The Chamang waterfalls in Bentong, Pahang

Last Sunday, on the way back from Raub to Kuala Lumpur, I felt like making an excursion to Chamang...

The actual intended destination lies 8 km ahead...

One have to take a winding path down (or rather up?) the jungle...


And there, the destination is almost at hand...

But first park the car...

The hint of what's to come is already there...

Nice huh?

Actually, the real attraction could already be seen from the carpark...

Welcome to Chamang waterfalls, one of the more impressive waterfalls I've seen my whole life anywhere. For the record this is my second time here. The last visit was made probably 7 to 8 years ago....

While the waterfalls are very impressive, it is considered off limits to the public. It is very dangerous and has cost a number of lives...

Nevertheless, visitors can enjoy safer areas like this not far away...

Another look at the main waterfalls...

This video should put the places in perspective. For the record this is the 343rd posting here. Cheers! :]

Abolishing terrorism between races...

OK. Let's take a break from the Aceh articles. Here is another translated article from the website http://www.shiar-islam.com . As for the subject, I just followed the order of Malay articles there. So nothing to do with the current world situation ya or is it? I leave it for you readers to judge...

ABOLISHING TERRORISM BETWEEN RACES

By Ustaz Syed Hasan Alatas
http://www.shiar-islam.com/
Translation by Radzi Sapiee

The injustice which is rife in all parts of the world, oppressions among mankind, all undue actions and such have caused terrorism among races to rise. I am always right, you are always wrong... if such an opinion continues to be one’s belief in themselves, then do not hope to end all the terrors plaguing the world.

It is because of unbearable oppressions where countries are invaded, the inhabitants treated like animals, belongings destroyed that terrorism persists. Don’t be perplexed if there are men who dare to blow up themselves. They are bent on destroying themselves as they are too disappointed, looking at how their families were killed, houses blown up or ran down, their fathers, mothers or brothers and sisters mercilessly tortured or killed, the plants they have painfully cultivated over many years razed down. They have no choice because such oppressions keep on continuing. And they could not find a place to solve all this justly. Thus the time have arrived for all nations to cooperate to solve the problems of the oppressed in a just and intelligent way.

The time have come for all the world to work together to solve mankind’s problems based on the loving principles shown by the prophets. Look at the teachings of prophets Moses AS, Jesus AS and Muhammad SAW. Study how they advocated love and caring among the creations, just actions, being tolerant and solving problems of terror by looking at its root cause, who are involved, where are they, how they act and what is the reason behind their actions.

Solving the problems of the community is no mean feat, what more when it involves terrorism. Terrorists exist everywhere in any country but remember, the fight for what is right and just should never be equated with terrorism. The fight for what is right and just like freeing men from oppression and unjust is an honourable fight. Such a fight have been carried out by many freedom fighters at any nations, whether in the east or in the west.

Besides that there exist the real terrorist since the time of Prophet Adam AS. Remember his son Cain who murdered his own younger brother Abel because of jealousy and following his own whims and fancies? The history of Islam itself shows how three caliphs (successors to the Prophet Muhammad SAW in leading the Muslims), Saidina Umar RA., Saidina Uthman RA and Imam Ali bin Abi Thalib KWJ were killed by terrorists. Such is the case with many descendants of Rasulallah SAW, like his granchildren Saidina Hassan who was poisoned to death and Saidina Hussein who was mercilessly killed by power-crazy terrorists.

Therefore in trying to abolish terrorism we must look at the types of terrorists involved, then only we move in integration combining all our means. Act justly and intelligently, God willing we will find the real terrorists and face them together. With such we could at least diminish terrorism if not abolish it all completely.

Terrorists exist everywhere and they also come in the form of wild uncontrolable urges in our own psyches. We must abolish the terrorists inside ourselves before we tackle the ones outside. The prophet SAW has reminded Muslims that the fight against evil passions in ourselves is a big holy war. Thus let us cleanse ourselves from the wild urges which have long taken root and then decorate ourselves with love and caring, being forgiving and acting just to everyone regardless of where they come from. God willing terrorism will be diminished while mankind will be at peace and prosper with the powers of heaven also pleased.

Views around the tomb of Syiah Kuala...

Peace be upon you all. Continued from Views of Aceh from our hotel early morning...

Once we're done with breakfast and such, we went to a certain special place some 15km outside of Banda Aceh city centre. The view inland shows the rows of hills and mountains known as Bukit Barisan...

The view seawards shows an island, Pulau Wei in the background...

Welcome to the Syiah Kuala tomb complex...

This building inside houses the tomb of the celebrated 17th century saintly religious master Sheikh Abdul Rauf...

