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Mount Tahan, roof of the peninsular (G1)

View of the Mount Tahan massive hiding in the clouds, 2187m asl.

        The expedition team at the trailhead of Gunung Tahan.

I went to Mount Tahan in July 2005 along with my KTJ hiking buddies, Peter, Nooh, Azman and Azman's elder bro. Mount Tahan located in the Tahan range is the highest mountain in peninsular Malaysia standing at 2187m above sea level. The Tahan range is part of the Tenasserim range which goes up all the way to Southern Thailand. It feels very different from the mountains located in the Titiwangsa range because its vegetation is not as dense and the mountain itself is more rounded and less jagged. Nevertheless, it is no easy meat to conquer Tahan. Its name itself means "endurance". Only those who have enough endurance and can withstand all the challenges will be able to reach its summit!

One of the many river crossings.

One of the highlights of climbing Gunung Tahan is the many river crossings that have to be made. The mountain is a source to a multitude of streams which eventually forms river complexes that flow throughout the Peninsular to provide crucial freshwater to the populace. The two main rivers straddling this area is the Tahan River and the Tembeling River. We had to cross these rivers several times because it criss crosses the trek. The Tahan River in particular is very pure and clear and water can be drank right of the stream. 

Mountain buddies, Peter & I.

The clouds opening up and unwrapping the massive Gunung Tahan in the backdrop.

We were blessed with good weather for the first half of the trail but after lunch, the weather on the way to the top was basically wet and stormy. The clouds usually build up by mid day due to the high levels of humidity of the tropical climate. This is then followed by a tropical downpour for most part of the afternoon hence it is always wise to time your journey well to avoid getting stuck in the middle of a tropical storm while on an exposed ridge where the danger of being struck by lightning is very real.

Peter in a Green Hornet-like raincoat after being inspired by Jet Lee.

We took a break for lunch at Puncak Botak which is a barren  and exposed false summit. We could not stay there for long since the weather was rapidly deteriorating by the minute. We cooked ourselves a reliable quick meal in the form of maggi noodles and ate a bunch of bananas and chocs to stash up that precious energy required to push for the summit. 

Drenched & soaking wet by the torrential highland downpour.

Carpet-like clouds blanketing the mountains of the Tahan Range at dawn's early light.

On the summit of Gunung Tahan, the Roof of the Peninsular.

Azman & I hiking into the Tahan valley beneath. In the backdrop is Gunung Gedung.

Kem Kor, the basecamp. 

Only four of the five team members managed to reach the summit as Azman's elder bro found the going to be too tough for him and decided to stay put in base camp (Kem Kor). The day we reached summit was a rainy and wet day and we were all drenched in cold rainwater. Peter in particular was suffering from the cold as he was soaked up and the cold got into him. However the next morning we were blessed with great views of the rain forest and below and also the surrounding mountains of the unique Tahan Range.

A "pit stop" at the tree post.

Yong Belar (G3)

Yong Belar, a peak that straddles the border between three states namely Pahang, Perak & Kelantan is the third highest peak in peninsular Malaysia. Ian & his group of friends made an expedition to this hell of a mountain where their expedition team encountered some tough moments and thrilling events. 

Ian posing in front of Yong Belar mountain.

Yong Belar Team:
Lead- Ian Cheong
- Teoh Paik Qinn
- Rajpal Kuckreja
- Brian Lim Chien Nan

The Yong Belar expedition team.

The Yong Belar expedition set off from Cameron Highlands following Mr. Jeff's 4WD to the trailhead in the beautiful Blue Valley. The guides were Arman and Budu (who should be avoided in the future as they are dishonest thieves that take advantage of school kids by stealing their possesions).

Ian happy in the jungle.

The team started off the trek from the Blue Valley dam.

Field Report from Ian Cheong:
1. Guides secretly stole the wallets and cellphones of Yong Belar team members.
2. Paik Qinn found the going tough and was suffering from a nervous breakdown. Mom told him to pray to God.
3. Rajpal had to hold on to his piss for one whole night, almost bursting his bladders because there were wild animals surrounding the campsite.
4. Elephants and wildboars surrounded the tents at night in search for food because food waste weren't disposed properly. This scared the shit out of the team & some even broke down!

Posing on the summit 2181m asl, the third highest summit in Peninsular Malaysia.

