It was cold sleeping in the tent. That was the first time I slept in a tent. I did not get to sleep much but that did not make me tired during the trek.
At 7am, the sky was still dark. For breakfast, we had instant noodles. That is the best and the quickest.
Early morning sun rays streaming through the trees. These trees were just opposite our camp site. I love how the sun rays slowly rise and shine through the trees. It was so magical and surreal.
All of us prepared for our trek up Gunung Irau in Mossy Forest Reserve.
The trek was initially easy. It was a walk along a wooden bridge. I thought to myself - I can handle this. It's not so bad after all. There were families walking along the bridge to see the scenery.
The wooden bridge has ended, and here starts our mossy and mostly, muddy track. I kid you not when I said muddy.
Many people wrote that this forest gives a magical feel. The trees reminded us of the movie 'Avatar'. Also, the movie 'Puteri Gunung Ledang' was shot here. Funny it wasn't shot in Gunung Ledang. 'Puteri Gunung Ledang' is a local movie. Gunung Ledang is one of the mountains in Malaysia located in the southern state of Johore.
All these are just mud and mud. For the first few metres, I thought it was just flat land, but looking closely, they were mud. The way up is to climb on the roots of the huge trees.
The signboard shows the distance after every 600metres. For me, it took an hour for every 600metres up. For my friends, definitely lesser than that.
Pitcher plants are a common sight in this forest.
On Friday night, I was out with my friend to a Flora Festival in Putrajaya, and there were a few pitcher plants hanging from the booth.
My friend asked me confidently - Do you know what is that?
Me - I sure do. Do you?
My friend - Yes, it's labu sayong. *Okay, I have no idea what is that and so I just googled it and I found out it's a clay-made container to store water*
Me retorted - That is a pitcher's plant! That kills insect to provide nutrients to the plant. I had an educational lecture on that from my sister.
My friend was so insistent about the labu sayong. *horrors* Probably, my friend was looking for the Malay translation, and if he is, it's call a periuk kera. Talk about male ego. *rolls eyes*
The way the trees grow so wildly makes this forest so unique. The roots are jutting out everywhere.
We reached the first rest-stop. People camp here. We saw nets for the fire. And not to mention, lots of rubbish too.
The forest becomes more breath-taking as we move on.
Imagine this as just chocolate everytime you accidentally step through it. I lost count how many times I said the word "Crap" whenever I miscalculated my steps. The furthest my leg went in was till my mid-calves. It was a gross feeling when I pull out my legs and sometimes, it was difficult to pull out the shoes. Luckily, my shoes laces were tied to my ankles.
This path-way lacked of sunlight when we walked through. It was quite gloomy.
I saw a white light at the end of the 'tunnel'. And my friend has disappeared through it.
It was another 30 minutes before we reached the peak of Gunung Irau.
Look at our shoes! Okay, mine won first place by being the dirtiest. Notice one shoe that has not even a spot of mud. Very agile the owner is in her steps. My shoes is the one on the right side of the red socks. After the trek, I threw away my socks because I have no idea how to wash them. All the mud. Ugh.
Back we went through the mud and more mud. The real thing is not even close to my photos. Well, maybe because I don't know how to operate the camera too. ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment