Gunung Korbu (23Dec-26Dec1995) - 3/3

We started the second day with high spirits. The hike to the peak was a pleasant one, no more wading across swift current and walking on muddy grounds. The cool air and the high altitude view kept me going although I was dead tired! It was like Gunung Kinabalu revisited.Good gracious! Finally we reached the peak. It was cloudy then and the sun seemed so low that I could touch it with just a jump!Night was freezing cold. I did not bring enough warm clothing. My body was shivering and my teeth could not stop clattering.I believed I was the only person inside a tent seeking shelter from the biting cold. One kind soul passed me his T-shirt and i put it on immediately,unabashed.We climbed down from the peak the next morning to the first camp site and we met up with our three comrades who stayed behind after the first day hike. On this last night of our expedition, we shared our trials and tribulations....

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Gunung Korbu (23Dec-26Dec1995) - 2/3

It was tough for me. What a gruesome hike. At certain points, I had to crawl on fours, climbed on roots of trees, splitting my legs to get across and over whatever that obstructed my path, crossing rapid streams and treading cautiously along the edge of the narrow mountain trails. It was evening when we reached our first camp site. I told Suhaimi I was going to stay at this campsite for the following two nights and I would not mind his company. He wouldn't mind mine too. Oh dear, these two tired souls were about to abandon the hike. It was just the first day hike!After a lengthy discussion, both of us decided to endure another day of physical exertion. We bent on keeping our spirits up!

Gunung Korbu (23Dec-26Dec1995) - 1/3

Gunung Korbu, standing at 2183m above sea level is the second highest peak in Peninsula Malaysia. Having climb Gunung Kinabalu, the highest peak in Malaysia, I expected the trek up to the peak to be a breeze. When my good friend Suhaimi invited me to join his group of matriculation students for this hiking expedition, I gladly accepted without hesitation. The only problem nagging me was that I might slowed the group down just as I did to my lady friends while hiking Gunung Kinabalu! We reached the starting point at Ulu Kinta early in the morning and started our climb after a short session of doa selamat. The first day was a whole day hike, treking alongside a river. As we went higher up, the river began to flow swifter and the jungle trails became more undefined. This signalled the start of our, oops.. my misadventure.

Fields Of Gold (Dec.2005)

We were supposed to pay a visit to the Udorn Sunshine Orchid Garden. For reasons unclear to me, we had to abandon the trip. Our ever so humorous local tour guide, Ah Lek assured us that we would be duly compensated. I was quite dissapointed as i had miss the opportunity to see some exotic orchids like the slipper orchid, not that i have not seen one before. I later learnt that the orchid garden was actually a well known orchid farm for making orchid perfume. We journeyed on to the outskirts of Udorn Thani. Then Ah Lek exaggerated that we were about to pass through a tree tunnel, which was nothing more than a country road flanked by trees on both sides with overhanging branches. Talking about compensation, were we taken for a ride!
Then just around the bend, MAMMA MIA!

The Beauty Of Yellow Mountain

You have probably seen such scenes on chinese paintings- those odd shape mountain outcrops, jagged-edge cliffs, mist-shrouded peaks, solitary pavilion, stunted and twisted pine trees that simply grow out of the mountain face. It is just too fanciful to be true. You would be pardon to say that they are just figments of imagination of the artists. (I have one such painting hanging on the wall which i bought for a mere RM5 in Yunnan, China). When my travel agent insisted that they are for real (tour fare refunded if otherwise), I jumped on the tour wagon and look what i have found:

Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) is reputed to be the most beautiful mountain in China, sidelining the other five sacred mountains. It was included in the list of Unesco World Heritage Site in 1990 for its natural beauty and its role as a habitat for rare and threatened species.

Egypt - Land of The Pharaohs

This is one of my favourite photographs. Yes, it is the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza plateau in Egypt, the oldest and the sole surviving seven wonders of the ancient world. I had anticipated a long and arduous coach ride from our hotel but in less than an hour, the hugh pyramid loomed right in front of us! Two other smaller pyramids houses the tomb of Khufu's successors respectively, that of Khafre and Menkaure. There is also the the Great Sphinx, a gigantic structure of a human-headed lion. The compound of the sphinx is out of bound for tourits. We had to jostle our way in to this platform for a nice photo shot. Beautiful, isn't it? Life is beautiful! (photo taken in November 2003)