A journey 120km into the wilderness - Final Part

As we arrive at Pos Yum, I was greeted by the sight of 3 big canopy housing a relatively big crowd of orang asli waiting to have their health check. I was told that most of them are from surrounding settlements. Some may have walked for an hour or so just to come to this event, however JHEOA did provide transport for some of the settlements around as well.


The morning proceeded smoothly with the basic BMI (body mass index), blood pressure and blood glucose check. There was also an exhibition area on TB (tuberculosis) awareness. Our guide told us that one main problem with most of the orang asli settlements are TB and sporadic Malaria cases.

There was also an area in which random test were done on some orang asli for TB. We had 2 TB cases that day and of which one of them were a full blown case. However, attempts to contact the person was unsuccessful. The guy seem to have vanished straight after the blood sample was taken. Attempts to locate his family was also futile since no one seems to know who the guy is even though we knew his name.

After wrapping up with my own duties, I manage to take time off wandering around the village. I could not help but wonder that amidst the high rise buildings in KL and other major cities in Malaysia, we still have people living in bamboo huts and receiving help that we normal Malaysians take for granted. We keep getting highlights from the media showing poor living conditions in poverty stricken countries but yet we have the same problem at our own backyard (although food do not seem to be a problem here).

One of the few bamboo huts that still occupied by an orang asli family

A kid popping out from the hut wondering what the fuss is all about perhaps

First impression - a chicken coup, but a family actually stays there

a nice pose don't you think?

Before we left, we were graciously served with food that was prepared for us by the JHEOA. Our dining area is but a mere bamboo shack. Somehow it reminds me of my camping days.

our lunch area

A stream running just along side the village

As we were leaving Pos Yum, we were more or less swarmed by mostly kids that were waving and wishing us farewell. Although, we only manage to spend just 4 hours there, I did feel that we did something meaningful here and it made the 7 hours journey (going and coming back) worth while.

manage to take this picture just before i got on the 4WD. CUTE!

And to end the final part of this journey of mine. I saw this very interesting vehicle on our way back. This was just as we started to hit the trunk road from the gravel tracks. I bet you won't see this around much :P

With cars like this, who needs air conditioning? :D