Titiwangsa Warriors (Y2012 Summer XP)
BASIC INFORMATION
Trek: Y2012 Summer XP
Date: 4 - 12 August 2012
Location: Titiwangsa, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Elevation: 2,183m
Duration: 6D5N
BRIEF ITINERARY
Day 1
Transport to Ipoh from SG
Trek from Ulu Kinta Dam to Camp Seroja
Day 2
Trek to Botak Hill to Chuban Peak to Korbu peak (camp)
Day 3
Trek to Gayong summit
Continued to Camp Charade and H2O valley campsite
Day 4
Trek to Anak Yong to H2O peak to Camp Kuali to Yong Belar (final peak)
Day 5
Descent to Camp Gurkha to
Day 6
Ended the trek at Blue camp Valley
The Titiwangsa Mountain Range is the longest mountain range in Peninsular Malaysia, beginning from Southern Thailand and stretching south to Negeri Sembilan. Trans-Titiwangsa version 1 or Trans v1 is one of the routes across this majestic range, and arguably one of the toughest and more extreme trekking expeditions in Malaysia.
Beginning at either Ulu Kinta Dam in Perak or Blue Valley Dam in Pahang, it brings trekkers through 3 of the 7 highest peaks in Peninsular Malaysia, notably Korbu (2183m), Gayong (2173m) and Yong Belar (2181m).
Expedition Log
FACED THE TEST, ABOVE THE REST.
That was the tagline that each of the 6 Titiwangsa warriors could proudly place at the front of our green t- shirts should we conquer one of the most gruelling treks in Peninsular Malaysia. After 2 months of training, between 2 to 3 times a week including a training expedition to Gunung Datuk, most of us were still not 100% confident. Thinking back, DID WE ASK FOR IT?
OOPS, I THINK WE DID…(Notice the “you asked for it” words on the paper found at the Gayong peak!)
Day 0
Full of anticipation
The 6 warriors gathered at Kranji MRT at 7pm, all ready with our trek bags full of food and equipment. We did a weight and pack check there before heading out… the lightest weighed in at 12.5kg, and the heaviest at 22.5kg!!! Seems like the warriors were heading for one hell of a test…
Many thanks to the rest of the Exco, Ying Liang and Warren for coming to send us off!
We headed to Larkin Terminal to have a hearty dinner at KFC, and then proceeded to board a night bus that was ferrying only the 6 of us towards Medan Gopeng Bus Terminal. Having the whole bus to ourselves, we decided to spread around, choosing our most comfortable positions for a 7 hour rest before the big day tomorrow!
Yu Xuan and Weijie chilling around on the comfy bus!
Day 1
The big day is finally here…
We met our guide, Salan, at MacDonalds at 530am, then headed with much anticipation and excitement towards the start point: Ulu Kinta Dam. It was about an hour’s drive away.
All set and ready to go!
Thereafter, the warriors began the journey through the majestic mountain range of Titiwangsa!
Before trek shot!
The start of the trek was pretty straightforward, walking through gentle slopes until the horrors of nature began to set in – Leeches!!! Most of us, not knowing what to expect, were screaming at the top of our voices as leeches of all sizes began their assault on our unsuspecting feet. Unsurprisingly, Vincent and Meizee, who were wearing sandals, were the biggest casualties.
Disgusting!!!
The first leg was overall pretty tough with some narrow paths along ridge lines accompanied by the unrelenting leeches. Many times, we had to pause to brush them off our feet, resulting in much unnecessary delays.
Along the way, we had to cross some rivers as well, mostly manageable below knee level. Fortunately, the ever flowing clean waters made the crossing process much bearable.
After 3 hours of uncomfortable trekking, we reached the lunch point, where we were greeted by the magnificent Termin Waterfall.
