Taman Recreasi Ranchan
I remember going for daytrips to this (natural) pool when I was
little and living in Kuching, it was a fun place to be with lots of
running water. It’s not exactly a pool per se, it’s just the name we
used to call it when we went on our weekend family trips. It was
probably during that time that I started to love going for trips (no,
not that kind, I only got to love the other kind of trip when I was 16)
and traveling.
This time, I went with the usual suspects – Ah Lung, Miriam, Ah Ming
and me headed down after going to the hot spring. It’s now called
Ranchan Recreational Center but I still remember the view as we first
stepped into the place. It was just like the way I remembered it, and
the last time I went was before I was 7 years old! It has rapids and
waterfalls and all that.
Anyway, like I mentioned, it’s not a “pool” but a full blown natural
water park before the term water park has been coined. There’s a cold
stream (river?) of water running from the top to the big pool at the
base. The big pool is deeper but dirty, obviously, due to being
downstream from the picnickers and their debris and grease that
inevitably get filtered down.
Behold the greasy water! Look where the sun shines through the water
– there is a slick of grease on top of the pool and cigarette butts,
snack wrappers and other garbage at the sides. It’s much cleaner
upstream, but we went for a dip here first. The water was as cold as I
remembered it to be…
The downside to this place is that there seems to be a lot of Ah
Bengs smoking and throwing their cigarette butts into the water. Look
at that guy sitting on top of the rock in the middle of the pool! Damn
beng, want to act cool, sitting on rock and smoking. Tiu! Knock that
guy upside the head for me if you see him. 😉 All jokes aside, it
should be noted that I do not smoke, I was just holding the cigarette
for someone. *cough* It was hard getting up to that rock, one of the
girls sitting on top helped me up, but she couldn’t pull 60 kgs so I
used the other easier way up.
Which reminds me, I had swallowed a significant amount of the dirty
water in the big pool (it makes me retch just thinking about it) while
attempting to guide Ah Lung across to a waterfall. He was the only one
who couldn’t swim and I was covering his back and Ah Ming was covering
the front, but we stalled in the middle and it took both of us to get
him back to shallow waters. It should be noted that benzodiazepines
acts as muscle relaxants so you shouldn’t be swimming for two under the
influence.
I thought I was a good swimmer but it took two of us to get him
back…you could call it a near drowning, but thankfully Ah Lung didn’t
panic and pull the both of us down. I’ve encountered such an experience
several years ago – the girl was barely 40 kg and I was an even better
swimmer then (meth haven’t got all my muscles then ;)) but damn if I
wasn’t scared shitless coz she was panicking and pulling me down with
her. Never underestimate the strength of an oxygen starved person.
There’s another smaller pool yet downstream from here where you can
see people trying to fish using a…damn benzos, what do you call those
things? Those little nets with a handle?
Anyway, here’s a shot of us at the bottom pool:
L-R: Ming, me, Miriam, Lung.
We walked up to the higher water areas. There are plenty of small pools upstream. The photo below shows one of them:
We opted to go further upstream for cleaner and cooler waters. We
finally found an area with a mini waterfall that suited our fancy. The
water was clean here and you can see to the bottom of the riverbed.
We played slick and slide on the mini rapids (watch out for rocks –
genitalia < rocks any day) and bounced stones off a rock, much to
the dismay of the group of people a little downstream from us. Haha!
The rapids there was like a mini natural water slide. We also got some
burgers to eat while submerged in the water. It was perfect, soaking in
the water and eating burgers…
This is me and Ah Lung with our burgers. I don’t remember much due
to heavy benzodiazepine consumption but my burger was missing so I
postulate that I’ve already finished mine.
Hello, my name is Huai Bin and this is tandem white water rafting with no raft. 😉
Ranchan pool is a nice place to be, perfect for a Sunday afternoon swim and general R&R.
Woosh…
