Gunung Nuang 9.01.2011
Nuang oh Nuang~
Gunung Nuang is the highest point in Selangor and part of Titiwangsa Mountain range, measuring 1,493 m (4,898 ft). It is also rated as the 5th toughest mountain to climb in Malaysia (I can tell Top 1 is Mount KK but I don't know the rest), and 2nd toughest in Peninsular after Gunung Tahan (or so I read/heard).
It sounded pretty crazy that I took a 7-hour-per-trip bus ride from Kangar to KL solely for the hike. People around me, particularly those outdoor enthusiasts, have recommended me this mountain as a excellent climb training prior the Mount KK hike. So, when LKK, one of lim erjie's marathon buddies organized a trip to Nuang, I quickly pushed erjie on board the 'pirate ship'.
As the hike will take a very very really really long hours hike, LKK suggested that we started our hike at the ungodly 6am. Consequently, we needed to arrive the carpark of the mountain by 6am, and the journey from our meet up point Cheras to the place takes about another 20 minutes, plus this and minus that, we woke up at the ungodly sleepyness-overload 4am! *yawn*
After everyone has arrived at the meet up point, we parked some of the cars nearby, and carpooled to the park.
I guess you can google the route and stuff for details, so I'm not going to talk long about which path to follow, which sign to look for because I was the follower too. The only trademark I remembered was the big water pipe, leading us towards Kem Lolo.
The overall idea is: Gate - Never Ending road - Kem Lolo - Kem Pacat - Puncak Pengasih - Summit.
^Highest peak in Selangor. *sweat*
^everyone is hyped and ready! not
From left: Tommy, Lew, Sifu zai, me, lim erjie, YSL, Derek and LKK
We, the 6am group, headed first while Lew waited his friends and the rest (the 7am gang) at the entrance.
^Pitch dark!!
The very first part of the hike is the Never-Ending-Boringness-Overload rocky road which about 5km+ long and takes about 1 hour+++ of walking. Yep, that's right, 1 freaking ++ hour! It can easily drained off ones' will, mind and physical strength. For me, it's better to walk in the dark as you couldn't see the 'never ending' upfront so you wouldn't feel the distance so much.
^7.12am - arriving 'Pondok Toman'
Had a short break, consumed some snacks and water, and we continued our journey. We saw two hammocks hanging on one of the pondok and we talked about it so loud, we woke up the sleepy people. Oops!
After the never ending road, we followed a pipeline and continued walking plus some stream crossing. There's about 3-4 streams to cross.
^balancing is crucial!
We went the wrong way after the pipeline as some of the members in our group who were not first timers saying things like 'Where is the pondok??' It's some place where we should be turning left instead of walking straight up, which mentioned in few blogs. Luckily, we didn't go too far away, made a U-turn and continued in the right path.
7.45am - Arrived Kem Lolo!
Had a short break again while the 'seniors' chatted with the campers, and two of the campers group joined our group to proceed to the summit.
At this point, the challenge came face-to-face with us. It's the beginning of the steep ascending which require full stretch of the arms and legs, and the red muddy trek which require a pair of grippy footwear.
^It's more or less like this all the way...
...but some trek requires you to pull or push yourselves up. Luckily the weather was fine, the trek was not so slippery and made it easier to go on.
Along the way, we saw few signs of ' ^ Kem pacat ', and LKK kept saying "1.2 m more! Let's go" for encouragement. The same conversation went on and on whenever the sign showed up. It ended up with me bashing back 'How much more 1.2 we have to go!?' 0.0
^Took few short breaks in between. Sifu zai was explaining about the KK route via Mesilau after picking up my 100 plus.
^drinking or eating is my default pose! :p
there's at least 4-5 photos of me drinking or eating while the rest posing for a camera...
^Some fallen tree blocking our way...
^9.14am - Kem Pacat.
At this point, my foot felt a little 'funny', and I knew it's about time for the cramp 'exposed'. It didn't cramp though, but the feeling was there when I tried to stretch it a little bit, so I knew I have to becareful in order to go on to the summit.
The socks I wore for the hike were the shorter ones. The left sock kept slipping into the shoe, causing the heel rub against the shoe and developed a blister which got bigger and bigger as I moved on; the right sock has a BIG hole on it, holding the upper part of the sock intact in place, protecting my right heel, not even a scratch.
^Applying plasters on the blister at my heel
After another short break, off we went again. I ascended with a much much slower pace to avoid cramp, reduce the stress on my legs and exhaustion.
^7am gang overtook us on the way up to Puncak Pengasih! They're scarily fast!
On the way, Our 6am group broke up into 2 groups. The fast climbers headed off first, while Lew, Tommy, lim erjie and me ascended slowly. I suffered some cramps on my foot and leg, but that didn't kill my spirit just yet...
