Hiking Mt. Merbabu via Selo - 3142 masl

As of all the mountains I've climbed, they'll be shrouded by some mystic tale. As for Mt Merbabu, which means "Meru" for mountain and "Babu", for woman, the Woman Mountain, there are two such stories about it.

Legend has it that a very famous Javanese empire called Mataram Kuno disappeared or was swallowed up between Mt. Merbabu and Mt Merapi and another says that it was once a market place called "devil's market" where locals come to sell or buy their demonic possessions. Thankfully, the only scary thing I've encountered during my hike was being fart bombed by my hiking mates. :P

South view from the peak of Merbabu. Seen here is Sabana I, Sabana II and Mt Merapi.

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Mt. Merbabu - Merapi - Papandayan : Full Itinerary

"I want to climb these mountains in a week, is it possible?" I asked my friend, Bumi who also works as a guide in Jawa.

"Possible. But how about climbing Lawu instead of Papandayan since it is in a different district?" He tried to coax me into changing my third choice of mountains.

"NO PAPANDAYAN, NO TRIP!" I strictly told him.

OK.. this was not the actual conversation between us but I was firm with Papandayan and I didn't want any other mountain than that. Haha.

And so here was the agreed upon itinerary that we planned together via whatsapp calls and messages. I added the shopping spree in Jogjakarta so that the guys could enjoy some Jawa culture before going back to Malaysia.

Day 1 :

The plan was that everyone should be in Jakarta before 1:00PM and then we'd head to St. Pasar Senen train station to meetup with the guides. Train to Solo Jebres would depart at  4:00PM and arrive at 2:00Am the next day.

10 hours of train ride! :P

I sat in the seat behind them and let them sit all together to break ice. 

I guess this was the boys' first experience on board a train in Indonesia. I was astonished to find them in this position, behind my seat during the night (picture on the right). Hehehe. But they'd occasionally wake up whenever the train stops at some station, just to smoke.

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My Hiking Buddies : An Introduction

Before I share the "horrors" of travelling with a girl named Jard with all her faults and sometimes carefree approach to handling things, let me first introduce the "victims" of having to endure me throughout the trip.

Let's begin with the brainchild of the Three Mountains Trip (itinerary shared in next post), also the organizer, planner, "go-go", the person whom her hiking comrades' relatives have to contact if something goes terribly wrong (thankfully nothing did!) and lastly, feared to be half-boy, half girl of Sabahan background...... *drum rolls*...

Ms. JARD!

Oh gosh.. I look more like a BIKER than a HIKER. HAHAHA! 

 The second person on the introductory list would be Azmie also known as Jimi. I first met him during my hiking trip to Kerinci Mountain of Sumatera sometime last year so I know how he rolls. Azmie, as the oldest among the men (and also the only person married among us), has been the wise one in the group. He has been like a "big brother" to us all, looking out for all of us, making sure we were all OK and leaving no-one behind. It also came to a surprise that he's a good cook too! Hahaha.

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My Very First Open Hiking Trip

The original promo banner I used to post on facebook.

I always had difficulty finding hiking mates. Maybe I am picky after all in picking them or the reality, nobody wants to hike with me. Huk huk. Some girls whom I hiked with said that I'd leave them behind if they hiked with me. When in truth I'm a changed person. I know now how important it is to stick in a group. They don't believe me. :(

So a few months back, I did something that I thought I'd never do. Organize an open trip to some of the mountains I've so wanted to climb since last year and promote it on Facebook. I wasn't looking for a "herd" to join the trip... just a minimum 4-5 people was sufficient. Max up to 10 people would be nice too... though I think it's a bit too many people to handle! (Had experienced handling 11 people on a trip to Bali and I didn't LIKE IT!!!)

Eventually I had some several parties interested in joining me. Some also tried persuading me to join their trip instead because they were climbing the same mountains on the same dates. Haha. And some just wanted to know how I get my local guide contacts in Indonesia. Huh?! I finally managed to get 4 people to join the trip and..... it just happens... that they were all MEN!!! Oh well... the trip must go on. The mountains are calling!!!

On another note, it has long been a week since I came back home from the hiking trip and I can't seem to move on from it. It was ah-mazingggggg and decided to blog about it after so many months on hiatus mode from it. Haha! #bloggermurtad

Till next post... (needs to arrange pictures and such...)... tata!