“Is Rajah similar to Suku?”

That was a common question I got from most trekkers who were at the info session. “How cold will it be? As cold as Suku?” It seemed like Suku was super cold and many trekkers have learnt their lessons from it and they packed in quite a few jackets to combat the 12 degrees coldness that Shalan (the suku guide) told us.

Day ZERO,25th February, 2012- The Departure

The awesome trekking team met at 6pm and departed from Kranji at 645pm after dumping all the unnecessary stuff that we brought along, as to lighten our load. We handled over our extra goretex, pillow, jackets and what not to our mummy, Kengwei before heading off to the custom.

When crossing the custom, Qingyu realized that she brought her boyfriend’s passport instead (LOL) and Mingyong accompanied her back to take her passport before meeting us at City Square at a later timing. Swee Chen was another FUNNY person who took the bus that went to Victoria Street instead of Woodlands Checkpoint and she claimed that Zephan(BIG TREKKING BOSS) was pissed off with her for that. The rest of the team proceeded first to City Square to have our awesome dinner. We split into three different groups to have dinner till 915pm (NANDOS, KIM GARY, SHABU SHABU) before the other four came. They have their own candlelight dinner (Zephan and sweechen at MacDonald’s & Mingyong and Qingyu at Shabu Shabu! SO SWEET.)

After having a SUPER FULL dinner, some even went off to Secret Recipe to get cakes (YUMS) and our water supply. At around 950pm, we head off for our bus. We started our trekking process from there according to some people (MDM TAN, the bus contact just told me to keep walking straight till I saw the petrol station) as it was quite a long walk from City Square. Not long after, the bus came to pick us up and YAY our journey to the starting point of Gunung Rajah (BENTONG, PAHANG) begins. Everyone was pretty active on the bus. The year 4s(Wallace, Nick, Esther Ong, Qingyu) + Mingyong were happily  playing card games( Monopoly Deal if I’m not wrong) and Zephan, Debbie, Jonathan, Swee Chen, Siew Hwee were happily singing while our dear Mei Lin was in her own LALALAND.

Day ONE, 26^th February, 2012- The Beginning

We started off with breakfast at this Malay store around the corner to have our (self-service) Beehoon, rice, teh tarik and what not. After which, the bus took us all the way into the base camp. (Everyone on the bus looks like they were all preparing for war.) The guide (Kay) gave us a short briefing and after proper warm-up, OFF WE GO FOR RAJAH! J

The starting was tough I must say, it was steep inclination for 20 minutes. (Super tiring… Qingyu felt uncomfortable after the climb, but thankfully she recovered after awhile!) According to the guide, after we finish 20 mins of tough climbing, the rest will be easy. True enough, the path was so wide and there wasn’t much inclination. It feels like a walk in the park. Jonathan (supposedly serious) was cracking jokes along the way and the people behind seemed to be very entertained and I could hear laughter from afar. (Guess that’s the best part of trekking, when you have fun along this trekking journey)

After walking for 1 hr or so, the guide told me that we will be resting for 5 mins at Jungle Gate which is the starting point of Gunung Rajah. (Just when we thought that we were already in Gunung Rajah, we are not; it’s merely the starting HAHA!) Some people (Wallace etc) were joking and said that we have reached the peak and YAY we can head down already (I WISH). We took a short break and off we go, the start of jungle trekking. Thankfully, the weather for the first day was good all the way until the night. The trek route was still relatively flat and everyone moved at quite a comfortable pace. The only thing was the overhead which we often hit into. Everyone went smoothly, we took short breaks here and there and after trekking for close to 4 hours, we reached our awesome lunch place. (The river was so awesome). The only dangerous part was the going down part (it was relatively high and its 90 degrees steep). However, with the help of the guide as well as some macho guys, we managed to get most down while some took a different route and they got half their bodies wet. (I guess they had a different kind of fun hor Mei Lin hahahaha) The water was so chilly for the legs after a long trek. I could really tell that many people had fun with the water or chilling their drinks in the water (Jon). We took our 1 hour break there, enjoying our lunch (biscuits, cereals, chocolates and WANTON MEE) and taking a short nap.

 After the rest, we felt invigorated and off to head off to our first campsite (where we would be staying for the first day!) Abit more ups and downs (rather challenging) for about 1 ½ hours before we reach this super pretty waterfall where we took tones of photos! SUPER SUPER PRETTY. We stopped by there for awhile (abit longer than originally planned). Everyone had so much fun playing with the water there. Jon had so much fun that his specs actually flew into the waterfall. But well, it was nice seeing so many people helping to make sure that his specs will not swiped down by the current and also helped him find his specs (MINGYONG eventually found it for him! Jon must take care of your belongings in future okay!) After a mini discussion with my TM (Zephan) as well as Kay, we felt that it was possible to make it to the second campsite before sunset (roughly around 630pm) . Hence, we decided to bring the team to the second campsite instead. This will indefinitely shorten the plan for the second day. Since, it was all the way up to the peak, it might be too tiring for some of us, and hence, we decided to give it a last PUSH. We trekked at a faster pace so that we won’t have to night-trek. The route wasn’t simple, a lot of up slopes but oh wells.. we made it to the next campsite at 545pm! (THE GUIDE JUST TURNED AROUND AND TOLD ME I GIVE YOU BONUS, WE REACHED ALREADY!) That was one of the happiest lie I ever heard (hehehe everyone was so happy after a long day trekking in the jungleJ)

The best part about the campsite was that it was super spacious. We had so much space for tents and cooking areas (something to be thankful about in trek) and the water source was near! (makes bathing and washing so convenient woohooooo)

All three teams started cooking their sumptuous dinner (went round to look, the food for this trek is amazingly good hahahahaha.) We managed to finish cooking before the thunder and rain came pouring down. After the signal from the thunder, all groups went to pitch their tupes to prepare for the rain except Group 2 (Eugene etc) The rain was rather heavy, so everyone cuddled together in the tupes (SO CUTE) and started HTHT-ing. After HTHT-ing, everyone went off to sleep (rather early at around 9 plus HAHA)

Day TWO, 27^th February, 2012 

Day 2 was supposedly the toughest day of the three days due to its constant up slope. (However some told me that it was easier than Day 1 which was a good thing. People all became so ZAI: D and I guess it’s a lot easier to trek w/o the heavy, big, bulky trek bags) According to Kay (the zai guide), it takes around 5 hours to reach the peak of Gunung Rajah. Off we head for the peak!

Time check: 8:30am. It was supposed to take us 2 hours to reach the water point.We ended up having our early lunch there. We were pretty on time and didn’t have to stop for breaks (HOW AWESOME!) After the 2 hours mark was down, we were only leave with our final challenge (the SUMMIT). The trek to the summit wasn’t easy for many as there was a rock climbing element involved. Many just stood there with their jaws dropping (many were like HUH? Do we seriously have to climb this 85 degrees steep wall?) I guess there wasn’t any choice for us other than to trust the ropes and guide. The guide passed through the first hurdle effortlessly. After much encouragement and assurance from the other trekkers + support from Zephan (who was so noble to sacrifice his leg for people to step on WOW. But it’s damn dangerous, be careful next time), everyone managed to get up safely (SO PROUD OF EVERYONE! It was really not easy plus there were a few people who were generally scared of heights, hope you all conquered all your fears after the rock climbing at Rajah.

The tough part was done and off we trek towards our endpoint, THE SUMMIT. Everyone was very excited as the guide said the peak is 360 degrees which means you can see the whole of Rajah from the peak. (Excited hehehe) So, everyone trekked at a reasonable speed. Just when we thought that there’s another 30 mins more to the peak, the guide stopped us, warning us to off our mobile phones to prevent lightning from attacking us. The every next minute, he just turned to us and said CONGRATS THIS IS THE PEAK. (so unbelievable to be smoked by the guide twice. But still it’s a happy thing)

The only saddening part will be the fact that it was so cloudy that we could not see any scenery that was shown in Google. But I’m sure everyone was so happy that we reached the peak (LIKE FINALLY!) GOOD JOB   Time check: 12:50pm

Hanged around the peak for awhile for photos J

GROUP SHOT J

  GROUP -1

Group – 2

GROUP -3

The Organising Committee for the RAJAH Trek

The two awesome guides (KAY AND MALAS)

The Senior Trekkers ( Year 3 & 4)

Time check: 1:30pm! Off we descend, down to the first water point. It was rather steep, muddy and slippery due to the heavy rain the night before. But thankfully, it stopped so we didn’t have to trek in the rain at all (WOOHOO how lucky can we get? J) Overall, the climb down was rather smooth, just that everyone was holding onto the branches and trunks for support and making sure that they are safe (HAHA rule of thumb: safety always come first) Before reaching the water point, there was a last tough hurdle which was going down the 85 degrees- steep wall. The guides asked 4 strong guys (Nick, Wallace, Zephan and Jon, the rest of the guys also strong k hahahaha) to go down first to help support the rest.  Each of them was stationed at each of the crucial point (going down is definitely way scarier than going up). Oh wells, after much encouragement, everyone managed to trust the ropes and the helpers and came down safely. The whole journey went smoothly without much stopping except the last part where we were supposed to cross the river (with a current that was rather strong) before we could reach the first campsite where we would be resting for the day. We got there safely even though a few people slipped and fell into the water (good bath?) The campsite was as big as usual. Enough to pitch 4 tents ( cos one of our tent poles spoilt..) but well it was still comfy! We reached there at around 6pm, before sunset J (NO NIGHT TREK FTW!)

