I know this is a little late to be talking about christmas, but I took a really long time to write this post as I did not want to miss any details.(It came to 5 pages on word) which might give some idea how really long this post is.
I had been waiting for this day for a while and I really wanted a break. I went on a road trip with five friends to Malaysia for the weekend and I wanted to make sure I had a record of this trip.
Day 1:
We all got up around 3 am Saturday morning and dragged ourselves (and luggage) out of the house, reached the Woodlands checkpoint around 4.30am.After everyone had arrived, we made our way across the causeway, picked up the car we had rented and finally we were on our way to Cameron Highlands!
We had one amateur driver (AyeKay) and one not so amateur driver (Psyphycom) and a good 10-hour drive ahead of us. Everyone was high and there was a lot of excitement in the air, no one remembered that we had not really slept much.
After singing along the audio cds for sometime, we started playing anatakshari, which diffused into just randomly singing whatever song came to our minds. The Malaysian highways were brilliant, much better than I expected. We went at 160 km/h most of the way. Every now and then they have 'Rest' areas where drivers can park and catch some food or go to the washroom or pray (for the muslims). Half way through the drive we stopped for lunch (chappatis, aloo sabji, srikandh and the mountains in full glory in front of us). After lunch, all the passengers started stretching out and falling asleep, leaving our poor amateur driver singing to himself so that he didn’t fall asleep also :)
The uphill climb was also not bad; the road was wide for a mountain road and with not many sharp turns (and No hairpin bends...which was an absolute blessing). Just when we were beginning to feel "not bad so far..." we realized that the car was flat out of petrol. Oops, we had spoken too soon!! There was no petrol bunk in sight and we were told the nearest petrol station was at least 10km away. We were lucky that our car did not stall anywhere and we did not have to push it uphill, all the way to the petrol kiosk. Phew! We were lucky!
And so we managed to reach the town of 'Tanah Rata' safely. On the map, it is shown as a big town with many streets, etc. While trying to find our hostel, we realized that it’s so small that you can easily miss the small 'gullies' (small, narrow roads) and reach the other end of town within minutes. After asking (what felt like) every shop owner in town, we reached our hostel. It looked very small and compact. The rooms had just a light and 3 beds, a small attached shower. Fan wasn’t needed, as it was freezing cold already (would have helped to keep the insects our though). There was hardly any standing space let alone room to keep luggage. Well no body complained.
We quickly got ready and left for a snack. After filling up our tummies a little, we went for a walk around town. The concept of the town was that there is a main road that runs across it and on both sides; there are small shops and houses, mainly 'restorans' (restaurants in Malay). After the long drive and sitting all the way, it felt good to work our muscles a little.
Soon it started getting very misty and dark, so we decided to head back. After dinner, we went to a nearby pub and played cards for sometime. So far everyone was still in great spirits. After planning what to do and when to get ready, everyone went to bed looking forward to the next day.
Day 2:
Everyone felt lazy about getting up early on a sunday morning (it was Christmas!). The only motivation was the jungle trek we had planned to go to. I had enquired at the hostel and I was told that the trails are all marked and as long as we kept to the path we should be fine. So we decided not to hire a local guide and just go by ourselves. ‘How difficult can it be’? It was either the best decision or the stupidest one we had made. After pouring over the maps, we decided to take Trail 10 up to Gunong Jasar and then from there join Trail 12 at the local tribal village ((orang asili)) and go up Gunong Perdah and then come down from there. Simple!
I asked our hostel manager how long would it take to complete the 2 trails. He said, "It will take 45 mins and another 45 mins. Just keep to the marked path."
There was a warning given for the Trail10-Trail12 route, "This trail is mostly a steep uphill climb, for the energetic. Those not up to it, can take the gentle Trail 11 down." Ha, gentle! Who wants to be gentle? I am sure we are all energetic enough, plus it’s all marked, we can’t possibly get lost!
After a good breakfast at a nearby restaurant, we made our way to the start of the trek, which started off from a privately owned nursery. The path was very narrow and not very stable, covered with leaves and slowly thick rainforest started engulfing us from both sides. It wasn’t much of a 'path'. It was jus space where trees and plants were not growing and leaves had fallen marking a trail.
