Trans Titiwangsa Trek 西北北路线 (20th – 24th Feb 2007)

Trans Titiwangsa Trek is known as the tough trek in Malaysia. It crossed 3 of the highest mountains in Peninsular Malaysia – Mt. Yong Belar, Mt Gayong and Mt Korbu. It takes 5 days to complete the trek. There are altogether 12 persons signed up for this trip.

On the 2nd day of the Chinese New Year (19th Feb 07), we drove to Ipoh and took bus to Cameron Highland. It was almost 9pm when we reached Kampung Raja and checked in Lok’s apartment.

20th Feb early in the morning, we packed our things and checked out. We took our breakfast at 牛记 restaurant while waiting for the 4 wheel to pick us up. Picture above is the 4 wheel that took us to the starting point of the trek. It was 9.40pm when we began our trek, climbing up hundreds of steep steps. We crossed the dam and slowly trek into the tropical rainforest. The trail was muddy. The muds stick at my shoes. It made me felt harder to move as my shoes were getting heavier. It’s already 5.15pm when we reached the last water point. There is no water source at Yang Belar summit, thus we have to carry the water from this last water point to summit. It was 7pm when we finally reached Mt. Yang Belar peak. Bad news, the campsite was fully occupied with other groups. All of us had trekked for 10 hours. Nobody wanted to move further to the campsite that is another hour away. Moreover, it was getting dark and cold. So, we set up the tents along the trail, took dinner and slept.

21st Feb, we left campsite about 10.30am and proceed to descend to the valley. Descending to valley doesn’t mean that go down all the way, it still include subtle of ascent and descent. So, it’s still very tiring especially my legs felt pain after long hours descending. At last, we reached our campsite near a stream at 4.30pm. I couldn’t wait to wash up the muddy shoes, socks, clothes and myself. I had Dal-Bhat as my dinner. It’s mixed potatoes, corn and green bean. Hai Poh got the idea from the Nepali food. It’s actually quite good.

22nd Feb, our destination today is summit of Mt Gayong. It’s definitely not an easy trek. The trail is muddy as usual. We left campsite at 10 something and reached junction peak after 3.5 hours. Mt. Gayong still seems far away. We have to cross Mt. 6850 and other peaks before step into Mt. Gayong. However, we felt motivated when the beautiful landscape of Titiwangsa came into sight. You can easily identify all the peaks: Mt Yong Yap, Mt Korbu, Mt Table & chair etc. Slowly, we made our way towards Gayong and reached the waterpoint at 4.30pm. Nobody will miss it as it is marked with a kettle with its spout point to the trail leads to the water. Hai Poh told us summit was only half an hour away. But I took nearly an hour to reach, really exhausted as it’s ascending all the way. As dusk falls, team mates were busy setting up the tents, preparing for dinner and taking pictures. For me, I am sitting inside the tent busy massaging my painful legs. :p

23rd Feb, I woke up at 7am to get the pictures of sunrise. Weather was not bad in the morning as Titiwangsa mountain range can be clearly seen. Mt. Korbu – the 2nd highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia was surrounded by clouds. It’s our target for the next few hours. We set off to Mt. Korbu peak around 10am. My stamina was getting bad as I really felt exhausted when going up the hill. But the scenery along the way was fascinating. Step by step, I was moving towards Korbu.

Finally, I landed on the Korbu peak, tired and speechless. There are a few campsites at Mt. Korbu peak. It can easily accommodate up to 50 persons. But its popularity has also spoilt its cleanliness. There are trekkers that didn’t bring the garbage down and left it over at campsite. This is really a very bad attitude and should never been practiced. Our journey doesn’t end at Mt. Korbu. After short rest, we continue our trek to descend, from 2183m to 900m. Suddenly, rains started to pour from sky. I put on my raincoat, then proceed the journey. I enjoyed walking in the rain because it was not very cold but refreshed. Before 6pm, we reached the campsite. Ipoh city could be seen from here. Hai Poh called this campsite as “bus stop” which previously had a shelter like bus stop. I went to the water source about 15 minutes away to wash up. Unfortunately it was raining when I reached the water source. So, I ran back to the campsite to take shelter. At night, it was raining again……I couldn’t sleep well as I kept on bitten by the sand flies.

24th Feb, Hai Poh told us that once we go down the mountain, we still have 16km to walk in order to reach the main road. So, we weren’t daring to stop for rest until we came to a big river. The descending trails were infested by leeches. Once we arrived at the river, everyone was busy checking and removing the leeches on our legs and in our shoes. We stopped for half an hour for lunch before proceed the journey. The weather was so hot. I couldn’t stand the heat, decided to walk faster. One hour later, we reached the metal bridge and trekked into the palm oil plantation.
By 4.00pm, I saw the aborigine’s settlement. Kok Yuen successfully contacted Song Ching and he agreed to fetch us at this aborigine settlement. I felt lucky that I can relax at this village instead of trekking on the 16km logging trail. By 5.30pm, Song Ching, Khong Lee and Wei Zhen arrived. To surprise us, they brought us cold drinks – soft drinks and barley. Ohh……..they are so nice. :D With Song Ching’s 4WD and Kok Ming’s van, we all back to Ipoh Khong Lee’s house for shower and dinner.

My Trans Titiwangsa trek had completed at the 7th day of piggy Chinese New Year. The journey ended. The wonderful memories will continually remain….