#16 : Merapoh - Kuala Tahan (Day One)

Assalamualaikum and good day to you!

Please know that it has been almost two months since the trip habis baru aku tetiba rajin nak menulis. Nampak tak perangai? Hahah. But yes, atleast I wrote something kan? For future reference, kut nak repeat lagi ke en en en. Niat tu ada, but bila ingat balik you've to walk, hike spesifically, for almost 100+- km, buat aku palamasam, and delay delay niat tu. Hehehe. 

Okay, let's start with some introduction. Macam korang tahu, Gunung Tahan, standing tall at 2.187 m, is the highest point in Peninsular Malaysia. There are 3 routes that you can choose, ikut rasa, ikut pace, ikut kepala kome (please don't regret afterwards haha) are:

1. Merapoh - Merapoh trail 

      2. Merapoh - Kuala Tahan trail

      3. Kuala Tahan - Kuala Tahan trail

Okay, selalunya people will go for 3-4 days for the first option. Hat ni trail dia senang sikit lah compared to the other two. Nanti aku habaq why. For the second trail, Merapoh - Kuala Tahan (PohKole), people usually do it within 7 days. Less than that ada lah compress trip, and setakat yang kitorang tahu, which also been briefed before kitorang hike haritu, any attempt to do the trip in less than 7d6n is strictly prohibited. Unless there's emergency cases etc which requires you to end the expedition earlier. 

Hat tu takpe. 

But if kau p apply permit and p request nak buat PohKole 5 hari, memang tak dapat lah ya. Pejabat Hutan memang bebetul takkasi, because well you know, compress trips ni banyak consequencesnya. Hence, jangan degil. Okay, for the third option, ini kira trek lejen ah ni. Kalau kome buat ni kira mcm dh pawe gila ah centu. Dengor lejen cerita, makan 8-10 hari juga lah trip ni. Idk if ada org pernah buat trans reverse? Kalau kuala - kuala pun dah lejen, yang buat trans reverse tu level karma ah kut. Salute gila. 

Takde kut.

Well, 

“what you know, what i mean, what you, i want to, you know” (?)

Gais, baru mukadimah gais. Boleh tahan gak gua rant this time. Adududuh. Sebenarnya I just got back from my Java trip with @pajelintrip, hat tu nanti lah pula aku share eh. Post about Tahan ni pun ada 6 hari nak kena cerita. Gg.

Okay aku start eh.

How boleh tetiba join trip PohKole ni? Oh I named this trip as PohKole eh sebab malaih nak sebut. Okay so, it just happened. Niat nak naik Tahan memang since forever dah, but, via PohKole ni, is another thing. One, sebab kau kena hadap almost 100km trekking + hike. Second, sebab the trail are not ez, serious. And this one exclude if injured ke (nauzubillah), nak tolerate with their uncertain weather, temperature etc. Third, because kau akan hadap tangga 15 yang super scary for orang gayat macam aku. Banyak lagi sebenornya but let it end there. 

So, it started bila Ustaz Nan pm aku about this trip. Dia ajak, because before ni dh berapa kali habaq dia nk suruh jd guide, nak bawak org, but asyik lipat. Hehe. And plan asalnya adalah pi solo. Solo bimakna aku redah ja join a totally random trip, yang aku takkenai seketul pun, but, mikir this trip adalah super tough, and that I might need a very good support system, aku ajak ah Anis. And dia terus onz! And another plan adalah: pi with own ration. Yes, gigih. Niat sebenarnya is nak cuba. Nak belajar something from this trip, and kali ni, niat di hati nk belajar cara nk manage own ration for a week trip. Nanti aku cerita the outcome hahaha.

Maka, on Feb 1, kitorang pun gerak lah pi TBS, because van tunggu sana. 3 vans this time, and this time, 44 orang lineup. Pawe en, tak pernah pula aku p trip seramai ni. And takkenal anyone.

Pikul macam hamba! Hence, total 20 kg. Huhu.

Day one started early at 4.30 am, where kitorang shoot terus sampai Sg. Relau from tbs. Tidoq sat depan pejabat hutan tu, tunggu all lineups, till 10 am, baru start declare barang. Itu pun sempat rembat kereta siapa tah, keluar sat p beli breakfast. Paling leisure. Haha. It took us quite some time to settle down declare barang sebab lineup this time kemain ramai en, hence 11.50 am baru start naik powil. We arrived at the starting point at 12.12 pm, lek lek luu before start final briefing at 12.46 pm before angkat sauh. 

Short log would be:

1.00 pm - angkat sauh!
2.16 pm - Kuala Luis
4.32 pm - Lata Luis 
6.20 pm - Kem Kor

Day one was quite leisure, asal sampai, starting duduk belakang guide, abg Pejal rasanya, cucuk sambil borak, until dia kasi pacak, terus sis diam, hahahaha gg. Dah lah beg berat. But layaaaan ja trek dia sampai Kem Kor. Trek? Starting from Kuala Juram tu korang lintas jambatan gantung, then trek hutan biasa, lama lama, makin canak. But ke Lata Luis trek okay lagi, boleh lagi maintain pace. Hat lepas Lata Luis tu mengah sikit. It started raining after kitorang sampai Lata Luis, so terus gerak cepat cepat. Day one dah barai hujan. Sabar jelah, nak.

Malamtu mandi puas puas bcs tahu next few days will not be as comfortable as day one, pastu, tidoq!

Tapi betul, day one tidoq paling selesa. How I wish I know this, boleh bersyukur even more masa tu hahaha.