Gunung Stong (Y2011 Summer XP)
BASIC INFORMATION
Trek: Y2011 Summer XP
Date: 28 April - 1 May 2011
Location: Gunung Stong, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia
Elevation: 1,422m
Duration: 3D2N
BRIEF ITINERARY
Day 1
Overnight train to Dabong Station
Day 2
Transport to trail head
Trek to Baha Campsite
Trek to waterfall
Trek back to Baha campsite
Day 3
Trek towards Chain River
Continued on to Logs Camp
Followed by Gunung Ayam summit
Back down to Baha campsite
Day 4
Trek to Stong Peak
Descent
Transport back to SG
Day 1
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 coffee shop at the front of the train to get some hot drinks before going to sleep.
Day 2
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
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
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!
Written by: Er Jie Yong, Marketing IC
