Gunung Panti (Y2010 Intro Trek)
BASIC INFORMATION
Trek: Y2010 Intro Trek
Date: 4 - 5 September 2010
Location: Gunung Panti, Kota Tinggi, Malaysia
Elevation: 453m
Duration: 1D
BRIEF ITINERARY
Transport to Kota Tinggi
Day trek up Gunung Panti
Transport back to SG
The trek today is up Gunung Panti. Meet up time was 0700H at Kranji MRT. Most people was on time except ahem, the Trek IC and a few others. The Trek IC arrived at 0722H and after accounting for personnel, sent off 4 out of the 5 groups by 0745H. Traffic was slow on the day as it was on a Saturday morning, we reached the immigration at Malaysia side at about 0830H. After getting food for the on the go lunch later on, we boarded the bus at 1030H instead of the planned 0900H.
The bus ride took 1.5 hrs to reach Kota Tinggi and another 15 mins before we reached the trail. From the main road, there is a hidden 200m trail among the bushes that leads to a place called 明月山庄. We had a short 20 minutes to eat our lunch. Alvin was eating a cinnamon roll which wasn’t exactly my favorite food. We started the trek about 1230H after Alan conducted the warm up. The Trek IC with the first group leads the trek with the rest of the groups following in their respective order.
The trek reasonably easy though some were expecting it to be unreasonably easy since it’s an Intro Trek. The terrain is a gradual foot path and not steps cut into the earth with slopes averaging 35 degree. Though the pace wasn’t too quick, Group 2 had some problem keeping up despite the best effort put in by Group One GL, Zavier in controlling the pace between the two groups. So after 2hrs and with Hui Juan openly threatening violence, the Trek IC let Group Two take over as the first group.
The pace was more evenly distributed after that and we hit the ending part of the trek in another half an hour. The last part of the trek was a 10m vertical rock wall which was actually quite challenging taking into account of the load we are carrying. The peak features multiple plots of flat land which comfortably accommodate our group of 37. There are ample space for cooking and playing monopoly deal even after we set up our tent. Everyone got their tents up was well settled in by 1700H. Huiling group started a mini camp fire and start toasting marshmallow. Shawna who is Jewish and takes kosher food also managed to a decent meal of rice, pasta and seaweed chicken out of the field cooking.
My group was having steamboat which I must say was pretty successful until the last part. As I was drinking the soup that has been concentrated with MacDonald’s salt and chicken stock after 1.5 hours of boiling, I can vaguely hear the NKF’s song playing in the background.
At 2000H is the season finale of “Tonight with Keng Phang”, after the customary intro session where everyone says “Hi!!” to everyone, Keng Phang recounts on his one year journey as the Trek Manager. In the next segment of the show whereby volunteering is strictly compulsory, senior trekkers shared their experiences of various treks under the unforgiving glare of Keng Phang’s headlamp. It was a truly touching segment. After the finale comes to an end, everyone broke off into their own activities.
The most significant of which was spearheaded by Hui Ling was the playing of sparklers!! With the generous contribution of sparklers by Ming Yong, excellent photography skill of Eugene, great camera provided by Chula and everyone who is in for a bit of fun, the trek banner that you see on the top of this blog was created.
By 2330H, most have snuggled into their tents as a storm approaches. The night before tomorrow The storm was worse than expected. Many of us believe we won’t live to see tomorrow but we kept quiet and continue sleeping. Day 2 We survived. The zombies didn’t manage to get us. When I woke up at 0730H, most people were still sound asleep. It was still drizzling slightly and really cold.
From my group, Sharon woke up next. She was ridiculously skimpily dressed for the weather. She said that besides the trek logs and water, she brought only a towel. Respect. Our initial ETD from the camp site was initially set at 1000H. However the cold weather generally reduced everyone ability to operate optimally and we set off from the camp site at 1045H instead. There is a great truth in the U.S. Navy SEALs motto “The Only Easy Day was Yesterday” on this second day of the trek.
What the guide promised to be a 0.5 hours trek down turn into a 4.5 hours trek instead. Maybe he didn’t realize that his watch ran out of battery after half an hour the last time he trekked down. The trail that we took to come down is from the Lukut side (we went up from the waterfall side). The terrain proved much more treacherous with steeper gradient and steps that were further apart. Vegetations were also denser with many of the plants spotting thorns. The storm in the night resulted in new dead falls which also added to the difficulty of this trail. After one hour into the trek, we reached the second camp site. The camp site was much smaller compared to the previous one and the ground was peppered with stones making it unsuitable for pitching tents. However, there is a water source near this camp site with water that is the color of octane 95 petrol.
15 minutes of trekking from the second camp site, the terrain developed into a series of steep slopes. The three guides decided to stay along this stretch of the trek to aid the group in coming down these slopes and so the poor Trek IC has to trek forth and back for nearly an hour to locate the trail ahead so as to get the group moving. When one of the guides finally caught up with the front people, he led us down the longer way and some of us had to backtrack to the shorter route. I spoke to Marble who was our main guide and the only one who knew about the shorter route, he told me that he carved out this route because of the pain in his knees. I was skeptical and asked him his age. He is only thirty. This strengthened my conviction that he was just trying to divert the zombies.
Even with the shorter route, it took us another 45 minutes before we exited the trail and arrived on a rather barren plot of land that is supposedly an oil palm plantation. From there was another 40 minutes walk to Marble’s place where the bus was waiting for us together with the cold Bandung and Nasi Lemak that Marble’s wife kindly prepared for us. The time we reached back City Square was about 1730H. Oh there are many leeches for this trek, personally I took a few for the team though I think Siew Hwee tanked the most damage in term of blood lost. So future trekkers take note.
Written by: Chun Wee, Trek IC
