Broga Uphill & Beyond

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.  ~Lao Tzu


I think I might have taken Lao Tzu a little too seriously. Allow me to explain

Its the raya weekend today and taking into consideration that the diplodocus  has been bugging anyone that stops to listen about getting to the top of Broga hill and the fact that Carol had just asked me to go on a hike, I decided to give it a go.

Most sites I explored cited the hike as 'relatively easy' but the Pekster had warned me before that I may not be able to take the trail. You see, I have this awful knee injury that kind of puts the full stop on most of my outdoor activities. But  dealing with the injury has taught me to listen to my body and I now know the extent that I can push myself and also the consenquences of pushing too hard(*shudder*). Not giving it a second thought (or 4th in my case), I called up Carol and arranged to meet her early the next day.

We left Seri Kembangan around 5am and drove for about 30 minutes along the Silk Highway. The turning point is Semenyih town from the highway and after a 10 minute drive, you can see the signboard to Broga town. Just watch out for the Petronas station on your right.

Wee hours of the morning made it a little harder for us to spot the rabbit farm that is the landmark for the hike trail. Honestly it did not look like much of a rabbit farm..unless the rabbits were zombie rabbits running a haunted house. But find it we did, and took a left into the oil palm estate where we can park our car for RM2 per entry.By 6am there were already a lot of cars parked there and people were already on the move up.

Cars can be parked under the oil plam trees

Entrance to the Hill

Rabbit Funland Landmark

Self reminder: Please do warm up exercises if you do not want a muscle pull in the future. Only along 20 minutes up the route, I has a pull on my left calf but decided to be heroic and athletic and pushed on with Diplodocus and Carol's motivation. It was a slow hike for me, though Carol did mention that it took her about 20 minutes to reach the first peak on her last visit.

So depending on how fit you are, the hike can take from up to 20 minutes to an hour(thats me). But do take your time, the trail is pitch black at that hour and certain areas can get a little slippery and in some parts the gorges are a little deep. The original trail was smaller but Broga is a hill thats frequented by hundreds of people every weekend, so it was obvious(well to me at least) that the trail was expanding thanks to the many footsteps taken on its path. The rocky part of the hill is quite apparent and makes up most of the trail.

The topmost of Peak one is the steepest climb. Though most of the way has some plantations and trees to hold on to as you come up, this part was nothing but a dirt trail. I was really queasy looking at it but the fact that the 'scared of heights' Diplodocus was plunging her way up irregardless made me less fearfull. The Peak was crowded with people and though it was a little cloudy, the view of the hilltops and foggy valley was breathtaking.

View from midway point

It can get pretty crowded up here

We did chance upon one lady who seemed to have never seen a sunrise before as she was loudly exclaiming how it beautiful it was. Now I am one who believes in expressing oneself, but given the fact there wasnt much to behold and the ecstacy in which she was making her exclamations, I figured she either a) didnt get out much from her house b) she was still hungover from last nights booze party


Diplodocus taking her break



Trail to the second peak



View from Peak one

Anyways, 20 minutes later we decided to start on the descent which was pretty easy and uneventful, save for the one guy who came up behind us somewhere midway down the hill. He was obviously trying to macho up to the lady who was walking with him and doing a couple of daredevil stunts of jumping over 1 foot ridges to show off to her. But his shoes were not right and couldnt grip the ground, so he ended up slipping and falling into one of the ridges. So do wear proper shoes, expecially if you are trying to impress a girl.

With tummies now growling, we decided to head out the Broga Town to get some breakfast. Pepe had mentioned that this township is actually famous for its 'exotic' fare. Turtle soup, zombie rabbit satay and the like. But all we wanted was good old nasi lemak, though we couldnt find any thanks to all the shops being closed due to the public holiday.

I gotta say though, this is a pretty cool place for retirement. Its quiet and well...retire-ish..

Well, till the next post- stay healthy folks!

RWMF 2012

Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence. – Robert Fripp

 

So here we are. Stuck at the airport with a plane that is half an hour delayed. Which is a good thing, considering that Uncle G arrived late at the airport.

This was the first time I was flying to the east coast. A year of planning the trip to join in the Rainforest World Music Festival dancing and it was hard to believe that the date was finally here. I had heard so much about the festival- from the interesting music blend to the mud baths and (shhh) the sexual –Os.

 I must admit, I did think twice if I had made the right choice.

We arrived late into the night in Kuching airport and only managed to grab some mamak food that night. The morning was pleasantly cool as we strolled down to the riverfront and having nothing much to do, hopped onto the sampan that takes people across the river. We were the only ones on the boat and the paddler decided to give us a longer ride and took us a little further downstream. Uncle G was confidently saying to Ms B  how the crocodiles infest the river when we realised the boatman chuckling behind us. “sini mana ada buaya” . Uncle G was probably the only ‘buaya’ we had on board. Hmph.

