Pe'an Waterfall @ Bengoh Dam

Today was an occasional holiday for my school as it was All Souls Day. Since a rare break such as this was hard to come by, a few of my colleagues and I decided to go to Pe'an Waterfall at Bengoh Dam, located along Jalan Borneo Heights at the Padawan area.

We started the journey at 7.15 a.m. and our first stop was Padawan, 10th mile Kuching. Here, we had noodles at a coffee shop called Swee Sen. Swee Sen was famous for serving their noodles with big prawns. I did not have that. Instead, I had the kolo mee special ...

 Kolo Mee special, RM6.00
Noodles, served with 1 prawn, 1 wanton, 2 fishballs, 1 meatball, and slivers of char siew. I ordered mine "pink" - meaning I wanted a little bit of the red char siew oil to coat my noodles.

Our noodles were served in a jiffy. I was disappointed with it the moment the bowl was placed in front of me. First of all, the portion was small. Then the taste was bland. I poured in the entire saucer of pickled chillies and its vinegar, but it did not enhance the taste of the noodles. My friends thought the noodles were just a tad uncooked and yet a bit soggy. Apart from the fresh prawn, the rest of the ingredients were ordinary. I did not feel satisfied at all with my bowl of kolo mee at all. So perhaps this shop was overrated. 

After breakfast, we drove to Bengoh Dam. We reached there at about 9.00 a.m. We had to register ourselves at the guard house upon entry to the dam grounds .... 

Bengoh Dam
This is a water catchment area, designed to secure water supply for Kuching and Kota Samarahan

The lake? The reservoir? Hmn ... I have no idea what to call this body of water .... 

 Small boats 

Ours was the first boat with the blue tarp - the one next to the yellow boat. We were charged RM60 per pax, and lunch would be included. 

We waited for our guide here; there were some locals here and they said our guide went to buy something .... we were to wait for a while. Soon, he arrived on a motorbike ... and we boarded our little boat. He couldn't start the engine of his boat, and had to borrow his friend's engine. Soon, we chugged off ... 

Some vegetation along the way ... 

Our boatman was Alex, a young and handsome youth from one of the villages in the area. The ride upstream was only 10 minutes long, though it felt like a long time. Maybe because the boat was slow-moving. Soon, we heard the loud gushing of water ... We docked, and trekked for 20 minutes to reach Pe'an Waterfall.

The trail wasn't difficult, as there were clear steps and a clear path. It was just that some parts were steep, so climbing upward left me breathless. Some parts were muddy .... so I had to watch my steps. The scariest part for me was crossing the bamboo bridge ... I was so slow because I was scared that I would slip and fall. I was really clumsy after all.

So I was so glad when we finally arrived .... 

Beautiful waterfall, which was pretty much unspoilt 

Some call it Curtain Waterfall but the locals call it Pe'an Waterfall. 

I took a video too!

The waterfall was beautiful. I was proud that we had such a wonder right at our own backyard. However, facilities were lacking here. No toilets, no changing rooms. There was only a shack with a long wooden table and 2 long benches. I did not bring any spare clothing so I could not swim in the cool water. So my friend AL and I stayed in the shack to chit chat, while the others enjoyed themselves soaking in the water.

Alex left us to hang out at the waterfall. He was cooking Ayam Pansuh for us, so he needed to look for his cooking utensils. He came back with a bamboo vessel, lighted a fire, and proceeded to cook for us ....

Very delicious and flavourful chicken which had been cooked in bamboo
The ingredients were minimal. There was only chicken, lemongrass, ginger and tepus .... and yet, the dish tasted so delicious. 

Packed rice which Alex got from his kampung 

Yummy! The rice was really nice - soft, chewy and so fragrant! I enjoyed it very much with the chicken ....

After lunch, we hiked back to our boat. It started drizzling as soon as we were settled in the boat. We were glad that it only started raining after we got out of the trail. Unfortunately, the rain became heavier and heavier ... the sky turned dark and there was even thunder and lightning. Rain sprayed at us and water gushed into our boat ... we were soaked to the skin. Our little boat slowed down and braved the choppy waters .... And none of us had life jackets on. There was none on our boat.

"Can you swim?" S asked me.

"Err, yeah ...," I replied. "But I don't want to swim," I wailed .... 

We had all thought of the possibility that the tiny boat might capsize. Heh. The 10-minute boat ride seemed so long and we heaved a sigh of relief when we glimpsed the concrete structure of the dam from a distance. We were drenched as we ran to the car ...

It continued to pour the whole journey until we reached town. Looking disheveled in our messy hair and our damp clothes, we went to Chang Swee Kang at Satok to have some snacks ... 

Belacan Beehoon, RM5.00 

The best thing about this belacan beehoon was the century egg. Otherwise, it tasted so-so ... 

Rojak, medium RM6.00

I liked the rojak .... the sauce wasn't too smelly and I liked that it was sweet and nutty

 ABC was of course yummy, RM2.50

Despite being cold and damp, we enjoyed our cold desserts and our snacks. It was sure nice to get home and get a warm shower though. It had been an interesting day. :))