Joyous celebrations after a long and arduous battle to the top of Yong Belar.

The team reached the summit of Yong Belar on the 15 of March 2005, one day later than they were expected to arrive. The team descended the mountain and headed back to KL with priceless memories only to realize that their pockets were empty...

Mystical Gunung Ledang

The next mountain destination I had in mind after successes in the Titiwangsa mountains is Gunung Ledang or also known as Mount Ophir by most Singaporeans. Mount Ledang is a very popular climb amongst Singaporeans because of its relative proximity to Singapore (just 2-3 hours by car from Singapore). It is also arguably the most climbed mountain in Malaysia because the routes up the mountain is relatively beginner friendly and also due to the legend of the Princess of Gunung Ledang which adds some mystic to the mountain. The planing involved for this expedition wasn't that rigorous as there was a lot of information available on the internet. There were two main routes up this mountain and they were the Sagil and Asahan routes respectively. The former being the more popular and crowded route because there is a big waterfall along the way which most people like to chill at. That kept in mind, I decided to follow the less trodden Asahan route instead to avoid the crowds.

In front of Christ Church in Stadhuys Square, Malacca Town.

At the A Famosa, the famous 16th century Portuguese Fort.

Ian, Brian and I set out for this trip taking a bus to Malacca town. We spent a day and a night in Malaysia's historical gem touring famous historical sties like the A Famosa, Saint Paul's Cathedral ruins, The Stadhuys and Jonker Walk. The following day, we took a cab from the town center all the way to Asahan which is located at the foothill of the mountain. Asahan is actually the opposite side of the mountain facing east while Sagil is on the western end facing Malacca.

There was a guide post at the Asahan trailhead where we registered and paid park fees and also booked our guide. There was a dog at the guide post which was a little hyperactive and was quite annoying at times as it bothered us the whole time while we were going through the paper works with the guide. That dog even tried to make love with Brian's leg by clinging on to his leg and humping on it! Brian eventually freaked out and ran away, only to be passionately chased by the dog.

Brian climbing up a tree stump trying to avoid the over-hyper dog which wanted to make love with his leg.

Much to my surprise, truckloads of army personnel came by and dropped off at least a hundred soldiers at the Asahan guidepost. Initially we thought that some kind of war games must be going on but we found out that it was just part of an exercise for the group of voluntary soldiers also known in Malay as "Askar Wattaniah".

Together with the Askar Wattaniah soldiers at the foothill of Mount Ledang.

We headed up the slopes of Ledang along with our guide, Ridhwan and the barrack of soldiers. Most of the early stages of the trail was trekking through thick jungle infested by mosquitoes and as usual, we got bitten badly by those parasites. The first major challenge was a bare rock face which was quite steep. Fixed ropes had to be used to assist in the climb up these rock faces. Thankfully it wasn't raining because the rocks can be very slippery when it is wet. Along the way up we made a lot of soldier friends who were taking a break along the trail.

Ian & Brian climbing up the slippery rock face with the help of fixed ropes while the soldiers watch on.

We reached our campsite which was an open ground next to a small stream. It was quite a sandy campsite and this is a good thing because this means that we will be sleeping on soft ground. We left our luggage on the campsite and didn't bother to set up camp yet as it was crowded with army personnel enjoying lunch break. We just had some snacks for lunch and decided to push on for the summit to avoid the "massive traffic" once those army people finished their lunch and head up the mountain.

Assistance of a ladder was needed to climb up a steep and challenging portion of the slope.

Hiking up without luggage felt way much better and lighter and helped speed things up. The vegetation higher up in the mountain was more scarce and the trees are not as big and tall as those at the bottom. The mist and fog were also about to set in and the temperature was cooler than the bottom. It probably was a good call to move on quick and not stop too long for a heavy lunch because it would just make our bodies cool down and take the climbing momentum off us. The area around the summit was a steep rocky outcrop. Fixed ropes and even fixed ladders helped us climb up the challenging slopes. When we approached the summit, we could clearly see the deep drop below us, making it a little unnerving.

On the summit, above the clouds looking towards the Straits of Malacca.

