Gunung Bunga Buah, Genting Highlands : 28-29 Jan 2012

As 'pembuka tirai' for 2012 .. i joined 18 other trekkers to conquer Gunung Bunga Buah (GBB) near Genting Highlands standing at 1430m ASL. The expedition was organized by my trekker buddy - Sdr Sham Castello of Nature Explorer Ent .. (hp 012-6206087) .. hehe, sempat promo kawan kejap ;)

A bit of stats: GBB is 1430m ASL. Gunung Nuang (Hulu Langat) is 1493m ASL. Genting Highlands is 1860m ASL. All these mountains r part of Banjaran Titiwangsa.

DAY1 - 1200hrs: We met up at Genting Sempah for a simple lunch n solat zohor ..

Drove up towards Hotel Seri Malaysia n row of shop houses, took right turn towards International School and ladang sayur. Parked n locked our cars, n recite some prayers for safe trekking.

All 'thumbs up' n ready to go ..

1500hrs: From the parking lot we walk up towards ladang sayur .. masuk jer ke dalam and u will see the main entrance to GBB on the left side at the end of this vege farm .. climb upwards the steep hill .. mencanak beb !

Tu dia .. start2 jer dah 70-80 degrees !

After a strenuous 30 minutes of steep uphill climb, you come to this exit towards an old tar road .. what a relief .. (legaa kejap jer .. more to come) .. ;)

Took a 10 minutes breather .. while waiting for the others to arrive we chit-chat getting to know new members of the gang .. ;)

Ice breaking ..

... n took a couple of photo shoot .. before resume trekking again on abandoned old tar roads for another 5-7 minutes .. until u reach an exit to off-road (a junction on left side of the road) as in the pic below .. ;)

Very nice views of hill slopes on the right side .. ada kabus pulak tuh .. perghh ttiba teringat citer Avatar !

Start entering the bushes .. of overgrown shrubs n small plants .. Beware of leeches, insects n thorns : better to wear long sleeve shirt n track pants ..

Scenic views .. kat belakang tu la GBB summit. (from left : SN Arna, Aisyah, Doc Ramly n urs truly)

After 1hr 30 mins of trekking, we stopped by for a short break at the foot / entrance of the mountain .. where the real challenge began .. uphill ! (just across that small longkang)

Kat blakang tu baru betul2 trek panjat GBB .. naik naik n naik, pastu turun turun n turun. Then naik naik n naik lagi .. smpai nak jem pala lutut aku nih. Tp control mental n paksakan jugak .. layan n kayuh pelan2 hingga ke puncak !

Actually from here dah start hujan rintik2. Pastu terus lebat .. sume basah kuyup, that's why from this pt onwards tak ada gamba di ambil .. camera x water proof .. ;)

2000hrs: Tiba di puncak GBB, geng yg sampai awal dah start masak dinner .. Tu Ami n Arna tgh potong sayur .. huhu ;)

After solat n late dinner, sempat tgok nite view of KL from GBB summit .. nasib baek hujan pun dah berhenti .. Tq Allah ;)

Lepas dinner sembang2 kejap .. pastu terus lena. Khemah org bujang kat sebelah masih pok pek pok pek ! Rasa nya diorg tdo kul 3 atau 4 pagi kot ?

DAY2 - Next morning .. bangun paling awal utk registerkan diri kat MyJamban.com (kat celah2 semak tuh) .. huhu ;)

After subuh prayers .. pemandangan yg sunggoh menenangkan fikiran .. Allahu akbar !

Tanda2 anugerah n kebesaran Allah .. Mana nak dpt sume nih kalu x d GBB ?

Fried Kueh Tiau for breakfast .. Doc Hafis n Cda mmg rajin kat dapur !

Tu dia .. ini lah wet kitchen kami .. But worry not, as we'll make sure all garbages (esp plastics n other non-biodegradable items) are carried down with us when we descend .. ;) Kaw x nescafe tu Nadhra ?

Ramai lak yg offer nak masak .. Doc Hafis sdg 'mengacau' kuali kueh tiau .. huhu ;)

Ini lah pemandangan ruang kecik kat puncak GBB .. Ngam-ngam jer utk gp kami 19 org .. 2 fly sheets (sambung) n 3 igloos ..

Breakfast time ..

Chit chat time .. found out that trip kali ni ada 3 org medical team brsama kami - 2 doctors n 1 staff nurse ! Doc Ramly, Doc Hafis n SN Arna .. ;)

Just before descend : One for the album .. right under the beirut of GBB summit .. @1430m ASL !

Start trekking down at 1000hrs .. i was the first to leave summit .. almaklumlah .. enjin 50'an nak kena start awal .. or else kena tinggal kat blakang la jawab nya .. hehe ;)

Trek masih basah n lembik .. akibat hujan lebat last nite ..