One good thing about the campsite was that it is super duper near the water source.  Washing and bathing was just like a few steps away. After dinner that day, a few of them went to play with the lanterns  we even had a special event “TODAY WITH ZEPHAN” whereby our dear TM made his speech and found out more about the trekkers that were on the trip and their feelings for this trek. (Awesome chat by the waterfall, if only there’s some light) After an approximately one hour talk with our TM, we went off to sleep. (Another early day, slept at around 10 plus in preparation for the final push on the 3^rd day)

Thanks Mingyong for the LANTERN

Day THREE, 28^th February, 2012 

FINAL DAY FOR THE TREK (supposedly short, should be able to complete it in 4 hours according to the guide). Got to say that everyone was extremely early that day, almost everyone was ready by 815am (way earlier than the guides). It looked like everyone was ready for the final battle. We set off at 840am. We crossed the river and then marched down to the next stopping point which is 1 hour away. After a short break, we continued our journey and this time, we will be heading back to the Jungle Gate J “Seems like the end is NEAR!!!” HAHAHA. YAY the route to Jungle Gate was also constant flatness. HOW AWESOME can it get? We didn’t even stop for a minute in the 2 hours journey to the Jungle Gate.

s Nick, Jon and Wallace helping the rest cross the river

Nick, Wallace and Jon helping the rest with the river crossing

AWESOME JUMPSHOTS NEAR JUNGLE GATE J

After walking at a relatively speed, we finally reached the JUNGLE GATE (: We rested for close to 7 minutes under the shades of the trees, to have a bite of food and have a sip of  water before we dash down the wide flat road ( a walk in the park). I could really tell that everyone was happily walking down as people started chit-chatting, singing etc. It was really a nice road down. Time check: 12:32PM. Now we are left with the final stretch down the really super undefined route down-slope. We marched down under the guidance of Malas(the other guide). Its hard to comprehend how they could walk down so fast. I guess we all just need to trek more so get used to such routes (Everyone go for RINJANI summer trek HAHA). We eventually reached the ending point at 12:55PM! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY finally. Super proud of those who trekked for the very first time (Han Xu and Esther Ong) , those who trekked with us for the first time (Xuan Zhong and Michael) and to the rest GOOD JOB! We did it eventually. I would like to applaud Qingyu for pushing herself to her limits and always trying to keep to my pace. I hope all of you had fun J

Time was given for wash-up and till at 2pm, we boarded the coach. Everyone literally slept the whole way till the coach stopped for our lunch break! LUNCH-TIME: KFC The food never tasted so good LOL. We reached JB close to 9 plus so we got to abort our plan of having seafood at Taman Sentosa L but still we had awesome dinner at Kim Gary./ShiLin. After dinner, we headed straight to the Malaysian custom and then back to Singapore! HOME SWEET HOME

This marks the success of the GUNUNG RAJAH TREK :> Thanks all for making it such a success: D It wouldn’t have been the same w/o you all! Awwwwww.

Ps. Take care of the sandfly bites all my lovely people. DO NOT SCRATCH IT OR IT WILL START GROWING EGGS (TRUE STORY)

Okay, last but not least, photos of the scenery

WATERFALL

Jungle Gate

We had a record number of exchange students coming on the trip! 26 Exchange students and 16 locals! Sounds like a trek organized by the United Nations to foster international relationship and for cultural exchange.

It was a Saturday and some of us had a dreaded make-up lesson, but anyways this did not mar our plans to have a good time exploring Pulau Ubin. All of us assembled at Changi Village Food Centre by 230pm and we started moving off to Changi Point Ferry Terminal for a bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin.

All smiles for the upcoming trek!

 Every participant gathered at Pulau Ubin and we were ready to move off by 3pm! Our first destination was the highest point of Pulau Ubin, Bukit Puaka. The trek up will allow participants to have a trekking experience in a typical ascent scenario and will treat you to a nice view of Pulau Ubin’s quarry and wilderness that you can NEVER see in Singapore nowadays.

View from the “summit” of Bukit Puaka (Picture credit to Keng Phang)

Group photo at the “summit” of Bukit Puaka (Picture credit to Keng Phang)

It was 4pm and the skies were not looking good. From a distance we could we the impending rain hitting us. Everyone scurried to waterproof their valuables and put on raincover on their bags.

We made haste to Jelutong campsite to set up tents and shelter. Just as when we are reaching the campsite, it started to pour and everyone hurried into the pavilion for shelter. Tents and tarps were brought out to set up shelter.

Setting up the tents

Luckily the rain subsided after about 30mins, and everyone helped set up the tents in unison. With a spark of geniusness and creativity, an improvised extension of the pavilion’s shelter was made.

Extension of the shelter

It was about 530pm, tents and shelters were set up, it’s time for dinner!

Zephan explaining the significance of the “lou hei” ingredients and process

Steamboat! (Picture credit to Keng Phang)

Vincent tasting the ABC Soup. One of the best dish here!

Zhong Huan’s group with noodles with what it looks like to be cream based. Yum!

All smiles during dinner! 

 Double rainbow! (Picture credit to Keng Phang)

After the rain… (Picture credit to Keng Phang)

After every group displayed their culinary skills, it started to turn dark, and it’s time for a get-together sharing session. As it was too wet and difficult to set up a camp fire, we had our gas lamp came in handy!

We had a sharing session, and despite the different backgrounds we are from, it was very heartwarming to see everyone engage in lively conversations, with each sharing their thoughts and not forgetting jokes that brought laughter to everyone! I hoped we did not disturb the other campers around us…

The night ended pretty early at like midnight as I was pretty beat. . zzzzz

I was greeted with nice cooling winds and fresh air the following morning! (:

But it was time to break camp ):

With quick bites from biscuits, cookies and breads that we brought along, we cleared the campsite in swift motion, and ensure that all litters are properly disposed of. Campsite etiquette!

Keeping the tents

By 830am, we were all set to leave the camp site, and this pretty much marks the end of the Intro Trek.

Despite the rain, and the very short trek, I have seen all smiles and plenty of exchanges between everyone. From sharing our experience in our lives when travelling, school life, food habits during the dinner session, and funny moments in our lives! Even though it was held at Pulau Ubin, surely it would give everyone an experience of how it’s like to trek on gradient, experience in rainy conditions outfield, as well as a camping experience.

Here I would like to extend all my thanks and gratitude to everyone who made the organizing of this event possible!  Happy New Year!

That was the typical response we got when we told people that we were heading to HK for year-end expedition. Indeed, it was pretty hard to imagine that besides shopping and eating, there was a whole new angle that this highly-urbanized country can offer. Specifically for our year-end expedition, we were targeting the 100km maclehose trail, the oldest and longest in HK.

Set in the mountainous region in New Territories, the maclehose trail goes past various important reservoirs, sights and peaks of HK. There were spectacular landmarks, hills and mountains beyond one could ever imagine in the relatively little-known, ultra-long and well-maintained trail. A few of the more memorable and curse-inducing ones would probably be Ma On Shan (700 plus meters), Tai Mo Shan (900 plus meters, tallest peak in HK), grassy hill (where a handful of the Trekkers got really acquainted with it and spent a night with her) and NEEDLE HILL (the path to the peak looked like a stairway to heaven) among many others. These names would no doubt strike a chord with the expedition team, as we struggled against them and eventually conquered them, relishing every single moment atop them with deep satisfaction.

by Jon.P

1^st August 2011

As I sat on the hard seat of the MRT train, with my heavy pack in front of me, a million thoughts flashed through my head; questions and “what-ifs” and things that I had to do bombarded my consciousness. As the train drew near to Kranji station, anxiousness welled up within me, a sick gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach.

And, so……. I shall not continue with that dramatic writing pattern. Too tiring. Muahaha.. Please pardon me if I sound a little crazy. Hahaz.. Gonna do this blogger style man! =)

Anyways, we were supposed to meet at Kranji MRT station at 1600hrs, and well, all of us were early ad on time! Woots! AND! There were a lot of people there to send us off! So nice! Felt like we were going on some long journey… Wahahaha… (Only 9 of us were there, Mingwen would join us later at City Square)

Smooth transition through customs, reached City Square at 1640hrs! Ate at some restaurant called Vivo, sells western foods. (There’s one at Central in Clarke Quay) Some of us went to buy chicken bak kua and water while waiting for our food. The food came quickly, and it tastes quite nice! =) Lava Chocolate cake is awesome! Woots!

Bummed around while waiting for the train, which came on time! Boarded our sleeper coach at 1905hrs. Woots! So exciting! Sleeping on the train but on beds! Wah! We quickly settled in into our comfortable abodes, everyone feeling kind of high. The train finally starts moving at 1920hrs, and off we go! We settled out tent sleeping arrangements via lucky draw! Wahahaha.. And surprisingly, everything was quite fair and square. Oh, the girls didn’t have a choice.. Muahaha..

2^nd August 2011

Woke up at 0445, I didn’t get a good sleep… =( It was really cold in the carriage, and I was too long for the bunk.. Zzz.. My feet were pressed against the cold wall, and yea… Just damn cold la… >.<

Reached Gua Musang at 0500, the train was really on schedule! We needed to wait for the ticket office to open at 0530, so we stayed around to chat for a while. Ticket office opens, and we are told to get the tickets at around 0800 for the 0840 train! WAH! Means we had like 3hours to kill. SO! Our stomachs led the way and off we went to the small coffee stall next to the station. Nasi Ayam and Teh Tarik! Shiok Shiok! There was curry rending, charcoal barbecued chicken, and blue rice. Hahaz.. Our last taste of awesomeness before roughing out in the wild!

Bought the train tickets at 1RM each! Wow! Cheap cheap… But the train was late. Bleah.. It crawled into the station at about 0910 and we all boarded, feeling kinda lethargic and a bit nua-ed.. Reached Merapoh at 0930… Oh oh oh.. I was supposed to contact a Mr. Roslan to pick us up from Merapoh and bring us to Sungei Relau (arrangements made by Margs with the ranger station prior). BUT! When I called him, he couldn’t understand me! >.< I was super worried that he would pang sei me. But thank God he didn’t. Mr. Rosland came with a white pickup and all of us piled in the back with our bags. I sat at the front. Felt a little awkward cos’ he couldn’t speak English.

Reached Sungei Relau at 0950, and I went to settle the administration and payments. Nothing complex, just payments and issuing of receipts, but the guy will take some time. (20mins) Went to get our bags checked. Forgot exactly what they wanted, but from what I can remember, they accounted for metal canisters gloves, clothes, socks, plastic bags, batteries, hats and some other obscure stuff.

