Last of the Dragon

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Hulu langat jungle trekking / river trekking/ abseiling - fuhlamak

Went with a small grp of friends to Hulu Langat. This trip was suppose to be a recce trip prior to the actual event for the Kiwanis Youth Camp so that we can familiarize with the route and be a volunteer during the actual day. We were suppose to meet the rest of the Kiwanis organizers/ commitees and Nomad staff there in Hulu Langat to start the trekking.

When we reached there weather is good and we were briefed the usual stuff and start our trekking in about 9.45am.. Being the first time there and an amateur trekker, I can say this is a very challenging route. Steep slopes and long route. Need a lot of endurance and yet we need to move on without much rest. Most of the Kiwanis committees are season trekkers and it’s a challenge to even keep up with them.

Nevertheless, after trekking for almost 2 hours, we reached the water trekking part. First it was easy but gradually it became harder as there are more rocks which you need to be carefull cos u may slipped. After another hr or so, we reached the abseling part. We need to abseil from a cliff with the waterfall beside you. At this point, we are at the point-of-no-return, which means that there will be no route for us to trek only but only the river. It started raining. And we were in the last batch to abseil down. By the time it was our turn, the water has turned from crystal clear to brown colour. Fearing that the water level will rise and swept us away, our team leader lead us to higher ground. The slope was 75 degrees slanting and bcos of the rain, the soil became soft and eroded under our every step. We practically have to crawl on all fours; grab whatever rocks/ trees/ plants/ shrubs to avoid slipping down. At 1 point, I even have to dug my feet inside the mud to get a grip. Our team leader (from Nomad) panic cos she didn’t know what else to do. Luckily, another Nomad team member heard us and came to us. He then brought us back to civilization.

I was exhausted and bushed by the time we reach back to the route. We still have to go back down the trek that we came up from.

As I’m writing this, my muscles are stiff and I walked like a penguin. My shoulder aches like crazy, bruises everywhere and the worst part is my skin were scratched from the shrubs/ plants and suffer from insect bites and now it’s getting very itchy.

The best part is I still need to go thru this again on the actual day. Hopefully , minus the rain