Trans Yam Tuan Antah hiking trail: Gunung Datuk, Gagak and Rembau

i went hiking again! my prior hike with adventures unlimited to gunung arong was quite fun and actually relatively easy, so i came back with them for more. this time it's a notch more difficult, as we were going to summit three mountains in one hike. and without proper sleep. today we were headed to negeri sembilan, a state in between KL and malacca, to conquer gunung datuk, gagak and rembau. 

pre-departure photo (from AU team)

we assembled at woodlands mrt at 9:45 and departed just before 10pm. due to the long weekend in malaysia (and everybody being quite happy with the election results) there was no human traffic in both woodlands and jb checkpoints. we had a 2am stopover for supper, where most of the folks in the group waited for half an hour for KFC to cook fried chicken, and continued our journey at 3am. we arrived on site around 4 and met our local guides. there were a lot of groups for today, and so we were a little worried about making it up there for the sunrise. at 885 masl, the estimate to reach gunung datuk's peak for average climbers is about 2 hours.

we started the ascend, after the other groups have left. most of us were moving too fast that we caught up with the other groups and were at their tail. it was a bit disappointing at first because we had to wait in line to get up, not having a good rhythm to pace the hike. eventually, we overtook the other groups. we reached the peak before the others did, so we got dibs on the best viewing platform in gunung datuk. hurray!

 it was a tad cloudy so we didn't get a perfect sunrise photo, but nevertheless lots of pictures were taken. 

we started to make a move around 7:30 to assemble near the summit's photo spot before we head over mountain #2: gunung gagak. the 'lead group' started and we followed the local guide, while groups 2 and 3 were slightly behind with the AU guides.  

the path towards gunung gagak was more muddy, and as we began to take notice, leech-infested. no wonder our local guide was moving so fast! him and three other people were leading the pack, they're walking so fast we couldn't even see them in front of us. then suddenly, we heard screaming. they encountered leeches! we had a bout with them ourselves, and it took me a while to realize one already got to me. luckily it was just a small one! 

video from rickesh

we pressed on despite the leech problem, and reached gunung gagak peak after perhaps an hour and a half or so. the group rested here for a while, but soon realized that the leeches were closing in. we managed to take a group photo before moving on to mountain #3. it was obviously done in a rush, hence a bit blurred haha.

grou-fie by sucan

there were a lot of creepy crawlies in this forest, but i was in no mood to stop and take photos frequently because i was afraid of becoming leech buffet. here's a few snapped by sucan of the things we saw (and a single photo from me of a giant beetle):

and here are some interesting flora too. my favorite: the one that looked like a mouth full of pearly white teeth!

but at this rate people are getting sick of the leeches, so we all somewhat rushed to get to the third peak and then head back to re-convene at gunung datuk for our break before the descent. no group photo was taken then as people were literally just walking to the peak to take a photo and immediately leave. leeches were everywhere. 

video from way peng

it was past 11 when we reached gunung datuk summit base. there were a lot of people there at this time, mostly students on an outing and some families. i quickly had my lunch and tried to squeeze in a power nap, only to be awakened moments after that everybody wanted to leave. and so we started the painful way back down.

we are now making our descent towards the same trail we followed to trek up. coming up it was very dark so it was not so obvious how steep the trail was, but coming down was a killer! i was very exhausted but kept pressing on, thinking it would end soon, but it took a lifetime before we reached the end!

video from raudhah

a sigh of relief came as i heard the people in front utter in delight that we have reached the trail entrance. i saw a couple of AU folks who assured us that there is a stall selling all sorts of cold beverage and ice kachang and that of course, there was a toilet. 

i downed a can of ice lemon tea in record time and relieved myself in the toilet. i have successfully avoided wilderness peeing today from 3am to 2pm. that was probably the achievement of the day 😃

our next destination was the R&R so we can take showers and change out of our stinky, sweaty clothes. then a good nap in the bus on our way back home. as we walked towards Merry Holidays, our trusty bas persiaran, we looked back at the mountains we conquered today, feeling satisfied.

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malaysia unlimited: trans yam tuan antah
organized by adventures unlimited
may 11-12, 2018

some photos borrowed from AU team; all videos from other members of the group. thanks for another good hike!