To kick off my activity calendar this year, Gunung Lebah was on the menu. This mountain is 4992 feet high and is located near Tanjung Malim, Perak. The program started with the mountaineers assembling at YZ Restaurant, next to Central Market. We then travelled by car to Slim Village, where we parked at the police station there and reported our expedition intention to the police, just in case.
The Slim Village Police Station
We then packed our bags onto the four 4WD vehicles that would take us to the campsite located deep in the jungle. Thank goodness there's a dirt track used by lorries and trucks that worked the palm oil plantations there, so that we don't have to trek in and the ride in was not too bumpy, at least.
One of the four 4WD trucks.
Riding them.
Yes, we had fun getting our arse hurt.
After about 2 hours of rough ride, we finally reached the campsite. We then rested for the long ardous walk the following day.
At the campsite, morning view.
Team briefing by Goh, our guide.
And when I thought our 4WD ride was over, we then had to ride the trucks again to reach the starting point of our hiking. However, only three 4WD was able to take us because the other one broke down. So we had to cramp in like sardines.
I just felt like an illegal immigrant like this.
After about an hour of feeling like an illegal immigrant in a sardine can, we finally reached the starting point where it was the end of the road for the 4WD. There was no more track to go through but there was a wide and stomach-deep river to cross. One has to choose whether the thread water or walk the tightrope log if you wanted to stay dry. I chose the log.
This was the crossing... yes, it was scary. My legs almost turned to jelly while crossing it. But I made it without falling. Phew!
Then onwards, it was hiking and mountaineering for the whole day. At some areas, it seemed like this place had been unused for quite a while because the undergrowth had overtaken the tracks. The team had to do some slashing and swinging of the parang to clear the way. The hardest part was when collapsed bamboo trees were in our way - it really takes a long time to hack through them bamboos.
This virgin jungle has huge trees - I'm guessing this is at least 100 years old.
Walking through the jungle - yes, I'm smilling but I have tons of leech bites. Yes, this place is swarmed with leeches.
The Orange Boys! :) It's good practice to wear bright colours when going into jungles - easier to spot, just in case.
This is how thick the undergworth could be... We even had to be on all fours at some stages.
This is the baddest tree in this jungle. I have many splinters in my hand and arm from this bugger.
After hiking for about 8 hours, we finally reached the campsite. Our trek was slow due to time needed to hack through the undergrowth. But we succeeded.
This is the river flowing near our campsite. When camping, its always good to camp where the source of life is near. It was a beautiful place, in there.
Abang Rusmal, the mountaineering guru, have scaled 42 mountains and reached Everest Base Camp. He's a cool guy!
Dinner being prepared. It was tomato flavoured rice with chicken and salad - I can't imagine how yummy it was when you're hungry and tired.
That night, it rained and it rained long and hard. Our fly and ground sheets couldn't take the pounding and we were drenched. Though not directly hit by the rain in our faces, there were large sums of water collected in our ground sheets and we were literally sleeping in water that night.
I was shivering like crazy that night because everything was wet - my clothes, my sleeping bag and my sleeping mat. Last I remember sleeping in the water like this was during the scouts jamboree in 1991. But there's no where to go that's not wet and we were all too tired to do anything so we just slept through it.
At one point I just couldn't take the coldness and shivering anymore, I took off all my clothes and just put on my wind breaker and thights (which don't hold water) and slept sitting down with part of my legs soaked in water. What an experience!
Thank goodness the dawn brought sunny days. We then packed and got ready to hike to the peak.
Goh and Ahmad, using the GPS and topography map to find the way.
After trekking for another 5 hours, and this time it was really uphill, with some points at almost 80 degrees gradient, we finally reached the peak of... no, we didn't reach the highest peak of Gunung Lebah, but the second highest one (which doesn't have a name in the map so we named it OGKL mountain... hehehe).
The expedition leader, with the advice from the guide, decided that we will not be able to reach the highest peak without at least another 4 hours climb. The Gunung Lebah peak was before us but we couldn't press on because it would take too long to reach the peak and then to trek back down. Not forgetting it would be treacherous to trek at night in this virgin jungle - people can get lost and scary nocturnal animals roam at night - snakes, tigers, wild elephants, and whatever else. So we turned back from this peak.
Thanking Allah for our safety.
Yes, we reached the peak! But the second highest one.
We finally trekked back down for another 6 hours and then rode the 4WD trucks for another 3 hours to reach civilisation. Then we drove home. I finally stepped through my home door at about 1.30am.
I brought back with me about 20 leech bite marks (that was itchy to the max), half a dozen splinters in both hands, small lacerations in the arms and legs, a backpack full of dirty and wet clothes and sleeping bag (that weigh a ton after the rain), tired legs, back and shoulders AND an experience of a lifetime that no amount of money in the world could buy to get that experience again.
I love this game!
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