Gunung Nuang Jungle Trekking 8 February 2009

This is an unbelievable trip of a lifetime! Barely knowing Sie Jie Jie for about 4 days, I agreed to join her for a jungle trekking which was a week after my return from Australia. Ironically, she told me it will be about 12 hours jungle trekking but I thought it was just an over estimation.

The main thing was I do not even know where I was going and not knowing any of her friends whose were elder than me many years. So, I kept telling my friends that I will be going to an unknown jungle in Selangor and should they did not see me online on that particular night, please do help me call the POLICE. Seriously, I did so.

Alright, I only knew that I was going to trek Gunung Nuang which was the highest peak in Selangor. Wow.. that was cool. I was actually quite attracted to the 12 hours trekking as told by jie jie. This was because my previous trekkings only took me about 4-5 hours at maximum. The most important issue was I did not do any preparations or any physical activities and I was about to trek for 12 HOURS?

History time:

Mount Nuang is located in Malaysia with the height of 1,493 metres (4,898 ft). Its peak marks the meeting point of three Malaysian states; Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Selangor. The mountain itself is the highest point in Selangor and part of the Titiwangsa Mountains.

There are three hiking routes to the peak and all of them were built by Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Two of them start in Selangor; one at Kuala Pangsoon in Hulu Langat and another at Kampung Kemensah in Gombak. The third path originates from Bukit Tinggi in Bentong, Pahang. Genting Highlands is visible at night from the peak.

These were the bunch of adults that I went with for the trekking. Most of them had been trekking here for 2-4 times and they were all well prepared physically and mentally except me. I slept at about 3 am a day before and woke up as early as 5 am. And was shocked to find out that I was about to climb the highest peak in Selangor. Was I dreaming? Wake up!!

Alright. The journey begun about 8.30 am. We started to enter deep into jungle.

Taking a picture with the tall bamboo trees as the background. You can actually see the distance between me and the front group as I was keep busy with my camera.

Alright, one thing to mention here is that we had walked the terrain ascending and descending the hill (which was not yet reaching the hill of Gunung Nuang) for hours NON STOP. This is no joke! My respiratory rate increased and kept counting the time when were we going to reach the hill. Jie Jie told me it will take another 1-2 hours. WHAT???

The scenery view in the morning.

Gosh.. when can I take a rest? I was walking non stop. The trek was not difficult at all. It was just going up and down BUT the length of the track was the matter. You were only walking for a track that seems no ending that ascend and descend with a LONG distance.

Finally, able to join the front group and managed to snap a photo. Here, we were going an ascending track, seems easy? It was a long journey.

And now descending again. Again, I was at the back to capture this view. Jie jie loves to take photo as well but do not like to be 'pictured'. She directed me to take this view which was good to compare the tiny humans and the tall huge bamboo trees.

It seemed that there were occupants in this HUGE jungle.

Jie jie and her ahemm..

Well, the experienced trekker among them had warned us that this place was heavily infested with LEECHES. When I first heard, it sounds interesting for me as I never being bitten the blood sucker before. I really hope to have experience it.

My 'dream' really came true~ All the way while trekking, jie jie was beside me and kept checking my legs should there was presence of any leech. I am proudly to announce that I had been bitten by THREE leeches which was a record for first timer.

Jie jie who brought along salts helped me to pour it on top of the leech. Within 5 seconds, the blood sucker got off from my skin. That was too fast for me to take my camera and captured it. So, I missed the first leech 'photo session'.

The above picture was the second leech in which I asked jie jie not to worry and let me take a picture before spreading the salt on the leech. She was speechless when I said so assuming I was crazy to do so just to take a photo of the sucker who paid me no money for my highly rich haemoglobin (52%) blood. When the rests were told about my records, they started to panic and constantly checked theirs also. Haha. Big man scared of leeches.

The third leech was a terrible one. It somehow got into my socks and was there till I noticed the top of my white socks turned RED. It should be a silence sucker doing its job and hidden from my view. Due to continuous movement, it may somehow got pressed and burst out. Thus, the outburst coloured my socks to red. The bottom picture was the coagulated blood after some times.

