youmeltmyhearttostone

Back and alive.

I have always appreciated flat grounds. And now, even more.

We decided on Gunung Panti instead of Datuk purely because the set off timing was at 7.30 instead of 530. Yes, as gamed as we are for a climb, we are definitely not ready to be up so early. 730 will not be a choice unless we had none other. We were yawning away when we met and already planning on sleeping on the bus ride there. Mummy, as usual, being the lovely and doting mum, woke up to send me and friends to Woodlands Point. BIG HEARTFELT THANKS! <3

Lack of pictures cos I didn't bring my cam and Loke hasn't upload hers. Any pictures used, were grabbed from the internet.

It was a budget day trip so we didn't book a ride on the coach but we took a bus from Larkin instead. Crossed the woodlands checkpoint taking 170. And our final destination from the bus rides were Kota Tinggi! There, we had our lunch at some random food centre. Around the bus terminal looked like a dead town cause the Muslims were having their fast and pretty much all the food stalls were closed. We had chinese food obviously and it was a decent meal. The lady boss and boss were really friendly, offering to help us get a cab to Panti.

It was a 10-15mins cab ride. We were brought to the entrance of a trail. Spotted two Singapore cars and was kinda relieved that there were people trekking too. They must have set off earlier than us because there was not a single soul in sight but its glad to know that we are not alone. And the trek started.

Shunyi told us that it was an easy mountain and the day before I did some researching and indeed many proclaimed that this was just an intro trek trail. So naturally, I thought that this was gonna be a breeze. We were going at a rather fast pace, following markings, climbing over and under huge tree logs, pushing leaves and branches outta our face, smacking mosquitoes, feeling like a nature girl and then we realised that we were heading in the wrong direction. It was a route definitely but not one that can lead us up the summit(maybe it could but we didn't try it cos we didn't wanna risk getting lost even further). So we back tracked our steps, attempted different routes, got lost even more (I swear they looked almost exactly the same at many places),after an hour plus we decided to head back down to somewhere near where we started. And thank God we did, cause we saw a group of trekkers(Hurray!) and asked for directions.

They had 3 batches of trekkers and the people we met were the last batch! This dude from the group, supposedly their leader decided to go recce after we told them that our route was wrong and Shunyi followed to show him where we last trekked to. The rest of us waited and catch our breath and I was looking at my pathetic shoes. It is really important that you wear proper footwear. It makes a big difference to the effort used in trekking/climbing around. I was wearing daddy's old shoes and they were 2-3 size bigger than my size, Mummy apparently thrown my old asics away and I didn't wanna dirty my new nike shoes so I settled for daddy's old shoes.

Okay back to looking at my shoes, I realised that my black-white nike socks were red at my heel. For a moment there, I thought it was the design of the sock, because I felt nothing, no pain at all, then it struck that I was bleeding and the sock was soaked with my blood. They said that it was a leech bite, my first leech bite without knowing or seeing it. So when a leech bites, the wound continues bleeding for awhile cos leeches prevent blood clotting. How you get the leech off is by pouring an adequate amount of vinegar and it will somehow squirm and curl up so this is the time to flick it away.

After waiting 15 mins or so, the guys were back and at the same time they managed to contact their friends! We were totally off the right route so we trekked back down a little and there the other group were, our glimpse of hope to the summit. They showed us the right trail and we set off!

The trek up started off alright but after an hour, I was exhausted, breathless and panting. After the getting lost and all, before we embarked on the right trail, I felt that half of my battery was already used up. Going all the way up was really a challenge, at many points I wished there was an elevator up. It didn't get any easier, the tracks got steeper and higher. But after what it seemed like an eternity accompanied by many lies of "we're almost there", "soon", "just 10mins more", we are a rock wall away from the summit.

This was no ordinary rock wall. When Shunyi said we had to climb up, I seriously thought he was kidding. We had to use ropes and branches to aid us in climbing it. I felt so unsafe without a harness. Told them it was like Batman doing the jump getting out of the prison. Lol.

This was the best part of the whole climb. Climbed 10m up and there we were, at the summit at long last. We heaved a sign of relief, I screamed in joy and would have jump or dance if I had the energy too but no, I'm saving it for the trek back down. Saw other trekkers and they were the friends of batch3. They were going to camp there for the night so the tents and ground sheets were all up.

The view was beautiful, not breathtaking because after what I saw in the video I posted on fb, what we saw looks rather ordinary, the feeling of reaching the summit was more overwhelming than the view. After enjoying our success, we decided to head down as we were already late due to our misadventure at the start. 2 steps down the rock wall and it started drizzling and we decided it's best to put on our ponchos. It was definitely scarier going down than up cause you can't see where you're stepping and we had to do it in the rain.

The climb down was faster, most of the times we were sliding down the mud, plonking into puddles,carefully plotting a non-slip way. Each of us fell on our butts at least once. It was hilarious. Some branches broke, thankfully not in our path. But along the way, we heard a really weird sound/cry and I started freaking out! Wild thoughts running through my mind, will a wild boar suddenly charge at me? What about tribal man appearing and surrounding you with spears? It sounds ridiculous but going through the trail in the pouring rain and the rustling of leaves and trees around us made it seem possible and about to happen.

We were nearing the stream and omg. The muddy path became really soft and a couple of times my shoe was stuck inside and I couldn't yank my feet out. When we reached the stream, we realised that it was different from where we had crossed. WE WERE LOST AGAIN. :( It was getting dark, the rain pouring much heavier now and at some point it got really misty, I thought my specs were foggy but it was due to the weather.

After turning back and pacing around, we decided to cross it. Beyond the stream was a vertical climb of mud and it was my first mudslide experience. I took a step on my side and the next, I started sliding down and down and down with every step I took. I had to take a detour and hug a huge ass trunk for support to get up. My knees and hands were covered in mud afterwards. My sole gave way too, flapping up and down with every step that I took.

And all this time, while we were journeying down, we were battling with leeches. The worst part was at the end of the trek, we had to walk past a knee height puddle and apparently it was filled with leeches!!! We got bitten quite badly and it continue bleeding even after I reached home. And now, it looks like a clot with a sting in the middle. Gross max.

I didn't know leeches look like this, when I first saw one I thought they were harmless worms :/

I always thought leeches looked like this:

Thick and long. The fattest one that we saw was merely half a cm thick but it left like a 1cm bruise thingy on me. I really hate you, leech. Shunyi and Loke caught the leech in our bottle of vinegar once I flicked it away and burst it. Revenge. And I saw a splatter of my blood on the rocks. Bloody mess.

The wait for the cab felt tremendously long as we were shooing leeches off us and trying to keep any from climbing on us. Once we reached Kota Tinggi, we looked for shops selling slippers! Our shoes were dirty and muddy and mine was just beyond hope. I threw mine away. And while cleaning up, Shunyi went to get Ramly for us and the patty was the best that I have ever tasted for Ramly's. We wanted to get another one after devouring ours at the bus station but couldn't cos we were afraid the bus would leave without us :( I am so hungry and craving for one now.

While cleaning up, Loke and me was like, can you believe that we were just up there moments ago and exclaiming we did it and all. I felt so proud of ourselves. xD So glad I did it and definitely will climb another mountain but the next time, with a guide!!

What an adventure:)