Freezing Cold Yong Belar

Saturday, March 22, 2014 , , , 0 Comments

The O.A.C members

Let me describe a little about Yong Belar if you haven't heard or know anything about it yet. Yong Belar is one of the G7 in Malaysia and is 2,181 meter (7,156 feet) in height. She is in one of the Titiwangsa Mountain range and is situated at the border of Kelantan and Perak. Also, this beauty here is the highest peak in Kelantan and, she ranks 3rd highest in Malaysia.

*peace*

Alright..! so now you know a lil bit about her, do I have your permission to continue my story? yes? My journey begins on Friday, where, I had to rush home from my uni straight after class; dumped my bicycle at home, took my car keys and drove straight home to KL so I could get home in time to meet my 2 other friends that will be waiting for me at my house. Thankfully, I've packed almost everything last week (mmhmm...! one week in advance due to busy schedule. :( ) so I only had to throw in a few more items before I was fully ready.


First viewpoint of the trail. 
(sorry for the irrelevant photo to my paragraph below, I was 
dead tired when I arrived cameron that I (and neither did my buddies) didn't snap any photos.)

We left my home at about 4 pm and arrived Cameron Highlands in time for dinner as our tummies are already grumbling, banging on the walls of stomach demanding for food. By the time we arrived, all of us were already tired and all we wanted to do after dinner was to have a good bath and have a good's night rest. Well, we were instructed that we should meet them at a nearby mosque at 6 a.m. It didn't took us long before all of us doze off and have wonderful dreams of fae beings, flying pegasus, and unicorns surrounding and greeting us with a warm welcome. Okay, the dream part, is just pure exaggeration. In reality, I couldn't really sleep and I woke up several times, walked around the room aimlessly trying to see if I could disturb my 2 other roommates. (Please don't put me in your room next time alright?)

6:15 a.m. at the mosque

At approximately 6 :15 am, we arrived the mosque and decided to wait for everyone so that we could have breakfast together but everyone wasn't exactly ready. We waited for half an hour before we decided that we'll go have breakfast first, then, join them for another round to get to know the rest of the hikers.

Hi! :) 

The Land Rover Defender is my first 'Dream Car'

And there's also the Toyota Hilux to pick another batch of us up.

We joined them later and socialised with them a lil before we left the shop we're dining at to a secondary school where the 4x4 will be waiting to pick us up. We loaded the bags in and then sat behind with the other fellow hikers. Sitting behind the truck and looking at how they arranged and tied the bags reminded me of India, where, their public transport, like the train and buses is jammed pack and full with people. (Oh yes and if you would like to know, we paid RM 100 per person for the guides and the transport into the start point.There were 20 of us so each 4 x 4 could hold 10 of us)

One of our guide. There were a total of 3

That's the other guide; the one with the olive tied up hat.

Staircase to heaven, maybe?

It took us about an hour before we reach to our start point. The guides introduced themselves and gave us some advice before we start climbing the stairs. (Make that a really really long and disconnected flight of stairs...!) And then, we had to pass these pipes. The pipes were all over our path and it wasn't a few metres but, a whooping few kilometres worth of pipes we all had to cross!

A climbathon fest I must say!

The pipes we needed to cross. 
Trying hard to balance and not fall so our shoes would stay dry

When we realise our effort will be wasted because our shoes WILL get wet.

One of the lady said: "Mari saya belanja air 'Paip C'."
Translated from Malay means: "Let me treat you a 'Paip C' drink"
(Paip C; pun for Pepsi.)

Some birdy's nest we found in the shelter

The burning was 2 weeks ago and it still smells. 
Its such a pity to see them go away like that.

One of the hiker told us this used to be the first viewpoint. 
But;unfortunately, all was burnt down. Only ashes of these
plants remain.

We didn't quite like the pipes though as it kinda spoils the whole 'jungly-feeling'. The 'pipe-route' was about a quarter of the whole trail we're hiking. There were lots and lots of flora and fauna around us, a much wider variety than compared to my previous trip at Jerangkang..!



I think if I'm not mistaken this is the first view point during our hike

"Kem Tudung Periuk", the first campsite

Say, do I look like the Hunchback of Notre-Dame? 

Well, we thought that, with all the smoggy haze and the dry weather over at KL, there would be no rain but - little did we know, mother nature decides to pay us a visit. An icy cold visit. It started raining! As the weather was already cold, having rain down pouring (not to mention that there was also wind blowing all around us!) is really, a bad bad situation. I only brought with me a fairly thick fleece jacket. (way to go missy. wayyy to go.) So, Bryan ended up giving me one of those disposable poncho. And, it ain't flattering and I suppose I do look like miss Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Say Hi to Ashley! 



Whilst waiting for the rain to stop, 
Ashley spotted a lone monkey by the tree. *snaps picture*
*shss* you don't want him to hear you! 

Along the way, we made lots of stop and at one point, the rain was pretty bad that we had to stop and shelter under the mossy-filled trees. It wasn't enough but at least it prevented some of the rain from falling on us. My thin, garbage bag like poncho wasn't even enough to keep me warm but nevertheless I felt very much thankful as it was better than nothing!

Pitter patter.

This is our campsite. Can you see that everywhere is soaking wet?
(This photo was taken the day after, though!)

After about 10 hours of hike (with rest included), we arrived our campsite and rain was down pouring    really bad. Night was falling, and my instant home is not done yet! Me, Ashley and Bryan were trying to work but our body and limbs, especially, didn't really feel like budging! My fingers and legs were stiff, cold and it turned pale that my brain started shouting from behind "frostbite! frostbite! frostbite!" and I started imagining the worse that could possibly happen. (I tend to get a tiny wee bit overboard with my imagination sometimes.)  Bryan, on the other hand was more reasonable as he was worried for us that we may get hypothermia since the guide told us there were 3 girls that got admitted to the hospital right after the trip due to the freezing weather.

Say, I'll put a bookmark here first. I'm going to continue in Part 2 okay?

Till Part 2,


P.s: Part II and III is here already!
Part II: http://alifeasamortal.blogspot.com/2014/04/freezing-cold-yong-belar-ii.html
Part III: http://alifeasamortal.blogspot.com/2014/04/freezing-cold-yong-belar-iii.html

Cleo Loong

One of God’s many creation on planet earth. Here are just some of the things I’ve learn thus far from life and I believe there are many many more lesson to come in this journey.

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