gunong pulai waterfalls in johor

victor told me that he last visited the place some twenty years ago. we were trying to look for a dirt track located just outside kulai town. many things have changed in those twenty years. kulai town has expanded. the dirt track has been replaced by a metalled road. we took the road outside kulai that led to the north-south highway. just before the toll plaza, on the left is a sign that says 'gunong pulai'.

we took the road and came to a sign that was quite distinct. it says 'hutan lipur gunong pulai'. we stopped to ask for direction from a woman who pointed 'straight ahead'. the village at the base of the mountain is known as gunong sri pulai. we travelled on the road till we came to a sign that says in malay "not open to the public". as we had come all the way, we decided that we did not understand malay and carried on.

what we saw was quite disheartening. it seemed that the project to turn the area into a recreational resort had been abandoned. the one-time office was in a real bad shape - the roof was gone and the place appeared to have been left vacant for a long time. a structure which once served as a lifeguard post was still standing but the one beside it, a pavilion, had collapsed totally to the ground.

there was still a semblance of a waterfall but the volume of water could not be considered rushing. you could still swim but the water was not that clear and also not mountain cool. to venture to the place where there was cascading water, you would have to go on foot.

we actually drove up the steep, narrow and winding road but stop short of the summit because we did want to run into any uniformed personnel and be charged for trespassing a restricted area. at the top of mount pulai is a transmitting station.