gunung: going, gone
Yup, that about sums it up for me.
Some imp-ressions from my nasty Mt Stong trip:
Night 01 - 29.4.05
Moi scampering like an overloaded camel from the cab with Loon and his Loonette into TP Railway. Felt so like Amazing Race. The moment all 16 of us boarded the train at 9.30pm it immediately started to chug along. We had stalled the train service for 25 minutes.
Day 01 - 30.4.05
12 long hours of rocking, squeaking, shaking, jerking, rumbling, grumbling, whining, groaning, straining, chugging, screeching, puffing.
Hardly any sleep. My book (A Year In The Merde) as soporific failed. Annoying lights. Dead bugs in suggestion box next to my head. Bed next to entrance-exit door and pot chambers. Feel the bliss.
Mood meter: upbeat
Day 01 - 9.30ish
Dabong Station. Literally 'in the middle of nowhere'. Derelict, oh so kampong, tall lalang on 1 side of track; modern, half-developed structure on other. Ain't Kelantan quaint.
Breakfast at Le Cafe Machik, a makan stall a la 70s. Stretch arm and you touch wooden beams on ceiling. Food as gourmet as those from Ubin. Bon appetit.
The Malaysian guide appeared (costly but mandatory). Skinny monkey named Yo (duh) with cocky attitude and loose mouth, oily shoulder length hair, long shiny black leotards beneath PURPLE micro hot pants.
Mood meter: *eyes rolling*
10.20ish
By large sand pit. Sampan boarding to other side of river in rich teh tarik colour. Can't recall if anyone tried to taste it.
Mood meter: thrilled
11.30ish
Going up to 'Stong Resort' *snort*. Hottest and crammiest coach trip ever. Windows all sealed. Noon microwave. 16 chickens roasting in a fucking rotisserie, sweating in hell.
Mood meter: burning
12.00ish
Reached resort. Togged and geared. Set off. Hobbits heading up Mt Doom.
1.30ish - 3.15ish
Very steep inclines. Lost half me weight in water. Fat sizzling off me pores... Cocky rushing us like a demented mountain goat without a thought. Bloody nerve. Mood meter: irritable... Something stinking to high heaven - that monkey dumped shit pile somewhere in bushes mid-route ahead of us. Bastard... FUCKING HEAT. Lots of laggards now. Panting like bikers in Triplettes of Belleville. Cocky taunting us. Irritating asshole. Worst than Ophir. Feeling weird now. Are we there yet?! MERDE. Why did I come?? Mood meter: dying... Some feeling faint. Others feeling fine. I feel like a grape squashed under Hagrid's heel... Cocky still rushing us like crazy. Am so not enjoying this. Feel so close to kicking his bony yoyo ass...
3.30ish
FINALLY! Base camp. Every cell and bone bursted with relief. Breathtaking view too.
Mood meter: 'Feeling like Sunday morning...'
4.00ish - 7.00ish
Pitched tent and went waterfall hopping.
1st waterfall: Nice
Great curtain of smooth granite surface and flowing water. Climb 1.5 storeys high onto surface and slide down waterfall. Lots of lookers but few takers.
2nd waterfall: VERY VERY NICE
Smallest water curtain. BUT the IMPACT and SPEED and NOISE - awesome! Great for shoulder and feet massages - just sit under the OSIM water curtain and let it pound away.
The main thrill - dipping into hidden potholes with waterfall gushing above you.
You hold your breath, drop into hole and stand in there as long as you can. Totally submerged (someone had better be around to hoist you up or else...). A nearly 2m tall Scot in group jumped in one and totally disappeared underneath. Roar of the waterfall deafening even underwater.
Scary but super exhilarating! Unbelievably cold too (my lips turned purple) but worth it.
3rd waterfall: Ok lah
Twin waterfalls snuggling next to each other. Game over. Next.
7.00ish - Midnightish
Unpack. Laundry. First au naturel bath at 1st waterfall - chilling, dark, funny.
Dinner. Small talk. Nice chats with Alan the Scotsman and Karki the Nepalese ("It's spelled 'c-a-r-k-e-y'!").
Giving summit a miss this time. Too dead tired to even bother.
