bukit tabur @ taman melawati

Still feeling the post-excitement feel from Taman Negara, the original 4 from TM trip organised a hiking trip to Bukit Tabur last Saturday. There were the 4 plus Andrew's friend, Vincent's bro and CCH (aka Mr Slippers or The Slipper Man).

To the uninitiated, Bukit Tabur is part of Klang Gate Quartz Ridge. The ridge is the longest of its kind in the world and the dam is situated just right at the other side of the ridge from Taman Melawati. The geological phenomena of the ridge is one of its kind in the world and along the journey, we came across lots of quartz crystals scattered along the trail. At one point, we actually came upon a huge rock (exposed part about 3-4 times my fist size) which is actually a huge piece of crystal. I tell you ... the sensation is like seeing a big piece of diamond right in front (unfortunately, I was too awed with it that I did not take any pic ... stupid me). To add to my info and pics : http://www.worldisround.com/articles/93703/index.html & http://www.nst.com.my/Weekly/Travel/article/FeatureStory/20060418140210/Article/index_html

It was a clear and beautiful morning, albeit a little bit hot. We had breakfast at Melawati town centre and proceeded to the starting point which is a few meters away from Klang Gate Dam entrance. The first 10 - 20 meters are normal jungle trail and which is quite steep. The trail turns to rocky and really steep (60 - 70 degree inclination) from the first view point of the dam. The weather had turned rather hazy but nevertheless, the view was spectacular. I have stayed in the area for close to 20 years and I have not hiked this hill before, so, I was naturally awed by the superb scenery. The trail turns to narrow as we began our ascent from one ridge to another.

However, the real challenge and danger began at the 1st rope point. Trail is narrow, some parts are so narrow that only one climber can pass through at any time. As we actually climbed from one hillock to another on top of the ridge, the cliffs on both sides are approximately 90 degree drop (vertical). On top of that, there are a lot of loose rocks. The most difficult part is getting from one hillock to another. It's either a 90 degree free rock climbing, using ropes to lower ourselves down from some massive rock or at one part, literally jumped from one rock to a rock wall with extremely narrow crevices (just sufficient for half of my foot to hang onto).

It is such a dangerous route that someone actually sprayed some chinese words (graffiti!!! how disrespectful to nature!!!) on a huge rock at the 1st rope point which means "Do not go on, turn back!!" A wise warning indeed!!! Someone from another group (he has been there 5 times!!) accidentally fell into a ravine but he managed to stopped himself from slipping down further. Thank God for that!! His friends started to call the Civil Defence department for help. Lady Luck was on his side as an experienced climber passed by, took one look and decided he'll be able to climb down and help him. And he did!!! Whoever you are, sir, you were the hero of the day!!

I do not know how else to describe the trail. Some parts were so narrow me and Soo had to "hug" some rocks so as to let others passed. I was shivering and thirsty (oh! if any reader decides to go, please travel really light and bring more water! And put another bottle and cold 100plus in your car!!). Poor CCH who lost his shoes in the gym on Thursday and had to climb with slippers. Not his fault really coz all of us (except Andrew and Eng Sum) had under-estimated the difficulty of the climb. He had to climb barefooted at some parts and swapped shoes (and slippers) with Andrew at others. It was quite funny really with Andrew climbing first, took off his shoes and threw down to CCH who would donned the shoes and climbed. And passed the shoes back to Andrew.

We climbed from the eastern part and got down from the western part. Had to trek through a durian orchard (too bad it's the wrong season) which was really steep. But it was rather interesting to see wooden huts where owners of the orchards would stay overnight in during fruiting season.

At the end of the trip, I was glad that no one was seriously injured (scrapes and minor bruises here and there). I told myself never to go back again but looking back, oh well, I think I will be more prepared next time!! :-) The reward of the climb is truly superb as you can see from the pics below. However, I am rather disappointed as the pics are unable to capture the sheer steepness of the cliffs and I missed a whole lot of other picture opportunities coz I was shivering from fear :-( There will always be another time I supposed ....)