The Tale of 10 Tahan Knights (Y2011 Summer XP)
BASIC INFORMATION
Trek: Y2011 Summer XP
Date: 1 - 8 August 2011
Location: Mount Tahan, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia
Elevation: 2,187m
Duration: 6D5N
BRIEF ITINERARY
Day 1
Overnight Transport to Gua Musang
Day 2
Transport (train) to Merapoh
Transport to Sungei Relau and Kuala Juram to starting point
Trek to Kem Kor campsite
Day 3
Trek Route: Permatang to Kubang to Belumut to Bonsai to Botak (camp)
Day 4
Summitted
Trek Route: Ridgeline to Gedong to Reskit to TLB checkpoint to Upper Pangkin to Lower Pangkin (camp)
Day 5
Trek Route: Wray's Camp to Camp Teku to Camp Puteh (camp)
Day 6
Rajah to Tangah Campsite to Camp Melantai
Day 7
Ended trek at Kuala Tahan
Day 8
Transport back to SG
Day 1
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..
Day 2
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.
Day 3
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! =)
Day 4
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! =)
Day 5
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 1st to 2nd 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 6th and 7th 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!!! >.< )
Day 6
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!!!)
Day 7
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… =)
Day 8
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, the tahan video
Written by: Jonathan Pang, Trek IC, Logs IC, Training IC