Mood meter: damn shack but recharging
Day 02 - 01.5.05, 6.30ish
Hardly slept a wink - even less than in train. Incessant nattering from 2 human flies in tent all night. Humid, not chilly enough. Grumpy as hell from lack of sleep. Woke up to catch sunrise. What a letdown - foggy and cloudy. Can't see a damn thing. Hovered at cliff face for photos and breeze.
11.00ish - 2.30ish
Troopers went back for seconds at 2nd waterfall. I passed to try book soporific again. Peace and quiet - lounging on mat under tree. Nice and drowsy. Dozing off, almost in lalaland... Clowns came back - ruckus. Shit. Prepare lunch. Loon said he slipped and dropped digicam. Double shit. Clear up.
2.30ish - 4.45ish
Broke camp. Dismantle. Pack up. More delay on account of Cocky. Getting on me nerves. Finally, descent. Surprisingly easier and faster than expected.
5.00ish
Foot of Mt Stong. Hurray.
Alfresco shower - awkward, freezing cold but cleansing. Just chalked more years of rheumatism, that's all *sigh*. Ate my last apple - simple pleasure yet so divine, glad I brought them.
Mood meter: utterly drained, refreshed, pensive
6.00ish
Waiting for that moving microwave of a coach. Sky overcast. Rumbles. Shit.
7.00ish
Queuing to board sampan. Sky threatens. This is sooo not good.
7.30ish
On sampan. Halfway across river. What's that haze in front of us???
7.31ish
*Sampan enters drizzling rain patch*
Mood meter: FUCK
7.34ish
Rain pelting bathed skin and hair. Mad scampering onto sand spit. Bags ruthlessly dumped on sand. Feet flying.
Mood meter: (off the chart)
8.00ish
Total drenched chickens strolled into Le Cafe Machik to find it totally packed with other trekkers.
Mood meter: punctured
8.30ish
Soaking wet. No empty tables. Queue neverending. Sleepy as hell. Thirsty as shit.
Madame Machik speaking in tongues, me feeling tongueless. Imagine Marcel Marceau trying to buy casava from a Masai.
Thank goodness for a kindly Malaysian trekker in the group, making sure we got our stuff. "Lima goreng puteh, ayam dan telur. Ini, ini lah..." Learnt something new that night.
9.00ish - 10.00ish
Great nasi ayam dinner. Guzzled everything despite spying Madame's cooking tongs for frying the ayam falling onto dirty floor minutes ago.
Rain stopped. Nice chill time. No sight of train till 10.15. More drinks and banter ("We go 'club hopping' in this town later ok!").
Lapped up engineer gossip and inside digs - nice decent bunch. Football on telly: Kedah 3, Selangor 0. Raucous crowd. Just lacks beer or wine.
More join our table. Someone orders cold bandung (very soothing) for all. Nice and cosy.
10.10ish
Train arrives. Another dreadful 12 hour drag back to Sing Sing.
Day 03 - 02.5.05, 6.30ish
Did not sleep a SINGLE wink. Sitting car so disagrees with me: TV noise, BLOODY LIGHTS - can't someone just dim them or something?! - and snoring.
And man - the train was so FUCKing cold (in a good way lah). Worse that the mountain. Was in T-shirt, pullover, windbreaker AND sleeping bag and STILL not warm enough. Pathetic moi stayed up like zombie all night waiting to catch sunrise.
BUT. Best experience of whole journey for me was spent in that train.
Dining car, to be exact. 2 blissful (no chamber pots or dead bugs) hours spent alone just watching the outside view streaming by while enjoying warm Milo. Nothing spectacular or outstanding but like getting visual massage or stretch.
Wonderful endless expanse of land and space. Unpatterned carpet plots of fruit trees and vegetation revealing further and further. Sticks of banana trees with heads lobbed off. No flats or buildings in sight. Rolling hills and double mountains. Sight for sore eyes. Bliss.
9.30ish - 10.30ish
Stopover at JB for bak kut teh, gums and au revoir les amis.
12.00 noon
'And I feel like I just got home...'
Overall mood meter: Not a delightful trek compared to Ophir but has high points.
