Friday, March 30, 2007

Bukit Takun (25th March 07)

7 o’clock in the morning, I reached Foung Yee’s house at Pinggiran Batu Caves. Hai Poh, Kok Ming, Foong Kiew and Man Tack had arrived earlier. Today, we are going to climb Bukit Takun. Peng Meng and Joshua were late. By the time all of us met, had the breakfast and tried to lodge a report at Selayang police station, it’s already 9am. As Bukit Takun is located in the private area, Foung Yee told us that police report is needed to enter the place. Due to some issues, we are not able to get the police report. But we still proceed our way to Bukit Takun which is near Templer Park Golf Course to try our luck. Fortunately, the security guard at the entrance let us entered the area. So, we left our IC there and moved towards Bukit Takun.

We walked uphill, bypassed the luxurious bungalows and came to the end of the road. The journey started with 20 minutes steep jungle hike until we reached a wall. We moved towards the right side of the wall. After 10 minutes, we came to an open area and another wall which is at least 30m high. This is our starting point – climbing up this 30m high wall. Foong Kiew seems very worry when she saw the wall. This is her 1st time for rock climbing. But she was doing quite well. Hai Poh led and set up the safety precaution half way up (at the place where he can stand properly). Peng Meng was the 2nd person that climbed up. Then both of them belayed us from the top. I felt scared and clumsy when moving up. Even need Joshua and Man Tack help to push me up on the first attempt. Anyway, one by one, all of us had successfully climbed up. But we still have half way to go. So, the process repeated. Hai Poh led and made the necessary safety precaution. Finally, at around 12.50pm, all of us had reached the top of the wall.

We continue scramble over a rocky hill. All of us were amazed by the limestone pinnacles up there. The rock formation is unique and beautiful. After hiking for half an hour, we couldn’t find obvious sign of the trek. So, we stopped for snack and admired the stunning view of pinnacles. After some rest, Kok Ming wanted to continue the trek. So, all of us followed. Hai Poh, Kok Ming and Man Tack were in front searching for correct direction. The route was challenging and sometimes scary especially when scramble up the side of a cliff. But the view was getting nicer. The entire Templer Park Golf Course, Anak Takun that located in the golf course and all the luxurious bungalows can be clearly seen.

It’s already 3pm when we started to retrace our way back. Descending is not easy and we have to be very careful. It took us some time to recognize the way down through the massive limestone column. The journey ended with the exciting 30m abseiling. Around 6pm, we left Bukit Takun. We went to Kepong for dinner. It’s Joshua birthday. He treats us for the dinner. We had also bought a cake to celebrate birthday for him.

The trip to Bukit Takun is indeed challenging. If you ask me to describe my feeling, I will say scared but excited, tired but contented. :)

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Pulau Ketam (10-11th March 07)

I had been working in KL for several years but I haven’t been to Pulau Ketam which only need 30-40 minutes ferry ride from Port Klang. So, when I knew Huay Mein was organizing the Pulau Ketam trip, I signed up immediately without any hesitation.

The jetty to Pulau Ketam is located opposite Port Klang KTM station. So, some of us took kommuter and some of us drove and parked the car in front of KTM station. We would like to take 2.00pm ferry. However, the ferry only arrived the jetty at 2.20pm. After 35 minutes, we reached Pulau Ketam and checked in Sea Lion Hotel which is just a stone throw away from jetty. The rooms are quite cozy but with no bathroom attached.

The weather was hot. But we did not want to waste the time at hotel. So, we decided to go for a walk and exploring Pulau Ketam village. This is a mangrove island. The houses are built on stilt. Motorcycles are prohibited in this island. Bicycle and boat are the main transportation in this island. Majority population is Chinese and they are mostly fisherman. There are schools in this island. I noticed that there are a lot of temples here. We found out that one of the temple will having some celebration at night. That will be one of our programs at night.

I went back to hotel around 5.30pm. There were a few groups of people checked in the hotel and made the hotel nearly full. Teck Long came back to hotel and told us that a tour guide was offering us a package which includes Pulau Ketam sight-seeing, crab catching and also aborigine’s village visit. Each person cost RM15. All of us agreed to take up that package. A boat took us to one of the end of the island where a fishing chalet is located. From here, we slowly walked back to our hotel (central part of the island) while listening to the tour guide brief us on the attractions, culture and history of the island. This part of the island is very quiet, seldom visit by tourist. We took our time to admire the scenery, taking photos, listening story from the guide. It’s a very relaxing walk.

I think it took us more than 1 hour to reach the central part of the island. Wilson said he had been to Pulau Ketam twice and only now he realized that the island is so big. It’s dinner time. We stopped at one of the restaurant for dinner. We ordered crab, fish, prawn, fishball and squid. We waited for very long and when the dishes served, we felt disappointed. The portion was small and it’s not nice. Only the fried squid was good. The dinner was very expensive mainly due to we are tourist.

We proceed to Nan Tien Temple after dinner to check out their celebration. The place was very crowded. Initially we thought there will be Chinese opera but there were only dancing and singing performance at stage. Huay Mein, Lo, Ah Loo and Ah Son went back to hotel after a while where the rest of us stayed until 10.30pm. We played cards and mahjong until 2am.

The next morning, Kok Yuen woke everybody up at 7.30am. We washed up and went for the breakfast. Tour guide met us at 9.30am and brought us to visit the volunteer fire station, Chia association office, couple bridge and Koperasi Herr Ming Pulau Ketam. After that, we took the boat to go out to the mangrove swamp to set up two crab traps. Then, we visited the aborigine village nearby. Tour guide told us that government had gave this village a boat to fetch the aborigine children to go to school few years ago. But most of them had dropped from school after couple of years. We gave some candy and snacks to the children. We were at the village for half an hour before go to collect the crab trap that we set. Will we able to catch the crab back? Of course……..not, anyway it’s expected. Well, at least we knew the way to set and collect the crab trap now.

We back to Pulau Ketam around 11am. There is a thing that we have planned but haven’t done at this moment – cycling. So, we rented the bicycles from the hotel and cycled to the part of the island that we haven’t explored. 12 persons with 12 bicycles cycled around the island, such a nice experience. I am very cautious when cycling, especially when there are people or other bicycle coming from the other direction. I do not want to fall off from the road which is 5m higher than the ground. The weather is very hot. After cycling, we went for the cold ABC and cendol.

We left Pulau Ketam with 2pm ferry and back to Port Klang. Before going home, we had the Bak Kut Teh at Klang as our late lunch. Yum…Yum…it’s so delicious :D

Monday, March 05, 2007

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….