Sunday 26 March 2017
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?
Monday 13 March 2017
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].
Tuesday 28 February 2017
That Day, I Went On A Road Trip With Strangers I Now Called Friends – Johor
What kind of a weird combination is this?
That was the question that popped up in my mind, when we finalised the people who will be doing this road trip together - Chin, Eunice, Kai Sin, MJ, Sebastian and I. The only person I truly know is Eunice who hiked Tahan with me back in September (read about it here), while Chin, Kai Sin and Sebastian are fellow hiker friends of the Tahan gang (Eunice included). I met both Kai Sin and Chin from a movie outing in October (though we didn’t talk) and only maintained contact through WhatsApp and Facebook, while Sebastian and I have not met each other prior to this trip despite hearing a lot about this “fast leg” from fellow hikers. So how did we end up together?
Wednesday 18 January 2017
How I Tahan-ed (Endured) Mount Tahan for 4D3N (Merapoh-Merapoh trail)
Mount Tahan, literally translated as Mount of Endurance is technically the highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia and the 6th highest mountain in Malaysia after Kinabalu, Trusmadi, Tambuyukon, Murud and Mulu. It’s been on my bucket list for quite some time since it was known as one of the toughest mountain to hike in Malaysia, being harder than highest Kinabalu. The most commonly hiked trail is the one from Kuala Tahan to Merapoh (also known as Trans Tahan), taking at least 5 to 6 days to complete, but over the years, I’ve heard of another trail frequented by hikers who do not want to spend so many days (and possibly taking so many days off work) to climb this mountain. This trail is the Merapoh-Merapoh trail, where one ascend and descend from the same starting point (Merapoh), which will only take about 3 to 4 days to complete. But taking a short cut doesn’t come without a price, because you ultimately miss out on the very scenic view (from what I heard) if you were to do Trans Tahan), but life’s a give and take and if you can’t take that many days to spend in the mountain, you’d have to make that sacrifice.
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