Gunong Lambak

22 July 2006, Saturday

Finally discovered the difference between 'gunong' and 'bukit' on my trek on Gunong Lambak, Kluang, near Johor. Why is Bukit Timah not called 'Gunong' Timah? Because even the hike up to 'base camp' was twice harder than the hardest on the BT trail... and the entire ""hike"" (deserves a double inverted commas) turn out to a climb for me....80% on all fours, 5% falling and the rest ....I don't know what I was doing.... The itinerary stated that it is a manageable hike with ""a bit"" of rock scrambling with only ""some"" "" steep"" sections, but I guess I should have known better to trust guides who have been to the Nepal mountains(6000m!!) and the Kilimanjaro I've read about in "A Girl's Adventure - travel across Africa, anyway, anyhow" by Jacqui Tomlinson. (I love, I want!). Just 50m into the trek and I was secretly cursing myself in paying money to suffer....

Anyway, I actually grow to like climbing up... though I again rediscovered the disadvantage of having short legs (the greatest regret of my life) ... some people could stride up but I had to leverage on my arms to clutch anything that came my way - rocks, roots (I think I've touched every root there...) even thin-as-stick-insects twigs stuck on the ground, to the dismay of my guide Aileen, without whom I would have died on the mountain, I think! And to add to the drama, it had to rain ..... but every cloud has a silver lining; if it hadn't rained, we wouldn't have enjoyed the scenic view of Kluang and beyond.... with only a slight mist covering the interesting-looking mountains afar.....

But just as I soon got the hang of hauling myself over "gentle" slopes that extend to the height of my waist, I soon discovered going down is actually the bigger hurdle... if there is no one around, I would have let go and just slide or roll down the mountain... but of course Aileen was aghast at the idea and patiently guided me where to put every(!) step... KK was 'helpful' in showing how to do the 'Tarzan' thing - swinging from tree to tree but it's just not my cup of tea.... and all that talk about having low CG (which short pp are blessed with) didn't do me any good either...

Along the way, I met warm local folk who enquire about my falls (as advertised loudly by the dirt on 50% of my pants, front and back) and these pp really put me to shame ... comparing their slippers with my rugged Columbia specially made-for-trekking-on-rough-terrain boots. Just like my Brookes, I don't deserve my shoes...

I was so glad to reach the bottom of the mountain I could have hugged Aileen or any tree.... but I wouldn't want to repay them by soaking them in my sweat.....

and oh.... if you are interested to know, after all that adventure, I discovered I did not climb a mountain at all.... according to the Great Geography Teacher (GGT) C, Gunong Lambak falls 90m short of joining the mountain club at 600m.....