Hiking Bliss at Apek Hill - Part 1

If there were past life, I must have been a mermaid who wished to have a pair of legs to walk all the way up to the peak of the island. Ocean and jungle are like 'charger' to my body. It is simply because nature is cheaper than therapy. Sometimes we just need to unplug from the stress that we absorb in the city and recharge ourselves from the mother nature. Every weekend I will make an effort to wake up super early and put on my hiking gears and go get lost in the jungle. I would love to go to the beach but hills are nearer for me to get to.

So this Saturday I went to this hill called Butik Putih, Cheras. It is also known as Apek (old man) hill. Waking up at 5am on Saturday is not an easy task to do. I snoozed like 3 times before I got up. I have finally dragged my ass off the bed, put on my sport clothing and ready to go. I blasted my R&B jam all the way to the destination. (Family Affair by Mary J Blige playing at the background)

The place was completely dark when I arrived. Shoot! I remember I left my head torch lights on my desk. The place was so dark until I can't even see where the entrance is. Thank God my hiking partner (uncle Terrence) is always well prepared when it comes to hiking. Good thing that he brought two head torch lights. We put on our head torch, shoes, bag packs and we are ready to roll!

The trail is quite steep at the very beginning. I was just hoping that I will not start panting so quickly. Every step I took, I inhaled the fresh air and exhaled my worries and stress. I did that all the way to the peak. The smell of the forest and the sound of the bugs - It calms my soul. There were 2 uncles walking in front of us who look like they are in 70's. The steep trail seems like nothing to them. They were so incredibly fast like flash, there is no way I can keep up to their speed. They went disappeared after 5 minutes.

We have finally reached to the flat face ground. I was thinking...eh? this must be the peak. That's fast! Guess what...That 2 uncles were there too.

Uncle A : Young lady! you have reached to level 2.
Me : WHAT!? How many more?!
Uncle B : There are 6 levels in total.
Me : staring at them with mouth open

I went to sit down under a tree and re-hydrated myself. Uncle Terrence gave me a hard boiled egg and he took out a banana to get ourselves recharged for another 4 levels. There were 4 old men resting at the station besides us both. There was one man who looks like he is around 60+. Oh gosh...he talks so loud. He went on and on about Malaysia politic issues. We both seriously did not want to hear all these crap early in the morning.

We rested for 15 minutes and then we were ready to roll again. This time we pushed ourselves a little bit more because there are 4 levels more ahead of us. I did not care how steep it is, I just focused on my steps. Not long after, we have arrived level 6. wooohooo!!! Praise the Lord! We were so happy that we made it. We high-fived. Okay... now i really need to take a moment to describe this place. There are benches and tables made out of wood. Besides, It is nicely decorated with lanterns. I could not believe these people put so much of effort to beautify this place. It is so sweet of them. Thank you!

While I was looking around with a fascinated face, there was a man came up to me and said... it must be your first time to be here. There is a tree house over there, go check it out. My face turned even brighter and happier. Did i hear wrongly? There is a tree house! I ran like a 5 years old kid towards fried chickens. I even left my backpack behind and ran towards the tree house. I was standing in front of the tree house and i looked up... Damn! it is so high up....how do i do this? (I'm fear of height. I got this fear at Lombok, Indonesia. @evangelinesp will probably blog about this trip soon). Uncle Terrence went climbing up to the tree house but sadly it was locked. We wanted to check out the tree house so badly. It is too cute. There is a swing beside the tree house too. Without thinking twice, I went to the swing and got myself on it. Weeeeeeeeeee ! I felt like a happy kid who only care about fried chicken. Have a look of my face.

We knew that there is a waterfall but we wondered where it was. We have made it to the level 6 but we have not seen any waterfall on the way. We asked the hikers and they said it is around 20 minutes from this place. We spent around 30 minutes at the tree house area and then we get ourselves rolling again.

I grabbed my 13 years old red Nike backpack and started hopping as I was so excited about the next stop. After 10 minutes walk, we have arrived another station. It is as nice as station 6 but slightly smaller. There was a man with a huge backpack in front of us. We went up and asked what station is this. He said this is station 5. He seems like he is very familiar with this station. He put down his giant backpack and went around to do his own things. I got curious so i went up to him and made conversation. By the way, his name is William.

Me : Hi, you look like you're familiar with this place. Did you build this place?
William : Yes, i built all these. There is a kitchen at the back and a toilet is 1 minutes away from here.
Me : Oh!!! that is so lovely of you to do this! so you brought food up here to cook? No wonder your bag looks so heavy.
William : No. I kept food here. There is water in my bag. 35kg. I carry water up here every weekends to serve water at all stations to the hikers.

Uncle Terrence and I dropped our jaws on the floor. If William is not Superman, I dont know who is. Uncle Terrence tried to carry his bag, he couldn't get up at all. It is freaking 35kg of water.

yawningggg Nighty night guys. Stay tune for part 2 :)