Trekking Singapore and Beyond - The Journey of an Urban City Kid into Beautiful Nature

I had dinner with a couple of my Rovers friends a couple of days back, and as usual, we were talking about potential treks other adventure stuff we could explore. One of things that we brought up that appealed to most of us was a cycling trip to Desaru.

Cycling to Desaru is one very popular trip for many professional cyclists in Singapore - from what I know, the whole trip (one way) is about 70 - 90 kilometers, and it will take about 5 - 7 hours of to get there, Desaru is a beach resort, but I guess by the time we get, there it would be almost time dinner and a good night’s rest.

Besides, I doubt we would have the energy to play with out butts cracked and legs sore from cycling 70 kilometers!

I was supposed to make trip there once this year, but something cropped up (I forgot what it was) and I wasn’t able to make it eventually. This time, now that most of us are not burdened by school stuff, we hope to organise a group of at least 8 people (from our rovers committee) to make a trip there this early Feburary!

Let’s hope things flow smoothly, I’m really looking forward to some adventure!

Oh.. pardon me with the Datuk photos - I am planning to make some changes to this blog (making changes to the installation), so I will upload the photos when I’m done with that!

Over last weekend, I was over in Malaysia again for my Gunung Datuk trek.

The trek was pretty good - it was moderately tiring, considering its an all-the-way-uphill trek, but going up with a slow pace took us only 3 - 4 hours.

Unfortunately for us, the campsite was taken by other trekkers, and we had to find another alternative site, which wasn’t quite big enough to fit all three of our eight man tents. We still managed to squeeze in somehow, albeit there was like no space at all between the tents.

The summit was fantastic! The summit was like a 10 minuted climb from the campsite, and there were already ladders and ropes to assist us up the boulders. The setting sun and the nightsky was fantastic, and so was the sunrise!

One particular thing I didn’t like about the trek, however, was that there was no water source at the summit… well, not really NO water source, but the water source was 1/2 an hour away. So fetching water (both ways, up and down) would take over an hour.

Nevertheless, it was fun!

I was just surfing on by some other blogs and I came across this post about the Qinghai-Tibet Railway! According to the post, this is the world’s highest train journey with an average altitude of 4500m! Man! Look at those photos! Imagine travelling on a train ride higher than Mount Kinabalu!

The train provides oxygen to every seat, and over 500 kilometres of the track runs over the frozen earth! I’m so amazed and awed by what is going on outside my little country! I think this shall be “one of the things I must do before I leave this world”! What an adventure it would be!

Just a couple of days ago, India eNews.com published an article about Africa’s melting glaciers a warning sign for climatic change.

It says:

Over the past 100 years, the glaciers on Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak in Tanzania, have been melting away at an impressive rate, and scientists say the glaciers could disappear by the next century.

Here’s another article about Mount Kilimanjaro showing signs of global warming, written also, just about a week ago. It says there that an estimated 82% of the ice atop Kilimanjaro’s peak has been melted, comparing the models in 1912 and 2001.

Its sad isn’t it? At the rate that mankind is using up mother earth’s resources and destroying nature, how many more generations do you think is there to live?

I just read a blog called The Lost Globe, and the author Daniel is based in Australia. He explains in a very simple yet powerful way, that really answers to the hearts of many trekkers out there. Why? Why risk your life and take time to experience things that you don’t need to experience?

Why not? It’s the biggest adventure you could possibly take. It’s one of the most meaningful things you could possibly do in life. You should become a better person for it. Because to many people waste their lives working their butts off so they can sit in front of the biggest TV they can possibly afford. Because your life has no value unless you give it some. Because the planet is in a rapid state of change, culturally and enviromentally, things I want to see today may not be there to be seen in 20 years time

Wonderful stuff Daniel!

Finally, I will be going to Gunung Datuk, and its confirmed!

Gunung Datuk is located at Negri Sembilan in West Malaysia. According to what I know, the trek up will take less than half a day, but the view at the top is wonderful!

Here is what you get from the BOAC website

At 900m, Gunung Datuk is considered a short mountain and the hike up to the summit takes about 2-3 hours. The summit offers a splendid full 360 degree unobstructed panorama view of the entire state - you can even see the Straits of Melaka on a good day. To reach the summit, hikers need to climb up a ladder section near the top. Once atop, the summit feels windy as it is basically an exposed rocky outcrop and therefore can get a bit tricky to walk around on if there is a big group on top. This is a short interesting trek which can be completed by any reasonably fit hiker.

My journey there in December will take two days, leaving in the morning, and camping only one night there, rising early in the morning to see another magnificent sunrise from another mountain! I’m so looking forward to that!

Its been some time since I discussed about my Kilimanjaro trip. Well, I got caught up with the daily things in life - work, school, stuff like that, you know… but anyway, I am still on and keen about Kilimanjaro, despite the fact that my friend said that it is just a “long Kinabalu”.

Its the peak of Africa!

My brother just bought me a heart rate monitor today as he was returning from Melbourne, and I think that will remind me to keep myself fit and ready for Kilimanjaro when the time comes. 2008 Kilimanjaro… I must!

I guess I will be making another trip to Mount Ophir, and my first trip to Gunung Datuk this December with NUS Rovers… just want to get out of Singapore for a while. We’ll see.

Yeah we had fun! This was done by one of the participants! You know, when I first watched the video, its like… such a wonderful feeling. I got to admit - sometimes, trekking is not so much about the nature, not about physical training, not about conquering mountains, but about the friends we make along the way, cooking and eating from 5pm to 1am, and telling each other corny jokes as we lie to sleep in the same tent.

Awesome!

The Berkelah Waterfalls trip was simply wonderful! We did bump into a couple of issues, like having to take our breakfast before 5:30 (because it is the Malay fasting month), but all else was great. The group was very young and fun-loving, and I made many new trekking companions.

Oh! The rubber shoes were FANTASTIC for climbing slippery treks, and the thing is, its made of rubber, so it doesn’t stay wet! So it was a great feeling to wear dry shoes in the morning!

Anyway, the rubbish at the campsite is quite terrible. Its really really irritating to know that some people leave trash behind, and the look of it really stinks. How would you expect you sleep well when you have this 5 meters from you?

We as trekkers must always understand that by taking steps into nature, we are already destroying so much nature and all the eco systems and habitats. It is important to follow the golden rule - Take only photos, and leave only footprints.

Just yesterday night, a friend of mine called me and told me that one of the trek leaders of a trip to Berkelah waterfalls had to pull out because she had something urgent to settle, and she asked me if I could help to stand in… and yeah, it seems like a long while since I have get back to nature, and especially Berkelah Waterfalls, so I’m going!

Time to collect new photos of the toilet at the carpark, get used to walking on slippery mossy surfaces, and swimming in the natural jacuzzi of the waterfalls! I’m so excited about this trek because its was such a last minute thing - and it serves as a good time to do a refresher and recce for treks to run in Cynovate in the near future. I also need a break from everything in life, to keep my mind off all the nuances in the urban world and get back to greenery again, sleep with the ants, and experience the serenity of mother nature.

So well, I’ll update again after I get back! Oh! This trek will give me an opportunity to really put my rubber shoes to the test!