As he is buried in an area near the sea, also near to the mouth of the Aceh river, he became known as Syiah Kuala (literally, the master who is buried near the estuary)...

I like the open expanse out here. I understand that there used to be other buildings around but all were destroyed by the tsunami of 26th December 2004 which ravaged Aceh.



The view seawards with the newly-built embankment in view...

I was told that the shores used to be a further 500 metres or more out into the sea. But it got washed away during the tsunami and thus this enbankment was built to stop further erosion.

A view of the tomb complex from the embankment. That's all! :]

Views of Aceh from our hotel early morning...

Tuesday morning 16th June 2009, after a good night sleep at the hotel we decided to have an early morning walk.

It is a refreshing sight to see the locals walking, jogging or cycling for exercise at the public roads, some bare-footed! And this is not even a weekend. It is a good thing that the air in Aceh is still fresh unlike in congested Kuala Lumpur where you could only see views like this only on the weekends and even then at the parks, not on public roads.

Then it's time to get back to the hotel...


The night before, me and wife went up the top of the hotel and found the view fascinating. So we made it a point to come up again in the morning to snap the views. This should be the view direct to the south with the main mountain range of Bukit Barisan imposing in the horizon.



A 30 degree turn anti-clockwise and you could see the further parts of Bukit Barisan...

Another 30 degree turn anti-clockwise and it's the turn of the mountain Seulawah to come into view...



60 degree turn anti-clockwise...





Another 30 degree turn and it's all the way to the north. The view is blocked by these parts of the building but never mind, we'll change positions later...





Another 30 degree turn and you could see plenty of houses...

60 degree turn and you will face the West with the centre of Banda Aceh in view. It is interesting to note that there are plenty of padi or rice fields still existing here, what more within the boundaries of the city itself!

Another 30 degree turn and we are back to where we started except I decided to take the view slightly downwards...

Look more downwards and you can see part of the hotel swimming pool...

By the way the time then was about 7am or so local time, 7+ GMT if I'm not mistaken...

Now, a look northwards from the north-wing of the hotel.

One towards the house 30 degree anti-clockwise turn...

A view towards city centre... that's all! :]

The place called Uleelheue in Aceh

This is a view from the place called Uleelheue just outside Banda Aceh. The name sounded like a Swiss yodel or something isn't it? In fact it sounded so funny to me that I never thought it was the real name of a place in Aceh, a place which gained prominence after the Tsunami of 26th December 2004.

Another superb view there. For Uleelheue being a coastal area was one of the place worst-hit by the Tsunami. Yet when I was there on 15 June 2009 which is actually less than four and a half-years later, all signs of destruction looked almost non-existent...

Bear in mind that most of the infrastuctures here, plants included were totally destroyed and washed away by the huge tidal wave that is the Tsunami. Only few structures managed to survive the impact if I recall correctly and suffered minimal damage. One of it is the Baiturrahim mosque with its later-built minaret seen here. I will post an article on the mosque in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) later.


Here is an inland view with the mountain Seulawah Agam in the background left. Somewhere behind it lies 'his mate' Seulawah Inong, both noted to be extint volcanoes if I remember correctly. For the record, Agam is the Acehnese word for man of male, Inong is woman or female. Thus the words Seulawah Agam and Seulawah Inong literally mean male and female Seulawah respectively!

The opposite view, that is towards the opposite direction...


And that's my wife to the right and our driver @ tourist guide to the left. That's all here for the night. Cheers! :]

Remembering the Tsunami which ravaged Aceh in 2004...

I believe many know or have heard about the Tsunami of 26th December 2004 which ravaged Aceh and took the lives of over 200,000 of its inhabitants. Well now, some 5 years later they have a museum to remember what had happened.

On its first floor is plenty of water, perhaps symbolic of the Tsunami itself...


However the upper part which should house some exhibits was not opened yet when I went there on 15 June. Still the lower floor has some visitors treating it as a recreational place...

Behind lies a cemetery which if I remember correctly is called the Kherkoff. For here lies the bodies on many Dutch soldiers who lost their lives in the war against Aceh. While it has nothing to do with the Tsunami, it is interesting to note that the cemetery lies within a patch of land which used to be part of the Aceh palace and garden complex. In the background, one could see a famous remnant from that era. Look at the article Gunongan... in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) .

Slightly further at the outskirts of the city of Banda Aceh lies this huge ship on dry ground.

For the record, this 160-metre plus long ship housing an offshore electric generator was washed up more than 5 miles inland during the Tsunami and then left here when the water subsided!

Nearby, lies another monument to remember what had happened during the Tsunami. We'll procede with another story after this...