Finally the post is up! yes la its been two weeks since i've come down from Tahan(i think?).but i've finally got the photos...
so yes our journey started out to pahang at night...
that is us getting psyched up on wednesday night before leaving
it was a four our drive to the place where taman negara was... reached there at 1 am then slept in the van... which was seriously giler uncomfortable... terence was the oni one hu could sleep... all of us oni slept at 4am.... haih...
next morning had breakfast and drank redoxon
Then we took our journey into taman negara... the road going in was covered in yes South harmon institution of teknologi or SHIT... ahahahaha... kk inside joke.
then we had to unpack all our things to show the guide what we're bringing. they will take note of all the plastics and clothes cuz if u leave it on the mountain, u've got to pay...
then we took the truck into the base of the mountain where we start...
When we reached base camp, took our bags and started hiking... and took a few photos before that...but i oni got one... haha
Crossed a few rivers...
and after four hours,we reached our campsite for the night... pitched our tents, had our bathes and cooked our meals... and also dried our underwears...
Zech enjoying his "shower"
No we're not bowing to the mountain,we're just washing our short hair...
And that is drying our socks,shoes,shirts and underwears over the fire... yu tjin and kedric were having fun burning their pants in the fire later on. then the next morning came at 5.30. terence wanted to leave at that time... but we were so tired and i told terence it was pitch black..i mean really,u can't even see ur hand in front of ur face... so we slept untill 6.30. haha.. then by the time we packed up, it was 7.30...haih.. and we started our hike again... by that time, we were already 1/3 up the mountain...
It was hard by this time... really hard... we had to go up a near 90 degree angle for 3 hours... and that felt like rock climbing... muscles aching and tjin had already gotten cramps. then after around 4 hours,we reached a place called kubang... and took a rest..
according to the sign board, kubang is 1406m above sea level... tahan is about 2170m i think...
Thats us at kubang
At this point, terence decided tjin and naeden should carry the tents all the way up cuz the three fellas behind were dying with them and me and terence weren't finding it easy... and naeden and tjin's response was " YEAH!!!" (they regretted later on).From kubang,the guide told us its really muddy... we thought nahh,no problem... untill we really started climbing again... it was muddy untill ur knees at some points... it was a swamp... and yes it was miserable.then we reached a place called belumut. that is the mid point of all the mud.when we arrived there, it started to rain...AHHHH!!!!rain and mud don't make a nice climbing experience. we took out our raincoats and started hiking again...
Thats a good shot of tjin and a spider web(salute to terence's photography skills)
After belumut,i got really tired. i was with terence tjin and den for a while but after that, i started slowing down while terence went ahead with tjin and den(tent carriers or porters ahahaha)kedric caught up to me after that and we both went slowly.the other two fellas almost died and the guide was with them... then i fell down. shucks. a branch scratched my back and i felt it was bleeding. still had to continue though. my raincoat was no longer raincoat(lousy disposable ones ripps easily)at this point the trail really attacks ur mental thinking. u just want to give up but i kept telling myself don't stop. zech had already yeld " I can't take it anymore!!!" and kedric was very quiet and shawn was really dying. we kept calling for terence,tjin and den but kenot get any replies.i thought by now they were 1 hour in front of us.i was guessing it was already 5pm so i told the rest we have to keep moving. then shawn finally yeld out to me, "sam,stop pls i really need a break" i told him to keep on going,we're almost there but he begged so had to stop lah.i needed a break too anyway.then i took out my energy bar and kedric made redoxon and we had a small snack of energy.
Suddenly i hear something(so drama right?)then we all keep quiet.. it was tjin's voice. he said he's just at the top of the hill.. so i went on first without stopping...i went quite fast actually(i was really happy to hear their voice) and tjin was there. with terence and den and the guide. we ate some food and the rest came behind me later. then we rested 15 mins.(terence tjin and den had been only 20 mins in front of us actually)
The place we stopped is called bonsai. it is the end of the mud trail and the jungle trail. we were already about 1800m above sea level.after that was like lord of the rings terrain.. all rocks and short plants. it was a nice walk. tjin den terence and me went ahead first.
A bit of the nice trail
zech saw us at the top of the hill so he ran cuz he thought he was near to us.in reality it was about a five to 10 mins difference.smart la the fella.dunno where he can get all his energy from.must be the potato bread we've been surviving from.
Zech tjin and me taking a rest
just half and hour later,we reached a place called bukit botak.its literally botak.all rocks oni..the sky was turning dark it was already 7.30 and we still had to climb to the peak.the guide said kenot cuz too dangerous.and it was gonna rain again so we pitched our tents changed to warm clothes but before we did all that...
Lol.The blur fog is the clouds. and yes it was cold.
Terence TRYING to immitate(fail la)
when we got into our tents,it started raining.like thunderstorm liddat our tent was swerving left and right from the wind.and it was leaking a bit too. but we stayed snuggled in our warm beanies,gloves,jackets and long pants and made maggie,kurma,milo,hot chocolate with nestum and of course,POTATO BREAD!.
After an hour,it stopped raining and tjin wanted to go outside.so did i. outside was really cold.teeth really shivering and all.but the moon was out and so were the stars.it was really beautiful. and then,the other tent's flyer flew off their tent. so this was the very humourous conversation that zech,shawn,kedric and naeden had...
Kedric : Aiyok the flyer fell off.i go outside and fix
Zech : i oso .(outside)walauwei. giler cold.stupid flyer why kenot tie.(getting pissed)
Kedric : (outside) wahhh look at the moon so round so bright!
Zech : (really pissed and shivering) I-don-don-ca-care-a-a-abbout-tt-the-moo-oon!!!stupid flyer!Naeden!where are U u said u would come and help!kedric,shut up and help!
