[Travelog] Subhanallah, I’m Amazed by… The Cloud Formation at the Peak of Gunung Datok
The year 2010 to 2013 was my active period as a member of the Adventure Club. And Gunung Datok was the last mountain I climbed, in Malaysia, to date. My first was Gunung Arong, back in 2008.
If anyone ever said, “All mountains are the same”, they could never be more wrong.
Yes, like any shopping mall, their appearance and concept may seem similar. Yet, what it contained, is full of wonders. Even an experienced hiker may get lost the second time they enter the same trail. A mountaintop is not the same as a hilltop. Even the popular ones. It is more than just height differences. Things you see from the summit of a mountain vary each time. Each mountain has its very own wonders and characteristics. And today, I’m going to share why going up Gunung Datok is my best experience so far. The first view that ever blew my mind away. I almost prostrated. I wish I did.
Gunung Datok is located in the Kuala Pilah and Rembau districts of Negeri Sembilan. With an elevation of 884m(2900ft), it is part of the Titiwangsa Mountains.
We took the school bus from Nilai, as early as 5am-ish. It was a little drizzling. Luckily, by the time we reached the mountain foot, it had stopped. We had a light breakfast and quick briefing before heading up, in a group of five or so. There were about 30 of us in total, I think.
Along the way, I met 3 decent youngsters who wore only slippers, which the grips seemed questionable.
They jumped in out of nowhere. I was slightly startled. One, it was raining the night before, so the soil was still wet and slippery. How did they manage to land on a standing position with those slippers on? Two, they were neither heading up nor going down. They jumped from a level above me, on my left and crossed me horizontally to my right. So, I asked, “ Eh, where y’all from? Didn’t see y’all coming. And where y’all heading?” One of the boys answered with a chill attitude yet still respectful, like this occurrence was an everyday thing, “Oh, we’re actually from the neighbouring mountain. We wanted to go to the other side. Simply, “short-cut”. That is why we crossed here.” Another boy said, “Yeap, he’s right. Okay, kak, we go first. Assalamualaikum!” Followed by the other two greeted me salam before they swiftly made their way past me. I paused for a few seconds.
Then it dawned on me that, those boys probably were locals. Either they lived within the mountain itself or, from nearby villages. What boggled me was, that apart from their slippers, they wore tracksuits and some sort of school’s co-curricular t-shirts. I initially thought they were on some field trips and perhaps they followed a different trek that I was not aware of. I was curious. Also, they were well-groomed and didn’t look like Orang Asli. So, I wasn’t expecting those answers from them. Yes, I was stereotyping, back then. Forgive my ignorance.
My fitness level was, adequate. So, my stamina was not as good as others in my convoy.
It took me about 3 hours to reach the sub-peak, where people camp, and then climbed up the Big Stones, to reach the top. I may not be the first one up, but I was happy that I was the last one, haha.
Side story, I was from a private university, and seeing any cute Malays there is a rarity. So, once I reached the first peak; the camp-site area, I took my time strolling through, heading to the Big Stones. I saw many others from different universities setting up their tents. I still remember thinking, that most of the boys from UiTM are good-looking. I was checking them out, before I recollected myself, face down and made istighfar. Youth and Temptation.
Back to our main agenda. We had to take turns to go up the peak, there was not much space up there. If I remember correctly, there were only ropes and ladders back then. But, recently I saw online, that they already built scaffolding stairs for hikers to climb on. Good for everyone, better safety measures taken. The thing about hiking up is, I’ve always told myself, “That’s it. This will be the last time I’ll ever climb a mountain. I’ll just be settled with hiking the hills. This is exhausting, I’m dying!” Yet, once I reached the top, in this case, once I stood on the Big Stone, all the fatigue melted away, gone.
Up there, of course, the first thing I saw was the magnificent view of lustrous greenery and blue skies, wide open, as far as the eyes can reach.
Drones were not easily available back then. If it were today, definitely, one of our members would have brought it with us. I closed my eyes for a moment and embraced the Sun rays showered on me. I opened my eyes and looked forward, That was when I saw it; clouds literally forming right before my eyes.
I thought to myself, “Is this real?” “Am I too tired that I’m seeing things?”
Indeed, it was real. Have you ever watched any tourism advertisements, where one of the snippets was a visualisation of cloud formation from afar and everything moved so fast? Or a scientific documentary where the show educates us on how evaporation leads to rain, condensation and so on? Pardon me, I’ve always assumed that those clips were sped up at least 3 times their original speeds. I was wrong! I saw right in front of me, that baby clouds were moving from left and right, at extremely fast speed, towards the centre and merged, forming bigger cotton clouds. Underneath those clouds, I saw mists. It was probably raining somewhere afar. I actually put my hands over my mouth; that’s how unbelievable the situation was for me. After a few minutes, I felt droplets on my hands, so decided to get down from the Big Stone. (But it didn’t actually rain that day, just cloudy)
I blinked my eyes a few times. As if my eyes would capture a few shots of the skies and carefully store them in my mental memory.
Then, I turned my back away from the view. On my left, which is towards the opposite side of the Big Stone, away from the campsite, I noticed, there was a small bulge for you to step down, if you want to. Supposedly a flat opening, that can fit a maximum, of only 5 adults on it. I saw a family of four, sitting down there, by the edge and giggly eating their packed sandwiches for lunch. “Wow, daredevils. How wonderful. Will I ever be as brave as them?” I was amazed because as much as I enjoy heights, I fear them as much, too.
It is finally time to head back to reality.
Normally, descending any mountain will take me at least one hour less than the time taken for me to climb up. But, the journey down this time, took me about 2.5 hours. Remember, it took me about 3 hours to reach the first peak. So, I was expecting myself to reach the bottom in less than 2 hours or so. And usually, I tend to follow the same route, up and down. Tried not to steer away too far. But here, halfway through, I went off-trek, a rough one.
Again, going down, whenever the route is difficult, I sometimes cursed myself saying, “Why do you love torturing yourself, Nisa? Not only you’ve finished all the drinks, your whole body will definitely be sore for the next few days, haih.” But, once I reached the foot mountain, I was relieved. I reminisced back what I saw at the top, and realised, it was all worth it. I will do it, all over again. Just maybe, not tomorrow.
And the person who suggested we come here, since it was his third time there, got lost, and we only managed to contact him after he got out to the other side of the mountain, right next to the highway, hmm… weird, but not really. Obviously, we did not camp out. It was a day trip. After having a late lunch and some rest for about an hour or so, we head back to Nilai. Thank God that the ranger managed to reach him 30 minutes after everyone in our convoy had touched down at the bottom. We picked him up on our way back. And he was in one piece, safe and sound.
Until today, the memory is still freshly imprinted on my mind.
Alhamdullilah for the sights to witness His Magnificent creations, alhamdullilah for allowing me to breathe in the fresh air, alhamdullilah for my sense of touch, that I was able to sense the breeziness and dampness of the forest. Alhamdullilah for the Sun rays that warmed my skin when we reached the top. Alhamdullilah for letting me live and experience all these. Thank You, Ya Allah.
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Photos credited to afiqhalid , catchingtravels and upl-dwa .
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