Bukit Berembun or Is it Berembun?

                                         One of the nice falls we encountered.

Weekend is coming again and my wrist is still in pain. Patrick was suggesting simpler hikes as my wrist was still healing from last week's fall. I replied, " Why not try to finish what we started last week." He answered, " I am all for it!." I think my wrist is manageble, so I thought!

                                             Patrick and Bella looking fresh.

So, same place same time as last week. This time, we have Bella to join us on our exploratory hike. My car broke down at the last minute, so I have to walk to the designated meeting place. It's not so far from my home. At 5.30am I started from my home with a backpack, another bag filled with my hiking shoes and a camera bag with a hiking pole dangling from somewhere. I was apprehensive whenever I saw motorcycles passing but I was facing the traffic. Sigh............... such is living in KL. They were already there when I reached the 11th mile toll plaza so I hopped in and off we go via the 'Lekas' highway.

Patrick and me looking really fresh.

We went to the same 'mamak' shop in Seremban that we patronised last week. We then proceeded to the trail head in Pantai after that. It was only 7.00am then. Without any further delay we put on our hiking shoes and backpacks, switched on the GPS and off we went. We went into a branching trail that we didn't do last week and further on I saw that the trail on this path was more clearer. I also noticed the trail follows the meandering river. It was not steep and the hike was pleasant but there were many fallen logs to clamber over or go under. Some is so big and with my hurtful wrist, I can't go over it but to take off my backpack and go under on all fours.


The forest here was really virgin as mentioned on the notice boards and I mean really virgin. There are no plastic markers tied to trees and no paper trails, just thick carpet of fallen dried leaves which means leeches! After an hour we can hear loud gushing of waterfall and detoured into a smaller trail which leads us to the waterfall. It was nice and refreshing. We took a few snaps and made our way back to the main trail. The trail was still meandering along the river banks. Many times the trail detours around obstacles like fallen trees. After 2 hours hike we came to the end of this trail with a large rock blocking the path. We were still near the river. Patrick clambered up the slope beside the boulder while I and Bella watched.

                                              Wonderful trail

I then noticed an assembly of rock. Three rocks to be exact, one atop each other. A few metres towards the river is another formation which means we have to cross the river. We hollered for Patrick to return and we cross the river afterwards. We looked for signs of trails after crossing but didn't see any. So, We went up the slope and we saw another trail there. On the right was a big fallen tree with branches fanning all over and the only visible trail we saw was to the right. We hiked for 30 minutes before I felt it was not right. We were hiking with the flow of the river while we should be doing the opposite, againts the flow. I checked my GPS and call them to regroup. I told them we are hiking back to our original position and we should go back to the river crossing. They didn't objected so we hiked back to our original position. As we proceeded, I felt some stinging in my abdomen. I told them to carry on and and when they went out of sight, I took off my pants and undies. There it was! The little rascal was among the hairs. I pulled it out and threw it into the bush. It was hitching a free ride with meals thrown in. What a bargain! We have been practically pulling off leeches all the time since the hike started.

                                                              Relaxing at the falls. 

Back at the fallen tree we regrouped. I told Bella about the leech and she wanted to hear nothing of it. Too obscene for her. Ha,ha. Here, we either have to cross back to the other side and try another path or............ I told Patrick to see if there are other trails beyond the fallen tree. He did not see any but I asked him to climb over the trees anyway. He did as said and once there he saw another trail. So me and Bella would have to do the same too. After some effort, both of us are also over the other side.

We are hiking in the right direction now. Again, we were crossing rivers and hurdling over obstacles, dragging leeches off our limbs. There's also a part where we need to splosh through ankle deep mud, black coloured slosh! We have to do that under an arch of low growing vines and leaves. After a while still in the mud we need to go over fallen trees and this mud wading went for about 30 meters. My shoes were covered with the muck and Bella very ladylike managed to keep her socks clean. I wonder how she manages that! Patrick was practically wading through the muck but he was wearing an Adidas water shoes. So, not much problem while luckily for me I was wearing an ankle height shoes and today it has proven it water proofing capability. Bella was complaining of hunger now so we chose a nice riverbank spot and took five. I was not really hungry but I rewarded myself with the big bottle of 100Plus I carried in my backpack. This seems to be the perfect time.

 

The creek where we had lunch.

The inclination of the trail started to increase from here onwards but not that acute. It was still very gradual hike. There were more leeches though. As usual we were checking for leeches, spraying Mosi Guard avoiding hanging vines, climbing over fallen trees and going under them. After another hour or so, we came to a large overhanging rock, much like Bukit Kutu's but smaller. I recognised it as 'Gua Kambing' from the blogs. I can now confirm that we are on the right trail. Hooray! for that.

Patrick and myself resting in Gua Kambing.     

