Extreme Benum Dayhike (via Lata Berembun) in 24 Hours

Assembling a team

If you have not heard of Gunung Benum, I’m sure you have heard of Lata Berembun, the famous waterfall located in Sg. Ruan, Raub. Every year around durian season, KL-ites will visit this waterfall, and some companies and schools even conduct their teambuilding here, due to its proximity from KL/Selangor. After all, it’s less than 2hours drive from Gombak toll. Despite being a Raubian myself, I had yet to visit this waterfall, simply because no one among my friends had ever planned such a trip, and the fact that I couldn’t swim deter me from ever feeling excited about waterfall. But hiking a mountain? Well, that is an entirely different story. 

That Day, I Went On A Road Trip With Strangers I Now Called Friends – East Coast Federal Route 3

Have you been on the road trip with people you barely know, or worse still, people you have never met?

Long before my Johor road trip (read it here), there was another road trip back in March 2016, when I travelled to the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Different from Johor road trip, this was with a bunch of total strangers. So how did this trip happen then?

To begin, back in March 2015, MJ and Richard (together with Arthur and SC) went on a trip to Sauk New Village, where they stayed in Kamo Home, a local homestay. I was supposed to join them for that trip but had to pull out due to work commitments. On the same weekend, the place also hosted three other group of travellers (CK and Mike from Ipoh, Amy and Anna from KL, and Charmaine and Pauline from PJ). What happened when four groups of like-minded travellers bumped into each other? They become bonded over some conversation during their stay and become friends since then. Fast forward to one year after, in March 2016, the same group of people, now we called “Sauk Gang” decided to do a road trip to East Coast together. After some planning, Mike, Pauline, Arthur and SC were not able to join due to conflicting schedule. And to make the trip extra fun, MJ decided to ask me to tag along while Richard invited his high school buddy, Nigel. At the very last minute, I invited Ken to join us as well, making the members for this trip 9 in total.

Remark: This post is a throwback to a trip done a year ago, in commemoration of our one-year friendversary. Hahahaha, pattern more than badminton huh?

A Very Muddy Birthday Hike to Yong Belar

Standing at 2,181m above sea level, Mount Yong Belar is the third highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia and is located at the border of Kelantan and Perak. I've never thought of hiking Yong Belar separately on its own as I previously planned to do Trans V2 Titiwangsa (Yong Belar - Korbu - Gayong - Yong Yap) someday, which would cover four G7s. With that done (if I were to succeed) I’ll only need to do a CUS (Chamah - Ulu Sepat) to complete all G7 (since I've done Tahan [read here] last year.). However, when Night Ranger decided to organise a day hike to Yong Belar, it suddenly sparked my interest to celebrate my birthday up there. How cool is that to celebrate my big day on the summit of the third highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia, right? After all, it was my birthday weekend and I had no plans scheduled yet at that time. I invited MJ to tag along and she agreed to it even though she is not a fan of hiking, just because it was my birthday. Awwwwww! Love you, babe!

There were 49 hikers in total and apart from MJ, I only knew Wills (organiser), Bobby (from Tahan), Sebastian (Johor road trip), Saro (from Tahan) and Chee Jing (from Tahan). Read about my Tahan and Johor road trip [here] and [here].