A Visit to Sungai Congkak- Part 1

This was my first MNS outing since my retirement and since COVID.   For a long time we were restricted to trips of 10 km or less.  Now we can travel- so long as we remain within Selangor.

Insiders refer to the Malaysian Nature Society as ‘makan non-stop.’  Hence, naturally, our meeting point was the Eng Soon Hoong coffee shop in Hulu Langat.  My review is here Five Stars for a Traditional Breakfast.  After breakfast we drove an additional 11 km to our destination.  Why didn’t we find a restaurant closer to our destination?   In the Islamic calendar it is the fasting month of Ramadan.  Accordingly, all the Malay restaurants are closed during sunlit hours; buka puasa begins at sunset.

In Bahasa Malay (and on the Waze map) this location is Kem Latihan & Rekreasi Sungai Congkak.  For monolingual English readers ‘latihan’ is practice or training.  Also did you  notice that ‘ch’ is rendered as simply ‘c’ in Malay phonetics?  The English letter c is redundant; i have long believed its place should be taken by either s or by k.  By which I mean  ‘circus’ ought to be spelled as ‘sirkus.’

Oddly the signage for the park is in English (instead of Malay), Chongkak Park & Resort, henceforth CPR. 

For a moment I wondered if I had gone to the wrong location.  Because of Ramadan the park opens at 09.00 (instead of 08.00) and closes at 16.00 instead of 18.00 (or 4 pm instead of 6 pm, if you insist on 12 hour clocks).  There was a queue to get in.   CPR is operated by Tourism Selangor Promosi Sdn. Bhd. Their website is here: CPR Homepage.   Entry is RM 15.00 per car.  It might be possible to park outside and simply walk in, if you can negotiate a private car park near the gate.  These seem to exist but were not operational when we arrived.  Likely because of Ramadan the lelaki jaga kereta were sound asleep.  The cost of the private lot is said to be RM 4.00 to 5.00.   Seniors and children below 12 enter CPR for free; everyone else pays RM 1 each on top of the car entry price.   The park was clean and the toilet was in satisfactory condition- have 50 sen ready.  (Note: There is only one toilet block.  All the others are abandoned – vandalised or locked.)

There were several signboards warning about leptospirosis, a disease spread by rat urine in the soil and water.  Read the Wikipedia article for more details (Leptospirosis - Wikipedia).  

I avoided one risk factor.  I was likely the only park visitor who didn’t go in the water.  Even toddlers played happily, under the watchful gaze of adoring parents.  Then again,  I went into the forest, got bitten by leeches and consequently had ‘breaks in the skin’ which is another risk factor.   If only Malaysians were more OCD about cleanliness.  I wrote earlier that the park was clean- which was true at 09.00, upon entry.  It was less true at 15.30 when I left.   Sadly, some day trippers left plastic bags and food waste.  Perhaps they don’t intend to return.  Or, more likely they think its someone else’s job to clean up.   It is true that someone else will clean up eventually; in the meanwhile rats will also get their share and continue to spread the leptospira bacteria.

By 1.00 pm most of the photo group had adjourned to Langat Forest Seafood and Beer Garden.  At this point I had only a few photos and my day pack still had some trail mix and a litre of water.  Hence, I decided to continue exploring the park.

Why did I have so few photos four hours after arriving at the park?  Similar to the ancient Greek sailors of mythology I heard the siren call; you can listen too:  Gibbons calling.  I was trying to get a photo of a barbet when I head gibbons calling in the distance.  Very sensibly  (I am sure you will agree) I walked into the forest following one very clear trail, apparently used by mountain bikers.  When the trail forked (perhaps 1-2 km from my starting point) and my phone battery was down to 20% charge I turned back to civilization.  Was I successful in my quest?  Partly, so.  Somewhere on my return leg I did get to a point which I estimate was within 100 m or less from the gibbons.  I saw a tree branch swaying and a blurry shape jumping to another tree.  Unfortunately, due to many intervening leaves and branches, I did not have a good vantage point.  Regardless, I decided I would create a video.  At home,  I used HD video Converter to strip the audio file from the video (which is simply blurred leaves) and uploaded the resulting wav file to SoundCloud.  When I play the file I am struck by the fact that the sound of the cicadas almost drowns out that of the gibbons.  When I was standing in the rainforest the reverse was true.  I could easily hear the gibbons and barely registered the cicadas.  Likely, it is the cocktail party phenomenon, where amongst the buzz of 20 or 30 conversations your brain filters out the voice of your wife (or husband) mentioning your name, hopefully in endearing tones.  

If you wish to continue reading I have posted my photos and videos in A Visit to Sungai Congkak- part-2.html.