Weijie waving hi to Termin Waterfall
It was also the time where pest busters Zephan and Weijie, armed with their repellents and army knives, began slicing those leeches off our feet. The result was a mess of bloodshed on most of our feet. Those leeches, they remind me of a miniature version of those aliens in the alien movie series…
Leech busters down at work…
Thankfully, according to our guide, we only had to face these menaces on the first day. After our already damp fish burger lunch, we set off towards our campsite, 1 hour behind time.
The trail that followed, heading towards Camp Seroja, was quite manageable for most of us. Much of the journey was made up of gentle slopes, and the dramatic reduction in leeches was a welcome relief to most of us. Along the way, we started to come across a number of obstacles in the form of logs and thorns. We even found some fallen debris blocking our path, which required our guide to do some chopping.
We reached Camp Seroja 2 hours later, which was considered a fast pace. However, being the garang warriors that we were, we decided to head on to Camp Kijang to camp for the night.
The route there was not easy, as we started to encounter 70 to 80 degree slopes continuously. The warriors were determined to avoid night trek, and thus began setting off at a blistering fast pace towards the campsite 1 1/2 hours away.
And finally, we reached our campsite. Despite the rain at night, we were able to sleep comfortably having done the necessary preparations. Hopefully, this was not a sign of things to come during this monsoon season…
Setting up our campsite…
Day 2
Off to Korbu!
This morning, we woke up to a nasty surprise as Vincent’s bag got bitten by a rat!
What a big hole!
This resulted in a huge hole in the Black Diamond bag, and an even bigger hole to our 3 loaves of bread, which was supposed to be our 3 days of breakfast! Thankfully, all of us brought lots of happy food, which will hopefully be sufficient to last us for this trek.
The second day started off on a positive outlook, as we were looking forward to reaching the first summit of our trek. However, things started to look gloomy as we started to face 70 to 90 degree up slopes. Meanwhile, the girls were screeching as always. :p
Our first stop was about 11/2 hours away, which was a water point. There, we had to fill our bottles up to the brim as the next one was at least 24 hours away. Having to scrimp and save on every drop thereafter, we decided to guan shui and have lunch before heading to our next checkpoint: Botak Hill.
Water is precious during trekking…
En route to Botak, we met a bunch of 50 year old uncles and aunties who had already trekked for 4 days and 3 nights prior to our trek, in the reverse direction heading towards where we came from! They were literally hopping down slopes with ease, and even planned to reach their end point by night fall! Although their route was later confirmed to be shorter by our guide, and even accompanied by porters, we still had the greatest respect to them for their adventurous spirit at such an advanced age. Then on, we kept reminding ourselves: IF THEY CAN DO IT, SO CAN WE!
After another 2 hours of hardcore climbing, we arrived at Botak peak: a much welcome rest point to most of us. Having consumed our lunch earlier, we decided to just take a short 10 minute break before rushing to Chuban peak, which was another 2 hours away.
Thumbs up to a job well done! Chuban Peak is just behind.
The path towards Chuban was very muddy, probably caused by rain the day before. It was not easy navigating through the mud, as we laboriously trudged through the terrain step by step. Along the way, Weijie’s trusty soles for 3 treks finally gave way, causing his small feet to have to temporarily make do with Zephan’s plus-sized shoes.
R.I.P, soles.
As we advanced higher towards Korbu peak, the surroundings turned colder and mistier. There was some rock climbing to do, requiring much upper body strength. Although there were ladders and guide ropes to help us along the way, much of it was down to confidence. Surprisingly, it was not all that tiring; we gave our legs some rest, relying on our arms instead. Hmm, makes us wonder how those uncles and aunties climbed down those steep slopes!
Korbu peak, here we come!
And 2 hours of climbing later at 4pm, we reached our 1st G7 peak: Korbu! We were told by our guide that we were early, and that we were only 2 ½ hours away from Gayong peak. We were not willing to take the risk though, as we did not want to risk doing our housekeeping in the dark.
1st peak: Korbu!
We definitely made the right decision, as rain began to pelt down on our tents soon. This forced us to hide in our tents, and even cook just outside. With nothing much to do in this rainy and chilly weather, we decided to retire early even before nightfall.
