Trekking to Chilling Waterfalls, Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor - Feb 2016

Saturday morning, after packing our lunch, me and 5 other friends headed from our place in Gombak to Sungai Chilling. The place took about 1 hour using route to Ulu Yam. We planned to head out at 7:30am but after waiting for everyone to gather, we started the journey around 8:45am-ish.

Most of the blogs I visited advised to wear trekking shoes or sandals, but since I have none, I decided to wear slippers and brought my running shoes in my backpack in case I lose my slippers in the river. 

To reach the trek starting place, you have to find Sungai Chilling Fish Sanctuary. Google maps only show Chilling Waterfalls, but the entrance is further to the front. We just kept driving route 55 until we reach around the lake areas and the bridges across it. The view there was spectacular and for a moment I felt like I was driving back in Colorado. Some of tree leaves was yellow and reddish, it did has a feel of fall there. 

We knew we almost to the entrance when we saw lots of cars parked along the road. We found a good place to park then walked through the entrance that reads Santuari Ikan Sg Chilling. After few hundred meters, we reached the park reception. We paid RM1 for each person, then after the ranger checked that we had 3 bottles of pet bottled water, we paid RM10 for the deposit. They will return the money after made sure we returned with all 3 bottles afterwards. We also bought fish feed for RM2. 

There are 6 crossings in total before we can reach the waterfalls. The first crossing was actually the bridge right in front the entrance. Then it took sometime to reach the second crossing.

1st crossing at the entrance

There were lots of periuk kera (pitcher plant) en route. It was hard to see at first because they looked like regular leaves. I love the sounds of insects and birds chirping in the forest.

Periuk kera

We reached 2nd crossing. All the crossings had signboard so no one will get lost. The first river crossing was not that hard but I was surprised that the water reached my waist. I'm only 5 foot tall so yeah, it was pretty deep for me. There was sooo many fishes in the river, the first time I saw this many in my life. We fed the fishes and tried to catch them with hands but they were really quick. There are many fishes here because they are protected and we are not allowed to catch them. They are one of the luckiest fishes, freely swimming with no worries of being cooked for lunch!

2nd crossing

Enormous amount of fishes in the river

The 3rd crossing was not too far. This time the current was stronger. We had to hold each other hand to make it safely. At this point one of the pet bottle we brought dropped in the river and flowed away. Luckily it get caught in one of the rocks so we were able to go and get it. Phewww.....that was lucky.

Rescuing the fallen bottle

4th crossing, there was a fallen tree across the river just a stone away from the crossings, so one of us decided to use that to cross the river. The rest of us decided to jump into the river and wet ourself again since it was more fun this way right? 

4th crossing

5th crossing came, we are more and more excited to reach the waterfall.

5th crossing

Finally last crossings. It was not that hard and I can already see more and more people in the front. 

Last one to go!!

We reached the waterfall! The pool was not too big but spacious enough to accommodate everyone that were picnicking here. There was about 50 people in total around here I think. Few people climbed the rock nearby the falling waters and jump into the pool. The area around the fall was pretty deep, maybe about 7-8 foot depth. I didn't know for sure because I only swam around the 5-6 foot depth area. The water was coooold but nevertheless we kept swimming and playing in the pool. We ate our lunch on top of the biggest rock there. 

1st waterfall, big crowd here

After resting for awhile, we decided to climb further upwards to reach the 2nd pool. There are signboard that said the area further was prohibited, but one of the guys that just came back from there told us that it's okay to go up to the 2nd pool. The hike upwards was pretty steep. After we caught our breath, we continue until we reach the 2nd pool. We even saw rainbow at one of the points enroute. 

Rainbow at the waterfall

The pool was a bit smaller and not too much place at the side to picnic. There are less people here so we took our time to enjoy the scenery and the water. 

Second waterfall pool

I was surprised that it was already 2pm by the time we felt we had enough at the pool. It's time to go home! The trek back was much easier and felt shorter. I was actually surprised a lot of people bring their small child to trek as well, I think it is good exposure for the kids to nature but just have to be extra careful especially when crossing the rivers.

We arrived at the entrance safely and got our deposit back at the entrance.

There was a lot of people using the restroom to change clothes, so we decided to drive to Kuala Kubu Bharu Mosque to change and pray there. 

We went to Kuala Selangor afterwards to have Seafood dinner by the river. There were lots of international tourists here, mostly to go see fireflies at Kuala Selangor. We were too tired to do that, so after dinner we drove back to Kuala Lumpur. 

It was a satisfying trek, and I will definitely come back to Chilling Waterfalls to play again!