Gunung Baling Hiking - How To Go

It is crazy that I need to wake up at 4:30am.

We depart from Bukit Mertajam at 5am, and reach Gunung Baling at 6am. So estimate at least 1 hour from mainland to Baling and at least 1.5 hour from Penang Island.

The entire journey took us around 2 hours to peak.
First 30 minutes is a very muddy steep slope, go slow, follow your own pace, not your friends'. Beginner K.O. at this stage.
The next 30 minutes is less muddy but still steep with more tree roots and steps.

The last hours are all rocky and you need to use a lot of hand. There are quite a lot of hikers, so there is plenty of rest time at some of the difficult part while waiting others to pass thru.

For those who follow my blog before, you will know my stamina is really bad. :p
So you will know when I tell you it is OK, that is definitely an OK.

For stamina wise, it is totally OK (Just need to go slow on the first 30 minutes).
But the rocky place is dangerous and slippery which I do not recommend for kids less than 12 year-old.

We reach the peak at 8am, missed the sunrise. However, the view is still, SPECTACULAR. it is definitely worth waking up at 4:30am. I feel it even nicer than Lembing Hill.

If you are from Penang Island, go towards Alor Setar direction after edit from bridge. Go straight until you see the BKE Expressway exit (To Grik/Kulim Hi-Tech Park).
Follow the highway to Grik, drive straight and you will need to pay two RM1.60 toll. Please make sure you have a touch n' go card in hand. After you pass through 2 tolls, go straight until u see exit to Baling on your left.  Follow the sign to Baling. After you slightly pass through Baling Town, you will see a Chinese cave temple on your left, and after awhile you will see a small road on your left with signboard Pendakian Gunung Baling.

Location: 5°41'13.3" N 100°54'53.6" E


Things you might need:
Headlight (if hike early)
Long pants (avoid cratching on rocks)
Kampung Adidas is the best

Pulau Aman Fishing Village

Signboard after exit the Jetty on Pulau Aman. Separate as left and right side of the island.

 We have a short walk on the trail on left after exit from the Restaurant Terapung (Floating Restaurant). The trail don’t have any sign but we hope the trail would be round island, however, after walking 15 mins, it still shows no sign at all, so we finally decided to turn back.

Scenery on the trail

Walking back and V explores to the right of the island which houses numbers of village families. It looks like the Mabul Island village that we went last year, original and close to the nature.

At very end of the right side of the island, there is a very beautiful bay that have not been discovered by many (before I wrote it here of course).

There are few people fishing there. We watched them caught a stingray (malay: ikan pari), and cut its tail. Then they put it in a very small container.

After 5 mins, it gives birth to a baby stingray. The fishing guy said, whenever they caught a stingray, it will gives birth a baby, which they don’t know why. What else... that is survival behavior, knowing that they will be killed soon.

They put the baby stingray back to the sea.  

I don’t like fishing. Don’t like the feeling that we kill the animal with our own hands, or watching it to die. If we have to catch our own food some days, I think I have to be vegetarian...

The trip is a fresh experience for me, watching how people live at the other side of Penang.

Check out my other posts:
How To Go Pulau Aman?
Boat Fees & Schedule
Pulau Aman Famous Seafood: Floating Restaurant (Restaurant Terapung)


Something to Learn:
"Rays have been known to store sperm and not give birth until they decide the timing is right".^[1]
"Stingrays give birth to fully developed, live young, not egg cases like skates do. When they are near term, even the slightest stress - like dangling from a hook or bird’s mouth - can cause them to release their young.  ^[2]

Getaway Fraser's Hill aka Bukit Fraser, Pahang

Sorry for the busi-ness that abandoned my blog for awhile... Here I'm back. :)

We were there on one of the Friday in July, taking advantage of Penang Holiday, we drive all the way to Fraser's Hill, my favourite highland in Peninsular Malaysia.

Exit at Tanjung Malim from North-South Highway, and drive towards Kuala Kubu Bharu, we passed by the beautiful Sungai Selangor Dam, one of the 'must' stop-over. We had our unfinished McD meal with the nice scenery without a single tourist around other than us. Only 2 security guard relaxing at their work place. How I wish I have their job...