There is a big telecommunication tower located just below the summit by the ridge which one would definitely not miss. The summit was quite flat and had lots of room. It also had very little vegetation unlike that of Mount Korbu's. This meant that we could have a 360 degree panoramic view of the surroundings! To the west we could see the Straits of Malacca and the ships passing through it and also the town of Malacca. To the east was the view of the surrounding hills of Asahan.

Ian and Brian on the summit in front of the telecommunication tower by the ridge.

We camwhored and posed around the whole summit, taking advantage of the spectacular views. According to legend, the summit is also where the Princess of Gunung Ledang supposedly stays in a magical garden palace. We didn't see any magical garden on the summit and we didn't find any palace with the princess in it despite calling out her name repeatedly :P One part of the legend even says that the princess wanted the Sultan of Malacca to build a bridge made of gold that connects the town of Malacca to the summit of Gunung Ledang! That's one really high maintenance princess and if I were the king I would just forget her and start looking for some easier to please courtesan!

Posing by the ledge on the summit.
Flying in the air!

We headed down to the campsite after spending about an hour on the summit. The army personnel arrived on the summit in droves just when we were about to head down. We took a good refreshing bath in the stream before cooking up a long awaited meal. The night went by quite well only with a few glitches such as Brian sleeping like a dead log and at times rolling over and crushing Ian with his "kayu balak" weight.

Buddies taking a refreshing bath in the natural pool.

At the campsite, in front of our tent that we've pitched up.

The next day, we headed down the mountain back to the guide post. We were lucky enough to catch a taxi who just dropped off a previous passenger. Trust me its quite hard to catch taxis especially in remote areas like this. We bid farewell to the guide post people and also the mountain and headed back to Malacca Sentral where we bought our tickets back to KL. The climb up Ledang was a short but every bit interesting and fun trip and although we didn't find any princess up there the story of this trip will interest many "city princesses" out there in KL who would even hesitate to take a gentle walk in the park in Lake Gardens.

The view of Mount Ledang from the foothill in Asahan. The telecommunication tower can even be seen.

Mount Korbu, First Expedition (G2)

Mount Korbu, the second highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia at 2183 m. Also seen is the steep Chuban Wall which is part of the slopes of Mount Korbu.

On the 16th of November 2004, the mountaineering expedition group consisting of myself, Ian, Peter, Adam and Alex set out for our first attempt of a "real" mountain, our first serious mountaineering expedition. We were heading to the infamous Gunung Korbu. For first time, not too much experience trekkers, our attempt on Gunung Korbu is a little bit too ambitious, equivalent to someone who has not climbed above 1000m attempting Mount Everest's 8848m. We boarded the KTM long distance train to Ipoh just after dinner time. Over in Ipoh we met our guide for the first time, Salan who works under Mr. Muzs company. Salan is a honest looking guide who is small in physique but nevertheless boast an impressive resume of climbing nearly all the major peaks in the Titiwangsa Range including completing the infamous G7 Series, which is a series of 7 of the highest mountains in Peninsular Malaysia. After the previous bad experience with Mr.Jeff (the dishonest guide in Cameron Highlands) I was really praying hard to get an honest and responsible guide. Musz drove us all in his 4WD to the trailhead which is located about an hours drive away from downtown Ipoh. The trailhead was dark as there was no electricity, so we could see the entire universe of stars that lit up the night...truly a sight to behold! There we stayed by a hut next to the river for the night in open air facing the star lit night sky. We had to get some good night sleep although in reality it was actually more of a challenge than I had thought, with all the mosquitoes, loud snoring, the occasional whiskering noise etc...

When the sun came up the next morning, we packed up and got ready to start our expedition to Korbu's summit which is expected to be a 4 day 3 night affair, provided everything turns out well. We started by crossing our first river. The current of the river was actually faster than I expected and it did give us some challenging moments while crossing it. Not to forget it made us start off so early in the journey with our socks and shoes soaking wet. This caused our shoes to make the annoying "quacking" noise while walking and also increase our risk of getting blistered feet!

The Orang Asli village.

Not too long after that we came across an Orang Asli village. The Orang Asli houses were made of bamboos and nipah leaves as well as wild wood gathered from the jungle. However the entire village was empty as they had been told to evacuate the area because the Perak government is building a dam that would eventually flood the entire village. We continued for a little bit before reaching our first stop where we took some breakfast snacks. At this site we could already see leaches trying to crawl up on us to also have their "bloody breakfast".