After a 20-minute uphill climb, we reached flat ground. We were all so excited that we had already reached the 'summit'. The view was breathtaking. After a round of photos and all, we decided to continue walking. Just then, another group of trekkers came there, with a guide. We decided to ask the guide for directions and double-check where we were. He looked at us and said, "You haven’t even started on the trail yet. You need to walk another 500 m and there you will reach a fork, on the left is the trail you want to go to. Its a fully uphill climb." We were a bit stunned to hear that, as here we were getting excited about having ‘completed half the journey!’
He continued, "Be careful! Many have gotten lost in the jungle." The way he said it, in a low hoarse voice, I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie, where the local villagers warn Indi against doing something. "Don’t touch any plants. There are 'memory' leaves that will make you forget everything. Many have gotten lost that way."
(Yeah right!...that is exactly how your brain cells work!)
We decided it was better to follow him for sometime as he was going in the same direction. As I got down, I nearly screamed as I stared in absolute disbelief at the empty path in front of us. We had been just behind him but by the time we got down, the guide and the entire troop of 10 he was leading were nowhere in sight, as if they had never existed. It was freaky, to say the least.
We had no choice but to move forward anyways. About 40 minutes later, we came to a signpost that had showed us the direction we needed to take. We stopped briefly to check the map (as if it would have helped at all!) and have some light refreshments (luckily we had carried some water and biscuits).
It was completely uphill from there onwards for the next hour. We had been lucky that so far it had been quite manageable. The weather was also holding up quite well; the trees provided us sufficient shade and it hadn’t started raining or anything, yet. As our able 'leader' guided us upwards, making sure to inform everyone of everything that lay ahead, from slippery grounds to loose branches. Finally we reached what we (once again) thought was the 'summit'. The higher you go the view only gets better.
We took a break here and rested our really tired feet. All our pants and shoes were dirty. As we were getting ready to leave, we realized the down hill path was completely blocked off. Just then, a group of Germans, who were also hiking without any guide, reached the ‘summit’ and they suggested we try going further up from here instead. We did not really have any other option except we could try to go back the way we came. Somehow we thought it might be faster to take the uphill path.
The uphill climb had been very tedious but not very treacherous. We did not encounter any major problem except that occasionally we had to look out for slippery branches and sand that sunk when we stepped on it. The 'paths' we walked on were really made up of moss grown on roots of trees so they weren’t very strong and sometimes we were worried it would just collapse under our weight.
As we climbed higher, we realized that we were in the clouds, literally. It started pouring and all of us got royally drenched. I am not sure how much we walked, but after what seemed like ages, we reached the SUMMIT! No this time it was really the top most point of the mountain we were climbing. However from this point, the view wasn’t so good as we could only see trees from here. Now what do we do? It dint look like there was another path or trail leading there and seemed like the only way back was to retrace our steps. About that time, the Germans we had met earlier also came there. We decided to follow them, as they seemed a little more experienced than us.
Well, guess what, they disappeared! Looked like they were really experienced hikers and by the time we all got down from the summit into the rainforest itself they had gone deep in. To be quiet honest, at this point we did not where to go also, there was no clear path, there was hardly much clearing where we could walk. We thought going downhill would be easier than uphill. Well, we realized how wrong we were.
It was drizzling and the mountain was covered in clouds so visibility wasn’t too good. I was sweating from the walking and totally wet from the rain, so it was a very funny feeling. Somehow we encountered a lot more 'fallen trees' which we had to jump over and the path was very slippery. We had to look out on both sides, as if we slipped on either side, it would have been a full down the valley fall. We came to a point where the path ended where we stood and across we could see it. In between, there was no path. We couldn’t have jumped across as it was a too wide for that and if you missed, it’s a full downhill slide, whereto, no one really wanted to find out. There were some branches on the left and seemed like the only option we had was to get down on all fours and slowly move one step at a time to the other side. One by one each person crossed. I felt my heart racing as each person slowly tried to find the suitable grip and walked across. It was a huge relief when all six of us made it to the other side.
I really cant say how much more we walked as no one really kept track of it. Everyone was focused on getting out of there towards some civilization. Every now and then someone would spot a chocolate wrapper or a broken beer bottle and point it out. It was a sort of assurance that someone had been on this path so we couldn’t have been very off. We saw fresh footprints at one place and it kind of convinced us we were going in the 'correct' direction, somewhere. Then we reached a dead end. There were no more paths to take. There was a very steep, nearly straight mud path leading further uphill, which seemed impossible to climb and one leading downhill but it seemed to end abruptly. We stood there wondering what to do, where to go. We couldn’t possibly go back the way we came, for the simple reason that we really did not know how we got where we were, so we may just end up going deep into the forest.