This place is peaceful and comfortable... we enjoyed the slow and relax stop over admiring the lake reflecting the white clouds and green mountain.

A normal Friday on Fraser's Hill is just too good. Not sure about weekend, but definitely not as crowded as Cameron Highland and Genting Highland. The hill is beautifully surrounded by colonial buildings. Thanks to Louis James Fraser, a solitary Scottish pioneer who found this place. Hotels, restaurants and the famous clock tower left behind, remain its beauty and marked the history of colonialism in our country.

Fraser's Hill situated in between Selangor and Pahang state. Noticed the dotted border line? Remember to take a photo with your legs wide open across two states~ :D

There's a lake named Allan's water, used to be a reservoir but now it served as a recreation area for boat riding and kayaking. I remember I used to ride the paddle boat here when I was like... 8? :O I was overwhelming on how things and life have changed.

We couldn't get in after all as Allan's Water is closed at 4:30pm on weekdays. Kindly take note on that.

There are several hiking trails, golf course, paddock with archery games that I have not been to after more than 3 times up here... One day, one day I will walk into the paddock myself, if it still exists when the day comes.

I simply love the greenery on this hill, love to hear birds chirping on the trees, and around me.

Our dinner is to have our self-prepared tomyam steamboat. Although it's a bit tiring to do the preparation, I even bought my portable gas stove from Tesco the day before our trip. Insisted to do this because I knew it will definitely be one of the best memory of the trip. Tomyam steamboat in cold weather, who can resists it??

photo credited to V's -Life Simple Pleasures

Walking on the quiet colonial street after dinner, nothing much you can do during night time at Fraser's Hill, some said, what's the fun of it?

I said, that's the best part of them all.

photo credited to V's -Life Simple Pleasures

Direction: How to Go Fraser's Hill (Bukit Fraser)
Exit at Tanjung Malim from North-South Highway(from North), and drive towards Kuala Kubu Bharu.

Duration:
Total took us 6 hours drive from Penang to Fraser's hill.
From exit to Fraser's Hill around 2 hours including leisure time at Sungai Selangor Dam.

GPS Location:   N 3 42.755  E 101 44.145

More information check-out: V's - Life's Simple Pleasures

The Road to Mount Kota Kinabalu

Sabah is a truly amazing place, this is one of the best trip I ever had, lies in my own country.

The view from our hut at Laban Rata

We chosen the Mesilau Trail for way up and Timpohon for way down as advised by most the friends which said Mesilau has a nicer scenery than Timpohon, and you won't have the mood to enjoy the scenery during your way down.

We booked the package of 4 days 3 night through MyTravelkaki, with around RM800.
The package included:
1. Return Airport Transfer
2. 1 night stay in Mesilau Nature Resort (trail foot), 1 night stay in Laban Rata (Waras Hut) and 1 night stay in Marina Court (KK Town)
3. Meal:  Day 1 - Dinner; Day 2 - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner; Day 3 - Breakfast, Lunch; Day 4 - Eat yourself

The track started from Mesilau Natural Resort, we had our breakfast and took our packed lunch before set off. The packed lunch is sandwich, apple, bananas and water (most of the people choose to give them back the mineral water as you can refill the water along the way)

Please start off earlier if you are allowed to. We wait until 9am and the tour guide still haven't come. We called the guide and told him girls in our group will set off first as we are slower. The guide agreed and we started our journey.

We only meet the first km with one hour and the rest is getting longer and longer.  The first 3km is easier, this is where you should try to be as fast as you can. The track was in good condition, no fallen trees nor big gap require jumping or whatever dangerous movement. It is just all steps, and steps, and steps......

Our guide and porter, Jomius is a really nice guy. He doesn't chase us to be faster and walk with us with his big backpack that load with ours. His words, "Biar lambat, asal selamat...". (Let it be slow rather than sorry.) He is 49 and yet with a stamina that none of us can beat.