Some imp-ressions from my nasty Mt Stong trip:
Night 01 - 29.4.05
Moi scampering like an overloaded camel from the cab with Loon and his Loonette into TP Railway. Felt so like Amazing Race. The moment all 16 of us boarded the train at 9.30pm it immediately started to chug along. We had stalled the train service for 25 minutes.
Day 01 - 30.4.05
12 long hours of rocking, squeaking, shaking, jerking, rumbling, grumbling, whining, groaning, straining, chugging, screeching, puffing.
Hardly any sleep. My book (A Year In The Merde) as soporific failed. Annoying lights. Dead bugs in suggestion box next to my head. Bed next to entrance-exit door and pot chambers. Feel the bliss.
Mood meter: upbeat
Day 01 - 9.30ish
Dabong Station. Literally 'in the middle of nowhere'. Derelict, oh so kampong, tall lalang on 1 side of track; modern, half-developed structure on other. Ain't Kelantan quaint.
Breakfast at Le Cafe Machik, a makan stall a la 70s. Stretch arm and you touch wooden beams on ceiling. Food as gourmet as those from Ubin. Bon appetit.
The Malaysian guide appeared (costly but mandatory). Skinny monkey named Yo (duh) with cocky attitude and loose mouth, oily shoulder length hair, long shiny black leotards beneath PURPLE micro hot pants.
Mood meter: *eyes rolling*
10.20ish
By large sand pit. Sampan boarding to other side of river in rich teh tarik colour. Can't recall if anyone tried to taste it.
Mood meter: thrilled
11.30ish
Going up to 'Stong Resort' *snort*. Hottest and crammiest coach trip ever. Windows all sealed. Noon microwave. 16 chickens roasting in a fucking rotisserie, sweating in hell.
Mood meter: burning
12.00ish
Reached resort. Togged and geared. Set off. Hobbits heading up Mt Doom.
1.30ish - 3.15ish
Very steep inclines. Lost half me weight in water. Fat sizzling off me pores... Cocky rushing us like a demented mountain goat without a thought. Bloody nerve. Mood meter: irritable... Something stinking to high heaven - that monkey dumped shit pile somewhere in bushes mid-route ahead of us. Bastard... FUCKING HEAT. Lots of laggards now. Panting like bikers in Triplettes of Belleville. Cocky taunting us. Irritating asshole. Worst than Ophir. Feeling weird now. Are we there yet?! MERDE. Why did I come?? Mood meter: dying... Some feeling faint. Others feeling fine. I feel like a grape squashed under Hagrid's heel... Cocky still rushing us like crazy. Am so not enjoying this. Feel so close to kicking his bony yoyo ass...
3.30ish
FINALLY! Base camp. Every cell and bone bursted with relief. Breathtaking view too.
Mood meter: 'Feeling like Sunday morning...'
4.00ish - 7.00ish
Pitched tent and went waterfall hopping.
1st waterfall: Nice
Great curtain of smooth granite surface and flowing water. Climb 1.5 storeys high onto surface and slide down waterfall. Lots of lookers but few takers.
2nd waterfall: VERY VERY NICE
Smallest water curtain. BUT the IMPACT and SPEED and NOISE - awesome! Great for shoulder and feet massages - just sit under the OSIM water curtain and let it pound away.
The main thrill - dipping into hidden potholes with waterfall gushing above you.
You hold your breath, drop into hole and stand in there as long as you can. Totally submerged (someone had better be around to hoist you up or else...). A nearly 2m tall Scot in group jumped in one and totally disappeared underneath. Roar of the waterfall deafening even underwater.
Scary but super exhilarating! Unbelievably cold too (my lips turned purple) but worth it.
3rd waterfall: Ok lah
Twin waterfalls snuggling next to each other. Game over. Next.
7.00ish - Midnightish
Unpack. Laundry. First au naturel bath at 1st waterfall - chilling, dark, funny.
Dinner. Small talk. Nice chats with Alan the Scotsman and Karki the Nepalese ("It's spelled 'c-a-r-k-e-y'!").
Giving summit a miss this time. Too dead tired to even bother.
