Monday, January 12, 2015

Sunrise at Mount Datuk, Negeri Sembilan

Located at Rembau, Negeri Sembilan of Malaysia, Mount Datuk has become a favorite among nature lovers to do some exercise during weekends as the view from the peak is among the best in Malaysia. The mountain's highest peak is at 885m which comprises of big rock boulders. A regular hiker would take around 2 to 3 hours to reach the top and for the avid ones, maybe around 45 minutes. My small group of friends, 4 guys and 4 girls (including me) have planned to meet up near the Seremban toll where we will head to Rembau together.


At the  peak of Mt. Datuk. 
It takes about 2 to 3 hours drive to get to the foot of the mountain from Kuala Lumpur and we started pretty early. I stayed at my friend's house, Anne, before our 2:00 am drive to Rembau. We didn't sleep that much as Anne had accompanied me to buy headlamps from DIY which costs RM9.90 to RM20 each. It enthralls me that we'd be hiking in the DARK!



There was a new rule stating that every hiker have to pay RM5.00 per entry and there was also a parking fee. Since we reached at 4:30am, we didn't pay anything. Hehe. Some-one also told me that hiking before 7:00 am was forbidden, but we did it anyways.

We reached the peak under 3 hours and the view was awesome! 
If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. - Fred Devito

After watching rays of orange, yellow rise into the horizon, we managed to enjoy our packed breakfast and a short nap before heading down. I feel lucky to be among these group of hikers as they really help motivate each other so that everyone could reach the top safely. 

I remembered one moment when one of the girls wanted to give up as she was vomiting and always resting during our hike up. But one of the lads who I assume was the leader would constantly motivate her, saying, "If you want to go down, we all go down. If you want to go up, we all go up!"

Knowing she didn't want to be the reason for us to fail, she had no choice but to go up! Up! Up! 

It seems napping up here is the most reasonable thing to do. 
After taking our time at the peak and seeing that more hikers were crowding the already limited space, we finally decided to descend. And I was going to be met with a surprise!

Going up in the dark wasn't that scary at all, but when the sun is out, everything was crystal clear and 10 times more scarier! Especially for those who are afraid of heights!

The descend down the rocky peak. The ladder was wobbly! 
I was among the first to descend and this is how it looks like from the bottom of the rocky peak. 

It is advisable to go down one by one. 
Those were not the only ladders. We were met with another pair of ladders a little bit downhill. Here is the highest one as seen below. Be informed that there are no toilets up there. 

As the ladders were prone to shake while you're on it, my friends helped by holding it still. 
After descending the rocky part of the mountain, everything was fine going downhill. Some might slip and fall but that's normal. 

The good thing upon reaching the bottom was meeting up with a waterfall where we could cool ourselves down with a bath. Waterfall?! NOT! Hahaha! Another good thing was that we all managed to NOT pay the RM5.00 entrance fee as we sneakily walked out of the entrance without being noticed. 

There's a shallow pool above for those who wants to bath.
We reached KL around 3pm... tired and hungry. A good meal is definitely a good finish to a beautiful day of hiking. :)

Lunch from Rembau to Kuala Lumpur.
Hope for more hikes to come!!! 

12 comments:

hlga said... [Reply]

aduh capek deh naik gunung ahahah
mending main ke pantai kak.

tapi lumayan lah buat program diet mas jard *eeeh

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ hlga... eeehhhh helga jahat!!! iya ha iyalahh.. gw mau diet ini!! huarghhh!

zonaku said... [Reply]

jard,
my memory must've failed me (OMG!) i didn't recall any ladder during my hike there once upon the time (twice if not mistaken).

but the view was really......!!!!

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ zonaku.. hahaha. baru je kot diorg pasang ladder tu.

once upon a time tu bila zona?

agip roslan said... [Reply]

ladders was there when i hiked in 2012. anyway..well done jard. haha. aku sampai pucat kot nak sampai peak. all because trailing hardcore people nye pace. stok berlari kot naek gunung. haha end up..i hiked at my own pace and managed it.

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ agip... hehehe. nasiblah ada 4 gadis. jadi yg lelaki kena tunggu kami dan ikut pace kami.

syukur jugak mereka jenis tunggu. :P

agip roslan said... [Reply]

lupe nk tanya..jumpe tak tapak kaki hang tuah? hehe.

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ agip.. jumpa.. tapi ada org dok tidur-tiduran di situ. hehe.

ehh.. apsal ko private blog hang?

Wak Lat said... [Reply]

Salam. Hee gunung datuk yang cantik.

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ tiga lalat... memang cantik :)

zonaku said... [Reply]

prior 2000. but surely before year 2001 coz i graduated that year :)

agip roslan said... [Reply]

@Jard The Great jard..dah bukak balik. ingat nak revamp layout etc. tade motivasi plak. hahaha