(Inside)
Naeden : wait la dei,suiting up!aiyok zip stuck!wait wait.
Shawn : dei faster la fix the flyer...
(outside)
Zech : (really pissed)u talk so much u come out and help la!!
(3 mins later)
Zech : Naeden!where are you?!
Naeden : (inside)suiting up!.
(in the other tent)
terence,sam,tjin : AAAAAAHAHAhahahaHAhaHAhahHAhahHAhHhAhahaha!!!!!!!!!
Sorry don't have pics on that occasion. so we slept and our tent woke up at 1am cuz we were cold and made hot chocolate.then there was another humourous conversation of kedric talking in his sleep again.
Kedric : tjin, u wanna play playstation anot?
Tjin : (awake and well)yes kedric i do.u got tv?
Kedric : i don haf. eh sam,u same class as zech ah?
Terence : they both different skool la
Kedric : ohya horrr.. eh tjin 100 plus nice rite?
Tjin : yea... milo leh
Kedric : nice
Tjin : gatorade leh?
Kedric : o gatorade is for bad ppl...
Terence,sam,tjin : AHAHAHahahahaaahaAHHAHAHahahAhHAHHAHH!!!!!!!!!
Later at 5am,we three woke up again feeling cold.made more milo and next thing u know,its 5.30 and we're suppose to get up and start climbing.everyone gets up and we start slowly.we din carry our backpacks of course. so it was easy.and yes it was very cold. about 1 hour later,tjin and den shouted.(they were at the peak)i ran up the rest and reached the peak.giler happy wei.and i kissed the gunung tahan board oso.haha..
We made Rangers proud!
Our more proper photo..
Tjin's idea since the base camp... we went along with it.haha only shawn and terence have some meat. the rest are just kayu.
Nice leh the view
Check out the sunrise wei.
Then we had fun fun fun and when we puas,we went back down to bukit botak. by the time we packed up and left botak,it was 9.30.we were suppose to leave at 8.so we went at a steady pace and went back into the miserable jungle when it started to rain heavily.took out my "raincoat" and protected my bag more than me. i was really cold.shivering and all.and we even went the wrong way.we went into what looked like a deep drain going downward. it was tiring. but yes,was alot better than going uphill. and we finally reached kubang!
Thats me kedric and naeden shivering while making milo at kubang.
And we started off again...terence me tjin and den went first... it was the steep near90 degrees part.we couldn't believe we made it up that way. for 3 hours summore.but still going down was alot easier.and we went down faster.and the rest caught up behind while we were taking a break.tjin and den went ahead later while terence was limping with us cuz his knee was giving way. about an hour later,we reached pematang.another pit stop.we only rested for a while cuz terence yelled that it was 6.30pm already.so tjin and den went ahead i told them to pitch the tents when they reach the campsite. terence was really going slow now.so i decided to catch up with tjin and den. so i ran.i don't know how but i ran untill i heard tjins voice.they lost their way.so we found the correct trail and went fast together.when we reached the campsite,it was turning really dark.and the rest hadden't come yet.so we pitch the tents and by the time we finished the second one,they arrived.they were about 30 mins behind us.they arrived at around 8pm.
We were so tired we started a parafin fire cuz all the wood was wet from the rain. later on we made maggie mee and changed our clothes.i told terence that we should leave later 2mrw morning.he said no prob.after all,its only a four hour hike down to base.
Next morning we got up at 7.30 and washed up.i brushed my teeth for 10mins. and terence went to pang and we all cleaned our shoes and socks and washed our hair.din bother bathing.we had a small breakfast(potato bread)and left at 9.30. den and tjin went ahead with the tents.the original plan was for the three slower fellas to carry since me terence and the two monkeys have been carrying it.
But tak jadi cuz the two monkeys wanted to go faster.we went quite fast back to the base.it only took us 2 and a half hours even with my ankle giving way and terence's knee.when we crossed the last river which is about 5 mins from the base,we started singing bak kut teh songs and etc. and when i saw the bridge(base camp)i ran again.only to find the two monkeys who went way ahead sitting on the bridge with their shirts of and having a milo party.(what?!)they said they had been waiting an hour.giler fast wei.they made maggie and bathe in the river oso... haha.
Thats all our leeched feet at base camp...terence had five at one spot
Thats us again,tired..
Some of the food we brought up
Kedric having the pleasure of dealing with zech's leeches.
When we arrived back at the taman negara office,my mom and naedens mom was waiting to drive us back. we had our bath at the office and wanted to leave for back kut teh.(it was around 2pm).but naeden's mom locked her car with the keys in.they took an hour to just break in to the car.
then we left to one of the shops in town and bought rubber shoes.but they din have my size...haih big feet.and we left of to raub for some bak kut teh!by the time we reached raub, it was 6.30(pahang is biggg).Naeden and i challanged hu can eat the most bowls of rice.tjin and kedric did the same..i only ate three.so did naeden...the other jakuns ate four...haha.we ordered for 10 ppl when there were 10 ppl(hungry as ever).
We arrived in pj at 10pm.satisfied!
kk some things i forgot to mention...
1.the guide's bag is around 10 kg + and its only filled with food,and his tent.he cooks fish and all up there.food is very important to him.
2.kedric also talked in his sleep on the first night at the campsite.he yelled " DON'T TOUCH ME!!!"
3.Me and terence also carried the tents on some parts when tjin and den were tired..
4.the total amount of hours we've been hiking is around 30+.
and i think thats it...
i just have to say that we couldn't have done it without much preparation(1month)and without Jesus!many thanks to Him!
peace out...
btw,next stop : Kinabalu...i need 700 bucks!!!
that is us getting psyched up on wednesday night before leaving