Day 3
Gayong and… night trek!
The first thing that greeted us this morning was the chilly winds as we stepped out of our tents. Even after wearing our goretex, we were still shivering. To warm up our bodies, we marched off fresh and early at 8am towards Gayong peak!
Before we set off, the guide did warn us about the numerous ups and downs ahead, and even added that when we start to feel bored of walking, it probably meant that we were reaching soon??? How right he was as we were about to realise for the rest of the day.
Gayong peak was about 2 ½ hours away. Despite the extremely cold weather and hilly terrain, the very scenic views of the neighbouring ranges made the journey more bearable. Before we knew it, we arrived at Gayong peak, shagged.
There was not much of a view at Gayong peak, and hence we did not linger on much longer. As the temperatures were heating up, we had a quick munch before moving on. In all, we only spent about 20 minutes at Gayong.
Gayong peak… conquered!
Thereafter, we headed to Camp Charade, about an hour’s trek away. The route was pretty much downhill all the way, yet the journey was not any easier, particularly for our vertically challenged mates. Very often, we had to take sit down and take huge steps down the roots. At times, we even had to climb down spiderman style (front facing the wall).
At Camp Charade, it was the other horror of Titiwangsa that started to set in: Sandflies!!! Some of us started shuffling our limbs and moving around, influencing others to follow suit in a desperate attempt to ward off these silent killers.
Sandflies: The silent killers
Knowing that we still had at least 5 hours to go before reaching H20 Valley, our campsite for the night, it was going to be quite a dull journey thereon. Up and down and up and down…
We reached the checkpoint of G junction quite late at 345pm. Knowing that we had to trek for at least 3 hours before reaching our campsite, we started to fear for the worse of having to night trek. To make things worse, a drizzle started to pour down upon the warriors, forcing us to reach out for our goretex once again…
We were rushing against time now. Mostly climbing downhill and through numerous obstacles, it soon proved to be one of the toughest physical challenges for some of us. Expectedly, we were forced to hit night trek, which slowed down our pace tremendously. What was a half hour trail left to walk during nightfall turned out to be an hour long snail walk as we struggled for vision.
And finally at 815pm, we reached the H20 valley campsite, hugely relieved that the ordeal was over. We descended almost 1000m from Gayong, what a feat!
The campsite was set up in a jiffy as we raced through all our housekeeping. Having prior knowledge that this campsite was going to be a sandfly haven, we set up a fire to chase those flies away.
Yummy pasta and soup after a hard day’s work
Day 4
Yong Belar, here we come!
Knowing that we were heading for the final peak of Yong Belar got us really psyched up at the start of the day. Pumped up and ready to go, we trekked uphill for much of the first 3 hours towards our first checkpoint: Anak Yong Belar. There were numerous short peaks along the way, getting progressively higher. Amazingly, we did not stop for any rest stops, even bypassing the H20 peak rest point along the way! After the experience of night trekking last night, there was no way we were going to repeat the same thing again today!
As we went progressed up each hill, the winds got cooler and stronger. At our only water point of the day at Camp Kuali, we were supposed to collect our water supply for the next 24 hours. Expecting a flowing river like our previous water points, we were astonished to find ourselves collecting water drop by drop from a dried up river!
Never take your water for granted!
We were literally scavenging for drop after drop of precious pure mountain spring water. In the end, with a concerted effort from everyone, we filled up our 10 over litres of water in about 15 minutes.
After the break, it was 4pm, and just an hour long trek towards the summit.
And finally, we reached our 3rd and last summit of the trek, which felt… ooh so good!
Settling down quickly at the peak of Yong Belar.
The weather and temperature was just right, and the campsite was flat. Even a rain late on failed to dampen our spirits, as all 6 warriors sat by a gas stove inside the tent, and chatted the night away
Home cooked food! KFC! Pipping hot and spicy and sour Tom Yum Soup! We miss you! Chiong arh!
