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

Actually, sometimes I ask myself – why do I (and many others I have met along the way) love so much to go trekking, torturing ourselves having terrible headaches, having to cook and eat our own food, suffering from strained muscles, instead of relaxing ourselves on a beach resort, watching bikini babes run along, sipping on cool lemonade and playing water sports?

I think it boils down to a few reasons:

1. Satisfaction - Comparing the number of people who haved peaked Mount Kinabalu, for example, versus the number of people who have been to the Manukan Island beach resort… obviously, less people have been to the peak! And that is the satisfaction. Being able to say “Hey, I’ve been there, and not any tom, dick or harry can make it up there.”
2. Achievement - Sometimes we just HAVE to get there. Like… if I don’t climb this mountain, I’m gonna lie on my death bed unrest!
3. Health - While beach resort holidays are relaxing, it is also sometimes quite bad for health! At least, climbing up the mountain lets you put your muscles at work while on holiday! Not many get to do this during your day 9 – 5 job!
4. Company - When you have a close group of friends of the same interest, you tend to push each other… one mountain leads to another, automatically!
5. Nature - While the sceneries of some mountains may not be as beautiful as advertised, I think many of us just want to see “untouched land”, basically we are sick and tired of concrete walls. We want to see animals and insects, mud and soil, the clouds and the sun!

So which category do you fall into? To be frank, I even don’t know about myself. Does it matter? I just love it!

Tags: health and fitness, nature, satisfaction

Its been a month since I took that picture above in Mount Kinabalu, and unfortunately, my holidays are ending and there has been no other treks planned during the remaining days – everybody will start to get busy again with school work.

Really hope to stay in touch with trekking, its a momentum – especially working on water based treks like Pelepah and Berkelah (its been some time since I’ve been there!) You know you are trekking frequently enough when you realise you are walking on slippery rock surfaces and you are not worried about falling.. either because you have fallen too many times, or because you are so confident of your balance!

I hope to hang out with the next NUS Rovers committee again for a while, and join them for a couple of short treks.

Meanwhile – train for Tahan! Still must go!

Tags: trekking singapore

Its been a couple of days since I have wrote. I’ve been busy with my business and some personal matters – which is good news actually.

Its unfortunate, but my group of trekkers has decided not to go for Gunung Tahan this holidays. Originally, there were four of us, and later two dropped out because of personal matters. While the remaining two (which includes myself) really wanted to make a trip there, I personally think that taking up seven full days of my schedule will kill me, and furthermore, I am quite unprepared for the trip, physical fitness wise.

So I’ll give it a pass. My friend (the remaining one) is still joining another group of trekkers, from what I know, which is good for her too.

From what I heard from others, Gunung Tahan is (by far) tougher than the Kinabalu that I have climbed, the only thing though, is that the maximum altitude you can get to is over 2183 meters, so there will not be much problem with altitude. The campsites are reported to be small but the temperatures are all okay except for one which is cooler at night, so no need to lug winter clothes for the seven days.

Well… for a novice trekker like myself, Gunung Tahan still remains a dream, and like what a friend of mine said – it is the best, cheapest and nearest training ground for longer and higher peaks!

Tags: campsites, tahan

I think I should just post what I did up, just for recording purposes.

21 June 2006
We took a cab to Senai Airport at 6am for a morning flight to Kota Kinabalu Airport. The flight was for 2 hours, and we arrived in Sabah early in the day. After transferring to Trekker’s Lodge (our accommodation), we went out walking around town. Overnight at Trekker’s Lodge.

22 June 2006
Early morning transfer to Kota Kinabalu National Park Headquarters for Registration. We started off at Timpohon Gate at about 10:30am, reaching Laban Rata at about 4pm. Had buffet dinner in Laban Rata, then off to sleep by 7pm.

23 June 2006
Woke up at 1:30am to set off at 2am, to trek to summit for sunrise. Reached Low’s Peak at 5:45am, and managed to catch the sunrise. After that descend to Laban Rata for breakfast which was about 9am, and then started descending from Laban Rata at 10am. By the time we were down, it was almost 3pm. Transferred directly to Poring Hotsprings, having lunch in a town along the way.

24 June 2006
Spent the morning at Poring Hotsprings, wanted to trek to Lagadan Waterfalls but was unsuccessful. Had breakfast and lunch at the restaurant outside Poring Hotsprings (great food!), and returned to Kota Kinabalu Town in the evening, stopping by Nabalu Market for some souvenirs.

25 June 2006
White water rafting at Kiulu River (because Padas was flooded), and back to town by 4pm. Went out walking in the city again.

