jom ke DuPont State Forest plak...

Howdy blogiedy.... Since hiking has made its way to my heart (fuyyoo...) as one of my current 'hobbies'... I decided to look for similar activities here. :D It does feel good to 'struggle', "sweat" and 'smell', to be in touch with nature :-) and bonus point if these places have spectacular views. perfekto!

Hiking kt Malaysia- the weather, Hot and humid, rainy sometimes. So, when u hike, u sweat a lot.... For me, it makes me feel so healthy and bergaya gituh (while hiking and exercising only, hate it when it happens in daily life :P). Having said that, I wouldn't say I dont like it otherwise... (pulak dah :P) Kinabalu climb was superfun because its colder and u dont really sweat as much, until Laban Rata... but it was too cold for my likings from LabanRata to the top, about 2-4celcius I think? gigilllll....

I joined a hiking trip organised by an outdoor group in the campus. They organise trips for small group of people  - usually around 9-11 slots, depending on the activity.

We went to the DuPont State Forest, near a place known as FlatRock village located in Hendersonville N.Carolina. Its about 2-3 hours drive from Charlotte. There were 11 of us. I was worried I might not able to keep up as I have not been in shape or in good stamina lately.... but it was ok since it was a mild hike, not very strenuous kind.

The sceneries are just breathtaking! This place is known for its beautiful waterfalls.
Upper Left: Triple Falls. Upper Right: High Falls.
Lower LEft: getting nearer to the triple falls. Lower Right: The HighFalls upclose.

ashlyn, mallory and i with Highfalls as background.

So Tempting... feel like nak melompat masukkk.... but water was freeezing cold. nehi nehiiii

Kuda breed "Tennesse walker"... cara dia jalan adalah sgt seksi okk
Besides hiking, people come for horseriding, fishing and  mountain biking as well....

 

Further up: Covered Bridge

After HighFalls, we followed the trail that goes pass covered bridge (which is on top of the HighFalls), and hike to this Lake, known as Lake Dense. Cantekknyee... if only airnya tak sejuk banget.

 

Ayaq clearrr kaan!

After spending an hour plus here, for lunch, solat (for me) and sunbathing :))... we headed to the next and final falls for our trip that day, the Grassy Creek Falls

Left Upper,Lower: at Lake Dense

Right: Grassy Creek Falls (the final waterfalls)

Then we followed a different trail back to HighFalls. From there, we hiked back using the same trail we came from back to the parking lot!

It was tiring... what more with the bulky camera I brought along... which I'm glad I did :-) Coz the sceneries are too good to pass for shots :P

On way back.... lotsa Farmvilles along the road :D

It was a great experience.

The weather was good dat day, temperature around 10-12 celcius, not too windy and not too sunny... just nice :D

The trail for the day:

Yellow line: trailing forward
Pinky line: trailing back.
Arrows: The stops :-
Triple Falls, High Falls, Covered Bridge, Lake Dense, and Grassy Creek Falls

Side Refences  (Hiking in Penang):
Kerachut Beach
Monkey Beach + Muka Head Light House
Bukit Bendera
Bukit Mertajam Hill / Tokun Hill
Bukit Jambul
Mengkuang Dam (jogging not much of hiking)

Mai pakat- pakat pi Tanjung (penang) :D ngeh  ngeh ngeh

@ Iklan tak berbayar
Sekian...

Janji Ada Gaya....

Last year, I went to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah with my family. It was an adhoc family trip, with most of our time spent in KK, shopping and driving around. We went to Manukan, and on the same day, we drove to Kinabalu Mountain Park, my dad and I taking turns to drive.

At mountain Park, we walked around the park for quite a distance. It was nice but we were quite disappointed as the clouds and mist were covering the mountain and we couldnt take photo with/of the mountain. I saw some people whom I guessed must be group of hikers... Looking at them, I wondered... "Will I, some day, get to do the same?"... but left the question to dissolve into the fresh mountain air.

On our way back after singgah Kundasang, the skies were clearer and the mountain can be seen... thus I could no longer focus on my driving. Atta suggested we stop coz he knew how badly I wanted to digitalize it in my camera. We passed by Pekan Nabalu that has sorvenir shops and an observation deck. It was such a magnificent sight and the question hit me again "Will I?"...... and told myself "maybe some day.... who knowss..."