1100, we finally finished with all the admin stuff, time to board the pickup again! Off to the trailhead, Kuala Juram! WOOHOOO!!!!
It was an exciting ride as we raced up and down steep slopes. The road we travelled on is really well paved tarmac. Good job. Hahaz.. We reached the start point at 1118, and after warm-up and a taking the “before picture”, we started our epic journey of Gunung Tahan!!! RAHHHHHH!!!! (1130)

1135: Stream 1 (Ankle Deep)

1140: Stream 2 (Ankle Deep)

1223: River 3 (Don’t remember… >.<)

1250: River 4 (Rock with rope)
Probably our first “xiong” river crossing.. Must hold rope lehz! If we fall, we’ll be washed over a small waterfall into the murky depths below.. Muahahhaa… No la, it’s not that bad..

1257 – 1310: (Sandy Bank, large open space)
Our first rest point! After we crossed the fourth river, had a quick lunch, and off we went! Everyone’s talking about leeches!!!!! >.<

1357 – 1402: Rest Point (Water Break)

1422 – 1425: Lata Luis (Wide, dry area, near stream)
Took a quick photo and quickly moved off.

1450 – 1505: Rest Point(Guide says 20mins to Kem Kor!)

1530: Kem Kor (Huge area, generally sandy, next to river)
What an early day for us! So happy! Hahaz… Everyone was kind of in a chillax mode. Set up camp, washed up in the river, then started to cook dinner at about 5pm? Not too sure… Today’s meal: Ee Mian with dried scallops in chicken broth. Not too bad, but not very filling… Hahaz… Tried to HTHT in the evening, but we decided to turn in early… Talked to the guide a little, but he wasn’t too good at English. Apparently he has climbed Tahan 21 times already, and he works as a shoe maker. Hahaz…

2000: Time to sleep! Wallace, Kenneth and Keng Phang had a secret visitor in their tent… His name was called Mr. Rat, and he scared the hell out of them. Hilarious…… Imagine, 3 grown men, screaming and squirming inside a four men tent, shouting explicitives and “It’s a rat! It’s a rat!” WAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! And because the 3 boys treated Mr. Rat with such disrespect, Mr. Rat came again in the middle of the night and bit through the tent (DAMMIT! SPOIL THE TENT!) to eat Wallace’s apple and bread… Hahahaz… It rained that night, but it wasn’t too bad.

3^rd August 2011

0600: Wake up, breakfast of squashed bread and milo, break camp

0800: Leave Camp

0855 – 0903: Permatang (Small, flat area, no water point)

0955 – 1000: Water Break

1110 – 1145: Kubang (Large open area, cooling)
Oh my goodness… Let me tell you… The climb to this place was horrible… For me at least… From Permatang to Kubang, you had to face steep climb after steep climb, up up up up up!!! And to make matters worse, I was running low on fuel… Was super hungry, felt like dying… Like a POW forced to climb up the mountain to build a death railway or something… I think it was the first time during the entire trek that I was so quiet… Muahahaha… Everyone was just so relieved when we finally reached the checkpoint. Had a long lunch here, and enjoyed the cool breeze. =)

1237 – 1245: Belumut (Small, flat ground, Water point 15m away)

1350 – 1402: Rest Point (Along a slope, kind of wet)

1504 – 1510: Rest Point (Flat, wet, ups and downs and mud before this)

1545 – 1603: Bonsai (Medium sized, flat sandy, cooling, no water point)
The trek to Bonsai was kind of tiring as well, mostly ascending. But it was well worth the climb as we were greeted with cooling temperatures, and an amazing view! =) Really nice here! But not a good campsite…

1654 – 1702: Rest Point (Slope, rocky, dry, among the clouds)
The terrain is becoming really rocky now, and it is much much cooler! Feels like we are hobbits walking through the mist among the mountain ranges as we journey towards the unknown…

1715: Botak (Large rocky ground. No tree cover with small shrubs surrounding campsite. Windy and cold. Small stretch of grass to pitch tents. Water point just beside camp, comes from rubber pipe that taps water from a small pool. It takes 3mins to fill one 1.5L bottle)

It rained the moment we got there, and there was a mad rush to get all the tents and shelter up!!! So with freezing hands and trembling body (at least I was…) we finally got up the tarp and the tents! Hahaz.. Keng Phang, Wallace, Mingwen, Kenneth went and got acquainted with our small water point… Apparently our water source flowed from some dubious looking puddle… Wahahaha… But it tasted fine, and quite clear too I must add! We soon found ourselves seeking solace under the supposed shelter of our tarp… BUT ALAS!!!! Our tarp was leaking! >.< Thank God we were huddled together, and kind of shared warmth…

Ok, on to something better… DINNER!!!! Any idea how awesome it is to eat piping hot soup while sitting shivering the wind blowing in chilling gusts… After that, the main course, pineapple rice with fried in garlic and garnished generously with cashew nuts, ikan bilis and chicken floss!!!!!! =)

On a side note, a few of us had been trying to convince poor Eugene to turn around and go home… Hahaz… Kinda funny as you hear his desperate attempts to convince them otherwise…

And so there we sat till the sun slowly dipped behind the mountains, the temperature was dropping quick too and we quickly got changed and retreated back into the warmth of our tents and sleeping bags…

Oh oh oh! And we saw rats! Near the peak of the mountain! Like WHAT!!!! Why do the rats want to climb up so high to find food!!! Zzzz… Anyways, we were really tired this night, and we all soon fell asleep… After we got used to the snoring… =)

It rained in the night, and the tent leaked a little.. Thank God for heat packs! =) But don’t shake it too much! It becomes SUPER HOT! >.< Oh and Keng Phang’s jacket helped me a lot too!! Thank you! =)

4^th August 2011

0630: Woke up late again… =( But Ming Wen, as usual, religiously is up and about, preparing breakfast for the team! =) And soon, we all trickle out of our tents into the cold wind… The stars peppered the sky, quite an amazing sight! But I guess breakfast was more appealing at that time, and we all huddled under the tarp once again with milo and porridge… Oh, and changing into your wet clothing in this insane weather is really an experience… >.<

0820: We set off later than planned, as some of us enjoyed taking a dump while having a first class view of the awesome scenery… Never can you experience something like that anywhere in civilization… Muahaha…

However, we shot up the summit real quick! It was a steep steep ascend all the way to the top. The terrain is basically a steep rock face, with no obvious path… As we got higher and higher, the view just couldn’t stop becoming more awesome… I guess Mother Nature just can’t stop showing off eh? And hence, we kind of stopped for facebook profile pics one too many times… Hahaz…

0925 – 1000: WE REACHED THE SUMMIT!!!!! LIKE WAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! FINALLLY!!!! Eugene fell on his knees and burst into tears, emotions overwhelming his shaking body…… Ok, fine, he didn’t do that, but I bet he was damn happy!!! Muahahaha… the summit is just a high point in the middle of a small plain, not sure if I am describing it right… The summit can accommodate about 15 people comfortably… Anyways, Eugene pulls out his celebratory 100Plus from his bag and we all start to chomp down on comfort food and cam-whoring with the scenery and the Gunung Tahan Sign… Hahahz… And well, what goes up must come down right? (Unless it floats into space… Hmmm…) Time to descend!!!!

1107 – 1115: Rest point, ridgeline towards Gedong. Rocky terrain.
The descend had been rocky so far, with a gradual incline. There is no foliage for cover, but thank God the sun wasn’t too hot, and there was a constant cold breeze… Mother Nature continues to show off just how awesome she is… =)

1221 – 1223: Rest Point… (The log from this point on will be kind of less detailed because I was damn tired after that)
We’ve left the rocky terrain temporarily and crossed into muddy territory… Our movements had been very slow, cos we were all trying our best from sinking into the mud and get eaten… Or at least that’s how most of us reacted when our foot went into the brown gunk… The inclines to this point is quite manageable, with small ups and downs, which is quite irritating… =.= Dark clouds can be seen in the distance, and we were too hurry up if we didn’t want to hit night trek! OH NO!

1321 – 1344: Lunch Point, many of us slump down on to the rocky ground, bruised and battered… Like battle hardened warriors after a war against the evil Mountain Orcs that roamed the lands… This rest point is in the middle of Berapit and Gedong. (Reached Berapit @ 1245? Just another checkpoint, a sign in the middle of nowhere…) We took a longer rest here, because I could see that some of us were getting kind of demoralized at this point. I was still awed by the views, and of course the weather was perfect… However, the cold winds only meant that rain was approaching… =(

1430: We reach Gedong amidst a heavy downpour… The terrain thus far has been rocks all the way, and not very friendly for the feet I must add, and there are ups and downs, but not too bad… Did a quick weight re-distribution among the team before pushing on immediately… Needed to find shelter fast!

1545 – 1550: Rest Point. We just descended an ultra steep rock face… Like super steep… Thank God I didn’t die.. >.< One misstep and goodbye, thank you, see you in Heaven…Fatigue and morale has slowed our pace significantly, but we push on! The possibility of a night trek is starting to become apparent… =( But at least the rain has stopped! =)

1607 – 1617: Reskit, a small exposed campsite. No water point here. I think at most can fit 3 3-men tents… But damn, I don’t encourage camping here at all. You can see the strain in some of our faces… A decision was made, we would split up. An advance party consisting of Wallace, MingWen, and Kenneth were to run ahead with tarp and food to Lower Pangkin first to set up shelter and cook. They left at 1615 and we followed soon after… No one could imagine the events that were about to unfold… *Cue sinister music*

1720: – 1730: We just climbed up a high rocky ridge… (We are supposed to be descending! Why the hell are we getting higher!?!? Zzzz…) I see Mingwen and Wallace in the distance, and I manage to wave to them before they sunk back into the forest. Rested a while before heading off to climb ladders! Oh, we are in the Tengga Lima Belas area now… But so far, not many ladders though…

1741: We reach the TLB checkpoint. No idea why this place is called Tengga Lima Belas.. There are less than 15 ladders in this area and after that… We zoomed past the checkpoint! Needed to get to camp before nightfall!

