0407 Hike Adventure: Bukit Saga

On 04/07/14, yesterday, I went on my first ever hike! :D

I've always wanted to try hiking. Hiking turns out to be harder than I've expected, but it just adds on to the adventure!

(Some pictures are from Kelly's phone.)

Early, early morning

Gathered at Vince's house by 6:30am and borrowed his toilet. It was weird - his parents were still asleep and his brother was sitting on the couch, playing on his phone, presumably preparing for school. I nodded a greeting to him and he greeted back (we met during badminton on Tuesday).

When everyone was set, Kelly's mom drove us to Cheras. In Cheras, they don't call it Bukit Saga, do they? But let's just call it that since its connected anyway. Overall, there were 8 of us (6 of us in the car, Chris walked from home and Joshua will join us later). First, a group picture.

We went out on outings together 3 times just this week alone. ._. Very epic for me. Kelly's mom is very flexible and doesn't mind her going out, but for me, it requires a proposal before I can go out.

The 7 of us gathered at the foot of the hill and used the toilet (open-spaced, you can imagine) before we started. We took the chicken trail up. Apparently, there are 2 trails you can take - the chicken and normal trail. Supposingly, the chicken trail is more challenging. I was a little worried at first because I've never been on a hike and was afraid that I couldn't make it. But soon I realized I have nothing to fear because my athletic-ness helped me a lot. XD

The start of the trail

You might realize that a lot of pictures will be blur. For some unknown reason.

Chris lead our group

(But its blurred nicely don't you think? :D)

We didn't warm up before we start and halfway up I felt like dying (I guess its not because we didn't warm up; it more to me not being accustomed to hiking). I wasn't low on stamina or anything but it was unfamiliar for me and it felt like we were forever climbing. But Chris said we weren't even a quarter of our way up yet.

Soon we arrived at a stop:

(For starters, I don't know exactly which are the stops, but I said 'stops' to indicate that we stopped somewhere.)

I was like hallelujah we're almost there but nope.

We climbed up some more (near the start, there are more elevation than descend). There are ropes for us to hold on to (I'd read about it the night before in some blogs), but its better to not shake it too much. I'd say going one-by-one along the length of a single rope is a better choice.

Later we arrived at another stop, this time with a water station:

Tammy

Sceneries along the trail:

A BIIIIIIG tree OAO

We arrived at some more stops. I will cramp some together here because I'm confused:

There's me sitting on a chair

If you see me in pictures where I am faraway and most probably can't hold the phone,

it means the pictures are from Kelly's phone. :)

After a long hike, we arrived at a coffeeshop that only opens on weekends.

Btw, no tea is served on Saturday.

I love how they use disks as decoration; it catches the light.

Some hikers resting

A fruit we found along the way

It doesn't appears to be ripe yet. There were yellow ones - those could be ripe!

Ate it, it has a unique texture and the after-feel of banana.

Random

Some hiking pics:

It was Tammy's first hike too!

Derrick

From front: Chris, me, Tammy, Kelly, Derrick, Vince

And Kelly's mom in front taking this picture.

On the way to the big stone waterfall for lunch~ And to wait for Joshua.

The hike went downhill on the way to the waterfall; some of it was quite steep. I nearly slipped - but I didn't. Chris kept asking if we can hear water, but I couldn't, until I was really near to the waterfall.

And then I thought I saw something.

THE BIG STONE WATERFALL!!

We crossed this to reach the foot of the waterfall

When we were there, Joshua wasn't yet and they kept calling him and asking him when he's gonna arrive. We started eating without him (sandwiches, fruits, snacks, and drank carton Milo).

The water was really clear - I scooped it up in my hands and there was not a single speckle of flaw. Drank and wash our faces from the mini waterfall just right next to it; it was cool.

I still remember the funny (and embarrassing) moment when Chris and Vince said that I supposingly had food stuck in my braces and they are trying to help me. It took me a while to figure out whether they were sincere or just joking. I guess they were sincere. Actually. ._. I refused to open my mouth and they were trying to make me laugh.

Turns out it was nothing - it was just the tiny stick on the braces to hang the rubber. <.< All is well.

The mini waterfall

I like this part!

More pics of the waterfall:

(I'm just gonna put some better pictures because I'll be spamming if I post everything. And its for you to discover the quirks of this tiny waterfall if you ever go there (or been there!).)

Beneath the shelter

There are moderate-sized rocks you can cross to reach the other side of this stream.

I'll tell you more about my exploration on the other side later.

The shelter

Someone left this

Somehow I am strangely attached to it ._.

Waterfall and ME!

After a while, we saw Josh on top of the waterfall. Apparently, he slid down via some stones next to the waterfall to get to us. ._. Kelly's mom then took some pictures of us!

From left: Kelly, me, Chris, Joshua, Vince, Tammy, Derrick

I rarely have pictures taken of me, so I was really happy. :)

Again, their much-loved picture of the both of us (this time + Kelly's mom)

I love this picture - its cute.

Whilst they were playing in the water (and Kelly trying to get me to play in the water with my shoes on), I noticed that Vince and Josh were gone. Saw them beside the stream, concealed by some plants and went over to them.