Finally, we reached to a hut for a break. It should be around 90 minutes trekking oops nop, should be walking non stop. If not mistaken, there were 3 such huts before reaching to Kem Lolo. And the distance between each huts was no joke to be more than 40 minutes flat terrain. I was in shortness of breath and kept taking deep breath. Our stop at this hut wasn't long which was about less than 10 minutes before we continued our journey.

This wooden house was believed to be occupied by the 'orang Asli'. The typical identification was the bench at the compound of their house. I saw such similar setting in my kampung too.

Finally, but not yet reach, we started to going deep into the jungle and the 'real' trekking begun. No more flat terrain but the small pathways along the jungle crossing the big trees. Again, it was a long pathway up and down the jungle~

Some rocky part ascending up the hill.

The pipeline

Finally, we reached to the top. It wasn't the top of the hill but the top of the waterfall. Look at the first pic towards the far end on the left. The waters ooze down at a great height after that point. Beside it was a water catchment seems to be non functional one. Reaching to this area was a tough journey ascending the hill.

After about 10-20 minutes from the catchment area, we finally reached at Kem Lolo. It is the spot where people build up camps here and stay overnight to enjoy the mother nature and escaping themselves from the hustle and bustle of the city. Some even stay overnight here where they will start their journey climbing to the summit middle in the night.

A nice location to set up a camp. So, we had our long stop here recharging our energy with isotonic drinks and foods.

Alright, here was the so called POWER OF BANANA quoted from jie jie. She said 'Don't ever look down to the power of banana. It helps to give you a high supply of energy when you need it'. I must gave credits to her. She was the one who prepare all the foods, buying the bananas, buying our lunch, satisfying some people demands of tar pau nasi lemak in tupperware, buying breads, supplying the raincoats, supplying the salts and almost those necessary things needed for a long hour treks. Perhaps, that's why make her a good secretary by profession~

Nice view. We then continued our journey up to the next target point which was the Kem Pacat. Soon after Kem Lolo, we needed to undergo river pathways. Thus, that was the reason of wearing sandals or crocs initially. Never cross with a sportshoe or else it will be a burden for you later due to increase of weight and uneasy feelings of wet legs.

There were many big fallen trees during the journey that one need to climb over and underneath. You somehow will stretches your whole body.

Next, was another spot for bathing in the cold waters. This place marked that we were approaching Kem Pacat. After this, we changed our sandals or crocs to sport shoes. Accordingly, it is more advisable to wear a sport shoe.

Kem Pacat was the base of the Gunung Nuang. We rested here for about 10 minutes having our lunch. I had a fried vermicelli and drank almost all my water supply. The time taken to reach here from our starting point is about 3 hours ++. What a long continuous journey that we had endured.

After the break, we then continued to a real trekking up to summit. It will be another 2 HOURS for us to reach summit. However, bye bye to my fellow friends that I was unable to join them. I actually had several muscle cramps during the long hours of trekking. I had tried to push to the limit but then my muscles were not working well that day. I do not want to burden them or delay them. However, I do appreciate for some of them who offered me help when I had the cramps attacks. It was a combination of fast sharp pain and slow chronic pain.

Jie jie supplied me with Yoko Yoko..again she was very good in preparing the necessities. Although it was sad that I can't continue the journey, I was glad that I was able to reach far to Kem Pacat.

So, I started to going down the jungle alone with the food supply and a limited volume of waters that I had. It was quite a new experience for me to trek alone. Haha.

So, I wasted no time to non stop taking pictures which was good and needed not to be waited by others.

Top second picture was a very long descending pathway which took 10-20 minutes.

How I wish I can stay here for a night and enjoy the mother nature..

During the journey, I met with this group of people. The front green shirt woman was the leader of the group named Madam Wong. She was a tour organizer and was bringing these group of 3 for a pre-training at Gunung Nuang before making their way to Mount Kinabalu, Sabah. And I found a partner ..haha.. to chit chat.

