GUNUNG ANGSI - FEB 27

بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِي

My second trip to Gunung Angsi, Ulu Bendol this month was a success. There were 18 of us, my colleagues and friends and their relatives and friends too.

My colleagues were very sporting even though I fooled them into believing that the hiking would take 4 hours only. Of course, it takes at least 6 hours for the average fit guys like me to complete the trip. Been there twice and I have never done it in less than 6 hours including the rest time at the summit. Of course, for some super fit guys, it'd take less than 4 hours!

There were first timers in the group and I give my big salute to them. It took them 8 hours to complete it. We started at 9am and reached the base at 5pm. Being the sweeper in the group, I was with the last group all the way through. My mission was to ensure that everybody reached the summit and got back to the base safe and sound!

Alhamdulillah, everything went well. What started as miscommunication problem at the beginning ended pretty well. A car was left waiting for us at Seremban R&R even though we had left much earlier. When they called to check on us, we had already exited the highway and paid the toll fee. And upon reaching Ulu Bendol area, we had to do another stop and waited for another car to arrive. They were there much earlier but didn't notice our 6 cars passing them.

I must thank one individual, John Syarif for his helping hands, ever ready to help around. A person who has a big heart for people, a super fit guy who is mixing well his passion for outdoor activities and study. He helped a lot to ensure the success of the trip. The most challenging trail was at Phase 4A when we had to climb a very steep clay slope, it was about one storey high. John was there helping out, giving tips and of course being the official photographer for that trail!

For me, it wasn't as tiring as the last trip to the same mountain as I was really taking it slow and helping out the slow group. Had a god chat with my colleague on the way up, mostly on office gossips and office related issues. All in all, I am glad as I didn't have any body ache at all. No tightness of muscles!

When we got back to the base, grilled chicken, lamb and sausages were already cooked waiting for our hungry tummy to savour on them. And there was nasi lemak too, there it goes the calorie that was burned during the climb. I will talk about calorie burned during hiking the next time around.

In the meantime, I had already planned my hiking trips for the month of March with the exception of March 13 as I am planning to go for holiday in Genting with my family. At the same time, March will be a busy month for me at the office. I may end up with two hiking trips only in March.

Not to forget, Gunung Rajah is also in the pipeline, may be in mid-April!