1845 – 1850: Upper Pangkin! Finally, a sliver of hope… We may not have to hit night trek afterall! Woots! Guide adds to our morale by saying that Lower Pangkin is but a 30minute trek down a steep rock face… WOOHOO!!! Oh, this isn’t a very good campsite as well… Small, exposed, and no water point. [Note, Upper Pangkin is marked by a handmade sign that reads “Puncak Pangkin”.] Who knew that this innocent looking sign had been the start of the drama that would soon unfold! O.O

1930: Well, 30mins was up, and we are still descending the cliff face at an excruciating pace… Darkness was descending quickly, and we quickened our pace a little… Then, the rain came… It came down just like that, without warning, and kept getting heavier. We had no choice but to use our headlamps… I lost track of time by this point, but I’ll just recount what happened… The guide had sped ahead of us and was nowhere in sight… I decided to go rush down to the campsite first… I started to get worried, as I didn’t know how long more was the descent, and the rain was getting heavier every second… I thought I could drop off my pack and get reinforcements from the three guys below… And so down I went, as fast I could… Damn… I got a shock of my life…

I reached flat ground, finally! But joy slowly turned to confusion, and rapidly gave way to panic when I realized what was happening… In front of me was an open patch of land, which didn’t quite look like a campsite, and what’s more, the three guys weren’t there… This couldn’t be Lower Pangkin right? Otherwise, there’d be a shelter set up! I checked with the guide, who was shivering under a tree with his pack. This was lower Pangkin no doubt… “3 boys not here…” My heart stopped, I panicked… All the guide wanted to do was start setting up shelter… I wanted to find the three guys… Then the rest of the team will still on their way down! What to do!? I told the guide, ok, you don’t want to look for the guys, fine, go up with me to help the others down first… The communication barrier was intensely frustrating at this point, but the message was finally brought across… By now, the cliff had become a waterfall, water gushing down the steps… When we went back up, the rest were already nearing the bottom… I shouted, “the 3 boys are not here!” It was more of a desperate cry then… =( I was still at a loss, and bloody afraid… When we were all gathered at the bottom, I again tried to ask the guide to go with me to search for the guys, but he insisted we do it the next day… I was like totally lost now… Everyone was standing there, in the rain, waiting for instruction… I turned to Siew Hwee and Keng Phang for help… Siew Hwee just shouted, “Pitch the tents now!” And off everyone went… KP decides to approach the guide again, who had already begun setting up his shelter. He still insisted we look for the guys the next day. We were also kind of pai sei to press him further, cos he had no proper rain protection, and no headlamp; he couldn’t possibly go out in the dark and rain like that?! We ended up helping with the tents, and once the y were up, everyone was ordered inside and change into dry clothing… Siew, KP and I were left standing outside in the rain, contemplating on what to do next… We were more of convincing ourselves that since the guys had shelter and food, there shouldn’t be a problem, they could take care of themselves… But I guess we just couldn’t shake that gnawing “if” that perhaps, they were injured… >.< We said a short prayer before approaching the guide again… Same answer… But he agreed to start off really early to search for them… What could we do?

It was night now, and the rain had stopped… KP decides that we put up light sticks along the trail… Perhaps it could guide the 3 guys back? And so we started out on the trail… I ask KP to blow his whistle, just try… AND GUESS WHAT!!!!! SOMEONE SHOUTED BACK IN RETURN!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! I was elated! I think I saw rainbows and unicorns… It was a beautiful sound, that shout… =) KP kept blowing his whistle as we tore ahead… 3 bobbing head lamps in the distance confirmed it… THEY WERE BACK! THANK GOD!!! =))))) I quickly dashed back to camp and told everyone the good news! I bet the guide was happy too… Hahahz… And so ended this really dramatic night… The rest of the night ended well, albeit tents that were soaked inside, sand and mud everywhere… We had a good dinner of soup and pasta… Everything tasted awesome that night… Hahahz… I guess we were just glad we were all together safe and sound… Oh and before I forget, the water point is a short distance down at the side of the camp… No idea how the water source looks like in normal times, but when we went to fill water, the rain has made the whole thing into a waterfall… The colour of the water is lemon tea colour… Hahahz… But it tasted quite good nonetheless! After rearranging the tents, and drying it out, we finally got to sleep at around midnight… Goodnight! =)

5^th August 2011

0600 – 0820: Rise and shine! We all slept pretty well that night… Too tired from all that excitement! =) But we kept slipping down for we were sleeping on an incline… Hahahz… We drifted around the campsite, getting breakfast done, re-packing our things, water-proofing our belongings and just getting ourselves ready for the day ahead! After we were all set, it was time to go!!!! Left camp at about 0820… Quite late! =x

Anyways, for the exciting story in the perspective of the three guys

“The familiar sound of gushing water was heard. It wasn’t the river. Along the way, a thunder like sound was heard. I thought it was a tree struck by a bolt of lightning. It wasn’t. Push on! Visibility was becoming low. We passed a ridgeline. Being the front man, I caught sight of an old broken green sign. Piecing together the separated signs, I cursed. We reached Wray’s camp. Going down any further meant we were heading for Teku.

Time check. My Suunto core read 19:30. Bad situation. We all realized. Immediately, we turned back. Soon enough, torrent rain was beating down on us. The cold wind blew. Coupled with the high altitude and the slanting rain, we felt colder than usual. Not the normal chill you would experience. Stay tight! Stay close! We got to get back to Kem Pangkin ASAP! No time for lose right now. I switched on to the high beam of my Black Diamond Gizmo and started our back trek. It was depressing. We wasted 1hr of precious time. I thought about why we asked to be advance party in the first place. I wondered if it was the right decision. In a matter of seconds, I jolted out of this unnecessary self-reproach and pulled myself together. Priority was to reach campsite before the rest of the team arrived. Mistake number two here. MW suggested leaving a note when we left Kem Pangkin originally, but we conveniently decided not to. I should have left a light stick at the campsite. Mistake number one was forgetting about the Tahan map I specifically brought from Singapore.

As we crossed the previous obstacles along the way, the soil-mixed rainwater was flowing down the slopes like mini waterfalls. Exactly what you see in Jurassic – when that plump guy was scrambling up the muddy terrain with those DNA filled lab containers. Kenneth kept shouting, asking us to push on. I was afraid about them falling down the side slopes and kept telling them to stay to the side. For the next 40mins or so, the rain kept tormenting us non-stop. The up slopes and slippery rock faces were equally daunting. We climbed higher and higher… till I heard a whistle blow. Instinctively, I responded with a bird-call. Lifted up my head and saw John! Then KP! YES! The look of relief on their faces, unforgettable. 5mins more to Kem Pangkin, they told me. HURRAY! When we arrived, everyone was taking shelter in the Kelty tents. Siew and KP went to set up tarp while the 3 of us squeezed into one of the tents which were unfortunately sloping downwards.

We failed as an advance party. Made blunders. But undoubtedly, a memorable adventure. – Wallace”

(Oh, and the timings and happenings for this day will be quite sparse, cos, well, it was kinda mundane, and I didn’t have the time or energy to record it down, so sorry! >.< )

0857: Wray’s Camp, the camp that the boys turned around at… We bypassed the camp immediately, so we didn’t really take a look at how it looks like.. I think it is off to the side of the trail, can’t really see it, and the sign that is supposed to mark it is broken… >.<

0920 – 0930: Rest Point

1035 – 1045: Rest Point

1150 – 1200: Rest Point

[Saw a yellow colour snake on the way down!!! =) Keng Phang is terrified of snakes…… Also spotted a HUGE SPIDER! I think it is bigger than a person’s face!!! It’s web was really tough too, like string! O.O Scary… I think it eats birds… =x Chirp chirp chi…rp.. *gurgle and die*]

1252 – 1300: Rest Point

[Thus far, we’ve been going down slope for most of the time. The paths are really wide, consisting mostly of roots and leaves but not too muddy. There are quite a few steep portions as well. Everyone is really tired because of the constant descent and all the emerging sores. It’s been really a mundane descent, everything looks the same, and we just keep heading down down down, which is a good thing I guess… Fortunately, the weather was quite good, with breezes now and then]

1340 – 1415: Camp Teku! What a relief! No more descents for the day! Woots! Teku is a large open area, sandy terrain, right beside the river. There are a lot of red ants and flies though. Otherwise, it is not a bad campsite. =) Had lunch here… And also time for wash up… Many people’s toes and knees were starting to act up, so it was patching up for them too… Kinda like L4D in the safe house… Hahahz… Bandaging the knees and toes… Hahahaz… Couldn’t stop for long though… We had 8 rivers ahead of us before we could reach our campsite!!!!

1420 – 1425: River 1 [Quite calm. Deep at first, but shallow mostly]
Everyone was quite excited as we took our first dip into the water… The trekking sticks kinda helped, and the current wasn’t too strong… Hahaz… First of 8 to come!!!!

[The journey from the 1^st to 2^nd river is really long and excruciating. I’d rather climb to the summit another time then have to go through this trail again… We had to travel along the riverside, which is slippery, rocky, unstable and narrow. Thank God for the trekking sticks we picked up along the way… Really helped us to keep our balance on the slippery terrain… And it really hurt… Our feet were wet, and the terrain was like crap, and we kept slipping, and having to walk on really uneven surfaces… Our feet felt really raw soon after… >.< Progress was extremely slow, morale was at its lowest, and no one was talking… Yea, that bad… I was praying profusely that the rest of the trek wouldn’t be like that]

1610 – 1617: River 2 (Current stronger, depth is alright)
Quite a relief when we reached this river! Some progress finally! I asked the guide if the rest of the journey was going to be as disgusting as what we just experienced… Thank God that would be the hardest part! Morale increase a little! But we needed to catch up if we were to make it by night fall!!!!

1618 – 1628: River 3 (Very near River 2, current quite strong, especially in the middle of the river)

[The terrain between River 3 and 4 is mostly forest trails, away from the river banks, which made it a hell lot easier to walk on… Our pace has increased now, but no one is really talking much… Tired and hungry, reaching camp was all we were aiming towards at this point in time.]

