Bukit Aup

Linda Blair makes a cameo

OH MY GOD!!! What is that face?!?!?! I swear it wasn't there when I took the photo! BUKIT AUP IS HAUNTED!!! Damn ghosts, now they're coming out in the daylight too.

(Click for a bigger picture)

I headed out to Bukit Aup at around 4 pm today for no particular reason. It's a park about 8 km from where I live. People go there to run in the afternoon and couples go there to ensure the continued existence of the human race at night. There are also some persistent rumors about ghosts infesting the park, and I remember this crazy old guy passing around leaflets with a photograph of a ghost supposedly taken in Bukit Aup when I was young. Of course, this raises the question of why a ghost can be caught on film when it's supposed to be optically invisible, but I digress. Looking at the place though my lens, I found out that it's actually a pretty nice place. I'm very out of shape though, I found myself HUFFING and PUFFING by the time I got to the observation tower. I could count 3 other people with cameras there too, I wonder why.

The signboard telling drivers that this is Bukit Aup, in case they happen to forget.

The opening hours, but you can get in anyway after 10 pm.

The map of the park, complete with names like Fairy Pond and Garden of Meditation.

1. Rowing Platform. Quack!

2. Observation Tower.

3. Skysteps. They really are quite steep.

4. Pavilion.

5. Garden of Meditation.

6. Fairy Pond.

7. Picnic Area.

8. Children Play Area.

9. Mid Level Platform.

10. Lagoon.

11. Boating Lake.

12. Amphitheatre.

13. Administration cum Food & Drink. Bad choice of words. Hearing cum in the same sentence as food and drink makes me think of unconventional sexual acts.

14. Jalan Aup and 15. Car Parks. I didn't think anyone would be interested in the T for toilets. If you're wondering where this numbering comes from, it's from the board (Pic #3).

The view of Sibu town from the observation tower.

The spirit offerings (that's what I heard) at the observation deck. Plastic bags full of Weird Shit ^TM that's either to ward off bad luck or to induce good luck.

The view of the cemetery from the observation deck. Those are not residential areas. All of them are cemeteries.

I carved my URL into the wood at the observation tower. If you live in Sibu, go to the tallest deck and look at the wooden railing to your left and it should be there. Heh. It took me a while to do that with my car keys. Next time I'm bringing something sharp.

Oh, and if you're wondering, the ghost picture is done in Photoshop. I don't know how to use those newfangled filters, so I just traced Linda Blair's face from a screen capture of The Exorcist [imdb.com] movie and cut and pasted it into the photo I took in Bukit Aup today. Pretty low tech, but hey, it works.