Gunung Yong Yap 5 - 6 November 2010

Last weekend I managed to conquer another mountain, Gunung Yong Yap. It's the 6th highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia, completing another one in my G7 list. That leaves another 4 to go, which are Korbu, Yong Belar, Gayong, Chamah and Ulu Sepat. Still a lot to go. I aim to finish this in 2011. It's doable actually, because Korbu, Yong Belar and Gayong can be conquered in one trip, however hellish it is, and Chamah and Ulu Sepat in another trip. My 2011 is looking pretty gruesome. Interested to join?

Back to my latest trip, Yong Yap. This trip, I would say as one of the torturous hiking. The track itself wasn't so bad, matter of fact I kinda like it. But the last 4WD drive was really taxing my mental health. I blame the raining season for this. It rained every evening we were there. So the 4WD track resembled something that can't be called a track anymore. More like just a strip of mud. And holes. Deep holes. Hey you can fit a small boy in that you know. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit haha. But you'll be scared shitless anyway when you see those holes.

So my Yong Yap itinerary went like this:

Day 1

4.00am: Arrived at Lasah, took a nap in front of a masjid, there was an open area for carpark

8.00am: Had our breakfast at a super cheap kedai. Seriously, we ate like Somalian and still everything totaled up to not more than RM2. We packed our lunch from here too

8.30am: Started our 4WD drive. This first trip wasn't so bad for us, we managed to joke and laughed since we were still fresh and hadn't realised yet what really lied ahead of us haha

10.30am: Arrived at Kuala Mu, a penempatan Orang Asli. Received our final briefing before the trip

11.00am: Started trekking. First obstacle, Bukit Taring was a track with a never ending uphill hiking

6.00pm: Arrived at Sungai Chinak (not sure about the spelling). Camped here, there was a knee-deep stream nearby

Day 2

6.30am: Woke up, prepared breakfast

8.30am: Started trekking again, this time with light load on our backs. Good for us too as the track here was even harder than the day before

12.30pm: Reached the peak, 7110 feet above sea level. Commenced the cam-whoring session

2.00pm: Started our descend

4.00pm: Arrived back to our campsite at Sungai Chinak. Took light late lunch here which comprised of Maggi mee, sardine sandwich and mushroom soup

6.00pm: It was getting dark already when we started our way out from the jungle. We readied our headlamp and trekked in single file, making sure everybody was closed together. It rained for the whole duration of this trekking

11.00pm: I finally arrived back at Kuala Mu together with the guide, while the others were pretty slow and last one only showed up at 12.00am

1.00am: Made our journey out on 4WD again. This was the most torturing part in the whole expedition. We were damn tired and soaked to bone already because of the rain before. And yet we had to endure another hellish trip which could kill us, literally. Many times we had to come out of the 4WD when it got stuck in the mud and tilted to its side at a very odd degree

5.00am: Finally we arrived at our parked car and it was a very very soothing view to our eyes. 4 hours of a hellish ride and I had enough already. No more Yong Yap for me unless they make a proper road to Kuala Mu. It's for the benefit of Orang Asli there too, isn't it?

Many people asked me, where's the fun in mountain hiking? All they can see is just torture, sleepless night on hard surface and lack of proper toilet. My answer to them is always the same, those things you just said are exactly the beauty in hiking. After you've been through hell and back, it makes you appreciate more of the comfortable life you have day to day. It opens your eyes to the things that you took for granted before. Try hiking for once and you'll get what I mean.

So, care to join me on the next trip?