Hey guys! Guess who's back? :)
So I decided to share my first ever mountain climbing experience with you guys. This was long overdue post but what the heck.
Our tip was on 19/5/2015-20/5/2015. The thing is, this trip was a last minute thing. My mum wanted to go there so bad so we booked the tour a month earlier.After that, I just went online to search everything about hiking coz like I said earlier it was my first time. I found couple of blogs that are very useful for beginners like me, read them, list down all the do's & dont, and also hiking essential. Basically, these are some of the essential that you MUST bring along with you:
1. Headlight (you can get it for RM20 or below )
2. Raincoat (very important! the weather is unpredictable)
3. Hand gloves
4. A good pair of hiking shoe ( I don't have one coz it's expensive so I wore my normal running shoes)
5. Sweater (preferable waterproof)
6. Water +Energy bars
Some useful tips:
Ensure you eat something before hiking but don't overeating.
Be sure to know how to layers your clothing and don't pack too much stuff with you. You can charter a porter if you want.
Of coz, your stamina is the most important part in this entire trip. I've read somewhere that you'll need to have at least 1 year to prepare. Really? Not necessarily. If you have the habit of working out 4 days a week, it should be fine. Try going up the hills everyday so that you can anticipate the "excitement".
You'll need to stay for a night before you reach the peak. So choose a room where heater is provided. I don't remember the room that we stayed but there's no heater in the room and hot water in the bathroom. It was freezing!!!!Imaging shower with ice water!
Okay,lets get started. Basically, there are 2 trails to reach the peak. We opted for the normal trail which was at the Timpohon gate. So your mountain guide will brief you about the trail and what you'll be facing along the way. Better listen and stick to the rules. At 9:30am, our journey/torture began.
I looked so happy and excited without knowing what awaits me!
This is how the trail looks like at the beginning. It gets harder and harder as there's no stairs like this as you go higher. PS: The trail might be slightly different now after the earthquake incident.
Part of the trail that I found it hard to climb. Your legs play an important part here. So stamina is important. The funny story was we ran out of water at this point and there's a few more miles to go! We were exhausted and thirsty! Luckily we met some friendly trekkers from Penang and they offered us a big bottle of mineral water! :)
It was raining around 2pm! At first, it was just drizzling and then it started to rain heavily. Thank God we brought along our raincoat! And energy bar! Totally saved us from hunger....lol
This was taken between KM4-KM6...getting closer to Laban Rata...
You have no idea how excited I am when I saw the first rest house and it was around 430pm! Yes we made it after 7 long hours! No kidding!
Owh and you can rent the hiking poles from your guide. RM10 each!
So this is Laban Rata, the guesthouse. It's where you have your dinner & breakfast. Unfortunately we didn't choose to stay there :(
We had our dinner at Laban Rata restaurant (didn't took any pictures of food as I was tired as hell). The foods there was cooked fresh and tasted quite good I must say. They also selling things like snacks, instant noodles, medicines etc. Around 6pm, it was getting colder and darker. We had to hike a little to get to our room. Our room had four beds with each 2 at the side (bunker bed). It was quite small. And as for the bathroom, there are 2 shower rooms and 2 bathrooms. We had to share of coz. Around 8:30pm, we went to bed. I wore like 3 layers of cloth plus the blacket, and it was still freezing. Didn't sleep much and the time passed so slow.
Finally at 1:45am, I woke up alone and getting ready for the peak. This time, you'll only need your headlight and water. And of coz, your sweater as well! I went down to the restaurant to get my coffee fix. I didn't eat anything as I was still full from the previous dinner. Around 2:30am, met up with my guide and so the journey to the peak began!
I was't feeling too excited as I was alone but thank God my guide was kind enough to chat with me. He helped me a lot along the way! You'll need to get to checkpoint before getting to the peak. The trail to the peak involve a lot of rope. It took me 3 hours to reached the peak!
It was the first picture I took upon reaching the peak at 4092.5m above sea level! Beautiful isn't it? :)
Enjoying the view and my last piece of energy bar!
Till this day,I'm still in awe every time I look at these beautiful view!And it was freezing cold and peaceful! I like that...
Photos of me was taken by my guide. He's one good photographer :)
I'm not shy to admit that I'm so proud of myself! There are many times where I almost gave up and the fact that my feet hurt so bad! But thank God I didn't! I'd have had missed the chance of witnessing HIS beautiful creation. Feel so blessed!PS: Don't pose naked!
After spending minutes admiring the scenic view, it was time to bid goodbye and headed down back to my room.
Getting down was the easiest part but still you have to be careful coz after all, you're at 4092.5 meter!
It only took me an hour to get to my room. Then, we start packing and heading down to Laban Rata for breakfast. The weather was beautiful that morning. We were excited to hike down and then back to our hotel and get some good sleep! It was raining, again, on our way back down. We had to stopped and wait under a shack for a while. It was tortured for me as the trail turned to mud and my feet hurt so bad!!!! One of my toe nails turned to black! But I guess that's normal. Around 5pm, we finally reached the ground! At that point, we can't even jumped in excitement and shout Hooray! We just wanted to feel in our tummy with good foods and lie down.
And of course, you'll received this in color only if you reached the peak :)
I'm planning on the next hiking trip next year! Mount Bromo! Wish me luck!
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