Yet in the midst of yearning for these still distant fantasies, we had to remain grounded in reality: the fact that we still had a day and a half to go…
Day 5
National Day! And on the descent!
Mount Yong Belar had one of the best views throughout this whole expedition. On a clear day, one can have a beautiful skyline view of the neighbouring peaks, including the 2 peaks we crossed earlier in the trek.
This day also happened to be National Day. We decided to usher in the celebrations with some camwhoring!
Happy Birthday Singapore!
If we thought that the 3rd day trek towards H20 valley was tough, that was to pale in comparison to what was coming up ahead…
It was going to be 6 excruciating hours of continuous trekking towards Camp Gurkha. Initially at 8am, we braced ourselves for 4 hours of non-stop trekking according to our guide. However, we soon lost track of time and went on and on and on, hoping that the rest point was near. From 10am to 2pm, it was almost dead silence, as we went up and down continuously. All of us simply lost track of time. Even the usual whining and jiayous just stopped abruptly. Each and every one of us just needed to concentrate on walking, telling ourselves that it was just going to be that little bit more. ‘Dog holes’, thorns, huge logs… we had to overcome them all.
Upon arriving at Camp Gurkha, all of us just dumped our bags on the ground, and gave each other pats on the back, proud that we had overcame our mental struggles and physical discomforts for the past quarter of a day. In a campsite whose name was befitting of our achievement, we filled up our bottles for the journey ahead, and had a good lunch before proceeding on. With 2 more hours to go, it was a case of a section continuing the battle wounded, but with a new found determination now to complete the day’s mission.
The warriors arriving to 3 point junction, our campsite for the day.
After 3 more hours of trekking, we were rewarded with our most scenic view of the trek at the 3 point junction, the peak which stands at the border of Perak, Kelantan and Pahang. It was a near 360 degree view of the more prominent mountains in the country. However, the conditions were not the most suitable for camping, as the uneven ground and small area made it impossible to pitch our 2 tents. In the end, all of us squeezed cosily in 1 tent, literally skin to skin. Our belongings were placed outside under a sheltered tarp for the second time this trek. NO MORE RATS PLEASE!
Last night, woohoo!
Knowing it was our last night, we attempted to salvage as much sleep as we could, to prepare for the final push to the end!
Day 6
The end of a memorable adventure. Hello to R n R in Cameron Highlands!
After the highs and lows of 5 days of trekking, it was the 6th and final day of this adventure. This morning, we were greeted by an unobstructed and magnificent views of the sunrise for the first time this trek. Simply amazing.
It was finally time to set off towards Blue Valley, towards the KFC, towards the bathroom! 5 hours more to go!
We first had to overcome some obstacles and rough terrain en route to the neighbouring 2 boundaries peak, which was about 2 hours away.
From 2 peak boundaries, the temptation was definitely there for a no holds barred chionging to the end. After all, the guide challenged us to brisk walk 2 hours to the end, or even run for an hour’s journey! Yet, we were cautious to avoid being overzealous and injure ourselves in the process. It was a straightforward downhill and flat route thereafter.
After slightly more than an hour, we started to notice the first few signs of civilization in the form of water pipes! With much anticipation, some of us began moving faster and faster, but ended up falling and tripping on the slippery rocks during that journey. After a brief short walk across a river, a tarred road came to sight, and… IT’S THE END!!!
The end! HO YE!!!!!
In spite of the…
$@&(*^ number of leech/sandfly bites, 1 lost bootie, 1 broken sole, 1 rat hole in a Black Diamond, 1 giant hole in 3 days of bread supply, blisters and whatnot, we conquered 3 major peaks against all odds.
We are just thankful that the weather was kind to us throughout, that we did not lose our directions, that we had no major injuries, and sufficient supplies to last us through our journey. Great job Titiwangsa Warriors!
FACED THE TEST, ABOVE THE REST!
Written by: Vincent Wong, Trek IC