After resting, I told Bella and Patrick to continue on as I am giving up. I needed the rest. They urged me on and was willing to wait for me to completely rest. After half an hour, we mounted our backpacks and continued. We stone hopped over some rocks here as there a water source here. At some point, Patrick who was in front started laughing, while looking at the trail. I knew what that means and when Bella reached, she sighed ! When I saw the 60 degree inclination that leads to infinity, I gawked! After a few minutes into it, I hollered to Patrick and Bella to carry on. I am going back to 'Gua Kambing'. They discussed for a moment and after reassuring that I will be fine, they carried on. Patrick came down to get the camera from me. At least I have a picture of the peak.

While they went up, I trundled down. At 'Gua Kambing' I took out my fly sheet, no, not ground sheet but fly sheet, and laid it on the ground. I wanted to rest, whatever sheet will do! I sat on the sheet and took off my shoes. There was three fat slugs feasting on my blood. Took them out and it was bleeding. I took my first aid kit out and wash the skin puncture with Dettol and plastered it with Band Aid. Pulling the one at the rear of my left leg was hard as my wrist can't seem to be able to grip it. I then went to sleep. After an hour I woke up and there was bees and some black bugs flying all over me. There were thirsting over my sweat. I took out my lunch (cheese sandwich) and slowly munch it and gulped my 100Plus. I was enjoying my little party alone in presence of solitude! Wonderful.

At 2.30pm, I called Bella on  my hand phone. My Celcom line had a bar but Patrick's Digi is dead! Bella's Maxis rang once but she did not pick up and after a few attempts her's too went dead. I can hear thunder and dark clouds were looming past. I am worried about them and also the rain if it comes. We have cross so many rivers and if any one of them swells, we can't go back. Hiking in the dark is still OK as both me and Patrick carries torch lights but we can't do anything about river swells. Only thing we can do is pitch a tent and stay under it for the river level to subsides. That's why I have a fly sheet and cords in my back pack. Then at 3.00pm, I can hear their voices and I was relieved.

Bella at the peak after the 6 hours hike.

By the time they are down, I was already long packed up. After a few minutes rest, we started down without delay. Going down is the same story, detouring over obstacles, climbing over them, going under them but at a faster pace. Back to the sloshy part, then back to the fallen tree and cross the river. After here, I can rest assured as this is the major river crossing. We had a rest here and ate some dried fruits, dates and raisins to be exact, brought by Patrick. After a while we started back without delay and hiked as fast as we possibly able to, just to save daylight time. I was sweating profusely at this pace and my spectacles are all blurred with sweat and I can't wipe with anything as everything on me is wet. We just kept going and going and finally we reached the car park at 6.00pm. Whew! it was still daylight. Patrick went to the river to clean up while me and Bella changed into dry clothes. Then Patrick came back but we were too tired to doing anything else. Patrick was tired too, so he postphoned leaving for a while. Imagine myself, if Patrick is that tired, I can sit there all night if he wants to.


We rested for 40 minutes before we finally hopped into the car. We were hungry but nothing in Seremban really fancied us so we decided to head straight to KL for dinner. We went to a 'Yong Tow Foo' shop in Bandar Mahkota Cheras. It is a branch from one of the few famous ones in Ampang. My wife went there too to fetch me and we had a good and satisfying dinner. When Patrick stood up after the meal, there was blood all over the chair. Seems Patrick is having periods, ha,ha,ha. There was still blood suckers in his butt. The shop's waiter gave a 'yuccckish' look after seeing the chair before taking it to the back to wash.


The total distance I covered was 14 kilometers and moving time was 4 hours. So, I can presume that to do the peak, it is a 5 hour journey one way although it might just be 9 kilometers to the peak. Funny fact is, the peak was measured at 682 metres asl in the blogs but the contour maps in our GPS states the peak at within the 1000 metre line. Proof of that is Patrick recorded the peak at that height too. I was in 'Gua Kambing' which recorded 660 metres asl on my GPS while my watch recorded about the same. Did they hiked another peak?

             A trail blazing hike - not that we want to!

                                                         Grand trees!

One day, I chanced on a blog about Bukit Telapa Buruk and the 'B24 Liberator wreckage' which is in the adjoining hill of Bukit Berembun. The hills is situated in Kuala Klawang which is not too far away and actually the hill can be seen from Angsi's peak and vice versa. It is just across the Kuala Pilah Highway. I researched about the trail head and anything about the trail. Most importantly the routes and way points of the trail. It was almost non-existent. So, we are going blind!

                              Nice! but at RM1900, I need to scarifice many lunches.

On 24thJune, Patrick wanted to test out his brand new Garmin Rino 650, so I suggested we try to hike up to the wreckage. We met in Saga Highway at 6.00am and off we went via Silk Highway to Lekas. We were chatting and missed the Lekas HIghway but no matter, there are alternate routes to Kuala Klawang. We had breakfast in Seremban and it was raining quite heavily.