1652 – 1657: River 4 (Shallow depth, current a little strong)
[Forest trails once again, thank God… It is much cooler, and easier to walk as well… We are back to our normal pace, and there is sign of life in most of our team again… Hahaz... Guide tells me that the trek between the 6^th and 7^th river is quite long!!! Siao liao… I worry that we might hit night trek… But nonetheless, we all are determined to push on!!!!]

1703 – 1705: River 5 (Small stream, with rope to cross)
[We are quite noisy now, focus is also on the leeches that tend to get in our socks when we cross the river… Zzzz… By now however, we are far less affected by those bloodsucking wriggly thingys… Hahaz… The moment you stop… THEY WILL COME!!!! So the trick is to keep moving man!!!]

1720 – 1735: River 6 (Very wide, but shallow if you keep to a specific rocky path.)
[SUPER WIDE LONG BIG HUGE RIVER! WAHHHHHH!!!! SUPER NICE ALSO!!!! WAHHHHH!!!! I thought we’d like die if we crosses, cos it was really wide, and there wasn’t any rope… But apparently, if you follow a particular path in the river, it’s really quite shallow… Just follow what your guide says… We stopped here quite long, took our time as we took a picture in the middle of the river… The sun was beginning to set, but hey, we were reaching soon! YAYS!]

[And now came the supposed long part of our river venture… We hoped it wouldn’t be like the first trail we encountered and thank God it wasn’t… It was a forest trail all the way! Also, dinner had become the topic of conversation. Coupled with the chilling memory of the previous day’s encounter with night trek, everyone became fired up… All of us went into high gear and we practically blazed through the entire trail… From the 2hour trek the guide estimated, we blasted to River 7 in about an hour! BANKAI!!!]

1832 – 1840: River 7 (Don’t remember how it is)

1850 – 1900: River 8 (Medium sized, current quite strong)
Camp Puteh is right in front of our eyes! And it was still bright!!! We finally made it! Awesome stuff! Even before we hit the river, we were already celebrating! Wahahaha… All signs of fatigue melted away as we crossed our final obstacle for the day… =)

1900 – 2100: Camp Puteh

FINALLY! WE COULD REST OUR WEARY BODIES AND WORN OUT SOULS!!!! This camp is a cosy little place, just enough to squeeze our 3 tents and shelter comfortably together… It is right next to the river, and the ground is sandy… Leeches stick to the river side and we don’t see them in the campsite, unless someone brings it in unknowingly after a trip to the river… O.O Oh and it was here that we really made use of the magical properties of OFF! Spray on the leeches… Lionel was on a personal vendetta against the things as he sprayed them off like some viet-cong armed with a flame thrower… I think it’s the alcohol that kills them… They like writhe around and just drop off… (You could almost hear them screeching in anguish as their bodies shrivel up, the alcohol sucking out the moisture from their living bodies… Morbid… Muahahhaa… Nice…)

Surprisingly, there were not many insects! Awesome! There are supposed to have a lot of bees here actually… Yupx… We had a long deserved bath in the river, and then it was dinner time! Listened to music, chilled a bit, talked a bit and bandaged up our battle scars… I went and spilled Maggie Mee all over a tarp.. =( Saded… There goes part of our dinner… SORRY!! After which we decided to have a proper burial for our onion that was killed by washing detergent… =( We dug a hole for it and surrounded it with the Maggie Mee and covered it.. RIP Onion…
We had another long day the next day! So we turned in early… We are almost out! The worst is over! =) (Took a while to sleep, it was really warm!!! >.< )

6^th August 2011

0600 – 0823: I woke up stiff all over… But it was a good sleep… Hahaz… Had breakfast and slowly broke camp… Stretched out our tired muscles, and it was time to face RAJAH!

0919 – 0925: Rest Point
[I think we have begun climbing Rajah, or at least on the way. Not very sure cos I was expecting a steep incline all the way up to the top, but so far, there are steep inclines, then flat ground, then inclines again. Not all are steep though… Hahaz… It’s really warm and humid!! And of course, we are back into jungle terrain… Bleah…]

1018 – 1025: Top of Rajah
KING OF THE WORLD!!! WOOOOO!!!! Ok, not really… In comparison with the rest of the trek, Rajah was kind of easy… Hahahz… Had to climb up two steep inclines before we reached the top… It’s a small barren patch enough for us to take photo. But it is really exposed, and the sun was scorching… DAMN HOT!!! >.< Took a photo before ducking back into the foliage to take another rest… The morale is quite high already! One more campsite to go! =)

[27 Malang Hills: The terrain from here onwards is gradual up and down in general. It can get quite warm and humid, but there’ll be wind once in a while.. But it kind of gets boring and a morale killer because it is never ending!!!! The terrain looks identical with leaves leaves leaves… Down down down… We are getting really tired now… But we keep moving…]

1150 – 1233: Tengah Campsite (Lunch Point)
Finally, a good rest point and lunch point… We all plopped down tired, glad to rest our sorry legs… It’s a relatively large campsite, sloping downwards. We spent quite a while here, eating happy food and getting back our energy… There was bak kua left too! =) The water point is a 2 min descend, near the campsite. It’s a strong stream of water running down the side of the trail… Surprisingly, the water is really clear! Like no colour at all! And it tastes alright… Hahaz.. But I wonder what will become of it if there was a strong rain though… Oh and it was here that Wallace pulled out his map!! He thought he has lost it the other day during “Drama Night” at Lower Pangkin… Hahaz… Cos’ he could have used it then!!!!!! Well done!!!!!

1335 – 1342: Rest Point (Gradual Slope)
We are starting to tell ourselves that we are going to hit night trek… We have kind of slowed down a lot… The pace is at a constant liao, and the guide doesn’t seem to be giving us a lot of hope either… =(

1450 – 1500: Rest Point (After coming down a really steep descend. There are a lot of fallen trees. We just went down a SUPER BIG fallen tree. Our guide keeps hacking a way through…. The guys at the back were making up a story about condors and fighting… o.O

“On a bright sunny Saturday afternoon, a girl named Siew Hwee was walking in the forest.

All of a sudden, there was a mother big bird on a mother big tree.

The mother big bird suddenly opened its mouth and talked to the girl.

“Wah Siew Hwee, you are so pretty!”

Siew Hwee took out her trekking pole which became a sword.

She wanted to eat the mother big bird for lunch.

Then a condor flew to the mother big bird and passed it a sword too.

Yang Guo appeared and asked the condor why it encouraged the two of them to fight.

The condor replied “I am your master, who are you to lecture me.”

They fought for 7 x 7 =49 days.

In the end, Siew Hwee managed to kill the mother big bird for lunch. – Wallace, Eugene, Keng Phang, Ming Wen”

1625: Suddenly, the guide turns around and says, “5minutes to campsite…” WAHHHHH!!! Like a shiok la! We thought we had hours to go, and just when we had already succumbed to the fate of a night trek, we were handed this divine miracle… NICE! It was morale ecstasy as we suddenly picked up our pace towards our final camp site…

[As we approach the bottom of the stream, we heard voices! Cantonese if I’m not wrong… So exciting! Finally, some form of human life besides us! Woots! Was quite excited to see who it was]

1635 – Late: Camp Melantai
As we descended out of the jungle, we see lots of tents, with clothes hanging around.. People were up and about, it was quite a large group actually… We walked in, looking all tired and cui… But trying our best to look zai.. Muahahaha… We later found out that this group were Malaysians, and they were on their first day in… They were tackling the longest route, 9 days in total if I am not wrong… ZAI! And they brought all sorts of things, metal pots, 5L bottles of water, rice bags… Wah… Oh, and they were about 30plus 40 year of age? Yea… I think seasoned climbers… Mountains are their backyard playground..

About the campsite, it is quite large, with plenty of space for tents.. There are places to set up tarp and clothes lines, but they were taken away by the other group, so we had to squeeze everything to another small spot, which so happened to be infested with nasty red ants! =( Sad….

Took some time to wash up, tried our best to wash away the smell… Zzzz… Then it was time to do some cooking! =) Time to clear all available food stuffs as people started dumping food onto the tarp in hope that people would eat it… Woe to the digestives biscuits, no one wanted to touch them… Hahahz.. As we ate, we were constantly invaded by the red ants… ARGHHHH…
(I started digging a trench around the front end of the tarp where the ants were advancing… I had to stop those little creeps… Like ZERGS hungry for human flesh… When the trench didn’t stop them, I filled the trench with prickly heat… At first it worked, but then they realized prickly heat was nothing, so they overrun the trench again… Then I put insect repellant.. It worked! Until they found another way in… ARGHHHH!!! They even have like commandos that drop from the trees…)

Otherwise, it was a good time of eating and laughing as we spent our last night in the forest… Night soon fell… The ants seem to be gone for now… But there was thunder in the distance… Quite scary, because it sounded like a huge storm was coming!!! Did the necessary wet weather preparations and hid in our tents… But the rain didn’t come… Instead, it was really really warm, and the air was thick and humid… You tell me how to sleep!! Arghhhh!!! We all poured out of the tents and back outside to breathe… The guys took off their shirts and stood in a circle and talked about stuff… Hahaz.. What stuff, I don’t quite remember… Hahaz… Oh oh oh… The other group had a guide with them who could speak English, and he was probably much more zai then our guide…. Hahahz… He was short and muscularly built, and reminded us of Jeremy Ho.. Wahahhaa… He told us that stick insects would come out to mate at night, and that the entire process would take weeks to finish.. o.O Like woah… A little slow aren’t we Mr. Stick Insect…
Soon after, we went back into the tent to sleep… Good night!!!! (Oh it rained super heavily in the night after that.. But it was still quite warm… Oh wells, tomorrow will be the last day! Woohoo!!!)

7^th August 2011

0700: Not sure what time we woke up, but the floor is really wet and my tent was attacked by red ants in the night… Rahhhh… Depressing… But hey, last day! WOOTSS!! But first, we celebrated Kenneth’s Birthday! Wahahaha… Keng Phang brought out something that resembled a muffin/cake thingy.. Hahaz.. And yup! Happy Birthday!!! =) Contemplated dunking him into the river… Hahaz.. But oh wells… It was time to go!