We then continued uphill on an area called Bukit Nenas aka Pineapple Hill. This hill was our first major uphill task at which we were already complaining about the long and tiring trek. However, according to the guide, Salan, this is only the appetizer as the "main course" has yet to come!

Taking a dip in the river.

After trekking for a few good hours we came to a riverside where all of us took the opportunity to take a dip in the river. It felt so refreshing especially after the long trek on Bukit Nenas. Upon refreshing ourselves, we toiled on towards the direction of the campsite, Kem Seroja. Now we were presented with a more challenging trek, climbing up Bukit Penat. The trek up Bukit Penat was definitely more tiring than that of Bukit Nenas hence its name. As first timers attempting such a "hardcore" mountain, we were struggling on this hill quite badly. After a few more hours toiling up Bukit Penat we reach yet another hill called Bukit Lagi Penat!! Yeah, that's right...the name doesn't help motivate anyone of us who are already drained out of our valuable energy! Bukit Lagi Penat definitely lives up to its name because the trek along this hill is a steep scree all the way up. It really took its toll on my leg and knee muscles given that we have to carry our huge backpacks which was already as heavy as another human being! This was definitely no easy task and it really pushed all of us to our physical and mental limits!

Resting on the slopes of Bukit Lagi Penat. Clockwise from left back: Keith, Shanaz, Salan, Ian, Adam, Alex.

After a few hours toiling on the trek to Kem Seroja, we reached a slope which was almost like a cliffhanger. A large tree had fallen down probably due to being struck by lightning, hence it caused a mini landslide around the entire slope making it even steeper. The undergrowth was so thick and wild it did not help in providing an easy passage either. The guide Salan and 2 other people who were trekking with us, Sharul and his girlfriend Shanaz climbed above first to clear the undergrowth with their parangs. Then disaster struck! Sharul fell a few meters from the fallen tree branch while using it to climb up the cliff. He tumbled down the cliff and in the process, broke his collar bone. It was ugly and messy and bloody. I don't want to go into the details but Sharul was writhing in deep pain and would definitely not be able to continue on for another 4 more days in this condition. So we were now faced with a challenging situation of whether to turn back or head on. Finally Salan the guide proposed that he will take Sharul accompanied by his girlfriend Shanaz back to the trailhead and go to Ipoh town to the nearest hospital to treat his injury. However, he would lead us to Kem Seroja (since its not too far away from where we are) first before heading out to Ipoh. That means the 5 of us will spend the night at the campsite without the guide and the other two people as they will trek through the night to head out to Ipoh. The plan is that Salan will then immediately trek back to Kem Seroja early in the morning to meet up with us to continue our journey in the evening. Not long from the site of the accident we finally reached Kem Seroja which is a patch of cleared land by the river. This will be our campsite for the night.

Bathing in the river by Kem Seroja.

By this time, we were all extremely exhausted and demotivated! The tonnes of vampire leaches feasting on us didn't help boost our depleted morale either! Alex was freaked out by the amount of leaches that was around the area ( you could actually see them happily crawling towards your feet), he went straight into camp and swore never to come out of it again. Adam on the other hand was bitten quite badly by the leaches and even had one glued on his ass. Peter did the task of helping Adam rid off the leach from his ass as Adam was screaming away like a nervous wreck. Then came Peter who realized that there were 2 leaches attached to his...ehem...ehem...balls. Peter was more composed emotionally but nevertheless found it surprising on how these leaches sneaked up his pants and underwear to happily suck on his testicles. When asked how did he feel about leaches ravaging his modesty Peter cooly replied "The leaches are impressed by how huge IT is that it would like to suck till it achieves that size too". I too and Ian had our fair bit of leach bites all over our legs and thankfully not in any other more private places. I felt so exhausted and disgusted from all those bloody leach bite stains that I was so tempted to jump into the river for a bath despite the water being almost freezingly cold! So I jumped in to take a dip. Physically I was not prepared for such a cold bath but mentally I was, as I used some Zen Buddhist meditation skills to calm my mind down although my body was shivering vigorously like some one having a serious fit. To be honest, my balls even shrank to the point where I couldn't even feel it anymore! I was so disbelieved that I had to check its existence a few times before being convinced I was still a man. That was the coldest and most tormenting bath I've ever had up till now which I will never forget!