There were lots of click and snaps, including this one bimbotic pose.
For this one, the caption in my facebook reads: "Tak mampu daki takpa, janji ada gaya"


Few months after that...... came a proposal from Zue to climb this mountain! What? Seriously? She had been plotting and planning it with Omyn and Kak Ilah was excited too when she got to know about this. My immediate reply was "YES", though I had doubts we were really gonna do this. Next 3 months followed with uncertainties, then somewhere in October / November, we had to confirm our participation. This time, I put serious thought about it.... and yes... it was a YES.


We told ourselves we need a lot of practise.... bla bla bla... tried, but not very consistent. It was not until March that we started to have goosebumps, butterflies in e stomach.... and motivate each other to really start practicing and work on our stamina... ergo the series of update on aktiviti cargas-cargas in tis blog.

Hence, the conclusions of this post...

1. The Impossibles can be Possible if we put our mind into it
2. Life is Unpredictable
3. BBs can do it
4. No matter what... janji ada gaya.... ahaksss.....

it's Bukit Jambul

I have been updating on places I go for work out.... I missed this one though --> Bukit Jambul.

We frequent this place long before our May-expedition plan. This place is in bukit jambul... obviously :P Near Inti College.

a short hike on tar road, then u'll see this track on ur left... usually we'll do warm up here before goin up the track.
There are 2 main tracks.... We are only familiar with the right fork... not sure about the other track, heard it's more 'muddy' (if it rains) or some sort laa.

One good thing about this hill is, the stairs... yaaa... the stairs! hehe.

B.Jambul can be a very short hike for those who are good with stairs... but can be a lil challeging to newbies.

I remember my first time, alongside with some other newbies. I was panting hard and kinda dizzy while another 2 vomitted on the way up. So never underestimate this place :P my first time... i think I took around 35 minutes to reach up. with recent ongoing work-outs, it took me 10 minutes to reach the top :-) happy!

it's a good start for jungle track hikers :-D recommended !
If you are practising for a bigger expedition, goin up and down for 2-3 times is highly recommended.

Once u reach the top, there's this hut where they have weight-lifting equipments available to public. Open gym kinda thing la. So hot hunkies with 6packs + toned muscles can have this spot all for themselves and work it out, man.... :P

And there's also outdoor gym equipment available... so u can work-out ur cardio as well :D

Left: the hut with weight equip, Right: the outdoor equip

or u can just rest....

and enjoy the view:

with a cup of hot ginger tea, crysanthemum tea or just plain waterfree for public.


sometimes you will bump into people who will be carrying one/two bottles of 5litre water to the top. The is water supply on top but the water pressure is quite low. Ouh, on the side note, there is a toilet too, so dun worry in case of emergency :P

Hehehe...

Okies, that's about it... Updates on my work-out places or aktiviti2 cargas recently. This photos are taken after our May-escapade (which I will update later).... this is to so-call warm down from our big hiking expedition... heehe.

Till then... up up up we go !

:*

Stamina bertangga ke Bukit Bendera

WOKES..... mari Cargas semula.

Kali ni ~ Bukit Bendera.

Bukit Bendera or Flag Hill is one of Penang's most popular tourist sites. One of its main attractions is the Cable Car... the other would be the view from top.


To reach Bt Bendera on foot.... there are quite a number of tracks... One from Botanical Garden (MoonGate), then another from Youth Park. Even from MoonGate... there are more than 1 track for us to choose from.

I went hiking there 2 times recently. We started from Moon Gate. There is another track - from the Jeep Route, so it's tar road all the way up. From MoonGate - hill track.

mula-mula... so semangat!

Then jadi mcm nyawa2 ikan bila tgk the stairs.... Stairs of Horror as Zue put it. Tgk je la... byk steps n curam2 jugak :{~

First station: Station 5 ~ here, we have outdoor gym instruments... Free drinks (plain water / chinese tea)- not sure on weekdays ada tak... and resting/lepaking spots.

CONTINUE:

Phew... no mo stairs of horror! but challenging nonetheless. Quite interesting track :-) Nice View along the way.

