Gunung Belumut - conquered!

one of my achievements this year.

Reaching the summit of Gunung Belumut. my first mountain!



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taken from http://members.fortunecity.com/gunung/belumut.html

GUNUNG BELUMUT

Two years ago, Gunung Belumut has been closed to the public. The reason being tiger sightings in the region. There are tigers, a lot them, in forest other than here. But the authorities said that this isn't an ordinary tiger. Malayan tigers are usually afraid of humans and try to hide when they see one. But for this case, the tiger has entered a local village and attacked live stocks.

Mount Belumut is the only mountain in Johor State which is above 1000 meters. The word "Belumut" gives a description that the trunks of the trees is covered with green vegetation.

This mountain is still unknown to many people in Malaysia and the undisturbed nature makes it an excellent choice for those who doesn't want to waste too much energy but still wanting the same environment as others. One of the popular attraction here is Crown Rock (Batu Mahkota), a rock which looks like a giant crown, which can be seen after 2 hours of hike.

Height: 1010 meters (Highest in Johor State)

Location: 18 km east of Kluang, Johor

Summit temperature: 10-25 deg Celcius

Mountain Guides:
Not compulsory. Can be obtained from Kelab rekreasi Mahasiswa, UTM.

Duration: 9 hours

Expedition type: Day pack

Suggested Rucsac Capacity: 30 liters

Estimated Rucsac Loading: 2-5 kg

Water Supply: Last water point 2 hrs from summit

Estimated Budget (from K.L.): RM 35 person

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Last tuesday, Gil suddenly told me to check my office email. Turns out that her dad's colleagues organised a trip to Gunung Belumut. And he remembered that we were going to K.K. soon, and so asked if we were interested in this trip. For training and experience.

Why not?

On Friday, damn excited. CL n me went to NTUC to sweep MARS n SNICKERS, a 1.5l 100 plus and 1.5l mineral water. What a good excuse to eat chocolate bars leh. *snicker*

Friday, did OT. Reached home ard 12+am. After packing, realised my bag is HUGE. Set alarm to 4.15am. Went to bed at ard 1.30am.

*****
0415 - snooze the alarm
0515 - SUDDENLY shot up my bed, showered, fed baby and gui, water plants, and quickly zoomed out for taxi
0610 - CL and me went to Eunos MRT station to meet Uncle Terence. He would drive us to the meeting point; his office at Tuas area.
0650 - Reached his office grounds, went to grab a bite at S21 opp.
0700 - Rodney (the organiser) called to see if we're there.
0705 - Take attendance
0710 - left for the 2nd link.
0800 - Cleared both customs and continued to Kluang
1100 - Start climb
*****
We started with some warm ups and foto taking.


everyone was excited and happy b4 the climb

I was one of the younger ones, but I climbed like I was the oldest.

:(

Started the last, and ended the last.

Really admire the whole group sia!


Our never-to-be-seen-white-again shoes



After crossing the bridge, we came to the foot of the mountain. And once u started on the stairs, u can't really turn back anymore.

The group in front were very fast! So after a while, I was left all alone. The fast were too fast, and my uncle was waiting behind with this guy who was resting.

For at least 1.5 hrs, I was walking/climbing myself (with all the stupid butterflies n hornets), during which, I was praying silently. Alone and tired and unmotivated. Then along the way I saw sticks lying nicely on the trees. How nice! I needed one desperately!

But walking myself means that I did not have to rush. And I only have the strength to take these few pictures.


BIG AND LONG Millipede!


the infamous Crown Rocks

Seeing the Crown Rocks tells u that u're halfway up. The front group were already preparing to leave when I arrived.


i thought this tree looks like a... up to ur own imagination...

The mountain was quite steep, and I had to use my hands most of the time to climb!
My wall climbing lessons did come into good use afterall. Hehehe...

However, walking alone really requires lots n lots of mental strength. I almost gave up moving forward quite a few times. I dunno what to do, so i just kept on praying silently. Mainly was also becoz I didn't know that i have the choice of giving up. LOL!

Oh! 2 nice (cute) guys held on to my stick for me while I was trying to climb this super high piece of... land. Then when i was up i asked, "Am I near the peak?". One of them replied, "errrrrrr... sooooooon la...".

Win lor!

After like what seems like eternity, I finally saw Uncle Terence! But alone. The other guy gave up where I last saw him. And so I continued along with him behind me most of the time. Not that he was slow, but he had to make sure I dun fall too far back.

We continued up. The faster group were already making their way down when we were almost reaching the 'False Summit'.

KNN!

I dun care false or true la! Summit is good enuf! Why explore for the real one?

*BAWL*

I was almost half dead. On the way to the REAL summit we finally met with the middle group. It was starting to drizzle, and so they didn't want to stay up too long.

Poor CL. I had her poncho, MARS and 100 plus! (By the end of the climb, I finished 1.5l of 100 plus, 1l of water and only had 1 bar of Snickers)

We quickly made our way to the real summit, and it was starting to rain heavier, we were drenched and couldn't see a single SHIT.

tsk!



This is what i see on the summit

Only rested for ard 5 min. Saw how Uncle Terence 'tortured' a leech on his shoe with salt. And we had to quickly make our way down.

I didn't have my watch on, but I think it was approx 4+pm then. If we dun get our asses down soon, it'll be too dark, and I dun wan to sleep in the mountains!!!

Rain got heavier as we made our way down. At that point, I think we were at least 1 hr away from the last group we met earlier.

Legs were so tired and wobbly and they macam had a mind on their own. Knees not willing to bend, thighs aching like mad. The rain made the route slippery. Fell a couple of times. Almost went to visit God liao. Stupid tree logs blocking the way, made me tear my pants.

Think the going up was tough? The return was TOUGHER!

All the downslope made my toes hit continuously on the front of my shoe, which by then was dark brown. Toes were hurting badly. And sprained my right ankle too. Luckily Uncle Terence helped to carry my bag, otherwise I think I would had taken longer...

:-S

We took longer than expected, and it turned pitch dark when we were almost reaching the foot. HENG we were near the end, and had our handphones around. They were trying to reach us, afraid that we would get lost in the dark.

Apparently Rodney did try to wait for us, but we didn't reach in time and it was too dark and he couldn't see anymore too, so he went ahead and came back with Loh and 2 torches.

Helluva experience sia..

I'm still alive...

*****
2015 - Reach foot of mountain, shower
2045 - Go for dinner
2110 - Arrive at restaurant
2210 - Leave for customs
0035 - Arrive at customs
0200 - HOME
0230 - ZZZ...
*****

What i got out of this trip?

2 big black toes
5 orh chneh
1 leech bite
3 days of muscle aches
a whole LOT of experience and new frens!



p/s: I missed my Big Walk the next day.