0830: Leave the camp and wave goodbye and good luck to the other team! Jia you everyone!!!!

0930 – 0935: Rest Point (Very humid because of last night’s rain, even my glasses are fogging up)

[From here on, I do not have timings. I was honestly more concerned about getting out and keeping alive… Hahaz.. Sorry! =x

After this rest point, I think we rested once every hour. The terrain becomes very flat after a while with some descends. And it is extremely muddy especially toward the end… LEECHES GALORE! Wah lau, like seriously, don’t stop, or they will come… My left ankle became a breeding ground for those sick things.. It looked like I had a serious injury, as my sock was soaked in blood.. >.<

Also a hell lot of fallen trees that we had to climb over and under… Must have been the rain the previous night!
We walked and walked and walked and walked, though there is a lot of flat ground, we never expected to take so long to walk out… But the moment we saw the first bridge, explosion of happiness! Hahaz… You will know you are reaching the end when you see man-made structures and signage. You will cross a total of 4 bridges…
Nearing the end, we saw quite a few people dressed in proper clothes… There were even children! Wow… Civilisation was near!! =) Hahaz.. We were like a smelly bunch of haggard looking things trudging along… Almost out!!!
Oh and there is a final flight of stairs before you emerge!]

1345: Kuala Tahan (Estimated time)
WE DID IT!!!!!! WE FINALLY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
As we emerged, officially completing our trek, Mingwen takes a video of us, and everyone, despite their cui appearance, tries their best to look pretty for the camera… Muahahaha… We quickly settled the administration and payment. (They didn’t check our packs! – They did ask us to empty out everything, but I think our guide helped us. Just brought a trash bag and asked us to throw away all our trash. Nice!)
Oh, and it costs 15RM for postage to send the Certificates to Singapore. I think they’ll send it after about 2 weeks? Yea…

Kuala Tahan has a lot of different kinds of accommodation. But I don’t think there is much to do here on this side of the river. I think it is a resort kind of place, something like in Ohpir? Quite a lot of tourists… We researched the bus timings from here to Jerantut to be 7am, 10am and 7pm… But apparently, there was a 3pm bus when we got there… So we decided to just head over to Jerantut to get lodging…

We walked past the buffet area straight to the dock to take a boat across the river. (1RM per person) Then we immediately got our bus tickets and waited for 3pm to come. (7RM per person) Bought soft drinks and snacks from a provision shop… Heaven… And we soon adapted back into being in civilization.. =)

1630: Reached the town of Jerantut. Bus ride was a bumpy and crazy one. Siao one la the bus driver… O.O We all tried to sleep on the bus.. We must have stunk real bad, but no one seemed to care… Hahahz..

Booked hotel immediately, a backpacker’s hostel called KIM SIM YENG.
Very cheap accommodation, rooms ranging from 30 – 37RM per room per night.
We took the larger rooms. 2 x 3-person, 2 x 2-person. Total was 141RM. There’s air-con, beds, toilet bowl, sink, hot shower. Compared to the 6 days we just endured, anything goes… As long as we could bathe and sleep.. =) I think it is quite cheap liao! We saw our guide! Took a photo with him!

Siew and I went to get train tickets, while the rest went to buy soap and shampoo… The train station is a short walk away… We tried to get sleeper coaches but only normal seats were available because ours wasn’t an overnight ride; 1330 the next day. (30RM per person) BUT! We talked to one of the shop owners, they said that there is actually another train that is really much cheaper!!! O.O But we were too late, tickets bought liao… I forgot the exact price, but I think you can ask the locals over there! They are quite nice! And there are quite a few of them that are Chinese! So no problem in communication here!

After a well deserved shower (there is hot water leh!!!), the eating begins! ROUND 1… Started out with KFC for dinner; wolfed down everything in a flash. ROUND 2… Then being hungry pigs, we headed to the Ramadan Night Market for snacks… Oh yea, this night market is like our “Pasar Malam” with tentage set up filled with food stalls! Awesome! Murtabak, Tau Huay, DURIANS!!! Went back to hotel for AAR while snacking on durian and fruits.. Sad thing was, they were eating on our bed, dropping seeds and stuff all over… RAWR!!!
ROUND 3… After the AAR, we decided, supper time! So off we went to Pizza Hut! Shared 2 large cheesy-crust pizzas, and the birthday boy had a ice-cream… =) After that, some of us decided to walk around to explore the town a bit… It was already 11plus, and most of the stalls were already closed… Then we saw our guide again! There was a soccer match on, ManU vs Man City I think… Lionel and Warren stayed to watch, but the rest of us weren’t very interested… We walked around but there was nothing much, just a lot of Zhi Cha stalls all filled with people watching soccer… But MingWen had a great idea! ROUND 4!!!! The group of us ended the night with Beer, Chinese Tea, Sambal sotong and tie ban dou fu…. =) That night was a good night…. But we kind of realized that we we should have eaten zhi cha at night instead and pizza hut the next day, because the zhi cha stalls were only open in the night… Oh wells, we all slept soundly that night… =)

8^th August 2011

0900: Everyone is already awake. The bed too comfortable liao… Another group has already gone down for breakfast at about 0800. They had dim sum at one of the stalls (Kedai Dim Sum Keong). We explored on our own and had wanton mee, and steamed kaya bread.. Interesting! =) All of us converged at the supermarket opposite our hotel… Bought some food from the nearby supermarket for the ride home.

[Jerantut is kind of like a stopover town, and is kind of big I guess… Clothes and shoe shops, many mini-marts, coffee shops, opticians, and other random shops… Not that exciting, but alright I guess…]

1200: Check out from the hotel and started wandering around aimlessly. Stayed at the train station for a bit, but realized that we still had some time left… Before heading off, we took pictures of our battle-scarred legs which were later put on Facebook for the “most beautiful legs” contest by mingwen.. Wahahaha.. We had lunch at a chicken rice place and then back to the train station again.

1330: Train comes on time! And we find our seats to be facing the wrong direction. And Mingwen and Kenneth had to seat with strangers… Quite sian… But everyone soon settled in and fell asleep. Or at least tried to sleep.. The air-con wasn’t working and it was bloody warm la!!!! >.<

1700: Reached another town of Gemas, something like Jerantut. The train stopped for about 45mins. I think it was for all the muslims to buy food so that they could break their fast after that… There were a lot of soldiers on the train!! We weren’t fasting, but being Singaporean, we went down to buy some food! We ate to entertain ourselves actually… BORED!!!! =.=

2108: Reach JB! Had dinner at KIM GARY RESTAURANT! HOME SWEET HOME!

Thanks for reading this and hence being part of our journey in some kind of way! =) I hope that you would have found it useful and that you would even contemplate of climbing this mountain! It was tough, but I think it was worth it… With good company, everything becomes awesome in the end… =) TAHAN KNIGHTS! WE DID IT!!!

lastly, link to the tahan video

It was the Saturday before Week 8 (aka recess week) started. Our group of trekkers for Gunung Suku 2011 gathered at 7pm at Kranji MRT, all in high spirits for their journey ahead. This group included 4 exchange students from China who had signed up for an experience that was a little out of their comfort zone. A group of SMUX seniors also came to send us off, which was very touching.

Our 21 participants! (Seumas hadn’t met up with us yet)

After bidding farewell to our friends, we set off for City Square in JB. Due to smooth vehicle and human traffic, we reached City Square at around 8.15pm. After which, trekkers went for their bonding dinner session with their respective groups and also to purchase last-minute supplies for the trek.
At 10.30pm, the entire group was gathered on the second floor of McDonald’s to await the arrival of the bus. By then, it could be seen that each group had already become more closely-knit and members were enjoying each other’s company. Our bus driver, Shariff soon arrived at 11pm with his 45-seater (WHOA) bus and picked us up. It was going to be at least 7-8 hours on the road before we would reach our next destination, Medan Gopeng Bas Terminal and given that it was going to be a rather challenging trek, most of the participants decided to turn in early in the comfort of their seats. The more hyper ones actually stayed up and gossiped at the back of the bus (contents shall not be revealed because whatever was said stays in trek ^^)

Day 1 (2nd Oct, Sunday)
We reached Medan Gopeng Bas Terminal at 6 am, before sunrise. We had close to 2 hours before the guides linked up with us, and so most of us washed up at the Bas Terminal before heading for some nice Ipoh breakfast. The few of us visited this canteen behind the McDonald’s for fresh, hand-made wanton noodles which was really awesome and value for money.

Our guides drove over in their SUV promptly at 8am and we headed off to our starting point, which was somewhere in the middle of Simpang Pulai Highway. On the bus there, we changed into comfortable trekking gear to prepare for the trek and after some winding roads where we saw many bikers along the way, we reached the foot of Gunung Suku at around 9am. Warm-up was conducted by the Safety I/C Swee Chen and our head guide, Shahlan, briefed the group about what to expect from the trek and introduced us to 3 other guides (K, Din and Arl Ouss).

Foot of Suku along the highway, looking seemingly harmless

And so at 9.30am, we moved off to conquer Gunung Suku, not knowing that the trek would be pretty daunting at certain points. Each group had a guide attached to it and this was really helpful as they provided lots of tips (sometimes even using their body parts as support) that helped us with overcoming the trek which was laden with obstacles throughout. Everyone was also really helpful to each other by stopping to help whoever was in need of aid and also communicating to each other of the lurking dangers.

At about 11.30am, our trail was re-routed at a point before our lunch/last water-point, due to a gigantic tree trunk that had fallen because of the rain. The make-shift trail was via a slope which was muddy, slippery. Everyone had to hang on to the tree roots that were available for dear life. The guides were very courageous and helped to ease this life-endangering obstacle by stacking huge leaves and layering soil that was more solid so that we had better footing to traverse across. I was extremely relieved to see that everyone made it past safely without any accident. believe that this was the most challenging obstacle that we encountered during the trek….yet.

