Well finally only six people including myself were confirmed in going to Gunung Stong. We could not get train tickets so we had no choice but to drive,,.... the drive will take us to Bentong, Gua Musang and finally to Jelawang which is at the fringes of Kelantan.
The drive there was quite interesting..... we left at 10.30pm from Vads Plaza in TTDI where we picked up Azrul and his two pals. We reached the Bentung turnoff pretty quickly but there was a jam getting into Bentung Town. We where stuck like for more then 1 and a half hours…. My clutch leg was really killing me…. The Long Holiday exodus of Chinese New Year was really showing itself… there was a lot of cars on the road and we were averaging about 70 to 80 kph. We stopped at a petrol station for a toilet break only to find the queue so long we were there about half hour…
We took turns driving and thankfully we reached Jelawang town safely about 7.30am. Stopped for breakfast as Azrul called the guide to inform him of our arrival. Judy, Dono and me had coffee while the others had breakfast... the coffee tasted strange so i only had a few sips and thats it...
My odometer was showing slightly more then 400km (My petrol gauge is busted) so i decided that we shld get petrol..... we found out that the next petrol station was about 60km away.... but the shop owner informed us that we could buy petrol from a house nearby that had a small hand pump operated petrol tank.... before that we picked up our guide at a bus stop nearby.... Jani (our guide) then showed us to the house that sold petrol
check out the petrol pump.... very similar to the pumps in the 1920s
Part of the tour is to visit a few caves in that area. This was part of the reason I agreed to join this expedition. Turns out these caves are situated away from Jelawang, nearer to Dabong town. The caves were pretty good but not as nearly as good as Gunung Senyum and Jebak Puyuh….
After we got out to our cars all dirty and muddy we stopped at Dabong Town for lunch....
Thats Dabong Train Station in the background......
You can get a train at KTM and Central Station KL to Dabong station..... we couldn’t get tickets, being Chinese New Year and all everything was fully booked.... Wish we got tickets because driving here has made my legs ache like hell even before we reached Jelawang.... not to mention jumping around at The Police concert in Singapore.... my left (Clutch) leg was painful....... oh dear....
Jelawang Forest Reserve...... you can see most of the peaks which make up Gunung Ayam, Gunung Stong, Gunung Tera, Gunung Saji, Gunung Koh, Gunung Baha, Gunung Beirut and Gunung Che Tahir and Stong Waterfall from the Dabong Station.... you can do a six day hike to cover almost all the peaks but we were only hiking up Gunung Stong.. the most accessible of the bunch.......
After parking our cars and distributing the food among ourselves ..... it was time to start our 2 hour hike to Baha's Camp....... My legs were already giving way..... but i pushed on.... if i were you i wld make sure to come here by train instead of Driving.......
The waterfall was an awesome sight.... stunningly breathtaking.... powerfull......... the pictures dont do it justice.... you have got to be there ........... Halfway there..... i was holding everyone up.... but i think they didnt mind waiting for me to catchup....
my legs were cramping very badly.... i wobbled and jiggled my legs into place... inch by inch.... the guide let the others go ahead and assisted me.... he had those muscle spray thingys which he used on my legs....but that was useless….. about almost 200 meters to the entrance of Baha's camp...my legs just started shivering and cramping and locking stiff..... it took me an added 40 minutes or more, on top of the normal 2 hours to get to the camp..... Interestingly there is a tuck-shop of sorts which had soda up at Baha’s Camp... most importantly 100plus...... it wasnt iced but it was good.......
well I can go on and on but hey why don’t I let the photos do the talking….. Click HERE
to view more photos our trip to Gunung Stong…
The drive there was quite interesting..... we left at 10.30pm from Vads Plaza in TTDI where we picked up Azrul and his two pals. We reached the Bentung turnoff pretty quickly but there was a jam getting into Bentung Town. We where stuck like for more then 1 and a half hours…. My clutch leg was really killing me…. The Long Holiday exodus of Chinese New Year was really showing itself… there was a lot of cars on the road and we were averaging about 70 to 80 kph. We stopped at a petrol station for a toilet break only to find the queue so long we were there about half hour…
We took turns driving and thankfully we reached Jelawang town safely about 7.30am. Stopped for breakfast as Azrul called the guide to inform him of our arrival. Judy, Dono and me had coffee while the others had breakfast... the coffee tasted strange so i only had a few sips and thats it...
My odometer was showing slightly more then 400km (My petrol gauge is busted) so i decided that we shld get petrol..... we found out that the next petrol station was about 60km away.... but the shop owner informed us that we could buy petrol from a house nearby that had a small hand pump operated petrol tank.... before that we picked up our guide at a bus stop nearby.... Jani (our guide) then showed us to the house that sold petrol
check out the petrol pump.... very similar to the pumps in the 1920s
Part of the tour is to visit a few caves in that area. This was part of the reason I agreed to join this expedition. Turns out these caves are situated away from Jelawang, nearer to Dabong town. The caves were pretty good but not as nearly as good as Gunung Senyum and Jebak Puyuh….
After we got out to our cars all dirty and muddy we stopped at Dabong Town for lunch....
Thats Dabong Train Station in the background......
You can get a train at KTM and Central Station KL to Dabong station..... we couldn’t get tickets, being Chinese New Year and all everything was fully booked.... Wish we got tickets because driving here has made my legs ache like hell even before we reached Jelawang.... not to mention jumping around at The Police concert in Singapore.... my left (Clutch) leg was painful....... oh dear....
Jelawang Forest Reserve...... you can see most of the peaks which make up Gunung Ayam, Gunung Stong, Gunung Tera, Gunung Saji, Gunung Koh, Gunung Baha, Gunung Beirut and Gunung Che Tahir and Stong Waterfall from the Dabong Station.... you can do a six day hike to cover almost all the peaks but we were only hiking up Gunung Stong.. the most accessible of the bunch.......
After parking our cars and distributing the food among ourselves ..... it was time to start our 2 hour hike to Baha's Camp....... My legs were already giving way..... but i pushed on.... if i were you i wld make sure to come here by train instead of Driving.......
The waterfall was an awesome sight.... stunningly breathtaking.... powerfull......... the pictures dont do it justice.... you have got to be there ........... Halfway there..... i was holding everyone up.... but i think they didnt mind waiting for me to catchup....my legs were cramping very badly.... i wobbled and jiggled my legs into place... inch by inch.... the guide let the others go ahead and assisted me.... he had those muscle spray thingys which he used on my legs....but that was useless….. about almost 200 meters to the entrance of Baha's camp...my legs just started shivering and cramping and locking stiff..... it took me an added 40 minutes or more, on top of the normal 2 hours to get to the camp..... Interestingly there is a tuck-shop of sorts which had soda up at Baha’s Camp... most importantly 100plus...... it wasnt iced but it was good.......
well I can go on and on but hey why don’t I let the photos do the talking….. Click HERE
to view more photos our trip to Gunung Stong…
The beautiful view as the sun rises on Baha's Camp
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....
mo
