Bukit Tabur West and East

November 22 was a public holiday in Johor. Our destination: Bukit Tabur in Kuala Lumpur. A few months ago, I had seen some of the photos posted by Tony Chin. Recently, I had also viewed the album put up by Wendy Tan. Never mind if you don’t know them, but rest assured these are veteran hikers. Wendy had offered to take about a dozen of the JB hikers to experience this very challenging trail. Because of the danger, hikers were by invitation only.

10 of us set off from the church car park at 6.30 pm, and even after picking up a fellow hiker from kluang (Ygie Woon), we should be able to reach KL by about 11 pm. But due to some unforeseen delays, we got to the north of  KL (towards Rawang) only around 1.30 am. Some bunked at Bob Chin’s friend’s vacant house while the rest of us got into the hotel. We had to get up by 4 am.  We headed East towards Pahang, passing by Batu Caves. By 5am, we met up with Wendy for breakfast at a Mamak restaurant, near Taman Melawati. We were also very fortunate to have Tony Chin with us, and his good friend, Johnnie, a veteran of Bukit Tabur. All three had been of tremendous help to us newbies. We also met up with Adrian and Jessy (whom we had hiked together at Gunung Angsi and Gunung Datuk). Wendy urged us to hurry up so that we could catch the sunrise. After driving a distance, we came to this narrow stretch of winding road. We parked the cars by the road side. At 5.45 am, Wendy took the lead and Johnnie would be the sweeper. Everyone had a head lamp as it was still pitch dark. The pace was too quick for most of us, and we were already panting as we hiked up the steep slopes. It didn’t take long for us to notice the KL city lights on our left. At 6.15 am, Wendy asked me to look right, there was a ring of light on a distant hill. She pointed out that it was Genting. Wow!

Genting Highlands @ Dawn

We continued the upward hike. More rocks appeared. But not as challenging as being described by other bloggers. 6.30 am, Wendy asked me to turn around. There was the heavenly cloud moving gradually above the Klang Dam. Streaks of light appeared to wake up the sleepy atmosphere. Everything else was quiet still. Just the clouds moving from left to right. Everything so serene (and surreal).

 

By 6.45 am, we had reached this small pinnacle of rocks. There Wendy told us to begin admiring the rising sun. As it had rained a day earlier, and today’s weather being good, Wendy said this was the best occasion to see the sun exuding its golden rays. By now more of the hikers had arrived. I thought that was it, and I told myself this wasn’t that difficult after all. Everyone had to choose his spot to rest, and there aren’t that many. Tony (the guy with huge biceps) had carried 5 litres of water and kettle. He boiled the water and made fragrant coffee. Being not too keen on coffee in the morning, I just made do with my own bottled water. We must have spent close to an hour with many pictures taken. And the sky was now bright and sunny. Wendy stood on the highest rock with one leg and spread out her body like a bird to pose for photographs. All this time I nervously bit my tongue hoping she wouldn’t fall! It was a heart-rending stunt. No, I wouldn’t do that even for a million dollars! But Wendy is special.

Here we posed for a first group photo.

Wendy Pose

Wendy said that we would return by the other side. I had no idea the type of challenges ahead. All I knew was that we would pass by a Durian plantation and then we should be on our way down to our cars. Now was the shocker. This whole stretch of Tabur West was a ridge. We were just at the beginning of a journey to surmount 5 mini and rocky “peaks” in order to get to the other side of the hill! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the first peak. This was where Wendy demonstrated her knowledge of the terrain, and the safest route to take. She knew every nook and corner and took the lead. By now I already had a few bruises on my knees. Knocking against the rocks is not funny!

Tabur West One of the “Peaks”

 One wrong step, and we would get into serious injury (or even death). In times like this, the only thing that I knew was to pray asking God to send His angels to charge over us.

Tabur Rest

Timberland Hikers

Tabur West Last Peak

We finally got the 5th and last peak. Here we would have to turn back so that we could now proceed to hike down the other side of the hill. We would pass through a Durian plantation finally to our cars. Although the highest point is only 456 m, this sort of obstacle course was something entirely new to us. Total distance about 5 km. We had snacks and rested.

Having come this far, the proverbial pot of gold is of course continuing to take on the East and then the Extreme. But we knew our limits, so we would now cover the East only. The East peak is like a sore thumb pointing vertical upwards (literally!). Our original plan was to walk to the end of the road and eventually crossing the river. However, Wendy noticed that the authorities had opened the gate valve of the dam, and the water level was quite high. So we got into our cars to drive to the foothill. Two parallel water pipes marked the starting point. By now, our legs were already wobbly. And from step one, it was steep upwards. I could hear one or two whispers about contemplating giving up. I urged them to go on. There was an overpowering determination to reach to the top.

Tabur east

 At its most scenic spot, we had the panoramic view of the Dam, which was now on our left. Everyone took turns to pose for photographs. Clarence and Jain Meng were experiencing crams. I gave them the athletic spray, which worked wonders.

Romancing On Rocky Ground

After another hill slope, followed by a sharp descend, there, before us was this “sore thumb”. Probably 70 m high, but gradient on the jagged rock was 75%. Only certain sections had ropes. Wendy said that we should not be too dependant on the rope (30%) as the ropes might give way. So we had to cling on to every little edges that would give us an opportunity to move up. This was really challenging (and dangerous). Eventually when we got the top the sense of achievement was emphatic. Hallelujah!

 To get down, we had to wait for everyone to get up first. Now was to descend. This proved more challenging than ascending. I had to feel with my feet any spot that was safe, and then slowly getting down one step at a time, with both hands clinging onto dear life. It was beginning to rain. There was lightning and thunder. That got our adrenalin pumping. Once we got the foot of the “sore thumb”, we could scoot off on the plantation trail on the other side. By the time I got down, it was already 3.30 pm. The height at the peak was only 358 m, and we had hiked about 3 km on the East trail.This was our first experience at rock climbing. Can always try again.