We reached our lunch + last water-point at 1.15pm. We were all rather tired at that point of time and it was a much-needed respite. The stream that was flowing down was cooling and every group diligently filled up on water supplies because it became rather apparent that water would be scarce. We had a quick lunch of takeaway McDonalds and stuff like mixed nuts really helped to refuel us for the remaining ascent.

And so we moved off again for the remaining journey at 1.50pm. Our next obstacle was actually right beside us, which was this slope/cliff that is almost 90 degrees. With some whining and grunting, we managed to make our way up slowly but surely.

After this second ordeal, the rest of the ascent was more leisurely and less taxing on our strength. As we made our way up, we could start to see the mist around the mountain which was a sign that we were at a rather high altitude. The air also smelt very natural and refreshing, perhaps because it is unpolluted. We were nearing the campsite at around 3.30pm when it started to rain, albeit slightly. This motivated us to want to complete the trek up as quickly as possible before the rain got heavier.

So finally after a 7 hour trek up, we reached the campsite of Gunung Suku. We only had a short moment of exhilaration because the rain started beating down on us heavily. Most of us were really unprepared and got very wet. Without hesitation, our manly Team Manager Zephan started to facilitate the setting up of the tarps and groundsheets. With help from the guides and everyone’s cooperation, we managed to do up our make-shift campsite.

Everyone’s spirit was dampened because we were all cold and wet and huddling with each other for warmth. “This is the worst campsite ever” (Debbie Berries, 2011) To make everyone feel better, we started boiling hot water/Milo/Green Tea to keep ourselves warm and also changed out into dry clothes. The decision was made to start cooking earlier because we couldn’t do much sight-seeing yet at the campsite with the heavy rain.

Our innate “Master Chefs” appeared as we all took turns cooking for one another. Smiles could be seen on participants’ faces as we tasted each other’s cooking and filled up our tummies with fries, nuggets and wanton noodles to name a few dishes.

“Tonight with Zephan” was postponed as the rain beat down on us again soon after. However, it was replaced by HTHT session with our respective groups. My group actually huddled around the lamp canister to keep ourselves warm and read out “Alice in Wonderland” on Pamela’s Kindle. We eventually dozed off in our sleeping bags and it was to be an arduous night because the campsite was very small and we were all confined in a limited space in uncomfortable positions so as not to get drenched by the rain. The campsite can most likely hold up to a maximum of 15 people. I woke up once in awhile throughout the night to the strong winds constantly beating against the tarp. Fortunately, it did not rain, or we would have been soaked again.

Day 2 (3rd Oct, Monday)
We woke up at around 7.30am and started cooking hot milo and beehoon for breakfast. At around 8.30am, a huge hoo-ha was caused when one of the canisters exploded into huge flames. Eugene, being very experienced, asked everyone to stay away from it and bravely poked the canister out into the open. The fire raged on and we even tried to cover the flaming canister with a mess tin. Everyone was really just stunned by this occurrence and sat there watching while a few brave souls continued trying to put out the flames in case it caused a forest fire. Eventually, we decided to let the fire burn out by itself and it would be doused by the rainwater anyway.

The picture above is evidence of how epic it was. The rain subsided for awhile which allowed for these beautiful photos of the sunrise to be taken.

After warming ourselves up, we started to pack up our stuff and clean up the campsite. We even managed to catch an entire rainbow from the campsite and it was really amazing.

We liaised with some of our guides who would bring us up to the peak of Gunung Suku at around 9.30am. Armed with cameras and our water bottles, we made our way through terrain that was very unique and it felt like a garden in fairyland. The moss and plants around us were very fresh and soft to the touch.

We finally summitted at 10am! Cheers were heard all around and everyone started snapping photos of the really beautiful scenery from the top for remembrance’s sake. It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words and below are some of the photos.

After a rather long cam-whoring session, we made our way to the campsite to collect our trek bags and our descent started at 11am. The guides decided to move at a faster pace because they believed that faster movement downward would be less straining on our stamina. As most of us did not have proper trekking shoes, this increase in pace resulted in some slips due to the muddy terrain. However, none of the falls were serious but rather, were just normal. As we approached the lunch point, most of us had our ears peeled to pick out the sound of the stream and probably were dreading going down the almost vertical cliff. My group’s guide, Din let me go in front of him and I actually chose the wrong route to descend to the lunch point. So I pretty much slid down for most of it and he laughed at me afterwards. -.- (and hence I was known as the King of Sliding by the guides)

So at around 2pm, we reached our lunch point quite a fair bit behind schedule. Lunch was quick because we were looking forward to RnR and if we did not hurry, we would not be able to visit the plantations and strawberry fields. Next up was our favourite slope on Day 1. We were given the option of two routes but the guides decided to go by the way we came up by. I knew that any wrong step could mean a long fall down for me and so on my way across, I had to hold on to whatever that I could. Unfortunately, I placed my hand on a nest full of ants (unknowingly) and it was a searing experience for me as they got into my shirt and pants. The path taken by the front few was deemed to be too precarious and so another path was made out at a slightly higher level above the initial one.

Debbie Berries hanging on for dear life

After having another near-death experience, the rest of the journey downwards was less risky even though the muddy terrain still persisted. After countless hours of “ooomphs” and “ahhhs” as we trekked/slid down the remaining path, our entire team managed to reach the foot of Suku at close to 5.30pm. Everyone was clearly relieved that they had made it and grateful for all the help the guides had rendered us.

All smiles at the foot

After cleaning ourselves up a little, we boarded our cosy bus to head towards Cameron Highlands. The initial plan was to shower but it was around 8pm when we reached Cameron Highlands and so most free showering facilities were closed already. We decided to just go to a public toilet to change into clean clothes at least and then head for our steamboat dinner.

With our stomachs growling like mad, we finally reached the steamboat dinner place at around 9pm and it was really shiok to have something hot when the surroundings were cool. The price was also very reasonable and definitely cheaper than steamboats back in Singapore. We ate to our heart’s content for about 2 hours before heading back to Singapore.

I was very happy to hear that the participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves despite having to suffer a little at certain parts of the trek. Perhaps, it is only through some hardship that we learn to appreciate the comfortable environment that we have always been residing in. It was also my first real trek and I had helped to organise it with a team of capable people and advisers, and so this was definitely a memorable one for me.

Written by: Sim Ying Liang, Trek IC

Day 1

We met at Kranji MRT in the afternoon due to the Presidential polling day. None of us expected that there was a jam from Kranji MRT to Malaysia Custom. As usual, we bought our lunch at City Square and board the chartered bus to Mersing at 3.30pm. I was worried that we would reach the wrong place because I didn’t know the exact location of Gunung Arong. Instead, I downloaded the video from Malaysiaseasport of how to get there and navigated using the video. I know it sounds silly but it worked!

Nizam is the most considerate bus driver who I‘ve seen in Malaysia. He drove around 60 to 80km/h and he didn’t attempt to overtake any car, not even once! So, we took 4 hours to reach Tanjung Resang. When we got down from the bus, the campsite was astonishingly awesome. The sun was beautiful. The beach was very clean. I could hear the sea waves and the evening sea breeze. We were even more surprised by the size of the campsite. It is comparable to the size of a football field. The facilities are better than expected such as toilets, bathroom, tap, tables, chairs and pavilions. It is the best campsite that I’ve seen so far.

We had a cooking contest call “3 dishes and 1 soup” after we settled down for field cooking. As compared from the last few intro trek, our team has tremendously improve our cooking skills. We had Sambal Kan Kong, Pineapple rice and Fondue, just to name a few. As a curry lover, my favourite was Siew’s curry. Margaret’s ABC soup also tasted like heaven after eating so much oily stuff.

Last thing we had for the first night was “Tonight with Siew” when all the participants introduced themselves and shared the reasons why they joined this trek. Then, the trekkers shared their personal experiences for last few treks. Wallace, the Tahan Knight and also being the Advance team shared his unforgettable experience at lower Pangkin Campsite. He was also complaining about his apple that was eaten up by the rat during the first night of Tahan. Of course, we put him on the limelight for being the birthday boy. We had a chocolate cake from secret recipe for him. Guess what? Wallace had an apple for his birthday present.

Day 2

The first thing I asked right after I woke up, “what is the polling result?” Well… let’s put politics aside…

Before we embarked our journey to Gunung Arong, we had a 15 min walk to the starting point with our daypacks. Along the way, it felt like we were at countryside. The happy Sunday walk was quite chill and refreshing to start our day.

After we reached the start point, there were a couple of toilets and a mini waterfall. My team was at the front; Zephan and the two Malay-speaking guides were trekking ahead of me. At the start, it was not easy for beginners as the ground was dry and sandy coupled with a little bit of steepness. So we tended to slide down with every step we took. The steepness was neither gentle nor very steep such that we could only used our leg power to ascend. I started perspiring but still going strong. The speed was steady and almost the same average speed of my Tahan trek. We called the guides to slow down a couple of time.

After trekking for 40min, we could see the sea view. I was telling myself, “Oh no… this kinda look like the summit view. But we still have more than an hour to go!” I called for water break while enjoying the sea view. We had a little photo-taking session. As Zephan and I proceed 5m more, I saw a hut up there and asked the Malay guides whether it is the summit. They denied saying that it’s just a rest point. More groups came up and started laughing that we were so close to the rest point where it has better view.

Bryan, the Caucasian guide confirmed that we had reach summit. They said we trekked at a really good speed. We took quite some time to enjoy the scenery and photo-taking session.

I think we took around 35min to descend by the same track. I saw many fishes in the pond when I was my washing my hand. =) Poor Chula, the cameraman always got called to take photo for others because he was the only one who bought a DSLR. On the way to campsite, the afternoon sun was getting brighter. So, we called the driver to fetch us earlier since the 4hours trek turned out into 1.5hours trek.

