Gunung Belumut (Y2012 MTT)

BASIC INFORMATION

Trek: Y2012 MTT

Date: 6 - 7 October 2012

Location: Gunung Belumut, Johor, Malaysia

Elevation: 1,010m

Duration: 1D

BRIEF ITINERARY

Day 1

Transport to base of Gunung Belumut

Day 2

Day Trek up Gunung Belumut

Transport back to SG

Don’t underestimate the trek or yourself! This mindset, I feel, is important to keep one safe and yet push the person out of the comfort zone. In Chinese, it is 自己是最大的敌人. I actually want to write the journal in Chinese but given limited language capabilities, I shall not. HAHAHA

And this is how Gunung Belumut Trek started:

So in the early afternoon of 6th October, we met at Marsiliing MRT station. I was glad that everyone made it on time and we boarded the mini-bus and headed for the checkpoints.

Thanks Swee Chen who came to send us or Zephan.

the minivans

Ironically shy Swee Chen

This was probably be the only trek in which the bus comes to Singapore to bring us to the mountain and also back. It was a super smooth ride and we cleared both sides of the immigrations like a boss. And soon, around 2pm, we were on the way to the base site of Gunung Belumut. Along the journey, we took a quick nap and at about 4.30pm , we reached the foot of Gunung Belumut!

SMILE!

Upon reaching the base site, the place seemed rather commercialized. After meeting the ranger of the mountain, we proceeded to find a spot to set up the tents. We walked by some possible campsites and finally decided on one near the river. After setting our tents, a troupe of wild, menacing monkey raced towards us. Our tents were near the bbq sites and the rubbish bins. They were ravaging through the bins to look for food. The monkeys had adapted to human presence and learn to scavenge food from the rubbish. It was interesting to see them opening Styrofoam box and finding food. Nonetheless, they were still a potential threat to our food and may come to harass us. In the end, we decided to move our tents to higher grounds lest the monkeys caused any problems to us

monkey menace

away from the monkeys

It drizzled for a while but it did not dampen our insatiable hunger. After the rain subsided, we prepared for our dinner at a nearby hut. Yummy, filling food for dinner!

the FROG

After our sumptuous dinner, we had our Tonight with Weijie. It was an informative session and we got to know more about our incoming Trekking Team Manager and also each trekker!!

Early in the morning, we woke up for breakfast and to pack everything up. Not forgetting, Happy Birthday Zheng Da!! Tents down and we were ready to go! And we linked up with the guide at the ranger’s hut at 8am. We deposited all the non-essential stuff at the ranger office (this is really important!!) I was glad that everyone put all the excess baggage (tents, gas canisters, etc) in the ranger’s office or else, it would be pretty difficult for the person to go up and down with that load. Thereafter, Vincent conducted a warm-up exercise and we were ready for the trek up Gunung Belumut.

a happy Zheng Da

Start of the trek!

The start of the trek was to cross this suspension bridge that sways left and right. Thereafter, there was a flight of stairs before a forest trail appeared. There were a total of 5 checkpoints and the fifth being the summit. For the first portion, it was relative easy as the incline was mild and we managed to reach the first checkpoint really fast at around 35 minutes. We took a quick rest before continuing. There was actually a waterfall near this checkpoint and the guide said that if we had time, we could go there later. Continuing along, we reached the second checkpoint. There was a rock formation that interestingly looked like a row of teeth. And we cam-whored quite a lot here

Tommy is unfazed!

Dear LEADER!

After the second checkpoint, the incline started to increase to about 50 degree and it will only continue to increase as we proceeded on. Third checkpoint was the one before all the steep slopes. We took a quick rest and continued up. Along the way, we had to watch our steps and what we grabbed lest you grabbed a thorny plant. The incline was about 70-80 now and I was proud that everyone managed to keep up the pace. After about an hour of up and up movement, we reached the fourth checkpoint which is a helicopter landing pad and we were left with 15 minute to the summit. Let’s go!

UP & UP & UPPPPppppppp!

And yes, we reached the summit. Well, the view was not that enticing as the summit was packed with shrugs and tall grasses. But wait, there was a super big rock and upon climbing up, you could have a nice view of the surroundings. We took really, many photos with the rock. We ate our lunch and drank up. At this moment, the sky started to gather and it seemed that rain was imminent.

What goes up must come down and so we trek back the route we came up. And It started to rain when we were trekking down the steep, steep portion. Donning the rain cover on our trek bags and rain coat on ourselves, we braved the rain and continued down. Luckily, it was a passing shower and it stopped after about 20 minutes. If it rained any heavier or longer, the journey would be much treacherous and take longer time to finish. Nonetheless, I was glad that everyone helped each other and got past the steep portion safely. Thereafter, it was a breeze and at around 4.40pm, we reached the end!

The End

And it was time to change and clean up! Despite the extreme low probability of encountering a leech, Vincent and Weijie met them. Phew, I was spared from the torment of leeches

Congratz! You’re bitten by a leech

After everyone was done, we boarded our transport and headed for Taman Sentosa. It was a rewarding and sumptuous dinner there and not forgetting that it was a relatively cheap meal! We ate for an hour (7.30pm-8.30pm) and this was the binge that summed up the trek nicely.

Scrumptious Dinner!

And then again, we breezed through the customs and we reached Marsiling MRT at around 9pm. And this was done despite the crowd of Sunday night. SHIOK!

An ending reflection

Going up is an ambition, coming down is a must. This is a quote that I heard during the AdCon and this resonates with me. Some time, we push ourselves too much and focus too much on reaching the summit and in the process, neglect our own safety. Safety will also my the number one priority.

Kudos to Zephan, Mei Lin and Jia Min for the wonderful pictures, and congrats to all the wonderful participants who made it up and down safely. And I hope everyone enjoyed the trek as much as I did. Seriously, this trek seemed tougher than trans-titiwangsa and my thighs ached for 2 days. HAHAHA. Take care and see you around (in school or trek run or trek) and till next time.

Ps. This was written as I waited for the jump of Felix Baumgartner. Really awesome jump he got there.