I'm the slowest, always. I knew. Just wasn't prepared that it was that bad. When we reach 6km, the junction that join Mesilau and Timpohon, it was around 6pm. The sky is getting dark.

The last 2 km took us more than 3 hours walking in the darkness. The experience wasn't a good one at that time, but a good and memorable one at the time I'm typing now. It really wasn't easy to walk in a complete darkness. It was cold, exhausted, and desperate. My ankle was extremely pain, I stopped every half an hour to apply heat rub.

We took 12 hours + to reach Laban Rata at 8km, at 9:20pm.

After clean up and all, we sleep around 11pm. I'm not able to get up at 2am in the morning and ended up wake up at 6am where outside the room is already full of sunshine. My body recovered and I can actually do the summit push with the energy I had that time. However, we are not allow to do summit push without a guide.

We descend down at 10am, and reach Timpohon at 4pm. You should prepare food for descend as don't have any pre-packed lunch for you this time. We were sent back to Kinabalu Park for lunch. DO NOT FORGET TO TAKE BACK YOUR LUGGAGE AT HERE! Which is happenned to us and we spent RM80 to make someone go to the park and deliver our luggage the next morning to KK Town.
*p/s: Kinabalu Park is in 1 and half hour distance to KK Town.

Taking picture with our tour guide and ready to set off without our luggage... T_T

Looking at the picture now, I still feel regretful that I did not got up for the summit push. However, I feel like going again, although I said it gonna be the last and only trip I hike for Mount KK. I totally feel the charm that makes people keep going back.  The old forest which has been here for how many thousands years, the strong wind that blows everytime we climbed over the hill tops one after another, the whispering from insects and small animals... This is the picture that can only capture by our brain, not camera.

What shoes to wear? Click Here.

What to bring in your backpack?

1. Energy bar, fruits (Chocolate, cereal, biscuit and etc, energy level can be seen behind the packaging)
2. Heat Rub, Altitude Sickness medicine  (I couldn't find it anywhere in Penang, so my friend bought me from KL, named PRIMPERAN which I think it is not exactly for altitude sickness either, the pharmacist said it is for nauseous and dizziness, sounds like motion sickness to me. I didn't eat it at the end, not sure if it's working.)
3. Rain coat, cap, glove, sweater/windbreaker
4. Compact camera (comes in handy really)
5. DSLR (I brought it in my backpack and ended up bring it out not more than 5 times along the track, unless you have a DSLR pouch or you could just hang it on your neck for 8 hours, else, it's really a burden for you. But it does make a sacrifice if give it up.)
6. Head Light (If you know you going to be slow)

*The rest of the stuff you can give it to porter at RM10 per kg to and fro. You won't find this expensive after your hike.

Tips & Tricks:

1. Start off as early as possible, 7:30am if possible.
2. You should time your speed and try to meet 1km in an hour.
3. Go as fast as you can for the first 3km. The longer time you are walking, it makes more pressure on your leg and hurts the knees and ankles.
4. Grab some food or energy bar every hour. You won't aware you are hungry when you are moving. Rest not more than 10 mins every time you stop.
5. When you stop for rest, wear your jacket to keep your body warm.
6. Food like banana and apple is good for energy and hydration.
7. Exercise during weekend only is not enough for poor stamina people like me. Suggested exercises: 1 hike every weekend. 2 cardio exercises every week (swimming, jogging, yoga...), stairs climbing everyday
8. Make sure your sweater, glove and cap is dry or keep a spare for summit push. If you wet it on your way to Laban Rata, it not going to dry on next day.
9. There's no drinking water tap for every KM on Mesilau Trail like some said. It does have water tap in toilet if you feel like drinking from it.
10. The websites that provide very informative stuff and almost everything you wanted & needed to know:
http://www.climbingmtkinabalu.com
http://www.be-a-traveler.com/bat/articles/mtkinabalu/mtk.shtml

The drinking water

I will come back for you, again...

Mount Kota Kinabalu - What Shoes to Wear?

The first thing that troubled me before even train for the climb was, what shoes should I wear?