Our second Station.... Station 84 ~ Resting place and Plain water available.

From station 84.... we can choose whether to continue on hill/jungle track or jeep route (tar road). On our first time, since there were only 3 of us, girls... we chose the tar road since someone told us that the hill track is a bit confusing and we might get lost....

TAR / Jeep Route:
So here's our Tar Road journey, Hehe:
(marked Red - a track approaching from other fork) - this is where we tembus kuar on our 2nd trip.

Yeahhh..... Sampai...Jeep route 5.0 km :D for us: (2.5km from station 84 + hill trek, not sure)



Hill / Jungle Track:
The following week.... we chose the hill trek.

It's very challenging.. very steep and dirty :D but at the same time... nicer view :D
And actually we were quite lost... we were supposed to come out at 4.6km fork.... But we kinda pusing2 bulatan mana entah... and got out at 3.8km, hiking back on jeep route. taking us longer time than expected.



at 4.6km.... we chose another route... not jeep route.... and finally... made it UP to the TOP!




My rough sketch.....
Both these tracks start from Botanical Garden (MoonGate / JeepRoute).



Actually there are more tracks.... There was this guy who told us, they climb to station 5 and from station 5 they use a different track known as Bukit Pondan before exiting to station 84. Aikk bukit pondan? Never heard of it before... maybe next trip eh.... hehe

Ok Bukit Bendera sudah..... What next? :D

Monkey Beach & Muka Head Lite House

Hiking- Monkey Beach & Muka Head Lite House.

Last year and the year before, we went to Kerachut Beach. As story-moried before, Kerachut Beach has meromitic lake and we were lucky enough to have experienced both the phenomenons.

This time, we chose different track. Our target destination = Monkey Beach but the ultimate goal = Light House. For Canopy Walk, we had to take a different fork but we didn't as were not interested to do canopy walk that day.

Look at the board... Monkey Beach is also known as Teluk Duyung? Monkey is Monyet in bahasa and Duyung is Mermaid in English.... Hmmm.... i still can't figure out how to infer this. maybe there's some logical .. no.. maybe some mythical explanation to this :P

All the way, the sight of the sea can be seen / heard.

After around 20-30 minutes...


What caught our eyes:

We passed this building and the beach.... Continued our hike to monkey beach.

And the track got more challenging. The roots, the rantings... which is which pun tak sure daa..

A bit of stunts here and there:

And finally... Monkey Beach.. see any monkeys or duyung (mermaids) ??
Roughly 45minutes.

Yap..Boat Service is avalaible. But on that day, we decided to hike to and fro...

Rehat kejap.... 15minutes.

Then... Ok.. go on?? Hmmmm... the signboard says 1.2 km.. Well... only 1.2 km left maa..

But... OMG.... so la mencabar!!! curam nyaa.. hukhuk....

I was not prepared mentally for the curam-ness... but.. anyhow... after susah payah.... 3o minutes later.... all of us were up there!!! in the lite house... up and looking down at this:

looking over d horizon

Me in d lite bulp:

hmmm...
if I switch On the lights.. will my shadow be seen in the sky just like batman's?

Going back to Monkey Beach

We had our lunch at monkey beach... (kerusi, bench, meja disediakan)....

Sewaktu aku tgh melahap kepak ayam....

mereka datang untuk membuktikan point: "What? mermaids?? This is MONKEY Beach, ok... our Beach! so now gimmie ur chicken or I shall.......%^^&^%$#"


Agak scary, but pandai-pandai lah ... Finish makan cepat-cepat... they came in a group to get wat's left to be scavenged... diggin in the rubbish bins and all...

We hiked back....and we reached the visitor centre at around 2.30pm...

ERK.... My kasut terkorban otw hiking balik... huhu... Imagine hiking back with one side of the shoes ternganga... of course... by the time sampai balik.. jari2 ku sudah melecet... adeh...


BUT.... summary: MMG besss..... and Puas Hati !! :D

Menuju Puncak Gemilang Cahaya...

Back to Active Mode... Cargas! Cewah ...

