Hulu Langat river valley 10Km from KL
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In the Badan Warisan Magazine I read quite near the city there is a historic hydro-power plant in a forest reserve at Pangsun and there an idea to make it into a heritage park so I went out to check it out. I found very near to the city only 5Km from Cheras Leisure Mall the Hulu Langat valley is an interesting picturesque place to visit with lots of natural things to see, like traditional houses, river bathing, hot springs, forest parks and waterfalls.
| Getting there - Fortunately there is bus 11 from the back of Mydin in front of the Maybank Tower. (It cuts down the Loke Yew highway instead of going down Jalan Pudu.) The bus continues down the Cheras- Kajang Highway past the tollbooth then turns off into Suntex. Just after that it reaches Hulu Langkat, which turns out to be the name of the whole valley so it was not clear where I should get down. After a few Km you are clearly in the countryside as there are orchards & old Malay houses.
satellite map, roadmap
The Badan Warisan article made it sound as if the city was all the way upto the power plant, but, actually it's 20 Km of picturesque river valley, before it. The high rise it spoke of must have been the development of half a dozen 6 storey blocks at kilometer 25, I saw no others.
I got down at the town at Km 16 road junction. Here there is a road coming in from Ampang, so that's an alternative way from the city to the valley. (Jalan Ampang to Jalan Taman Putra to Jalan Hulu Langat). There were quite a few rundown shophouses here, but nothing really interesting.
In fact the 11 goes on 4Km to the hotsprings Malay village of Dusun Tue. I took the Rapid Kl bus, past riverside parks and bathing spots, to the end at Pangsun 36Km from downtown KL, where the bottom power plant is. Of couse the road was lined with stalls selling durian, jackfruit and mangosteen & apparently you can get lemang (bamboo rice) also.
Pangsun - The powerhouse is obvious and there appeared to be a small electric company village. To the right there is a bridge. Though there are no signboards about the forest park & trails etc but I could see I needed to head left on the road uphill. I passed the shop and then shortly I could see the hydrostation service track on the left. The main road continues up to a forest park carpark ourside the huge resevoir and dam. Though local people told me that one can't go right to the water, of course I guess it has to be kept unpolluted. Maybe there are Air terjun- waterfalls up the road also.
the path up the top station
The trail - It bends around and in a few hundred metres joins the huge pipeline. A few hundred metres more the is a trail under the pipeline leading to a washing pool and squatter or Orang Asli camp, this path continues upto more orchards "defended" by dogs. The main track continues 0.5Km to the top power plant and barracks. Because it's an old road the path is a wide open space with good views, not a shaded woodland path. It's obvious motorbikes get up here all the time even 300m past the plant. The power plant, is a big shed which has been recently whitewashed. The bottom barracks is being lived in, but the top ones abandonded.
the top station freshly painted
the top station 2
the top station
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Futher trails Above the top station a pipeline continues up another 45 minutes to a small dam in the stream. A path now in the forest follows the pipeline. It is forest, but not amazing, there are few big trees, though of course there were monkeys. After 300m the path forks the left leading across the stream. I guess from the traffic there are more orchards up there. I followed the right side and pipeline through bamboo clumps. After 45 minutes I arrived at the end of the path and pipeline. There was a hut and small dam. Even though it was Saturday on the trail I saw no other tourists.
top of the stream
small dam at the top
shack at the top
Orang Asli Village ? The bus had just left so I walked around the village and onto the next village which was a bit rundown. I guess now it must have an Orang Asli village cos there lots of dogs around. I wonder if they sell Toddy (coconut palm wine) ? I forgot to ask.
Hot Spings On the way back I stopped at Dusun Tue Km 22 cos a sign says "Air Panas". There is a Mosque with free hotspring gardens at the back. It's not great as you can't immerse yourself in the pools most people took a mandi then soaked their feet in large buckets. There was a concrete wall separating Men's and women's sides with a door children passed through. Actually 500m back to the city outside the entrance to some islamic university there is a round concrete pool next to the river, where people bathed their feet. A few yards away the river steamed, but maybe it's too dangerous to bathe there. (actually there are others at Sungai Serai hot spring is located at Batu 11 Ulu Langat road)
a tank by the river, and steam rising out the river
Damm Buses - 6pm at Dusun Tue all I needed to do was take the 11 bus to KL & get down on Loke Yew to get to Notthatbalai festival. But I had forgotten to look for toddy. It was obvious Dusun was all Malay, so there would be no toddy so I would have to look at the junction town. I just missed the Rapid KL bus as I reached the stop, so I decided to walk a bit. After 25 mins the 11 to KL passed I took it to the junction town. Actually there was no toddy there either so I had to wait an hour for the next 11, but cos it was evening the bus was only going to Suntex not to KL. So instead of taking a bus for 2.50 then another for 1.5Km I had to take the 11, then another bus, then walk. Then there was no bus so I had to take a 5Rm taxi then a train, then walk 1 Km. Ugh
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Conclusions Yes I like the idea of combining history & nature into one place. One can appreciate the history whilst walking in the nature. This type of attraction is quite common in the UK. The Hulu Langat river valley is already a nice place to visit being picturesque place with traditional buildings and attractions such as riverside bathing, hotsprings waterfalls and forest park. There are already many families already going to enjoy bathing in the river and picnic-ing so it would be easy to tempt them to visit another place nearby where they could learn about, industrial history, engineering, nature, sustainable energy and Orang Asli Culture.
I'd like to go back and check more of the forest park, visit waterfalls and see if it's possible to take a view of the resevoir and dam and the road from Ampang where apparently there is a viewpoint .
more info : Gabai Waterfalls 6Km away from the river http://www.waterfallsofmalaysia.com/06gabai.php
Lepok Fall http://www.waterfallsofmalaysia.com/83lepok.php
- another good link http://www.kampung-online.com.my/kgBatu9/tourism.html
- text from defunct webpage about Gunung Nuang Hike Explains end of road and trek to Lolo Falls
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