Bkt Gasing - the Telekom Tower loop : 23 Oct 2011

Went to Bkt Gasing, Sect 5 Petaling Jaya for the 3rd time this month. This time my 3 daughters tagged along. Mama dia tak ikut naik bukit, katanya suffice for her to jog kat bawah near parking area jer .. huhu ;)

Previous two attempts covered the Observation Tower n Suspension Bridge loops respectively. But this time my target was to recce n 'conquer' the Telekom Tower / Sivam (Indian) Temple loop on the right side of the hill (bottom section of the map above) ..

One for the album, (from left) Syaida, Syaza, Syamimi n yours truly .. at the main entrance of Bukit Gasing .. Another father-daughter quality weekend time well spent ... ;)

Untuk ke Telekom Tower, panjat stairs nih n amik trail panjat bukit sebelah paling kanan immediately after the pintu gerbang main entrance Bkt Gasing .. ;)

Trek dia agak mncanak pd peringkat awal, laluan kurang jelas sbb org kurang lalu kat situ. But as u ascent to the summit of the hill, laluan makin jelas mcm kat gamba nih .. Overall, i feel that the trails here within this loop can be a bit confusing at times coz there are quite a number of forks (cabang) that u hv to decide wh one to take .. To be safe, amik lah laluan yg lebih terang n jelas .. ;)
After abt 20-25 minutes trek u'll see an exit towards a tar road .. This small road (to the left) will take u further uphill towards Telekom Tower n Sivam (Indian) Temple .. But be extra careful sbb jalan ni 'sgt sunyi' .. Eeeiiieeeeiiiieiiii .. takuuuuuuuut .. ;)
After walking abt 100m on tar road, we were suddenly approached by a cyclist (coming out from no where - mungkin kah Malaikat?) by the name of Din warning us not to proceed towards Sivam Temple bcoz there were several drunkards up there harassing n shouting at passers-by going towards the Temple ..

Having a parang in my backpack gave me some confidence (just in case .. ), but after considering the fact that my 3 daughters tagging along w me, i decided x to take the risk, n immed turn left towards Telekom Tower (thus avoiding Sivam Temple). From here we exit downhill by taking the small opening into the jungle trail just besides the chain-link fence of TM. This trail takes u downhill towards the river ..
Trek dia agak tebal dgn dahan2 shrubs n small overgrown trees sbb kurang dlalui org .. juga ada byk pokok brduri .. so kena jaga sikit tangan tuh jangan dok pegang sana sini. I consider this trail as least popular among Bkt Gasing regulars. Mula2 tu cuak jugak nak ikut situ, tapi dgn tekad n brbekalkan bacaan Ayat Kursi kami blasah jer ! Lgpun nak 'jaga nama' blog saya yg bernama Taking The Path Less Travelled .. so kenalah 'beranikan diri' .. huhu ;)

Trek downhill is steep .. mmg 'mengancam' n mncanak, tp mujur kami tgh menurun .. Laluan byk yg licin akibat hujan lebat mlm semalam nya .. ;) Trdapat byk 'barang2 buangan' dsepanjang trek .. ada 2 big barrels, juga trdpt botol2 arak yg pecah bersepah atas tanah dimerata trek .. so kena xtra careful takut trkena kaca .. :(

Another tough manouver .. mencanak bro !

Tin Carlsberg pun ader .. u can imagine what kind of ppl that frequents this particular trail .. I guess that's why this trail is x popular among Bkt Gasing joggers/ trekkers .. quite risky .. huhu ;)
Alhamdulillah .. akhirnya sampai level bawah ..

We finally reached ground level zero n were greeted with a small river. The water may just be at ankle deep, but its clear n cooling water is very soothing to the eyes .. Sempat basuh muka dgn air sungai yg sejuk ini .. sunggoh menyegarkan !

After spending abt 5 minutes 'having fun' in the river, we crossed over towards the Menara Tinjau (Observation Tower) .. another uphill challenge ! Actually, only from this pt onwards that u start to meet other trekkers .. 'traffic' dah mula heavy .. Jungle trails from Menara Telekom was really 'deserted' n can b a bit 'scary' if u r x familiar with jungle setting .. ;)

The trek from the river up to Observation Tower is quite steep .. but we manage .. ;)

From Observation Tower u can see the Telekom Tower in the background. That's where we came from the last 30 minutes or so .. ;)

My 3 kids clowning around while taking pictures along the way down to the main entrance. Covered the Telekom n Observation Towers loop in 1hr 20 minutes .. kira ok lah for a quality trekking time with family over the weekend .. huhu. Tq Allah ;)