11th-15th dec 2009
ICs: Warren Tuan, Kenneth Tan, Alan Yong, Lee Hui Ling

Day 1 & 2
We gathered at Kranji MRT at 1800 and headed towards Larkin Bus station, ate our dinner there and finally left for Ipoh in our bus at 10.15pm. We only reached Ipoh in the next morning at 4.45am.
After having our super early breakfast at the nearby McDonald’s we took the bus all the way to Lasah town, where we boarded the two 4WD waiting for us. The ride from Lasah to Kuala Mu is incredibly bumpy and if it’s raining you will feel cold. There is a risk of the 4WD overturning as well.
We reached Kuala Mu at about 1145 and had lunch and used our last proper toilet for the next 3 days. We set off on the trek at about 1230 in high spirits. The trek is accompanied by plenty of thorny plants, bamboo deadfalls, with trails of heavily overgrown vegetation.
The rest of the trek to the first campsite was more normal jungle terrain, albeit much of it overgrown and we waited for the guides to clear it before we could pass. Finally, we reached the campsite within 5 hours. The campsite is big enough for 4 or 5 tents to fit in comfortably. There is a knee-deep stream near the campsite.

Day 3

The next day we woke up at 630am and started off at 815am to continue our climb up to the peak. We aimed to reach the peak by 3pm. At Around 1pm we had a water break, while some of us headed down a super steep slope to refill our bottles from a ‘nearby’ river.

Some parts of the trek have a nice Lord of the Rings feel to it, with all the mossy forest and light streaming through the forest.

We finally reached the summit and started cam-whoring with the beautiful view, set up the basha, tents and we managed to finish cooking dinner before nightfall. Night brought on freezing winds and shooting stars. The night sky was a beautiful sight indeed, but most of us were freezing due to the inappropriate jackets we brought for the trek.

Day 4

We woke up early at 430 with the aim of leaving the summit at 6. The route down was very steep and we made fairly slow progress as some did not bring along headlamps. The trek downhill to Kuala Mu was tiring and even painful for some. It started to rain during the last half an hour of the trek. It also made us realize how lucky we were that there was no rain till the very last part of the trek.

When we finally reached Kuala Mu at about 430, we were thoroughly soaked, shagged and longed for civilization. First though, we had to take the 3-hour hell ride again. The rain made the logging path even worse and we were told that another 4-wheel drive had overturned earlier. We were also told to jump out if we felt that our vehicle was about to overturn.

Luckily, no accidents occurred and we made it back to Lasah at about 730pm safe and sound, albeit shivering and suffering from leg cramps after the ride. The school bus appeared shortly after and sent us on our way to Ipoh. We negotiated with the bus driver to send us to our dinner place and then to send us to our hotel. We ate at a chicken and tau geh restaurant at the junction of Jalan Sehala and Jalan Yau Tet Sin. After that we headed towards our hotel, The Majestic.

Day 5

In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before heading for the train station. The train is significantly slower than the bus but there is more space to chat and even play saboteur. There are also packets of rice sold during the journey which are the only food you can procure during the train ride as the stops are too short to safely run out and buy stuff from the stores at the train stations.

We reached Johor station at about 2030 and proceeded to City Square to have dinner. Some actually wanted to catch a movie but fatigue and the possibility of missing the last bus back to Singapore meant that we left after dinner and split up at Singapore customs.

Reflection of the trek

Training

After the trek, it is easy to see that our training helped us tremendously. Without the stairs training and overnight walk, we would not be in proper shape to tackle Yong Yap. Our regimen could have been improved though; to have really been prepared we should have committed ourselves and trained even during the study week. As it was, the two weeks of inactivity meant that we weren’t as fit as we should have been. The intensity which we had during our training could have been upped as well; less break time and more repetitions.

Another aspect of training that was neglected was training for descending. Many of us had a lot of trouble going down because our knees weren’t strong enough. One way to solve this could be to train at Bukit Timah. To sum it up, my impression that were prepared for Yong Yap was wrong; we weren’t fully prepared and what seniors said was true: you can never over train for a G7 trek.

Conclusion

Yong Yap was a great eye opener for me. I had a taste of what a G7 trek was like and despite all that I said during and immediately after the trek, I’m game for more. It is a good first G7 experience and most importantly, I made great friends through this trek. Good luck to future expeditions!

Written by:
Warren Tuan
Trek IC
Gunung Yong Yap 2009