After breakfast, we drove to Kampong Pantai and soon we reached the trailhead. I was familiar as I have found out from some blogs. At the trailhead is the Pantai water treatment plant and there was a worker there and I asked him if the trail to Berembun is there. He confirmed but the hike to the wreckage will take 8 hours averagely! I was stunned and was not prepared for this so we settled for Berembun's peak.

                                                        The trail head.

So, no guide, no experienced hiker, no coordinates just a confirmed trail head, we started up the trail. After a  while, we came to a junction and we pondered which was the one. We took the easy one and as it continues, the trail was not maintain at all. At certain points, it was impassable. we took the hard upward way on the right. Now, there are no trails, just a heading for the peak. After much difficulty, we met a another trail after 150 meters elevation gain. We followed it but it also became obscure after a 20 minutes. So, we were zig zagging all over the hill as there were no trails. The hills has some of the most beautiful untouched trees I have seen but between them, there was also plenty of those spiky palm trees. My clothings were jagged and my backpack was too. Leeches was having a feast too! Patrick was not spared either.

I discovered that my camera was not hanging on my backpack. I told Patrick that and I backtracked to look for it. I was searching and seaching , back tracking all the way 100 meters down. That's elevation not distance! I still can't locate it. I gave up and hike up again, all over again. Just as I was going up the last slope, I saw it. I pick it up, dusted it and continued on. I shouted to Patrick that I found it as he was helping to look for it too.

We kept going up and up and then a check with the GPS proved we were not making progress at all. We then headed East which was the straight heading to the peak and this prove to be an agonising hike! Obstacle, go around it, fallen logs, climb over it. We have to trek very carefully too as it was steep and also the fallen leaves was so thick making treading it tedious. We started at 8.20am and it was now 11.30am and there was no distinct trails.

                              The agar wood tree. The sap flowing out was burned!

The heading took us to a large rock formation and my guess was this could be Gua Kambing's top. We headed down to try to circumnavigate around the rock to find an opening but there was none. Disappointingly, this was not the 'Gua Kambing'. It was a dead end too as we cannot find a way round the boulders so we can only go down. Then we can hear river flowing and we headed down the valley. Somewhere here we found a trail, very distinct so we followed it. Just before the river, the trail was fading too but we continued down the river. It was peaceful there, only two of us and so we took a breather.

                                                   Nice and clean river.

Across the river, there was also a steep climb but no trails were seen. GPS reading says the peak is to the South East. We trekked up all the way up and try to locate any trails at all, but there was none. Probably, the trails  didn't come so high up yet. It was 540 meters before we stopped and the peak was supposed to be 682 meters. We hiked  at the constant elevation but it was not easy as the fallen leaves was thick and the spiky palms was aplenty! Again, we come to a rock and I saw a bald patch there, so I sat down and rested. It was already 12.30 pm now and the peak looks so far in the GPS.

We decided to head down and so we back tracked through our GPS. Somehow or rather we always can't recognise the trail although we passed just a few hours ago. we seem to side tracked a bit and then intersect our original path and then back to the original route again. Somewhere here, I fell and sprained my wrist and also my neck was aching. This is not good at all! Slowly and painfully, I trekked down to the river again with the use of only one hand. I nearly fell many times but we reached the river again. We had lunch here and I drank a lot of water here. Putting on the backpack also has become an effort.

                                                                  Patrick in the light!

It is already 1.20pm now but we should have enough daylight time to head out again. we were quite prepared too and water was not a problem in this hill, plenty of it. My wrist was still painful after a rubbing of analgelsic cream but as they have said before, " Going back is mandatory! " After finding and losing the original trail we hiked this morning, a check with the GPS shows that the car park was just less than a kilometre away but a steep downhill and no trails at all, just densely protruding trees shadowing the spiky palms and sea of fallen leaves all over.

Thinking about my paining wrist, I then ask Patrick to barge through the woods downhill. That's the fastest way out. It was steep and I was without the use of one hand so it was harder for me than Patrick. The car got nearer and nearer and then the original track that we hiked this morning near the starting point was beginning to merge. I told Patrick to head for the morning's trail and after 10 minutes we were at the original trail and after just another 20 minutes, we were back at the water treatment plant. I rested there for a moment while Patrick still wants to explore other trails behind the water treatment plant.

                                      Well, I can still smile so I am still OK!

The next time, there definately will be another attempt, I will hire a 4WD to ferry me all the way to Telapa Buruk's peak and make my way down to the 'B 24 wreckage' and then to Berembun's peak and out via this trail again. Hopefully, it won't be too far away. As I can see, not many hikers hikes here, there were not even a single marker at the hill, not even one! The trees here was really majestic! I never seen many large trees in one hike.

We drove to Seremban to feast ourself at Yee Kee's Beef Noodles. I took the large one too and I 'walloped' it like a hungry beggar. Don't ask me if it is nice because I don't know! LOL.

                                     Too hungry to know if it is nice or not!