10.37am - Puncak Pengasih.
Lew gave an even better 'encouragement'.
Every ten steps we took, he would say "Oh yes! 5/10/15/30 more minutes and we'll be there!" Every ten minutes passed, he would say "Yes! 15 more minutes and we'll be there!"
This went on and on throughout the ascend until one point, I gave him an impatient stare and he replied "It's good to think this way what..." and yes, he's damn true.
^11.25am - still not there yet... Sigh...
Along the way, there's some super muddy trails that we needed to find ways to cross. We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked again... until...
^11.39am - The summit!
For the record, I've been hiking for 5 hour 30 minutes!! -___-
The gang who arrived much earlier than us started to prepare our 'summit' lunch. It's freezing cold on the peak that day, and a warm drink and food could definitely make us feel better.
^Cold... ... ...
^Finally, I've conquered Nuang!
^People preparing food!!! *yum yum*
It's very impressive that they carried bottles and bottles of water uphill for cooking purpose. Some even carried 7 bottles of 1.5 litre water!! Salute gao gao~~
^I personally like this picture very much~ It's like a noisy and happening morning market, just that it's at the level of 1,493 metres high!
^Maggi mee coming right up!
^Muddy shoes exhibition~
^Group photo
1.05pm - descending time.
If you think descend would be better than ascend, let me tell you, 'It's even worse!'
The beginning of the descend was OK, but with every descend, I landed on my front foot, which pushed my toes against the shoe, by the time we reached Kem Pacat, I felt an intense pain on my toes which pushed me almost to the limit and I told myself:"Fine, Nuang is listed in my 'Been There Done That' list, I'm not coming back anymore!!" Not to mention, the blister on my heel was getting more and more painful!
Weng Woo gang catched up with us at Kem Pacat, and three of us, me, lim erjie and WW started descending again. I walked in a much much slower pace because my toes and the blister on my left heel were so in pain it's killing me!!
^He is a spam king, FB king, comment king, 'Like' king, makai king, and he is a police!
I was so in pain, I didn't record my time but looking at the watch frequently for the sake of catching up with the rest of the gang before the day hits dark.
^The rest of the gang was waiting for us at 'Pondok Toman' AFTER having fun at the waterfall
see, my default pose again...
Right at that point, I thought the walking at the Never Ending road would be better since it's just a rocky road, but I was so terribly wrong...
The pain was killing me, the exhaustion was killing me, my spirit dropped dead instantly, I even almost cried while walking, hoping so badly to reach the entrance soon enough (In fact, I did cried a little though).
I even upset Lew as he tried to be funny by pulling my bag backwards but I was SO not in the mood of having fun, I gave him this dying and warning stare, he backed off and accelerated forward.
^See, he angry liao~~
FINALLY, 6.10pm - arrived the carpark. I nearly hugged lim erjie for joy when she said the entrance was just at the front, but she was few steps ahead of me and I couldn't even run.
In much pain, we cleaned ourselves up, changed our clothes and off we went for dinner at this far-off restaurant in Hulu Langat (right guys?). It is on a lake, with a tiny stage in the middle of the lake.
^Hungry... ... ...
I kept repeating 'rice leh? rice leh?' in the lowest volume like a hungry little bird because the dishes were all served but no rice...
^Yummy!!
We ended the day with a nice yummy dinner.
Recap:
6.02am - start
7.45am - Kem Lolo
9.14am - Kem Pacat
10.37am - Puncak Pengasih
11.40am - Summit
1.05pm - descend
6.10pm - Finish line
Is it fast? slow? normal? Tell me please... :)
Quote:
p/p/s: Everyone said that since I conquered Nuang, KK would be a piece of cake (or, can hike KK blindfolded). I really hope so! And I hope Sifu zai is right, that 'supposedly, we climb KK for Nuang, and not the other way round'.
Souvenirs:
^The biggest one of all!
I didn't expect the blister would turn out to be this big, the first few days were in pain like hell! However, only for two days, my leg pain is gone, the wound pain is gone, just need some time for the wound to heal, that's all.
After the recovery, seriously, I am thinking about going back again. Seriously.
For more photos, please view the FB albums of my fellow hikers - LKK, YSL, LHY, Tommy, Sifu Zai and LFS (If they don't block it lah~)
Gunung Nuang is the highest point in Selangor and part of Titiwangsa Mountain range, measuring 1,493 m (4,898 ft). It is also rated as the 5th toughest mountain to climb in Malaysia (I can tell Top 1 is Mount KK but I don't know the rest), and 2nd toughest in Peninsular after Gunung Tahan (or so I read/heard).
