16.4.11: A night in a treehouse @ Earth Camp

We went to stay in a treehouse for 1 night at Earth Camp belonging to Nomad Adventure, in Gopeng, Perak. It was raining when we left at 8.45 in the morning and it rained two-thirds of the journey. I had inially wanted to go to Ipoh and Tambun to see the homestays there, but only managed to visit only one place on my list. I also wanted to drop by the Dairy Farm in Tambun, but it started to drizzle. Finally, we ended up having lunch at a coffeeshop in Ipoh. The area there uses parking coupon system. Each 1/2 hour costs 30 sen. It's rare to have parking rates charging on 1/2 hour basis. Most parking systems that I was familiar with, in the Klang Valley charged a minimum of 60 sen for an hour, even if you only spend 15 minutes there. We had Ipoh Sar Hor Fun, but it was unlike what we had expected. The soup was reddish in colour and loaded with MSG.

It started to rain cats and dogs again as we headed south to Gopeng. We exited at the Gopeng toll and took the Gua Tempurung road towards Earth Camp. When we arrived there, it was 2.30 pm. Fortunately, the sun had reappeared and the ground wasn't wet. There we lots of mozzies there though. These were aedes mosquitoes with black and white stripes on their legs. In the begining I was concerned about the boys being bitten by mosquitoes. I stuck a mosquito sticker repellent onto the boys, but it didn't seem to work, so I also tried to apply mosquito repellent lotion to the boys. E refused the lotion, preferring to get bitten. As for myself, I had no problem with mosquitoes -- they don't really bother me and I thought, that perhaps it's because I don't kill them that they don't bug me. 

Our treehouse was number 11 and 12, for the four of us. We all squeezed into one treehouse for the night. Each treehouse came equipped with 2 single mattresses and bedsheet and blanket. There were no pillows and    fortunately an earlier guest had left behind a pillow, and we used that for one the boys. Fortunately, we had brought our own inflatable pillow.  

It's amazing how time seemed to pass by slowly there, in nature, without any access to computer or the internet. It reminded me of the theory of relativity by Albert Einstein. Hubby took the opportunity to catch up on his much needed sleep. The kids were very busy doing many things - drawing, "cooking with leaves", and setting up the campfire. We were thankful that it had rained earlier in the day, thus, the weather was more cooling. When we had made an earlier visit here in February, it was scorching hot. It was nice to be back in nature and listen to the sounds of the insects and the birds. I just love being in nature. 

There was a river opposite the dining area. The water was fast flowing and I was surprised to see a family of 3 with a little boy around 4 years old having a dip in the water that evening. I believe that they must be locals.

All the toilets had a long gap in the door, as the doors were made in such a way in which the edges couldn't close exactly. In the bathrooms, there were large shower heads on the ceiling. The boys refused to bathe under the shower, since this was not a hand held shower. As I didn't have any pail, I decided to use the long hose which was attached to an outdoor tap and spray them with water, just like a fireman. The water was freezing cold, and they were out in a jiffy. They bathed without soap, as before I had time to soap them, they ran out and refused to go back in. There were no hooks to hang my plastic bag of clothes when taking a shower, so I made a mental note to bring some hooks if I go there the next time. 

Toilets and bathrooms

Collecting twigs and wood for the campfire

Mealtime

Our first mealtime at night was late. It was supposed to be at 7.30 pm but the caterer arrived at 8 pm. The treehouse area was pitch dark place, until we requested for the lights at the front of the treehouse area to be switched on. Our package included meals and the caterer brought in so much food (not seen in the picture) that we couldn't finish them all.

The boys' first campfire. 

After the campfire, I put the kids to sleep at 10 pm, then went to the bathroom area to brush my teeth. I heard a loud rustling sound above me. I quickly ran off and then "Crash". It was a durian that had fallen. I ran off just in time, feeling shaken. Thank goodness it didn't fall on me. 

It was freezing cold in the middle of the nigh but it didn't occur to me to switch off the fan. The boys had no problems and slept soundly throughout the night.