A Memorable Pine Tree Trail Hike

“Brother, would you mind if you sit over there so that I could take the photos of the ladies,” I interrupted the conversation of an elderly gentleman who was sitting there having his afternoon tea with his friend at the World of Phalaenopsis, Hulu Yam Bharu on 22 Sept 2017. He gladly did. We proceeded with the photos shoot.

Do CLICK HERE to view photos courtesy of yours truly. 

Do CLICK HERE to view photos (on the hiking journey of Pine Tree trail to Twin Peak) courtesy of ChongYF using a new Sony A6000.

Later, the elderly gentleman spoke to us; from the tone of the conversation, OMG he is the boss of the entire orchid farm!  :-)

He was so kind and friendly to take us for a tour of his orchid farm where the flowers are hotly sought after and distributed throughout Peninsula M’sia. He patiently explained the various details and processes to us. With the expanding business, his company requires three times the current work force.

 (L-R): Miki Cheah, Ivy Wong, Shu-Lin and Lana

A group photo with Mr Steven Cheong, the boss of this orchid farm (back, centre)

After the surprised tour, we proceeded with our lunch and continued our journey to Fraser’s Hill. It was fun staying in a lodge where the entire 16 team members were able to mingle together with good camaraderie. The weather at Fraser's Hill was cooling with brief moments of slight drizzles. Amidst the cool evening, sitting outside the lodge sipping drinks, chatting, joking and laughing silly was a moment to cherish. 

3D2N in this lodge at Fraser's Hill ... (front L-R): Miki Cheah, Shu-Lin, LeeWY, Ivy Wong, ChongYF, Karen Lee, CK Toh, Abbie, Jessica, Kwai Yin; (back): Amelia, ChanHN, Lee Guat Choo, KC Leong, Edwin How, George Siew, Lana.

 Do you see what I see? ... 

The 'yow yeng' team 

Looking for tarantula spiders – at night, we went to look for spiders; one of the tarantula species is found only at this hill resorts and nowhere else in the world. Most of the time, it was ChongYF who would shine and look for the spiders’ nests (round hole by the hill slope). This time, we have a new learner, Miki Cheah, who learned fast how to induced the spider by using a stick. It was quite fun enticing them to crawl out from their nests. After a few attempts of not able to lure the spiders to crawl out, George Siew suggested to try lady’s saliva to see the different. It was quite a funny moment seeing the ladies spitting on to the end of the stick. There was one spider who was very energetic that it crawled onto Miki’s stick that gave Miki the scare.

 Looking for tarantula spiders ... Miki enticing them to crawl out with a stick 

One of the spider species

Timing of Pine Tree Trail hike on Day2 (23 Sept 2017, Saturday):

8:00 a.m. – started hiking from the trailhead 

10:30 a.m. (2.5 hours) – arrived at the first peak

11:30 a.m. – one hour of rest

12 noon (30 min) – arrived at Twin Peak

12:15 p.m. – started the descent journey

3:00 p.m. – returned to trailhead with a round trip of 7 hours (4:00 p.m. for those who were slower).

Do take note that application of permit is required to hike Pine Tree trail (from Pejabat Hutan Daerah Raub dan Cameron Highlands) and the fee is RM10 for each hiker. 

On Day-3, we proceeded to Jeriau Waterfall to have a dip in the water – the water was cold. We later checked-out of the lodge and have our lunch at Kuala Kubu Baru en route to Kuala Lumpur. It was a good and satisfying hike with short stay in the cool hill resorts. 

 Having fun at Jeriau waterfall

The three wise monkeys "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"

Posted by KC Leong