A Wet Challenge at Gunung Nuang

Note: I shall be away from 15 to 26 September for holidays in China.
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The presence of haze recently means there isn’t enough rain to clear the excessive dust particles in the air created by man. With the dry weather, it is good for outdoor activity; but for avoidance of the haze, authorities advise people to stay indoors. So we have quite a contradictory situation. According to the report in the Star newspaper, the rain will only come next week. I was pleased. That means the trail running at Gunung Nuang on Saturday, 10 Sep 2011 should be a dry day.

While driving to Gunung Nuang at 6:00 a.m. on the event day, there was a slight drizzle. Unfazed by the rain, I continued the journey. The report in the Star newspaper boasted my confidence as high as Gunung Nuang. About 5km before arriving at G.Nuang, the whole area was dry. I was pleased to hear over the airwave at that moment at 6:30 a.m. the song sung by Jimmy Cliff: "I could see clearly now that the rain is gone ...  It is gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day ... “ Yeah, I believe so.

Tony Q sent sms informing that Siew Lee’s group from Singapore would be slightly delayed and informed us to start first. After the group photo, we proceeded at 7:25 a.m. at trail head. Edwin, Rothman, AB Tan and Tan Han Bin was in the leading group; I was with Sivalingam; Mark BG, Karen and Chiew Hong formed the trailing sub-group.

Do click here to view photos courtesy of Chiew Hong (using waterproof Sony compact) and yours truly (KC).

L-R: KC Leong, Edwin Goh, Rothman, Sivalingam, Mark BG, Karen, AB Tan, Tan Han Bin, Chiew Hong

Just 10 minutes after that and, lo and behold, it started to drizzle! The report in the Star newspaper must have given me lots of confidence. I would think that the rain should stop very quickly. So we pressed on.

We passed Kem Lolo and Kem Pacat – in the rain. The mountain was engulfed with mist or rain clouds. Visibility was quite dark something like 7:00 a.m. though it was already 9:30 a.m. It was lucky that the ladies did not join us in this extra tough challenge. Gauging at the weather, I did not think that the rain would stop quickly.

When I arrived at False Peak at 10:00 a.m. (2.5 hours later), it was still drizzling. So I decided to descend the mountain while Siva proceed to the peak.

I then met Mark BG, Karen and Chiew Hong at Kem Pacat. Chiew Hong even pitched up a flysheet to shield the rain while waiting for the rest. At that moment, the rain gathered momentum. So the initial thought of MarkBG to continue was partly dampened by the rain. All decided to descend the mountain.

By the signature tree at Kem Pacat ... Chiew Hong, Karen and Mark BG. 

Yours truly at Kem Pacat... despite the rain, it is still thumbs-up pose ... ha ha

On the way down, not far from Kem Pacat, we met Siew Lee and her group of friends who were on their way up. So we exchanged pleasantry and chatted for a while, and taking group photos in the rain. I joked that the presence of VIP brought rain to Kuala Lumpur (rain in Cantonese means money), which is very much needed here!

Rothman – he is just amazing. Despite the wet and slippery ground, he just ran down the mountain just like normal dry day; occasionally, he was seen jumping high in the air followed by precision landing. Respect! Respect! Within seconds, we lost sight of him.

Along the way descending the mountain, I slipped and fell due to the slippery ground. We returned to Kem Lolo at around 11:30 a.m., only by then the rain stopped.

On the whole, it was quite an experience soaking in the rain for almost four hours in the mountains to continue the journey. Nevertheless, it was a good training – to train in wet condition.

We met part of Siew Lee’s (3rd from left) group from Singapore, lead by Tony Q (left) for a wet journey to the peak of Gunung Nuang.

Other than the first group photo, all photos were taken in the rain.

Note: I shall be away from 15 to 26 September for holidays in China (Fenghuang, Zhang jia jie, Three Gorges, Guangzhou)

Posted by KC Leong