It sounded pretty crazy that I took a 7-hour-per-trip bus ride from Kangar to KL solely for the hike. People around me, particularly those outdoor enthusiasts, have recommended me this mountain as a excellent climb training prior the Mount KK hike. So, when LKK, one of lim erjie's marathon buddies organized a trip to Nuang, I quickly pushed erjie on board the 'pirate ship'.
As the hike will take a very very really really long hours hike, LKK suggested that we started our hike at the ungodly 6am. Consequently, we needed to arrive the carpark of the mountain by 6am, and the journey from our meet up point Cheras to the place takes about another 20 minutes, plus this and minus that, we woke up at the ungodly sleepyness-overload 4am! *yawn*
After everyone has arrived at the meet up point, we parked some of the cars nearby, and carpooled to the park.
I guess you can google the route and stuff for details, so I'm not going to talk long about which path to follow, which sign to look for because I was the follower too. The only trademark I remembered was the big water pipe, leading us towards Kem Lolo.
The overall idea is: Gate - Never Ending road - Kem Lolo - Kem Pacat - Puncak Pengasih - Summit.
^Highest peak in Selangor. *sweat*
^everyone is hyped and ready! not
From left: Tommy, Lew, Sifu zai, me, lim erjie, YSL, Derek and LKK
We, the 6am group, headed first while Lew waited his friends and the rest (the 7am gang) at the entrance.
^Pitch dark!!
The very first part of the hike is the Never-Ending-Boringness-Overload rocky road which about 5km+ long and takes about 1 hour+++ of walking. Yep, that's right, 1 freaking ++ hour! It can easily drained off ones' will, mind and physical strength. For me, it's better to walk in the dark as you couldn't see the 'never ending' upfront so you wouldn't feel the distance so much.
^7.12am - arriving 'Pondok Toman'
Had a short break, consumed some snacks and water, and we continued our journey. We saw two hammocks hanging on one of the pondok and we talked about it so loud, we woke up the sleepy people. Oops!
After the never ending road, we followed a pipeline and continued walking plus some stream crossing. There's about 3-4 streams to cross.
^balancing is crucial!
We went the wrong way after the pipeline as some of the members in our group who were not first timers saying things like 'Where is the pondok??' It's some place where we should be turning left instead of walking straight up, which mentioned in few blogs. Luckily, we didn't go too far away, made a U-turn and continued in the right path.
7.45am - Arrived Kem Lolo!
Had a short break again while the 'seniors' chatted with the campers, and two of the campers group joined our group to proceed to the summit.
At this point, the challenge came face-to-face with us. It's the beginning of the steep ascending which require full stretch of the arms and legs, and the red muddy trek which require a pair of grippy footwear.
^It's more or less like this all the way...
...but some trek requires you to pull or push yourselves up. Luckily the weather was fine, the trek was not so slippery and made it easier to go on.
Along the way, we saw few signs of ' ^ Kem pacat ', and LKK kept saying "1.2 m more! Let's go" for encouragement. The same conversation went on and on whenever the sign showed up. It ended up with me bashing back 'How much more 1.2 we have to go!?' 0.0
^Took few short breaks in between. Sifu zai was explaining about the KK route via Mesilau after picking up my 100 plus.
^drinking or eating is my default pose! :p
there's at least 4-5 photos of me drinking or eating while the rest posing for a camera...
^Some fallen tree blocking our way...
^9.14am - Kem Pacat.
At this point, my foot felt a little 'funny', and I knew it's about time for the cramp 'exposed'. It didn't cramp though, but the feeling was there when I tried to stretch it a little bit, so I knew I have to becareful in order to go on to the summit.
The socks I wore for the hike were the shorter ones. The left sock kept slipping into the shoe, causing the heel rub against the shoe and developed a blister which got bigger and bigger as I moved on; the right sock has a BIG hole on it, holding the upper part of the sock intact in place, protecting my right heel, not even a scratch.
^Applying plasters on the blister at my heel
After another short break, off we went again. I ascended with a much much slower pace to avoid cramp, reduce the stress on my legs and exhaustion.
^7am gang overtook us on the way up to Puncak Pengasih! They're scarily fast!
On the way, Our 6am group broke up into 2 groups. The fast climbers headed off first, while Lew, Tommy, lim erjie and me ascended slowly. I suffered some cramps on my foot and leg, but that didn't kill my spirit just yet...
10.37am - Puncak Pengasih.
Lew gave an even better 'encouragement'.
Every ten steps we took, he would say "Oh yes! 5/10/15/30 more minutes and we'll be there!" Every ten minutes passed, he would say "Yes! 15 more minutes and we'll be there!"
This went on and on throughout the ascend until one point, I gave him an impatient stare and he replied "It's good to think this way what..." and yes, he's damn true.
