The Great Outdoors

Lata Naning

The Group Photo

It's been quite a while since the last time I have been there. I think the last was March, so that's almost half a year ago. Time seems to pass so fast. There was actually another hike that was planned a day earlier where me and Lilian did signed up but we opted for this trip instead. Maybe she liked the place as I am not particular where I hike. There was another hike the next day to Tabur but I will have to judge if I can do after this hike.

Like usual, I like to wait at the venue instead of the appointed place because I like to travel slower as my 'Kancil' can only do so fast! It's also safer as I have experienced once when I was younger, we convoyed in 4 cars to Port Dickson and one car was involved in an accident and two of my friends perished. Maybe, that's why I don't like cars travelling in convoys.

Chamang in the early morning.

I did't get a wink of sleep the night before and I was all ready by 5.00am. I asked Lilian to drive and we were already there by 6.30am. It was still dark and there were already quite a number of cars parked there. Before long the rest arrived and Alex handed me the name tag. There were almost 50 hikers at this hike and it seems Alex's system of name tagging and 'compulsory' filling in a form works.

The hike begins like this!

As usual a group photo was taken and a briefing was given. So, off we went! As usual with Naning or Rajah, the start is a killer! You practically have no warm up and it's steep. It's probably a 70 degrees incline. Once up onto the 'logging trail' the hike is a slow......................tedious hike of 4 kilometers. And as usual me and Lilian is always the last. We do meet a few slow hikers but we are usually the last. By the time I reached 'Matau' a name given by the rangers here for a flat plain where the 'logging trail' continued to a sluice gate for the river, I barely had time to rest, Siva was moving the rest on.We are going offroad now, into a jungle trail. It's already been 75 minutes since we started.

It's a long road.

I must mention that this is the 4th time that I am on this trail and I do know the trail well. I know what to expect and what lies ahead. I didn't see much of the hikers as me and Lilian was taking it slower as we did not rest. When we reached 'River Y' only half the group was there taking a rest. There was a jam as there was a large rock to climb down to the river. I took the 'shoes taking off time' as a good time to take a breather. Then after crossing, the 'putting on shoes' time was also a good needed rest time for me.

Breather at 'River Y'

After putting on my shoes, Lilian was already ready and so were the rest. We started off again but Lata Naning is not far from here. The trail from here gets more tricky. Narrow ledges, fallen trees, coffin looking like tree..ha,ha. Trees roots, overhanging branches and small stream crossings with a sudden descending and an immediete ascending after crossing. Just before reaching the ridge where we hike on a small ledge with a deep gulley on one side and the cliff of the river on the other, I suffer a small cramp on my calfs, both of them! I had to slow down from now on. I took off my gear bag and took out a bottle of '100plus'.

It seems my engine is slowing down. There's a shortage of fuel treatment in my fuel systems. I am like a diesel, slow but reliable with good torque but really bad on the acceleration and top speed. From then onwards, I knew I am going to suffer on the way down! I was already thinking of the return leg. I was the last to reach and Bella urged me to sit down. The rest were already enjoying the rest and many others enjoying the waters. Boy! they should see the water here in Naning when the weather was good. The waters that day was murky with fine sand precipitating the waters after a downpour. A few campers on the way down confirmed this when we exchanged greetings.

Lata Naning

I had a lunch of leftovers, ha,ha,ha. Leftover spaghetti that was brought from my own fridge. Bella had some, Patrick had some too. Lilian boiled water for a good cup of Earl Grey, my usual drink! I asked Alex, what time will we be moving out and he replied, " latest by 2.00pm ". So I have a full solid 105 minutes to rest. That should be good. It was drizzling a bit up there and the weather can't hold long, I've guessed. By 1.00pm, you can see many have started to pack up and some even are ready to move. Many have started down already and I don't want to be the last again. 

We started off too at 1.20pm and Patrick passed me a walkie talkie. He wanted to test the range and effectiveness. We started off and I kept a fast pace but my fast pace was never a faster than the other's slow pace, ha,ha. It started to drizzle and I was thinking of 'River Y' where I had an experience the last time. I crossed 'River Y' and Lilian was relieved and just after starting a heavy downpour started. Lilian took out the ponchos and also covered her backpack with he rain cover. I stuff both cameras into the dry bag which I was carrying. I was actually anticipating rain today as it has been the past few days. That was why I choose the 'dry bag' over the more comfortable back packs. The uncomfortable 'dry bag' makes my effort worthwhile afterall.

A sign never obeyed.......sigh!~

A while later my legs were paining again. My feet was wet as water has already soaked the shoes in and out. The shoes seems to be getting smaller in size and was like seizing my ankles and toes. The last toe was starting to blister. The pain got more and more painful after a while. We have no alternative and our choices for now is, either you walk in pain at the same pace or you slow down to decrease the pain and 'God knows', how long will the hike be? Without asking or answering each other, we continued on as fast as we could. To her, the choice is easier but to me, one square feet of skin is barely enough to take 100 kgs in a fast pace. It's like 4 bicycle tyres running on a normal car. The pain on the blister and soles were excruciating

We kept on going and tried the walkie talkie without any reply. I had a few leeches on the way, something I never experienced before on this trail. I kept toying with the walkie talkie to no avail but I accidently switch on the radio. "Might as well entertain me for a while", I thought. Even the FM reception was bad, I doubt the UHF transmission will be of any use in the jungles. It was like the last experience we had the last time from then on. We were alone in ponchos, legs paining, heavy downpour, clearing all the obstacles that comes in view and I was following and watching Lilian's steps without looking around.......except that this time it's still daylight. We know the trail well, so, after reaching this cut log, stream etc we know how far we were from 'Matau'.

Matau

We reached 'Matau' at 4.15pm which was fast compared to the first time we did. I rested a while here and tried calling Patrick. This time there was a reply but I can't make out what he said. The signal was breaking off so much. I took a 'pee pee' here and then set off again. Like the last time, after a rain, the mud at the logging trail will stick to your soles. It makes walking harder and the mud flips all over after your steps and some will end IN your shoes. Patrick called in to say he's already 3 kilometers on the logging trail. That means he was 25-30 minutes ahead. when I reached the pipeline, Patrick called in and said Bella and him has reached the car park. I and Lilian finally reached the car park at 5.05pm.

First thing I did was took off the shoes and socks and then sat there. I did not want to do anything else. The bathrooms was dry without water supply. There was one source of water though, outside the toilets. After Lilian cleaned herself up, she used a bottle to store water and clean herself in the toilet with that. I on the other hand, took off my shirt and then drenched myself and then walked into the toilet to dry up and changed into a set of dry clothes.

EC Chan was looking at me and said I am to take them somewhere for something good in Bentong. I was like , " HUH! ". I only know 'ice kacang' in Bentong and they said a proper meal was needed. I told them Janda Baik is a better place and they said too far. So, I just took them back to Bentong town and hunt for the place with the most customers. Ha,ha,ha. So much for a foodie. We sat ourself in a place called " Talk 3, Talk 4 Restaurant". There were 14 of us and it kind of intimidated the boss. He dared not take our order and instead pushed her young daughter to take our orders. Seems funny, if I was the boss, I will try my best to hold on the customers if you never seen a crowd before. So, we joked and ate and then paid and say our 'goodbyes' and left.

The Route

Can I called it enjoyable day? The friends and jokes was, the hike was painful but it never makes us give up. Don't ask me why, I don't know. So, till the next hike.