Leh nampak Genting Highlands .. from afar ..

1040hrs : Tiba kat Rock Garden .. Hahaha .. ada orang tu dah tercabut tapak kasut. Kasut but yg mahal pun xleh tahan dgn trails GBB ! Personally, i think kasut getah Adidas kampung tu jugak la yg paling sesuai utk trek kat sini ..

Ini la kot yg dkatakan Bunga2 n Buah2 tuh ..huhu ;)

Take 5 at Rock Garden .. brhenti brehat seketika .. To me this location is the best thru out the whole trails .. nice views, colorful stunted trees (leaves), cool mountain breeze landing on ur face .. n surrounded by nice wonderful sporting trekker friends ! What more can u ask ?

Bye2 Gunung Bunga Buah .. itu lah puncak GBB yg kami tdo smalam .. ;)

Perghh .. what a view ! OTW down jumpa 2 gps of trekkers OTW up. First was a gp of 5 ppl (4 KL Chinese 'oldtimers' approx in the 50's n a young Malay lady as their guide). The 2nd gp was 13 young trekkers in their mid 20's). All of them r doing day pack, meaning ascend n descend on same day ! Mmg dasat arr .. wa tabek springgg !

1110hrs : Small flat area by the valley .. lokasi berhenti utk solat asar (dalam hujan) otw up ystday .. Ilmu berwuduk guna air dlm botol yg diajar Ustaz Don Daniyal sgt berguna dlm saat2 mcm nih .. Jazakallah Ust Don !

Trek byk akar2 kayu ..

1130hrs : LWP - last water point. Just turun ke bawah 'sikit' jer ada punca air kat celah2 batu .. huhu ;)

Byk gak arr trek yg brselut n licin cenni ..

1220hrs : reached the jungle main entrance ..

Comot .. plus 2 liang gigitan pacat. Biase arr tuh .. x sah panjat gunung tanpa gigitan pacat .. ;)

Bunga ada .. tp mana buah nya ?

Finally, a welcoming view .. bangsal rumah pekerja Bangla kat ladang sayur .. meaning i've reached the original starting pt (main entrance) ..

1400hrs tiba kat parking lot ..mission accomplished ! Started trek down from summit at 1000hrs, so total time taken to reach ground zero is 4 hrs exactly .. Not bad for a 53 yr old man eh ? Actually masa trek naik (ascend) i took 5hrs, n turun (descend) in just 4 hrs .. Tq Allah kerna melindungi kami selamat naik n turun .. ;)

Balas dendam ! Pekena 2 gelas kopi-o ais cicah roti keras kat kedai mamak sebelah HSM Genting ... errkk ! .. alhamdulillah .. ;)

To sum up, this xpdc is mostly abt mental challenge. Imagine trekking uphill-downhill under heavy rain, basah kuyup, trek sampai malam yg gelap gulita pulak tuh .. Nasib baik bwk headlamps ..

Tiba jer kat puncak, found out that my sleeping bag n spare clothes including my favorite kain pelikat .. sume basah n lembab (wet n soggy) .. mmg cobaan n challenge betul. Cuaca mlm kat puncak tu pulak cold n chilly .. Nasib baik Doc Ramly (the only other veteran in this gp) offer i tdo dlm khemah dia .. at least dpt la panaskan badan utk elakkan hipotermia .. Thanks Doc !

Another challenge for this xpdc would be that every trekker has to carry their own ration of water supply. The nearest LWP (last water pt) yg ada pun is about 1hr 30 minutes from the summit ! Sapa nak turun amik air weh ?

Besides 100Plus drinks n other simple food ration, I also carried two 1.5L water bottles in my Deuter backpack - 1 for wuduk n istinjak, the other bottle for drinking. Sesapa yg bwk 'bladder' tu lg lah convenient. Utk istinjak kat gunung mudah jer, kami guna daun/lumut2 basah utk basuhan pertama, pastu baru lah guna sedikit air utk bilas .. ;)

This pic is the aerial view of GBB trail. We started our trek at ladang sayur behind International School (near rows of shop houses n Hotel Seri Malaysia) .. n ascend uphill towards old abandoned tar road, trek all the way to the left for another 1hr30mins, then uphill, downhill n uphill again towards GBB summit (gunung kat tgh yg diselaputi awan putih tuh) .. Naik 5 jam, turun 4 jam .. ;)

Akhir kalam .. TQ Allah kerana masih beri kudrat utk aku lakukan smua ini .. wpun dlm usia mencecah 53 thn .. ;) Alhamdulillah n Allahu akbar !