Gua Bama.

I have been pass the junction to the rural road a number of times. But this was the first time I decided to venture in and check out what's available inside...

Gua Bama means tha caves of Bama. It refers to a local limestone hill which have some caves.

Parking at what seemed to be the entry point to the limestone hill  I then took this old wooden hanging bridge.

I ignored it's somewhat dangerous condition and pressed on.

Ah,. The foot of the hill.

Already one can see some caves at its base...

Next I found a staircase leading up.

Being the curious person I am I went on till it ends...

Then I saw this steel almost upright stairs leading further up.

I climbed up till its end where there is a rope leading further up. It is at this juncture that I decided to stop. I must admit that I was not physically fit nor was I properly dressed, footwear and all, to press on.

After spending some time enjoying the scenery and air at the topmost part accessible by stairs I returned to my car and drove around the base of the hill. That's when I noticed what could be the main entry to the hill. The words Gua Bama just keeps reminding me of America's President Obama. Any relation at all? :v

Checking the condition of Sungai Jelai at Kuala Medang

Continuing from Checking the condition of Sungai Lipis at Batu Malim.

Taking the same road/route further on some 20 km or so I then arrived at a place called Kuala Medang.

Here lies a longer bridge crossing a larger river called Sungai (river of) Jelai.

Going down for better views.

For the record this is one of the two main rivers which actually forms Sungai (river of) Pahang.

A look downstream...

Back to upstream. Seems like there is no shortage of water here either. Like the Lipis river seen in the previous article, the Jelai river also started at the main mountain range called the Banjaran Titiwangsa. I was told the mountains were not so affected by the recent dry season. And so the waters at the Jelai river here were plentiful enough over that period...

Checking the condition of Sungai Lipis at Batu Malim

Peace be upon you all. Recently I made a trip spending 3 nights at different places in Pahang. I had a number of objectives and among it was to check the flow of Sungai (river of) Pahang and its main tributaries. This is because over the last one month or so I kept coming across public reports in Facebook saying and showing the water of the river has dried up at a number of places. So let's start sharing stories.

The trip was officially started late Tuesday night 10th of May 2016 when I left Kuala Lumpur and spent the night at a surau (small praying hall) in Bentong. The following morning I continued on to Raub and the took the rural road past Cheroh and on to this part...

This is in a place called Batu Malim. There is a bridge crossing Sungai (river of) Lipis.

The Lipis river is one of the main tributaries which makes up the waters of the Pahang river.

A look towards downstream. Seems like there's plenty of water.

Still I managed to interview some locals regarding the condition here. They said it was only a day before that they could see silts and sand right in the middle of the river.

A look upstream. I did say that one of the objectives of this trip is to check out the flow of Pahang river which many have reported as being dry at a number of places right? Well, this is because it has been an extremely dry season the last 2-3 months.

But somehow it started raining heavily the day I started to head for Pahang on this trip. And the Lipis river, at least at this part has been refilled because it rained cats and dogs the previous night till early morning. For information this is the 1,515th article in this blogspot.

A visit to Pantai Sungai Sembilang

Continuing from Views from an open part of Bukit Jeram.

After we're done at Bukit Jeram we had lunch at a place called Sungai Sembilang. There is a beach or Pantai (Malay word for beach) nearby. So me and family went to have a look after lunch.

Now, I'm not sure if this beach is a stand alone area or is it part of a nearby more well-known beach called Pantai Remis. Look at the old article A visit to the Pantai Remis of Selangor

Whatever, this portion of beach to me looks more scenic that what is known as Pantai Remis.

So here's looking at Pantai (beach of) Sungai Sembilang, albeit at low tide...

Views from an open part of Bukit Jeram

Peace be upon you all. Something from 2 days ago...

Satuday 30th April 2016. Me, family and some friends made an expedition climbing up the hill called Bukit Jeram near Kuala Selangor.

At one part close to the summit there is an open area with plenty of tall grass but not much trees.

From there you can catch some nice views.

It overlooks the open waters of the Straits of Melaka...