Broga and Gunong Tok Wan

The Trek to Nuang gave me a bit of confidence to trek up Bukit Broga(400m asl)  especially when there's a lot of information available easily over the Internet. Bukit Broga is much too popular such that "advanced" hikers would not come here due to the crowd. Pictures from the Internet showed people young and old, big and small enjoying the views at the peak. Sure looks like an easy 45minutes' trek to the top, therefore the plan was to continue to Gunong Tok Wan (675m asl) - another 2 hours trek through jungle trail.
 So off we went on the morning of  Monday 28thJan 2013 with the aim of conquering Bukit Broga and Gunong Tok Wan. The day being a public holiday we're expecting a crowd so we weren't worried about not knowing where thr trail would be. We strated trekking at about 8am and a number of people are already arriving from the top - they must have gone up early to catch the sunrise. We also saw a number of late arrivals like us. The climb was easy enough though to reach the top of the hill left me breathless. There were 4 peaks altogether and to reach the highest peak one need to go over one big boulder and requires the help of a rope anchored safely by some good samaritans.
There's no any kind of signboard showing which way to go to GTW but I saw there was only one trail going into the jungle so we proceed through the trail. Now the experience is altogether different. We were surrounded by tall trees and in the shade while on Bukit Broga there was not any tall trees and we were under the sun. There was only one trail going through the jungle so we were quite sure we were on the right track. The crowd was gone and we were the only people around for maybe 1 hr before we encountered 2 hikers coming down. Abt 20 minutes later we pass 2 more otai hikers on their way down while on a quite long ascend to what we thought was going to the summit. The man said one more hill....
The hike gets tougher as we get nearer the summit and what a relief when through the trees I saw glimpses of what looks like a Malaysian flag. And so it is! There's a small clearing and we saw about 5 people sleeping, 2 on hammocks, one sitting on the ground with his back on atree and the rest on the clearing floor. We settled down on a patched and ate sandwiches and boiled eggs and rested for a while. After about 25 minutes we were ready for the trek down. Going down was definitely faster though not that fast! Some descents seemed really very long and hard to believe we climbed that earlier on.
Going down from Broga proved a big challenge, I've used all of my 2l water, was tired, leg muscles beginning to ache and my feet fingers hurt. On at least 2 locations I need to go down on my butt becuse of the steep slope. The pain gets worst as we went along and what a relief when I saw the food stall at the foot of the hill. Quickly got hold of a bottle of 100+ and finished it in no time. There's still another 200m of slow walk to the car and by this time there's less than 10 cars still parked around the area while there were more than 100 cars parked in the morning when we arrived.

P8(E)

I know I'm going to miss this place when we have to move out (sooner or later), maybe soon. P8 is  as  we've experienced very close to and almost at the center of everything that is happening around Putrajaya. It's about 2km from Dataran Putra, within 4km of all the offices in Putrajaya and most conveniently 2.5km from our meeting point of our cycling ventures around here. While most of the rest of the gang need to drive 20 - 60 minutes to get to the RV point, I just need to cycle and be there in about 8 minutes. How convenient. Not only that, the place is nice and neat. The trees have grown tall, the street is wide and well maintained and most times very quiet.
Sadly the place is not ours and we need to move out when the time comes. In the mean time just enjoy the stay...

Careful and Stay Focused!

Though Putrajaya boasts to have the best cycling paths in the the country, hazard along the path abounds. There has been a number of falls among cyclists along these paths, a number fell off their bikes due to obstacles and slippery conditions, one fell while getting off his bike and another one fell while walking on a steep slope - off his bike - while checking on a bike route in PCP and suffered the most serious mishap - fractured his hips and elbow. Really need to be careful and stay focus when cycling around here.

Recently the authorities wanted feedback from users of any faults or hazards encountered along the cycle paths. I'm sure they'll get many feedback - at least one cyclist have started gathering photos of hazards and dangerous points to be forwarded to Perbadanan.

Nuang - Jan 2013

Haven't heard the name until recently when some friends went for a hike to the top. It's the name of a mountain bordering Selangor, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. That's where we were headed on the morning of 6 Jan 2013 though we did not intend to go up to the peak, just a halfway point called Camp Lolo. Even so we were back at the car park almost 3pm. For sure I was not fit enough to go to the top for this is my first serious hike anywhere in memory. The reward was the cool dip at Camp Lolo and a refreshing walk through cool though damp greenery.
This is rainy season so the track was wet and slippery in some places. One have to be careful and thankfully there was no incident to any of the 20 hikers in our group. The last 2 km was the hardest - going down hill puts more stress on the leg muscles. It'll be quite a while yet before I can go all the way to the top.