ku sangka 1...rupanya 2...

(kak tek tulih bahasa omputih, ai tulih BM plak..hehehe...)

Well, this is actually something that we (a bunch of colleagues and I) did over last weekend. I signed up for this expedition last 2 months and that is why I missed a wedding. The XPDC was to conquer Gunung Irau (in Brinchang) and Gua Tempurung.

We started from PD on Friday afternoon around 5pm, right from the office. We got stuck at the PLUS highway KL-Damansara stretch during the peak hours and only reached hotel in Brinchang around 12 am. We settled in and grouped back the next day at 8.30 am to start our journey. A bus took us to the 'starting point', and we started walking uphill from there. Some 1.5 hours later we reached the actual 'starting point'. Reason that we were dropped off at the bottom of the hill is because bus could not reach that place. So the flipside of it, we already had our warm up!! And yours truly has already been in and out of breath countless times!! 



me at the back, catching my breath!!

And then, after reaching the real starting point, the guide somehow was explaining a trail that will lead back to the hotel, we were like ??? Aren't we supposed to go all the way up to Gunung Irau? Apparently there has been miscommunication between him and his office about our detail itenary. We decided there and then, that we want to go to Irau, it will be 3 hours climb up and another 3 hours journey back down.

At ~10.00 am we started climbing and stumbled upon few other climbers going down. Around some 30 mins from the peak we were told by the downcoming climbers that Gunung Irau has two peaks!! One is 'baby' Irau and the other one is the real Irau. Both are at the same height. So we got to 'baby' Irau around 12.30pm and took some 30 mins break. We took a vote how many people wanted to proceed to real Irau, and majority were. The catch is we have to go down at certain point and climb up again, for another 40 mins. Some of the guys decided to stay put in 'baby' Irau till we came back and get them. 

muka maintain lagi ni...

all the ladies during the expedition ;)

yeay!!! kami sampai!!



So by 2.30 pm, we reached the real Irau peak!! After having some group photos, we went back to 'baby' Irau to pick up the others and start our journey back. This is when all the leg muscle starts to response, its a bit pain here and there and I was glad that I completed the journey without any drama. My last mountain climbing activites, I have people help me carrying my backpack when we are almost to the peak, or we got lost on the way down. We reached down to starting point at around 5.30pm. This time we were too tired to walk down to the bus pick up point, so we took a ride on local jeep to get down :)

tukang kutip sayur baru nak start shift...

That night, we had a steamboat dinner, walked through Brinchang's night market and retired with very painful muscle joints. The next day, we are up for another adventure, Gua Tempurung.

By bus, we depart from Brinchang at 9.00 am and reached there around 10.00 am. After some briefing, we were guided in at 10.30am. We took the dry and wet route and there were a few points that is quite challenging. 

dengar briefing ke mengendap?? hhmm...



 

Lighting were not so good, but we cavemen manage to look good still :)



There is this one point, they named it 'Top of the World', it a 9m solid rock and we have to slide down. The tricky part is there is certain techniques we have to follow and failing that, you'll risk breaking your leg, scary huh?? but Alhamdulillah , we all managed to go through. Then we are off to the watery part of the cave, we crawl, we slide, we squat, we squeeze in between those wet rocks, we did everything just to get through, and of course, no camera inside. I actually did not brought my camera as in the group, there are lots of pro photographer, we just waited to be shot ;)

At around 1pm we got out and after cleaning ourselves, we head back to PD. Reached PD at 7.00pm with some stops in between. Now my body is still aching, but still bearable, will I go again? Maybe..hehehe...

So in the end we thought we are conquering 1 peak, but turns out we got 2 (yang baby pon kira tau..;p)