Irau Hiking Trip, 29th November - 30th November 2008

With no exception, 7 Sky Adventurers hiked up Gunung Irau for the 3rd time this year. Although the number of hikers is obviously fewer than the previous batch, their spirit still strong!! We gathered as early as 4 a.m. and we took off from Taylor's Business School about 4: 35a.m. After several hours of driving, we finally reached Brinchang and had a light breakfast (roti canai with drinks), it was really cool up here in Cameron. When we were eating, Hippo started to scare some of the 1st time hikers saying that the thickness of the mud is about 15cm, showing the thickness with his hands some more (scary...@-@)

After everyone was all set, we headed at the foot of Mt. Irau. The weather was quite good, cool but still damp. To our surprised, it was not only our group who was going to hike only, joining us was a group of 5, one of the hikers dressed like he was going for a war (funny....ha-ha). And we began our journey...

It was quite easy at the beginning, everybody was R-E-L-A-X. We kept moving forward, sometimes we talked along the way up and down the mountain, some sang too, sometimes silence filled the air. We stopped for water, to rest so that we had enough energy to move forward as there was a long way ahead. We hiked enthusiastically so that we could reach the peak as soon as possible. With Hippo leading us, taught us the technique to walk through the mud, it was much easier (not as hard as what Hippo said...he he). After approximately 3 hours of hiking, we finally reached Anak Irau (not the peak yet). All of us were really tired, we took a rest there. We ate some energy bars and of course drank some water to keep us filled with energy. We were so happy to meet our Taylor's lecturer at Anak Irau, with his bunch of friends. Actually he is not our lecturer, but Dragonaut Chemistry's lecturer, he took some pictures for us too. Due to time constraint, we decided not to hike further to the peak of Mt.Irau, not that we couldn't, but due to TIME CONSTRAINT.

After half an hour of rest, we began to hike back, the process of hiking back had slowed down a little due to the lack of energy (for the 1st time hikers). Unfortunately, the rain began to pour down, blurring our visions and the condition was even muddier. But we didn't stop because of that. We met some hikers along the way back, there was a group of 80 people who were hiking up. We exchanged regards, wishing each other good luck, grinned to them. Most of us were wondering when we will reach. How long was it?? Finally, light in front of us, we saw the hanging bridge, we were closer and closer. Everyone just couldn't wait for a single minute to reach, we moved even faster...Muahahahha, finally, we reached. We cleaned ourselves before we returned to the rented apartment.

Other Sky Adventurers joined us for dinner after that, we had warm steamboat for dinner, it was especially nice to have steamboat when we were at Cameron (cold place...yum yum). Besides, we visited the pasar malam nearby, non stop eating. We stayed up quite late to play cards and computer games, finally we ended the exhausted day about 2a.m. Next morning, we left Cameron and headed to Ipoh to have lunch, the famous white chicken with bean spouts. We drove to a shop to buy some Ipoh products before we drove back to Subang.

Yahoo!! we reached Anak Irau......say cheese......

Irau Hike , May 2007

On May 26th of 2007 a group of 10 brave hikers hiked up Mount Irau as was done by the seniors the year before. This year, there were 6 junior members, 3 senior members and 1 chaperone who braved the mountain peak.

The journey started at 6.30 a.m. when we left for the base of Mount Irau at Cameron Highlands. It was a 3 hour journey to the base where along the way there were pit stops and breakfast before the journey began.

At 10 a.m. we were ready with out back packs and started hiking. Along the way there were rough terrains such as rock, roots and worst of all mud. The mud there was so deep that you could sink up to your knees if you just jumped into it. Thankfully only some parts were like that. About 3 or 4 spots have mud that deep; the others were just about more or less ankle deep. Having at least 5 kilos or more to carry on your back while climbing, jumping, holding on to branches and walking through mud is quite a challenge but then again, challenge is what this club is all about. Along the way up, we saw things you don’t catch often in the urban jungle. There are pitcher plants, butterflies, mushrooms that look delicious but trust me, they aren’t edible… and there are also sights, smells and sounds of the forest that just makes you feel serene that just can’t be found in the city.

Along the way up, we bump into trackers who were there to just hike up to the peak and then hike down again on the same day. They were friendly and were at an event where about 50 people hiked up and down the mountain in a day. At 5 in the evening, we reached Anak Irau and made camp as it was getting late. We set up tent and the ground sheet where we sat and played cards and mafia till dark.

At 7p.m. we made steamboat for dinner and we did it all in a tent! Yes, in a tent because it started raining outside and we couldn’t spoilt our fabulous steamboat up on a mountain for some droplets of water. 10 people squeezed into one, yes, one tent, sat around the stove and had our steamboat. Boy was it hot in there that night.

After dinner, it was lights out and we separated into a boys only tent and a girls only tent before lights out. For the girls side, it was smooth sailing while for the boys, it wasn’t so. The tent we were sleeping in was set up on soft mud and we were constantly worried whether will the tent stay up or will it topple in no time.

In the morning, when we woke up, the tent was nearly touching ducky’s face. It was slanting to one side and thank God it didn’t fall on us throughout the night. At 9 in the morning we packed up and started hiking back down. Going down was much easier and faster then going up and we made it to the base of mount Irau at 3p.m., a good 2 hours faster than hiking up. After successfully making it down, we drove around Cameron highlands to do some souvenir and strawberry shopping. All in all, this was another successful challenge set by the members of Sky Adventure Club.

At the beginning

On the way up

At Mont Irau

It's time to go down