We were deep into conversation about politics. Ironically, she was from Perak and live in Pangkor where Datuk Zambry was the state assemblymen for that constituents. We chatted about the current politics fracas in Perak and the federal government as well.

Heading back to the starting point.

This was sad to see that uncivilised people were throwing rubbish everywhere in the jungle. Madam Wong was an environmentalist and asked me to take this photo and educate the rests on the importance to keep the jungle clean. It must be noted that the distance from the starting point was hours away and no one is going to pick your leftovers here. You are responsible to carry away any unused items or rubbish with you and dispose at proper place at the designated area.

Wild plants of the jungle

The hidden sight of the jungle.

Taking picture with Madam Wong. At her age, she had went to various trekking field both locally and internationally. Salute to her great stamina~ Sifu~~

For those who are interested in making trips anywhere around the country and overseas and is looking for planner/organizer for the events, you may contact her via email or website. She will plan the activities that suits to your need, accommodations, games, foods and virtually A-Z. She is majoring in outdoor activities, adventurous activities and mountain trekking. And of course, they do charge for their service. Haha..

Bye-bye~

I reached at the starting point at about 3.40 pm. It took longer time as I took longer rests at the hut and chatted with Madam Wong all the way down. Then, I had to wait for about 4 hours for the rests to return here after climbing to the peaks. (2 hours up and 2 hours down the summit).

The first person who made his way down was at 6.40 pm. Then, it started to be drizzling rain before all of them successfully reached back to starting point by 7.20 pm. Sky turned dark and it was a timely that all of them reached down before a heavy rain started.

As for them, this time was the record breaker. Previously, they had a same trip with total trekking of 12 hours and with the wet soil conditions of the treks and with a lot of leeches. However, for this time, every thing turned to be very well for them. It was so late that I was unable to join my family members for a trip to the Pesta Tanglung somewhere in Puchong. Instead, I had my dinner with bunch of them.

How to go there?

From Cheras-Kajang highway, take the first turning to he left after passing the toll. Then, go straight till you reach Batu 9 police station where you need to take a left turning. Go straight till the end of the road. You will pass by a mosque on the left and should you want to go Look Up Point, you should make the turning after the mosque. To go to Gabai waterfall, it is located at the right after passing a market area during your straight road journey.

Dr. Thet Thet Htar Farewell Party, 28 March 2009

Dr. Thet Thet Htar teaches Medicinal Chemistry as well as Organic Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy. She has been teaching UCSI University students for more than 5 years (will double check) and has been consistent in delivering the best to the students. For most of us, we really grateful that she is the one who bring the world of medicinal chemistry to us. None can beat her in terms of knowledge and expertise in chemical structure, structure activity relationship and chemical mechanism of action. She is simply the great and the marvelous. During each lecture session, she never failed to deliver the content precisely with cheerful smile and humours. Besides, she emphasized a lot in understanding the lecture and ability to explain in our own words when given only chemical structure. In addition, she provides us adequate tutorials to train as well as to improve our understanding. As we all know, chemical structure involving drugs are too complex and involve mutlti rings or branchings. One should really appreciate her hard work in drawing each of the structure using the computer. She will spend time in doing the drawing as well as the tutorial questions for each topic she had taught.

The saddest thing to announce is that she is leaving us. SOB. She will be teaching in new place, the Monash University. What a great loss to all of us, be it the students as well as other lecturers. Her never ending smile had never failed to cheer you back and her soft tone of voice can really sweeten your heart. However, during class session, she used to project her voice loudly than normal. During the class session, she loves to call our name at certain point of time. When we do not know the answers, we will look at her and she will do so back and starts to smile and laugh alone. Even during halfway in lecture session, she can laugh out of sudden when something small matter stimulates her. Want to hear something even sadden us? Mr. Jony, the man beside Dr. Thet had left us even earlier. You can check my previous post to read on. Why all the good lectuerers left the university?

She taught us Organic Chemistry in Year 1. She is expert in ring structure. There was one time when we do our lab session, we were unable to locate her in the lab. When she is in her lab coat and mixes around with us also in lab coat, one can hardly identify where she is. Physically, she is quite tiny and when she mixes around with us, she looks like our friend rather than a lecturer.