26 June 2006
First day of Basic Open Water Course, which is a classroom session. Ended quite late, at about 6pm. Went to get dinner at the roadside stalls.

27 June 2006
Second day of Basic Open Water Course (Shallow Waters Practical). We went to Police Beach at Pulau Gaya, where we learned quite a lot of the basic skills. We were also able to dive to 9.5 meters

28 June 2006
Last day of Basic Open Water Course (Deep Waters Practical). The morning session was more skills training and revision, and in the afternoon session, we managed to dive to 18 meters. It was a wonderful experience. Diving is fun!

29 June 2006
Free day spent at Manukan Island, doing Para-sailing, Jet Ski (super fun!) and snorkeling. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side, and we had to spend time under shelter away from the rain. I guess its good too, to have a good rest.

30 June 2006
Morning transfer to Kota Kinabalu Airport, for a return flight to Senai Airport. Again, 2 hours… and then back to Singapore and back home. Reached home at about 3:30pm.

Tags: sabah, white water rafting

Some things I felt about Kinabalu as I trekked up – Mount Kinabalu is very commercialised (and I think a lot of livelihoods in Sabah depend on it). The trail is very obvious and the technical difficulty of the climb is minimal, much less technical than even treks like Berkelah Waterfalls or Lombong Waterfalls, or Mount Ophir! Basically, there were just steps and more steps and more steps!

The route from Timpohon Gate to Laban Rata Resthouse is just like 2000 meters of steps! If you can climb Bukit Timah Hill 12 times at one go, then you can trek up to Laban Rata! (minus the altitude sickness thing).

Here is what it looks like.

I took 5 hours and 30 minutes to get to Laban Rata – which I think is pretty slow. Hehe… But with my minimal training, I guess I am satisfied that I reached anyway.

From Laban Rata onwards, however, the trail changed a lot. For the first one kilometer or so, there were steps, some parts even had real wooden steps build for climbers, and even though we were trekking up at 2am, it was easy. The last 2 hours, however, were barren rock surface. There was a rope laid on the ground to lead the way all the way up to the summit, and all you have to do is just to follow the rope.

That surface would have been so much easy if it weren’t 3500m above sea level, but when I was there at 4am in the morning, I really needed to catch my breath every ten small steps I took. Its quite a challenge, especially, knowing that you need to reach up the peak before 6am to catch the sunrise.

According to our guide, Laban Rata resthouse is full every single day! And that means approximately 80 climbers (including the other huts) trek up Mount Kinabalu every single day! Wow! That a huge number to be squeezing up Low’s Peak. Hehe. And its true – I hardly had a place to stand when I was at the peak!

Tags: kinabalu

All right! Its been a really long time since I last posted! Well, almost two weeks! While I was in Kota Kinabalu, I did have Internet access, but I guess it wasn’t too convenient to sit there for hours typing out everything, so I jotted little notes and finally today I have the time to put it up!

As a whole, the trip was awesome!

The great news is… yeah, I managed to get to Mount Kinabalu’s Peak (Low’s Peak – 4095.2m) before sunrise at 5:45am, and although the guide said that the sun is actually blocked by some clouds, I think the sunrise is awesome… simply beautiful! The weather was also wonderful – no rain or bad weather all the way to the summit! It rained on the way down though, but I guess I appreciate the good weather on the trip up, and it think that is all that matters.

Here is a picture I took at the peak!

Beautiful right?

Of course, there are things that I felt could have been better about my trek too. The gloves I bought up were not waterproof – I was in a “want to save money” mode after I got my trekking boots, and I didn’t get another set of gloves. Then, there were several parts of the trek which were kinda wet, and in some parts, I had to use my hands to assist my balance. My gloves got wet. As a result, my fingers were freezing when I got to the summit! It was literally numb, and I could not feel my fingers at times… and it was painful.

The other thing was also that I realise that I get quite bad Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)… or in layman terms – altitude sickness. When I reached the Laban Rata resthouse at 3000+ meters up, I was having a real splitting headache, so severe that I thought if the pain would not go away after sleep, I will not continue with the trek to summit. Luckily, the pain eased with rest and sufficient water and food intake. I pressed on with a mild headache, and I trekked really slowly, taking care to breathe deeper breaths as I ascended to the summit. It was a nice yet tiring climb up, but the satisfaction is all worth it.

The descent was painful too, on my toes. I was wearing two layers of socks, as advised by many who have been there, and yet, I could not escape from blisters from my first toe. Two of my friends used sandals for the descent, and it was less painful for them. I think there should be a way out for this – and I shall research into it. Could it be that my boots are too small?