That night the five of us had a heart to heart talk about how we felt about this expedition so far and our plans for the next day. Severe exhaustion, Sharul's accident and the continuous blood pouring out from the leach bites (leaches inject an anti-blood clot chemical which prevents blood from becoming hard and eventually stop flowing out of the body) did a huge blow to our morale and our excitement in attempting our first major summit was fast waning. Adam and Alex eventually voiced their strong intention of not wanting to continue the journey and turning back home instead. It really was something that split the team apart. Ian and I were also beaten up by the day's trek and were equally exhausted and traumatized but there was still a burning desire in us to reach the summit of Gunung Korbu. We kept a glimmer of hope that the next day might be better off with some good night rest which would hopefully make us more refreshed & energetic. Peter was the calm man in the middle who could easily continue on with the journey to the top but he too opted to turn back on grounds that he felt responsible to accompany Alex and Adam who were actually foreigners from Britain and Taiwan respectively back home to KL.

The next day at about noon, a tired Salan met us up in Kem Seroja, obviously lacking of sleep as he trekked through the night to the trailhead and then back towards Kem Seroja. The five of us voiced out our decision to turn back since there were 3 votes of turning back to 2. Salan was surprised to hear that but eventually realized the condition and emotional torment some of us faced. He agreed to take us back down the mountain. Then hope came, not too long later, another expedition of Chinese trekkers led by another of Muzs' guides Arman and Budu showed up at Kem Seroja. There were at least 8 of them in the group. The leader of the group was a lady called Miss Yap. She was quite attractive for a hardcore trekker and has surprisingly smooth, silky and white legs (I wonder why the leaches don't get attracted to her?). The arrival of this group was an opportunity for me and Ian to climb to the summit of Gunung Korbu. We negotiated with the arriving group and they allowed us to join in their expedition to the top of Korbu. With this, the differences had been settled and everyone got what they wanted. Ian and I could go up to Korbu while Peter, Alex and Adam could go down the mountain with Salan.

That evening, we bid farewell to the quartet who will be going down the mountain the next day while we head on to Kem Kijang which is just 2 hours away from Kem Seroja. Kem Kijang or also known as Kem Agas (Agas= sandfly in Malay) is a small campsite also by the river which has a more wild feel thanks to the roots of the trees jutting out and growing out of proportions here and there. However, the main thing that will draw ones attention in Kem Kijang is none other than its tons of sandflies. A sandfly bite is nothing fun at all and is definitely an experience not to remember! The bites are very very itchy and it swells up badly as a result of uncontrollable scratching. The experience in Kem Kijang was truly a nightmare as we did not get any sleep at all thanks to the constant biting of the sandflies through out the night. All we did the whole night was scratching away! Just as an additional note: the sandfly bites gave rise to ugly scars that lasted for quite a long time before it eventually healed. My leg looked like that of a leper for at least a year!

The view of Puncak Chuban from the ridge.

The next day arrived. Today we will be heading all the way up to the summit of Gunung Korbu. I actually started to fear this mountain given the past few days of torment and I was quite worried about the torments that have yet to come. Now I understand the sort of respect a mountain like Gunung Korbu demands and deservedly should get. The trek was a steep way up up and up to a hill called Puncak Botak (due to an opening on its peak). Before heading up to Puncak Botak we stopped by a place called Last Waterpoint, so named because it is the last point in the trek where we could collect drinkable natural water from the stream. Over here we filled up our tanks for usage on the top of Korbu. This would also mean bearing more weight due to the full water reserves. A couple of hours toiling and we finally reached Puncak Botak at which we could see the road that lies ahead, Gunung Korbu's false summits. This is also the mountain proper as all this while we had been trekking just to get to the mountain itself! Can you imagine the suffering we had gone through even before reaching the mountain proper?!

Climbing the almost vertical Chuban Wall.