I brought myself 3 pair of shoes to Sabah.
1. My comfortable New Balance Trekking Shoe
2. The Famous Kampung Addidas
3. Strap Sandal

At the end, only 2 of them are with me along the hike, the trekking shoes and Kampung Addidas, as I felt I've bringing too much stuff.

Want to know more about my Hiking at Mount Kota Kinabalu? Click HERE.

Hiking Up
I wear my trekking shoe on the first day of hike. The track is kinda muddy and wet most of the time for the first 4km. It make me a little worry of getting it wet. The last thing you want is to wear a wet shoe and socks under the cold weather like that. Other than that, the shoe did a really good job, comfortable, enough grip for hike up, it bring me all the way up to Laban Rata.

Summit Push
*Unfortunately, I didn't do the summit push on next day, however, I planned to wear the Kampung Addidas for summit push in fact. I bet it's good enough for that.

Hiking Down
On hiking down, I wore the Kampung Addidas as it is purposely bought for the Mount KK hike. The grip is definitely perfect! It works like charm even we are in a little running step, it doesn't give us a single slip at all. We wear it all the way down from Laban Rata to Timpohon Gate. My toes do hurt, but it's bearable. So do wear a thicker socks, but not too thick until stuffy.

Next time, I might try wearing my Strap Sandals for way down, probably. :)

Where to get Kampung Addidas in Bukit Mertajam or Penang?
There are several old shoes shop at Jalan Datuk Ooh Chooi Chong (Just go straight after passing hospital, those old shop lots on left before reaching the T-junction), at the old town of Bukit Mertajam that sell Kampung Addidas. Just tell them you want to buy rubber shoes (塑胶鞋), they will know what you want. I get mine at RM6 per pair.
For Penang, I heard that old shoes shop at Chowrasta sell it too, and also hardware shop.

Hiking Berapit Hill, Bukit Mertajam

We have been hiking every weekend since last 3 months to prepare ourselves for the upcoming Mount Kota Kinabalu challenge.

Hiking on the same mountain is pretty boring, going all the way to Penang Island for training every time is quite pointless too. Hence, we found out the Bukit Berapit at mainland in one of the blog and decided to check it out.

Berapit Hill (aka Bukit Berapit) is actually the same mountain with Cherok Tokun, our beloved Big Mountain Foot (大山脚), just another trail from different side of the mountain.

 Drive into the small road and you will see parking spaces.

The trail is built by cement all the way up to the top. Pay attention on the road as there are mossy on the ground which might be slippery. The road is not accessible by car but motorcycles of the estate worker and people from the temple might be passing by from time to time.

Walk for about 30 mins and there's a junction, left head towards a temple which has a shorter distance and right handside have a longer track towards Vivekavana Solitude Grove (静修园）.

We took the longer path which brought us to a beautiful view overlooking Bukit Mertajam township. The track is much difficult compare to Tokun Hill as it is really steep all the way. Although the distance looks like shorter, but we ended up took around 2 to 3 hours to finish a return trip.

There are few rest areas with hut but pretty run down.

After 1 and half hour, we finally reach the end of the trail and the Vivekavana Solitude Grove entrance welcomed us.

The temple is a holy place where monk or people came here for their retreat. Please keep silent and respect while you are in there.

You will be overwhelmed how the whole concrete temple built on this top of the hill which do not have a car access. On top of the temple, you will see spectacular paddy field view.

On our way down, we saw this creature blocking our way. I had goose bump all over seeing the lizard so clear. @_@ I remember a friend bought it as a pet with RM180 10 years back. So other than goose bump, I saw $$$ on it too~ :D

How to go Berapit Hill
Direction: From BM town, drive towards Berapit, you will passed by SRJK(C) Jit Sin and SMK Berapit school and also railway track. You will then see hawker center and pasar/market on right-handside, right before the wet market, there is a junction on right which you need to turn in, you can notice the signboard pointing Taman Pearl. Look up for the mountain and drive towards it, you will be driving through residential area and the path is behind the houses.

GPS Coordinate:
N 5 22.596  E 100 28.467