I did gain some extra weight lately... but that's not the only reason why I am actively working out these days. There's this Cabaran bulan Mei.... a goal to be achieved and for that, I neeeed lotsa lotsa stamina! Stamina!!! phew.. @_@

Btw, it's kinda hard to keep up with gym since I am always on wheel back n forth from my hometown and cramped with workloads. But gosh, I really have to push myself now... May is just around the corner. Like one of my friends said "Semuanya akan berlaku dalam bulan April" Yessz....for me tooo! cramp lah semuanya. Hmpppt... takper, will have my redemption in May, InsyaAllah. Isytihar ia sebagai bulan bercuti-cutian... hehe...

To feed my rusty blog... maybe I shall update on my "stamina-seeeking" activities hor?

Here's one recent one. Hiking BM Hill, the Bukit Mertajam itself or also known as Hutan Lipur BM, or Cherok Tokun Hill.

The bukit :p on top of d hill, there's a stesen pencawang letrik. BM's trademark

 

With Kak Ilah, Zue, bullert and my sis, we started hiking at 8.30am. Kak Ilah and Bullert took 45minutes, I reached in an hour followed by Zue and Mely 10 mins after that.

So most of the journey up, I was hiking alone tailing Bullert and Kak Ilah and being tailed by the other two. It was tiring - sign that stamina tak cukup? huhu berjaga-jaga lah kamu. It was like neverending hike.. aduih... then after the last pitstop (tempat exercise), I thought it was just a few minutes away.... but no... it was not. But I made a point that I have to continue and reach the top no matter what.. so I just went on and on. "ayyoo di manakah kau wahai pencawang letrik"

Then a girl walked pass me, she looked very determined too. I tried to catch up with her so that I would not be hiking alone somehow.. haha. After a while, she stopped and asked "Berapa jauh lagi?" to which i answered "Taktauuu lah... huuu.. masih tak sampai-sampai ni" Hahhaha.... Her friends had stopped hiking at the last pitstop, waiting for her return from the top...

Catching breath... then both of us continued. She stopped when i stopped to catch some deep breath... and we continued. An elderly couple came down the trail and we asked "How much longer?" When they replied 5 minutes, we got excited... phew.

It took us more than 5 minutes... but we made it finally.....Kak Ilah and Bullert were lepaking, waiting for the rest of us. To mark our kejayaan menuju puncak.... here's a kenangan shot. Her name is May, we got her email to send her this pix. She's from KL and it was her first time hiking there... bagus, bersemangat :-)

Then, Zue and Mely sampai.. aikk with Marlina too... aikk and my bag? Zue was carrying it. Opppss.... Mely gave up on the bag after 3/4 of the journey to which Zue came as savior. And all the while, Zue who got thirsty and kinda dehydrated, carried the bag not knowing there's 2 bottles of water in it... Haha... adeh....all hell breaks loose when I opened the bag and teguk ayaq dengan penuh nikmatnya... wakakaka...

On our way back, we passed by this dog that I saw lingering at the same spot when I climbed. We stopped at the spot to snap some photos. This is view of Mengkuang Dam from Bukit Mertajam. Waa... kalau bleh slide trus sampai ke mengkuang dam kan besss....

Sedang asyik melihat permandangan.... i realised that Toby (yaa.. sudah ada nama, ok) was looking at us with a very sad look. If I was not imagining it, I think I'm kinda sure he was asking for water. Instinct.. hoho. or maybe because I read Toby's mind as his head moved in parallel with my water bottle. I tried pouring some water at the side of the road, but by the time he came near to drink, it was absorbed by earthground. Maka, sebab tu lah terjadinya adegan di bawah ini:

Tuang air dalam petak2 ini... Hehe dan Toby pun minum dengan bahagianya :-) Keshiannyaaa kat dia... Toby si mata Hazel.. This dog looked wellgroomed and had a tag collar. Not sure if he belongs to the stesen pencawang letrik. Guard-dog? But why is he outside the compound and loook so sad and dehydrated and kesian?? :( Marlina saw Toby again few days back and gave him chocolate... (ok, chocolate adalah dilarang ya lain kali sbb nanti haiwan dpt sembelit). Why is Toby still there? Kena abandon ke?? Huhu... sabar ya Toby, kalau aku naik lagi, bawak KFC snack plate kamu mahu tak?

