The Great Outdoors

HABU LOOP aka Thompson Graveyard Trail

The happy riders before the hiking starts!

I was a the Boh Plantations a few weeks earlier in Habu, Cameron HIghlands and I rode up and I knew beyond there was more interesting places as I did a ride there many, many years ago but with just the two of us, I did not venture far from the tea house. So, I created an event to venture further beyond and invited many but only a few took up the offer to ride and those who did agree to ride was the few more adventurous riders.

Baru mau start!

The day arrived and I was surprised to see Chris and WK! This will make Alexander's day more interesting. We were a bit late and Alex was already there waiting at a coffee shop nearby. Quickly we set our bikes and moved out. Actually, one of the toughest climbs is the beginning as we have to ascend 500 meters in a span of 6 kilometers. To make it worse, it is the start of the start, no warming up! The greenery actually did make situation more calmer.

The fact that I like this ride is the tightly knitted group and who were in no hurry and regrouped often. Little did I know that this is a trait that will be much needed later ! We reached the tea house and made a 'pee-pee' stop and later ride up our bikes straight into the factory compound and had tea and cakes. We lounge a while before we started off again. 

Riding in the tea plantation was really nice!

Up and up!

We were just starting to descend into the valley and the scenery was mesmerizing. It really soothe all our tiredness we are feeling in our legs. Like the pages of a book, the beautiful scenery kept revealing by itself. We came to a small settlement of plantation workers and there was this big...... enormous bougainvillea plant. Actually "bougainvillea tree" is a much better description. And it was in full bloom too. There were a few of them there. Life is so unhurried and nobody bothers the tree for so many years and I think we human should treat a plant like that. After all, it's a life form too.

Taking shelter in a shack!

A few moments later, it started drizzling but we kept no heed of it until it became a heavy shower. We took refuge in a storage shack for a while and we even crawled into the shack via a small opening on the side. We even had a group photo inside....hahahaha!

The rain slowed down and we continued and then reached the edge of the tea plantation. Here the picturesque scenery is replaced by virgin jungles. The trail has become from tarmac to concrete laid path but it was still wide enough for a car or lorry. We kept riding and riding until we reached an 'orang asli' settlement called Pos Mensun. The place is called such because it lies beside the Mensun river. 

Wild boar as a pet, anyone?

We even spotted a wild boar here and suprisingly, the wild boar is domesticated and reared by the locals here. Lilian snapped her chain and I joined it back under an orang asli's home with the locals peering out at us from their windows.

Once done, we continued and it was pouring by now. We can hear the roar of the Mensun river beyond us. The trail has now dwindled into a single track now. It is shown in Google map because it used to be wide too but nature has took control on part of it with the locals here using only a small motorcycle most of the time.

Hiking or riding or both?

It was steep and slippery. Most of the time we have to come down and push the bike. So much pushing that most of us decided to push it all the way instead of mounting and dismounting. We were practically hiking now. We kept on to the trail and most of the concrete can't be seen already but the trail was obvious. We are hiking along the banks of Mensun river and even cross the river a few times, there was bridges , off course. When we reached the next 'orang asli' settlement, it was already 3.00pm. Little did we realized that, we have been pushing our bikes for almost 8 kilometers ! If it was not raining heavily, the trail can be ridden and only WK rode because he was using a mountain bike. I also noted that there was many markers on the trail and later I found out that this trail is known as " Thompson Graveyard Trail " to the mountain bikers.

Muscleman under the tree.

We spotted a small shack selling local cakes and immediately we headed there and ate as much as we wanted. We did not have any food since this morning's breakfast. It was still raining but after a while we decided to continue and the trail now is clean and wide but was very steep on both going up and down. Most of our brake pads were worn off already. 

We connected to the Sg.Koyan /Bertam highway finally and it was almost 4.00pm already. Alexander had to rush off since he needs to take advantage of the remaining daylight to ride back to Kampar. We wished our goodbyes and greetings and he headed off first leaving a few still hungry and tired riders behind. Before Alex rode off, WK had already shot off to the car with a mission in hand! He was to bring a car back and ferry the car drivers back to fetch our cars while the remaining riders will ride as far as we possibly can towards Ringlet. Most of us have swelling calf muscles after pushing our bikes for 8 kilometers in the jungle trail.

Tired, hungry but relieved!

While we were resting on the side, 2 caucasians bike tourers came to us and chatted. They rode from Kuala Lipis and were trying to find a place to spend the night before heading to Ringlet. They were tired and they seem to know that the remaining part of road to Ringlet is steep! So, they adamantly stayed put even when I coaxed them to finish the last 15 kilometers. 

The rest of us, 8 in all started off towards Bertam valley. Maybe we can find a food shop in Bertam to wait for WK to return. When we wanted rain, the sun came out and hit our backs! It was actually hard to pedal and the road from here onward is all uphill, in some instances a 9 percent climb. We stopped a few times to regroup because we broke into two packs of 4 each. We managed to do about 6 kilometers and was resting under a shade because Irene has started to get cramps already. Here WK showed up and then took me, Clement and Irene back to Habu to get the rest of the cars.

We retrieved our cars and headed back as fast as we could to the rest as it was already raining very heavily in Habu and the rain was fast approaching Bertam Valley. The rest was out in the open with no shelter for miles. When we reached them, they were smart enough to fold the bikes first and this was the factor that we all avoided the rain , just in the nick of time. Plan now was to get ourselves cleaned and I told them to head to Brinchang and take our baths first at the public toilet before we plan the rest.

After the bath, we wanted to eat but parking was scarce and we even had to take turns to shower. One to stay in the car while the other take their bath. When all are clean and refreshed, there was still no parking space. So, I suggested 'Jin2' for steam boat in Kea Farm. When we reached there, the situation there was the same and the jam heading towards Brinchang is still there. In fact the cars were jammed till Tringkap. I am sure we will not head back to Brinchang or Tanah Rata now with the jam.

All this makes the hardship worthy!

So, we headed to Kampar, maybe to invite Alex out for dinner. After regrouping in Pulai, we got no answer on Alex's phone so not to disturb Alex's sleep, we headed to the nearest and good food, IPOH!  We choose Wooley as the food there has more choices and parking was easier. We had a feast there and food never tasted so good before and this is because we had no food since 6.00am this morning.

We decided not to convoy and said goodbye to each other and headed straight back to KL!