All the tutorials hand in to her will be returned in an appropriate manner. For unknown reasons, I used to get extra written notes from her after marking my tutorial papers. As such, I would like to thank her very much.

Arhh... look at her cheerful face! Whenever we have a problem, she will never fail to help us and guide us till we understand. Although, she always ask us to read the Medicinal Chemistry textbook, I guess none or majority will not do so. Reading medicinal chemistry textbook is a very boring and unpleasant event. Haha. She recommended us to buy Graham Patrick textbook and we did but I don't think we used it as frequent as we should. (maybe less than 10 times) Reading her lecture notes is good enough but we only need to find references book to do her challenging tutorials questions.

I will always remembered her for calling my name wrongly repeatedly. She hardly pronounce Chinese name correctly and most of the time, she prefer to call an English name. I guess many of us have many new names given by her. For my case, I do not know who started it first who told her my nickname is Stephen. I guess she did not hear it properly and my nasty friends are suggesting Stephanie, Steven and many more in which she end up call me 'STEVE'. Haha. There was once when I went to see her at her staffroom discussing about tutorial question, an ANT crawled in front of us. A normal reaction for normal people will simply press the creature down. When I do so, she was like screaming and asked me why did I kill it? She looked sad after that and I had been a killer in front of her. Haha. Looks how loving she is. Haha.

How can we ever forget her? Without her, we know nothing about chemical structure, SAR and so on. Without her, we will just read and memorize the structure and SAR without having the capability to deduce it by our own. Without her, our brain is so empty and will just choose to ignore medicinal part like now.

*Above pictures were taken before the farewell party so that we can print a class photo and give her together with a photo frame as token of remembrance to her. Photos credit to Meng Fai. Below is the actual farewell day. Pictures taken using my own digital camera.

She gives us a big heart. In return, we gave her these cute, tasty cupcakes specially ordered for her. These 12 cupcakes cost Rm 50 but money just cannot substitute how deep our love to her.

The party began with a slide presentation showing her photos with the students. The slide was a bit touching and sentimental that made her run out from the classroom and went to the washroom I supposed to continue her sobbing. She never returned after that till we need someone to calm her and to escort her back to the classroom. When her condition was stabilized, we proceed to the next activity. A farewell card signed by all of us and a present were being presented to her by our class rep, JY. She really felt touched and was about to sob again.

She unwrapped the wrapper of the present carefully with her usual slow speed. Up to a point, she just can't resist with the warming farewell party we organised to her. Look at her happy face which later turned sad when she saw the group photo taken earlier being framed up.

Next, we asked to her to open the farewell card. Aiks..once she saw the touching wordings written by us, she waited no more to express out her touched feelings by crying. For a soft and sentimental person like her, such wonderful treatment was just irresistible. And guess what.. my fellow friends joined along. I must tell you one thing which is it is not easy for a lecturer that will make her students cry for her. And I must honestly tell you that I was deeply saddened with her leaving and even when I am writing this post, my eyes are watery.

Fellow mates were also irresistible in controlling their emotion. Every meeting will have an ending. (is that correct phrase) That is the nature of life that is unavoidable. What we can do is to immortalize the great moments we have been gone through during these 3 years into our memory.

After the tearful events, we then proceed to the sort of luxurious lunch. Credits must be given to Yueh Teng and her teams in preparing all these foods earlier in the morning. Some even stayed at her house.

Hungry mates!~ The ladies. Can I ask which group out of these three score better? Haha.. or this one? Smile..everyone smile..

It was me with Dr. Thet & Dr. Nala. Since it was on Saturday, only few lecturers were on duty. Dr. Nala, Dr. Loga and Miss Priya came along to celebrate her farewell together with us.

The power puff girls of my classmates~

While some were busy digging information with Dr. Thet (experience sharing including families topics), I spent most of the time taking photos around while some others focusing on their lunch. Haha. I had no idea what I did at the bottom pic that made everyone laughing towards my right direction.

Picture of the day! We will always miss you Dr. Thet!!!!!