The trek was only for the first two days of my entire trip. After the climb, we went for a night at Poring Hotsprings, White Water Rafting, and then for Diving. Sabah is a beautiful place, and I love it there! I feel I will make another trip to the peak again – maybe next year, when I am better prepared – better gloves, better fitness, and better camera!

Tags: sunrise

Yesterday evening, I was just walking around and I bought an electronic mosquito repellent. It is powered by a single AA battery and it is quite handy! Well, I don’t know how well it works to shoo away mosquitoes, so I’m bringing it along with me later when I leave for my Mount Kinabalu trek.

Will report back if it really works!

Anyway, I’m all packed and ready for my trip, my pack is really big and bulky but light, filled with mainly clothes! There is no need to bring equipment along for the trek, because ready meals are available in Laban Rata guest house, and most of the time will be spent in Kota Kinabalu town itself. Come to think of it, it takes less time to go up Mount Kinabalu (4000+ meters) than Mount Ophir (2000+ meters) – because we start trekking at approximately 1800m for Kinabalu.

So excited! Wait till the photos arrive!

Tags: insect repellant, laban rata, mount ophir

Yeeeah! Tomorrow I will be leaving home for the trip to the peak of South East Asia! So excited about it! Well, training has not been as often as I have wanted to, but nevertheless, I think with the right mindset, I can overcome whatever it takes to get to the peak before sunrise!

Will be charging my camera batteries, and buying more alkaline batteries in case my rechargeable ones run out for no reason. Heh! I MUST get a shot of the sunrise, and please pray that it does not rain!

Going to start packing right after this. I believe I already have everything I need in my room, just need to gather them together and into my bluey trekking bag. hehe… its been eons since I last set foot on a trek. Over six months! Time really flies when we get busy. Or did I go to Belumut this year? hmm… I’ve forgotten! Heh.

Alright then, time to start packing and get moving! I’ll be overseas for 10 days, but if I find an Internet cafe over there, I’ll do my best to drop a post! Wish me luck!

Tags: kinabalu

I was meeting up with the people who were going on the Kinabalu trip with me, and one of them was from an earlier batch from the NUS Rovers Adventure Club. In our conversations, she shared that during her times, she had went for the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek with one of the companies that the club is affiliated with, Country Holidays.

So we were all going “Wow! You’ve been there!” that kind of thing… and so we were all curious about the experience. Miraculously, she said that the trip was not as tiring as what a “14 day trek” would sound like, and I think mainly it is because most of the weight is carried by porters. She also shared that it was just like taking a holiday – just walk and walk and walk, enjoy the scenery and then in the evening, just settle down to eat.

Meeting up with these people who have “been there” is always an exciting experience, and I really yearn to be able to get on one of those trips in the coming years – a MUST GO! Hehe!

Anyway, recently there was a post in the mailing list saying that a few are organising a Technical Mountaineering Course some time next year… and I really want to get some hands on experience with the real stuff! I’ve been reading and talking so much about adventurers and mountains and all the nice places, and I’ve been aspiring to be like them! I think this is the opportunity for me to go for it! Its going to cost a bomb, but its a good motivation for me to earn some money!

Tags: technical mountaineering, trekking

I’ve been looking around Singapore to find the first aid kit bag that used to be selling for $6, but its been a few months and I guess I will have to settle with a more expensive one before I leave for my trip next week.

Of course, the better alternative would be just to get a toiletries bag – it will work as fine.

First aid kits are critical during treks! It is a MUST! However, there are some things that we all must know when bringing the kit out.

1. Check the kit before every trekking trip! This is to make sure that there are no expired items, and also to make sure that everything is waterproofed in the kit! It would not be useful if you drop your kit into the stream, and then have to work with wet cotton balls or gauze right?
2. Make sure you know how to use everything in the kit! Afterall, what is the point carrying something that you do not know how to use? It will become more of a burden… and it may even make a difference between life and death! Really, so get trained when you gear up, know how to tie your basic bandages, which creams for which symptom etc.
3. So how do you pack a kit? Apart from the regular list that you can get from your pharmacy, I think it will be useful to think and prepare… what will you use? For example, if you are wearing a new shoe for trekking this round, you might want to get prepared for blisters, so packing in some moleskin may be useful. If you travelling in wet weather or cold weather a blanket will be useful. If you are going to travel for long hours on a bus, you might want to get travel sickness pills from your pharmacist! Carry the appropriate things for the situation.
4. There is a need to balance! Its easy to get caught up and bring everything, but you don’t want to do that, because every extra gram adds up when you go trekking.
5. You might also need to get enough saline solution for washing wounds, because at the site of injury, you might not have a water source. You don’t know when things will happen during a trek!

I guess I better start packing mine for my trips soon!

Tags: trekking first aid kit