Mood meter: damn shack but recharging
Day 02 - 01.5.05, 6.30ish
Hardly slept a wink - even less than in train. Incessant nattering from 2 human flies in tent all night. Humid, not chilly enough. Grumpy as hell from lack of sleep. Woke up to catch sunrise. What a letdown - foggy and cloudy. Can't see a damn thing. Hovered at cliff face for photos and breeze.
11.00ish - 2.30ish
Troopers went back for seconds at 2nd waterfall. I passed to try book soporific again. Peace and quiet - lounging on mat under tree. Nice and drowsy. Dozing off, almost in lalaland... Clowns came back - ruckus. Shit. Prepare lunch. Loon said he slipped and dropped digicam. Double shit. Clear up.
2.30ish - 4.45ish
Broke camp. Dismantle. Pack up. More delay on account of Cocky. Getting on me nerves. Finally, descent. Surprisingly easier and faster than expected.
5.00ish
Foot of Mt Stong. Hurray.
Alfresco shower - awkward, freezing cold but cleansing. Just chalked more years of rheumatism, that's all *sigh*. Ate my last apple - simple pleasure yet so divine, glad I brought them.
Mood meter: utterly drained, refreshed, pensive
6.00ish
Waiting for that moving microwave of a coach. Sky overcast. Rumbles. Shit.
7.00ish
Queuing to board sampan. Sky threatens. This is sooo not good.
7.30ish
On sampan. Halfway across river. What's that haze in front of us???
7.31ish
*Sampan enters drizzling rain patch*
Mood meter: FUCK
7.34ish
Rain pelting bathed skin and hair. Mad scampering onto sand spit. Bags ruthlessly dumped on sand. Feet flying.
Mood meter: (off the chart)
8.00ish
Total drenched chickens strolled into Le Cafe Machik to find it totally packed with other trekkers.
Mood meter: punctured
8.30ish
Soaking wet. No empty tables. Queue neverending. Sleepy as hell. Thirsty as shit.
Madame Machik speaking in tongues, me feeling tongueless. Imagine Marcel Marceau trying to buy casava from a Masai.
Thank goodness for a kindly Malaysian trekker in the group, making sure we got our stuff. "Lima goreng puteh, ayam dan telur. Ini, ini lah..." Learnt something new that night.
9.00ish - 10.00ish
Great nasi ayam dinner. Guzzled everything despite spying Madame's cooking tongs for frying the ayam falling onto dirty floor minutes ago.
Rain stopped. Nice chill time. No sight of train till 10.15. More drinks and banter ("We go 'club hopping' in this town later ok!").
Lapped up engineer gossip and inside digs - nice decent bunch. Football on telly: Kedah 3, Selangor 0. Raucous crowd. Just lacks beer or wine.
More join our table. Someone orders cold bandung (very soothing) for all. Nice and cosy.
10.10ish
Train arrives. Another dreadful 12 hour drag back to Sing Sing.
Day 03 - 02.5.05, 6.30ish
Did not sleep a SINGLE wink. Sitting car so disagrees with me: TV noise, BLOODY LIGHTS - can't someone just dim them or something?! - and snoring.
And man - the train was so FUCKing cold (in a good way lah). Worse that the mountain. Was in T-shirt, pullover, windbreaker AND sleeping bag and STILL not warm enough. Pathetic moi stayed up like zombie all night waiting to catch sunrise.
BUT. Best experience of whole journey for me was spent in that train.
Dining car, to be exact. 2 blissful (no chamber pots or dead bugs) hours spent alone just watching the outside view streaming by while enjoying warm Milo. Nothing spectacular or outstanding but like getting visual massage or stretch.
Wonderful endless expanse of land and space. Unpatterned carpet plots of fruit trees and vegetation revealing further and further. Sticks of banana trees with heads lobbed off. No flats or buildings in sight. Rolling hills and double mountains. Sight for sore eyes. Bliss.
9.30ish - 10.30ish
Stopover at JB for bak kut teh, gums and au revoir les amis.
12.00 noon
'And I feel like I just got home...'
Overall mood meter: Not a delightful trek compared to Ophir but has high points.
posted by logomancer | 7:35:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home