^11.25am - still not there yet... Sigh...
Along the way, there's some super muddy trails that we needed to find ways to cross. We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked again... until...
^11.39am - The summit!
For the record, I've been hiking for 5 hour 30 minutes!! -___-
The gang who arrived much earlier than us started to prepare our 'summit' lunch. It's freezing cold on the peak that day, and a warm drink and food could definitely make us feel better.
^Cold... ... ...
^Finally, I've conquered Nuang!
^People preparing food!!! *yum yum*
It's very impressive that they carried bottles and bottles of water uphill for cooking purpose. Some even carried 7 bottles of 1.5 litre water!! Salute gao gao~~
^I personally like this picture very much~ It's like a noisy and happening morning market, just that it's at the level of 1,493 metres high!
^Maggi mee coming right up!
^Muddy shoes exhibition~
^Group photo
1.05pm - descending time.
If you think descend would be better than ascend, let me tell you, 'It's even worse!'
The beginning of the descend was OK, but with every descend, I landed on my front foot, which pushed my toes against the shoe, by the time we reached Kem Pacat, I felt an intense pain on my toes which pushed me almost to the limit and I told myself:"Fine, Nuang is listed in my 'Been There Done That' list, I'm not coming back anymore!!" Not to mention, the blister on my heel was getting more and more painful!
Weng Woo gang catched up with us at Kem Pacat, and three of us, me, lim erjie and WW started descending again. I walked in a much much slower pace because my toes and the blister on my left heel were so in pain it's killing me!!
^He is a spam king, FB king, comment king, 'Like' king, makai king, and he is a police!
I was so in pain, I didn't record my time but looking at the watch frequently for the sake of catching up with the rest of the gang before the day hits dark.
^The rest of the gang was waiting for us at 'Pondok Toman' AFTER having fun at the waterfall
see, my default pose again...
Right at that point, I thought the walking at the Never Ending road would be better since it's just a rocky road, but I was so terribly wrong...
The pain was killing me, the exhaustion was killing me, my spirit dropped dead instantly, I even almost cried while walking, hoping so badly to reach the entrance soon enough (In fact, I did cried a little though).
I even upset Lew as he tried to be funny by pulling my bag backwards but I was SO not in the mood of having fun, I gave him this dying and warning stare, he backed off and accelerated forward.
^See, he angry liao~~
FINALLY, 6.10pm - arrived the carpark. I nearly hugged lim erjie for joy when she said the entrance was just at the front, but she was few steps ahead of me and I couldn't even run.
In much pain, we cleaned ourselves up, changed our clothes and off we went for dinner at this far-off restaurant in Hulu Langat (right guys?). It is on a lake, with a tiny stage in the middle of the lake.
^Hungry... ... ...
I kept repeating 'rice leh? rice leh?' in the lowest volume like a hungry little bird because the dishes were all served but no rice...
^Yummy!!
We ended the day with a nice yummy dinner.
Recap:
6.02am - start
7.45am - Kem Lolo
9.14am - Kem Pacat
10.37am - Puncak Pengasih
11.40am - Summit
1.05pm - descend
6.10pm - Finish line
Is it fast? slow? normal? Tell me please... :)
Quote:
We Trek Because We Love to Hate Nuang!p/s: Throughout the hike, I felt sorry for lim erjie. If it's not for me, she could have finished the hike, up and down, in a much shorter time as she could descend and walk faster, but as I was in the extreme exhausted mode, she escorted me and the pace slowed down by few folds.
We do Gunung Nuang because of the high mental anguish that this mountain has to offer. Hiking on the Never Ending Road is more than enough to drain a person mentally and physically. And when we hike during the monsoon raining season, which it has been on a few occasions, then Nuang scores a perfect 5-leaves for mental anguish. CIMP Trekking Club has been to Gunung Nuang six times in a row now, becoming somewhat of a tradition. Many have summitted, few have summitted on their first attempt, while many have summitted more than once.
p/p/s: Everyone said that since I conquered Nuang, KK would be a piece of cake (or, can hike KK blindfolded). I really hope so! And I hope Sifu zai is right, that 'supposedly, we climb KK for Nuang, and not the other way round'.
Souvenirs:
^The biggest one of all!
I didn't expect the blister would turn out to be this big, the first few days were in pain like hell! However, only for two days, my leg pain is gone, the wound pain is gone, just need some time for the wound to heal, that's all.
After the recovery, seriously, I am thinking about going back again. Seriously.
'Sigh, this girl 无药可救 liao...'
I can hear that~
I can hear that~
For more photos, please view the FB albums of my fellow hikers - LKK, YSL, LHY, Tommy, Sifu Zai and LFS (If they don't block it lah~)
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