Cameron Highlands Trip - Robinson's Fall - Parit Falls

The last time I went to Robinson's Falls was way back in the late 80's on a college trip. I used to go there during the school holidays when I visited Kak Haj whether alone or with friends. I loved the trekking down the waterfall for a picnic and swim. Thus, it was a surprise and disappointing that the trek was totally changed and uncared for with fallen tree trunks and overgrown growth along the way. The ledges along the trek was getting narrower due to erosion and loose soil that one had to be very careful not to slip and fall into the ravine below. Some of us almost slipped as it was quite slippery due to the rain the night before. Kak Haj tagged along as she herself, being a resident of CH, had not been there since the 90's. You can no longer swim in the waterfall or go near it as the waters are polluted with pesticides over the years.

It was a trying and testing trek for me and we had to walk in a row with the able bodied ones leading and following behind me and kak Haj. We literally had to crawl under fallen tree trunks, climbed up and over them, hang on to roots to pull ourselves over or up, used trekking stick and branches to help us through. The sticks were also useful to ward off stray dogs which were actually friendly and just wanted to join us. There were too many of them to our liking and the kids were afraid of them. The dogs belonged to the 'orang asli' who had vegetable farms at the top of the fall.

Instead of trekking downwards to the picnic area, we discovered that it was now blocked by two fallen tree trunks on top of each other that it was impassable. Thus, the only way was going up or turned back. The others refused to give up and wanted to know where the trail ended. I refused to carry on and wanted to just turn back. No way they were going to allow me and they urged, encouraged and spurred me on. It was sheer madness that I could manage it as it was torturous on my legs. Look at the photos below ...

All in a single file ... 

The normal reddish brown millipede beside a size 7 shoe ... huge

The awesome cascading Robinson"s fall - no longer can one go near it

Parit Falls - full of rubbish thrown by irresponsible visitors

The blackish millipede alongside a size 7 shoe - gigantic

"Buah Ara" whatever that was in abundance here

The view from the top where there was a hut and vegetable farm

Me with a trekking stick and maneuvering under a fallen tree trunk

This would be the last time I would ever trek this way again. Parit Falls was an easy trek and we ended up at some cafes near Taman Sedia selling what else but strawberry products. There was also nasi lemak sambal strawberry.

Waffle with strawberry

Scones with homemade strawberry jam and butter

Strawberry coated with chocolate topping - the kids loved this

Strawberry sundae

Home made strawberry ice-cream with fresh strawberry and  strawberry syrup -
I loved this

After Robinson's Fall we had a picnic at the park with the food that we brought along with us. Then we continued with Parit Falls trek and ended up at the cafe above for a break as it had started to rain. We started at 9am and ended at 3pm. It was exhausting but we had a great time. We could hardly wake up for dinner but as we were hungry, all of us went for dinner. The kids never seemed to be tired !!! So we ended up at the Brinchang night market for them to get some souvenirs and supper. We had an early night as we were so tired except for the kids (ranging from ages 12 to 18).

At the end of the day, this was what we had achieved.