Ok... Till then..

Marilah berlari-lari, berjogi-jogi, berpanjat-panjat.... yeehaaa...

photo credit: BB Fazz

Mother Nature memanggil-manggil

Detoxification after "Keracunan Ubat Gegat"

Destination: Taman Negara Pulau Pinang @ Penang National Park

This is our second group trip to Kerachut, the first in January 2008. This time around, there were 10 of us, 6 from previous trip. We started hiking at 9am from this entry point, with some kuih-muih and roti as our breakfast.

 all happy and bersemangat wajah... can we trust their stamina? jeng jeng jeng...

Some snapshots

There are few different trails, to Monkey Beach, MUKA-head Light House, Pantai Kerachut and some other beaches. We took the furthest trail - Pantai Kerachut... more secluded and has an unique lake... For more info, you may want to read this

Our motivation for this hike was: AYAM (yes, Chicken)...

In each of our bags, we were carrying a box of either Snack Plate or Dinner Plate from KFC, for our lunch. So.... you want chicken, you gotta reach destination first. Ha!
hike and hike, we continued hiking and trekking despite all the obstacles.... chewahh... obstacle konon...

uits but... dun play-play ok... we were stopped by Mr. bonzer monkey, with an intimidating look, provoking to snatch our food. But thanks to our teamwork spirit... we managed to overcome the threat... no worries... we didnt slaugther nor hurt that monkey in any way... haha...

And the challenging trek! the slopes and all... Proud to say, we reached our destination, the Kerachut beach after 1 hour and 45 minutes hike. (compared to last year - 3 hours) Well, this time around, we took less photos and most of us were in good shape and stamina... ehem ehem.... ahakss... (after one year building back stamina :P)

Ladies n gentlemen, what greeted us in Kerachut Beach?

There's this hanging bridge built across the lake+beach (as depicted in this pixxie below) Where the sea connects with the lake.

As written at the signboard:
The Lake that you observe is known as the meromictic lake. In Malaysia, this kind of lake can only be found at Penang National Park. As a matter of fact, the lake is only available at 19 places around the world.

Meromictic refers to the 2 layers of sea and river water which does not mix with each other. Fresh water is relatively lower in density as compared to the hypersaline sea water.

From the website:

Others attractions include visiting the seasonal meromictic lake, visible for only six months of the year. The lake has two layers of water of different temperatures. The bottom layer of sea water is normally warmer than the surface fresh water.

How different can it be after 6 months? Look at the picture above, where I highlighted the rock in red arrow and circle. That was the photo taken last week (May), whereas this photo below was taken last year in January, where i circled the exact same rock. (roughly around 11 am t0 12pm)...

The water levels and flows are different. In January, the water flows out from the river/lake to the sea, it was fresh water.

So dat explains the clarity of the water and how we swam and 'slept' in the water for hours forgetting the sunburn.

This time around, the salt water from the sea flows in (resulting into meromictic lake), water levels very high, and couldn't see how deep it was. As a result, we didnt jumped in the water at that same spot.

After feasting over the kfc chicks... We walked further down the beach, rested on rocks, only to be smashed by waves. Haha.. but that was fun indeed... The guys on the other hand chose to trail back few metres in the park to dip in the fresh water. Zuraini and I went there later to de-salt-ify and de-sand-ify ourselves :P:P~

Mandi-mandi... Lepak-lepak... 4 hours passed by in a flick of a lense...

To get back, we rented a boat. We have ealier placed a booking for a boat at the entry point (jetty), before we hiked.

Bumpy ride di lautan bertingkat tingkat :D

These 2 rocks are famously known for they are in form of some animals. Can u guess what they are?

We ended this trip with teabreak along Feringgi beach (Laksa, Rojak and Ais Kacang)... This trip also served as a farewell gathering for abang azrul who will be back to Lembah Klang. Good Luck and Best Wishes. Do join us, Parlimail bila-bila free wokeh ;-)

I end this post... with bak kata pepatah...

Berakit-rakit ke hulu... naik speedboat je bila balik...

Yeeehaaa..... Sekian, Terima Kasih