While waiting for the bus, we settled down packing our stuff and some of us went to shower (Of course, the shower facilities were so clean!). We had 3 adventurous souls; Zephan, Edgar and Debbie had a FOC board-surfing session with one of our guides, Sha. The sea was quite narrow. Unfortunately, I could not go into the sea due to my toe’s condition. =(

All the participants gave us good feedback despite the easy trek. I feel that this into trek would not be so awesome without this group of people. I would go back to Tanjung Resang for windsurfing during monsoon season too. =)

(Photos credit to Chula and Gordon)

Day 1 (28 April 2011)

At 4pm, after distributing the foods and settling some administrative and logistic matters, we set off to Malaysia by bus. We reached Malaysia, City Square at around 5pm and had an extremely satisfying dinner at Nando’s at half the price of what we can get in Singapore! We made some last minute purchases of snacks and cakes at city square before rushing off to catch the 7pm train at the terminal. We almost could not find our way to the train station, but was kindly assisted by the security guards situated around the area. Now, we need to enter via the new gate near Daily Fresh.

We managed to board the train successfully and began one of the highlights of the trip – A unique overnight train experience! After settling down at our individual bunks, we gathered around and begin gossiping. (What is said on the train shall be left on the train. =) ) After much fanfare, most of us got tired and went off to sleep while some went to the mini coffeshop at the front of the train to get some hot drinks before going to sleep.

Day 2 (29 April 2011)

The sleep on the train was one filled with bumps, creaks and noises when passengers board or alight the train at each station. We arrived at Dabong train station at around 7am. After washing up at the train station toilet, we had our breakfast at a food stall nearby. We met our guide and they brought us to the trail head. After some stretching and warm-up exercise conducted by the safety IC, yirong, and a short briefing by our guide, we were set to go! We were all very enthusiastic and were looking forward to start trekking especially when most of us were first time trekkers.

We began our ascent to the Baha campsite at around 9am. The ascent was more treacherous and tiring than what most of us thought. The waterfall trek to Baha campsite was both steep and slippery. Given that most of us were first time trekkers, most did not have shoes with good grips on slippery stones that had mosses growing on them. As a result, the pace up to Baha campsite was slow and we had a few falls on the way. Luckily, there were no serious injury and each of us willingly steps forward to give support and a helping hand to those falling behind.

At times, we even had to climb up terrains angled at almost 75 degrees. Fortunately, metal chains or ropes are present at these terrains to help us proceed. The guides are also there to lend a helping hand.

After an eventful late morning, we reached our campsite at around 12pm. We diligently set up our tents and begin preparing our lunch. But I couldn’t wait to jump into the water!!! Our group had some delicious pasta, soup and hak kao and siew mai. IMAGINE having DIM SUM during trekking! Woo~~ We had used an innovative steamer by putting an cut-up aluminum plate, poked with holes, into the mess tin. It worked amazingly well and the dim sum was an astounding success!

After lunch, we finally moved on to experience the waterfall. We kept the washed utensils and backpacks into the tents and only brought along our flotation belt, water and first aid kits. Trekking without the heavy backpacks was an amazing feeling as all of us seemed much more cheerful and active.

After around 1 hour of trekking and jumping across rocks and streams, the guide brought us to a pool which seemed to be a combination of water flowing from both Stong and Ayam waterfall. All of us jumped in and thoroughly enjoyed immersing ourselves in the cool natural water of the waterfall. There is even a natural ‘Jacuzzi’ at the pool!

We spent around 1 hour at the pool and having dried ourselves on the rocks under the warm sunlight, we being our descent back to the campsite. Along the way, the guide stopped by another outlet of water where there is a hole, around 2m in height and 50cm in diameter, which was filled with running water. He dared us all to jump in the hole and we accepted the challenge. All of us completed the challenge dauntlessly.

We continued our way back to the campsite, tired but satisfied. However, just before we reached, it started raining and we were forced to stay under shelter. While some of us begin to prepare dinner under the basha, the rest of us went to change. The weather was kind to us and it stopped raining after around half-an-hour. We enjoyed our sumptuous dinner of pineapple rice, pasta, seaweed chicken and much more.

After dinner, we gathered around the gas lamps and began sharing our experience of the trek and what motivated us to join this trek. This AAR session was hosted by Siew Hwee, our trekking team manager.

After clearing up all the rubbish and being briefed about what to expect tomorrow, we were sent off to bed. We had a bit of HTHT again back in our individual tents before all of us drifted off to sleep. Goodnight!

Day 3 (30 April 2011)

We woke up at 6am and went to a ledge of the Gunung Stong with our breakfast, expecting to enjoy a view of the sunrise. We did not manage to catch the sunrise as it was blocked by the thick clouds. It begin to drizzle again as we were preparing our breakfast and we decided to move back to our tents. Luckily, the drizzle stopped soon after and we had our breakfast of eggs, sausages, omelets and milos. We packed up all our tents, rubbish and utensils and were set to ascent the Stong peak with our day packs at around 8am.

The trek up to the Stong peak had 2 water points and was relatively steeper than the waterfall trek up to the Baha campsite. We had fewer rest points along the way and made faster progress as compared to yesterday, mainly because, the new trekkers were more accustomed to the terrain. The trek up to Stong summit had 2 main obstacles. The first was the steep slope at the first part of the trek. The second was the overgrown shrubs along the way that often slow down the group and injured some of the participants.

We reached our final rest point after about 2.5hours. As we were afraid that we could not reached back to the train station in time and in order to avoid night trekking, we chose to stop ascending.

We had our lunch at the rest point, grabbed some pictures and begin our descend. We reached Baha campsite at around 3pm.

After packing our day packs into our backpacks, we began our trek down Baha campsite to the trail head at 4pm. This time round, the guide chose the forest trail as the waterfall trail is too slippery for us.

We reached the trail head at roughly 5.15pm and after some stretching exercise, we were released and allowed to using their facilities to bathe!

It feels super good to have a good nice bathe after a long day trekking. After bathing, the guide brought us to a nearby restaurant to eat. We had a full and satisfying dinner but to our dismay, the dinner costs almost as much as if we had eaten in Singapore. We left the restaurant at around 9pm and the guide brought us back to the train station.

The train arrived at around 11pm and we were on our way back to Singapore. Most of us were tired after 2 days of trekking and we went to sleep after a while.

Day 4 (1 May 2011)

The train reached Johor Bahru at around 11am in the morning. After having our breakfast at Old Town White Coffee, City Square, we crossed the causeway and went back to school. The whole group stayed back to help clean up the common issued items such as the tents, tarp and gas stoves. We were officially dismissed at 2pm after all the items were washed.

Around half of the Gunung Stong 2011 trek participants are first time trekkers and I do believe that they had gained invaluable friendship and fun along the way. Let’s look forward to seeing them for the next trek and expand the number of regular trekkers in SMU!

Day 1

The Team arrived at Lao Cai station at about 6am after an overnight train from Hanoi. Following which the Team took a van to Sapa town. We had breakfast and deposited our stuff at Royal Sapa Hotel. Then we took a van to Tran Ton – the trail head for Fansipan. We reached the trail head at about 9am. The temperature at the trail head is about 12 degrees Celsius.

The trails are rather wide but challenging thing about Fansipan is that is very slippery. We had to make our way up using slippery rocks, hence, good shoes are a must. Also, on the first trekking day, be prepared to do some river crossing. The depth of the river varies according to the season as well as the rainfall. We stopped beside one of the open spaces beside a river for lunch.

After lunch, we continued trekking towards the lower camp, which we reached at about 2pm. We then continued making our way to the higher camp which will be our campsite for the night. The terrain of Fansipan is such that it is undulating meaning that it is not simply upwards and upwards. We often find ourselves having to trek downwards even when we are trekking towards the summit.

There are no waterpoints along the way but there are water sold at the lower camp and your guide will carry some water up which they will sell you at exorbitant prices. I would recommend that each person carries close about 5litres of water which should last you comfortably through the 3 trekking days.

Some parts of the trails after the lower camp actually allows you a great view of the surrounding ridges. Unfortunately, it was really foggy during our trek and we didn’t get to see much. A good windproof jacket is also a must as you will be trekking along open ridgelines with cold merciless wind blowing across.

As it is winter in northern Vietnam in December, the hours of daylight are really short. By 5pm the sky would be turning dark, you will need you torches and headlamps by 5.30pm and it would be completely dark by 6pm.  Due to the fog, the visibility is really low and one has to be very careful during the night trek. The last person reached the higher camp at about 8pm.Trekkers get to sleep in a simple wooden hut for the night. The hut can accommodate about 20 people, so you have to be prepared to squeeze a little if your group is large or there are other trekking groups scaling the mountains at the same time. The temperature at night is about 10 degrees and, if you happen to step outside of the hut, you will find that the winds are really strong.

Day 2

We started the day towards the summit at about 8am. As we will be returning to the higher camp after the summit, we were able to leave some of our things behind at the hut. The terrain and gradient remains similar – undulating, steep at some parts and rather slippery. In particular, there are some parts which require trekkers to trekking with extra caution on the very slippery rock.

You will reach a very open ridgeline full of mud and with very strong winds blowing across and this is when you know that you are almost at the summit. The area around the summit is very open which means that the view should be really awesome. However, due to the heavy fog, we were able to see much.

The summit is made up of huge boulders and marked by a metal tetrahedral. The temperature on the summit is about 8 degrees Celsius.

We then made our way down using the same route back to the higher hut for lunch. We finished lunch and began making our way to the lower hut (our campsite for the night) at about 2pm. By then, it was raining quite heavily.

Once again, by 5pm, we found ourselves trekking in the dark. It was extremely foggy so we can’t see very far ahead and had to be very careful going up and down.  The group should try to keep as close as possible, there were quite a few cases of people who wandered off the trails due to the low visibility. Some also fell during this night trek. The last person reached the lower camp at about 9pm.

Day 3

This is probably the easiest trekking day. We started the trek at about 8am and we went back the same route which we covered on the first day. The sky finally cleared up on the third day and we were able to catch glimpse of the majestic ridges around Fansipan. We reached the trail head at about 12pm and took a van back to Sapa Royal Hotel.

Log written by: Keng Phang
Photos taken by: Chula