Just as we were debating, guess who decided to come that way! Our friends the Germans!! Unlike us, they did not spend much time debating, nor did they dilly-dally around. One person just climbed up the steep mud path while another went downhill. The guy, who had gone down, came back up and reported there was no path there. They regrouped and quickly went up the mud path, effortlessly.
We decided to follow them and also went up the mud path. It was very steep and there wasn’t much to hold on to. The mud was very loose and slipped very easily. It took a lot of effort and teamwork for everyone to get to a little more stable ground. It was another good long walk from there before we suddenly reached an open space. Behind us was the mountain and all we could see in front of us were thick clouds. We were out of the rainforest but looked to be yet another dead-end. There did not seem to be anywhere to go. By this time, my shoes pants and shoes were caked with mud and also very wet from the rain and I started feeling cold.
Two of my friends went a little ahead to look for any possible path. Meanwhile our team leader spotted some drains leading down. We were actually contemplating following the drain path. It had to lead somewhere!
As if understanding our conversation, slowly the clouds began to clear away and we saw some sort of deserted power station in front of us. We tried shouting to see maybe if there was some guard there. The clouds cleared fast and we saw further down there seemed to be a house and someone going jogging. This raised our hopes and we started shouting and jumping, waving our hands trying to get his attention. He was too far and he couldn’t have heard us from where we were. But it was good to know we were not far off from people. None of us wanted to be stuck in the mountains and it was already 4.30pm and it becomes dark very early in Cameron.
All of a sudden the road seemed so close and we were sure that it wouldn’t be that difficult to get down. We didn’t mind sliding down the mud path either. Another one of my friends went to look in another place to see if it’s possible for us to get down and he discovered a proper path leading to the road. I think there were really no bounds to our joy at that point. We laughed all the way down. I could have kissed the road when I felt the solid ground below my feet. It felt good. When we reached down, we saw another board saying "Trail 12, Trail 10 and Trail 11". So we had been on the right path the whole way.
Of course now it was time for photos and a celebration!
We enquired around and found out that it was a 20 mins walk to the main road from where we could get a bus or taxi back to where we stayed, alternatively, we could also walk all the way back. Walking back would have been too much for us. Taxis cost 4 Rm to take us back.
Anyways, back in the hostel the nice hot bath was very refreshing and lunch/dinner at 5.30pm felt good. We decided we had enough walking for one day and took the car for a drive around town. The scenery was brilliant all the way. We stopped at a few places to take photos and basically admire the beauty and greenery around us. Along the way we came to a vast tea plantation and a nice teahouse, Cameron Valley Bharat Tea House. Hot Tea never tasted better! We sat there sipping tea and looking over the mountains till it got dark. Then drove back.
At our hostel, few of us we decided to rent a movie and watched 'Zathura' in the musty and smelly common TV room. Well, I fell asleep as soon as the movie started. All I remember was getting up and leaving after sometime for the room. A little while later a few others joined me and we were chatting for a while.
Wow what a day it had been! We had a great White and Green Christmas! Well what better way to celebrate than with your head in the clouds!
Day 3:
We had to get up early the next day as we had a good 10-hour drive ahead of us and also we had anticipated a jam at the causeway. Everyone fought the fatigue from the trek that had caught up during the night and got ready. First stop was of course breakfast at the same place as the previous day. After packing up all our things in the boot and taking photos with Mr. Kang (our hostel manager), we started our return journey. We made a quick stop at the Cameron Valley Bharat tea House and finished souvenir shopping.
On the way, we spotted a waterfall and decided to stop for sometime. It was very lovely. The water was very cold, but well that did not stop us from getting into the water. Well we only wet our feet though. We bought some hot corn and groundnuts to eat on the way. Overall everyone was very tired and most of the journey (except the driver), everyone else was happily dozing off. We managed to find some decent ‘dosas’ for lunch at one of the stop over points on the way back to Johor.
We made it most of the way without much trouble. As we neared Johor Bahru, the signboards started getting very confusing and once we reached Johor, it seemed like we were going in circles trying to find the place where we had rented the car. Finally after much enquiring we found the place. The owner was nice enough to drop us off till the checkpoint. Much to our surprise, the causeway wasn’t at all as crowded as we had expected it to be and we made it back to Singapore (and our beds) quite fast. That was the end of a very memorable trip.
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