Remember this?

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously. I remembered hearing Vince asking Josh to show him where he came from. "Do you want to climb?"

"Do you want to climb?" they asked me back and after a few exchange of words, the 3 of us set off to the other side of the stream for exploration. The whole way up is just smooth stones, much like the one the waterfall gushed from. How the hell did he get down from there? I found myself questioning in my heart.

We climbed through some big stones to the foot of the giant smooth stones (and landed my whole left foot in some concealed mud). After really looking at the first stone, I felt really doubtful and looked back. We're some way up now and a slip could land us down below. I could die. "Maybe I should just stop here. You guys go ahead if you want - I'll wait down here."

Josh went up first and then he helped Vince. Then he asked me to come up. "I'm afraid I'll fall down there," and I mimed me falling and slamming onto the ground below. My shoes couldn't even grip the stone. But still they wanted me up; it was as if I'd never said anything. ;_; Vince was already sitting on the top of the first stone and Josh was halfway up. The only access to the top was by stepping on a vine. Just that one vine. If it suddenly decides to detach from the stone...

But they wanted me to go up no matter what. I'd never seen such persuasive people. ;_; Hesitantly, I climbed up stepping on the vine and Vince held out his hand. I held onto his hand while Josh held onto my other arm. "Hold on to that thing over there," Josh said and I saw a slightly protruded part of the stone that enables my fingers to grab onto it.

"Don't let go of your hand," I warned Vince, but then when I grabbed onto the thing, I was left alone without any support. ;_; I was so afraid that I would fall. I have no doubts about my ability to hold on, I'm just not confident about the stone. :/ Heaving myself up, I finally sat on the top of the first stone. *sigh of relief*

When I was up, I felt grateful that they didn't listen to me and stop me instead. Now it felt like a real adventure. And then I felt regretful that I didn't have my phone with me. It would have been awesome to have a picture.

There were no space for 3 person, so Josh remained halfway. Then I looked down, omg... "I don't know how to get down now." It was a long way down and nothing to grab on to - except for the slight protruding thing and the vine. Well, there was another vine by the side of the stone, but it was some distance away.

The both of them went down first to help me down. I don't know how they can help, seriously - if I fall, I'll crash onto the both of them. Slowly, I held onto the thingy and tried to step on the vine (I ended up laying with my whole body on the stone), which was a little far. "Can I hold onto that instead?" I asked Josh and pointed to an impossibly far vine-by-the-side-of-the-stone.

"Well, I have no guarantee if it can hold on." OK. Nevermind. I'll try to come down.

In the end, I made it. The others were calling for us, so we made our way back. Oh God, that was FUN! Albeit a little dangerous.

Alright - we made our way up from the waterfall to get home. But not before we stop by some more stops.

We came to a stop that functions as a gym:

Got fit here.

There's a swing

A water station

And some weights

Trying to lift herself

We tried putting our feet up the 2nd bar (I got it!)

After we are satisfied with our exercise and ultra-fit bodies, we moved on.

The terrain

I love this picture

And came to my favourite stop! :D

A mini shrine/altar for a God

2 adult koi fishes and 1 baby koi fish <3

Can you see the pond skater?

Its somewhere on the above right of the picture.

I've always wanted to see one ever since reading about it in primary school.

There's a sink

And a toilet far away

This one is better than the one at the entrance because this one has a 'flush'.

Where we came from

Places for sitting

Jalur Gemilang!

I love this.

Another water station

We rested and chatted and we are on our way back.

This was how far I was walking from the person in front me.

The others were still behind and nobody waited for them... so I did.

We started at 7:30am and reached the big stone waterfall at about 10:30am. You can actually go faster if you don't have a heavy bag and you're more experienced and doesn't have newbies dragging you down. I didn't take note of what time we left the waterfall, but we reached civilization by 1:30pm. Then we went for lunch (without Chris).

Bukit Saga is rated moderately easy, great for beginners. If this is only moderate, I can't imagine the hard ones. It is popular with old people (which is apparent; I see a lot of old people hiking as compared to younger ones), so if they can do it, so can you! (Unless they've been at it for years...)

Mixed rice

Kelly's mom paid for our food and drinks

I actually did not bring my wallet along.

Blurry group picture!

On our way back, we actually squeezed 5 people at the back of a Vios. Very amazing. I sat on Tammy's leg. We chatted a lot and Tammy and Kelly being Tammy and Kelly, said and did some weird stuff. I'm the only girl among them sane enough to remain normal. But I appreciate the 2 of them being hyper, because it lifts up the mood and brings on weird topics.

And Josh being Josh, again tried to make it sound like I like Vince. Vince was showing us some message Izzaty sent to him, flirty chat, that only Chris, Josh and I know and then Josh leaned over to me and whispered something.

"What?"

"Are you jealous?" he whispered in my ear and I hit him. Vince was like O.O.

"He asked if I was jealous!!"

I never usually hit anybody. The only people I hit was Chris and Josh because they look like they can sustain it. I don't hit Vince (just because) and Derrick (because he's kind. OK, except for that time in the waterfall when he accidentally spitted on me.).