That long over-due Lenggong fieldtrip

What would I do when a professor, no I mean an emeritus professor, a guru to my gurus...(dunno how to describe it but many of my teachers were also his students) said that he was free one weekend and he was happy to guide me to do some sample collection in Lenggong.

Of course, it must be an overnight stay there. I asked "Can I bring the girls?", he just said "Bawak aje!"....Ohhhh I love this man! In encouraging people to pursue a quest for knowledge, he always try to make it the most convenient to everyone. He knows my reluctance to be away from my babies.

Though initially I got "What, are you crazy?", from hubby, words from the old wise man convinced him that it would be all right.

I planned to have the elder girls to play till late, woke them up early so that they would doze off during the rest of the trip.

Playing till late worked well, but it seemed that the baby planned to make me stay awake the whole night. I was still snoring when we were supposed to start the journey.

So, we started very late and all girls were all freshened up. They got excited seeing us loading their carseats and stuffs from our car to the department 4-wheel vehicle.

It was pretty a peaceful trip, Bea2 was only occupied in her carseat with only a water bottle. Bea1 was smart enough to know that by sleeping, she would reach faster.

We planned to meet with the prof at the Musium Arkeologi Lenggong (but damn forgot to take photos). It was a pleasant surprise that a group of archeological students just finished their field studies, and a staff from the musium called the head of the school to meet up with us.

They know Lenggong like the back of their hands, and I would never imagine that work was a lot faster with these guys. They know exactly where to find the samples, and they were all well-equiped.

After lunch at the Lenggong Rumah Rehat (they have improved a lot since my last visit in around 2002), we kicked off with the real thing.

We just followed the guys from behind, I left the kids with hubby in the car at each stop. At around 3.30 pm it rained cats and dogs. They brought us to their dormitaries for nappy change etc.

And this what Bea2 chose to wear on her first geological fieldtrip.



Love looking at their archeological excavation equipments that were just cleaned and gathered, but again forgot to take photos.

We continued after the rain, and finished at about 6 pm. The wise man chose to stay with the students at the dorm, while we decided to find a hotel in Ipoh.

The Syuen does not look as good as 7 years ago, but we were gald to find Secret Recipe just beside it. Everyone was happy with dinner and after a jolly good time in the bathtub, they went into slumber right away.



We moved up to Sungai Siput the next day to look for samples around Lintang. We passed the Lion Hill, but I could take take at a closer view. The photo at the top was taken in 1999, and it is in my PhD thesis. Young with a high adrenaline rush, me and another female friend drove up the hill in a 4-wheel drive, along the terraces of the young palm trees, up high to the foot of the massive limestone hill at the top.

We drove to Lintang, and stopped to ask village folks about Tuan Estate, where the occurence of some sediment was reported. Luck was not on our side, nobody ever heard of it. Anyway, the report was published in 1930s.

Drove back to Sungai Siput, and I managed to take a photo of the hill from far.

Had a quick lunch in Ipoh and made a stop at Gunung Lanno. Just a quich observation and we were done with it.


Driving back was a breeze but everybody was just pooped. A photo taken by Bea2 before she dozed off.


My babies just a few minutes to reach home.




This is the purpose of the trip, kilos of volcanic ash, said to be from that great 74k year-old Toba eruption. They will keep me busy in labs for a few more months
Another trip, Serdang only, was done. Next will be Kuala Pilah, some part of Terengganu and Johore where the occurence of the ash was reported.