From Puncak Botak it was a trek all along a narrow ridge which has at least a 1000m drop on each side, but the heavy vegetation blocked most of the view along the ridge so we couldn't really see how deep the drop is if we were to fall down from there. Then came arguably the most nerve wrecking part of the journey, the "Chuban Wall". The Chuban Wall lies on the face of Puncak Chuban which is one of the many false peaks of Gunung Korbu. What makes it so challenging and nerve wrecking is that its an almost vertical slope of granite at which if you look down you could see the more than 1000m drop down the mountain. There were fixed ropes to facilitate the climb up the Chuban Wall. As expected, it was a slow crawl along the Chuban Wall as none of us want to make a misstep which could send us plunging down the mountain the fast way. Eventually all of us managed to hold our nerves and made it past Chuban Wall and all the way up to Puncak Chuban.

Ian looking up to the trail ahead while on the steep Chuban Wall using fixed ropes.

Then it was another false peak that waited in front of us, Anak Korbu. This was supposedly the last and final false peak of the journey as there had already been so many that I lost count of them. Each one of these false peaks erode our morale little by little as we always thought that we have reached the summit only to be disjointed to find out that it is a false summit and the real one still lies further ahead. We passed Anak Korbu and knew there was only one more to go, Korbu's summit itself! Supposedly we could catch a glimpse of Korbu's summit from Anak Korbu but the weather at that time was pouring wet and thick clouds covered our view, not to mention it was also freezing cold at the same time. We pushed hard and after a few more hours, we eventually reached a point where we couldn't go any higher and only then we realized that we had finally conquered Mount Korbu which stands at 2183m, the second highest mountain in Peninsula Malaysia.

Ian improvising on a plastic bag to turn it into a waterproof rain helmet while on Korbu ridge.

We felt relieved and overjoyed but the joy did not quite settle in because of the wet and freezing conditions. Moreover we were all soaking wet and shivering from the cold wind down to our bones. We hastily set up camp and prepare for bed. One BIG mistake that Ian and I did was forgetting to wrap our clothing and sleeping bag in a dry waterproof plastic bag, and that proved costly! The two of us had to make do in freezing conditions with our soaking wet sleeping bags and clothes for the entire night on the summit of the second highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia! Just trying to keep warm was an experience my brother and I will never forget! We practically had to take turns to sleep on each other to act as blankets to provide warmth for each other and we also had to rub our own feet and hands to keep it from becoming numb due to freezing. That night the cold was terrifying and the both of us could never feel more hopeless in our lives. We waited and waited the whole night for the glorious sun to rise the next morning to give us warmth and comfort but the sun took its own sweet time to rise and the wait was agonizingly cold and long.

On the summit of Mount Korbu, 2183m above sea level.

Eventually daybreak came the next morning and the sun rose to its full glory, blessing us with a beautiful morning to behold. The skies were blue and the clouds weren't hindering our view. We could see the entire town of Ipoh as well as the whole Kinta Valley. We could even see the Straits of Malacca and Penang in the distance! Then the joy of summiting our first major mountain set in. We could never have felt better! Now we felt proud of ourselves for fighting all the way and keeping a glimmer of hope to reach the top of Korbu. We took all the necessary pictures and then started packing up to go back down to Kem Seroja. It would be good for us to head down the mountain as soon as possible because the rain would usually come in the afternoon and we wouldn't want to head down the steep Chuban Wall in wet and slippery conditions.

View from the top of Mount Korbu. Ipoh town and the Kinta Valley below and also the Malacca Straits in the distance.

The climb down was a morale booster given that it was quite fast trekking down the trail except for the slow and careful descend while on Chuban Wall. That descend was equally as nerve wrecking as the ascent. In a few hours time we reached Kem Seroja before dark. We took our time to have a good bath in the river because it was not as cold as the last time I took a dip in it as it wasn't dark yet. That night we cooked and ate well and slept with a smile on our face knowing that we made it to the top and will be returning with some boosted ego.

Keith and Ian on the Korbu ridge, the mountain behind is Mount Gayong also another G7 mountain.

The next day was a trek all the way down to the dam site where thankfully our 4WD vehicle was prearranged to pick us all up from there. We were shuttled all the way to Ipoh town where we boarded our bus back to KL. On the journey back to KL, my mind was reflecting our newly crowned success in conquering our first major peak and only not too long ago did we started climbing mountains. It was truly a milestone in our mountain adventures which started from humble beginnings on Ah Yeh's Hill in Cheras. As for me, this marked the beginning of a long, challenging and rewarding journey to some of the most fascinating mountains the world has got to offer!