Gunung Arong (Y2014 Intro Trek)

BASIC INFORMATION

Trek: Y2014 Intro Trek

Date: August 2014

Location: Gunung Arong, Johor, Malaysia

Elevation: 273m

Duration: 1D

BRIEF ITINERARY

Day 1

Transport to Tanjung Resang

Day 2

Day Trek up Gunung Arong

Transport back to SG

Arong – the first trek of the year! At 8 in the morning, participants slowly started arriving outside Subway. It was such a pleasure to see the many old faces returning again and again; and just as much to see new fresh faces, full of anticipation for the upcoming trek ^^. While waiting outside subway for Mazlan and his familiar white vans, we chit chatted and managed to set off promptly.

It was a smooth and short 3 hours ride. Look at those happy eager faces!!

Nothing is more important than nourishing ourselves before the trek. We stopped for a short breakfast along the way.

As Chandan has appropriately captioned the photo: Nicholas: Damn, I wish I’d ordered some prata too.

The view along the way was pretty nice, but it was nothing compared to what we would be seeing at the summit!

We first reached the bungalows/chalets that we were staying overnight at (nahh, not so good life haha! We stayed in the vicinity of the chalets to make use of their facilities, but still slept in tents!) to meet up with our guides of the day, then proceeded to the base of the mountain in our vans.

After unloading some of the stuff in our bulky trek bags onto the vans, the trek starts, officially!

As you can see, we were all pretty light-hearted before the trek. Some were still in the mood to pose for a short photo shoot x)

There was a short walk before the entrance.

Reached the entrance after a short while.

And off we ventured into the humid forests and trail of Arong!~

For me, I started off the trek with little expectations. From various trek logs and blogs, Arong is known to be a short and easy trek.

However, the trail surprised me as I started panting merely 10 minutes into the ascend. With the heavy trek bag on my back (I didn’t unload most of my things into the van), it was not easy to go up the steep slope. The ascend was a steep one, and 40 minutes into the trek, many of us were out of breath.

The gruel didn’t last for long though. We quickly realized that we were already approaching the peak as we greeted this breathtaking sight at an opening near the summit.

Sure enough! Shortly later, we reached the summit! It really was a short trek, but we were heavily rewarded by the scenic panoramic view of the whole region.

This is Noel going w-o-w at the beautiful scenery, can’t stop admiring the view.

After spamming photos to our heart’s content, we started our descend!

The descend was fast and smooth.

And we have successfully finished our climb! Good job guys give me a five! (:

We could not walk the original path which would have enabled us to get to the beach due to high tide. As such, we took an alternative route back to the chalets. The way back was a long and tranquil walk, the group of 22 people strolled leisurely back, chit chatting happily along the way.

Upon reaching the chalets, we pitched our tents within its vicinity and started field cooking! Thanks to the facilities there, we could sit down cozily to enjoy the sumptuous meal. Yum yum yum!

Look at those famished faces gorging down the food!

Special mention to Wei Bin, who cooked curry chicken, samba kang kong, broccoli with mushrooms, and even carrot cake!!! We got to enjoy an array of local delights that are deemed to be an unimaginable luxury in the outdoors.

This is Wei Bin at work.

After satisfying our hungry stomachs, we HTHT-ed under the beautiful star-lit night sky. Afterwards, we gathered together for a group reflection session, which ended the long, eventful day.

Second and last day of our short Arong getaway, we woke up early and couldn’t wait to chill at the nearby beach.

Bright and sunny day on a tranquil beach.

After packing up, it’s time to leave Mersing. But before we end this short but enjoyable 2d1n trip, it is imperative to visit…

Taman Sentosa!

And so, the sumptuous meal concluded the trek. With a light heart and happy face, we returned to Singapore (:

It was a short introductory trek, definitely not an exhausting one. Although I must concede that it does not accurately depict the intensity of the normal treks SMUX trekking teams go for, it does give a rough idea what trekking is all about to our new faces. Most importantly, we had a good time there; interacting with nature, bonding, knowing new friends, relaxing, trekking.