Our cab arrived in the afternoon to take us to Santubong. The best local store selling goodies was the Ting Ting supermarket and it was here that we decided to get some mixers. Hoping there would be another store along the way, we regretfully did  not get any drinks that day. Am not sure whether it was because of the festival that most of it was stashed into someones basement, but it was definitely a difficult task. Thankfully the Gent Mo was coming up to Santubong the next day and Ms B managed to get him to buy us a couple of bottles.

It took us about half an hours drive to get to Santubong from Kuching.The first sight of Mount Santubong was breath taking. The legend associated with the mountain is of two beautiful princesses, Santubong and Sejinjang. One day, the princesses had a quarrel and exchanged blows. Putting an end to the quarrel, the King of Heaven cursed both of them into mountains. It is said that Mount Santubong resembles a woman lying on her back.

We had decided to put up in Permai Rainforest Resort. Though the cabin was a 15 minute ‘hike’ away from the reception, it was good to walk among the trees and along the small bridges lining the resort. The simplicity of the cabin wasn’t happily accepted by everyone in the group (where’s the hair dryer?? Was the frogs first reaction) but I suppose one can’t have much expectation living among nature.

We shared the ‘longhouse cabin’ with a couple of Uncle G’s mates from KL, Singapore and Brunei, whom thankfully had managed to stash some beverages. I had never been happier to see a Bombay Sapphire in my life(no, I am not a drunkard la). With a couple of stories of Prince Azim and the Sultan of Brunei filling the air, we became fast friends. Must be the vacation air, Or the % in the beverage.

It was late on Friday evening when we decided to head out to the cultural village. The concert had started at 7.30 and people were already enjoying the Heineken and music by the time we arrived. It was a small crowd on the first day- probably 800 to 1000 people. Frogster and I managed to quickly get our cans and were vowed by the Irish sisters’ band on violins. I got to agree on one thing though. Some of the music that was played can only be enjoyed with some beverage in your blood stream. Sober, you would just say music, WTF??

It was in the middle of the crowd that we met Sam the rainman. On this day, we found Sam jumping up and down on the field, shouting at the sky.  A cool looking Penangite, and the (ever-grateful) supplier of my langkau , Frogster and I made a friendship that would last, well, …3 days. Good times.

We decided to check out the village on the 2^nd day afternoon. Here’s the best part of the show. The bands performing in the show have got a lot of workshops in the afternoon. You can walk around and join any of these and learn about the musical instruments that they use. The longhouses are also open where you can go in and talk to the locals living there and probably get a bite to eat with them. Don’t be shy and do walk around and ask whatever that’s on your mind. They are used to tourists and are very different from the orang asli village I had visited once, where the womenfolk would rather huddle indoors when strangers approached.

The crowd on the 2^nd night is more than the first. The village was totally packed and the music was more upbeat on the 2^nd night. According to the volunteers (Thank you Terry, I would love to volunteer next year! Though, this was the first time a guy asked me where I got my blouse, hmmm), the biggest crowd comes in on this night since its Saturday and there would be a big beach party just opposite the village. We did a pop by the party and honestly, wasn’t much to shout about. Sometime during the performance we realised we had lost Uncle G thanks to him being chased by the mudslingers. That’s the people who roll around in the mudpit and then drag the bystanders along. In one moment, I wasn’t too sure if a boar had joined the fun in the mudpit. They all looked the same from where I was standing—miles away---

Allow me to stop here to pass on a wise piece of advise. Please try to refrain from taking 3 different types of beverages, one of which is the langkau. It WILL make you say or do things which you will say ‘WTF was that!’ When you are sober.

After dancing for 4 hours and realising I am not 16 anymore, we decided to give the workshops a pass on the 3^rd day. It was good to soak up in the South China Sea with the view of the Santubong looming above us. After enjoying a meal of barbequed meats and seafood, we headed out to the final day of the festival.

Though the crowd was again lessened, but one thing is for sure, it’s the day people have the most fun. The crowd was really noisy and the beach party was full swing. Street food is sold along the beach party and frogster and I enjoyed the burger Sarawak, while Ms B and Johnbaby gave away free hugs to everyone. Still not sure to this day for whose charity it was.

Here’s a couple of  things not to miss at the festival- let down your hair, make friends, most people there are a good bunch of people, great music, lovely tuak

Overall, do get yourself some layer cake..plenty sold along the waterfront in Kuching, Sarawak laksa and pepper. Any decorative items or small souvenirs should be bought in Kuching town as the prices can be pretty steep in Santubong.